Using more detailed ethnic categories in student and health data could allow policymakers to better serve small populations, but some people in those small populations are anxious about extra scrutiny, the possibility of discrimination and being labeled as other than American.
Tony Hwang
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
CT’s clean energy edge: Going, going . . . or coming back?
Connecticut, once a national leader in clean and renewable energy and energy efficiency, has slipped behind many other states, including its neighbors. Most of the finger-pointing is at the state’s budget problems and questionable choices by the legislature. But the state may have started to lose its energy edge before then. The question is, can it get it back?
Posted inHousing, Politics
Legislature musters enough votes to override Malloy housing veto
The General Assembly dealt a blow to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s housing agenda Monday after legislators voted narrowly to override his veto of a bill that loosens the state’s affordable housing standards.
Posted inHealth
Health insurers face outcry over requests for sharply higher rates
After proposing sharp rate increases for next year’s health insurance plans for individuals and small groups, a trio of insurers faced a barrage of criticism from elected officials and the public during a series of hearings Wednesday and Thursday.
Posted inHealth
A Connecticut compromise on firefighters’ cancer relief
Firefighters left the State Capitol last year in a fury over the refusal of House leaders to call a vote on legislation providing them lost-wage coverage for work-related cancers. Just after midnight Wednesday, they watched a bipartisan compromise pass unanimously with the blessing of the municipalities that once thwarted them.
Posted inPolitics
Kasich may not excite, but he says he can beat Hillary
A playful John Kasich made his entrance on tiptoe Friday, sneaking in during a long-winded introduction by an old congressional pal, Chris Shays. Smiling broadly, Kasich signaled to the giggling crowd not to give him away as he edged forward. The path to the nomination in Cleveland is not as sure.
Posted inPolitics
Stymied in Washington, labor still finds friends in Hartford
In the worlds of business and labor, Connecticut’s political identity is shaped by the partisan and ideological collisions that take place this time of year in the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee. Inch for inch, its agenda Thursday had more controversial issues than most committees confront in a year.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Keno’s repeal is no longer a sure bet in Connecticut
Keno, the unwanted child of Connecticut politics, vilified by gambling opponents and publicly defended by no major political figure, improbably remains alive as the General Assembly begins the last two weeks of the 2014 session.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Tara Cook-Littman: GMO activist becomes candidate
No one quite captured the zeitgeist at the State Capitol last year like Tara Cook-Littman. The founder of GMO Free CT used social media to rally foodies, environmentalists and consumer activists behind a successful crusade to require the labeling of genetically modified foods. Now, she wants to try public policy from the inside — as a legislator.
Posted inNews
In budget crisis, Asian Pacific agency makes first hire
Faced with a new budget that includes little growth and staring at a record-setting deficit just 12 months away, most state government agencies are scrambling to hold onto to what they have. But when the new fiscal year starts in just two weeks, Connecticut’s smallest agency will be looking to expand after a two-year fight […]