CTNewsJunkie will be away next week for a much-needed vacation. The bad news is that we will miss a week of coverage and will be unable to post comments until we return from Long Lake in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. It’s fairly remote, so we’ll be lucky (or unlucky, depending how you look at it) to get a cellphone signal while we are away. The good news is, we will be back Monday, Aug. 3, refreshed and ready to make an announcement about an exciting new project we’ve been working on for the past few months.

Meanwhile, send us a note and let us know you want to start receiving our weekly email edition, The Friday Night Fix. It’s got our latest scoop, a recap of the week, and also acts a tool to help you research what’s ahead in state politics and health care.

Also, visit our sister site, the New Haven Independent, which has done a great job covering the July 23 dirt bike vs. van accident that has captured the state’s collective attention.

Thanks for your continued support of online, nonprofit journalism.

Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz announced Friday that more than 100,000 Connecticut residents have registered to vote since the first of the year.

Nearly 18,000 voters between the ages of 18 and 29, have signed up to vote since May 6th. Of those young voters more have registered with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. The ratio of Democrats to Republicans in that demographic is nearly 4 to 1.

“The 2008 elections are generating unprecedented interest in the political process, especially among our young voters,” Bysiewicz said, “This latest surge in voter registration keeps Connecticut on pace for a record 90 percent voter turnout in November.”

Since Jan. 1, the state has added 101,138 voters to its rolls, including 47,468 Democrats, 14,112 Republicans and 38,458 unaffiliated voters. Currently there are 1.9 million registered voters in the state.

New Haven’s immigrant-friendly ID card will have a new feature soon aimed at helping native-born African-Americans as much as newcomers from Latin America.

The feature was unveiled as part of a one-year anniversary celebration at City Hall Wednesday morning.

Exactly a year ago, as Mayor John DeStefano proudly pointed out, hundreds of people, many of them immigrants, started lining up outside City Hall’s doors to obtain new Haven’s ground-breaking ID card.

Click here to continue reading Paul’s report.

The same day state Rep. Marie Kirkley-Bey, D-Hartford, received her public campaign finance funds from the state, her Democratic primary opponent’s campaign emailed a statement detailing an election complaint it had filed earlier in the day.

In the complaint, the treasurer of Abe Giles’ campaign alleges that on July 17 around 3:30 p.m.,
Kirkley-Bey campaign workers exited the Untied Way’s Johnson Stewart Family Center at 127 Martin Street carrying campaign literature.

“From my understanding, the use of a non-profit’s facilities constitutes an illegal contribution to a candidate committee,” says Radames Vazquez, Giles’ campaign treasurer, in the complaint to the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Kirkley-Bey works at the center.

Continue reading "Hartford Politics: He Said, She Said in 5th District Primary" »

A blog called “Tell Zell” has released a list of Hartford Courant employees who have applied for the buyout being offered in an effort to cut staff. The list seems to combine the employees who recently accepted the buyout and those who left during the first round of buyouts in March.

A list CTNewsjunkie received from an unnamed source lists about 33 editors, reporters, photographers, and librarians. The Tell Zell blog lists 68 staffers, including reporters like Lynn Tuohy, who left the paper in March.

The Courant announced last month that it would be reducing its news staff by 25 percent before the end of July.

(Updated Thursday 11:11 a.m.) Mayor John DeStefano, offering new details about a dirt bike-van collision that led to a crowd beating a driver and a 15 year-old boy losing his life, renewed a call to tackle the challenge of “disconnected” teens.

DeStefano made the remarks at an unrelated City Hall press event in the wake of a Wednesday afternoon incident that has shocked the city.

Click here to continue reading Paul’s report.

It’s been three weeks since the state started enrolling people in Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s affordable, no frills Charter Oak Health Plan. The state-subsidized insurance is available to any Connecticut adult, regardless of their pre-existing medical conditions.

Since that day, June 30, Rell has held three press conferences to tout plan, which she describes as the first of its kind health insurance plan in the nation for uninsured adults, and to date the Department of Social Services has answered 13,282 calls and accepted 4,629 applications from those seeking to enroll.

However, there has been a lingering question about whether doctors will be willing to participate in the plan. Last week, that question was answered and health care advocates, along with at least one lawmaker, were less than impressed with the number of doctors and hospitals - just St. Raphael’s in New Haven so far - that have agreed to participate

Continue reading "Clock’s Ticking; Charter Oak, HUSKY Need More Docs" »

As the state prepares to deal with a projected $150 million budget deficit in 2009, Gov. M. Jodi Rell reached out to current and former state employees Tuesday to help balance the budget.

“We are always interested in finding ways to do our job better and at lower cost - but that is especially important these days, when state government is looking for savings at every turn,” Rell said Tuesday. “No one knows more about how state government works than the men and women on the front lines.”

Taking a play from former Gov. Lowell Weicker, who implemented a similar program in 1992, Rell will offer up to $1,000 cash rewards to current or retired state employees whose ideas are implemented by the state. The ideas submitted through the new Innovations Web site will be vetted by state agency heads, which has at least one state union crying foul.

Continue reading "Governor Solicits Help From State Workers" »

Republican lawmakers reiterated Tuesday that they want another special session to cap one of the state’s two gas taxes and are circulating a petition to build Democratic support for the initiative. Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she likes that idea, since she proposed it two years ago.

So could the cap be included in her call for a special session to address the projected state surplus?

“It could always be considered,” Rell said at a press conference Tuesday.

However, the legislature’s Democratic majority has yet to warm up to the idea of capping the gas tax. And while Democrats seemed amenable to dedicating the $22.3 million projected state surplus to a fund that will help residents pay for home heating oil, Democratic leaders weren’t sure Tuesday that a special session would be necessary.

Continue reading "Republicans Want Gas Tax Cap Added to Session on Budget Surplus" »

Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s cost cutting measures have left the state, which was headed for a $52.9 million budget deficit, with a $22.3 million surplus this year.

In a press release Monday, Rell said she would be calling the General Assembly back into special session to set aside the surplus in a special emergency heating fund to help residents cope with anticipated high home heating costs this winter.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers will be reacting to Rell’s announcement Tuesday afternoon.

Keep reading the Governor’s press release below

Continue reading "State Finishes Fiscal Year With $22.3 Million Surplus; Rell Calls Lawmakers Back to Capitol" »