DOC Workers Call For Hazard Pay For Pandemic Hours
Ginny Ligi believes she contracted COVID-19 in her job as a correction officer at Cheshire Correctional Institution. “I was bedridden for over a month,” said Ligi, who is the secretary of AFSCME Local 387 representing state Department of Correction employees. She lived “behind a closed door” so she didn’t pass the disease on to her…
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Mental Health, Substance Use Treatment Funding In Jeopardy
Mental health has been front and center throughout the pandemic. And with the demand for services increasing, nonprofits that treat people with mental health and addiction issues were hoping to see a funding increase in the state budget. That didn’t happen. Read Christine Stuart’s full report at NBC Connecticut
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Study Finds Pandemic Induces Chronic Absences From School
HARTFORD, CT – As education throughout the state moves toward a sense of normalcy after COVID-19, some students are left still feeling disconnected from school, piling up their absences. “We know that some kids got lost and we need to find them and we need to get them back in school,” Jeff Leake, president of…
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State Gears Up For Demand To Get Out
Following months of staying put, Connecticut’s steady vaccination rates and loosened restrictions have many residents itching to travel to destinations both near and far.
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Lamont Gets Advice From Unlikely Places
A half-hour into a conversation with former House Speaker John Boehner, Gov. Ned Lamont asked the Republican if he had any advice for a first-term governor navigating politics. Keep the legislature close, Boehner said, “Hug ‘em.” Lamont and the now-retired speaker chatted Friday during an hour-long Zoom conference, a promotional event organized by R.J. Julia…
Continue readingSupermax Prison To Close Early
The state’s only super maximum prison, Northern Correctional Institution, will close Monday, three weeks ahead of schedule, according to Gov. Ned Lamont The prison located in Somers sparked controversy and at least one recent lawsuit over conditions. An attorney for Disability Rights Connecticut described the conditions there as “horrendous.” Lamont and state Department of Correction…
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Winners and Losers of the 2021 Session
In some ways the 2021 session ended with a question mark: lawmakers are expected to reconvene in the coming weeks for a special session, leaving open the possibility that some formerly dead bills will be resurrected in an aircraft carrier budget implementer bill. Most of the following bills are waiting to be acted upon by…
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Transportation Climate Initiative Back In The Mix
With the legislature heading towards a special session, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday he will push lawmakers to include the Transportation and Climate Initiative in a limited agenda already expected to cover cannabis legalization and budget language. The initiative is a multi-state agreement to require fuel suppliers to buy permits for the pollution that results…
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Gov. Signs ‘Clean Slate’ Bill
UPDATED 2:00 pm — Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday he would sign a “clean slate” bill approved late last month by the legislature which would automatically expunge records of certain criminal convictions. “I’m certainly going to sign ‘Clean Slate’ as soon as I’m done with this press briefing,” Lamont told reporters during an afternoon press…
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Spreading Vaccine Fears. And Cashing In.
Meet the influencers making millions selling doubt about the coronavirus vaccines.
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The 2021 Session Ends With A Whimper
Nothing about the 2021 legislative session was normal. The state Capitol has been closed since March 2020, leaving the public and the lobbyists without access to the building and lawmakers to their own devices. This year’s session saw a historic expansion of gambling in Connecticut, allowing for the first time sports and online betting. And…
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Senate Sends Bipartisan Budget To Gov.
The state Senate finished out the regular legislative session Wednesday by passing a $46 billion budget package which eschews new tax increases and found support with Democrats and most Republicans. The Senate sent the two-year budget to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk on a bipartisan, 31 to 4 vote. Following months of negotiations between Lamont and…
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Cannabis Bill Delayed Until Special Session
A bill legalizing recreational cannabis will not see a vote in the House until a special legislative session sometime within the next two weeks, House Speaker Matt Ritter said Wednesday afternoon. The legislation, which passed the Senate early Tuesday morning on a narrow vote, was awaiting action in the House, where Republicans were prepared to…
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Budget Clears First Hurdle With Bipartisan Support
After months of negotiations lawmakers in the House took a bipartisan vote Wednesday to pass a two-year budget which includes no new tax increases and spends billions in federal funds. The House voted 116-31 to pass the $46 billion budget with support from all Democrats and 22 Republicans. The tax and spending plan now goes…
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Litchfield on Smithsonian Magazine’s 2021 List of 15 Best Small Towns
Historic buildings, dining spots, and beautiful fall foliage are some of the reasons the Smithsonian Magazine included Litchfield, Connecticut as one of the country’s “Best Small Towns to Visit” in 2021.
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Making Connecticut More Competitive From The Classroom: Alissa DeJonge
As an economist and former vice president of AdvanceCT, Alissa DeJonge is no stranger to data. At the former Connecticut Economic Resource Council, DeJonge had been doing economic and public policy research to help the economy and make the state more competitive.
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OP-ED | Patients’ Rights And Privacy Are First Priority of CT’s New Health Information Exchange
It was every adult child’s worst nightmare – a frantic drive to the Emergency Department with mom getting worse by the minute. For Brenda Shipley, the stress was just beginning.
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Capitol Will Remain Closed For Special Session
Lawmakers will be returning to the Capitol this week for a special session, but the doors will still remain closed to the public. “Legislators aren’t told in their personal lives to quarantine. They have exposure…
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ARTC Praises Income Tax Exclusion, Announces New Executive Director and Scholarship Winners
The Association of Retired Teachers of Connecticut says the inclusion of a 50% break on state income taxes for retired teachers in the state budget is a smart way to keep retirees in CT. Read more at the 210 Capitol Ave blog
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OP-ED | Connecticut’s Recreational Marijuana Goes Up In Smoke
Jonathan L. Wharton calls out lawmakers’ failure to pass cannabis legalization as a textbook example of problematic public policymaking.
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OP-ED | Thank You, High School Graduates, for the Lessons You Taught Us
Our resident veteran educator pens his salute to the Class of ’21.
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ANALYSIS | COVID-19 Numbers Still Dropping, But More Slowly
COVID-19 cases fell again this week to one of the lowest weekly case counts of the pandemic, exceeded only by two weeks in July 2020, and one in August 2020. The rate of descent, while still rapid, has slowed somewhat in the past two weeks.
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OP-ED | A Reporter’s Work On COVID-19 Has Saved Lives. She’s Getting Death Threats.
Liz Essley Whyte’s reporting for Public Integrity on who is behind the conspiracy theories and misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines has led to a coordinated campaign of harassment and threats against her.
Continue readingState Exports Take a Hit in 2020; COVID Drives 15% Drop
“Consumer demand sharply increased for particular goods, while others experienced dramatic drops,” in 2020, largely attributable to COVID-19, according to an analysis of state exports highlighted in the June issue of the Connecticut Economic Digest.…
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Cannabis Question Mark Lingers
The last day of the legislative session is always full of unknowns, but in the House it looks like lawmakers are headed for a showdown over legalized cannabis. Unable to resolve their differences, Republicans are…
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OP-ED | General Assembly: Act Now to Close The Housing Gap
I often hear from residents, “It means a lot for me to live in Connecticut, but I know I have to leave.” Read more from Shenae Draughn
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OP-ED | The Most Important Piece of Legislation You Have Never Heard Of
The global transition to EV is happening faster than anyone expected. Trillions of dollars will flow into everything from vehicles, to battery technology, the electrical grid, IoT, cellular, autonomous vehicles, and infrastructure. And there is a race by each state to attract the companies and the millions of jobs that will be created in this new economy.
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OP-ED | State Treasurer’s ‘Baby Bonds’ Proposal Is An Investment in Connecticut’s Future
Is America rightly called the Land of Opportunity? Connecticut is known as one of the wealthiest states in the nation, so there must be something wrong if our state cannot (or will not) provide all its citizens with the same opportunity to achieve financial well-being.
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Summit Organizers to Inspire Attendees to Support Health Equity Among Boys and Men of Color
Staff from the UConn Health Disparities Institute (HDI) hope attendees of its upcoming summit will walk away with ideas to help promote health equity and racial justice for boys and men of color. Read more.
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Telemedicine A Blessing For Some, Inaccessible For Others
Read the latest from the Connecticut Health Investigative Team.
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OP-ED | At The Capitol, Lawmakers Engage In Behavior That Would Get Us Fired
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said of the rich, “They are different from you and me.” To Fitzgerald’s oft-quoted maxim, I would add members of the General Assembly.
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Connecticut Shelves Transportation Climate Initiative
Transportation Climate Initiative proponents rallied outside the state Capitol Friday to encourage lawmakers to pass legislation that would create a carbon cap on transportation emissions. It will likely increase gas taxes – and that’s a point…
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