Lamont: Choice is on the Ballot
HARTFORD, CT — A morning press conference to announce the launch of a new reproductive rights hotline veered into campaign territory Friday as Gov. Ned Lamont named U.S. Senate candidate Leora Levy and by extension his Republican opponent as threats to abortion rights nationwide.
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Today, Dad Could Escape ‘Captive’ Room
“It took a while, Dad,” Martin Michael Looney said to himself after the final vote was cast, “but we’re there.” Read more from the New Haven Independent.
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Disability Rights Advocates Sue The Federal Government
Three individuals in Connecticut with serious medical conditions have filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for its interpretation of the Medicaid rules under the Coronavirus Response Act. All three individuals have been told their full Medicaid coverage was terminated at the end of March 2020 because they no…
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Trump Surprises Levy With Endorsement
Former President Donald Trump surprised Leora Levy, one of the three candidates vying to challenge U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, with an endorsement Thursday. The endorsement comes as the party decides what role the former president should play within the party. In a statement, Trump through his Save America PAC, said Levy “will work hard to Grow the Economy, Secure the Border, Fight for Energy Independence,…
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EPA Releases Funding for School Districts to Replace Diesel Buses
Every school district in Connecticut has until August 19 to apply for federal funding to replace diesel school buses with zero-emission and low-emission school buses, officials have announced. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made $500 million in rebates available as a first round for this initiative, which is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law…
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Podcast | How Safe Is Your Car?
The Connecticut East podcast visits Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, where the magazine’s auto safety and performance experts put new vehicles through their paces to help consumers make good purchasing decisions. Plus, we take a look at other stories making the headlines from around the region.
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OFA: State Government Overtime Costs Grew By Nearly 11% in Connecticut
The state of Connecticut paid out nearly $266 million in overtime compensation to its public employees during the last fiscal year, according to an Office of Fiscal Analysis report which found the Correction Department leading in overtime payments.
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OP-ED | Shame On Politicians (And Journalists) Who Exploit Crime Stories
The boy who cried wolf – Alex Jones – is enmeshed in serious court time, and his business’s bankruptcy. He is what fear would look like, if fear was made of flesh.
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Lamont Extends Extreme Hot Weather Protocol
With sweltering temperatures showing no signs of letting up on Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont extended Connecticut’s extreme hot weather protocol, leaving additional protections for vulnerable residents in place through the beginning of next week.
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OP-ED | A Change In Viewpoint
On my pedal-powered bicycle travels I have seen how other cities and towns create opportunities from things Hartford and our state departments too often treat like liabilities. For instance, I have biked past and through several capped landfills converted to passive-use parks. The North Hartford capped landfill, managed by CT DEEP, is surrounded by a tall fence and no trespassing signs. Residents and riverfront park…
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Connecticut Voters Face Thursday Deadline to Register With a Party Online Before Primary
Unaffiliated Connecticut residents seeking to cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary election are facing deadlines today to become members of a political party by mail or online.
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OP-ED | Climate Change Looks Grim, But Maybe Not Hopeless
There’s this idea in science called the Fermi Paradox. Basically, the paradox goes like this: because the universe is so vast and old, life in the universe must be common. Given enough time, intelligent life will appear that could eventually travel the galaxy. So the question is, why haven’t they visited Earth yet?
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State Program to Shore Up Nursing, Mental Health Provider Ranks
Connecticut will invest $35 million in a three-year program to bolster the ranks of nurses and mental health providers by funding tuition assistance for some students and efforts to recruit and retain faculty to teach them, the governor announced Wednesday.
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Bear Discovered Inside West Hartford Home a Few Days After Raiding Garage Refrigerator
A resident in the Norfeldt neighborhood of West Hartford had been working in his front yard Sunday morning, and when he briefly went into the backyard and then through the back door into the kitchen to get something to drink, he discovered a large and furry four-legged intruder.
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Insurance Commissioner Rejects AG’s Request to Postpone Rate Hike Hearing
Connecticut’s Insurance Department will not comply with a request by Attorney General William Tong to postpone a planned Aug. 15 hearing to review rate hike requests by state health insurance providers, according to the state insurance commissioner.
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OP-ED | Will Connecticut Republicans Choose Head, Heart, or LOLs?
Next week Republican voters go to the polls to choose their candidate to run against US Sen. Richard Blumenthal in the fall election. They are choosing between a good but probably doomed candidate, a consistent but absolutely doomed candidate, and total disaster. What they choose in the primary next week will tell us a lot about whether that very endangered species, the moderate Connecticut Republican, can…
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Judge Upholds Connecticut’s Ballot Access Law, Rules Against Larson Challenger
A Hartford Superior Court judge on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of Connecticut’s ballot access laws, handing another defeat to Muad Hrezi, the young Democrat who was challenging U.S. Rep. John Larson for the Democratic Party’s nomination in the 1st Congressional District.
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OP-ED | Rate Review Does Not Solve Underlying Issues Driving Up Health Care Costs
Recently, Connecticut health insurers submitted their 2023 small-group and individual premium rates to the Connecticut Department of Insurance (DOI) for review and approval. DOI has scheduled a public hearing on the rates to allow policymakers and policyholders to weigh-in.
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Correction Officers Injured During Melee In Connecticut Prison; Inmate Hospitalized
Nine correction officers were injured and one incarcerated man was briefly hospitalized following a chaotic brawl involving a dozen gang-affiliated individuals at a high-security prison in Uncasville, Connecticut last week.
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UI Asks For Rate Increase
United Illuminating asked regulators Monday if they could raise rates as much as 8% over the next three years. The new rates, if approved, would take effect after September 2023. A spokesman for the utility said UI’s last distribution rate case was in 2016 and UI’s customers’ distribution rates have not increased since January 1, 2019, and since this time inflation rates — the cost…
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New COVID Education Guidance Aims to Keep Students in Classrooms
State COVID guidance to local school districts released Tuesday prioritizes keeping students in classrooms by encouraging parents to mask children with minor symptoms and send them to school so long as they test negative for COVID-19. During a Hartford press conference, Connecticut education and public health officials said that 2.5 million test kits purchased by…
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Child Tax Credit Program Officially Closed
The Department of Revenue Services received 238,668 applications for the child tax rebate as of midnight last night. Those applications represent 369,863 dependents. The one-time tax credit, adopted this year as part of the state budget, applies to Connecticut parents in certain income brackets who claimed at least one minor dependent child on their 2021 tax returns. The rebate applies to single parents who made…
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Vaccine Mandates Become Campaign Issue
Connecticut Democrats sought Tuesday to highlight Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski’s participation in a Friday night meet-and-greet with a group of Connecticut parents opposed to vaccine mandates. Stefanowski, a Madison businessman running against Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, was one of several Republican candidates who joined the group Connecticut Residents Against Medical Mandates for a private…
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OP-ED | Credit Where It’s Due: Blumenthal Is Right To Take On MLB’s Monopoly
One hundred years ago in May, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a decision by the federal Court of Appeals that the Sherman Antitrust Act did not apply to what is now known as Major League Baseball. The high court ruled that the league was a “state affair,” not interstate commerce and therefore did not fall under the Sherman Act. It was a…
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American Lung Association Raises Awareness
An estimated 2,760 people in Connecticut will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022 with nearly half potentially dying from the disease, according to the American Lung Association. Yet survey data, released Monday- World Lung Cancer Day -, shows that only 40% of Americans are even worried they will get lung cancer with only 1…
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CDC Lists New Haven County as a High COVID Area
COVID-19 transmission in New Haven County was high enough Friday for the Centers for Disease Control to designate it an area of “High” community virus levels where Connecticut residents are advised to wear masks while indoors in public.
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Increased Tax Collections Boost Connecticut’s Bottom Line
Connecticut’s budget surplus has grown by $231 million due mostly to increased tax collections, according to the latest monthly report from state Comptroller Natalie Braswell. Connecticut’s tax collections and other revenue grew by $157.8 million driven by a strong labor market, and a $73.3 million reduction in budgeted net expenditures. But that doesn’t mean there’s…
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Analysis | Connecticut Is 23rd In Public Health Funding
Connecticut has a chronic problem with underfunding public health. We aren’t alone, but we’ve done little to fix the problem. The pandemic should’ve made crystal clear the value of a strong public health surveillance and response system. Like all prevention, we have to fund it before we need it.
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