State to Lift Park Capacity Limits, Campgrounds Open This Weekend
Connecticut will lift pandemic-related capacity restrictions at its state parks and beaches as part of expanded guidelines announced by Gov. Ned Lamont and environmental officials at a Friday press conference. “Really, we’re going back to the way we were before the pandemic, where we close parks when our parking lots get full and we can’t…
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Online Harassment Could Become A Stalking Crime
Certain types of online harassment would become stalking crimes under a bill approved Thursday by the legislature’s Judiciary Committee. The proposal, which was approved unanimously by the panel ahead of its Friday deadline to pass bills, would adjust Connecticut stalking laws to include some forms of harassment over the Internet. “This is a bill that…
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Vaccine Production Issues Alter Plans for College Students
Connecticut officials expect a sharp decline in the supply of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for at least the next two weeks as a result of a production problem at one of the company’s manufacturers. “We have been hit by Johnson & Johnson. I think you probably know they had a problem in…
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Domestic Violence Bill Moves On To Senate
In an effort to expand the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control the Judiciary Committee forwarded legislation to the state Senate Thursday. “This is groundbreaking legislation for Connecticut in many ways because it ensures the rights of every victim – adults and children – to be safe,” said Sen. Alex Kasser, D-Greenwich, who…
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Lamont Considers Former Connecticut Juvenile Training School To House Immigrant Children
Gov. Ned Lamont says when Vice President Kamala Harris visited Connecticut two weeks ago she asked him if he had any space to house unaccompanied immigrant children who crossed the border without permission. Lamont suggested the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown. But not everyone believes that’s a good solution. Read Christine Stuart’s full report…
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Election Regulators Dismiss Concern Over Ballot Box Photo
Connecticut election regulators dismissed concerns Wednesday that a photo of an absentee ballot drop box, twice-cited during legislative hearings, cast doubt on the security of ballot drop boxes. During a Wednesday meeting, the State Elections Enforcement Commission dismissed a matter concerning a photograph of an election drop box, which depicted absentee ballot envelopes sticking out…
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Businesses, Lawmakers Want To Use Federal Funds To Lower Unemployment Debt
Employers both big and small are concerned that they will have to start paying more into Connecticut’s Unemployment Trust Fund to pay back the $700 million borrowed to pay claims. “Absent federal relief dollars businesses in connecticut will be paying down this debt for many years to come,” Chris Dipentima, president and CEO of the…
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Risk Warrant Law May Get An Update
The Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 Tuesday to move forward an updated version of the state’s risk protection warrant law. The law was created in the wake of the 1998 Connecticut Lottery shootings to keep guns out of the hands of those who may harm themselves or others. The bill sent Tuesday to the House allows…
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Judiciary Committee Passes Recreational Marijuana
Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to legalize recreational cannabis cleared the legislature’s Judiciary Committee in a close vote Tuesday as lawmakers called the more than 200-page bill a work in progress. The panel voted 22 to 16 to advance the bill before its Friday deadline. Republicans voted against the measure along with a handful of Democrats…
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Automatic Erasure, Juvenile Parole Bills Advance
Republicans and crime victims were left Monday rallying against the passage of two bills. One would allow those under 21 convicted of serious crimes to request parole and the other would automatically erase some criminal records. Both bills, according to the proponents, are considered steps forward in the state’s drive to reform the criminal justice…
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With 2M Shots In Arms, Looking To Winter Boosters
Connecticut’s older vaccinated residents may require COVID booster shots ahead of the 2021 to 2022 winter season, according to comments from the former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, during a Monday press briefing. Gottlieb, a Connecticut resident and occasional adviser to Gov. Ned Lamont, struck a largely-optimistic tone during…
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Affordable Housing Bills Advance With Some Changes
Two pieces of legislation aimed at reforming local zoning laws made it out of a key legislative committee last week, in a step proponents hope will help address Connecticut’s affordable housing shortage. The affordable housing bills were the main focus of a March public hearing that lasted 24 hours and saw 340 people signed up…
Continue readingStudy Says Corporate Tax Incentives Often Harm States More Than Help
In most cases, corporate tax incentives left states in worse financial condition than they were to begin with; that’s the finding of a study published recently by the journal Public Administration Review.
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Vaccine Passport? Not So Fast Says Lawmaker
While New York launches a voluntary ‘COVID passport,’ Gov. Ned Lamont has suggested the private sector may eventually lead similar efforts in Connecticut. But some — including a prominent Democrat in the legislature — are already raising privacy concerns. The concept of establishing some way to verify that residents have been vaccinated against the coronavirus…
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State Opens New Round Of Grants For School Security, Emergency Communications
The state’s public and private schools have until June to apply for funding under two state grant programs that will help districts pay for security infrastructure improvements and emergency communications systems upgrades, the Lamont administration announced this week.
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DPH Reports First Case of Measles
The Department of Public Health confirmed a case of measles in a child in Fairfield Country. The Connecticut child who got the virus was not yet vaccinated against measles and acquired the infection while traveling…
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Businesses And Professionals Looking Forward To Vaccinated Summer
“People are tired of waiting,” said Amber Jones, who has been a wedding photographer and also runs a boudoir photography studio in West Hartford. We-Ha.com reports
Continue readingOP-ED | Educational Opportunities Critical To The Success Of Connecticut’s Children
As a former public-school teacher in a deeply impoverished Connecticut city, it is heartening to see elected leaders put aside partisan politics in favor of sound policy that will benefit kids in and out of our public schools.
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OP-ED | It’s No Coincidence Seniors Are Genuinely Happy With Their Health Insurance
There is a health care crisis in the state of Connecticut. The global pandemic has brought to light the incredible inadequacies and unaffordability of our current health care system.
Continue readingFormer Lawmaker Clark Chapin Nominated To Auditors Post
Clark Chapin, a former state representative and state senator who once represented New Milford, was nominated this week to succeed the late Rob Kane as the Republican pick for the Auditors of Public Accounts. There…
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ANALYSIS | Cases Dip Slightly as Variants Battle Vaccines
The race to vaccinate as many people as possible to blunt the effects of more contagious variants of the COVID-19 virus, especially the variant first detected in Britain, continues in Connecticut.
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OP-ED | Connecticut’s Path to Health Equity
Health inequities in our state are not breaking news. But Dr. Tekisha Everette says they are upending lives every day, nonetheless.
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OP-ED | Let’s Work Together to Solve Connecticut’s Waste Crisis
Connecticut has long served as a role model for sustainable waste management in the U.S. on a par with the environmental leadership of such European nations as Denmark and Germany. Let’s recognize how we got here and work together to continue the state’s leadership in this area.
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Can Independent Primary Care Doctors Survive Dominance of Hospital Health Systems?
Every day, Dr. Leslie Miller of Fairfield thinks about selling her practice to a hospital health system. “Everybody who is in this environment thinks every day of throwing in the towel and joining a hospital,”…
Continue readingSurvey Finds Americans Support Measures To Fight Violence Against Asians
A majority of Americans see a rise in anti-Asian violence as a “very serious problem” and want political leaders to focus on the problem, according to a recent survey conducted by Global Strategy Group and…
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OP-ED | New York Legalizes, Massachusetts Profits, and Connecticut is Late to Cannabis Legalization
Jonathan L. Wharton says our state is dithering while our neighbors are moving forward on legalization of marijuana
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Lamont, Baker Team Up Against High Drug Prices
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont are teaming in an attempt to lower the price of prescription drugs by limiting annual increases in drug prices to no more than inflation plus 2%.…
Continue readingOP-ED | The Rules That Made U.S. Roads So Deadly
A 25-year-old Yale Law student. A crossing guard. A 78-year-old woman. A high-school teacher. These are but four of the pedestrians and bikers counted among the 310 motor-vehicle-related deaths seen in 2020 in Connecticut. Our state saw one of the highest increases in the U.S. for such deaths: 22% more than in 2019.
Continue readingICYMI: Opinion: Worker Recall Legislation Essential for Racial Justice
Research shows that “worker recall” legislation – which requires employers to rehire workers based on tenure and qualifications once jobs return – can help create a more equitable economic recovery.
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LIVE: Judiciary to Debate Recreational Cannabis Bill at Noon
The governor’s bill on legalizing recreational cannabis is up for debate today in the Judiciary Committee at noon.
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OP-ED | The Public Health Care Utility?
The state wants to help low-income residents get health insurance by giving them more subsidies, and wants to charge insurance companies fees to do it. But the business community, farmers, and other employers around the state are rallying against the plan, fearful that the insurance company will just pass the cost on to them.
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Connecticut Committee Takes Steps To Expand Voter Rights
Voting rights have been a hot topic of discussion since Election Day 2020. Monday, Connecticut lawmakers took the first steps to try to expand voting rights. “Obviously we’re all about getting more access for voters…
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