by Zachary Janowski | Jan 17, 2013 | Features, General, Municipal, Politics
New Haven City Clerk Ron Smith was not drafted by the New York Knicks, and he never played for the team, contrary to his official biography on the city’s website. Smith said he didn’t know how the error entered his biography. “Somebody made a big blunder,” he said....
by Zachary Janowski | Jan 16, 2013 | Features, General, State Budget, Taxes & Spending
Auditors found a state employee worked overtime “for approximately one hour a day for almost the entirety of fiscal year 2009” without approval from the agency’s commissioner as required by department policy. Despite the claim by auditors that they found no evidence...
by Zachary Janowski | Jan 11, 2013 | Features, General, Politics, State Budget, Taxes & Spending
Despite already outnumbering rank-and-file members, Connecticut’s legislative leadership grew this year to 99 leaders in the 187-member General Assembly. Each legislator with a leadership title gets a small pay increase. Twenty-seven committee chairmen and 19 ranking...
by Suzanne Bates | Jan 10, 2013 | Features, General, Health Care, Politics, State Budget, Taxes & Spending
According to all signs and indicators Connecticut is in a financial mess. While other states are starting to see signs of recovery and job growth, Connecticut still faces high unemployment, continued budget deficits and an onerous tax burden on the state’s families....
by Zachary Janowski | Jan 2, 2013 | Economy, Features, State Budget, Taxes & Spending
Connecticut officials emphasize the job impact of incentives given to companies, often referencing calculations done using economic modeling software to justify the deals, but they don’t apply the same scrutiny to tax changes like the largest-in-history increase...
by Zachary Janowski | Dec 20, 2012 | Features, General, State Budget, Taxes & Spending
The bipartisan plan passed Wednesday to balance the state budget eliminated some state employee bonuses that have been the subject of populist ire, but replaced those bonuses with raises of the same value, which will end up costing taxpayers more. Under the new rules,...
