Thanks for visiting our archive of investigative reporting. Please visit, YankeeInstitute.org for the latest stories.
Employees, family of DOT contractor gave $45,000 to Conn. Democratic Party last month
Eight donors affiliated with HAKS Engineers – a company paid millions a year by the state Department of Transportation – contributed $45,000 to the Connecticut Democratic Party last month. In all, the party raised a little more than $300,000 from individual...
NU employees step up giving to Conn. Democratic Party
Twelve employees of Northeast Utilities made donations to the Connecticut Democratic Party in October, according to a monthly filing with the Federal Election Commission, as did two employees of its subsidiary Connecticut Light & Power. In all, the Democrats’...
Are child advocates in custody cases fairly compensated or overpaid?
Child advocacy in Connecticut family court could prove to be a valuable business, with attorneys billing more than $10,000 on some cases and a small circle of them managing dozens of appointments at a time. Looking at bills from five unrelated cases involving...
90 percent of trained child advocates not appointed
Approximately 90 percent of trained family court child advocates in Connecticut are not regularly assigned to cases. Nearly 1,000 people have taken the state-mandated training course to become a guardian ad litem. Around 10 percent of that number have regular...
Campaign manager who acted as treasurer charged with stealing from McCrory campaign
A Bloomfield woman acting as its treasurer allegedly stole thousands of dollars from the 2010 campaign of state Rep. Doug McCrory, D-Hartford, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, in addition to getting paid $6,600 to manage the campaign. Tanzania Cooper, 43, of...
Developer to get $2.50 from state for every $1 invested
A Stamford real estate developer must spend at least $9.7 million to receive a $25 million taxpayer contribution toward a waterfront remediation project according to documents obtained from the Department of Economic and Community Development. DECD provided two...
Former state rep gets $80,000 job reviewing unemployment appeals
Democratic state Rep. Bruce “Zeke” Zalaski of Southington didn’t run for re-election last year after a decade in the legislature, but he didn’t retire from public service either. In January, Gov. Dannel Malloy appointed Zalaski to the...
Study: New Haven spends more on pensions than other Connecticut cities
A review of 173 cities across the country shows where five of Connecticut’s largest cities stand according to one measure of pension cost. New Haven ranks 27th and spent 10.2 percent of revenue annually on pensions, according to a study by the Center for Retirement...
Environmental group sues state for going easy on wind-power company that cut down trees in state forest
A conservation group is suing the state to force it to throw out a settlement between state officials and a wind-power company that clear-cut 2.5 acres of state forest. The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council is suing the Department of Energy and Environmental...
Mayor Finch supported billboard before receiving donated ad
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch supported a special permit for a billboard on top of the Webster Bank Arena before the arena donated advertising space on that billboard to the city, which Finch is using to get more Twitter followers. Jonathan Pelto puts it together...