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Connecticut makes $17.6 million in longevity payments
Connecticut paid state employees $17.6 million in longevity payments this month, bonuses based on how long an employee has worked for the state. More than half the state workforce – 28,584 employees – received the payments for an average of $619, according...
Sequester Cuts Do Not Prevent a $10,000 Hartford Pizza Party
The sequestration cuts may seem like old news in light of gun control legislation and escalating tensions with North Korea. However, an April 9th opinion article by Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte reminded citizens that they should still be cognizant of the...
West Hartford deli closes months after getting state cash
Thirty5 Bar & Grille, formerly known as Reuben’s Deli, is reportedly closed, less than a year after receiving $47,500 in taxpayer money. The Small Business Express Program, run by the Department of Economic and Community Development, awards grants and loans...
UMass Students Show How Tolerant They Really Are
On Tuesday night I had the opportunity to see Republican strategist and former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove speak at UMass Amherst. The event hosted by the school’s College Republicans was understandably very controversial. UMass is after all the state school of...
UConn ranks fifth nationally for head coach pay
Look at the evidence. The University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team just won its eighth NCAA championship. The men’s basketball team won the NCAA tournament two years ago. In 2011, the football team played in the Fiesta Bowl, part of the Bowl Championship...
Risky business? State hedges bet on solar
Connecticut’s green-energy bank is forming a legal entity to help advance a new solar initiative while protecting the quasi-public agency from investment losses. The Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority is preparing to launch its Solar Lease 2.0 program,...
Bureaucratic Bloat Means No Room at the Capitol for Entitled Attitudes and BMW’s
On April 5th, as legislators in Hartford prepared to debate and vote on the budget and gun control legislation, the Hartford Courant released an article by Kevin Rennie which described a seemingly childish bureaucratic dispute. The story described a complaint lodged...
Sweeping reforms in Newtown law go beyond gun control
In response to the tragic Sandy Hook school shootings, Connecticut enacted last week one of the nation’s strictest gun-control laws, but the 140-page law isn’t just about limiting access to firearms. The Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety Act comes...
Let’s revisit discussion on media violence
COMMENTARY A discussion about the effect of media violence on society was briefly held after the atrocities of the Newtown shootings. Lately the conversation fizzled while our attention was fixed on other things. Let’s restart it. Does watching violence, listening to...
Newtown legislation will change early-release program
Legislators are considering limits on a state program that allows inmates to earn time off their sentence as part of comprehensive legislation in response to the tragic school shooting in Newtown. The changes would restrict the program to only non-violent offenders....