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Legislative leadership shrinks to 94 out of 187 members
The legislative session begun last week will have to make do with 15 fewer leaders than two years ago: only 94 of the General Assembly’s 187 members have leadership titles this time around. In addition to the 94 leaders, another 43 legislators are committee chairmen...
Donovan working group wants small businesses to join state employee health plan
A working group on healthcare organized by House Speaker and Congressional candidate Chris Donovan recommended Monday the state create a government-run insurance company and allow small businesses to join the state employee health plan. Donovan, D-Meriden, convened...
Connecticut’s science curriculum gets a C
A national education think tank gave Connecticut’s science curriculum a C Tuesday in its report, “The State of Science Standards 2012.” Connecticut earned four out of seven points for “content and rigor” and 1.8 out of three for “clarity and specificity.” The Thomas...
National report card: Conn. education policy gets C+
The American Legislative Exchange Council gave Connecticut’s education policy a C+ and ranked the state 39th for its ability educate low-income students. Connecticut policies showed some improvement from last year when the state received a C- from ALEC, a national...
Why Obamacare will fail
Zachary Janowski, investigative reporter for the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, addresses the Connecticut Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society on January 18, 2012. Dr. Roger Pilon, a Cato Institute Scholar, spoke earlier in the morning about whether the...
Concession agreement falls short on pension savings
The agreement to save money on state employee compensation negotiated by Gov. Dannel Malloy and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition last year will save $3.5 billion over 20 years, according to the latest actuarial valuation, less than half of the $8.3...
East Haven Mayor appealing to keep his disability pension
East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr., who has been in the center of the news after the arrest of four East Haven police officers by federal investigators and ensuing inflammatory comments, is appealing a decision by the State Employee Retirement Commission to end his...
UConn Foundation pays for Malloy’s Europe trip, state owes foundation $18 million
The University of Connecticut Foundation will pay about $4,500 to send Gov. Dannel Malloy to the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, while the state owes the foundation $18 million in matching grants. Since 2007, the state has pledged to match...
Conn. loses federal energy complaint despite paying lawyers $4.6 million, begins appeal process
Connecticut’s Attorney General and utility regulators paid lawyers – who “failed in the extreme” according to one federal judge – almost $4.6 million to challenge payments to three New York energy companies. The state began the appeal process last year despite the...
State threatened to use Latino scholarship donations to balance budget
During the contentious Connecticut budget debates of 2011, a Latino advocacy commission had to award all the money in a small scholarship fund containing private donations to avoid losing it in a budget-balancing sweep of the account. Going into the budget debate,...