by | Jan 21, 2020 3:33 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
State prison chief Rollin Cook: Ending solitary confinement should be “incremental,” not immediate.
The state’s top prison official isn’t ready to give up on solitary confinement quite yet — though he is open to working towards an “incremental” phasing out of such a practice by allowing more out-of-cell time for and more supportive services brought to the most isolated prisoners.
by | Jan 21, 2020 1:10 pm | Comments (8)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Ex-offenders preparing a bioswale with the EMERGE project.
Chris Powell.
(Opinion) —Now that the majority in the General Assembly is more Democratic and liberal, the legislature is paying more attention to the plight of prisoners and former offenders. While the attention is welcome, it has been entirely of the bleeding-heart variety, not very thoughtful — leading only toward a policy of erasing or concealing criminal records, since those records are impediments to former offenders as they return to society.
Continue reading ‘Bleeding-Heart Dems Won’t Help Ex-Offenders’
by | Jan 17, 2020 2:56 pm | Comments (6)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
State Rep. Mike D’Agostino” There is a difference between a candidate and a catalyst.”
Mike D’Agostino is “feeling the Bern” — about the presidential race, and about how Connecticut goes about legalizing cannabis.
by | Jan 15, 2020 6:39 pm | Comments (10)
Christopher Peak Photo
Experts talk taxes at CT Voices’ budget forum Wednesday in Hartford.
This year, anti-poverty advocates’ rallying cry at the state Capitol will be cutting families a break on their taxes by asking millionaires to pay up.
Continue reading ‘Advocates Propose $600M Tax Credits For Working Families’
by | Jan 10, 2020 1:16 pm | Comments (14)
Paul Bass Photo
Rush hour on the Whalley bus.
Roland Lemar predicts that 2020 will be the year that the state stops talking and starts acting to fix New Haven’s broken bus system — by ante-ing up an initial $23.2 million.
by | Jan 8, 2020 3:26 pm | Comments (8)
Paul Bass Photo
Oz Griebel campaigning for governor in New Haven in 2018
Speaking for Connecticut’s “radical middle” majority, Oz Griebel called on Democrats and Republicans to open up their primaries to unaffiliated voters — beginning with the April 28 presidential primaries.
by | Jan 2, 2020 4:03 pm | Comments (15)
Chris Powell: Legal notices belong in print newspapers.
The state saved taxpayers money and better served the public in the process.
Or: … The state put another dagger into an independent press and deprived the public of vital information in the process.
A new public-notice policy implemented Thursday by the state judicial system prompted those two opposite interpretations.
by | Dec 23, 2019 4:22 pm | Comments (14)
Paul Bass Photo
State Sens. Martin Looney & Len Fasano at WNHH FM.
Top State Senate Democrat & Republican preview 2020:
• Car tolls off the table.
• Prescription drugs from Canada on the table.
• Tweed? Depends on the table.
by | Dec 20, 2019 12:56 pm | Comments (0)
Brooks and Dickinson photo and rendering
924 Grand Ave. before and after the proposed Y2Y buildout.
Despite Gov Ned Lamont’s declared “debt diet,” New Haven emerged from the latest meeting of the State Bond Commission with $8.9 million for local affordable-housing and social service projects.
by | Dec 16, 2019 8:28 pm | Comments (8)
Christopher Peak Photo
The Partnership for Connecticut’s board meets on Monday morning.
If you’re a school superintendent, non-profit director, micro-finance lender, business executive, city mayor or academic researcher, a new public-private partnership wants to hear from you about how $300 million could decrease the number of high-school dropouts.
Public-school teachers and students? State social workers? Prison inmates? As an afterthought, the billionaire-backed state education initiative said you too can send in your ideas.
by | Dec 9, 2019 12:53 pm | Comments (1)
It may not come as a shock that State Senator Len Fasano is against tolls in Connecticut, but the Senate Minority Leader also voiced approval of shared services and concerns about PILOT on the latest episode of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities’ “The Municipal Voice” program on WNHH FM.
by | Dec 4, 2019 8:56 am | Comments (14)
Aliyya Swaby File Photo
Elm City College Prep student works on 3-D design.
Achievement First is looking at combining two charter schools into one building to free up hundreds of thousands of dollars from its donor-reliant budget.
by | Nov 21, 2019 7:43 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen photo
In transit near the Green.
How much might it cost to fix New Haven’s broken public bus system?
According to one years-in-the-making, state-funded transit study, roughly $15.5 million in capital improvements and another $7.7 million in annual operating funds would go a long way towards crafting a more frequent, reliable, and rational local transportation system.
by | Nov 20, 2019 6:02 pm | Comments (2)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Merrill testifying at the state Capitol in favor of early voting.
Like millions of Americans, Denise Merrill has been glued this week to live testimony in the presidential impeachment hearings in Congress — in her case, with an eye toward Election Day 2020.
Continue reading ‘Merrill: 2020 Needs To Be “Best Election We’ve Ever Had”’
by | Nov 18, 2019 3:58 pm | Comments (21)
Michael Uhl believes there might just be a “magic wand” solution that would lower electricity prices, increase sustainable energy supplies, and chip away at the suffocating market influence of utility company giants, all in one fell swoop.
Such is the potential power, so to speak, of Community Choice Aggregation.
by | Nov 13, 2019 3:04 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photo
Lamont dials up Wednesday’s Union Station presser.
Gov. Ned Lamont committed to upgrading cellphone internet access on the Metro North commuter rail line within a year — even if his latest transportation infrastructure bill doesn’t pass the state legislature, and even if his wealthy tower-weary Greenwich neighbors oppose the plan.
by | Nov 7, 2019 3:11 pm | Comments (5)
NAEP
Chart shows Connecticut with third-largest gap in 8th grade math scores, based on poverty.
The typical students in Connecticut’s public schools are now more likely to show up to class with a significant obstacle to their education, yet they continue to outperform most of the country on a major national exam — even after a recent slip in scores this year.
by | Nov 4, 2019 9:02 am | Comments (0)
Jay Kaye is running for mayor as a Republican in a Democratic town — and he argues that his focus on reining in taxes and government spending can propel him to victory.
by | Oct 24, 2019 12:02 pm | Comments (0)
As mayor of New Britain, Erin Stewart has had a reputation for looking outside the box and fostering relationships on challenges ranging from economic development to chronic homelessness.
by | Oct 18, 2019 5:24 pm | Comments (21)
Christopher Peak Photo
Partnership for Connecticut holds first meeting, at Science Park.
After talking up how much they value “inclusiveness” and “collaboration,” the leaders of a state-backed venture retreated behind closed doors to discuss how they plan to save struggling students in Connecticut’s poorest high schools.
by | Oct 18, 2019 4:47 pm | Comments (3)
Employees in the Hamden Town’s Clerk’s Office were able to prepare absentee ballots on their newly reopened computers Friday afternoon after a computer virus shut them down for a week.
Thanks goodness, a visiting Secretary of the State Denise Merrill told them, this didn’t happen on Election Day.
Continue reading ‘Merrill: State To Help Towns Beef Up Cyber Protections’
by | Oct 18, 2019 12:33 pm | Comments (31)
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Toni Harp: “We’re working on it.”
As she continues running for mayor in 2019, Toni Harp has still not revealed the names of donors who gave over $92,000 to her 2017 quest — raising the question about whether the state can enforce its campaign finance laws.
by | Oct 15, 2019 1:44 pm | Comments (11)
Paul Bass photo
Late, overcrowded as usual: Rush hour on bus formerly known as the B, now the 243.
New Haven buses were on time for only 54 percent of their trips last year, according to newly released data that underscore just how inefficient and inconsistent the city’s public transit system remains.
by | Oct 10, 2019 2:18 pm | Comments (0)
State Senate Deputy President Pro Tempore and Sprague First Selectman Cathy Osten has a unique viewpoint, working simultaneously in both state and municipal politics. Whether zooming in to issues like local farms, or zooming out to how federal spending affects special education, she has an eye on the issues.
by | Oct 7, 2019 12:31 pm | Comments (0)
Samuel Gurwitt Photos
State Rep. Robyn Porter egged everyone onto the dance floor — with an eye toward bringing the party, and leading it, in Hartford.