The Malloy administration prepped Maureen M. Murphy for her judicial confirmation hearing Wednesday with questions about her sexual orientation and the pivotal role she played in the legalization of gay marriage in Connecticut. But the only controversy came from an unexpected quarter, unrelated to issues of gay rights or questions of judicial activism.
Read moreWhile the governor and his fellow Democrats leading the House and Senate declared fiscal stability and pledged to continue trying to bolster municipal budgets, GOP legislative leaders cited projected deficits, a bond rating downgrade and cash flow problems as evidence of another impending fiscal crisis.
Read moreLeaders of Connecticut's small towns were left to read the fiscal tea leaves Wednesday as state leaders offered starkly contrasting views of Connecticut's finances: Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislative Democrats declared fiscal stability and pledged continued support, while GOP legislative leaders cited projected deficits, a bond-rating downgrade and cash flow problems as evidence of an impending crisis.
Read moreAttorney General George C. Jepsen is walking a fine line between celebrating his role in negotiating a $25 billion national settlement with mortgage servicers and tamping down expectations about what the deal means for struggling homeowners.
"I just think it's important not to oversell it or undersell it," Jepsen said Tuesday after a legislative appearance. "It's big deal. This will save thousand of families their homes in Connecticut, if it's implemented correctly. And that's huge."
New Haven -- City and law enforcement leaders are calling on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to reject a U.S. Department of Homeland Security initiative -- called Secure Communities -- they say would encourage racial profiling and undermine the city and state's power to police themselves.
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The state is poised to open its employee health plan to municipalities and school districts, a controversial concept long advocated by labor unions, town officials and Democratic legislators.
The solar industry in Connecticut and around the nation had been waiting years for what happened last Tuesday: The board of directors of the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority approved a new residential solar incentive program.
Then the solar folks saw the details.
Connecticut's economic recovery should continue this year, although a new study warns that a host of wild cards, from sovereign debt in Europe to the bioscience initiative in Farmington, could accelerate growth even more -- or leave the Nutmeg State's productivity lagging behind the nation's.
Are speed traps about safety or revenue? It's been a question since the first cop wrote the first speeding ticket, and it was the challenge Thursday for advocates of a high-tech version of the old speed trap: automated red-light cameras.
It didn't help that they made their case standing in front of a backdrop provided by the National Coalition for Safer Roads, a nonprofit group financed by a vendor of red-light cameras.
Read moreThe Office of Policy and Management this afternoon backed off its proposal in the revised fiscal 2013 budget to have the state's major arts and cultural organizations compete for the money they have traditionally received as an earmark.
Instead, Secretary Benjamin Barnes indicated in a statement that the Department of Economic and Community Development will develop a phased-in approach.
The state's clean elections watchdog agency says it has enough funding to provide public grants for this fall's state elections, but not enough to monitor how candidates qualify for and spend the money.
"The facts are stark," said Michael J. Brandi, the agency's executive director.
Read moreMashantucket - The economic and political clout of the state's two tribal casinos was amply demonstrated Wednesday by the sight of Connecticut's top officials on a casino stage to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Foxwoods Resort Casino.
The distant, soft singing of slot machines could be heard faintly inside the darkened Fox Theater as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stepped to a spot-lit microphone and said, "We are in this together."
Once sex offenders in Connecticut are released from prison, they are unlikely to be sent back for another sex crime, according to a new report.
Five years after 746 sex offenders were released in Connecticut in 2005, less than 4 percent were re-arrested and charged with a new sex crime, according to the report by the Office of Policy and Management.
Read moreMajority Democrats in the state Senate announced a multi-tiered initiative Wednesday to better safeguard electric service and to hold Connecticut's utilities accountable through new performance standards and penalties.
The proposal includes a $300 million state investment over the next decade to create "microgrids" -- sections of community centers with extra safeguards to ensure electric service remains available for grocery stores, gasoline stations and other vital service providers during large-scale outages.
Arts organizations in Connecticut had been feeling the love from the Malloy administration: a new home in the Department of Economic and Community Development, leadership that seemed to care what they had to say, new programs, and not insignificantly -- more funding.
But not after last week.
The unusually mild winter might have flummoxed forecasters, frustrated ski buffs and worried those concerned about climate change, but so far, it's been a critical break for poor families relying on a reduced pot of government assistance to pay for heat.
You can chuckle all you want about outdoor wood furnaces and whether they're a subject the legislature should even bother with given that there are probably only a couple of thousand in the state.
Then you might want to get out of the line of fire.
More than 70,000 Connecticut households took advantage of a new tax credit for the working poor during just the first month of state income tax filings, according to the Department of Revenue Services.
The claims filed under the new state Earned Income Tax Credit were hailed both by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration and a leading private, nonprofit anti-poverty group as evidence of the new program's necessity as well as its success.
When animated television tyke Lisa Simpson had to announce a tax increase to the American public, she deftly called it a "temporary refund adjustment," avoiding any mention of the three-letter T-word.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration stole a page from The Simpsons last week, repackaging a projected deficit in his new budget as a conditional surplus -- all without using the D-word.
Despite the sluggish economy, the time could be right for TOD -- transit-oriented development -- a generation-old concept in which municipal and economic growth are linked to mass transit. In fact, TOD is a current darling among many Connecticut constituencies.
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"This is an investment worthy of being made."
Gov. Malloy to charter school students who had been bused to the Capitol Tuesday evening to thank him for proposing an increase in funds for charters.
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Top donors to the CT congressional delegation
1. United Technologies, $197,500
2. Sempra Energy, $133,100
3. General Electric, $121,775
4. Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, $106,510
5. Goldman Sachs, $99,500
Source: Maplight
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