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 moreThe governor wants to encourage regionalizing by cutting back on how much the state sends to the smallest school districts. Tiny Canaan, for example, spends $22,450 for each of its 139 students, the most expensive per-student spending in the state.
But Canaan First Selectwoman Patricia Ally Mechare says regionalizing doesn't necessarily save money and argues that her town is "being responsible by spending what it takes, while the state hasn't."
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 moreA lightning rod for controversy last year as he oversaw the birth of a new Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Daniel C. Esty glided through a lengthy and ultimately uneventful confirmation hearing Tuesday -- even though he declined to promise approval of post-Irene seawalls.
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."
"We run the risk of losing good teachers, of evaluation becoming a 'gotcha' practice, and of establishing a culture of fear, rather than collaboration in our schools," Phil Apruzzese, head of the state's largest teachers union, told the Education Committee.
Read moreOn Friday afternoon, in a room in the state Legislative Office Building, a single, small number seemed to stand out and tell its own story. The number was 83, and it referred to the number of children who are in state custody for only one reason: their families have no home.
Read moreWashington -- Raising taxes on hedge fund managers is under scrutiny again, with the president pushing for income from the funds to be taxed like wages. For the wealthiest Americans, this could mean a rate as high as 39%.
This would have a big impact in the state, home to more than 200 hedge funds. So the Connecticut hedge fund industry is fighting back.
Read moreNew 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.
Read moreThe word never will pass Chris Murphy's lips, at least not in public. But the congressman is doing everything he can to create the impression that his winning the Democratic nomination for Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's seat is, well, inevitable.
It's a sense that Murphy's supporters encourage, even if Mitt Romney is finding that inevitability can be a fickle friend in 2012.
Read moreRep. John Larson, D-1st District, calls earmarks "the most misunderstood thing in Congress."
"There's a difference between a 'bridge to nowhere' and funding for the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum," he said.
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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.
The legislature's Republican minority outlined an agenda Friday that is a critique of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and a statement of principles for the 2012 election, not a plan designed to win favor with a Democratic governor and legislative majority.
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.
"Let's break down this brick wall," said Sen. Beth Bye, the Senate chairwoman of the Higher Education Committee.
"Why not allow students who want to try, try?... It's a wild idea, I know, but let's let a college student take a college course."
Read moreAre 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 moreIn coming up with his compromise in the dispute over whether religious-affiliated employers should have to provide contraceptive coverage for their employees, President Obama failed to consider the concerns of insurance companies who would be required to provide contraceptive coverage for free.
Mickey Herbert, former CEO of Connecticare, said Thursday that Obama's compromise "is not the way insurers operate."
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.
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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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