Category: Connecticut

Connecticut Seeks to Replace ‘Unstable’ Voting Machines

The Center Square

Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas wants to borrow $25 million to update the state’s “unreliable” voting machines ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.

In recent testimony before the Legislature’s Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, Thomas said her office is seeking authorization to purchase new ballot tabulators for cities and towns across the state. She said the machines have become “unreliable and unserviceable” with the company that produced them no longer in business. 

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Connecticut’s Early Voting Costs Could Top $9 Million

The Center Square
Early Voting

Connecticut’s embrace of early voting will make it more convenient for millions to cast a ballot, but comes with a hefty price tag for the state and local governments.

That’s according to a new report by the state’s Office of Fiscal Analysis, which determined the move could cost from $6.9 million to $9.2 million over the next several years, depending on how many days of early voting are offered. 

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Connecticut Firm Loses Appeal over Denial of Army Contract

The Center Square

A federal watchdog agency has denied Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft’s appeal of the U.S. Army’s rejection of the company’s bid to build the next generation of long-range assault helicopters. 

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, had filed a formal protest asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office to review the Army’s decision to reject their bid to produce its Defiant-X helicopter under a military contract. 

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Black Market Cigarette Shipments Seized in Connecticut

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Connecticut and other states have seized shipments of illegal cigarettes from China and other countries under a settlement with the U.S. Postal Service to resolve claims it wasn’t doing enough to crack down on tobacco smuggling. 

A new report by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said between January and March the Postal Service seized 3,000 packages containing a total of 10,000 cartons of cigarettes shipped from overseas in violation of federal laws. Most of the illegal shipments were mailed from China, Israel and Russia, the AG’s office said. 

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Lt. Governor: RuPaul’s Connecticut Drag Queens Make Her ‘Proud to Be From Connecticut’

Susan Berry, PhD

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (D) said she was “proud to be from Connecticut” as she appeared with four Democrat state lawmakers on Friday night’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race where four drag queens with ties to the Constitution State were present.

“I am joined today by our small but mighty LGBTQ+ caucus with one thing that we’d like to say: Hey, you, Amethyst, Robin, Loosey, Jax. You’ve made us all proud here in Connecticut,” Bysiewicz touted as she stood with Connecticut State Reps. Jeff Currey (D-East Hartford), Raghib Allie-Brennan (D-Bethel), Marcus Brown (D-Bridgeport), and Dominique Johnson (D-Norwalk).

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Hillsdale College’s Blake Center to Expand Events After Local Zoning Board Clearance

Susan Berry, PhD

Hillsdale College’s Blake Center for Faith and Freedom in Somers, Connecticut, has received clearance from the town’s zoning commission to expand its offering of events and increase the number of people who attend them.

The executive director of the Blake Center, which is a replica of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, spoke with The Star News Network about the zoning commission’s unanimous approval of a modified special-use permit that will allow Hillsdale to increase the number of allowed guests at the center’s seminars and other events to 75.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Resurrect Transportation Climate Plan

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers are advancing a climate change bill that critics say would give the state broad authority to raise gasoline taxes and take other aggressive steps to reduce tailpipe emissions. 

The proposal, which was recently approved by the Legislature’s Environmental Committee, would empower the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to implement climate change policies aimed at helping Connecticut reach its goal of reducing greenhouse gases to 80% of 2001 levels by 2050.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Advancing Lamont’s Gun Control Bills

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers are advancing Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to close “loopholes” in the state’s gun control laws in response to a spate of mass shootings nationwide.

The legislation, which is teed up for a vote in the state Legislature, would tighten the state’s ban on “ghost” guns, increase the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21, prohibit open carry in public, ban the bulk purchase of handguns and expand the state’s restriction on large-capacity firearm magazines, among other changes.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Weigh Plans to Expand Affordable Housing

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers are taking aim at restrictive local zoning laws as part of a broader effort to address the state’s affordable housing crunch, but the move faces pushback from critics who say it would usurp local authority. 

A proposal that’s being considered by the state Assembly would require cities and towns to conduct assessments on the need for affordable housing in their communities and come up with plans and zoning for a set number of units of affordable housing, based on the needs of the region. 

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Connecticut Archdiocese of Hartford Investigates Possible Eucharistic Miracle

Susan Berry, PhD

The Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, issued a statement Tuesday about its ongoing investigation into a possible Eucharistic miracle that was reported at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston earlier in March.

Rev. Joseph Crowley, pastor of St. Thomas, announced on March 5 after the distribution of Holy Communion that a lay eucharistic minister had witnessed a possible miracle when the vessel holding the hosts showed more hosts had appeared.

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Connecticut’s Health Care Costs Jumped Past Benchmarks

The Center Square

Connecticut’s health care expenses increased by 6% to $34 billion in 2021, according to a new report, exceeding a goal set by Gov. Ned Lamont to limit the state’s cost growth.

The first annual Connecticut Healthcare Cost Growth Benchmark report said the state spent $34 billion on health care and insurance costs in 2021, up from $31.9 billion in 2019 and $30.9 billion in 2020. That’s higher than the 3.4% growth benchmark set by the Lamont administration three years ago.

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Connecticut Seeks to Reduce Solid Waste Costs

The Center Square

Connecticut trucks hundreds of thousands of tons of solid waste to landfills in other states, which costs the state and taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

Gov. Ned Lamont has pitched a plan to reduce the amount of waste going to other states by increasing recycling and requiring manufacturers to reduce packaging materials, but the effort has faced pushback from the solid waste industry and some lawmakers. 

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Connecticut State Workers Set to Receive $45 Million in Pandemic Bonuses

The Center Square

Tens of thousands of Connecticut state workers will be getting bonuses after a labor arbiter awarded them more than $45 million in pandemic-related back pay.

The ruling by Arbitrator Susan Meredith, which must be approved by the Connecticut General Assembly, would provide bonuses from $250 to $2,834 for employees in high-risk jobs, which include police, firefighters and state-run nursing homes. Workers in lower-risk jobs would receive bonuses ranging from $125 to $1,417, under the ruling.

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Connecticut Weighs Bipartisan Plan to Move Presidential Primary

The Center Square

A proposal to move Connecticut’s presidential primary date is being pushed by an unlikely alliance between leaders of the state’s two largest political parties.

The legislation, if approved, would change the state’s presidential primary date to the first Tuesday in April, which in the next nominating cycle would be April 2, 2024. Under the current law, the primary is held on the last Tuesday, which would be April 30, 2024 in the next cycle.

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Thousands of Pro-Life Activists Reject More Abortions in Connecticut

Susan Berry, PhD

Pro-life Connecticut activists gathered Wednesday in Hartford at the Capitol building for the second annual March for Life to celebrate life from conception to natural death and to demonstrate against more abortions that could come if two proposals are approved.

Despite the fact that Connecticut already has extremely liberal abortion laws, House Joint Resolution No. 8, introduced by State Rep. Keith Denning (D-Wilton), is a proposal for a constitutional amendment to protect the right to an abortion. The resolution would enshrine abortion in the state Constitution.

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Connecticut Black Democrat Keynotes March for Life, Celebrates ‘Many Black Pro-Life Women Across the World’

Susan Berry, PhD

Thousands of Connecticut residents attended the second annual March for Life Wednesday where they heard state Rep. Treneé McGee (D-West Haven) assert she is not an “anomaly,” since “one in three Democrats are pro-life and there are many black pro-life women across the world.”

McGee, who also addressed the tens of thousands of pro-life activists at the national March for Life in Washington, D.C. in January, urged her fellow Connecticut residents at the state Capitol in Hartford to help “create a culture of life.”

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Lamont’s Health Care Cost-Cutting Plans Face Pushback

The Center Square

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan to control health care costs in the state is facing blowback over claims it would cost hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. 

Lamont’s proposal, which is being considered by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health, calls for reducing costs that often get tacked on to consumers’ medical bills, such as facility fees that charge patients for the use of medical and hospital offices during treatments, which he says would save the state’s consumers $400 million a year.

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Rachel Levine Promises Idea of Transgender Children Will Soon Be Normalized, Has ‘Highest Support’ of Biden Administration

Susan Berry, PhD

Transgender Assistant Secretary for Health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Rachel Levine recently praised the work of children’s hospitals, such as Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford, for their “gender-affirming care” clinics that provide children and teens with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries, such as elective double mastectomies.

Levine (born Richard Levine) told a very welcoming audience at CCMC’s Pediatric Grand Rounds in February that “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex Americans, especially our youth … need our attention because they’re being attacked and … are attempting suicide at an alarming rate.”

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Connecticut Lawmakers Weigh Tax Breaks to Expand Affordable Housing

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers are debating a plan that would offer property tax relief to senior citizens who agree to deed-restrict their homes as affordable housing.

The proposal, which cleared a key vote by the Legislature’s Housing Committee earlier this month, would allow seniors with household incomes of up to 80% of the area median income to “opt-in” to a program that deed-restricts their homes as affordable. In exchange, they wouldn’t be required to pay local property taxes. 

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Connecticut Lawmakers Push for Repeal of Trucker Tax

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers are pushing to repeal or scale back a new mileage tax on tractor trailers that went into effect earlier this year amid the threat of a legal challenge over the requirements. 

The new law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, requires commercial truckers to pay rates ranging from 2.5 cents per mile for trucks with a gross weight of 26,000 pounds to 10 cents per mile for trucks weighing 80,000 pounds. Trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds are slated to pay 17.5 cents per mile under the new regulations.

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Connecticut Parents Battle Bill to Mandate Comprehensive Sex Ed in Government Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

Gender ideology and activities asking students about their favorite sex acts will be considered “age appropriate” in all Connecticut government schools if a bill mandating Comprehensive Sex Education is passed by the state legislature and signed into law, pro-family activists say.

Senate Bill 1 would mandate “comprehensive sex education that is age and developmentally appropriate and includes, but is not limited to, instruction about affirmative consent,” and would require the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) to recommend the curriculum for such “education.”

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Connecticut Sues Rest Stop Owner over Worker Wages

The Center Square

Connecticut’s top law enforcement officer is taking aim at a rest stop operator with a legal challenge alleging it cheated food service workers out of wages they were owed. 

The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General William Tong, claims plaza operator Food Project LLC owes workers at Dunkin Donuts, Subway and other rest stop businesses collectively more than $2.7 in lost wages for underpaying them under state labor laws. 

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Connecticut Sues Firearm Companies over ‘Ghost Gun’ Parts

The Center Square

Connecticut has filed a lawsuit against several gun manufacturers, accusing them of violating state law by selling components that are used to build untraceable ‘ghost’ guns.

The civil lawsuit, announced by Attorney General William Tong Tuesday, targets four out-of-state firearm companies accusing them of violating the state’s consumer protection laws, which carry fines of up to $5,000 per violation.

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Connecticut Weighs Plan to Tax Private College Endowments

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers are considering a proposal that would authorize local governments to tax the endowments of private universities and colleges. 

The proposal, which is pending before the Legislature’s Committee on Planning and Development, is the latest effort by Democratic lawmakers to tap into multi-billion dollar private endowments to divert more money to cities and towns that host sprawling private higher education campuses and facilities.  

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Connecticut Lawmakers Revisit Medical-Aid-in-Dying Proposals

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers are revisiting proposals that would authorize physicians to administer lethal doses of medicine to terminally ill patients.

A pair of bills being considered by the General Assembly would put Connecticut in line with Vermont, Maine and seven other states that have “death with dignity” statutes, also known as physician-assisted suicide or medical-aid-in-dying laws.

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Mayors Call for Wind Power Moratorium amid Whale Deaths

The Center Square

A group of 30 New Jersey mayors are seeking a temporary moratorium on new wind power projects, citing a recent spike in whale deaths.

In a letter to President Joe Biden and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, the mayors called for a suspension of wind power projects off the coast until federal and state governments conduct investigations to determine if activities are a “contributing factor in the recent whale deaths.”

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Connecticut Gov. Lamont Unveils Plan to Reduce Connecticut’s Healthcare Costs

The Center Square

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has unveiled a raft of proposed health care reforms he says will cut medical costs and make care more affordable. 

Lamont has filed a pair of bills that, if approved by the state Assembly, would ban the use of anti-competitive health care contracting practices, improve transparency in pricing for medical treatments, cap out-of-network insurance charges, and join a multi-state bulk purchasing program to lower prescription drug costs, among other changes.

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Connecticut’s Attorney General Seeks Power to Sue Nursing Homes

The Center Square

Connecticut’s top law-enforcement officer wants to be able to sue nursing homes to recoup taxpayer dollars when facilities are accused of harming patients. 

A proposal being considered by the state’s General Assembly would, if approved, authorize the Attorney General’s office to conduct investigations and file civil lawsuits in cases where state health officials have issued orders that state or federal laws or regulations have been violated.

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Dr. Jay Bhattacharya: ‘What Protections do Americans Have That Data Tracking the Unvaccinated Won’t Be Used Illegitimately?’

Susan Berry, PhD

SOMERS, Connecticut – Stanford University School of Medicine Professor Jay Bhattacharya, M.D. said in an interview with The Star News Network Friday that Americans “should be asking” whether diagnostic code data now being utilized to identify patients who were either never vaccinated or not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be used “illegitimately.”

Bhattacharya responded to a question about the recent implementation in the United States of new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) diagnostic codes that requires doctors at clinics and hospitals to ask patients about their COVID mRNA vaccination status.

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Connecticut Gov. Lamont Signs Fiscal Controls, Free Lunch Bill

The Center Square

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has signed a bill extending “guardrail” fiscal reforms that have been credited with helping turn the state’s once-troubled finances around.

The measure, which was approved by the state Legislature last week, will keep in place a raft of spending “guardrails” that were initially approved as part of the 2017 fiscal year budget for at least another five years.

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Lamont, Legislative Leaders Agree to Extend Fiscal Reforms

The Center Square

 Gov. Ned Lamont and Connecticut’s legislative leaders have agreed to extend a raft of fiscal reforms that have been credited with helping turn the state’s finances around.

A compromise bill unanimously approved by the state General Assembly late Thursday commits the state government to keep in place several spending “guardrails,” which were approved as part of the 2017 fiscal year budget for at least another five years. 

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Lawsuit Takes Aim at Connecticut’s Assault Weapons Ban

The Center Square

Gun rights advocates are seeking to block Connecticut from enforcing a new federal rule that reclassified certain weapons as banned firearms under the state’s assault weapons ban. 

A lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by the Second Amendment Foundation on behalf of several gun owners, seeks a declaratory judgement that Connecticut’s laws banning the sale or possession of “assault weapons” violate the Second Amendment, and calls for a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing the laws. 

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Connecticut Gov. Lamont Seeks Income Tax Cut in Budget Proposal

The Center Square

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont is pitching a plan to cut state income taxes for middle-class workers as part of his budget plan for the next fiscal year. 

Lamont’s proposal, unveiled Monday, calls for permanently lowering the personal income tax rate on single filers’ first $10,000, and $20,000 for joint filers of adjusted gross income from 5% to 4.5%, and the rate on income up to $50,000, and $100,000 for joint filers from 3% to 2%, beginning in 2024. The move, if approved, is projected to save taxpayers $440 million annually.

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Fiscal Watchdog Warns Against Wealth Tax in Connecticut and Five other States

The Center Square

New York is being cautioned against raising taxes on its top earners as lawmakers consider plans to drum up more money from the state’s wealthiest. 

A group of progressive Democratic state lawmakers have proposed a raft of tax reforms targeting New York’s ultra-rich that includes adding new tax brackets for the highest earners, increasing corporate taxes for the top companies, and setting wealth taxes on capital gains and inheritances.

Backers of the Invest in New York proposal say the package of reforms would drum up another $40 million to $50 million for the state’s education, housing and transportation needs. 

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Connecticut Gov. Lamont Pitches Plan to ‘Erase’ Medical Debt

The Center Square

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont is pitching a plan to tap into federal pandemic relief funds to “erase” an estimated $2 billion in medical debt owed by the state’s residents. 

The plan, which will be included in Lamont’s preliminary two-year budget proposal to be unveiled next week, calls for using $20 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to hire a nonprofit organization that buys medical debt and eliminates it “at a fraction” of the original cost. 

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Gov. Lamont’s Plan to Tighten Gun Laws Faces Pushback

The Center Square

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont wants to tighten the state’s gun control laws to prevent mass shootings, but the move is facing pushback from Second Amendment groups which say it would be unconstitutional. 

Lamont’s proposal, which will be unveiled as part of this preliminary budget proposal, calls for increasing the age to buy firearms to 21, closing “loopholes in the state’s assault weapons ban and prohibiting the sale of large-capacity firearm magazines.” 

Lamont said the “commonsense” changes come in response to a spate of mass shootings nationwide. He said the state’s gun control laws have “not kept up with the innovative ways firearm companies are manufacturing guns that have the sole purpose of killing the largest number of humans within the shortest amount of time.” 

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Yale University President Pledges to Prioritize ‘Diversity’ When Filling High Ranking Roles

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Yale University’s president promised to prioritize diversity while filling six high-ranking positions in the administration, according to student newspaper Yale Daily News.

President Peter Salovey will make six appointments to high-level positions currently being held by interim or retiring faculty by the end of the spring 2023 semester, the News reported. He said that he will make diversity a priority when filling the positions, which include four cabinet positions as well as director and leadership titles.

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Connecticut Leaders React to LEGO’s Decision to Move Headquarters

The Center Square

Connecticut leaders are lamenting LEGO Group’s decision to move its corporate headquarters to neighboring Massachusetts, but argue the state will bounce back. 

The company announced it will be relocating from its office in Enfield to Boston by the end of 2026, as part of a strategy to “support the business’s long-term growth ambitions.” The office, which opened in 1975, has roughly 740 employees, who will be given the option to work at the new Boston office.

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Report: Connecticut Home Visit Program Curbs Absenteeism

The Center Square

A federally funded Connecticut program that pays for “home visits” to check on chronically absent students has reduced truancy, according to a new report. 

The report by the Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration said the state’s Learner Engagement and Attendance Program found student attendance rates increased by approximately 4% in the month following an initial visit. 

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Sacred Heart Professor to Resign after 40 Years Following Alleged Dispute over Diversity Requirements

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Gary Rose, political science and global affairs chair and professor at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, will retire from the institution this spring after 40 years of teaching following an alleged dispute regarding curriculum change and diversity programming.

The Dean of the Department of Arts & Sciences, Mark Beekey, had asked Rose to implement within his department “new courses and diversity stuff added to the curriculum,” Ryan Silverstein, a Sacred Heart alumni and Rose’s former research assistant, told The College Fix in a telephone interview.

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Connecticut GOP: State Democrats Have ‘Lost Their Minds’ on Plan to Give Voting Rights to Illegal Immigrants

Just the News

The Connecticut Republican Party is criticizing the Democrat-led state House for a proposal this legislative session to consider voting rights for illegal immigrants, saying Democrats in the state in considering such as idea have “lost their minds.”

“It’s official. @CTDems have lost their minds,” the Connecticut GOP tweeted Thursday. “Now they are proposing voting rights for ILLEGAL ALIENS. Elections are for U.S. citizens only. We will fight this tooth and nail to preserve the integrity of our democratic system.”

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Connecticut Pro-Life Democrat Lawmaker Calls Out ‘Systemically Racist Abortion Industry’ at March for Life Rally

Susan Berry, PhD

Connecticut State Representative Treneé McGee (D-West Haven) told the thousands of pro-life activists at the March for Life rally Friday that black women of the pro-life movement are actively exposing the “systemically racist abortion industry.”

McGee, who was one of 14 state House Democrats – among them 10 people of color – who voted against a bill to expand abortion rights further in Connecticut, fired up the crowd in an address that bluntly accused the abortion industry and Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, of racism.

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Lamont Pitches Plan to Overhaul Connecticut’s Pass-Through Tax Credit

The Center Square

Gov. Ned Lamont wants to update Connecticut’s pass-through entity tax credit, which he says will save business owners, and the state more money.

The plan, a key component of Lamont’s yet-to-be-unveiled budget proposal, calls for restoring Connecticut’s pass-through entity tax credit back to its original level of 93.01%, allowing certain business owners to claim a larger credit on personal income tax returns.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Want Answers for Rejected Army Contract

The Center Square

Connecticut’s congressional delegation is calling on the Army to provide more details about its decision to reject a local company’s bid for a multimillion dollar defense contract to build long-range helicopters.

In a letter to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and Reps. Rosa DeLauro, John Larson, Joe Courtney, Jim Himes and Jahana Hayes request a “detailed briefing” by the Army about why Sikorsky’s bid to build long-range assault aircraft was rejected.

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Connecticut Gov. Lamont Unveils $20 Million Energy Relief Plan

The Center Square

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has unveiled a new energy plan that pumps more money into fuel assistance to provide short-term relief for consumers, while taking steps to wean the state off fossil fuels.

Under a plan unveiled this week, Lamont has directed the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program to increase fuel assistance payments to qualifying residents by another $430 this season to help with home heating costs, and unpaid utility bills through the state’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

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Report: Connecticut Legal Aid Saved State Millions

The Center Square

Connecticut saved taxpayers millions of dollars through a pandemic-related program that provided legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction, according to a new report.

The report on the state’s right-to-counsel program, prepared by the independent consulting firm Stout, found that by preventing evictions or helping tenants find new housing before they’re evicted likely saved Connecticut taxpayers between $5.8 and $6.3 million from the end of January to the end of November 2022. 

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