From Paddi's Desk
Malloy swung for the fences this week
After returning from a family vacation to Ireland, Governor Malloy kicked off this past Monday with a huge announcement (full disclosure - EIP, LLC is our client) - a major repurposing of an old Stanley Black & Decker manufacturing facility in downtown New Britain, to house potentially 3,000 new jobs in the energy and technology fields. The first fuel cell-driven data center will be located there by 2020, and the remaining area is to spur small entrepreneurial start-ups, much like New Haven's Innovation Places. Officially called the "Energy & Innovation Park," the site will invigorate New Britain and play off of the great work being done by Central Connecticut State University, which is located down the street.
On Tuesday, Governor Malloy announced another huge project, this time for West Hartford. The project is the Seven Stars Cloud Group's "Think Tank" that will be located at the closed UConn-West Hartford branch. The site will house the world headquarters for artificial intelligence technology and blockchain technology, used to create cloud-based ledgers for traders and businesses.
After resting on the 4th of July, yesterday the Governor - together with Congressman John Larson and CT's two U.S. Senators - announced a large investment of state, federal and local funds to renovate the historic Colt Park in Hartford. The plan is to update and rehabilitate the historic baseball and softball fields, to enhance the earlier-announced upgrades to Dillon Stadium which will return professional soccer matches to the Capitol city.
Not sure what he has up his sleeve for today (Friday). Between these three events, everyone was kept busy on what was expected to be a slow day under the Dome.
State legislators from New Britain attended the Energy & Innovation Park announcement Monday at the Stanley Black & Decker site, while West Hartford delegation members convened in the Old Judiciary Room at the State Capitol for the UConn/Seven Stars Cloud announcement on Tuesday. Hartford delegation members were there at Colt Park on Thursday to congratulate all on the timely investment.
Maybe predictions of CT's demise were premature, and maybe those federal tax cuts are stirring the business community to look at CT differently. With the campaign primaries coming up, everyone is hoping to see pro-business and economic growth candidates on the ballot come November, whomever they may be.
Can't wait to see what Governor Malloy has up his sleeve for the rest of July! Fireworks are alive and well in CT!
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CT Agency Corner
Take a Number Please
by Mike Johnson
A recent report on the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) has caused some major concerns to citizens and organizations. A recent report indicates that wait time for an average caller calling into the DSS call center averages around 96 minutes. More than 40 advocacy organizations have called upon the DSS commissioner to fix this ongoing problem. The major concern of these wait times is those persons who are calling in ultimately losing their benefits after not being able to get ahold of a representative. While there are no concrete numbers of persons who have lost benefits, many callers have given up calling after the extreme wait times to no avail. The call abandonment rate reported by the agency was 55 to 60 percent of the calls.
Keith Mullinar, a Medicaid enrollee with muscular dystrophy, and a member of the CT Cross Disability Lifespan Alliance, said. "The shockingly long waits at the call center mean that many of these people simply cannot get basic problems fixed-like wrongful terminations of Medicaid/HUSKY C and other benefits, often the result of delayed processing-putting them at serious risk of harm and causing them great stress. This also raises a serious issue of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act," as quoted by CT News Junkie. This issue has been continuously brought to the attention of the legislature, and Senator Terry Gerratana, who co-chairs the committee that oversees the Medicaid program said that the committee will be discussing this new finding of average wait times at their July meeting. Read more about this issue
here.
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Did You Know?
4th of July Fun Facts
- Contrary to popular belief, only two Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The majority of signers penned their signatures on August 2, 1776.
- The holiday does not celebrate the signing of the Declaration; it celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress.
- In a now-famous letter to his wife, Abigail, dated July 3, 1776, John Adams made a prediction that the "Second Day of July" would be celebrated as American Independence Day, since the Congress had actually voted to sever ties with Great Britain the day before.
- Independence Day became a federal holiday in 1870.
- Other countries, including Denmark, England, Norway, Portugal and Sweden also celebrate the Fourth of July as a way to bring in American tourists.
- Our country now boasts 318.9 million citizens, but on the first 4th of July there were only 2.5 million.
- The original draft of the Declaration of Independence was lost.
- The back of the Declaration of Independence says, "Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776."
- The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to print the Declaration on July 6, 1776.
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ITL News
Exciting news! We are redesigning "In the Loop". Be on the lookout next week for our new layout!
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The Real Scoop
It's campaign season folks! Mark your calendars for upcoming debates to learn more about those candidates running for office this fall.
Sunday, July 8th, 2018 from 1:30pm to 3pm: The Washington DTC
will host a primary debate between Democratic Congressional Candidates for the 5th district Mary Glassman and Jahana Hayes at 2 Bryan Plaza, Washington.
The Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges
(CCIC) will co-host a Republican and a Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum with the Connecticut Mirror and Connecticut Public Radio and the events will be moderated by WNPR's John Dankosky:
- Republican Candidate Forum on Monday, Aug. 6, with a reception from 6 to 7 p.m. and the forum will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield.
- Democratic Candidate Forum on Tuesday, Aug. 7, with a reception from 6 to 7 p.m. and the forum will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Bucknall Theater, University of New Haven, 300 Boston Post Road, West Haven.
WFSB will host a series of political debates in partnership with UConn moderated by Dennis House:
- Gubernatorial Debate on Wednesday, Sept. 26, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the UConn Storrs Campus.
- U.S. Senate Debate on Sunday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. to noon at the WFSB Rocky Hill Studio.
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Municipal
Roundup
by Ryan Bingham
We hope you had a happy 4th of July this week! If you don't know where to watch your favorite local fireworks, CTvisit.com has a great resource for you to find your nearest fireworks display. Click here to check out where you can see a local firework show.
As you can see, Sullivan & LeShane has your back when it comes to celebrating America!
This week also marked the new fiscal year for state and local governme
nts and the beginning of a handful of new laws that were passed last legislative session. One that impacts local school districts is additional training for school bus drivers. School transportation carriers are now, as of July 1st, 2019, required to teach their bus drivers how to handle serious allergic reactions. The school bus drivers will be trained to identify the symptoms of an allergic reaction and be able to administer epinephrine by a cartridge injector, commonly known as an EpiPen. The new law extends the protections of the "Good Samaritan" law to cover school bus drivers, meaning drivers who are acting to assist a passenger will not be held liable for damages in a civil lawsuit, so long as there is no negligence in administering emergency care.
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Behind the Scenes
By Chelsea Neelon
With the 4th of July holiday over, we are now about a month away from the August 14th primary. This primary will prove to be of the most intriguing and exciting in years, and candidates are ramping up their efforts to get their voices heard. Ned Lamont, Democratic candidate for governor, recently hired Putnam Partners, a "high-risk, high-reward" political advertising firm to help try to take his campaign to the next level. David Stemerman, one of the Republican candidates in a five way primary for governor, has been hiring top political consultants to give his campaign a boost, along with $10 million dollars of his own personal funds to invest in his campaign. Each candidate is now tasked with making themselves stand out among the crowded field, and will be a true test.
Joseph Markley, State Senator and Republican Party endorsed candidate for Lt. Governor says he wants to use "the office [of Lt. Gov] as a 'business protection agency' that would help companies resolve problems with state agencies, something he believes would address Connecticut reputation as a poor business state," as reported by the Record Journal.
Markley is in a three way primary with Mayor Erin Stewart and Jayme Stevenson, and is looking to solidify his path to office. On the other side of the ticket, this week U.S. Rep. John Larson endorsed Democratic candidates Ned Lamont for governor and Susan Bysiewicz for Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz is in a contested primary race against Eva Bermudez Zimmerman. Rep. Larson's endorsement hopes to add momentum to the Bysiewicz campaign, and we will all be watching to see how these races play out next month.
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Upcoming Events:
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Check back for updates soon!
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