Connecticut legislature

Republican members of the Connecticut legislature’s Public Health Committee have called for a full investigation into the systematic abuse of a 62-year-old patient at Whiting Forensic Division, the state's maximum security forensic hospital in Middletown.

Governor Dannel Malloy's veto of the Republican budget remains unchallenged. 

Bipartisan budget talks restart Monday, with legislators on notice that they may be called for a potential special session later this week. What they don’t know is whether they’ll be asked to vote on a whole new budget, to rework a hospital tax, or to override the governor’s recent veto. 

Connecticut is now the only state in the country without a budget and the sparring continues. Republican leaders urged the governor on Wednesday to sign off on their recently passed budget and move forward. 

Legislators may vote Friday on a new deal to tax Connecticut’s hospitals as a way of pulling in more federal funding. Leaders of both parties got together Tuesday in the first bipartisan negotiations since the unexpected passage of the Republicans' budget more than a week ago.

As the state continues to operate without a budget, the impact on the city of Hartford only get more dire.

The Connecticut legislature approved a Republican-backed budget early Saturday, sending it to the desk of a governor who promises to veto it and prolonging the state's fiscal uncertainty.

Connecticut lawmakers went home late Thursday night after failing to approve a two-year, $41 billion state budget. The bill would have created new taxes and fees but would not have included increases in the sales or income tax. 

Connecticut’s municipalities have blasted all sides in the ongoing state budget impasse. Town and city officials spoke out after Governor Dannel Malloy issued a report claiming that state aid to municipalities has grown more than 20 percent in the last five years. 

The American Cancer Society has blasted Connecticut Democrats’ latest budget proposal, which would raise the state’s tobacco tax, but take away money to help people quit the habit. 

A longtime observer of Connecticut’s economy says plans to cut education grants to towns as a way of balancing the state budget could end up damaging the housing market. 

Connecticut’s Democratic lawmakers have proposed increasing the state sales tax to 6.85 percent from 6.35 percent -- part of a nearly $40 billion budget plan released Wednesday.