J Brendan Sharkey

Is it any wonder that Connecticut is considered a high-cost state? We have a state government, plus 169 local governments, plus hundreds of regional entities that overlap and bear little relation to each other. And to pay for this redundant mishmash, we...

HARTFORD — Activists pressing for a state law requiring labels on food with genetically modified ingredients are disappointed and angry that the House of Representatives weakened a bill approved by the Senate earlier this week. "It's very clear...

A secretly drafted bill to block release of photos, tapes of 911 calls and death certificates related to the Dec. 14 Newtown elementary school massacre could be acted on in the General Assembly as early as the end of the week, officials said Wednesday....

A bill that would require food made with genetically modified organisms to carry labels cleared the state Senate late Tuesday night. The Senate's approval, on a 35-1 vote, gives new energy to a measure that had strong grassroots backing but appeared...

A commission created by the House Speaker is calling for elimination of the state law requiring public notices to be printed in daily newspapers. The newspaper issue has become one of the more controversial matters at the state Capitol as the General...

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Friday pushed to raise the state minimum wage by 75 cents over the next two years, backing a measure that steps back from a proposal in the legislature but still lacks the support of the business lobby. "I believe that we can...

HARTFORD — Flanked by family members of Newtown massacre victims and the legislative leaders who spent months trying to respond to their tragedy, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a sweeping gun-control bill Thursday whose big provisions — such...

Lawmakers in Connecticut, the site of the Dec. 14 massacre that renewed a national debate over gun control, passed a bipartisan measure that increases background checks for buyers and bans the sale of semiautomatic rifles like the one used in Newtown&...

You are right to wonder why a hefty tax increase and claims to have gotten spending under control have not brought stable finances to state government. Sometimes a jarring example will help explain something as complex as Connecticut's troubled, growing...

The louder the public pledges of bipartisan cooperation and resolve, the deeper the undercurrents of private distrust and resentment — or at least, that often seems to be the rule in legislative politics. And it seems to be taking hold as the...

There's a certain ambiguity in state Rep. Ernest Hewett's crude response to a teenage intern's testimony at a Feb. 20 budget hearing. But that ambiguity doesn't excuse what the New London Democrat said. The teenager, speaking on behalf of the...

The board of police commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to ask the legislature to expand Connecticut's workers' compensation law to provide benefits for those who might have "sustained physical or emotional injury" as the result of the Sandy Hook...