Don Stacom

1 week ago | courant.com | Don Stacom

Bloomfield residents who turned out at a referendum Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected the proposed budget, but there weren’t enough votes to make the outcome count. Unofficial results showed 1,934 people voted against the budget while just 464 voted in favor, but the $117 million budget still wasn’t defeated. By town charter, 15% of voters must vote “no” for a budget to fail at referendum. That means opponents fell 265 votes short of the 2,296 they needed.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Don Stacom

Bloomfield residents who turned out at a referendum Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected the proposed budget, but there weren’t enough votes to make the outcome count. Unofficial results showed 1,934 people voted against the budget while just 464 voted in favor, but the $117 million budget still wasn’t defeated. By town charter, 15% of voters must vote “no” for a budget to fail at referendum. That means opponents fell 265 votes short of the 2,296 they needed.

1 week ago | courant.com | Don Stacom

A conservative group that’s pursuing anti-DEI complaints against more than a dozen state universities on Wednesday targeted the University of Connecticut, accusing the school of violating civil rights law by setting aside numerous scholarships exclusively or chiefly for minority students. The Rhode Island-based Equal Protection Project complained to the federal education department’s Office of Civil Rights that UConn illegally invoked race, ethnicity or gender in awarding several scholarships.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Don Stacom

The developer seeking to build 148 condos in Manchester is now applying to put up a four-story building with 65 apartments in Southington. 3 Squared LLC argues that restricting rents on 20 units to “affordable” levels will help the town, but scores of neighbors object to the plan. The company cited the state’s 8-30g affordable housing law in its application, and said 30% of the apartments would meet Connecticut’s definition of affordable.

1 week ago | courant.com | Don Stacom

President Trump's recent vow that he's "bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes” was only the latest sign that controversy about the Italian explorer is far from resolved on the national level. A sample of local school systems' practices shows no agreement in Connecticut, either, but also indicates there's virtually no push at the local level to change whatever name is currently used.