Biden Pardons Norwalk Resident Convicted of Nonviolent Drug Offense

By Hugh McQuaid

December 14 @ 5:00 am

A Norwalk resident was among 39 Americans to earn a pardon Thursday from President Joe Biden, who sought to provide clemency to people who had rehabilitated their lives following convictions for non-violent crimes including drug offenses.

Biden pardoned Sherranda Janell Harris, 43, of Norwalk as part of what the Associated Press described as the “largest single day-act of clemency in modern history.”

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a press release. “As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”

Harris was convicted of a non-violent drug offence when she was 24 years old, according to a statement from the White House. Since that conviction, she has maintained employment, has been an engaged parent, and has taken care of fellow church parishioners. The White House described Harris as “a role model for young women in her community.”

The president’s pardon of a Norwalk resident prompted a statement from Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. Duff said Biden’s actions reflected compassion and a commitment to justice.

“Too many Americans had their lives permanently disrupted by draconian drug policies in the 1990s and early 2000s,” Duff said. “These policies disproportionately affected communities of color, creating barriers to education, housing, and employment for generations. Although I do not personally know Ms. Harris, it’s heartening to see a fellow Norwalk resident receive an opportunity for a fresh start.”

In his statement, the president said that the 39 people he pardoned had shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer. Meanwhile, Biden said he issued the 1,499 commutations to individuals who were serving long prison sentences, often for crimes that would receive more lenient punishments by today’s standards.

Biden said Americans could expect additional announcements before he left office early next month.

“I will take more steps in the weeks ahead,” the president said. “My Administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances.”

State Officials Worry About Budgetary Impacts of Trump’s ‘Concepts of a Plan’

By Hugh McQuaid

December 13 @ 4:00 pm

State budget officials said Monday they were bracing for the possibility that Connecticut’s fiscal stability could be disrupted by reductions in federal health care funding from the incoming Trump administration.

During his first term in office, President-elect Donald Trump unsuccessfully sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act and has been vague about his health care policy intentions since last month’s election.

However, according to KFF, a nonprofit policy organization formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, recent proposals from legislative Republicans and Project 2025 have included limitations on federal Medicaid spending and the elimination of expanded marketplace subsidies under the ACA.

The potential for a reduction in federal support was on the minds of state officials during a Monday hearing to review a new report on Connecticut’s finances. Sen. Saud Anwar, Senate chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee, asked the governor’s budget chief if the administration had developed a contingency plan for Medicaid cuts under Trump.

“We’re going to assume that they will honor the current law,” Jeffrey Beckham, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, answered. “If there are changes at the federal level in terms of what they’re prepared to reimburse us for, that’s obviously something we’ll all have to contend with. I’m not interested in getting less from them, but we’ll see what they say.”

Beckham said the Lamont administration was in the process of crafting a state budget proposal for the next two years and was monitoring the situation in Washington D.C. for indications that federal support may be reduced

“We have resources in Washington,” he told the joint hearing of the Appropriations and Finance Committees. “We have at least one operative and others that we work with. We’re actively trying to get that information. The governor’s made a request that we get as much intel as we can and early warning as we can as to what we might have to contend with.”

Anwar, a practicing medical doctor, stressed that Connecticut policymakers had a “social responsibility” to address community needs in addition to their fiscal responsibility to pass a state budget in the coming year.

As recently as this week, Trump has resisted media efforts to shed light on his health care plans. In a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that he had “concepts of a plan” for health care.

“We have the biggest health care companies looking at it,” Trump told Welker. “We have doctors who are always looking. Because Obamacare stinks, it’s lousy.”

On Monday, Beckham told state legislators that he expected to have a better idea how the Trump administration’s plans may impact Connecticut’s budget in 2026.

“By the time we get to the ‘26 session, we may have to make — we may have to have some complicated conversations,” Beckham said.

Connecticut Invests More Than $50 Million in Housing Developments Statewide

By Joe O’Leary

December 12 @ 5:00 am

Connecticut’s Department of Housing and the state Housing Finance Authority recently announced that they will contribute more than $57 million in loans, grants, and tax credits to support the creation of more than 750 new housing units across the state.

The DOH and CHFA signed agreements with 14 developments to create a total of 771 housing units, 294 of which will be designated for low- and moderate-income renters and 56 of which will be permanent supportive housing.

The funds will support projects around the state, with Bridgeport, Cheshire, Derby, Farmington, Greenwich, Haddam, New Haven, New London, Norwalk, Shelton and Wilton among the communities to receive funding for new developments.

The CHFA signed additional financing agreements worth $12 million for 103 of those units to be funded by Build For CT, a program to create apartments that will be affordable for middle-income renters.

With the agreements in place, developments can now begin construction.

In a press release, Connecticut Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno said the financing reflected the state’s commitment to meeting urgent housing demands.

“[W]e are providing resources that enable communities to grow while creating homes that are accessible, affordable, and supportive of residents’ unique needs,” Mosquera-Bruno said.

The funded projects will include new construction of three-family homes to replace buildings destroyed by fire in Bridgeport, two separate Cheshire developments creating a total of 136 units and a Greenwich redevelopment creating 48 new units. In most cases, the projects receiving funding will include many affordable homes.

In Farmington, for instance, at 1600 New Britain Avenue, a new development will include 20 supportive housing units for Department of Developmental Services clients and another 68 units designated as affordable for residents earning 80% or below of area median income.

The December announcement came just four months after the DOH and CHFA committed another $25 million in loans, grants and low-income housing tax credits to finance another 758 housing units.

Those earlier projects included 396 units designated as affordable and 18 units set aside as permanent supportive housing for people recovering from homelessness or those who have disabilities.

Together, the projects received investments of more than $80 million in just the last six months to create more than 1,500 housing units in an effort to alleviate Connecticut’s housing crunch.

State Sen. Norm Needleman, an Essex Democrat who represents Haddam, where a $1.25 million loan will support 32 new units, said the new developments would help meet housing needs in many Connecticut communities.

“They will help reduce strain in the housing market and provide more opportunities for people to fill the tens of thousands of jobs still open throughout our state,” Needleman said. “It’s really encouraging to see the Department of Housing and Housing Finance Authority working together to support our state.”

Anthem Reverses Anesthesia Decision Following Outcry, Opposition

By Joe O’Leary

December 11 @ 5:00 am

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reversed a decision last week regarding coverage of procedures using anesthesia following outcry and negotiation by Connecticut lawmakers after the major insurance provider moved to limit its coverage.

Anthem announced last month that it would impose a new policy in Connecticut, New York and Missouri that anesthesiology coverage would be rejected starting in February if it went over certain time limits, with the cost of anesthesia passed on to patients. In the event of surgical complications or delays, outside of a patient’s control, they would be forced to pay.

Only patients under the age of 22 and receiving maternity care would be exempt from the policy.

Anthem’s announcement was immediately met with derision and scorn from physicians, anesthesiologists and members of the public, among others.

“This is just the latest in a long line of appalling behavior by commercial health insurers looking to drive their profits up at the expense of patients and physicians providing essential care,” said Dr. Donald E. Arnold, President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. “It’s a cynical money grab by Anthem, designed to take advantage of the commitment anesthesiologists make thousands of times each day to provide their patients with expert, complete and safe anesthesia care. This egregious policy breaks the trust between Anthem and its policyholders who expect their health insurer to pay physicians for the entirety of the care they need.”

Public officials in Connecticut had similar objections

“This is appalling,” said U.S. Senator Chris Murphy. “Saddling patients with thousands of dollars in surprise additional medical debt. And for what? Just to boost corporate profits? Reverse this decision immediately.”

State Senator Saud Anwar, Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee, said he was outraged by the cap, which he called “directly dangerous to patients’ well-being.”

“Anthem should reverse this cruel, ineffective, heavy-handedly abusive policy before it impacts patient care, throws people into medical debt or places timers hovering over the heads of surgeons in operating rooms,” Anwar said.

A reversal came quickly in Connecticut. State Comptroller Sean Scanlon, who expressed dismay at the initial policy, said last week that his office reached out to Anthem upon learning of the change.

“After hearing from people across the state about this concerning policy, my office reached out to Anthem, and I’m pleased to share this policy will no longer be going into effect here in Connecticut,” Scanlon said.

Anthem announced shortly after that it was reversing the planned policy in New York and Missouri in addition to Connecticut, citing “widespread misinformation” in making that decision.

The announcement came just one day after the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, a shocking event that drew renewed focus on health insurance companies’ policies, including their claim rejection rates, and the impact those decisions have on public health.

“Data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows Anthem cancels as many as one in five in-network claims,” Anwar said in an updated statement after Anthem announced its reversal in Connecticut but before it was rescinded in New York and Missouri, calling for its blanket removal. “If this policy goes into place, I expect that rate may increase.”

Mentors Bring Leadership and Life Lessons to Middle School Students in Windsor

By Hugh McQuaid

December 10 @ 9:00 am

Devonté Dillion, on left, and Sen. Doug McCrory, right, speak with students at Sage Park Middle School on Dec. 4. Credit: Lukas Houle / Senate Democrats

Well before the first bell signaled the start of the day at Sage Park Middle School on Wednesday, a handful of students had braved the early morning frost and crowded around a conference room table to hear words of encouragement from their state senator.

“I think that, as a senator, it’s very important for me to check in on our students’ wellness because you don’t always have a lot of these opportunities,” Sen. Doug McCrory, D-Hartford, told the group of seventh and eighth graders at the Windsor school.

The students had gathered for a weekly mentorship program run by Devonté Dillion, of Dilligence Training. In addition to running an East Hartford-based health and wellness center, Dillion and co-founder Terrell Huff run mentorship programs aimed at young people in the greater Hartford area.

In a November interview, the two men often repeated the phrase “Be who you needed growing up” as a kind of guiding principle for their youth outreach efforts. Though their business largely centers around physical fitness, Dillion said they encourage young people to develop holistic identities that do not focus exclusively on sports.

“You have to think about what life after sports looks like,” said Dillion, who played football for Windsor High School and later for the American International College. “Don’t have your identity shaped around sports because you’re more than an athlete. At their age, I wasn’t exposed to that type of talk and I feel like that can save a kid’s life. I was someone who didn’t hear that and I fell into a dark pit because I didn’t know what was next.”

McCrory, a former guard for the University of Hartford’s men’s basketball team, seemed to understand the necessity of planning for life after sports as he quizzed the seventh and eighth graders on their post-academic plans. Some students told the senator they hoped to play basketball or baseball professionally.

“What’s your fallback position when you finish playing basketball?” McCrory asked one student. “What are you going to do after you hit all those home runs?” he asked another. Some answered with career options like “engineer” and “law enforcement.”

The senator smiled, praised their choices, and offered up another idea. “We need a program that starts with kids your age and teaches them to become teachers,” McCrory, a career educator, said.

As the young people chatted with Dillion and McCrory, Sage Park Middle School Principal Liana Jorgensen remarked on the importance of the Dilligence mentorship program and the rare opportunity for her students to engage and interact with a state senator who looks like them.

The principal recalled listening to Dillion teach the group the importance of a firm handshake among other key social skills.

“I’m starting to feel like it’s catching on and I love it,” Jorgensen said. “This is a journey for these children and, knowing some of these kids, this is going to be a worthwhile journey for them. This will make a big difference and can change the trajectory of some of their lives, believe it or not.”

However, Jorgensen said it is often difficult to find mentors who are willing to take time to work with middle school students.

“So when Devonté came along with this program, we were like ‘Yes! We’ll take it,’” she said. “We told them, ‘If you can get the funding, we will make it work.’”

Dillion and Huff said in November that McCrory had helped them tackle those financial barriers by connecting them with grant funding. As of Wednesday, they were offering a wellness program for Windsor Public School faculty members and were five weeks into their mentorship program with about a dozen students at Sage Park Middle School.

Dillion said the students had been making observable progress. Over the course of the program, they have built self esteem, confidence and a willingness to express themselves in public — areas where he said pandemic-era remote learning had disrupted the development of some young people.

“They’re more open to sharing their thoughts,” he said. “Social skills are something that they’ve almost been deprived of due to the pandemic. So I feel like this is creating a space for them to be aware of how they feel and how to put that into words.”

McCrory urged the students to have fun with the program and make the most of the mentor they had found in Dillion.

“He’s going to give to you everything he’s been taught and that’s how we win: stay focused, keep doing the work,” McCrory said. “He really sees something in you all. Just like I saw something in him.”

For his part, Dillion told the students what the state senator had told him, when the two first met several years earlier.

“One thing he said that really stuck with me is, ‘Keep going, don’t stop. I’ve got my eye on you,’” Dillion said. “From there, I never let my foot off the gas. It’s about being consistent. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, I always move with intention and integrity. That will get you into so many rooms and open up so many opportunities. Just stay true to who you are and do things for the right reasons.”