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.”

As Voters Expand Ballot Access, GOP Lawmaker Favors Rollback of Voter Registration Option

by Hugh McQuaid

December 9 @ 11:30 am

Credit: Studioroman / Canva

Less than a month after many Connecticut residents utilized Election Day voter registration to participate in the 2024 election, a leading Republican on the legislature’s government administration committee has argued the policy should not exist.

“There should not be same-day registration,” Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, told the CT Examiner last month, “because there’s no way to verify that voter on the same day that they’re voting.”

Mastrofrancesco, the ranking House Republican on the legislature’s Government Administration and Elections Committee, was interviewed as part of the Examiner’s coverage of Connecticut voters’ decision to expand voting options by approving a constitutional amendment to allow no-excuse absentee balloting.

A strong majority of voters approved that amendment on Election Day, giving state lawmakers the flexibility to approve more convenient options for Connecticut voters to make their voices heard in elections.

Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Stamford Democrat who co-chairs the committee, told the Examiner that legislative Democrats would prioritize making those options available to Connecticut voters.

“For a long time our state constitution was an obstacle to making our elections run more smoothly and efficiently and eliminating redundancy, and now that we have removed that obstacle through the constitutional amendment, we’ll be able to pass absentee voting for all but also look to try to make the whole system work better,” Blumenthal said.

Mastrofrancesco, meanwhile, advocated for more restrictive voting policies and the rollback of Election Day voter registration, citing the policy’s widespread use in many towns.

Connecticut is one of 23 states to have adopted some form of Election Day registration, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. These states range from reliably Democratic bastions like California to more conservative areas like Wyoming, where Republicans hold supermajorities in both legislative chambers.

Connecticut’s policy has been on the books for more than a decade, and was enacted in 2012 as part of a larger effort to modernize the state’s electoral system. That bill, An Act Concerning Voting Rights, also created a process by which residents could register to vote online.

As the Government Administration and Elections Committee was debating the bill back in 2012, then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the changes would give Connecticut residents a voice in the place where it mattered most — the voting booth.

“That means more of our residents will have a voice in how their tax dollars are spent, what kind of health care system we have, how their children are educated and so many other aspects of their lives,” the former governor said.

Fairfield Avenue Bridge Reopens, Ahead Of Schedule and Under Budget

By Joe O’Leary

December 7 @ 5:00 am

Connecticut Department of Transportation employees stand with Sen. Bob Duff on newly Completed Fairfield Avenue Bridge in Norwalk. Credit: Andres Chiu / Senate Democrats

Just seven months after it was demolished due to heavy damage in a May 2 vehicle fire, the Fairfield Avenue Bridge in Norwalk, an important crossing point over Interstate 95 in that town, is as good as new.

The extensive work of the Department of Transportation, Yonkers Contracting Company, other state agencies and subcontractors from May to December is evidence of Connecticut ingenuity. Originally, the bridge was supposed to be completed in spring 2025. However, it’s ready to carry traffic now, months ahead of schedule.

The project was also completed under-budget. The bridge was expected to cost $20 million; however, the project came in at a final cost of just $16.8 million.

Meanwhile, DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto told The Norwalk Hour that up to 90% of the costs will be covered by the federal government. DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said crews worked ahead of time to avoid winter weather, which could have delayed the project.

During a press conference earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said the project was an example of local, state and federal government working hand-in-hand to meet the needs of Connecticut residents.

“Really, the credit all belongs to the men and women who worked so hard to get this bridge reopened,” Duff said, “and those who worked so tirelessly after the accident to clear the rubble and to make sure that I-95 could be open again, those who worked so hard to prioritize this project — all those people deserve our thanks.”

According to Eucalitto, the new structure has the same footprint as the original bridge and generally has the same design, albeit with slightly more space for bicyclists.

Norwalk local traffic will be able to resume without delays or detours caused by the bridge’s absence, while more than 100,000 motorists who drive underneath it everyday can rest assured of their safety.

In a press release, Gov. Ned Lamont said the reopening of the bridge marked a significant milestone for Norwalk and hundreds of thousands of motorists who rely on Interstate 95.

“This is a great example of what can be accomplished when government, contractors, and local leaders work together with a sense of urgency and purpose,” Lamont said.

After the initial vehicle fire, caused by a crash involving a fuel tanker under the structure itself, flames and gasoline rose to leave scorch marks underneath, damaging it enough that it was demolished the same week the fire occurred. I-95 was reopened within days of the crash, but the bridge’s absence caused serious traffic issues in Norwalk after highway backups abated.

Back in May, officials expected the repairs would take a year – making the fruits of this Herculean effort from state agencies and transportation workers all the sweeter.