State News

Murphy Wants Bill To Accommodate Students From Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) this week introduced the ELEVATE Act (S.2761), bicameral legislation that will ensure states receive the federal funding necessary to provide high-quality instruction to students learning English. Specifically this legislation will correct a flawed funding formula the U.S. Department of Education uses to allocate funds to states by fully capturing the number of K-12 students who relocate to the mainland from Puerto Rico. This bill would allow Puerto Rican students to be fully counted in the annual grant allocation that states receive under the English Language Acquisition grant program. Correcting this flaw will be especially helpful to states like Connecticut and Florida, which…

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Health Literacy Month

#WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), on Thursday introduced a bipartisan resolution designating October as “Health Literacy Month.” “Managing your health care benefit shouldn’t be so complicated to understand. Improving health literacy will go a long way toward reducing barriers to care and bringing down the health costs for the people of Connecticut. I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this important resolution just days before open enrollment season begins,” said Murphy. “Improving health literacy could help lower rates of diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure as more people understand symptoms, nutrition, and fitness. I joined this resolution to encourage people in places like Mississippi to become proactive in understanding their health…

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Murphy Resolution To Protect Children In Conflict Zones

MURPHY INTRODUCES RESOLUTION TO PROTECT EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN IN CONFLICT ZONES   WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Thursday introduced a resolution that affirms the importance of access to safe, quality education—including protection from attacks on schools—for children in conflict zones. U.S. Representatives Nita Lowey (D-NY-17) and Steve Chabot (R-OH-1) introduced the House version of this resolution in April.   “As civil wars in places like Syria to the Democratic Republic of Congo rage on for years on end, children who are out of school risk becoming a lost generation, more vulnerable to human trafficking, child marriage, and recruitment by armed groups. That’s exactly why we must preserve access to safe, quality education for children all around the world,…

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Attorney General Wants Loan Forgiveness For Art Students

Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong has joined a bipartisan coalition of 30 state attorneys general urging U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to expand loan forgiveness eligibility for students who were enrolled in schools operated by the Dream Center Education Holdings, LLC (DCEH). The letter details extraordinary misconduct and mismanagement by DCEH, which prevented students from obtaining degrees, and unfairly left them to repay federal student-loan debt from their time attending the failed schools. Click here to download the letter. At the time the schools closed on March 8, 2019, there were 49 Connecticut students enrolled in online programs through Argosy University and the Art Institutes. Those students are eligible to have their federal student loans discharged. Attorney General Tong…

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Blumenthal Statement On Vintage Aircraft

HARTFORD, CT) – Today, in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Stephen Dickson, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, highlighted concerns and questioned the agency’s safety inspection requirements for vintage planes. On October 2, 2019, a vintage Boeing B-17G, owned by the Collings Foundation (Collings), crashed at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut resulting in the loss of at least seven lives and multiple injuries. A previously unreleased FAA document from March 2018 revealed the FAA granted Collings’ petition to extend and amend Exemption No. 6540 – allowing the organization to carry passengers on its vintage aircraft for compensation to defray the cost of operating and maintaining its planes. However, it…

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Connecticut’s First Vaping Death

#Hartford, CT— U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) released the following statement regarding the first known vaping-related death in Connecticut: The vaping epidemic has now hit home - tragically. This epidemic now exploding in force has turned deadly here. Everyday teens are starting lifetimes of addiction and disease, thinking vaping is harmless. As I have warned repeatedly over years, e-cigarettes deliver powerfully addictive nicotine, dangerous chemicals, and unknown poisons. The FDA must act before there are more deaths and more lives put in peril. It should ban flavors immediately, and take other necessary long overdue steps. On Friday at 11 am, Blumenthal will conduct a roundtable conversation with students at A.I. Prince Technical High School in Hartford regarding the dangers of vaping.…

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Blumenthal For Big Cat Protection

WASHINGTON, D.C] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced two pieces of legislation – the Big Cat Public Safety Act and the Captive Primate Safety Act – to protect public safety and improve animal welfare. The Big Cat Public Safety Act prohibits the ownership of big cats, like lions and tigers, and makes it illegal for exhibitors to allow public contact with cubs. The Captive Primate Safety Act prohibits the sale or transportation of nonhuman primates for the exotic pet trade. “These bills will help prevent the exploitation of big cats and primates—reducing risks to public safety by prohibiting the private ownership of animals that should really be allowed to live naturally in the wild. When wild animals—whether lions or chimpanzees—are…

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Governor Wants You To Take Precautions on EEE

HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont is advising people in Connecticut to take proper precautions to protect themselves against Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) as state public health officials announced that the second person to be diagnosed with the virus this year in Connecticut has passed away. The patient, an adult resident from Old Lyme, was hospitalized with encephalitis in mid-September and is the second human fatality from the virus in Connecticut since 2013.   The governor made the announcement at a State Capitol news briefing alongside the leaders of the Connecticut Mosquito Control Program, including the commissioners of the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the Department of Agriculture (DOAG), and the Connecticut…

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Blumenthal, Murphy Call For Trump Impeachment

Blumenthal: “I am calling today for a House Select Committee to investigate and move forward with impeachment proceedings against the President. I reached this decision with sadness, but also anger, after the President has repeatedly broken laws and betrayed his oath of office. His seeking corrupt assistance from a foreign leader for personal political gain crosses the line. This illegal misuse of the presidency for private benefit is an impeachable act. This most recent lawbreaking follows three years of contemptuous disregard for the Constitution. The Congress must demand accountability. The values and norms of our democracy are precious and vulnerable and they depend on people fighting for them in times of adversity. At this moment, the threat to the rule…

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Lamont Wants Special Session On Restaurant Workers

HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont is urging the members of the Connecticut General Assembly to meet in special session as soon as possible to adopt legislation his administration developed following a series of meetings this summer with the leaders of each legislative caucus to address the ongoing issue of wages for restaurant workers.   In a letter delivered yesterday afternoon to legislative leaders, the governor explained that the proposal strikes a proper balance while protecting workers with legitimate claims to unpaid wages. He is hopeful that they will vote quickly on the proposal so that he can sign it into law.   “The legislative proposal that I have put forward through our collaborative discussions strikes the appropriate balance by eliminating double…

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