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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley plans to launch her presidential campaign in less than two weeks with an event in Charleston, S.C. Sen. Tim Scott will kick off a "listening tour" a day later - from the same city - before following Haley to Iowa. Former vice president Mike Pence will be in Charleston next week. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will start traveling the country after the Feb. 28 release of his memoir, headlining back-to-back GOP dinners in Houston and Dallas where "platinum sponsors" who chip in $50,000 will get photos and tickets to a VIP reception. The race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination is about to kick into higher gear, with Donald Trump soon expected to get his first formal challenger as other Republicans hit the trail in key states and take more visible steps toward campaigns. In this new and more active phase, potential candidates … [Read more...] about Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and more to blitz Iowa, S. Carolina in 2024 ‘preseason’

Faulting the federal government for lax border enforcement, leaders in the Texas Senate signaled they would continue to spend significant portions of the state budget on efforts to curb immigration. The state allocated more than $4 billion on the issue in the last two years, including $40 million in ongoing efforts to bus migrants from Texas border towns to Democrat-led cities across the country and $163 million on a state-funded border wall. Lawmakers appear eager to re-up that kind of funding. “In our base budget, the House and the Senate [have] projected that we would continue the investment in the wall,” said Joan Huffman , a Houston Republican who leads the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee, during a hearing Friday. “The federal government does not appear to be taking this extremely serious problem seriously at all, and so the state has felt an obligation to continue with this financial commitment.” Sarah Hicks, budget director for Gov. Greg Abbott ’s office, … [Read more...] about Texas Senate leaders signal intent to spend big on border security

HARTFORD -- In one way of looking at it, a gala fundraiser that drew business and political elites to honor a former elected official in a minor league baseball park on the coldest night of the year was just that, a gathering for a charity, like so many. On the other hand, the firepower at Dunkin’ Donuts Park Friday night to applaud Shawn T. Wooden, who served one, 4-year term as Connecticut’s state treasurer, would impress anyone familiar with politics, business and the civic power structure -- especially in the Black community -- in and beyond Connecticut. And that raised an obvious question. “Shawn Wooden was always committed to Hartford,” said U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Brooklyn, N.Y. Democrat who’s minority leader in the House of Representatives and likely the future House speaker when and if the Dems win back that chamber. Wooden and Jeffries are pals from NYU law school. “He had so many opportunities to practice law across the country including at some of the … [Read more...] about Dan Haar: A flashy gala raises money — and speculation about a high-profile CT political career

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 NEW YORK (AP) — New York City, which once had the nation’s strictest workplace vaccination rules for COVID-19, is ending one of its last such mandates, saying it will no longer require the shots for municipal employees including police officers, firefighters and teachers. The vaccine mandate, which led to the firing of hundreds of city workers who declined to get the shots, will end Friday, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. Adams, a Democrat, said that with more than 96% of city employees and more than 80% of city residents having received their initial vaccine series, “this is the right moment for this decision.” City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said, “It’s clear these mandates saved lives and were absolutely necessary to meet the moment. We’re grateful that we can now, as we leave the emergency phase of the pandemic, modify more of the rules that have … [Read more...] about NYC ending COVID-19 vaccination mandate for city employees

Two years after a winter storm killed 246 people and left millions of Texans without electricity, Texas cities once again buckled under a menacing winter storm. Freezing temperatures and ice storms pushed large portions of the state to a standstill this week. Many school districts shut down through at least Thursday as ice made roads and bridges in Dallas and Austin nearly impossible to traverse. Heavy ice brought down power lines all over Austin, prompting widespread power outages in the capital city of the nation’s second-most-populous state. Hundreds of thousands of businesses and households across Central and East Texas remained without power on Thursday as utility crews worked nonstop to repair downed power lines. Unlike in February 2021 when the state’s electric grid nearly collapsed , this week’s outages were caused by localized issues, such as power lines downed by fallen trees. Still, the weather ultimately caused major disruptions and closures, leaving Texans … [Read more...] about As Texas thaws again, calls to rethink how cities prepare for winter weather are renewed

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 HARTFORD — A poorly drafted proposal in the General Assembly has highlighted the need for supporting Connecticut's farm wineries survive potential disasters such as grapevine die-offs. Upon discovering the weaknesses in his proposal , the conservative state representative who submitted the bill came to an agreement with the Democratic co-chairmen of the General Law Committee that a major rewrite of the legislation is needed after conferring with the state winery industry. The event occurred during a recent public hearing, in which state Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin, admitted that his proposal on the percentage of Connecticut-grown grapes produced by farm wineries would do little toward his goal to offer possible lifelines to the state's two dozen wine producers. As written, the bill would have allowed farm wineries to not be located on or associated with farms operated by … [Read more...] about State legislators are exploring ways to help CT farm wineries to weather potential problems

In what would be the first reduction of the state income tax since 1996 and the largest since its adoption in 1991 , Gov. Ned Lamont on Monday said he will ask the General Assembly to cut the 5 percent rate to 4.5 percent, and for those who make less than $50,000 to pay no income taxes. The proposals would provide about $440 million in relief for 1.1 million of Connecticut's 1.7 million tax filers. "It's a long time coming," said the governor outside the East Hartford Community Cultural Center, stressing that working families and essential workers are the chief targets for the relief. Lamont will formally make the proposal on Wednesday, when he introduces his two-year spending proposal to the General Assembly. "This is the biggest tax cut since the dawn of the income tax in the state of Connecticut," said Lamont. Under the plan, those families who make less than $50,000 would pay no income tax, after their current 3 percent tax rate gets reduced to 2 percent. Those making less … [Read more...] about CT income tax rate would be lowered for some, erased for others under Gov. Ned Lamont proposal

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 23 PARIS (AP) — Public transportation, schools and electricity, oil and gas supplies were disrupted in France as demonstrators took to the streets Tuesday for a third round of nationwide strikes and protests against the government's pension reform plans. The demonstrations came a day after French lawmakers began debating a pension bill that would raise the minimum retirement from 62 to 64. The bill is the flagship legislation of President Emmanuel Macron's second term. He described it last week as “indispensable when you compare to (other countries) in Europe.” Thousands of protesters started marching in the southern cities of Nice and Marseille. An afternoon protest against the Macron's pension reforms was scheduled to take place in Paris. Last week, an estimated … [Read more...] about French protesters hold more strikes over pension changes