Lamont awards Waterbury $4 million grant for downtown infrastructure improvements
The improvements are slated to support the streetscape along West Main Street, which includes upgrades to sidewalks, lighting, roadways, sewers and storm drainage, the press release said.
Thousands attend 'Little Poland Festival' in New Britain
This will address the concerns of infrastructure more than 100 years old, according to a written release.
The grant will be released through the state's Community Investment Fund.
Lamont will hold a press conference alongside Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski and other state officials at 10:30 on Monday at the Connecticut Department of Children and Families lot.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Yahoo
Connecticut enacts controversial EWA law
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Connecticut Gov. Edward 'Ned' Lamont last week signed a bill into law that imposes earned wage access regulations that providers of those services have opposed. Lamont, a Democrat, enacted the new law on Tuesday and it takes effect Oct. 1. The two houses of the legislature, which is controlled by the same party, passed the legislation over the past two months. States have increasingly sought to oversee expanding EWA services and their providers. Connecticut now becomes the 11th state to have passed a law in recent years specifically related to earned wage access, following Louisiana earlier this month and Maryland in May. A 12th state, California, imposed oversight under a different law. Earned wage access has become a popular way for employees to access their pay before a regularly scheduled payday, but the practice has also triggered controversy because of fees associated with some services, like accelerated payment. Dozens of EWA service providers, which include DailyPay, EarnIn, Flexwage Solutions and Chime, have voiced varying views about legislative proposals cropping up across the country. The Connecticut law caps fees that can be charged at $4 per advance, and $30 in total per month. It also limits the accrual of interest after the maturity date to 12% on a daily basis for the unpaid balance. In addition, the law caps late fees at 5% 'of the outstanding installment payment, excluding any previously assessed late fees, or a total of twenty-five dollars per month, whichever is less.' It also bars providers from asking for repayment prior to the user's next scheduled paycheck. The Chamber of Progress, which represents a number of fintechs including DailyPay and EarnIn, issued a Thursday press release criticizing what it called 'the nation's strictest monthly fee cap on EWA providers.' It also argued that the law will force Connecticut families living paycheck to paycheck to use more expensive alternatives and disadvantage smaller EWA service providers. EWA firms use an array of methods for providing the services, with some offering the payments through employers and others reaching out directly to consumers. They also have different revenue-generating models, with some exacting fees from users and others providing payment cards to workers and then reaping interchange fees from merchants when the users spend. States that have passed new laws chiefly calling for licensing of EWA providers have received support from the industry. But some legislative proposals, including Connecticut's, have drawn opposition. The American Fintech Council as well as the CEOs of DailyPay and EarnIn sent a June 25 letter to Lamont opposing the Connecticut bill. The letter writers, including AFC CEO Phil Goldfeder; DailyPay CEO Stacy Greiner; and EarnIn CEO Ram Palaniappan, also dinged the bill's requirement that EWA providers offer at least 75% of a worker's earned and unpaid wages for a pay period, saying it will unfairly preference the largest EWA companies. Despite the letter, DailyPay issued a Thursday press release and statement contending the law offers 'certainty' and means that EWA providers are 'exempted from Connecticut's Small Loan Act's annual percentage rate and other requirements of traditional loans and credit products.' When asked whether DailyPay had had a change of heart about the law, a spokesperson for the provider said the company adjusted its services to comply with the state's department of banking guidance. The spokesperson also offered a statement from the company's chief legal and strategy officer, Jared DeMatteis, saying DailyPay welcomed the 'full return' of its services to the state. Still, the statement also suggested DailyPay might contend the law's caps are not legitimate if they're not implemented correctly. A spokesperson for the company didn't immediately respond to a question seeking to clarify that point. We 'look forward to collaborating with lawmakers to ensure that any proposed regulatory changes, such as fee caps, are evidence-based and consider consumer impact,' DeMatteis said in the statement. Recommended Reading Louisiana, Connecticut advance EWA bills Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Yahoo
CT state Rep. Josh Elliott says Lamont should retire. What to know about the candidate for governor
Frustrated by the moderate stances of the current governor, state Rep. Josh Elliott announced Monday that he will challenge fellow Democrat Ned Lamont next year in a primary. As one of the leading liberal voices in the state legislature, Elliott has opposed Lamont on a series of issues involving taxes, particularly tax increases on the wealthiest residents that Lamont has opposed. While Elliott has been concerned about Lamont's moderate stances for years, the issue spiked to a new level recently when Lamont vetoed two controversial bills on affordable housing and awarding unemployment compensation benefits to striking workers. Known as a progressive firebrand, Elliott came out of nowhere in 2016 to announce that he was running against the sitting House Speaker, J. Brendan Sharkey, in their hometown of Hamden. Challenges against a sitting Speaker are highly rare at the state Capitol, and Sharkey soon announced his retirement instead of running in a Democratic primary. Since then, Elliott has stepped forward on various issues, but the liberal caucus in the state House of Representatives has been too small to overturn any of Lamont's policies. Most recently, the Democrats did not have the necessary 101 votes in the House to override Lamont's vetoes on housing and striking workers. In creating the Tax Equity Caucus, Elliott has repeatedly called for increasing taxes on the wealthiest residents. That would include a surcharge on capital gains, which provides a large percentage of the income for multi-millionaires and billionaires. But Lamont has pushed back strongly against tax hikes, saying they would be counterproductive. A resident of Greenwich for more than 40 years, Lamont has watched some fellow wealthy residents move to low-tax states like Florida, including some who keep their home in Fairfield County and still declare residency in the Sunshine State by staying there for six months and one day. 'Look at the numbers,' Lamont said earlier this year. 'Look at the 10 states that are adding population. They either have zero or lower income tax than we do. And they're not all Sun Belt states. They're not all going there for sunshine. People are leaving California. That's got some sunshine, too. There are a variety of reasons that people move. For the first time in a long time, people are moving to Connecticut and more likely to stay in Connecticut. We need this [wealthy] population. That's how we keep our economy growing.' Besides tax issues, Elliott has been a leader in pushing for the legalization of recreational marijuana, which was signed into law, and the decriminalization of small amounts of hallucinogenic mushrooms, which passed in the House this year but was never debated in the state Senate. Born in Guilford, Elliott grew up in Hamden and later graduated from Ithaca College with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He then graduated from law school in 2013 at Quinnipiac University. In addition to serving in the legislature, he operates a health food store in Hamden that is known as Thyme and Season. A previous store, which he opened with his mother, closed this year. Elliott is known for not backing away from a fight, as shown by his challenge to Sharkey nine years ago and the current dust-up with Lamont. While Elliott has been leading the charge for years, other liberals have been increasingly voicing criticism of Lamont, particularly during the past month. State Rep. Nick Gauthier, a freshman from Waterford, wrote in a lengthy op-ed in The Courant that Lamont should not seek a third term. He followed Sen. Saud Anwar of South Windsor, who wrote a similar op-ed last month and has spoken out against Lamont's policies. Gauthier said he first voted for Lamont at the age of 19 in August 2006 when Lamont defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in an upset before losing in the general election. Today, he says Lamont should step aside. On the Republican side, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart could end up in a primary in August 2026 against Sen. Ryan Fazio, a fiscal conservative from Greenwich who also represents parts of Stamford and New Canaan. Fazio won a hard-fought race in the 2024 cycle against Democrat Nick Simmons, a well-funded former Greenwich resident who moved to Stamford. Fazio reenergized Republicans statewide by winning his seat in a special election in August 2021 after former Sen. L. Scott Frantz had lost the district in 2018 to Democrat Alex Bergstein, who changed her name to Alex Kasser after winning the seat. Fazio then won a squeaker against Harvard MBA graduate Trevor Crow of Greenwich in 2022 by a margin of only 89 votes after recounts in all three towns in the district. Fazio's supporters believe he can defeat Stewart in a primary, adding that the pair could be a strong ticket if Stewart runs for lieutenant governor as she did in 2018 after dropping out of the governor's race. She was defeated in a three-way race by state Sen. Joe Markley, a conservative Republican who later ran on the ticket with Madison business executive Bob Stefanowski in a losing effort against Lamont. Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@
CNBC
10-07-2025
- CNBC
28. Connecticut
Governor: Ned Lamont, Democrat Population: 3,675,069 GDP growth (Q1 2025): -0.9% Unemployment rate (May 2025): 3.8% Top corporate tax rate: 7.5% Top individual income tax rate: 6.6% Gasoline tax: 43.40 cents/gallon Bond rating (Moody's/S&P): Aa3, Positive/AA-, Stable Economic profile sources: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federation of Tax Administrators, Energy Information Administration (including 18.40 cent/gallon federal tax), Moody's Investor Service, S&P Global Market Intelligence
