Gov. eyes June 20 for Phase 2 of reopening

public-private education partnership with hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio has unraveled after reports in The Courant by columnist Jon Lender about efforts to terminate its CEO after she had been on the job for less than two months. The Partnership for Connecticut was a $300 million joint venture meant to help the state’s lowest-performing school districts. It was to include $100 million in taxpayer money, $100 million from the Dalios and $100 million to be raised privately. But the Dalios wanted out of the deal after the inner turmoil at the private nonprofit was made public. “Due to a breach of trust we both decided that it’s time to disband the partnership,” Lamont said Tuesday, blaming a “leak … that went right to the front page of the Hartford Courant.” The Dalios said they would keep their commitment of $100 million to help struggling students but the state would no longer match that investment.

UConn braces for deep cuts: Facing significant revenue losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, UConn administrators say deep cuts could be coming to academic and athletic programs. The university is projecting losses of between $65 million and $129 million depending on whether students return to campus this fall. A decision on what the fall semester will look like at UConn — online or in-person instruction — is expected to be made next month. “This is a year where we’re going to have to take a hard look at everything we do, and there may be some deep cuts needed,” Scott Jordan, UConn’s chief financial officer, told UConn trustees Wednesday. The university paid out more than $30 million in refunds for housing, dining and parking fees when students were sent home for the semester in March. UConn received federal relief funds to help cover part of that cost, but additional losses are expected.

Casinos reopening June 1 over Lamont’s objections: Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino announced Wednesday they would reopen on June 1, a move Lamont called “incredibly risky” as the state slowly emerges from coronavirus-mandated shutdowns. The tribes that operate the two casinos are sovereign nations and thus Lamont cannot order them to remain closed as they have been since March. But during a news briefing this past week he expressed concerns about health risks to the casinos’ older customers and out-ofstaters who will flock to Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods if the casinos in their home state remain closed. Both casinos said they would reopen with safety measures including temperature checks and Plexiglass barriers for dealers at blackjack and poker tables. Every other slot machine would be powered down to keep distance between gamblers. Hand sanitizer will be plentiful, and buffets and concert venues will remain closed.

Lamont expands absentee ballot access: Connecticut voters will be able to cast their ballots by mail in the upcoming August presidential primary and the same will be true in November if a COVID-19 vaccine is not widely available by then. Lamont signed an executive order Wednesday that expands absentee ballot access, saying he did not want any voter to have to jeopardize their safety to participate in the primary elections. “I’m telling people over the age of 65, I’m telling people with preexisting conditions, stay home,” Lamont said. “And yet they don’t give up their right to vote just because I’ve got that order there.” Other states have taken a similar approach. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill already said earlier this month she planned to send absentee ballot applications to all voters eligible for the Aug. 11 primaries and pay the postage for their ballots. The state has received federal funds to offset costs associated with that.

Connecticut lost 266,300 jobs in April: The state wiped out a decade worth of employment growth in April as employers cut 266,300 jobs in response to the coronavirus that forced widespread business shutdowns. The official unemployment rate more than doubled from March, to 7.9%, but the state Department of Labor said due to data collection and sampling problems the rate is “severely underestimated” and is closer to 17.5%. The state has received more than 500,000 unemployment claims since mid-March where businesses began to close due to the pandemic. According to the April data, the leisure and hospitality and retail, education and health services industries were the hardest hit by job losses. “What remains to be seen is how many of these jobs were suspended and will return when public safety permits and how many were permanently lost,” said Andy Condon, director of research at the labor department.

State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, and 15 of her colleagues from southeastern Connecticut are asking Lamont for $5 million in state funding to support the Mystic Aquarium, which closed due to the pandemic in March like many other businesses. It was cleared to reopen May 20, but only for outdoor exhibits. “The Aquarium is in need of $2 million in state funding to replace the SBA loan (it only partially received) and will need at least $3 million in additional state funding in order to remain in operation,” the letter from Somers and the other legislators reads. … House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, apologized and deleted a Facebook post he made Wednesday where he appeared to wish a small group of protesters who gathered at the Capitol to oppose the state’s slow reopening would fall ill with COVID-19. “All of the people at the ‘Save CT Rally’ today at the Capitol should stand really close together, don’t wear masks, maybe even drink from the same water bottles,” he wrote. “I’ll see you all in 21 days after you get sick.” Hours later he deleted the post and wrote a new one saying, “This morning I posted about the terrible idea of a rally at the Capitol. I tried to make it as ridiculous as the thought of having a rally in my opinion. I did it very poorly and I took it down.” … New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and Lamont were justified in their decision to shut down a New Haven nightclub as a precautionary measure against the spread of the coronavirus, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea said the government has broad authority to impose restrictions during health crises like the current pandemic. “Courts have upheld more extreme measures taken in response to public health needs, including quarantines,” he wrote in his decision. … State Sen. Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport, was denied renomination by local Democrats during a virtual convention Tuesday. She was defeated by Marcus Brown, a 29-year-old Bridgeport city councilman who received 81% of the votes cast by delegates from Bridgeport, Monroe and Trumbull, according to the Connecticut Post. Moore, however, received enough support to qualify for an August primary. Last year, Moore nearly defeated Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim in a mayoral primary. … State Treasurer Shawn Wooden is calling on the vice chairman of the Connecticut Lottery Corp.’s governing board to resign after his refusal to put to a vote a $205,000 settlement to a whistleblower case that has dragged on for more than a year. Wooden, an ex officio member of the lottery board, said “if the board does not approve this settlement, taxpayers will pay more.” He then called on the board’s vice chairman, Patrick Birney, who has been running meetings for the past year, to resign.