American Rescue Plan

More young Black men in Connecticut have been dying in gun-related homicides since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released by the state’s Public Health Department.

Connecticut will allocate more than $2 million to serve students’ mental health needs during the summer months for both 2024 and 2025, Governor Ned Lamont and Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker announced on Thursday.

A study finds that low- and moderate-income families in Connecticut were able to afford health insurance during the pandemic because of subsidies from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Food insecurity rose by 23% between 2021 and 2022 in Connecticut, according to a report from national nonprofit Feeding America.

Connecticut lawmakers will avoid adjusting the state budget this year. They have passed a bill that spends about $360 million in previously unspent COVID relief money.

Lawmakers will end Connecticut’s legislative session on Wednesday without adjusting the state budget. Gov. Ned Lamont and Democratic leaders reached a deal to use unspent federal COVID relief money.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said he is not in favor of amending the state’s fiscal guardrails in the budget. But on Monday, he told reporters he is considering reallocating federal American Rescue Plan Act money to support different state sectors.

The directive from Gov. Lamont’s budget director was issued hours after The Connecticut Mirror published a story about legislators' concerns.

The Connecticut General Assembly has passed an emergency bill to spend $17 million on the state’s federally funded winter heating assistance programs.

Some Connecticut lawmakers and school nutrition advocates have urged Gov. Ned Lamont to continue a $16 million expansion of the state’s free school meal program in his 2024 budget proposal.