Unions concede to benefits cuts
With unions approving cuts to their benefits to preserve jobs threatened by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy”™s budget, Connecticut”™s long summer of discontent came to a close with higher taxes in place but Malloy promising a jobs summit to tackle how to renew momentum.
The agreement allows Malloy to sidestep millions of dollars of cuts in various state agencies he had readied as a contingency plan. Over the lifetime of the agreement, Malloy said the state would save $21.5 billion in the form of lower retirement and health care costs for state employees, who struck the original deal in 1996 with the administration of former Gov. John Rowland.
“Make no mistake: I am committed to continuing to reduce the size, scope and cost of state government,” Malloy said, in a prepared statement. “This agreement, therefore, should not be viewed as the end of that process; rather, along with the consolidations that are already under way, it should be viewed as the beginning of the remaking of Connecticut state government. Let me also be clear that we are far from being out of the woods; we still have budgetary issues we need to address.”
NFIB: Hikes will take toll on business
The governors of New York and New Jersey reached an agreement to hike cross-state tolls by $6, with an impact as well for Connecticut businesses and thru-traffic to other New England states.
The National Federation of Independent Business predicted the new tolls would hurt retailers in northern New Jersey who draw shoppers from New York thanks to lower sales taxes. The NFIB added the new tolls amount to nearly $3,000 for New Jersey commuters with jobs in New York.
“It will make the New York metropolitan region less attractive as a place to locate or maintain a business,” said Mike Durant, director of the NFIB”™s New York operations, in a prepared statement. “They”™re going to find that for a lot of residents and small businesses, moving out of state is the easiest way around this new commuter tax.”
NYC startup moves to Stamford
With a $1 million venture capital investment, Connecticut Innovations Inc. convinced a New York City startup to relocate to Stamford, as it develops software to deliver live sports feeds to web-enabled devices and let people share clips on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
On Demand Real Time L.L.C. runs the LiveClips platform, whose customers to date have included Bristol-based ESPN and Major League Baseball. Features include allowing fans to view condensed games and to create personal highlight reels.
“LiveClips provides fans with the ability to view what they want, when they want, where they want, within seconds of the live action,” said CEO Lewis Bakes, in a prepared statement. “The sports leagues and broadcasters who are our customers will be able to develop new revenue and profit centers while delivering the real-time video notifications and alerts fans crave.”
