First layoff notices go out to state employeesHARTFORD — Marathon sessions last week in the state Senate and House of Representatives resulted in the swift passage of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed two-year 2011-13 budget, but details regarding specific spending cuts remained unclear this week as the governor negotiated givebacks from state employees.As expected, Malloy began issuing layoff notices to state employees Tuesday morning, in preparation for the possibility of a stalemate.“After more than two months of talks, I’m afraid that my administration and the state employee unions have not reached agreement,” Malloy said in a statement Tuesday. “Our talks have been respectful and forthright so far, and I remain willing to continue the discussions if the unions are willing to do so. However, we must all be willing to work toward a settlement that Connecticut taxpayers can afford in the long run.”The impasse follows a political victory for Malloy last week, as the state House and Senate quickly passed his proposed budget. Rejecting a succession of amendments from Republicans, the state Senate voted 19-17 and the House voted 83-67 in favor of the two-year, $40.1 billion package, which cuts many services, increases taxes and calls for $2 billion in concessions from state employees — an estimated $22,000 per worker — in the next two years.The operating budget for fiscal year 2012, which begins July 1, is $19.8 billion, including $1.54 billion in cuts. Fiscal year 2013 comes in at $20.3 billion, reflecting $1.8 billion in cuts. Malloy said he still needs another $1 billion in cuts for the upcoming fiscal year, and $1 billion more in the second year, to balance the budget. “I have directed OPM to begin issuing layoff notices in an orderly fashion to the first 4,742 state employees,” Malloy said. “Those layoffs will result in savings of approximately $455 million. I’ve also directed OPM to begin the process necessary to cut an additional $545 million in spending; those cuts, many of them programmatic, will be spread across state government, and will, in all likelihood, result in additional layoffs.”Connecticut’s sales tax increases from 6 to 6.35 percent, with higher taxes for corporations and on hotels, entertainment venues, cigarettes and alcohol. Income taxes will go up on families making $200,000 to $400,000 per year and the state’s highest earners will pay 6.7 percent, retroactive to Jan. 1. The approved budget raises $2.6 billion in taxes for the next two years and increases spending by 2.8 percent in the first year and 2.3 percent the next. Malloy quickly signed the budget into law last week, calling it “another important step toward much-needed fiscal stability,” but underscored the importance of negotiations with state employees. On Friday, Malloy released a “Plan B” budget, which calls for the layoffs mentioned this week. Cuts to municipal aid and other programs will take effect if negotiations with state employee unions do not result in an agreement on concessions.“I’m disappointed because I think we jumped the gun,” said state Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-30) in an interview Monday. “I don’t think we should have taken up a budget before knowing what kind of agreement the governor was going to achieve with state employees. It’s putting the cart before the horse.”Roraback said last week that Connecticut residents will be taxed “from head to toe” under the approved budget and said he believes the hardest-hit residents will be middle-class citizens. “The irony wasn’t lost on me that big business supported this budget,” he said. “United Technologies said they liked the budget at the same time they were shifting jobs out of Connecticut. It’s hard to reconcile why big business signed off on the budget, but they did.”As far as concessions go, Roraback said he also feels for state employees who are being asked to make significant sacrifices. “I for one don’t think it’s fair to expect someone who is working for the Highway Department, maybe making $48,000 per year, to be expected to give up $20,000,” he said. “There are some top-level bureaucrats who are making $140,000 or $160,000 per year who should be asked to give back more.”State Rep. John Rigby (R-63) said he was disappointed with the budget and the way it was debated, with a lack of input from Republicans. “What we have is a massive tax increase and we still don’t know what’s to come,” he said. “Even the governor is not clear on what’s going to happen.”Rigby said Republicans put forth their own budget which would not have increased taxes. The zero-increase budget, along with all other Republican motions, was defeated by the Democratic majority.Criticism of the state budget did not just come from Republicans. Several Democrats broke ranks with the majority in both the House and Senate, noting the budget is $2 billion out of balance and requires what many see as unfair penalties to state workers.Supporters of the budget countered that families making $100,000 a year will only see their income taxes increase by about $20 this year, and that a balanced budget will make Connecticut a more attractive state for job creation. State Rep. Roberta Willis (D-64) said there were no easy decisions on the budget this year. Nobody wants increased taxes, she said, “but the decisions had to be made. We had to get our fiscal house in order.” Malloy talked a lot about shared sacrifice, Willis said, and tried to keep the budget as fair as possible. “Still,” she said, “the Legislature made some positive changes to the governor’s budget.” Those changes included reinstating a property tax credit in the amount of $300 a year, maintaining the earned income tax credit and keeping three additional cents off the gasoline tax. “When gas is between $4.19 to $4.33 a gallon, as I saw on the way to Hartford today,” Willis said, “and the public hears the state is putting three more cents on, that’s just a pebble in people’s shoes. We at least took away that constant reminder of increased taxes.”The governor said he would focus on negotiations with state employees ahead of a May 31 deadline to achieve concessions or submit his alternate budget.“Make no mistake,” the governor said. “Come July 1, Connecticut will have an honest, balanced budget in place.”
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One systemic consequence of slavery is the loss and obscuring of the histories of those who were enslaved. Records were often not kept about where Africans had been stolen from or who they were related to. Families were torn apart, leaving nothing but the faintest traces of the past. The delineation point, where genealogists can no longer trace histories back, is refered to this as the “document wall.”
Today, 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and more than 160 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a growing effort to restore some of the history stripped from enslaved people and their descendants. Among the leaders of these efforts is Mills, president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works to identify previously anonymous Black Americans from history and connect them with their living relatives.
The work began with Mills’ sister, who started digging into their family’s past in the 1990’s and introduced him to this emerging world of genealogy. Through that process, the Mills family discovered their great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, who had been enslaved in Texas. His last name came from his final enslaver and remains the family surname. Through their research, they found that the document wall directly affected their ancestor, who learned of his liberation on June 19, 1865, now commemorated as Juneteenth.
“For the first time,” Mills writes on his website, “American slavery wasn’t something that had happened to anonymous people in a history book. It had happened to my family.”
The discovery gave Mills a familial pride he had been missing for years. That pride fueled his desire to help others find their own history. In 2023, Mills received his certificate in genealogical research from Boston University. He has used his expertise to help descendants of enslaved people uncover histories they never dreamed of learning.
To do this, he uses a process called “reverse genealogy,” identifying a person from the past and working forward to discover their descendants. Along the way, Mills has found some remarkable people who fought for freedom on American soil, some of whom were never freed.
Pay Bill for Robin Starr’s service in the Continental Army.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
At the Cornwall Historical Society event, Mills will present the stories of four Connecticut families: Job Lathrop of Norwich, the son of Pirmus Armes, about whom Mills has published a book; Prince Mortimer of Middletown, also the subject of a book by Mills;, the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury; and Robert “Robin” Starr of Danbury, who later lived in Cornwall and Sharon.
A few years ago, Cornwall Consolidated School social studies teacher Will Vincent reached out to Mills for research guidance on a local history project his students were undertaking. Together, they learned about Naomi Freeman of Cornwall. After purchasing an acre of land on Great Hollow Road in 1828, Naomi Freeman became the first Black female landowner in Cornwall.
The students petitioned the town to rename a road after the historic Cornwall resident In April 2025, Great Hollow Road was officially renamed Naomi Freeman Historic Road. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes joined Mills and the Cornwall Consildated School students for a presentation of their research.
Since then, Mills has guided the students in their quest to learn more about Starr’s story. Starr was a Revolutionary War soldier who joined the Continental Army to earn enough money to buy his own freedom, receiving the Badge of Merit in the process. The stories of his descendents’ services are equally worthy of their own books.
In recognition of Mills and the students’ work, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway proclaimed Feb. 8 as Robin Starr Day.
Preregistration is required for the event at the Cornwall Historical Society. To learn more about Mills’ work, visit
alexbreanne.org.
John Mills speaking at Quinnipiac University.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.
Dogs have been at the center of Saetta’s life since childhood. She remembers going to the library to research different breeds and trying to convince her parents the family needed a dog. She had her heart set on an Irish Wolfhound, but she was more than happy when her mom brought home a West Highland terrier.
After college, she adopted Charlie as a puppy from a rescue on Long Island. He was a hound-shepherd-Rottweiler mix who suffered from intense seizures. Some veterinarians recommended euthanasia, but Saetta wasn’t ready to give up on him.
When Charlie would have an episode, she would sit with him, nose to nose, talking him through it. She learned to look for the moment he began to come around — when he could smell her again and his tail started to wag.
“You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor,” Saetta said. “I like to think that all the dogs that come through are going to have that person that they connect with just the same.”
Through a network of women working to rescue animals in Texas, she learned about the desperate situations facing many dogs.
With limited space, some public pounds euthanize even healthy animals to make room. Limited access to veterinary care leaves sick dogs or unvaccinated puppies especially vulnerable.
Saetta saw that reality firsthand with a puppy named Gus, a Labrador mix she fostered who has since been adopted. Gus and his sisters had been dumped beside a road, where they were living under an abandoned car. People would leave food for them, but no one would take them to the pound.
“Even the people who rescue animals down there were like, ‘sadly, the best place for them to be is on the side of the road,’” she said. “That’s safer. Someone might actually help them that way.”
Saetta knows that there are far more dogs than any one person can save, but she also knows that helping one dog means one fewer on the street.
Stephanie Saetta,with her rescue dog George and Blue (left), a shepherd mix awaiting his forever home.Madi Long
Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary operates entirely through foster homes, a model that Saetta believes is best for the dogs and the humans hoping to adopt them.
Rather than moving directly from a difficult environment into a permanent home, the dogs have a chance to settle into a quieter setting. They can learn what it’s like to live with a family, sleep somewhere comfortable and receive affection without fighting for attention. Fostering also allows the rescue to really get to know each dog.
“As fosters, we’re honest,” said Saetta. We’ll tell you everything that’s been bad, everything that’s been good. What their temperament is and how they’ve responded to all the things they’ve experienced.”
A successful adoption is not just about finding a dog a home; it’s about finding the right home where the dog and family can thrive together.
Saetta is looking for more people willing to open their homes to foster dogs. She understands that the thought of growing attached and eventually saying goodbye can feel daunting. But she sees that goodbye a little differently.
Fostering means being part of a dog’s journey, even if only for a short time. It gives dogs a safe place to rest, the chance to trust again and the love they have gone without for much of their lives. And when the time comes for them to leave, it is not really a loss. It is the reward of knowing they are moving on to a forever home.
Blue, Saetta’s current foster, is hoping to find his perfect home.
Blue, a 7 year-old Shepard mix, is waiting for his forever home. Madi Long
Now around 7 years old, Blue spent most of his life wandering the streets of Texas. People sometimes left food out for him, but his mangy, dirty coat kept them from stopping to pet him. Today, he has a chance to experience something different.
Blue is still waiting for his forever home. Saetta believes he would do best as the only dog in a household or alongside another senior dog. He will need someone willing to continue working with him on his training and understand that a dog with his history needs patience.
But what he gives in return is a whole lot of love.
“He’s so enthusiastic, he’s so excited for life, he’s so friendly, and he’s got such a good heart, and he loves to cuddle,” Saetta said. “He’s a good, good, good dog.”
For more information on adopting Blue or how to foster, visit ccbsanctuary.org.
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