Judge orders New Haven firefighter promotions

Judge orders New Haven firefighter promotions

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut has ordered New Haven officials to promote 14 firefighters who won a reverse discrimination case that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven followed the Supreme Court’s instructions and ruled last week that white firefighters’ civil rights were violated when city officials threw out the results of two 2003 promotional exams, because no black firefighters scored high enough to be promoted.

Arterton had thrown out the white firefighters’ lawsuit in 2006. A federal appeals court upheld her decision before the Supreme Court overturned both rulings in June.

The lead plaintiff, Frank Ricci, and seven others will be promoted to lieutenant, and six firefighters will be promoted to captain.

Mass. lawmakers may make colleges insure students

BOSTON — Lawmakers are weighing a bill to require every full and part-time college student in Massachusetts to have at least the basic level of health insurance required under the state’s landmark 2006 health care law.

Under the proposal, any public or private institution of higher learning that fails to insure its students would face fines of $1 per student for every day the student remains uninsured.

All fines would be deposited in the state’s Health Safety Net Trust Fund, which helps cover the health costs of the uninsured.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Richard Moore, an Uxbridge Democrat and Senate chair of the Health Care Financing Committee. The bill is scheduled for a public hearing Thursday at the Statehouse before Moore’s committee.

(Associated Press)