Erica E. Phillips // CTMirror.org

Now known as GeneDx, former COVID testing provider has paid back a portion of economic development grant.

As popular opinion shifts on the value of a four-year college degree, career and technical education is gaining ground. But opportunities are competitive.

Office of Workforce Strategy names 19 partner organizations to provide no-cost training, support services to fill 6,000 skilled jobs.

Connecticut’s Office of Workforce Strategy will receive $24 million in federal funding to expand job training programs that have struggled to meet demand amid a shortage of skilled workers in the state.

The Department of Economic and Community Development has launched a $150 million lending program targeting small businesses and nonprofits in low-income and historically underserved communities as persistent stress of COVID-19 and new concerns of recession weigh on their minds.Starting Monday, businesses and nonprofits can apply online for low-interest loans through the Connecticut Small Business Boost Fund website. Administrators will evaluate applications and match business owners with lenders and community development financial institutions to provide funding and technical support. The state will provide half the funding, $75 million; the other half will come from private partners, including Citizens Bank, M&T Bank and First Republic Bank.

New alternative ranking system weighs graduate salaries and access in calculating ‘economic mobility’ for students.

As new state funding comes online, a survey of 200 providers finds that staffing shortages closed classrooms and reduced enrollment.

Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including last month’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, have curtailed federal authority on issues from women’s health to environmental protection and vaccine requirements. State policies on those and other issues could soon vary widely around the country, turning “social capital issues” into bargaining chips for each state in their attempts to woo businesses and create economic opportunities for their residents.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last week ended the constitutional right to abortion, handing the regulation of reproductive rights to the states. In Connecticut, which has some of the nation’s strongest abortion protections — and a former businessman at the helm — those rights have quickly become a recruiting tool.