Connecticut lawmakers try to keep hospital merger idea alive

Lawmakers hoping to keep alive plans to remake the UConn Health Center have recommended authorizing $50 million in bonding for the effort, despite Gov. M. Jodi Rell's opposition to the UConn plan. The $50 million recommended by the legislature's finance, revenue and bonding committee represents a small piece of the $475 million in bonding that the UConn proposal calls for. And it may mean little if Rell maintains her position that the proposal is too costly for the state during an economic crisis.