Andrew Larson
Andrew Larson covers how regulation, taxation, insurance and capital flows shape the finances of businesses, with a focus on the practical impact on companies’ costs and risk exposure. He is web editor at Hartford Business Journal and a member of its newsroom, combining daily digital responsibilities with a steady stream of reported business coverage. His work draws out the dollar figures, policy details and case dynamics behind issues such as health insurance costs, environmental rules, tax policy and public investment.
Regulation, costs and business impact
Larson reports on how regulatory changes translate into real costs for utilities and businesses, foregrounding the financial implications rather than abstract policy debate.
In coverage of new limits on PFAS “forever chemicals,” he details proposed contaminant thresholds and explains how compliance will cost water utilities hundreds of millions of dollars while raising concerns among affected businesses. He also examines employee benefit pressures through questions such as how health insurance costs have affected organizations over a three-year period, using survey-style prompts to surface how premiums and plan changes hit budgets and staffing decisions.
Across these pieces, he ties together regulation, operational expense and business planning, making clear what new rules mean for balance sheets and future investments.
Tax policy and emerging industries
Tax treatment of newer, regulated industries is another recurring thread in Larson’s work.
In coverage of cannabis businesses, he reports on the effective tax rate those companies face and describes how the cumulative burden “can be fatal” to their operations. He presents the conflict between statutory tax rules and commercial realities by highlighting how firms that are legally operating under state frameworks still confront tax structures designed for technically illegal products. The emphasis is on concrete numbers and structural constraints, showing where tax codes create competitive disadvantages or squeeze margins in sectors that are otherwise growth-focused.
Tracking new business formation
Larson runs a regular “Biz Starts” feature cataloging new business launches across Connecticut, with granular counts by locality. Recent installments tally dozens of new ventures over short time windows, including 35 new businesses in Waterbury and 18 in Hartford, and present them in a straightforward register that spotlights entrepreneurial activity. These pieces sit at the intersection of small business finance and local economic development, offering a running snapshot of where new firms are appearing and in what volume.
The format is consistent and data-forward, making the column a useful pulse check on business churn and formation in the region.
Risk, capital and technology bets
Risk and capital allocation are central themes in Larson’s coverage of the insurance and legal sectors. Drawing on his background as a litigation reporter, he writes about malpractice disputes where insurers seek large recoveries from professional firms, including a case in which carriers pursue $21 million from a law firm in Hartford. In these stories he traces how alleged failures translate into multimillion-dollar exposure, laying out the financial stakes alongside the procedural posture of the cases. He also covers large-scale public investments in technology, such as Connecticut’s strategy to commit up to $281 million in funding to build a quantum technology ecosystem, emphasizing both the size of the bet and its intended economic payoff.
Taken together, these pieces show a consistent focus on where significant sums are at risk - whether in the courtroom, the insurance market or state-backed innovation initiatives - and how those decisions reverberate through the business community.
In his role at Hartford Business Journal, Larson’s finance-oriented coverage combines close attention to statutes, contracts and investment plans with clear reporting on who pays, who benefits and where the major financial risks lie. His work is grounded in specific figures, regulatory thresholds and case details, providing communications professionals and business leaders with a precise view of the pressures shaping corporate finances and strategy.
4 more finance journalists.
Abigail Summerville
Abigail Summerville brings a leveraged finance background to her work covering consumer and retail mergers and acquisitions for Reuters. She reports on deal-making and capital markets across food, beverages, spirits, personal care, skincare, bath products and pet food. Her stories focus on transaction terms, ownership stakes, valuation, debt structures and funding sources. She often breaks news on potential sales and strategic reviews before formal announcements. Notable coverage includes Sazerac’s acquisition of Au Vodka, Blackstone’s exploration of a ZO Skin Health sale, CVC’s efforts to sell the parent of Dr Teal’s, and Colgate-Palmolive’s planned divestitures. She also covers consumer IPOs, including Jersey Mike’s and Black Rock Coffee, and co-writes Wall Street market reports. She joined Reuters in 2022 after three years covering leveraged finance and primary debt markets.
Adekunle Agbetiloye
Adekunle Agbetiloye is a senior reporter who connects capital flows, hard numbers and energy transition to the wider African economy. He works at Business Insider Africa, covering how money, technology and energy reshape economic growth, jobs and living conditions. His beat spans the African economy, technology, energy transition, climate change, startups and critical minerals, with a focus on concrete deals and data-led stories. He reports on African startup funding cycles, sovereign wealth funds, billionaire investors, multilateral and private investment programs, energy and power markets, Bitcoin mining, and economic policy choices. His work follows how governments finance spending, manage debt and respond to social pressure, and how sector snapshots and health and development metrics reveal links between macro indicators, corporate strategy and everyday costs.
Aimee Picchi
Aimee Picchi connects Social Security, retirement programs and economic policy directly to the financial security of ordinary Americans, showing how macro decisions hit household budgets. She is associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch at CBS News, covering business and personal finance with clear, accessible explanations of complex money issues. Her core beat is Social Security and retirement, interest rates and inflation, and how policy, markets and company strategies affect workers, retirees, savers and investors. She reports on benefit adequacy, looming Social Security cuts, COLA changes, Federal Reserve rate decisions, fuel costs, trade tensions and labor’s share of income, always framing coverage around pocketbook impacts. Her background includes retirement reporting fellowships, prior staff reporting on technology, media and business, an Institutional Investor book on affluent investors, and freelance work for national outlets. She also writes science fiction and fantasy and is a Nebula Award finalist.
Alex Harring
Alex Harring turns fast-moving market, economic and corporate developments into clear pre-market briefings that show what will matter when U.S. trading opens. He is a markets and economics reporter for CNBC’s digital platforms and writes Morning Squawk, a flagship daily newsletter that gives readers five key things to know before the stock market opens. His beat spans financial markets, investing, consumer trends and the U.S. economy, with coverage of central bank decisions, inflation, corporate strategy, sector moves and geopolitical shocks. He focuses on how policy, data and earnings shape equities, interest rates, currencies and investor positioning, linking price action with underlying drivers in real time and in reported features. Harring’s background reporting on corporate news, business and the economy across print, digital, broadcast and streaming informs his habit of connecting markets, companies and geopolitics in one frame.