Washington — As soon as the Senate Judiciary committee approved a bill Thursday that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips, planning began to split the legislation to improve chances some of it would become law. The panel took the action three months to the day after 20-year-old Adam Lanza used a high-capacity, semi-automatic […]
Ana Radelat
Ana has written about politics and policy in Washington, D.C.. for Gannett, Thompson Reuters and UPI. She was a special correspondent for the Miami Herald, and a regular contributor to The New York TImes, Advertising Age and several other publications. She has also worked in broadcast journalism, for CNN and several local NPR stations. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Journalism.
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Newtown riders arrive in D.C.; hope to change Congressional hearts on gun control
Washington — For Monte Frank and 25 other bicyclists from Newtown, riding 400 miles in four days may not be as challenging as changing minds in Congress on the issue of gun control. Frank, a Danbury lawyer, is a member of Newtown’s “Team 26” cyclist group. The team, a mix of professional and amateur cyclists, takes […]
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Newtown-bred activists partner with national gun-control groups
Washington — The 26 gun control activists who biked from Newtown to Washington, arriving Tuesday, belong to a growing group of Newtown residents who, with the help of national groups, are becoming a lobbying force on Capitol Hill. The residents and family members of the 26 killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings are […]
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Senate panel approves background check, school safety bills
Washington — A bill that would expand background checks on gun purchasers was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on party lines Tuesday, its prospect of Senate approval diminished with the withdrawal of a key GOP supporter. The Senate panel also approved a bill that would provide schools with federal grants for school safety programs, […]
Posted inPolitics
Lieberman joins conservative think tank
Washington — Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman will join the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative Washington-based think tank announced Monday. In a statement AEI said Lieberman will serve as co-chairman of the American Internationalism Project, alongside former Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. “The American Internationalism Project, under the leadership of Sen. Lieberman and Sen. Jon Kyl, […]
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Harriet Beecher Stowe house wins national historic designation
Washington — The home of abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe has joined the Hartford homes of Mark Twain and gun maker Samuel Colt on an exclusive list — it has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the Interior Department. But the home of the author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is not being honored for […]
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Democrats blame GOP for Sandy aid cuts
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, joined counterparts from New York and New Jersey Friday in blaming Republicans for across-the-board spending cuts that will trim Hurricane Sandy disaster aid. In the process called sequestration, cuts to most federal programs, with the exception of transportation funding, Medicare, Social Security and a few others, went into effect last […]
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Effort to keep air towers open focuses on Tweed
Washington – When it comes to Connecticut’s small airports, it seems not all of them are equal in the eyes of Rep. Rosa DeLauro and the state’s U.S. senators. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., joined DeLauro, D-3rd District, Friday in a plea to the Federal Aviation Administration to keep the air control […]
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Murphy fires off angry letter to NASCAR about its ‘NRA 500’
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy’s latest front in his war against the National Rifle Association has taken the form of a strongly worded letter to NASCAR CEO Brian France, demanding he reverse a decision to call a new race the “NRA 500.” NASCAR and the Texas Motor Speedway have completed a deal to make the NRA […]
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U.S. Senate takes first halting step on gun control
Washington — Congress took its first, halting steps toward gun control Thursday as a divided Senate panel approved a bill that would increase federal penalties on trafficking and then began debate on more contentious issues. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-7 to approve the gun trafficking bill, which would also toughen penalties on “‘straw purchases” […]
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FAA to close towers at Brainard, Tweed, other Connecticut airports
Washington – The Federal Aviation Administration has notified six Connecticut airports that it will close their control towers effective April 7 due to federal budget cuts. The shuttering of air towers at Hartford’s Brainard Airport, Stratford’s Igor I. Sikorsky Airport, Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport, Danbury Municipal Airport, Waterbury-Oxford Airport and Groton-New London Airport will not […]
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Sequester forces Connecticut lawmakers to trim office budgets
Washington –– Connecticut lawmakers are poring over their office budgets, forced by the sequester’s across-the-board cuts to reduce their spending by tens of thousands of dollars. The salaries of the members of Congress are protected from the sequester’s cuts that went into effect on Friday to reduce the federal budget by $85 billion. But the […]
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Murphy blasts NRA for ‘radical’ agenda
Continuing his campaign against the National Rifle Association, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Tuesday issued a report detailing the gun group’s attempts to loosen gun laws in state capitols. As part of what it calls the NRA’s “radical legislative agenda,” the report cites an Indiana law that allows its citizens to fire in self-protection, even […]
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McCarthy’s work in Conn. likely to play role in confirmation battle
Washington — Gina McCarthy’s success in pushing power companies in Connecticut to curb greenhouse gases is expected to come under scrutiny when the Senate takes up her nomination to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. President Obama’s choice to head the EPA was Connecticut’s environmental chief during Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration. As such […]
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Newtown father reaches out to reluctant senators
Washington –– The day after giving emotional testimony in support of an assault weapons ban, Neil Heslin, who lost his 6-year-old son Jesse in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, continued to reach out to lawmakers on gun control. As senators filed into the Senate chambers to vote on budget legislation, Heslin dodged lobbyists and […]
