SOUTHBURY — President Donald J. Trump generates enthusiastic crowds at campaign rallies elsewhere, but he was rarely mentioned Saturday by Republicans at a unity rally in Connecticut, where where activists were reminded all politics is local, and the only issues that matter are taxes and the economy.
Trump goes unmentioned as CT GOP keeps focus local
Posted inJustice
Lawyers for Henning, Birch argue DNA testing should spur another trial
Two men convicted of a grisly, 1985 murder asked the Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday to either exonerate them or grant them a new trial in light of new DNA testing that places an unknown female at the scene of the crime.
Posted inPolitics
Trump, Malloy and the strange bedfellows of justice reform
Was it more surprising that President Trump listened to rapper Kanye West’s stream-of-conscious musings in the Oval Office the other day or that the president sounded a little like Gov. Dannel P. Malloy while talking about criminal-justice reform on Fox & Friends?
Posted inCT Viewpoints
S.O.S. Save Connecticut from insolvency
It’s time we all acknowledge Connecticut’s grievous financial condition. It is not simply a matter of the legislature needing to confront budget deficits of $2 billion in 2019 and $2.6 billion in 2020. No – there is a far bigger problem; Connecticut is insolvent. Its debts are $70 billion bigger than its assets. This equates to $53,400 per taxpayer or $19,500 for each and every resident of the Nutmeg State.
Posted inPolitics
Voter registration continues to surge in Conn., especially among young adults
Following a national trend, voter registration continues to soar in Connecticut, especially among young voters, who traditionally have weak participation in elections. “It’s tremendous,” said Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill. “I feel like I’ve been waiting all my life for young people to turn out and now they have.”
Posted inHealth
Number of CT high schoolers vaping doubled over two years
The number of Connecticut high school students who used vaping products, such as e-cigarettes, doubled from 2015 to 2017, according to a new study released by the state Department of Public Health.
Posted inJustice
Henning, Birch push for a new trial in decades-old murder case
Pointing to false testimony by famed state criminologist Henry Lee, two men who have spent nearly 30 years in prison for a murder they steadfastly insist they didn’t commit asked the state’s highest court on Thursday for a new trial.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Call to candidates: Let’s make Connecticut No. 1 in mental health services again
Connecticut has long been a national leader in how we view and deliver mental health and substance use disorder treatment. We have been at the forefront for many years of legislation known as “parity” that puts these health conditions on equal footing with physical health. Our roots in this field go all the way back to the grandfather of mental health reform, Clifford Beers, who was from New Haven and founded the first-of-its-kind nonprofit that became Mental Health Connecticut in 1908 before founding Mental Health America a year later. In 1913, Beers also founded what is now known as the Clifford Beers Clinic in New Haven. But in recent years, our status as a leader on this issue has begun to slip.
Posted inPolitics
Sniff around campaign finances with our new database
By the end of August, candidates for state offices ranging from state representative to governor reported raising more than $40 million and spending around $30 million in the 2018 election cycle. Today, CT Mirror is launching CT Campaign Cash, a database tool to ease inspection of those receipts and expenditures.
Posted inPolitics
Lamont’s contributions to his own campaign: $12.1 million
Democrat Ned Lamont contributed $8.2 million to his gubernatorial campaign last month, bringing his total investment to $12.1 million since launching his candidacy in January, according to a campaign finance report filed Wednesday night.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal seeks FTC probe of Google
WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Wednesday asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google over revelations that the company not only exposed private data of Google+ users to outside developers, but also failed to disclose the data leak for months.
Posted inPolitics
Lamont, Stefanowski on opposite sides of wide gender gap
Republican Bob Stefanowski and Democrat Ned Lamont are waging an asymmetrical fight for the votes of women in Connecticut’s race for governor, one in which Republicans are trying to keep voters tightly focused on the state economy and Democrats are making broader appeals over state and national issues.
Posted inJustice
Cheshire Correctional Institution participates in livestream prison reform conference
CHESHIRE — Standing inside a century-old maximum security prison auditorium as cameras live-streamed a conference on Connecticut’s prison system reforms Wednesday, Corrections Commissioner Scott Semple told those assembled that the event reminded him of watching the ripple effect from throwing a stone in a still pond.
Posted inHealth
Justice Department approves CVS-Aetna merger, with conditions
WASHINGTON –The Justice Department on Wednesday cleared CVS Health Corp.’s planned $69 billion merger with Aetna Inc. after the companies agreed to divest a Medicare prescription drug plan sold by the Hartford-based health insurer. Consumer groups, however, continue to oppose the deal.
Posted inPolitics
Lamont leads Stefanowski by 8 points in Quinnipiac poll
A Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters released Wednesday found a huge gender gap fueling a 47 percent to 39 percent lead for Democrat Ned Lamont over Republican Bob Stefanowski in a volatile Connecticut race for governor, with independent Oz Griebel garnering 11 percent.