WASHINGTON – Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Chris Murphy and other gun control advocates have switched their focus from Congress to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue to try to close what they call loopholes in the FBI background checks of gun buyers.
FBI
CT senators introduce bill to close ‘loophole’ in checks of gun buyers
WASHINGTON – Joined by several of their Democratic colleagues, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy on Wednesday fulfilled a promise to introduce a bill aimed at closing a “loophole” in federal gun laws that allows a gun sale to proceed if an FBI background check is not completed in 72 hours.
Oregon shootings spark new effort on Newtown-inspired gun control bill
WASHINGTON – Reacting to the nation’s latest mass shooting in Oregon, Senate Democrats, including Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, on Thursday said they would try once again to pass legislation first prompted by the mass slaying in Newtown.
FBI reports crime dropped across the board in Connecticut
Violent crime in Connecticut dropped by nearly 10 percent for the second consecutive year, placing it among the states leading a long downward trend in the incidence of crime in the U.S., the FBI reported Monday in its annual release of the Uniform Crime Report.
CT senators urge boycott of stores that don’t wait for gun checks
WASHINGTON – Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy want some of the nation’s largest sporting goods stores to wait for the FBI to complete background checks on gun purchasers in all cases – and hope customers boycott those stores if they don’t.
Former top CT House GOP aide pleads to mail fraud
George Gallo, the former chief of staff to the House Republican minority in Hartford, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of mail fraud related to his steering GOP candidates to a direct mail company that paid him $117,000, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Feds return to the Capitol for another interview
Federal investigators Wednesday interviewed the chief of staff for the Senate Republicans as part the investigation into the House Republicans’ former chief of staff. “Two federal investigators met briefly with Senate Republican Caucus Chief of Staff Jack Shannon in the Legislative Office Building this morning as part of an inquiry first reported in the news […]
House GOP releases grand jury subpoenas
Copies of federal subpoenas released Friday by the House Republican office show the U.S. attorney’s office seeking a wide range of documents relating to the GOP’s campaign committees and its departed chief of staff, George Gallo. He was the only individual named in the subpoenas.
Top aide to CT House GOP quits as feds investigate campaign mailings
George Gallo, the chief of staff to the House Republicans in the General Assembly, resigned Thursday as FBI agents questioned legislators and reviewed records relating to campaign mailings he oversaw as the caucus’ political strategist. Gallo managed Gov. John G. Rowland’s campaign in 2002 and was state party chairman under Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
Feds secretly videotaped House leaders Donovan and Cafero
New Haven – In a secretly videotaped encounter in 2012, then-House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, seemed to cheerfully take credit for killing a tobacco tax bill, then recoiled from the idea seconds later. “I took care of ya, didn’t I?” a smiling Donovan told Harry Raymond Soucy, a union friend acting on behalf of […]
Big stakes loom behind quiet races for the General Assembly
While U.S. Senate candidates Linda McMahon and Chris Murphy grab most of the headlines, there is more at stake in this year’s state legislative races than Connecticut has seen in a decade. Though Democrats hold comfortable margins in both chambers, an unusually large number of open seats, a sluggish economy and the specter of right-wing […]



