The Interior Department’s official watchdog on Monday confirmed it is investigating why the agency rebuffed a request by Connecticut tribes to approve changes to its gaming compact needed to win state support for a new casino in East Windsor.
Interior Department
Posted inMoney
National Indian group urges Zinke to act on CT tribes’ casino issue
WASHINGTON — The National Congress of American Indians came to the support of Connecticut’s Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes Thursday, urging Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to approve a change in their gaming compacts that would clear the way for the tribes to operate a new casino in East Windsor.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut lawmakers seek investigation of casino lobbying
Connecticut’s U.S. senators and two of its congressmen asked Monday that the inspector general of the Department of the Interior investigate the department’s role in blocking the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes from jointly developing a commercial casino in East Windsor to compete with an MGM gaming resort under construction in Springfield.
Posted inJustice
Interior Department seeks dismissal of CT gaming lawsuit
The U.S. Interior Department told a federal court Monday that Connecticut’s refusal to negotiate a gaming compact with the Mashantucket Pequots nearly 30 years ago creates a fatal flaw in the state’s legal efforts today to help the Pequot and Mohegan tribes compete with MGM Resorts International.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Malloy, environmentalists blast Trump proposal to open North Atlantic to drilling
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday proposed opening most of the nation’s offshore areas to oil and gas drilling, including areas in the North Atlantic off the New England coast that have been off limits to exploration for decades. That move was roundly denounced by environmental groups, and coastal governors including Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics
New CT casino falls prey to lobbying blitz and Trump policy
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Interior Department’s failure to act on provisions that would allow the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to open a new casino in East Windsor came after a vigorous lobbying campaign by competitor MGM Resorts International and a change in Indian gaming policy in the Trump administration.
Posted inPolitics
Coltsville faces hurdles before official national park status
It will likely be years before the Coltsville neighborhood near the Connecticut River in Hartford will welcome its first visitors to the Coltsville National Historical Park. Before the big day, a series of property transfers will have to take place and plans will have to be developed by the National Park Service, processes that typically take a long time.
Posted inPolitics
Coltsville national park passes the House tucked in a defense bill; Senate next
WASHINGTON – The long-sought designation of Hartford’s Coltsville neighborhood as a national historic park was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, tucked into a massive $577 billion defense bill. Now the legislation is headed for the Senate, where there could be a fight over including provisions for public lands in a defense bill.