Free Republic

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — The ‘Bag Tax’ is back, and a key legislative committee says it should start this October. It would require a nickel tax on non-reusable bags at the supermarket and other retailers, and the bill has passed the Environment Committee with both Democrat and Republican votes. One estimate says that Connecticut residents use nearly one billion plastic bags a year. This proposal is aimed at cutting down the litter and raising money. The legislature’s Environment Committee has approved a bill that would make State Park Beaches no smoking zones. Smoking would still be permitted in the parks,...

EW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)– Many more people applied for gun permits last year than the year before. According to the Norwich Bulletin, there was a 73 percent jump during that period. Some believe it’s partly because of last year’s presidential election. The paper reports the increase was for pistol permit applications from 2015 to 2016. The reason is fear…but not fear of violence and crime. The best guess is that all those people suddenly wanted guns because they were afraid of Democrats. At least what Democrats might do to their second amendment rights. That fear made for a big increase....

Connecticut State Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr. (D-Branford) — son of former U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) — wants to give state government control over what happens to citizens’ organs after they die. Kennedy recently introduced SB 750, which would automatically enroll Connecticut’s citizens in the organ donation program.

Democratic lawmakers introduced a proposal to place a fee on opioid prescriptions with the revenue going to combat rampant painkiller and heroin addiction across the U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut, a state hit hard by increases in drug overdoses, are calling for a one-cent per-milligram tax to be added to prescriptions for opiate-based painkillers.

Job applicants for a Connecticut-based marketing company have a unique “snowflake” test to pass before being hired. The Silent Partner Marketing firm is taking on liberal “snowflakes” in an effort to weed out the hundreds of applications they have received. The company has developed a survey to vet potential employees by asking key questions about themselves.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Senator Richard Blumenthal will be introducing a new bill in an effort to combat hate crimes. Senator Richard Blumenthal will unveil new legislation on Monday, in an effort to strengthen federal laws against hate crimes and threats. The nation has seen a surge in hate speech, threats, and attacks following the 2016 presidential election. Blumenthal will be joined by advocates from the Anti-Defamation League, CAIR-CT, and the LGBT community at the State Capitol, to discuss his new ‘No Hate’ Bill. The meeting will start on Monday, March 13th at 10:00 a.m.

(WTNH) — Senator Chris Murphy is leading the charge against President Trump‘s newly revised travel ban. Murphy has introduced a bill that would block President Trump’s executive order that bans immigration from six mostly Muslim countries. The President’s revised travel ban blocks citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from obtaining visas for at least 90 days. Murphy says a 1965 act banning discrimination based of the basis of national origin makes the order illegal. Democrats predict this will run into similar legal challenges as the original ban.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) – On Tuesday afternoon, a group of undocumented youths from the area will speak up with community leaders to proclaim that they are “Undocumented, Unafraid, Unapologetic.” The group will be made up of CT Students for a Dream and ACLU members and their message is that they are #HereToStay. The press conference will consist of the youths sharing their stories in support of the undocumented community in light of the recent Trump Administration announcements and actions. According to the group, the press conference is a dramatic response to the stepped up immigration enforcement of the Trump Administration....

Government finance is now the greatest source of controversy in Connecticut, owing to billion-dollar deficits and an epic debt load that ensures high taxes for many years to come. In national politics, Connecticut is deep blue: Its entire congressional delegation is Democratic, and it hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 28 years. But the GOP has recently notched strong gains in the state legislature. Though it’s far from clear which party will prevail, the fight for control of state government will depend on who can better respond to broad public recognition that Connecticut needs a new fiscal model....

Households in New England paid electricity prices last month that were 47 percent higher than the national average.. Consumer energy information released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for its Boston region showed the area's households paid an average of 19.5 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, compared to the national average of 13.3 cents. The region includes Hampden and Worcester counties as well as Greater Boston and parts of New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine. The figures came out one day after energy utility Eversource proposed a 10 percent increase in its electricity distribution rates beginning early next year. The...

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), residential electricity prices have risen by 3.2 percent during the first 6 months of this year compared to the first 6 months of last year—the highest year-over-year growth in 5 years. But, the real story is that New England’s residential electricity prices have risen 11.8 percent over that period—the highest increase anywhere in the nation. That is because New England is shuttering low-cost coal and nuclear plants and replacing them with new natural gas plants and mandated renewable energy sources. Worse, New England has done this against a backdrop of in-sufficient pipeline capacity...

When Don Sage of Concord, N.H., learned his electric bill could rise by as much as $40 a month he got flustered. He and his wife make do on a bit less than $30,000 a year in Social Security payments, and they pay close attention to their electric bills. "When the invoice comes in the mail to get paid, I have a target amount that we can fluctuate up or down, based on our fixed budget," Sage says. "They don't need my permission to hike up their rates, but the fact is we're the ones that are paying these increases."...

CANTON, Conn. (AP) — Students at a suburban Connecticut high school are being criticized by their principal for using hate speech after chanting President Trump‘s name during a varsity basketball game against a school from Hartford.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) – The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities has released a protocol when it comes to U.S. immigration and customs enforcement on CSCU campuses. According to CSCU the protocol is to serve as a guide to its 17 colleges and universities with the intent to comply with legally mandated disclosure, order, and judicial subpoenas. However beyond the legal mandates there will be no enforcement of federal immigration laws. CSCU also is deliberately not using the term “sanctuary” because of its broad meaning and says it does not have the power or ability to declare any “sanctuary” that is...

On Wednesday Connecticut Governor Daniel Malloy issued a memo to his state’s authorities, telling them to ignore federal law regarding illegal immigrants. Malloy declared Connecticut a sanctuary state. On Friday a previously deported illegal alien murdered his girlfriend and kidnapped her six year-old daughter. Oscar Obedio Hernandez, an illegal alien from El Salvador, was arrested on Friday night.

(CNN) - An undocumented immigrant previously deported for felony convictions was arrested Friday as a suspect in a double stabbing and kidnapping, authorities said. Oscar Hernandez took off with his 6-year-old daughter, Aylin, around 3 a.m. Friday after fatally stabbing Aylin's mother and wounding another female victim, according to police in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A citizen of El Salvador, Hernandez was deported in November 2013 with felony convictions for assault and threatening and several misdemeanor convictions, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Shawn Neudauer. Early Friday, a fight broke out after Aylin's mother, Nidia Gonzalez, 26, and the other...

Connecticut’s Democratic governor is telling state and local law enforcement they do not have to comply with federal requests to detain residents who are in the country illegally, a day after the Trump administration detailed plans that could lead to millions of deportations. In a memo to state law enforcement and school district officials Wednesday, Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) said Connecticut officials should not detain anyone solely on the basis of their immigration status. Federal immigration detainer requests do not constitute orders or warrants, Malloy’s memo says. Law enforcement officials should not give federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers access...

Two college football players who were suspended from their team last year and saw their scholarships revoked after rape accusations have been cleared by police after authorities say their accuser recanted her story. Nikki Yovino, 18, of South Setauket, NY, has been charged with second-degree falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence in connection to an incident at a Sacred Heart University football party in October, the Connecticut Post reports. When pressed about inconsistencies in her original statement, Yovino admitted that she made up the rape allegations against the two football players in hopes of gaining...

An interracial Connecticut couple who had a racial slur spray-painted on their garage door has been fined thousands of dollars for refusing to remove or cover it up. The N-word has remained on the home of Heather Lindsay, who's white, and Lexene Charles, who's black, for about five weeks, despite a city order to paint over it, the Stamford Advocate reports. City officials issued the couple a citation, which carries a $100 daily fine, and it has now reached $3,600. Lindsay said their home has been vandalized multiple times and at least three of her neighbors have yelled the N-word...

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) announced Monday morning that contracts have been requested from vendors to provide every room at VA hospitals in Connecticut with Wi-Fi access, after a News 8 exclusive report in 2016. At a news conference Monday, Blumenthal said that every veteran staying at a VA facility should feel connected to the world around them.Every veteran who goes to this facility for patient care deserves this connection to the outside world. It’s just as important as those drugs and doctors are to their recovery.According to Senator Blumenthal, half a million in federal...