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Part of the hospital surge plan, the 25 bed mobile field hospital would have served as another floor of St. Francis Hospital specifically to treat COVID patients You can call it a symbol of progress. Tuesday, one of four mobile field hospitals came down outside St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. March 24th you saw it go up. May 12th you are seeing it come down. Part of Connecticut’s COVID-19 Hospital surge plan, the 25 bed mobile field hospital would have served as another floor of St. Francis Hospital specifically to treat COVID-positive patients. Dr. John Rodis, the President of St....

U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny, a Bill Clinton appointee who Obama tried unsuccessfully to elevate to the federal appellate court, said in an April 16 conference call with the attorneys that they had to abide by his politically-correct terminology for the student-athletes at the heart of the case, according to a transcript obtained by the National Review. “What I’m saying is you must refer to them as ‘transgender females” rather than as ‘males.’ Referring to these individuals as ‘transgender females’ is consistent with science, common practice and perhaps human decency. To refer to them as ‘males,’ period, is not accurate,...

High-school athletes Selina Soule and Alanna Smith (Photo courtesy Alliance Defending Freedom)Attorneys representing three female high school track athletes in their effort to bar biological males from competing against them filed a motion on Saturday calling for the presiding judge to recuse himself after he forbid the attorneys from referring to the transgender athletes at issue as “males.” The ADF filed suit in February against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) on behalf of three girls — Selina Soule, Alana Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell. The suit challenges the CIAC policy allowing students to compete in the division that accords with...

"I left work and I felt so deflated," one doctor said about an effort to counter misinformation he saw on Facebook. "I let it get to me." At the end of another long shift treating coronavirus patients, Dr. Hadi Halazun opened his Facebook page to find a man insisting to him that "no one's dying" and that the coronavirus is "fake news" drummed up by the news media. Hadi tried to engage and explain his firsthand experience with the virus. In reply, another user insinuated that he wasn't a real doctor, saying pictures from his profile showing him at concerts...

Even when coronavirus restrictions are lifted, roughly seven out of 10 people in the tri-state area would be uncomfortable going to restaurants or bars and more than eight out of 10 wouldn't be comfortable going to a large sports or entertainment event. The results from a new Quinnipiac University poll in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey also found that people are split about returning to work outside the home. Majorities also say it will take at least a few months before their states are safe to lift their stay at home orders and reopen their economies.

Governor Ned Lamont Tuesday announced Tuesday that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he is ordering in-person classes at all K-12 public school facilities in Connecticut to remain canceled for the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year and continue providing distance learning during this period. Schools will also be required to continue providing meals to children under the school lunch and breakfast programs for students at home. ... “I know how important it is for so many students and teachers to finish out the school year, and I was holding out hope – particularly for high school seniors – that...

Actor Paul Giamatti gave U.S. Attorney John Durham some credit for informing his character on Showtime's Billions. The Hollywood star plays fictional U.S. Attorney-turned-New York Attorney General Chuck Rhoades, who is loosely based on former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, on the show, but Bharara isn't the only inspiration for the role. Speaking with GQ last week, Giamatti revealed that Durham influenced the portrayal of his character too. "There was a guy that was interesting to me early on, and his name is John Durham," he said. "And he’s actually the guy who William Barr tagged to do the investigation of...

Joe Biden, already facing allegations of sexual assault at home and nepotism in China, has chosen a former U.S. senator with his own political baggage on China, ethics, and women to run the search for a vice presidential nominee. Christopher Dodd, who retired from the Senate a decade ago, was a central figure in the 1990s China fundraising scandal, having served as the General Chairman of the Democratic Party at a time it and Bill Clinton’s campaign accepted illegal foreign donations and turned the Lincoln bedroom into a donor perk. The retired Connecticut Democrat also has long boasted a friendship...

The Hartford Courant editorial board wrote Wednesday Connecticut citizens should be “frightened” that Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont is planning the state’s reopening from the coronavirus lockdown “in secret.” The newspaper asserted Lamont, “in what appears to becoming a pattern in his administration,” is developing plans to reopen the state with a group of people who are not accountable to Connecticut taxpayers. The editors stated about the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group: The 43-member panel was created as part of AdvanceCT, a reboot of the former Connecticut Economic Resource Center. It’s described on its website as a “nonprofit organization that works to...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Protesters rallied again Monday, asking for Governor Ned Lamont to consider reopening the state. “We appreciate his thinking of taking care of us all, but people are suffering right now and they’re not suffering with COVID,” said Marnee Palladino. One of the biggest complaints is they don’t understand why the big box stores can be open while mom and pop shops remain closed. They believe if Lamont does the right thing by reopening the state, people will do the right thing. “It’s unfair that big box stores like Walmart are able to be open while smaller...

it’s appropriate to mourn the passing of one notable longtime New Yorker .. Unit 2 reactor at the Indian Point Energy Center. The workhorse, Westchester-based nuclear-power generator, which could have run for several more decades, is scheduled to be unplugged Thursday. Cause of death: political expediency .... the 1,028-megawatt Westinghouse machine delivered about 8,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year from a site on the Hudson River that covers less than a half square mile. Unit 2’s prodigious output left its more politically popular rivals — solar and wind energy — in the shade. Ivanpah, the biggest thermal-solar project in America,...

Deaths at nursing homes now account for nearly half of all COVID-19-related fatalities in Connecticut. Newly released statewide numbers show a dire increase in cases and deaths. At least one resident has died in the majority of the state’s nursing homes. And death rates at some facilities are approaching one in four residents. The state chief medical examiner said last week some nursing homes aren’t reporting deaths. Governor Ned Lamont ordered nursing homes to make daily status reports to the state. The president of the state’s largest nursing home association said facilities have followed all guidance and best practices. At...

The Westport Police Department, located in Connecticut’s hardest-hit county of Fairfield, has abandoned its idea to use high-tech drones that can detect symptoms of coronavirus infection from up to 190 feet away. The backtracking came after people expressed privacy concerns about the program. On Thursday, Police Chief Foti Koskinas and First Selectman Jim Marpe said the drone surveillance plan would not come to fruition because it was “not well-received,” according to Westport News. “In our good faith effort to get ahead of the virus and potential need to manage and safely monitor crowds and social distancing in this environment, our...

WESTPORT, Conn. — Westport has decided against launching a pilot program to use drones in the fight against covid-19. The drones would have been equipped with technology that can determine everything from a person's heart rate to if they have a fever and if people are following social distancing guidelines. Westport Police Chief Foti Koskinas announced today that, after careful consideration and in collaboration with First Selectman Jim Marpe, the Westport Police Department has chosen not to participate in the Draganfly drone “Flatten the Curve Pilot Program.” 'Dragon fly' -- the company behind the technology says their drones are not...

President Trump shared a report that said indictments could be coming this week in U.S. Attorney John Durham's review of the Russia investigation. Part of a flurry of retweets late Monday evening, Trump's verified Twitter account, which has 77.8 million followers, shared a post from Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett's personal website with the headline: "More Russia Spygate Indictments Coming ‘This Week.’" The post, authored by "staff" and shared by Jarrett's verified Twitter account, focused on a recent interview conducted by Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, during which investigative reporter John Solomon said that "some criminal investigative activity" indicated...

A baby thought to have been the youngest ever to die of COVID-19 may not have been killed by the coronavirus after all. Days after Connecticut officials last week announced that a six-week-old baby died after contracting coronavirus, the state’s medical examiner is not ready to say that COVID-19 was the cause of death. Governor Ned Lamont on Wednesday said that the toddler who was rushed to intensive care at a Hartford hospital was the youngest fatality of COVID-19 ‘anywhere.’ As of Friday afternoon, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has yet to officially rule that the novel coronavirus...

Protesters took their cars around the streets of the Capital and the Governor’s Mansion. Those who attended the Connecticut Liberty Rally feel their rights are being infringed upon and call the pandemic shutdown unconstitutional. This rally, like others seen around the nation, called for Governor Ned Lamont to reopen the state immediately. "They totally shut down the country," said Rich Mills. "They destroyed the economy. It’s just ridiculous." The shouts and honks from passing protesters were clear, "open the state". ... The Libertarian Party of Connecticut says the Governor’s actions are an overreach of authority and hurting small businesses. They...

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Frontier Communications announced Wednesday that the internet, TV and telephone service provider has filed for federal bankruptcy protection and will implement a restructuring plan to reduce its debt by more than $10 billion. The Norwalk, Conn.-based company filed for Chapter 11 protection Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, according to The Associated Press. The filing will allow the company to reorganize its finances while business operations continue.

It seemed clear several weeks ago this was going to happen. East coast blue state governors and West coast blue state governors are uniting to begin the economic civil war planning to block any White House effort to re-open the U.S. economy. The three step plan seems predictable: (1) Get out ahead of President Trump. (2) Defy the ‘all clear’ and shape economic benefit to their political allies. (3) Then use Fauci’s upcoming dossier to hit the administration for heartlessly opening the economy too early. ♦ On the East Coast the governors of New York (Cuomo), New Jersey (Murphy), Connecticut...

Connecticut doctors are finding some success in treating COVID-19 patients with a controversial malaria drug that has undergone very limited testing in its effectiveness against the coronavirus. In Bridgeport Hospital, virtually every patient in the intensive care unit has been given hydroxychloroquine - which is normally used to treat lupus, an auto-immune disease, as well as arthritis and malaria - said Dr. Zane Saul, chief of infectious disease there. “We use this more for its anti-inflammatory properties,” Saul said in a phone interview from the hospital. “We’re using this is our protocol.” He described the results so far as “positive”...