Free Republic

Two days before the polls open, unaffiliated candidate for governor Joe Visconti has suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican candidate Tom Foley in a ceremonious display of party unity. NBC Connecticut cameras were the only ones rolling when Visconti appeared alongside Foley in Brookfield on Sunday, surprising a crowded room of Foley campaign volunteers. "I called Tom yesterday. I took a look at the polls," Visconti explained. "I was very concerned that Tom is in the fight for his life. Connecticut is in the fight of its life." Visconti, a conservative who failed to secure the Republican nomination, previously said...

On the 39th anniversary of the 1975 slaying of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley, the Kennedy scion accused of her murder is set to settle a slander lawsuit against television host Nancy Grace. In a stipulation of settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford on Wednesday, legal counsel for Michael Skakel agreed to drop his case against the HLN pundit and fellow legal commentator Beth Karas for comments they made in a 2012 broadcast about DNA evidence near the scene of the crime. HLN parent companies Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting System were also named in the defamation suit and...

MILFORD >> Mohammad A. Chaudhry, 52, Tuesday admitted throwing boiling hot oil on a woman as she slept last year in West Haven, leaving her looking “‘as though her skin was melting off,’” her son told authorities, Assistant State’s Attorney Amy L. Bepko said. The victim required four skin grafts and 29 days in the hospital. She suffered third-degree burns over 15 percent of her upper body, Bepko told Judge Frank Iannotti. Chaudhry, of West Haven, also pleaded guilty to having a fellow prison inmate write a letter to one of his children, in violation of a court order. The...

... group from Ohio contributed $1.17 million to Grow Connecticut, the super PAC behind a $6.7 million advertising campaign to defeat Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The money came from A Public Voice, Inc., which is based at the West Chester, Ohio office of David R. Langdon, a lawyer who has represented a network of conservative non-profit groups in a legal fight with the IRS over their tax-exempt status and is active opposing gay marriage, among other causes. Grow Connecticut, which is allied with the Republican Governors Association, immediately used the contribution to purchase nearly $1 million of television advertising attacking...

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Daily Thread)Sound Off Connecticut is a popular conservative/libertarian call in talk show hosted by Jim Vicevich weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon ET. Although based in Connecticut, the show welcomes callers from all over the United States! This is your chance to sound off America! Call into the show toll free (800) 966-9842! Listen to the LIVE AUDIO STREAM at http://wtic.com - it's free and NO registration is required! If you're in southern New England listen over the air to WTIC 1080 AM, the 50,000 watt...

President Obama’s favorite think tank Center for American Progress (CAP), wants to align standardized tests with Common Core standards. Recently, at CAP: • Nancy DePalma, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, West Hartford Public Schools, said that her district “totally redesigned our curriculum with Common Core” which “gives the teachers in-the-moment assessment” in classroom settings. • Maura Henry, a teacher at The Young Women's Leadership School of Astoria in New York City, argued that, “Parents aren’t really anti-testing, but [anti-]over-testing” and need to be reassured they aren’t “being tricked” by the state education agencies and their tests. Henry said...

Connecticut placed six West Africans who recently arrived in the United States under quarantine for possible Ebola exposure, a move that comes as the United States starts new restrictions on those coming from the countries hardest hit by the deadly virus. The family of six West Africans, who arrived Saturday and were planning to live in the United States, will be watched for 21 days, Connecticut state health authorities said Thursday. Officials have yet to say where the family came from. ... Ebola fears have also touched one of the world's most reclusive countries, North Korea, which will bar entry...

The New Haven SWAT team must have been pretty amped up: It was midnight, and they were getting ready to bust down the door of a man wanted on charges involving weapons violations, robbery — and murder. They were not sure how many people were in the house, or how they’d react. After a volley of flash grenades that set fire to the carpet and a sofa, they moved in, guns drawn. A minute later, they had their man zip-tied on the floor. If only they’d double-checked the address first. Bobby Griffin Jr. was wanted on murder charges. His next-door...

For about the past week or so, health insurance broker Stephen Hunt has been getting phone calls from unhappy clients. “They just keep building up and up and up and up and up," Hunt said. The calls are coming from clients who have been notified by their insurer that their policy expires at year’s end and most will have to purchase plans with much higher premiums and much higher deductibles, he said. “We’re not talking about a minor difference in premium. We're talking about a mortgage payment difference in premium for a lot of people," Hunt said. Anne Melissa Dowling,...

The Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT) has sold its property at 35 Harris Road, Avon, former home to Christ Episcopal Church, to the Farmington Valley American Muslim Center, Inc. (FVAMC). The sale, for $1.1 million, was completed on Oct. 21. The building was vacated after the congregation voted in 2012 to dissolve as a parish and close by the end of that year. The following spring, Bishop Ian T. Douglas and other ECCT staff hosted a meeting of community leaders and interested residents to discern how the property could best be used “as an asset to God’s mission of restoration...

Oscar de la Renta has died at the age of 82. His wife Annette confirmed that the legendary fashion designer passed away at his Kent, Connecticut home on Monday. De la Renta was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, however a cause of death is yet to be revealed. He is survived by both Annette and his adopted son Moises - a designer at the label. Company executives Alex and Eliza Bolen said in a statement that De la Renta died surrounded by family, friends, and 'more than a few dogs'. The statement also read: 'While our hearts are broken by...

Despite being cashiered out of the Navy Reserve for testing positive for cocaine, Vice President Joe Biden's son is still being allowed to practice law and won't lose his Connecticut law license. Late last week the Wall Street Journal reported that in February of this year Hunter Biden, 44, tested positive for cocaine during a drug test administered by the Navy and was immediately discharged from the Navy Reserve. Days later the Connecticut Bar announced that it was not initiating any reviews of the younger Biden's law license.

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Daily Thread)Sound Off Connecticut is a popular conservative/libertarian call in talk show hosted by Jim Vicevich weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon ET. Although based in Connecticut, the show welcomes callers from all over the United States! This is your chance to sound off America! Call into the show toll free (800) 966-9842! Listen to the LIVE AUDIO STREAM at http://wtic.com - it's free and NO registration is required! If you're in southern New England listen over the air to WTIC 1080 AM, the 50,000 watt...

Republican challenger Tom Foley still leads Democratic incumbent Dan Malloy in their Connecticut gubernatorial rematch as voters continue to grumble about the job Malloy has done over the past four years. Foley now picks up 50% of the vote to Malloy’s 43% in a new statewide telephone survey of Likely Connecticut Voters. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

The patient is one of two Yale School of Public Health doctoral students who recently returned from Liberia. The students were not in direct contact with Ebola patients in Liberia, but officials said the student interacted with at least one person who was later diagnosed with Ebola. Workers at the Yale School of Public Health expressed legitimate concerns Thursday about whether sufficient precautions were taken upon the students’ return. The students volunteered to stay away from work for 21 days, but school officials decided that was not necessary. School of Public Health Dean Paul Cleary explained in a letter to...

Preliminary testing indicates that the Yale doctoral student admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital with Ebola-like symptoms does not have the deadly virus, according to sources. The student, who had returned Saturday from Liberia, one of three countries most affected by the outbreak, had a fever Wednesday evening and was being monitored in isolation at the hospital. Yale-New Haven’s chief medical officer, Dr. Thomas Balcezak, said the patient was in good condition with a low-grade fever and had improved since being hospitalized. "Due to an overabundance of caution, before we fully rule it out, we will wait for the CDC official...

A Yale University student who recently returned from Liberia has been admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital to be evaluated for Ebola-like symptoms, according to officials from New Haven Mayor Toni Harp's office and Yale-New Haven Hospital. Two Yale students who had been conducting research in Liberia returned on Saturday, Oct. 11 and have been kept in voluntary sequestration, Laurence Grothier, Director of Communication for Mayor Harp.

Hospital officials in New Haven have quarantined a patient with Ebola-like symptoms as a precaution. Officials tell Eyewitness News that the patient was admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital. The hospital released a statement Thursday morning. "Yale-New Haven Hospital admitted a patient late Wednesday night for evaluation of Ebola-like symptoms," the hospital said. "We have not confirmed or ruled-out any diagnosis at this point. We are working in cooperation with city, state and federal health officials. There is no further information available at this time." Officials said they'll know more later in the day. There's no word on the patient's condition...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – President Barack Obama has canceled a trip to New Jersey and Connecticut and will instead hold a meeting about Ebola at the White House. “The president’s travel today to New Jersey and Connecticut has been postponed,” the president’s Press Secretary said in a statement. “Late this afternoon, the president will convene a meeting at the White House of cabinet agencies coordinating the government’s response to the Ebola outbreak.”

“In response to the epidemic of the Ebola virus currently affecting multiple countries in western Africa, and in order to provide the Commissioner of Public Health and other appropriate officials with all authorities necessary to prevent any potential transmission of the Ebola virus within the State of Connecticut, I hereby declare a public health emergency for the State, pursuant to the Connecticut General Statutes Section 19a-131a, for the duration of the epidemic. Specifically, in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes Section 19a-131b, I authorize the Commissioner of Public Health to Order the isolation or quarantine, under conditions prescribed by the Commissioner...