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The father of the family killed in a fiery Costa Rican plane crash was a senior investor at Bridgewater Associates, the giant hedge fund headed by billionaire Ray Dalio. Bruce Steinberg — who, along with his wife, Irene, and three sons, Zachary, William and Matthew, was among 12 people killed in the charter plane crash on New Year’s Eve — was a senior member of the Connecticut-based fund’s research team. Steinberg, 50, was also a graduate of Columbia Business School. “The Bridgewater family lost Bruce Steinberg (a senior investor at Bridgewater and a wonderful man) and his family in a...

Connecticut continues to be dogged by messy finances. The budget legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy adopted in late October for fiscal year 2017-18 is in deficit. Gov. Malloy’s Office of Policy and Management estimated a $202.8 million hole Nov. 20, while state Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo concluded Dec. 1 that the hole is $207.8 million. Before these forecasts were issued, the state was expected to contend with a $4 billion deficit in the 2019-21 biennium. ... “between 2015 and 2016, Connecticut saw a net loss of 2,050 tax filers who earn more than $200,000 per year.” This amounted to...

Now, don’t tell me that welfare recipients aren’t innovative! No reason to stand on your feet waiting to get your check. Just put your flip-flops next in line and go back and sit on your ass. What a great country! Related Article Corporate Welfare Statistics That Will Make You Sick With all the talk about unemployment benefits and welfare, it’s important to understand just how much money we’re talking about. In 35 states, welfare, housing assistance and other benefits pays more than a minimum wage job, according to a new study by the Cato Institute. The study also found...

Connecticut has the most underfunded pension system in the nation, amassing more than $127.7 billion in liabilities.. The study entitled Unaccountable and Unaffordable showed Connecticut’s pension system dropping below Illinois and Kentucky when its pension liabilities were calculated with a “risk-free” discount rate equal to the rate of a U.S. Treasury bond. Connecticut’s unfunded pension liability rose from $99.2 billion in ALEC’s 2016 study to $127.7 billion in 2017, leaving the pension system only 19 percent funded. The debt from the public pensions amounts to $35,721 per person in Connecticut, the second highest per capita debt in the nation behind...

Deep in the heart of Trump country, the Salvation Army’s ubiquitous red kettle is turning into a cauldron of controversy for Sen. George Logan. An Ansonia Republican, Logan’s volunteer work as a bell-ringer outside a Walmart in Naugatuck for the Salvation Army, which is a Christian charity, has drawn opposition from a secularist group. The Freedom From Religion Foundation called on Logan to keep up the separation between church and state. The group wrote to him Tuesday to voice its objections to him ringing the bell outside the big box store twice this week, including an appearance scheduled for Saturday...

Prosecutors on Monday dropped a breach of peace charge against conservative commentator Lucian Wintrich, who was arrested last month when a scuffle broke out during his speech at the University of Connecticut titled “It’s OK to be White.” Wintrich, a White House correspondent for the right-wing website Gateway Pundit, was charged with the misdemeanor count after he grabbed a woman who took a copy of his speech from the lectern and tried to walk away. People crowded around, attempting to pull them apart, and Wintrich was taken away by police. After a court appearance Monday, an attorney for Wintrich told...

Congressional Republicans say they reached agreement on a final tax bill that will provide a new 20-percent deduction for pass-through income from farms and small businesses. The agreement, which the House and Senate are expected to take up early next week, also calls for doubling the estate tax exemption and will include key expensing provisions that farm groups sought to preserve and expand, lawmakers said. They said the agreement also would allow deduction of state and local taxes, including income and property taxes, up to $10,000, a concession to lawmakers in high-tax states that could also benefit farmers. Senate Agriculture...

The American Meteor Society (AMS) took to Twitter on December 7 to confirm that what he saw was in fact, a meteor. AMS received reports from 146 people about the fireball event. The society noted it was primarily visible from Pennsylvania, but eyewitness accounts were also reported from twelve other states: New York, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Washington, DC.

The state Monday dropped the breach of peace case against Lucian Wintrich, a White House correspondent for conservative website Gateway Pundit, in connection to a tussle at a speech he was to deliver at UConn last month. He was present at court but did not appear before a judge. His lawyer, Norm Pattis, met with Tolland State’s Attorney Matthew Gedansky. Later, Pattis said the state recognized Wintrich was retrieving notes that were stolen from him when the incident happened “I obviously think its wonderful that finally the system corrected itself,” said Wintrich in brief comments outside of court. “We don’t...

Special counsel Robert Mueller has abruptly reversed course on a bail agreement his office struck with Paul Manafort's legal team last week that would have allowed him to be released from GPS monitoring. Manafort evidently failed to tell the government that he was ghost-writing a draft op-ed about his work in Ukraine as late as November 30. He was working on it with "a longtime Russian colleague" who is "assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence," according to the special counsel's court filing. That colleague was likely Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian citizen and longtime protege of Manafort who he had...

Voters had their first opportunity Saturday to hear where four of the Democrats running or considering a run for governor in 2018 fall on some of the most pressing issues facing the state. For two hours, they spoke to a fullauditorium at Fair Haven School on economic inequality, the state’s over-reliance on the financial industry, police and criminal justice reform and sanctuary cities. The event, dubbed “the People’s Symposium,’’ featured Dan Drew, the Middletown mayor who is running to replace outgoing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, and three potential candidates who have formed exploratory committees: Dita Bhargava, a former official with...

The Connecticut Compromise. Roger Sherman of Connecticut was another delegate largely forgotten by history. Born to a self-described ‘low condition’, he started off as a shoemaker, subsequently founded prosperous mercantile businesses, and became a judge and town mayor. At sixty-six, he was the second oldest delegate behind Benjamin Franklin. But unlike Franklin, Sherman’s grating personality often diminished the value of his ideas. Since June 6th, Sherman not only recognized the necessity of state participation in the new government, but consistently advocated an equality of state suffrage, of retaining the confederation’s congressional structure.1 In something of a parliamentary game of chicken,...

Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera quit his position at Yale University after the Ivy League school announced it would remove the name of a pro-slavery lawmaker from one of its residential colleges. Yale's Calhoun College was named after Vice President John C. Calhoun, a 19th-century slavery supporter and white supremacist from South Carolina who attended Yale. Yale announced plans to rename Calhoun College after Grace Murray Hopper, an alum of the school and a renowned computer scientist and Navy rear admiral, the New York Times reported. Rivera announced his decision to resign from his position at the university on Sunday...

Lucian Wintrich’s speech Tuesday night was cut short when a girl in the audience appeared to take something off the podium he was using and then started to leave. Cellphone videos posted on Twitter show Wintrich running up to the girl and grabbing her before other audience members get involved. Police quickly stepped in and led Wintrich away. There was no immediate word on any potential charges. Wintrich is the White House correspondent for the right-wing blog Gateway Pundit.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) faked his Vietnam War service and lied about being the captain of the Harvard Swim Team. Connecticut voters elected him to the US Senate anyway. On Wednesday Blumenthal told reporters Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch told him that President Donald Trump’s tweets about the judiciary are “demoralizing” and “disheartening.” https://youtu.be/E0h2qKE69Jg

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) appeared on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Thursday to discuss the news from Wednesday's James Comey hearing. More specifically, the topic was the FBI director revealing that longtime Hillary Clinton advisor Huma Abedin forwarded classified emails to then-husband Anthony Weiner, ostensibly so he could print them out. “Do you believe that is a crime?” panelist Willie Geist asked to open the Blumenthal interview. “If there was classified information and it was improperly passed to a person unauthorized to receive it? Yes, it’s a crime,” the senator replied. ”Without knowing what the intentions were and so forth, there...

President Trump on Thursday struck back at Sen. Richard Blumenthal a day after the Connecticut Democrat leaked alleged details of a conversation he had with Trump’s Supreme Court pick. Blumenthal on Wednesday told reporters that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch said previous comments made by Trump about a federal judge were “demoralizing” and “disheartening.” “Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie), now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?” Trump tweeted. ------- The supposed comments from Gorsuch to Blumenthal came in response to Trump’s tweet calling a federal judge a “so-called...

President Trump blasted Sen. Richard Blumenthal Thursday for telling reporters that his Supreme Court pick called Trump’s attacks of federal judges on Twitter “demoralizing.” "Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?" Trump tweeted Thursday morning.

HARTFORD. Conn. (WTNH)– A top Connecticut lawmaker wants to hear from Attorney General Jeff Sessions under oath on the Russia investigation. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal made his case for that Friday. On Thursday, we had that bombshell testimony from former FBI Director Jim Comey. Friday, we have Senator Richard Blumenthal calling for the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General to come testify in front of his committee. Blumenthal was there in the audience Thursday as Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Blumenthal is not on that committee, so he could not ask questions. He did say that Comey painted...

Richard Blumenthal has been a member of the U.S. Senate since 2011, having previously served as the attorney general of Connecticut. He has been married to his wife, Cynthia, for over three decades. Here’s what you need to know about Cynthia Malkin, Richard Blumenthal’s wife. 1. Cynthia Malkin is the daughter of Peter Malkin, a wealthy real estate investor. Peter Malkin is the chairman emeritus of Empire State Realty Trust, which owns a number of buildings across New York City including the Empire State Building. They also own office properties in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. Cynthia’s...