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NY Activists: Join NOW NY State Dec. 4! Demand health care reform that includes full reproductive rights for ALL women! Join with the National Organization for Women New York State chapter, local activits and prominent reproductive rights advocates to say NO to any Stupak-Pitts-like amendemnts in the National Health Care Reform package. Full Reproductive Rights for Women....Nothing More, Nothing Less Location: Front of Senator Schumer's office 757 Third Avenue (at 48th Street) NYC Date: Dec. 4, 2009 Time: Noon until 2:00 pm

NEW HAVEN — - When city officials and environmental groups heard that PSEG Power LLC, an energy company that owns some of the state's most offensive power plants, wanted to build new "peaking" power plants near New Haven's East Shore neighborhood, they became outraged. The three new power plants would be used only during peak electricity times, such as during heat waves, and would burn clean natural gas. Nevertheless, they would be in an area already plagued by polluted air because of its proximity to the city's busy port, the interstate highway and PSEG's New Haven Harbor Station plant. The...

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

Enfield (WTNH) - The ACLU of Connecticut is warning the Enfield school board to stop holding graduation ceremonies at a Bloomfield megachurch, claiming the graduates and their families are unconstitutionally being subjected to religious messages.

Democratic State Representative Jason Bartlett, who's district includes Bethel, Danbury and Redding, was arrested on several motor vehicle charges after being pulled over in Newtown. Newtown Police Sgt. Dominic Costello says Bartlett was pulled over by an officer who saw him driving while speaking on his cell phone, without a hands free device. After a short investigation, the officer determined that his registration had expired and his license was suspended. Costello did not know why Bartlett's license was suspended. Bartlett says he will be releasing a statement about the incident this afternoon.

New Haven, Conn. (AP) -- A group of black Connecticut firefighters hopes to block promotions for white firefighters who won a discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The black New Haven firefighters argue in papers filed Monday that they still have a right to challenge the validity of the promotional exam.

Navy finds lax behavior aboard sub in collision GROTON, Conn. (AP) -- The crew aboard a U.S. submarine made dozens of errors before the vessel collided with an American warship in the Persian Gulf, an accident that exposed lax leaders who tolerated sleeping, slouching and a radio room rigged with music speakers, a Navy review found.

Just on the radio, bomb scare Trumbull High School, Connecticut

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is joining Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in publicly declaring that the attack on Fort Hood is likely an act of Islamist terrorism. Cornyn wrote a letter to President Barack Obama today urging the White House not to let "political correctness" get in the way of investigating the Nov. 5 massacre that left 13 people dead and more than 30 wounded.

The Connecticut Republican Party chairman is publicly urging Senate candidate Sam Caligiuri to switch races and run against Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy's statement, which was just released, makes public what many have suggested privately since the state senator, Caligiuri, entered the race. Caligiuri is seen as a rising star, but he has been drowned out of the Senate race by four well-funded opponents. In the meantime, he was a rare bright spot for the GOP in 2006, when he took Murphy's state Senate seat from the Democrats. Republican Afghanistan veteran Justin Bernier has raised...

STAMFORD -- Quietly holding candles, hundreds of clergymen, congregants and reform advocates lined the sidewalks outside Independent U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's Stamford home Sunday night in a show of support for universal health care. "When we heard not only would he vote against it, but he'd use his power, his position as a swing vote ... to block it from coming to a vote, we had to send a message so he knows people who vote overwhelmingly favor the public option," said Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, of Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford.

Connecticut’s year-old marriage equality law has meant hard-earned respect for same-sex couples — society’s official acceptance and the state’s unqualified recognition of their domestic happiness. “For same-sex couples, it’s a life-long dream” said Ridgefielder Barbara Simkins. “Who’d have thought there’d be such a day, that we’d have the same rights as every other human being in this country? But, unfortunately, it’s only in six states so far. I’m very very proud of Connecticut.” The state’s open-minded law has also made Ridgefield — with its pretty Main Street, nice restaurants, and a gay-owned bed and breakfast — a bit of a...

It's heartbreaking for struggling New London to lose pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, but a relief that the jobs won't leave Connecticut. They'll move across the Thames River instead. Even so, Pfizer's announcement that it will soon leave the $294 million research and development center, built eight years ago on New London's waterfront, seems an abandonment of grand hopes for the small city and an ironic ending to a bitter chapter in its history. But the book isn't finished yet. Pfizer will leave behind prime space that should attract the kind of taxpaying tenant New London badly needs. And the adjoining Fort...

HARTFORD — U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd and his chief Republican rival both took hits in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. After posting some slight gains, Dodd is sliding back down again in voters' assessments of his job performance, and more than half of state voters say he doesn't deserve to be re-elected. "The poll is bad news for Sen. Dodd. ... His job approval rating has dropped. He falls further behind the Republican hopefuls," said Douglas Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac poll. There were also some disappointing results for former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District. He has been...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Firefighter Mike Di’Giacomo said his SUV is banned from in the firehouse because the bumper stickers he has on it, displays his political views. Di’Giacomo said he has never run into a problem like this in the 10 years he has been with the department. The bumper stickers read: Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing its idiot I’ll keep my guns, freedom and money. You keep the change Obama Bin Lyin. Impeach Now

Could Sen.Chris Dodd, senior US Senator from CT REALLY BE IN TROUBLE? Things will come out in the wash. It’s just one poll, it’s still a year away, but the time is running shorter and the poll is running in the wrong direction for the senior Senator from Connecticut. Former Connecticut Congressman Rob Simmons has an early lead in the Republican primary race for the 2010 U.S. Senate contest and runs better than any other challenger against Sen. Christopher Dodd, topping the Democratic incumbent 49 – 38 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

HARTFORD (AP) — The election for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat is a year away, but five Republican candidates are faring well enough among voters to jeopardize incumbent Christopher Dodd's re-election chances, according to a new poll. The Quinnipiac University survey, released Thursday, says 54 percent of Connecticut voters disapprove of Dodd's performance, up from 49 percent in September. It also shows the five-term incumbent particularly vulnerable among independents, the largest voting bloc in the otherwise Democratic-leaning state. Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said only 39 percent considered Dodd honest and trustworthy. Schwartz called it the "ABD" sentiment: "Anybody but...

Hundreds of women have trusted him with their bodies, and their dreams of motherhood. Many depend on him as their doctor today. But for nearly seven years, none of Dr. Ben D. Ramaley's patients have known that the prominent obstetrician/gynecologist had been accused of an almost unimaginable act - substituting his own sperm for that of a patient's husband during an artificial insemination procedure. The allegation was made against the veteran Greenwich doctor in a 2005 medical malpractice lawsuit - which was quickly settled, then sealed, the very court documents shredded. The suit was filed by a couple when a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate's top banking legislator proposed ambitious financial regulation reforms on Tuesday, leaping beyond earlier proposals to tighten bank regulation, protect consumers and police systemic risk. In the 1,136-page bill, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd called for creating three new government agencies, regulating over-the-counter derivatives, and cracking down on hedge funds, credit rating agencies and executive pay. Flanked by eight other Democratic senators at a news conference, Dodd said he is targeting the first week of December for his committee to work on the measure. It raises the stakes in a debate under way for...

Hartford (WTNH) - Protesters who are miffed about Joe Lieberman's stance against the current health care reform package held demonstrations today at his offices in Washington, D.C. and Hartford. 30 people showed up to Lieberman's Hartford office this morning. An aide to Lieberman came out to listen to what they had to say. Police arrested four of the protestors in Hartford and charged them with disorderly conduct. The group claims that Sen. Lieberman has excepted over $2 million in contributions from the health care industry since 1989. The event in Hartford was coordinated with another demonstration at Sen. Lieberman's Washington,...

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Monday at 5 p.m. that she will not seek re-election as governor in 2010. "After much soul-searching, and discussion with my family, I have decided not to seek re-election next year," Rell said in her Capitol office during a hastily called press conference with her family standing by. She said it has been "an honor" to serve. She cited accomplishments including ethics and campaign finance reform, noting that in 2004 she "came in at a troubling time in our state's history." That was a reference to her ascension from lieutenant governor on July 1, 2004,...

Peter Schiff's campaign website has been repeatedly targeted by cyber attackers, his brother and spokesman said this afternoon. The campaign has notified the FBI. Schiff, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, had planned a "moneybomb'' -- a one-day online fundraising blitz -- for today, but just minutes before midnight, when the moneybomb was set to start, the website went down, his brother, Andrew Schiff, said. "These are coordinated attacks,'' Andrew Schiff said in a brief phone interview. It wasn't the first time the website has been hit, Andrew Schiff said. The campaign had been targeted several times in the past...

The private homes New London, Conn., took through eminent domain from Suzette Kelo and others, are torn down now, but Pfizer has just announced that it closing up shop at the research facility that led to the condemnation. Leading drugmakers Pfizer and Wyeth have merged, and as a result, are trimming some jobs. That includes axing the 1,400 jobs at their sparkling new research & development facility in New London, and moving some across the river to Groton. To lure those jobs to New London a decade ago, the local government promised to demolish the older residential neighborhood adjacent to...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The chairman of the Senate's Homeland Security committee, Joe Lieberman, on Sunday said that the deadly shooting at Texas' Fort Hood military base was an act of "Islamist extremism." Lieberman, a former Democratic vice-presidential candidate, said it was too early to definitively state the motives of Nidal Hasan, who is alleged to have killed 13 and injured 30 on a murderous rampage last week, but said clues pointed to terrorism. "There are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act," he told Fox...

HARTFORD, Conn. – A memorial to honor a Sept. 11 victim from a small northwestern Connecticut town has been halted by the unexpected conflict arising from his father's insistence it say his son was murdered by "Muslim terrorists." Town officials in Kent are balking, saying it would be inappropriate to single out a religious group in a project on town property and paid for with taxpayers' money. The memorial plaque to be erected outside the town hall is on indefinite hold. Peter Gadiel is criticizing town leaders for being too politically correct, and says he's frustrated about what he calls...

Spat Over 'Muslim Terrorists' Halts 9/11 Marker Dad of one victim wants those words on it; town says not on public property Ruth Epstein, a first selectman in Kent, Conn., says that to add "Muslim terrorists" to a planned 9/11 memorial would be disparaging towards Muslims. Nov . 7, 2009 HARTFORD, Conn. - A memorial to honor a Sept. 11 victim from a small northwestern Connecticut town has been halted by the unexpected conflict arising from his father's insistence it say his son was murdered by "Muslim terrorists." Town officials in Kent are balking, saying it would be inappropriate to...

HARTFORD, Conn. - An effort to honor a Sept. 11 victim in the small Connecticut town of Kent has unexpectedly became a contentious debate. That’s because the victim’s father has insisted his son’s memorial say he was murdered by "Muslim terrorists." Town officials say it would be inappropriate to single out a religious group on a project on town property that’s paid for with taxpayers’ money. The memorial is on indefinite hold.

It is protest day, for the Left and the Right, on Capitol Hill. First out of the gate - 9 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning. Protesters were arrested, one by one, and dragged out of his office amid chants of "Everyone in and noone out, universal healthcare now!" and "Represent Connecticut, not AETNA!"

Hartford (WTNH) - Ned Lamont may be hitting the campaign trail sooner than expected. "I'm in the exploratory phase for statewide office as the lawyers have explained to me," Lamont said. Lamont says he's been considering a run for governor for a year and doesn't care if the popular incumbent Republican runs for another term or not. "Governor Rell's going to do what she's going to do but at the end of the day you need a stronger hand at the tiller. I mean this state's in trouble. Read that Moody's report that just came out. They gave us a...

After pumping more than $1 million into an upstate New York House race to elect the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman, the Club for Growth is on the hunt again. Chris Chocola, president of the conservative political action committee, made it clear the PAC is looking for more GOP targets who don’t embrace the Club’s limited-government approach. Priority No. 1 is likely to be the Senate contest in Florida, where Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who embraced President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, is being challenged by former State House Speaker Marco Rubio. . . . . . Beyond Florida, other establishment Republicans...

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010. Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others. But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and...

New York beef manufacturer Fairbanks Farms has issued a voluntary recall of a little more than half a million pounds of ground beef. The recall, which affects states from Maine to North Carolina -- Maryland included -- comes after one person died in New Hampshire and people were sickened in other states after eating beef thought to be contaminated by the bacteria E.coli. The products, which include ground beef, meatloaf and meatball mix, carry sell-by dates from Sept. 19-28 and were sold under such brands as Trader Joe's Butcher Shop Fine Quality Meats, Giant Meatloaf & Meatball Mix and BJ's...

Sen. Joe Lieberman has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on healthcare reform, according to two sources briefed on the matter. The unpredictable Democrat-turned-Independent last week publicly stated he would join Republicans in filibustering the Democratic legislation after Reid (D-Nev.) announced he had included a government-run health insurance plan in the bill. But sources said Reid’s staff is telling liberal interest groups that Lieberman (Conn.) has assured Reid he will vote with Democrats in the necessary procedural vote to end debate, perhaps with intentions to change the bill. “Lieberman...

As you may have heard, erstwhile Democrat Joe Lieberman has vowed to support a Republican filibuster of any health care bill containing the dreaded "public option." Politicians and those who write about them spent the week scratching their heads, struggling to divine his motives. Perhaps I can help. First, toss out any theory connecting Lieberman's action to concern for health care policy. We infer this not only from the breathtaking opportunism of his late career but from the stunning ignorance on display in his remarks on the filibuster. Surely, a man operating on principle would suffer to learn the facts....

Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any health care reform bill that has a public option - even the version with the "trigger" compromise accepted by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe - because it might cost money. "I think that a lot of people may think that the public option is free," said Lieberman, one of the Senate's big spenders, in a suddenly frugal mood. "It's not. It's going to cost the taxpayers and people that have health insurance now, and if it...

Yet another example of the folly of assigning liberals to guard duty. Joining Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Thursday to vent about that pesky wabbit Joe Lieberman was Fire Dog Lake blogger Jane Hamsher. Democrats wield considerable leverage over Lieberman, Hamsher opined, to keep him from joining a GOP filibuster of ObamaCare or punish him if he does -- MADDOW: ... I think you’re right to point out that other senators sort of gently expressing their disapproval of his proverbial toplessness at this point is a bigger deal than it would be in the real world, that their words...

Back be popular demand, Jim Vicevich's famous last 30 minutes RANT. … so here it is. I’m off in a cubical somewhere trying to determine why a Web server won’t behave and my cell phone starts buzzing, and buzzing, and buzzing. I see tons of e-mails with keywords like rant, go Jim, and YES! – Here is the audio … There may also have been something about a thrown water bottle, but I have no idea what was going on during that last 30 minutes… Mr. Joyce captured the audio, so here it is …

NAUGATUCK, Conn. (AP) — Naugatuck police say they’re searching for a woman who was running an illegal dentist’s practice in her apartment. Police say they found used syringes and other unsanitary medical items in the woman’s one-room apartment, but they haven’t received any complaints from her patients. Authorities say the suspect is a Brazilian woman, but they’re not releasing her name. They’re asking her patients to call the police department. Police are working with state health officials to determine whether criminal or civil charges are warranted. They say the woman was apparently serving illegal immigrants who didn’t have insurance and...

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), already under fire from the Democratic party’s base for vocally opposing the public option in health care legislation, now tells ABC News that he plans to support Republican congressional candidates next year: "I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman said in an ABC News "Subway Series" interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System. "There's a hard core of partisan, passionate, hardcore Republicans," Lieberman said. "There's a hard core of partisan Democrats on the other side. And in...

Lieberman: "I'm going to call them as I see them."

Sounding more like an independent than a Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., tells ABC News he will campaign for some Republican candidates during the 2010 midterm elections and may not seek the Democratic Senate nomination when he runs for re-election in 2012. "I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman said in an ABC News "Subway Series" interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System

New Haven, increasingly a model city for the state, is about to begin an education experiment that could lead school reform efforts around the nation. Teachers will be evaluated, at least in part, on how well students perform. Classroom teachers who struggle will be asssisted and bad ones may be given the boot. It's also possible teachers will get bonus pay if students perform well. Failing schools may close and new ones could open. The union will not be able to block school reforms. And teachers, for a change, will play an active part in making decisions. This isn't just...

Sounding more like an independent than a Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., tells ABC News he will campaign for some Republican candidates during the 2010 midterm elections and may not seek the Democratic Senate nomination when he runs for re-election in 2012. "I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman said in an ABC News "Subway Series" interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System. Lieberman infuriated fellow Democrats in 2008 by supporting Republican presidential nominee John McCain as well as congressional candidates...

New Haven (WTNH) - Some schools are giving students the opportunity to learn how to speak Arabic and it seems that many are taking a liking to it. The word "bedeel" means "options" in Arabic and that's exactly what Chris George, with the Integrated Refugee and Immigrants Services in New Haven, wants students to have. "Languages are more important now, we need to globalize this country, we need to internationalize this country if we're going to compete," said George. Arabic is now listed among the top languages that the State Department recommends that children learn. But only a few select...

New Haven (AP) - Ten New Haven residents have filed a lawsuit accusing federal authorities of violating their rights by conducting an immigration raid in retaliation for a New Haven program that provided ID cards to foreigners in the country illegally. The sweeps in New Haven on June 6, 2007, came two days after the city approved issuing identification cards to all city residents, regardless of immigration status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials deny the early morning raids were retaliatory, saying planning began the year before. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, cites e-mails between federal officials that...

STORRS, Conn. -- Two of three people charged in connection with the stabbing death of UConn football player Jasper Howard are scheduled to face a judge Wednesday. John Lomax, 21, of Bloomfield, Hakim Muhammed, 20, of Bloomfield, and Jama Todd, 21, of Hartford, were arrested Tuesday in connection with Howard's death.

The health-care debate isn't over, notwithstanding the White House-Nancy Pelosi attempt to make it seem inevitable. Majority Leader Harry Reid had barely announced his plan to include a public insurance option when Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman declared yesterday that he'd join a filibuster against such a Senate bill. "We're trying to do too much at once," Mr. Lieberman said. "To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don't think we need it now."

How enraged is Keith Olbermann with Joe Lieberman for announcing that he would filibuster a health care bill that contains a government-control provision? Enough that, without presenting any evidence whatsoever, the Countdown host has slyly implied that Lieberman might be on the take from insurance companies in his home state of Connecticut. You had to listen carefully, but Olbermann slipped the scurrilous suggestion into his diatribe against Liebermann on tonight's Countdown. Here was Olbermann . . . View video here.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a development, first reported by TPMDC, that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will filibuster a health care bill if it includes a public option. "Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid's problems," Reid told reporters at his weekly press conference. During a Q&A session with reporters, Reid offered a fairly spirited defense of Lieberman, signaling perhaps that he doesn't believe Lieberman will ultimately be an obstacle--or at least that he doesn't want to tip his hat: "I don't have anyone that I've worked harder with, have more respect for, in the Senate than Joe...

An attorney for a Bloomfield man said Tuesday that his client has been charged with murder in connection with the death of UConn football player Jasper Howard. Attorney Deron Freeman said his client, John William Lomax, was charged Tuesday morning with murder in connection with Howard's death. Freeman maintained his client's innocence in Howard's death.