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Norwich - Approximately 50 people, many in hooded sweatshirts, gathered near a gazebo at the Howard T. Brown Park Sunday for an NAACP-sponsored "Hoodie Rally," which featured community leaders and local representatives speaking about racial profiling in the community and commemorating the upcoming anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. The speakers frequently referenced the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin and last month's decision by a Florida jury that George Zimmerman, who shot him, was not guilty because he acted in self-defense. Martin was murdered "because he looked like a thug," said keynote speaker Pastor Devin Johnson of the Tabernacle...

Pratt & Whitney officials said the company is cutting 400 positions company-wide, with about half of them coming from the Connecticut workforce. Officials at Pratt & Whitney said it was a tough decision to make, but was necessary to remain competitive. According to Pratt & Whitney officials, those affected will receive severance pay, outplacement help, continuation of group insurance and employee scholar program benefits and other services. The job cuts are effective immediately.

EAST HAVEN, CT (WFSB) -At least two people have been killed after a plane crashed into two homes, sparking a massive fire in East Haven Friday morning.

Does the sight of a gun in a holster make you nervous?

The parade of bad GOP candidates since Reagan has one thing in common: they were all rich men with no skin in the game, for whom victory was optional. The Bushes of Connecticut and Texas, the McCains of Arizona and the Romneys of all over the place had no downside to an electoral loss; they were all just as well-off as they were before the start of their campaigns, and could return to their multiple homes with no sense of personal loss, just a little chagrin at letting the team down. By contrast, the Democrats have fielded a succession of...

Members of the New Haven community are up in arms as rocker Ted Nugent gets ready to play at the legendary Toad’s Place Tuesday night evening. More than 2,700 community members have signed a Change.org petition asking Toad’s Place to cancel Nugent's 7:30 p.m. show in the wake of several controversial remarks he has allegedly made about Trayvon Martin. The petition reads: “We, the undersigned, ask that out of respect of the New Haven community, which is experiencing a great deal of grief as a result of the Trayvon Martin verdict, you cancel the Ted Nugent show scheduled for...

During a May appearance on Rachel Maddow Lean Forward Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said gun rights are not "God-given" and any claim that the Founding Fathers wanted U.S. citizens armed so they could repel a tyranny "is insane." Murphy said, "The Second Amendment is not an absolute right, not a God-given right. It has always had conditions upon it like the First Amendment has." This is disturbing language from a sitting Senator, especially when you consider that the First Amendment opens with the phrase "Congress shall make no law" and the Second Amendment states that the right to keep and...

Police are investigating three possibly related attacks on people by teens on bikes in and around Edgewood Park. The Independent reported Thursday on one such incident, which occurred around 5: 30 p.m. on Friday July 26 along the asphalt road that connects the park’s duck pond to the skateboard rink. A 63-year-old jogger was partway along that road when, he said, four teens on bikes rode passed. One turned around, rolled a bike at him to knock him over, then knocked him down again when he got up. The teens proceeded to punch and kick him, breaking an arm and...

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BRISTOL, Conn. — Even gun makers want to be liked. So governors and other politicians from states eager to embrace the industry have descended on places where they are not so popular — like Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Colorado — offering tax breaks and outright cash grants to persuade them to relocate. “I sensed an opportunity,” said Alan Clemmons, a South Carolina state representative, who traveled to Connecticut in the spring as part of a successful effort to lure PTR, a maker of assault rifles here. “They are not feeling loved right now in Connecticut. We’re delighted to have...

Barbara Fair will be outside Toad’s Place Tuesday night picketing Ted Nugent’s appearance at the music venue, and she says she really wants is to talk to the controversial figure. Fair and others will be protesting statements Nugent made about immigrants, blacks, gays and Trayvon Martin. Some 70 people committed to joining the picket line and thousands signing a petition asking that Toad’s cancel the “Motor City Madman’s” concert. “I would want to have a conversation with him to get him to think about some of the things he says. . . . The New Haven Register this week stood...

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Da ily 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...

Connecticut has so many advantages that it might be hard to understand how it became one of America’s worst-performing state economies. As we know, Connecticut is located along an important commercial corridor between New York and Boston. It’s well-served by railroads and highways. Major airports are accessible. Connecticut has many charming towns, historic sights, stylish shops and nice beaches. CNN determined that of America’s 25 towns with the highest median family incomes, four are in Connecticut – New Canaan (#1), Darien (#2), Westport (#5) and Greenwich (#14). .... ... When investors and entrepreneurs consider important decisions like where to establish...

The number of people seeking permits to buy guns has surged in this town following the December massacre of schoolchildren by a local man, even as the parents of some victims had urged stricter weapons laws nationwide. Through July 24, more than 200 people in Newtown have received new local pistol permits, according to a review of local records, surpassing the 171 new permits issued for all of last year. Such permits are prerequisites for Connecticut permits that allow people to purchase and carry pistols as well as rifles or shotguns. The rise in Newtown comes in tandem with a...

Seven months after 20 children and six educators were fatally shot in a Newtown elementary school, some local business owners said today that a financial downturn that began with road closings and an emotional pall over the town persists. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy visited downtown businesses to show support and learn how a $500,000 state grant intended to help local stores and restaurants is working. “It’s impressive,” he told reporters after a one-hour tour. “People are very positive.” But Andy Lafreniere, who owns Suzuki Music School, told the governor that business is not good. “We’d like people not to be...

Community activists hoping to convince Toad’s Place president and owner Brian Phelps to cancel the Ted Nugent concert scheduled for Tuesday stopped by the York Street rock club Wednesday night with petitions signed by 2,500 like-minded people. They can keep hoping — but on Wednesday, all they encountered was a locked door. .. Fair also said that if there is no dialogue and the show is not cancelled, peaceful protesters will turn out the evening of the show. “We’re making every effort at dialogue first,” said Williams. “I want to sit down and actually have a decent conversation with...

NEWTOWN, Conn.—The number of people seeking permits to buy guns has surged in this town following the December massacre of schoolchildren by a local man, even as the parents of some victims had urged stricter weapons laws nationwide. Through July 24, more than 200 people in Newtown have received new local pistol permits, according to a review of local records, surpassing the 171 new permits issued for all of last year. Such permits are prerequisites for Connecticut permits that allow people to purchase and carry pistols as well as rifles or shotguns.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- The next phase of Connecticut's new gun control law is underway. All of the new permits are now available and must be obtained by the end of the year. When Governor Malloy signed the new gun control bill into law back in April. He ordered that all of the new permits and permit requirements be made available to the public no later than August 1st, so that all gun owners would have time to comply with the new laws by the first of the new year. Ahead of schedule, all of the information has been posted...

Should student loans be forgiven?

Police said a preliminary investigation shows the two victims were walking when they were approached by two males wearing hooded shirts; one of the men brandished a handgun. The suspects took personal property from the victims and fled the area, heading Northbound on Gulf Street toward New Haven Avenue. A police K9 team conducted a search of the area which terminated in the area of Bedford Street, police said. No one was injured during the incident. The victims told police the robbers were wearing dark jeans and dark, zipped up hooded jackets.

So on Saturday, the NAACP held a rally at the corner of Rose Park and Richmond Hill avenues on the city's West Side, where Bryant and other leaders from the black community stood on the stone steps in front of a brick church, raising awareness of what the "game changing" ruling means for everyday people here in his hometown. . . . "I don't care if they're drug dealers. I don't care if they're prostitutes and I don't care if they're HIV/AIDS victims. They are all children of God. And when someone gets shot and somebody's dead, we have...

A New Haven, Connecticut businessman was savagely beaten so bad by a gang of black teens that he doesn’t even remember the incident.

NEW HAVEN >> Activists are brainstorming on the next step in response to rocker Ted Nugent’s scheduled appearance in the city next month. “We’re a city in mourning right now,” longtime activist Barbara Fair said recently. Nugent, after a Florida jury found George Zimmerman trial not guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, was widely quoted as saying the slain youth was a “dope-smoking, racist gangsta wannabe.” Activists are working to “make it clear” Nugent is not welcome in the city, Greta Boudreau said recently. “All of us who see Trayvon as our son and brother, when (Nugent) comes...

On a Thursday evening, music is overflowing from Toad’s Place, and come Aug. 6, tunes played by Ted Nugent will echo from the popular New Haven venue. If Weston, Conn., resident John Finegan has his way, Nugent would be at home singing the blues. “He is someone who espouses hate and tries to celebrate the differences more so than things that unify and bring us together,” said Finegan. Ted Nugent is known for his outspoken ways, but a recent editorial on Rare, a conservative website, was too much for John Finegan. Some of the comments Ted Nugent wrote include: “George...

John McKinney, the Republican leader of the state Senate, announced Tuesday he is running for governor in 2014, saying he hopes to restore fiscal prosperity to Connecticut. The eight-term Fairfield lawmaker announced his candidacy in a news release emailed to reporters. The statement said McKinney has filed the necessary paperwork to start a candidate committee and begin collecting contributions to qualify for the state’s public campaign financing program.

A federal court on Tuesday upheld a 2008 air pollution standard the Obama administration vowed to strengthen, but later reversed itself and kept in place. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington rejected arguments that the ozone standard for public health set by former President George W. Bush was either too weak or too strong. The Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific advisory panel at the time said the standard should have been more stringent to adequately protect health. But referencing Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the court on Tuesday said it cannot demand EPA get things “just right” when it comes...

Tax issues and economic vulnerability make Connecticut’s nuclear power plant one of 12 most at risk of shutdown, according to a new academic study. The report from the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School comes just two months after Connecticut legislators balked at extending a controversial tax on power generators for another two years. Millstone also is one of 38 nuclear facilities the report says is at risk of early retirement not only due to taxes, but also from competition from lower-cost energy sources, shrinking demand, costly repairs and other rising operating costs. Nine major nuclear...

Officials at Travelers Insurance confirmed that 90 people will be laid off from their positions with the company in Connecticut. "Our personal insurance business is serving a changing marketplace, and prudently managing expenses is more critical than ever to remain competitive," said the company in a statement Tuesday. "We are dedicated to being a market leader." There still be 7,800 employees in Connecticut after the staff reductions, company officials said. Officials added that Travelers is still one of the largest employers in the state.

A black teen mob beat local businessman Brooks Macquarrie in New Haven last week. They broke his ribs, his nose, his arm and then stole his motorbike. It was the latest beating by a black teen mob that is getting no national press. It doesn’t fit the narrative. (VIDEO-AT-LINK) PD: teens beat businessman, stole scooter The local news channel would not reveal the race of the perpetrators. News 8 reported: Police are investigating after a well-known businessman was allegedly savagely beaten by a group of teenagers in New Haven. The street shows no sign of the attack, but folks who...

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Da ily 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...

<p>HARTFORD — The driver of a C-Town delivery van who is accused of hitting and injuring an 83-year-old woman outside the supermarket July 11 was arraigned Thursday and taken into custody.</p> <p>Victor Morales, 21, had been free on a promise to appear in court, but after the hearing he was detained, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will put him on a monitoring bracelet, officials said.</p>

It seems as though the temperatures aren't the only numbers getting higher and higher. Gas prices in Connecticut have topped $4 a gallon, making them the second-highest in the continental U.S. and the highest in New England. According to AAA's Daily Fuel Gage Report, the average prices for a gallon of regular gas reached $4.01, which is a 20-cent increase in the past week. AAA officials said the high gas prices are because of the rise in demand and not enough supply. The increased oil prices and production issues at several refineries also attribute to the high gas prices. Many...

A Weston man offended that Ted Nugent is scheduled to make an appearance Aug. 6 at Toad’s Place, says he has contacted the NAACP and will rally to get the show cancelled because of remarks Nugent made regarding the Trayvon Martin case.

One problem with the Connecticut gun-control law that went into effect earlier this year is that it wasn’t properly enacted into law. At least, that’s the argument the National Shooting Sports Foundation makes in a suit it filed last week, which alleges that lawmakers illegally circumvented the normal legislative process in their rush to pass a bill in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting rampage. The 139-page bill was introduced into the state senate on the morning of April 3, and the next day it was signed by the governor. This sort of haste has become commonplace over...

Back in May, a month after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed the state’s gun control law, Stag Arms of New Britain came up with a modified design and took it to the state police firearms unit to see whether it would pass muster. The unit was helpful, even making a design suggestion that would help assure the gun would not be classified as an illegal assault weapon. Stag prepared to make the rifle, a .22-caliber version of the military-style AR-15. Then in June, the state legislature tightened the law in order to correct a few problems. Stag returned with an...

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Da ily 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...

Whether you are for or against the National Shooting Sports Foundation's lawsuit to overturn Connecticut's new gun control law, you will probably approve the grounds on which the challenge is based. I am not hoping, or expecting, this lawsuit to invalidate the law, but it makes an important point that could — and should — lead to changes in Connecticut's legislative process. The complaint, filed Monday in federal court, is unusual among gun control suits. It barely mentions gun control, Second Amendment rights or even guns. This action is directed not at the substance of the law — which broadened...

Prepping for 'climate change' floods everywhere but in U.S.The Obama administration wants to spend as much $650 million to improve urban- and local-government service delivery, which includes the development of strategies to adapt to climate change and respond to natural disasters. The endeavor will target cities and towns around the globe – with the exception of those in the United States. Many coastal cities around the world are ill-prepared to deal with rising sea levels and extreme weather events that the administration expects from “climate change.”

Back in May, a month after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed the state’s gun control law, Stag Arms of New Britain came up with a modified design and took it to the state police firearms unit to see whether it would pass muster. The unit was helpful, even making a design suggestion that would help assure the gun would not be classified as an illegal assault weapon. Stag prepared to make the rifle, a .22-caliber version of the military-style AR-15. Then in June, the state legislature tightened the law in order to correct a few problems. Stag returned with an...

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission will meet at the Legislative Office Building on Friday to discuss public safety and school security across the state. Malloy and the commission will review new state laws that were approved from the recent legislative session. They will also watch a presentation on school security from the president of the National School Safety and Security Services. The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission was created by Malloy and consists of a 16-member panel. The commission reviews current policy and makes specific recommendations in public safety, with a focus on school safety, mental...

The head of a California company that manufactures blood-spurting mannequins built to look like human zombies insisted Wednesday that his company's latest product does not trivialize efforts to strengthen gun laws.San Diego, Calif.-based Zombie Industries recently put out its new "Bleeding Gun Control Lobbyist," a target built to resemble a jaundiced, middle-aged man dressed in a grey suit with a blue tie and painted with blood around its mouth, chest and forehead. When shot with projectiles, the figure bleeds much in the same way a human would.On Wednesday, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy released a letter he had sent to the...

While the tumultuous events in Egypt and Syria have focused the public's attention on civil strife in those countries, Iran remains the biggest threat to the United States in the Mideast, says former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. "The most dangerous challenge to U.S. national security brewing in the region continues to be the Iranian regime's pursuit of a nuclear-weapons capability," Lieberman, who served in the Senate as both a Democrat and an independent, writes in The Wall Street Journal.

BRIDGEPORT — A 22-year-old Stratford woman told police she was carjacked and shot in the leg late Tuesday, police said.

A federal lawsuit filed Monday by the firearms industry to challenge the state's new gun-control law doesn't mention Second Amendment arguments by other gun-rights advocates — but instead alleges an abuse of "emergency certification" procedures that bypass the General Assembly's committee process and public hearings. "There was no emergency other than one of political expediency" when legislative leaders used the emergency procedures on April 3 and 4 to push a 139-page bill through the House and Senate that legislators hadn't had a chance to read, said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Safety...

Saying that anti-gun legislators are hypocrites, a prominent gun lobby has withdrawn support for a federal bill that would create the Coltsville National Historical Park in Hartford. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun manufacturers that include Colt's Manufacturing Co. and is based in Newtown, has sent a letter to members of the all-Democratic Connecticut congressional delegation and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy declaring that it is deceitful to support the national park and gun-control laws at the same time.

Oday Aboushi has been touted as being the first Palestinian-American player in the National Football League (NFL), but his radical behavior since being drafted by the New York Jets less than three months ago could get him sent home early. His latest infraction was made as he gave a speech at a radical Muslim conference sponsored by a group denying Israel’s right to exist and associated with blatantly anti-Semitic and terrorist propaganda. ... Only weeks after the draft, Aboushi tweeted the following: “65th anniversary of the Nakba and palestinians all across the world are still thriving.” For persons unaware of...

Colorado's state Senate president faces an unprecedented recall election over the passage of gun control laws. He has no regrets. Snug against the Rockies, this conservative bastion is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak, scores of evangelical churches and soon, perhaps, the most significant gun control fight in the country. Unless a judge steps in, John Morse, the Democratic president of the Colorado Senate, faces an unprecedented recall attempt arising from the sweeping gun laws passed after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn. Morse, a former police chief, calls the... --snip-- His directness is part of his...

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Da ily 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...

Dozens of young campers at the Sports World complex in East Windsor huddled under tables as a violent storm tore away the domed portion of the building near Interstate 91 on Monday afternoon. None of the children was injured, but the storm did widespread damage in the area. Part of the dome was blown into traffic the highway, trees were toppled into houses, tobacco netting was tangled around power lines and a tractor trailer was knocked over nearby. On Monday night, the National Weather Service confirmed that the storm contained a tornado. The tornado hit the Windsor Locks area between...

Starting today, drivers in Connecticut are paying more for gasoline. The state's gross receipts tax, or gas tax, is going up about 4 cents per gallon because of a measure the state put in place in 2005. Meanwhile, the diesel tax is scheduled to increase 3.5 cents per gallon. An American Petroleum Institute report from April 2013 put Connecticut’s state motor fuel taxes among the highest in the country, at 8.1 percent after the increase. Before the increase, Connecticut drivers were paying 63.4 in state and federal excises taxes, while Hawaii pays 67.1, California pays 68.5 and New York pays...