Free Republic

A commission investigation found Christina Ayala falsely registered to vote in July 2009 at a Bridgeport address where she’s not a bona fide resident. She remained registered at that address until January 2013 and voted in nine primaries and elections. She also applied for public campaign financing from that address. A message left with Ayala’s legislative office seeking comment was not immediately returned. House Speaker Brendan Sharkey removed Ayala on Wednesday from her legislative committee assignments.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement in advance of an expected vote in the Senate to reopen the federal government and temporarily increase the government’s statutory borrowing authority: This is a massive relief for tens of thousands of families and businesses in Connecticut and millions more across the country. The bipartisan compromise reached in the Senate today will send federal employees back to work and restart the critical services that veterans, seniors, small business owners, and countless others rely on every day from the federal government. But this deal should be no cause for celebration - keeping...

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) -- Contractors demolishing Sandy Hook Elementary School are being required to sign confidentiality agreements forbidding public discussion of the site, photographs or disclosure of any information about the building where 26 people were fatally shot last December. Selectman Will Rodgers said officials want to protect the Newtown school where the 20 children and six educators were killed, The News-Times reported ( http://bit.ly/1amzP8L ). "It's a very sensitive topic," he said Monday. "We want it to be handled in a respectful way." Project manager Consigli Construction has barricaded the property and intends to screen the perimeter to prevent...

Governor Dannel Malloy does not understand a law pertaining to “large capacity magazines” that he demanded, promoted and signed, Connecticut Citizens Defense League documented yesterday following statements the governor made on a local radio program. Malloy’s “legal” response to a caller on Milford’s “Chaz & AJ in the Morning” show was dangerously off-base, CCDL charged. Asked if it would be legal to carry two 14-round magazines limited to 10 rounds in each one, the governor’s advice could subject anyone heeding it to prosecution.“First of all what you have to do is disclose,” Malloy told the caller. “There’s a way to...

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 Connecticut powerhouse! Are you outside of Connecticut? Start your day off listening to Jim...

A constant heavy flow of traffic along I-95 heading west through New Haven indicated the start of a three day holiday weekend. What wasn't expected was a huge volume of honks in support of impeaching Obama. WE know there's something going on in America. And it ain't hope and change. It's anger and resolve!

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)-- In the midst of major changes in health care, United HealthCare has sent thousands of pink slips to Connecticut doctors. Termination letters went to physicians caring for Medicare patients. Those letters were sent out to doctors caring for 'Medicare Advantage' patients. It's a plan, marketed to Seniors to provide additional services through UnitedHealthCare. A mix of primary care and specialty doctors are affected by it. And it comes at a questionable time. Open enrollment for Medicare starts next Tuesday, and it's still not clear at this time as to which doctors are still in the United...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Governor Dannel Malloy says the stand-off over the federal budget and the debt ceiling is causing state government to have to scramble to pay for federal programs. "I think the tyranny of the minority has got to end," said Malloy. And some of the people News 8 spoke with Tuesday, agree with Malloy. "I blame the Republicans who have a vendetta against our President, who have a vendetta against the Democrats," said Dan Fine, of West Hartford. "The idea that one party gets to hold its breath and turn blue or to threaten to shoot its...

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...

National Day for Dignity and Respect pushes for immigration reform through portraits in New Haven NEW HAVEN >> When his daughter was just eight months old, Alejandro Gonzalez made the decision to leave Mexico. Gonzalez, who now lives in Connecticut, said he has not been able to go back since. That was in February 2002. “When I talk to her on the computer or the phone, it is like a piece of my heart is gone,” Gonzalez said. Recently, Gonzalez said he has lost two cousins to cancer and lost a grandfather, but was unable to say goodbye to any...

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) - The governor is requesting that the federal government pay expenses associated with the 2,000 workers at Sikorsky, who could be forced to take a furlough because of the government shutdown. United Technologies Corp., which is based in Hartford, said more than 5,000 workers could be furloughed in the coming month if the shutdown continues. Employees for Sikorsky, which is a division of United Technologies, would be made to take a furlough starting on Monday. If the government shutdown continues, an additional 1,000 employees could be made to take a furlough. Sikorsky, which makes Black Hawk helicopters,...

Geico might be known for its little lizard, but it's the camel that’s stirring up trouble. You might have seen their latest commercial. A camel walks through a workplace asking people what day it is. He’s super excited about it being hump day. Funny, right? Teachers at least one Connecticut middle school aren’t fans, because the kids are screaming “HUMP DAY” in the halls, students told HLN affiliate WFSB. They say it’s distracting, and they want it to stop. …

Washington (CNN) -- Authorities investigating why a Connecticut woman rammed barricades and led police on a chase near the U.S. Capitol found medications in her apartment to treat schizophrenia and other mental disorders, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation said Friday

Miriam Carey (right), is the woman identified in news reports as the suspect in a shooting incident that left Capitol Hill on lockdown for a brief period Thursday afternoon, and has now reportedly been shot dead by police. This photo is from a newsletter announcing her having been hired as a hygenist at a Connecticut periodontics practice. Advanced Periodontics -ibtimes.com A woman with a one year old child unsuccessfully tried to ram her car through the security gates of the White House today. The police and Secret Service pursued the woman, and even though reports say she was not...

Meet Brendan Mahoney, the young man who is saving ObamaCare. He's 30 years old, a third-year law student at the University of Connecticut. He's actually been insured for the past three years--in 2011 and 2012 through a $2,400-a-year school-sponsored health plan, and this year through "a high-deductible, low-premium plan that cost about $39 a month through a UnitedHealthcare subsidiary." But he wanted to see what ObamaCare had to offer. "Once it got running, it was fast," Mahoney tells the Courant. "It really made my day. It's a lot like TurboTax." He obtained insurance through ObamaCare. Now, he says, "if I...

Local municipal leaders aren’t hitting the panic button just yet, but they’re concerned about what will happen if the federal government shutdown lasts longer than a week. “Our poorest communities. They’re the ones who are going to feel the hit first,” Jim Finley, CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, said Wednesday. He made the remarks at the organization’s annual convention where there were more than 120 mayors and first selectmen. The Women, Infants and Children’s (WIC) program and federally funded housing vouchers for low-income families are just a few of the federally funded programs impacted by the shutdown. These...

United Technologies Corp. says it may furlough more than 5,000 workers if the U.S. government shutdown continues into next month. The company said Wednesday that its Sikorsky division, which makes Black Hawk helicopters, would be hit first. … The Hartford, Conn.-based manufacturer said it would halt some defense manufacturing because government inspectors themselves have been furloughed. That leaves it without the necessary federal approvals to make military products. …

As the Obama-loving media echo White House talking points that opening day "glitches" at online healthcare exchanges crashed Tuesday due to a flood of interested Americans clamoring for insurance, they might consider what happened in Connecticut. According to Congressman Jim Himes (D-Conn.), out of the 28,000 visitors to his state's exchange Tuesday, only 167 actually signed up For those that can do math, that means 0.6 percent of visitors actually applied for insurance.

Glastonbury — Connecticut will have 300 fewer jobs than it otherwise would if the federal government shuts down for a few days, economist Steven Lanza said Monday. A three- to four-week closure would cost 2,000 jobs, Lanza added. As tension grew over the prospect of the government closing at midnight, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Lanza and several manufacturers gathered Monday at HABCO, a maker of ground test support equipment for the aerospace industry. They were there to discuss what a shutdown would mean for the state and particularly its manufacturing industry, since government contracts account for half or more...

ISLAND PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a bell dedicated to those who died in Connecticut’s Sandy Hook school massacre has vanished just hours after it was placed at a newly built playground. Nassau County police say the 8-inch by 8-inch brass bell was discovered missing around 1 p.m. Sunday from the playground in Island Park. It was last seen around 9 p.m. Saturday.

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...

NEW HAVEN >> It’s around 6 on a Friday night and 36-year-old Yancey Horton, or “Brother Born,” as he is known in the community, is busy banging out a dozen pull-ups at the Lincoln-Bassett School playground. Unlike most people, Horton is doing pull-ups while he is strapped into a wheelchair. “A weak body is a breeding ground for weak thoughts,” he said. Horton was shot about eight years ago during an attempted robbery; he has a mental block when it comes to the exact date. He was walking home after work and made a stop at a Willis Street corner...

HARTFORD — A police officer's gun accidentally discharged during a response to an armed robbery on Franklin Avenue on Saturday, and an officer was shot in the arm, police said. It was not clear whether the officer whose gun discharged was shot, or another officer. The injury to the officer's forearm is non-life threatening, police said. The officers were responding at about 9:30 p.m. to a report of an armed robbery at the Subway restaurant at 465 Franklin Ave.

President Barack Obama famously promised, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” He later got even more specific.“If you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have,” Obama said.But as Obamacare’s rollout approaches, we have learned this is not true. Here are the ten states where consumers may like their health care plans, but they won’t be able to...

At least one candidate for the U.S. Senate wants to make it known that he stands with Sen. Ted Cruz’s effort to defund Obamacare. “I fully support any attempt to defund and repeal Obamacare,” Lieutenant Gov. Mead Treadwell of Alaska told The Daily Caller Wednesday as Texas Republican Cruz was winding down his 22-hour quasi-filibuster. “I applaud Senator Ted Cruz and the principled members of the Senate as they fight for the American people to get rid of Obamacare. When I am elected in November 2014 I will stand and work with Senators like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.” Treadwell...

Shortly after the HHS report was released, the leader of the state's health insurance exchange issued a response. "Unfortunately, this is not surprising, given that CT currently has the 4th highest medical costs in the U.S., underscoring how various marketplace variables impact premium rates," said Kevin Counihan, Access Health CT president and chief executive officer. "Additionally, CT has a substantial number of mandated benefits when compared to other states, as well as broad provider network requirements, both of which tend to drive higher premiums. We look forward to being part of the dialogue to address these important issues moving forward...

Commuters traveling between Connecticut and New York are facing a transportation nightmare after a feeder cable serving the Metro-North New Haven Line failed Wednesday morning, halting service for an hour and a half. Conn. Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a news conference on Wednesday afternoon that repairs could take "as long as three weeks or more." In the meantime, limited service will be offered via diesel train to about 30 percent of the New Haven Line's daily ridership.

A Glastonbury man who became a reluctant focus of the fierce gun control debate deserved to be arrested for raising undue alarm at a bank, town police said Wednesday. But the state decided against prosecuting a breach of peace charge against Robert Gursky, 50, who had attempted to pass a note to a bank teller saying that a man with a gun was inside the bank. "I was really surprised that they arrested me," Gursky said later.

The Connecticut legislature extended the two-year ban on wind turbines, striking down regulations that would have allowed for the construction of the renewable energy projects. The legislature's Regulation Review Committee on Tuesday voted 10-3 to reject the proposed wind regulations by the Connecticut Siting Council. The members were concerned about who would dismantle the structures if the owners ever went out of business. This is the third rejections of the proposed regulations since the state placed a moratorium on wind turbine development in 2011. It also marks the first rejection since June, when the legislature passed a comprehensive energy strategy...

Spurred by the threat that a congressional showdown over Obamacare will shut down the federal government, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget director Tuesday asked heads of state agencies for contingency plans by Oct. 1 on how to maintain federally funded services to the public. Budget chief Benjamin Barnes said in the memo that at Malloy's request, his staff is "undertaking to work with Connecticut state agencies to plan for the potential of a federal shutdown or default in the coming months." "In the aftermath of the Great Recession, our state's economy—like that of the other states—has seen steady recovery," Barnes...

A day after President Barack Obama visited the Washington Naval Yard, site of the nation's latest mass shooting, local and federal officials called on citizens across the country to form a coalition large enough to battle the powerful gun lobby. At a roundtable discussion at the Margaret Morton Government Center in Bridgeport on Monday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he and other senators will only be able to take on the gun lobby and pass stronger gun laws if people throughout the nation speak up. "What makes the NRA strong is that they can mobilize tens of thousands of...

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...

African-American middle school students were forced to act as slaves, pretending to be sold at auction and standing in the darkness of a would-be slave ship, all while enduring racial epithets, a human rights lawsuit filed by a student’s mother claims. Nature’s Classroom in Charlton, Massachusetts has been running this reenactment for many years. Jon Santos, the director of Nature’s Classroom, told The Washington Post that the three-hour exercise was meant to teach students empathy for what slaves were put through, along with lessons about modern day bullying. He denied that racial slurs were part of the curriculum, saying that...

Middle school-aged students from Connecticut on a field trip last year were forced to re-enact slavery by pretending to be sold at auction and in fields picking cotton, according to a student's complaint. They were told they would be whipped or worse if they ran, and some were asked to dance for their masters. "I had to hold my head down and could not make contact with the white masters," the 12-year-old student, who is black, said in a statement read to the Hartford school board this week by her father, James Baker of suburban Farmington. "I heard the instructor...

GLASTONBURY — You open the large yellow Pelican briefcase and have a decision to make: grab the pepper spray or the 800,000-volt stun gun. There's also the smoke grenade and the 13-foot window ladder for escapes. The hatchet-like tool can shatter windows and double as one of the best doorstops you've ever used. The school survival and rescue kit, made by HABCO Industries in Glastonbury, is the latest product entering the developing market of school security, following the bullet-proofing of commonplace items like book bags and whiteboards.

GLASTONBURY — A man who became alarmed when he saw a man carrying a gun inside the TD Bank at 2461 Main St. last Thursday afternoon was himself charged with breach of peace because he shook up bank staff. Robert Gursky, 50, of Cavan Lane, was in the bank transacting business when he saw a person with a handgun. The person he saw was legally carrying the firearm and had no ill intent, police said. Gursky, however, was concerned and tried to convey what he saw to a bank teller.

NEWINGTON — A 90-year-old disabled World War II veteran will not be evicted for violating the Newington Housing Authority's smoking policy after his lawyer worked out a settlement with the agency Tuesday. "The bottom line is he's staying there," said state Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, after about four hours of negotiations at Hartford Housing Court. "He's not being evicted." The agreement requires the authority to make Nowicki's apartment at Cedar Village, where he and his wife have lived for 20 years, more handicapped accessible, Doyle said. Key to the settlement was the assistance of Linda S. Schwartz, the state's commissioner...

Bristol CT --(Ammoland.com)- During a closed door meeting in the judge’s chambers during a case Judge Robert C. “Brunes” Brunetti exposed his bigotry for fundamental civil rights in front of at least three defense attorneys. The violation came during the case of State of Connecticut v. Bruce Worley, docket number H17B-CR13-0055722S.Judge Brunetti expressed his contempt for the right to keep and bear arms, as spelled out in both the Second Amendment to the US constitution and Article 1, Section 15 of the Connecticut Constitution by stating in chambers that “No one in this country should have guns” and that he...

GLASTONBURY, Conn. (WTNH)-- A man walked into a Glastonbury bank Monday and said the word 'gun' to a teller. He also tried writing a note. But, he wasn't robbing the place. It happened at the TD Bank North in Glastonbury. Police say Robert Gursky was at the teller window when he noticed a man with a gun tucked under his shirt. He said gun to the teller, wrote a note but never handed it to her and then walked out of the bank. They triggered the panic alarm. "As a result of the investigation of the bank employees, he was...

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>Colorado residents go to the polls Tuesday to vote on whether to recall two state senators who supported stricter gun laws in the aftermath of two 2012 mass shootings.</p> <p>The recall vote effort appears to be the strongest backlash to such state votes -- considering Democratic-leaning Connecticut, Maryland and New York passed similar legislation without resulting in a recall effort getting on a ballot.</p>

Metro New York hemorrhaged $49 billion during the 2000s as residents sought opportunity elsewhere.The New York metropolitan region is losing people. Though the region and New York City itself continue to grow overall because they have more births than deaths, the Census Bureau estimates that the metro area lost almost 2 million net domestic migrants during the 2000s; that is, 2 million more people left the area for other parts of America than moved there from other parts of America. The region offset part of that loss with a nation-leading net gain of more than 1.1 million international immigrants over...

Efforts to keep Connecticut schools safe have escalated since a lone gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last year and shot to death 20 first-graders and six adults. But not all threats to school safety come from outside the building. State records show that at least 1,246 weapons – or common items used as weapons -- surfaced at Connecticut schools in the 2011-2012 school year, the most recent data available. The weapons included at least 16 handguns and at least two rifles or shotguns. "It's almost impossible to absolutely ensure that a gun is never going to...

Starting a widely unpopular war which will inevitably escalate and will likely involve Russia and China, not to mention all the countries that neighbor Syria, and at best, result in a regime dominated by Al-Qaeda? No problem. Here are the Senators who voted to push America into the latest middle eastern war: Yoting Yes:Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Chris Coons, D-Del., Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., John McCain, R-Ariz, Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Voting No: Tom Udall, D-N.M., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., James Risch, R-Idaho, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rand Paul, R-Ky.,...

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...

Not all social media traffic is created equal, as the Connecticut Republican Party is learning. Upon Tuesday's announcement that state Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, is exploring a run for governor, the state GOP's Facebook page has seen an uptick of traffic -- and we're not talking "likes." A comment thread showing a photo of Boucher with state party Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. was immediately overtaken by Second Amendment activists, who denounced the veteran lawmaker for her support of a statewide crackdown on assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Boucher was...

After eight largely Chappelle-free years, you’d think comedy fans would be eager to hear what the guy had to say in his new standup routine. By EW’s own account, spectators in Austin certainly were: When Dave Chappelle first took the stage at Funny or Die’s Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival, those present gave the comic a standing ovation before he even began his set. Alas, that was Texas —and this is Connecticut. Last night in Hartford, a noisy, unruly crowd prompted Chappelle to pause his set, ultimately walking off stage to a chorus of boos.

This summer wasn’t the best time for Subway sandwich shops — the world’s largest restaurant chain — to stumble. Founder and owner Fred DeLuca — the driving force and vision behind the Milford, Conn., chain’s growth into a 40,000-unit chain — is in a Connecticut hospital getting treatment for leukemia and, he has told associates, is awaiting a bone marrow transplant. Still, the 65-year-old billionaire businessman is directing the chain’s operations from a hospital bed. The hands-on owner is still in daily contact with regional managers trying to find new ways to reverse the sales decline, a Subway development agent...

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...

NEWINGTON — When Andy Nowicki was a combat infantryman fighting the Germans in World War II, the army gave him free cigarettes. Now, the habit he picked up 70 years ago, thanks in part to Uncle Sam, might cost him his home. The Newington Housing Authority is suing to evict Nowicki, who will turn 90 next month, and his 90-year-old wife, Leona, from their senior housing apartment in Cedar Village.