Free Republic

Richard Blumenthal and Susan Bysiewicz marched to the VA, ready to break the door down to rescue veterans like Mike Onieal — but found out they may not have needed such a dramatic rescue. The event had all the makings of a perfect photo op: Two of Connecticut’s top Democrats defy President Bush, slam an unconstitutional policy statement and come to the aid of deprived veterans who sacrificed their limbs in the war only to be stripped of their basic rights. The VA, it turns out, does have a voting access problem, but not the one that the top Dems...

The FINANCIAL -- As a testament to the growing demand to improve patient care while reducing healthcare costs, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. has installed the first Aquilion ONE dynamic volume CT system in the Western U.S. at Nevada Imaging Centers in Las Vegas. "As the only dynamic volume CT system in the world, the Aquilion ONE's ability to image an entire organ and show function means faster, more accurate diagnosis, better patient outcomes and ultimately lower healthcare costs," explained Dr. William W. Orrison, chief of Neuroradiology, Nevada Imaging Centers. "Nevada Imaging Centers is committed to best-in-class solutions for...

HARTFORD, Conn. - A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away. The chilling scene — captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera — has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city's biggest newspaper blaring "SO INHUMANE" on the front page and the police chief lamenting: "We no longer...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who nearly won the vice presidency as a Democrat in 2000, says there's no way he'll be Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate should McCain become the party's presidential nominee. ... Lieberman's endorsement of McCain in December and the campaigning he since has done in states such as New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina and Florida have stoked speculation that the Arizona senator might chooser Lieberman as his running mate...

WASHINGTON – Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

New Haven (AP) _ A law enforcement official says Cheshire police responding to a fatal home invasion in July delayed entering the home because of assurances from a 911 caller who was told no one would be hurt if police were not notified. But as officers waited outside, the home erupted into flames, killing two girls. Their mother was strangled, and their father was badly beaten, but survived. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because authorities have not discussed details of the case, says the assurance that no one would be hurt was one of the reasons police...

And he chose to use his blog as the medium for his thoughts (underlining is mine, bolding is his): Plan B, an issue previously discussed in this blog (“Sad State of the Constitution State”, April 24th—see “Archive”) is back in the news. Many of you posted comments about those media reports, so I’d like to offer a number of clarifications and some additional perspective.Last spring, the Connecticut Bishops worked hard to defeat the so-called “Plan B” legislation. It’s not that the Church opposes administering Plan B to victims of rape; these women have suffered a gravely unjust assault. Last...

HARTFORD, September 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A statement issued by the Connecticut Catholic Bishops yesterday, which is posted on the Catholic Conference's web page, notes that the Bishops have approved the administration of the morning after pill Plan B for rape victims at the four Catholic hospitals in the state.  While the Bishops claim to be in accord with Church teaching on the matter, the only statement from the Vatican on the measure opposed it since the pill can cause abortions. "In accordance with Catholic moral teaching, these hospitals provide emergency contraception after appropriate testing," says the letter from the...

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A cancer patient says she was left alone in a CT scanner for hours after a technician apparently forget about her, and she finally crawled out of the device, only to find herself locked in the closed clinic. Elvira Tellez of Tucson said she called her son in a panic, and he told her to call 911. Pima County sheriff's deputies arriving at the oncology office had her unlock the office door to let them in, said Deputy Dawn Hanke, a department spokeswoman. The deputies contacted the office manager, who was not aware of the situation....

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   “Lost or Stolen” Firearms Bill Becomes Reality in Connecticut!   Friday, June 08, 2007   After four years of successfully keeping the “lost or stolen” firearms bill from becoming law in Connecticut, the State House caved into anti-gun rhetoric and passed Senate Bill 938. SB 938 will make it a crime to fail to report the loss or theft of a handgun to police within 72 hours of when you “discover or should have discovered” it missing.  This law will also trigger two more investigations to determine whether or not you “should have discovered”...

(CBS) The United States should launch military strikes against Iran if the government in Tehran does not stop supplying anti-American forces in Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday on Face The Nation. "I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq," Lieberman told Bob Schieffer. "And to me, that would include a strike into... over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers." The Indepedent...

HARTFORD, June 1 — Illegal immigrants who graduate from Connecticut high schools will be eligible for the resident tuition rate at the state’s public universities and colleges if the governor signs a bill that the Senate narrowly passed on Friday. Connecticut would join 10 other states, including New York, that allow illegal immigrants to pay the in-state rate that is available to other residents. Illegal immigrants now often pay twice as much to attend Connecticut’s taxpayer-supported colleges and universities. Aides to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, said she would not decide whether to sign the bill until she sees...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- An attorney for eight homosexual couples told the Connecticut Supreme Court yesterday that their constitutional rights have been violated by the state's refusal to grant them marriage licenses. Connecticut was the first state to allow civil unions without court pressure, but the couples say that's not enough. They want the court to rule that the state's marriage law is unconstitutional because it applies only to heterosexual couples, effectively denying homosexual couples the financial, social and emotional benefits of marriage. "What is denied to these families is something that goes to the heart of equal protection, which...

Catholic News Agency reports that the Connecticut Legislature has passed a bill that requires all hospitals in Connecticut to provide Plan B to rape victims. Including the state's four Catholic hospitals. Naturally, the state's bishops conference is opposed to this bill. They, correctly so, do not wish to be involved in a practice that is directly opposed to the teaching of the Church. Good for them.But this praise is muted.The bishops report: “Catholic hospitals provide emergency contraception to rape victims in the vast majority of cases,” the bishops noted in their letter (to the legislature). “In fact, it is an...

COVENTRY -- An anonymous tip has led Coventry police to the whereabouts of a stolen statue of Nathan Hale at Diana's Pool in Chaplin. The 3-foot-high bronze cast of the Revolutionary War hero and Coventry native son was in good condition, Police Chief Mark Palmer said this morning. The investigation is continuing. The statue was reported missing April 4 from the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry. It had been sawed off or broken off at the ankles.

*Rell Calls Proposal 'Unconscionable' Igniting a philosophical debate over tax equity, the legislature's Democratic majority released a revised tax-and-spending plan this afternoon that Democrats say would cut the income tax for 88 percent of taxpayers -- and sharply increase taxes on a minority of higher wage earners. In their first official response to Gov. M. Jodi Rell's budget, Democrats say they are seeking to spend $650 million more than Rell over the next two years, further bursting through the state-mandated spending cap. Rell denounced the Democrats' tax policy and spending increase as "unconscionable," setting the stage for difficult negotiations before...

After more than two hours of debate at the Legislative Office Building Thursday afternoon the legislature's powerful judiciary committee decisively approved a controversial gay marriage bill by a 27-15 vote. The move sends the bill, which would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, to the House, and then the Senate. Both chambers of the legislature must now approve the bill, which would then go to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who has indicated in the past that she does not support gay marriage. Thursday's vote comes nearly two years to the day after the legislature approved a bill allowing civil...

(New Haven-AP) _ New Haven police have arrested three Yale University students and charged them with burning an American flag hanging from the porch of a Chapel Street home. The three are facing charges ranging from reckless endangerment to arson. Police identified the three as 23-year-old Said Hyder Akbar, 19-year-old Nikolaos Angelopoulos and 19-year-old Farhad Anklesaria. They were held in jail early yesterday and later arraigned in New Haven Superior Court. Bond was set at $25,000 for two of the suspects and $15,000 for the third. Anklesaria and Angelopoulos are foreign students while Akbar was born in Pakistan, but is...

A full-size school bus that had been converted into an oven, complete with smokestack, exhaust fans and working fire, was discovered by police after a neighbor said he smelled smoke. The red and white bus, in the backyard of a residence owned by the rabbi of a Hasidic Jewish congregation, was turning out thin crisp matzo crackers for next week's Passover holiday, said Sgt. Lou Scorziello of the Spring Valley police. He said police found the bus bakery early Friday morning. "This is a tinderbox," the sergeant said. "There certainly was the potential for an explosion." The owner of the...

(Old Saybrook - WTNH) _ School officials are embargoing Guida's milk after several students became sick at the Kathleen Goodwin Elementary School in Old Saybrook Wednesday afternoon. Officials say it appeared the Guida's Dairy milk was contaminated with a sanitizer used to clean production lines. Guida Dairy, of New Britain, has initiated a voluntary recall of half-pint containers of one-half-percent lowfat chocolate milk bearing a "sell by" date of April 13, 2007. The recall was initiated after seven students at Kathleen Goodwin Elementary School and one student at Old Saybrook Middle School reported symptoms indicating the milk may be adulterated....

On Tuesday morning I heard a Connecticut-based Gathering of Eagles organizer/spokesman -- and Vietnam veteran -- named Ron Winter speaking to Jim Vicevich (photo above), who hosts a local conservative talk radio show out of Hartford, CT (WTIC AM 1080 – Mon-Fri, 10am-noon). Jim interviewed Ron Winter about the upcoming Gathering of Eagles on March 17, 2007. You can listen to a clip of Jim Vicevich speaking with Ron Winter here: Sound off Connecticut Scroll down the "Sound Off Connecticut" webpage until you see the banner “Recent Episodes” on the left side. Click on “Jim Vicevich with Ron Winter”...

WEST HARTFORD -- -- The Rev. J. Stan McCauley, head of Hartford Public Access Television, came one step closer Sunday to declaring his candidacy for mayor of Hartford. McCauley, who until Sunday was deciding whether to wait four years before running, announced during a conservative panel discussion Sunday that he would in fact be running in the November election. McCauley said he plans to file his candidacy papers on Feb. 26. -snip- McCauley, a Republican, had been invited at the last minute to join a panel in West Hartford to discuss how the party might reform itself. The panel included...

WEST HARTFORD -- A panel of Republican notables urged conservative party members at a forum Sunday to unite, but it failed to bring up a topic that's divided the group: Gov. M. Jodi Rell's budget proposal. Not once during the forum, hosted by the Connecticut Conservative Congress, did newly appointed GOP head Chris Healy mention Rell's two-year, $35.8 billion budget, which was unveiled Wednesday. And yet her budget plans seemed to be on the tip of every member's tongue as Healy and five other Republicans spoke of defining the Republican Party in Connecticut. Rell has proposed a 10 percent increase...

The New CT-GOPTopic: "Rebuilding The CT GOP"An Open Forum On CT Politics Sunday, February 11, 2007 2 PM to 6 PM ELMWOOD COMMUNITY CENTER 1106 New Britain Ave, West Hartford, CT 06110 860-233-6676 (Enter on Burgoyne St., one block N of the New Britain Ave – South Quaker Lane Intersection) Speakers Include:Chris Healy, Chairman, CT-GOP Alan Schlesinger, U.S. Senate Candidate Dr. Miriam Masullo, US Congress Nominee Tom Armstrong, Hartford Businessman Paul Streitz, CT Citizens for Immigration Control Mike McGarry, CT-GOP, Publisher Featuring: “SACRIFICE”, America’s Conservative Rapper Videotape by Juliana Simone for Conservative Chat, Charter Communications TV of Winsted, CT...

Words like "historic" and "brilliant" flew around the state Capitol Wednesday as legislators struggled to absorb details of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's two-year, $35.8 billion budget plan, which includes proposals for record-setting increases in education spending. The question was, were Democrats or members of her own party more taken aback? "I have to take a pill," Sen. William Nickerson said to a Greenwich Republican colleague after the governor's speech. Rell called Wednesday for education spending that would break the state-mandated spending cap and lead to a 10 percent increase in the state income tax. In doing so, she co-opted traditional...

EAST WINDSOR, Conn. — Her son is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, but one Connecticut mother is waging a war of her own over her right to fly Old Glory on her front lawn. Teresa Richard's condo association in this community north of Hartford wants an American flag and a Blue Star Mothers of America flag removed from her front lawn, along with the flagpole upon which they hang. Richard raised the flags last year to honor her son, Cpl. Tony Donihee, now serving in Afghanistan with the Connecticut National Guard. "If you want to fly the American flag, you...

At 114 And Counting, Emma Tillman Is Now The Oldest Person In The World EAST HARTFORD -- When 114-year-old Emma Faust Tillman was told Wednesday that the death of a man from Puerto Rico earlier in the day made her the oldest person in the world, she didn't respond. "She's gotten so she doesn't care much anymore," said Emma's daughter, Marjorie Tillman, who delivered the news. "But I feel blessed - very blessed to have a mother like her." Emma Tillman, who was born Nov. 22, 1892, to former slaves in North Carolina, spent most of her landmark day...

East Hartford Woman Is 114 Years Old POSTED: 5:38 pm EST January 19, 2007 Emma Faust Tillman, who was born on Nov. 22, 1892, became the oldest validated female "supercentenarian" in the world when 115-year-old Julie Winnifred Bertrand of Montreal, Canada, died in her sleep early Thursday. Tillman is now the second-oldest known person in the world behind 115-year-old Emiliano Mercado del Toro of Puerto Rico, born August 21, 1891. They are among many validated "supercentenarians" on a list maintained by the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles and other organizations. Officials at East Hartford's Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center,...

Perhaps you remember the case of Father Michael Fay, the light-fingered priest who evidently lifted $1 million or more from the collection plates at his parish in Darien, Connecticut. This was possible because: A priest whose salary was about $28,000 threw himself a black-tie dinner at the posh Pierre Hotel in New York, and the diocese didn't see any reason to investigate.The pastor was away from his parish for 1-2 weeks a month, and the diocese didn't see any reason to investigate.The priest and his steady male companion were featured as a fun couple, and consulted about ideal romantic evenings...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A federal judge has dismissed all of the remaining land claims filed by the Golden Hill Paugussett tribe, which had sought to use the claims as leverage to acquire land for a casino in Bridgeport. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled that the Trumbull-based tribe cannot pursue land claims in court because it is not recognized as an American Indian tribe by the federal government. The Paugussetts have been repeatedly denied federal recognition. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Wednesday that the ruling ends the tribe's 14-year attempt to seize land in Fairfield and New...

Protesting mothers breastfeed their babies at Washington DC's Ronald Reagan National Airport in front of the Delta Airlines ticket counter as part of a nation-wide protest after a woman was kicked off a Delta airplane by a flight attendant for nursing her child.(AFP/Paul J. Richards) Mothers Danielle Shield (L) and Alison Yaker (R) read a book about breastfeeding with their children near the Delta Airlines counter at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts November 21, 2006 as part of a national 'Nurse-In' protest in support of women's right to breastfeed in public. On October 13, 2006 Emily Gillette was removed...

(Washington-WTNH, Nov. 14, 2006 11:15 PM) _ As the re-count wraps up in Connecticut Joe Courtney is in Washington where new members of Congress are participating in freshman orientation. Courtney declared himself the winner last week and has been preparing for his new post ever since. Congressman elect Joe Courtney got the word that he had won the re-count late Tuesday night from his new boss. Later he got bear hugs from Congressman John Larson and Congresswoman Rosa Delauro outside the Capitol, just a short time earlier during a reception and dinner for the new Congress at the U.S. Capitol...

(Lebanon-AP, Nov. 13, 2006 12:25 PM) _ A town election official says a recount has discovered an error that gave Democrat Joe Courtney an extra 100 votes in the 2nd Congressional District. More details to come >>> (Hartford-AP, Nov. 13, 2006 6:12 AM) _ 32 more towns are expected to complete their re-counts today in the 2nd Congressional District. Chaplin was the only town to hold a re-count yesterday, and there was no change in the town's original vote tally. That leaves Democrat Joe Courtney with a 166-vote lead over incumbent Republican Rob Simmons. Courtney has declared himself the winner...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons picked up a single vote after the first town in the 2nd Congressional District recounted its election results on Thursday. But the three-term congressman still trails Democrat Joe Courtney by 166 votes. A recount, or re-canvass, was held in Hebron on Thursday night. Recounts were being scheduled in the remaining 64 cities and towns for Friday and over the weekend. Courtney has already declared victory, but Republicans remained hopeful Simmons would prevail. "As we have stressed during this entire election, we are determined to ensure a fair and accurate vote, and this...

(Windsor Locks-WTNH, Nov. 5, 2006 10:05 PM) _ Thousands of Connecticut residents have their power back on after hours in the dark. The outage impacted thousands of people in several communities in the northern part of the state. Around 6 p.m. Sunday a high transmission line coming towards Hartford County went down. A high transmission line carries loads of power and goes to a substation which then disperses the power. Connecticut Light and Power says they are uncertain why that went out. It affected 41,000 customers in Windsor Locks, South Windsor, Ellington and Vernon. Bradley International Airport lost power for...

WATERBURY -- If Democrat Ned Lamont fails in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, some of his supporters are prepared to blame Waterbury. John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper's magazine, is one of them. MacArthur visited Waterbury two weeks ago and published a column in the Providence Journal on Tuesday. In the column, MacArthur suggested that Waterbury will be decisive in the outcome of the Senate race and took some subtle jabs at the city's political history -- more subtle, anyway, than the shots taken by Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan, who in August described the city...

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman accused rival Democrat Ned Lamont of lying about him in a lively and sometimes raucous debate Monday night. The front-runners tussled over the accuracy of Lamont's campaign advertising in a debate televised statewide from the Garde Art Center in New London. It all started when Lamont said his campaign's television ads and direct mailings are 100 percent true when he responded to a panelist's question. "I am proud of the ads we are running, and I am happy to have anybody take a look at them," he said. Lieberman has seen Lamont's ads and he is...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A cousin of President Bush is involved in a crash that takes the life of a Connecticut police officer. Police officer Dan Picaglee died Saturday night, four days after being struck by an SUV. The driver who struck that officer is a cousin of former President Bush, and he is also a federal judge. Reports indicate a DUI test was not given to this man after the accident. Officer Picaglee was with that police department for 17 years.

(WTNH/AP, Oct. 23, 2006 11:45 AM) _ Tonight will your final chance to hear the three major candidates for U.S. Senate go head-to-head on the issues. Also, the campaign of Democratic senate candidate Ned Lamont says it's filing a formal complaint with a federal agency against Senator Joe Lieberman. Lamont's campaign says the complaint with the Federal Election Commission accuses Lieberman of failing to account for $387,000 in petty cash his campaign spent days before the state's August Democratic primary. The Lieberman camp denies any wrongdoing. Lieberman spokeswoman Tammy Sun says that the cash was paid to field coordinators who...

WATERBURY -- Teachers and staff members would be blocked from working in the same school as spouses, siblings and other relatives under a strict nepotism policy being considered by the Board of Education. If the policy is approved, employees would not be assigned to the same school as relatives "whenever possible." Nor would they be hired or moved into positions where a relative can "influence employment" or access confidential information, such as their personnel files or medical records. The school system already has a nepotism policy instructing the superintendent to "make every effort" to prevent relatives from supervising or evaluating...

Amid growing criticism, WFSB-TV, Channel 3, has agreed to let reporters from other news organizations into the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts to cover today's U.S. Senate race debate sponsored by the station. As of Monday, the Hartford CBS affiliate was planning to ban all reporters other than its own from today's 3 p.m. taping of the one-hour debate - and then to maintain a 27-hour news blackout until it broadcast the pre-recorded event Thursday at 7 p.m. But protests began to arise after the station's plans were outlined in The Courant Tuesday morning - and by mid-afternoon WFSB...

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman continued his tightrope walk Tuesday across the divide separating Democrats and Republicans, swaying back and forth. Lieberman is the man in the middle, a Democrat seeking re-election as an independent, largely reliant on Republican and unaffiliated votes. -snip-All five Senate candidates - Lamont, Lieberman, Schlesinger, Ralph Ferrucci of the Green Party and Timothy Knibbs of the Concerned Citizens - will tape a debate today for broadcast Thursday at 7 p.m. on WFSB-TV, Channel 3. -snip- In New Haven, moments after Lieberman confirmed he was rooting for Democrats to win the House, one of the Republican congressmen...

Alan Schlesinger just might make the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut competitive and lively after all. -snip- Mr. Schlesinger, the state convention-blessed Republican nominee, was at a lowly 4 percent, having been disowned by many leaders and most of the rank and file of his own party. The Senate campaign had lost its zip. At the Monday debate in Stamford, however, Mr. Schlesinger exhibited a nothing-left-to-lose flair in attacking Mr. Lieberman, mainly, and Mr. Lamont. His performance could stir the embers of this campaign and just might wake up more than a few Republican voters. The GOP standard-bearer has been...

The debate will be available live on WNTH.com and on News Channel 8 at 8:00 p.m. (New London-WTNH, Oct. 9, 2006 Updated 5:00 PM) -- The race for governor turns up a notch tonight with the first of just two face-to-face debates between Republican Governor Jodi Rell and Democratic challenger John DeStefano. With a more than thirty percent lead in the last public opinion poll, Governor Jodi Rell has a lot to lose. She'll be making sure she makes no mistakes. For New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, it is just one of two chances he'll get to stand next to...

Latest Quinnipiac Survey Finds DeStefano 33 Points Behind Governor Down by 33 points in a new poll with less than six weeks to go, Democratic gubernatorial challenger John DeStefano has to score heavily in the two upcoming debates and hope that Gov. M. Jodi Rell commits a major mistake in the final 39 days before the election, analysts said Thursday. In the latest Quinnipiac University poll, released Thursday, DeStefano trails Rell by 63 percent to 30 percent among likely voters. -snip-The Rell and DeStefano campaigns Thursday finalized details for two one-on-one debates, both to be televised live: Oct. 9 on...

Phil Maymin, the Libertarian candidate in the Fourth Congressional District, doesn’t want voters to flush away their ballots this November, calling a vote for a Democrat or a Republican a “waste.” “If you’re unhappy with the course the country has been taking for the past 10 years, you have to realize that the Democrats and Republicans have made this mess,” he said at a meeting with reporters and editors from Hersam Acorn Newspapers Thursday, September 7. Mr. Maymin, a Greenwich hedge fund manager, is running against Republican incumbent Rep. Christopher Shays, and Diane Farrell, the Democratic challenger. Just added to...

COLCHESTER -- Before she stepped through the doors to worship for the first time in the new St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church, Stephanie Balacky paused Sunday to pray in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary. "She's home," Balacky said, her blue eyes brimming with tears. Thirty-two years ago, Balacky and her husband donated the statue of Mary, head bowed and hands clasped in prayer. She had no idea it would symbolize hope and rebirth and its survival would one day be called a miracle by the church's bishop. "I think she's behind everything," Balacky, of Colchester, said of...

Not surprisingly, the Bible Belt region lives up to its name with states like Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and West Virginia containing the highest percentage of those who believe the Bible is literally true. Alabama and Arkansas came out on top as 75% say they believe the Bible is literally true. West Virginia (70%) and Tennessee (68%) are close behind. The northeast region of our map represents the other extreme. In Vermont and Massachusetts, only 22% of those respondents believe the Bible is literally true—the lowest percentages in all states surveyed. Earlier this summer, a national survey found that 54% of...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush boldly, albeit light-heartedly, announced that he was "going to stay out of Connecticut" and its senatorial race, adding he may be "the only presidential candidate who never carried the state in which he was born." When Bush made the remark at a Monday press conference, he admitted it may not hold up to extensive research. And in this case, fact-checkers didn't have to dig too deeply. His father George H. W. Bush -- born June 12, 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts -- lost his "home" state by decisive margins in his two runs as a major...