Free Republic

BELOIT — Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday signaled he’s open to charging tolls on Wisconsin’s Interstates, but with a key condition: linking it to a reduction in the state’s 30.9-cent-per-gallon gas tax. Walker also said an impasse over the state’s next transportation budget risks costly delays to billion-dollar highway projects now under construction. That includes a $1.2 billion expansion of Interstate 39-90 from the Madison area to the Illinois state line. The Interstate formed the backdrop for Walker’s remarks in a press conference at a Beloit rest stop. Republicans who control the state Assembly have proposed seeking federal approval to...

Hartford Moves Closer to Bankruptcy, Soliciting Proposals From Law Firms - Courant Community http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-bankruptcy-lawyer-20170509-story.html Courant Community Hartford Hartford Moves Closer to Bankruptcy, Soliciting Proposals From Law Firms Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin answers questions from the public about the 2017-18 city budget. Bronin stood his ground with different agencies trying to keep funding for their interests.  City leaders have taken a step toward bankruptcy, soliciting proposals from law firms that specialize in Chapter 9, which protects financially strapped municipalities. The city is reviewing several firms and could hire an attorney as early as this week, sources with knowledge of the plans...

Hartford Courant Let's Buy The Whalers And Bring Them Back Home Bring Back The Whalers Hartford city councilman John Q. Gale has proposed a way for the Whalers to come back to Hartford. By JOHN Q. GALE Friday, May 5, 2017 Forbes Magazine says that the Carolina Hurricanes (our Hartford Whalers) National Hockey League franchise is worth $230 million. As the team has the lowest attendance in the league, this is likely an overstatement, but let's work with it. Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said earlier this year that he would entertain offers for his team. What if all 38...

HARTFORD – Toll talk is back at the State Capitol. Some lawmakers say it will drive billions into the state over the next two decades and others want to put the brakes on the idea.At a hearing, Monday, the proposal to bring electronic tolls to Connecticut highways was discussed, with public comment both for and against it.State accountants said the way Connecticut funds transportation will no longer be sustainable in the next four years and a new revenue source is needed.“This doesn't make any sense at all," State Sen. Toni Boucher said. "This is just another name for another tax...

Connecticut, a state making its mark in both microgrid and fuel cell technology, today will put yet another microgrid into operation, this one in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood. microgrid and fuel cellConstellation, Bloom Energy and the city plan to announce completion of the 800-kW fuel cell microgrid this afternoon at a ribbon cutting. The microgrid will generate clean energy, manage electricity costs and supply emergency power for public buildings and businesses. The fuel cell uses natural gas to produce electricity. The state helped fund the project with about $2 million through its Microgrid Grant Program. Hartford was among nine grant winners...

Taxes could soon be on the rise if a new house bill passes. House bill 7322 seeks to increase the sales tax up to 6.99 percent from its current rate of 6.35 percent and increase the income tax for some state residents. Other aspects of the bill would help towns generate more money by increasing state owned property payments. Properties like colleges and hospitals owned by the state would see an increase of their payments to their towns by roughly 23 percent. If the bill passes, regional governments would be responsible for creating plans to help pay for that. Another...

Not everyone is thrilled with U.S. Rep. John Larson’s proposal to build massive highway tunnels under Hartford, but Daniel Burnham might be, were he still with us. It was Burnham, the great Chicago architect and planner, who said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.”Larson’s is anything but a little plan; it is breathtaking in scope. It has stirred the blood of some public officials and business leaders. But the concept is so vast, complex and potentially expensive – it would be longer than Boston’s “Big Dig” tunnels...

“I was already terrified of white men,” one professor at the University of Hartford, Erin Bartram, admitted, but explained that there’s not even “a word to describe how scared I am of them now,” noting that “they are so much worse than” she thought. “How do I face these students who’ve just seen half of America repudiate their rights, their citizenship, their bodies, their very beings?!” she went on to exclaim.

Please let's not jump to any conclusions. Conclusion jumping must be avoided in the cases of Muslims killing people. Or rather we must jump to any and every other possible conclusion. This particular Muslim was homicidally suicidal... but in a non-Islamic way. A 28-year-old Jordanian Muslim who who was studying to become a pilot died after crashing a small plane Tuesday afternoon in Connecticut, and the instructor pilot who survived the crash said it was intentional. Arian Prevalla, another pilot on the plane said, “the crash was not an accident”. Local and state police, along with several federal agencies, including...

EAST HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) -Police and federal investigators continue to look into what led to a tragic plane crash on Tuesday afternoon. CBS News confirmed that the FBI is looking into whether or not the crash was "intentional."

A small plane crash that killed a Jordanian national and injured another man in Connecticut on Tuesday was "an intentional act," The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement on Wednesday. The unnamed man who survived the crash also told investigators the wreck was not an accident, the mayor of East Hartford said Wednesday. That man was in critical condition at Bridgeport Hospital, but was able to speak to detectives, officials said.

Jordanian student pilot crashes his plane into Connecticut high street 'ON PURPOSE': FBI investigates after passenger dies and three are hurt in fireball Plane came down in East Hartford while preparing to land half a mile away Student pilot Feras M. Freitekh, 28, a Jordanian national, was killed The instructor pilot was hospitalized with serious burns and injuries Two people in a minivan near the crash site were also hospitalized Pilot, now conscious in hospital, told police Freitekh crashed intentionally The student pilot came to U.S. in 2012 from Jordan to go to flight school FBI and state counter-terrorism unit...

According to federal transportation investigators, Tuesday's deadly plane crash in East Hartford was intentional.

The city of Hartford's investment in the Downtown North development, which includes construction of the Dunkin' Donuts Park baseball stadium, exceeds $102 million to date, according to an audit from Hartford's Internal Audit Commission released publicly Friday. Originally priced at $56 million for initial construction funding and bonded at $63.3 million, the unfinished stadium's pricetag has now jumped to $71.7 million, the audit said. For the overall Downtown North development, which includes road work, engineering and other infrastructure work, the total costs to the city are $102.5 million to date, the audit report said. That $102 million does not include...

Connecticut dropped 10 slots in a yearly CNBC ranking of the nation's top states for businesses. The state ranked 43rd this year, just behind Oklahoma. The rankings are measured by categories such as the cost of doing businesses, access to capital, business friendliness and the quality of life. The top five ranked states are Utah, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota and North Carolina. Connecticut ranked higher than two other New England states — Maine, ranked 46th, and Rhode Island, ranked 50th. "It's disappointing, but frankly not surprising we saw this drop," said Joe Brennan, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and...

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s popularity rating has hit a new low, with a majority of registered voters disapproving of how the Democrat has managed the state’s economy, jobs, budget and taxes. A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows just 24 percent of registered voters approve of how Malloy is handling his job, while 68 percent disapprove. It’s a drop from Malloy’s prior lowest rating of 32 percent in October. Poll director Doug Schwartz says Malloy’s numbers appear to be linked to the state’s economy. Eighty percent of those surveyed say the state’s economy is “not so good” or...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A teenage boy in Hartford, Connecticut, has been arrested after a video circulated around his high school, appearing to show the teen attacking a 66-year-old man from behind, reports CBS affiliate WFSB.

With two weeks left in the legislative session – and Connecticut facing a potential $922 million deficit next year -- the state budget talks have hit a stalemate as Democrats are refusing to meet with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy over personal and policy clashes. Democrats have harshly criticized Malloy's revised budget, which calls for deep cuts in educational cost-sharing funds and even no educational funding for wealthy communities like Greenwich and Madison. Some consider Malloy's cuts on education and the hospitals to be dead on arrival because they lack support from both Democrats and Republicans. Communities like West Hartford and...

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposal this week to eliminate education cost-sharing grants for 28 of the state's wealthiest school districts and to reduce funding significantly for many others was intensely criticized Wednesday by some school officials and key legislators. Malloy's plan calls for protecting the education funds in the state's 30 lowest-performing school districts. "To take a district like mine … and completely eliminate the funding is entirely irresponsible," Madison Superintendent Thomas Scarice said. The district stands to lose $1.57 million. Taken together with the state's "countless unfunded mandates" for districts, Scarice said, Malloy's proposal is "nothing less than unspeakable."...

Plattsburgh, NY Friday, April 15, 2016: LIVE Stream of the Donald J. Trump for President Rally in Plattsburgh, NY at the Crete Civic Center beginning at 3:00 PM EDT. Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, in the United States. The population was 19,989 at the 2010 census. Plattsburgh was founded by Zephaniah Platt in 1785 after he was granted the land by George Clinton. In granting land to Zephaniah Platt of Poughkeepsie, New York - who went on to establish the new city of Plattsburgh to buffer emerging American interests in the...