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Battle of the Coral Sea, (May 4–8, 1942) World War II naval and air engagement in which a U.S. fleet turned back a Japanese invasion force that had been heading for strategic Port Moresby in New Guinea. By the end of April 1942 the Japanese were ready to seize control of the Coral Sea (between Australia and New Caledonia) by establishing air bases at Port Moresby in southeastern New Guinea and at Tulagi in the southern Solomons. But Allied intelligence learned of the Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby and alerted all available sea and air power. When the Japanese...

NEW BRITAIN - A court interpreter was charged by state police Monday with attempted kidnapping after he allegedly tried to lure a 12-year-old girl out of New Britain Superior Court in September. Mahfuz Alhamid, 28, of Meriden, is accused of asking a girl waiting for her mother, who was having a probation meeting, if she would kiss him and go out to the parking lot with him. The girl became frightened and approached a stranger for help at the courthouse, a warrant for Alhamid’s arrest said. The man she asked for help was wearing a court-ordered electronic ankle bracelet and...

New Britain -- Precisely timed to attract live coverage Thursday at the top of three local 6 o'clock newscasts, a jubilant Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law a bill that makes Connecticut the first state to embrace President Obama's goal of a $10.10 minimum wage.

"By the way, I just noticed, if you've got chairs, feel free to sit down," President Obama said to a student audience in New Britain, Connecticut on Wednesday. "I know the folks here don't have chairs," Obama said, pointing to the audience members in the front row. "And if you're standing up, make sure to bend your knees so you don't faint," Obama instructed.

Gov. Dannel Malloy announced today President Obama will speaking at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain on Wednesday to push his proposal to raise the minimum wage. According to the White House, the president will be in the Hartford area on March 5. Further details on President Obama's visit will be made available in the next few days. The minimum wage battle was at the center of a headline-grabbing war of words between Gov. Dannel Malloy and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal at a meeting of governors at the White House last weekend. Several governors emerged to speak to reporters...

beautiful and expertly-flaked obsidian tool which formed part of a cache, rescued from a development site, offers a greater insight into the lives of ancient people that inhabited the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea (PNG). In October 2010 Dr Robin Torrence a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum Reseach Institute was contacted by the General Manager at Barema oil palm plantation on New Britain Island. The company was in the process of bulldozing the side of a hill to make a house terrace. In the process they had uncovered a group of finely worked obsidian (volcanic...

NEW BRITAIN, CT (WFSB) -Students are being advised to stay indoors and stay away from windows because of a "campus emergency" Monday afternoon.

NEW BRITAIN — Following several heated discussions over the past few months with members of the public, the Common Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that gives gun owners the flexibility to conceal their weapons or not. The old ordinance required individuals to carry their legal firearms openly. New Britain — which had been the last municipality in Connecticut with such an ordinance — is now in line with the rest of the state. While state law would supercede local ordinances, City attorney Mary Pokorski said Wednesday that the state law “does not dictate the method of carrying weapons.”...

After years of planning, state officials are scheduled to break ground on a rebranded, half billion-dollar Hartford-to-New Britain bus-only corridor, the only one in Connecticut. Once known as the busway, the 9.4-mile route has been rebranded and is now called CTfastrak. Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said busway was never the official name of the project, but was used as short hand. Everhart said the name CTfastrak describes a new type of public transit, combining fast transportation free of traffic similar to rail travel with the flexibility and direct service of a bus. The state...

The Connecticut Public Transportation Commission is seeking opinions about public transportation services, as well as the proposed busway from Hartford to New Britain. Monday's public hearing at the Plainville Municipal Center will be the last of four hearings the commission has held statewide this fall. The panel is seeking comment from the public, transportation providers and other groups about services such as Connecticut Transit and DATTCO bus service and intercity bus service. Members want to know whether improvements need to be made and if the public's needs are being met. The commission also wants opinions about the busway, the need...

HARTFORD —— Signaling that the fight over the controversial New Britain busway isn't finished, two state legislators are asking one of the top Republicans in Congress to block the project. "There is no popular support for the project. The average person understands that it makes no sense, even in flush times," Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington, and Rep. Whit Betts, R-Bristol, said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. "We urge you to do all in your power to stop the federal funding." Connecticut is asking the Federal Transit Administration for $275 million to help build the roughly $570 million...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The State Bond Commission has approved nearly $90 million in bonds to begin construction on a planned busway between New Britain and Hartford. The vote came despite concerns raised by Republican members about the project's high price tag. Malloy announced this month that he was backing the project, estimated to cost more than $572 million. He said he was reluctant to risk losing federal funding for the paved, 9.4-mile corridor. The federal government is expected to spend nearly $460 million on the project. Connecticut has already spent more than $23 million on design and acquiring property.

Fred Hargesheimer, a World War II Army pilot whose rescue by Pacific islanders led to a life of giving back as a builder of schools and teacher of children, died Thursday morning. He was 94. Richard Hargesheimer said his father had been suffering from poor health and passed away in Lincoln. On June 5, 1943, Hargesheimer, a P-38 pilot with the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, was shot down by a Japanese fighter while on a mission over the Japanese-held island of New Britain in the southwest Pacific. He parachuted into the trackless jungle, where he barely survived for 31 days...

August 4, 2005 For Immediate Release: If additional information is needed, please contact Bob Dowling or Courtney Nogas in Media Relations at (860) 224-8383. ROCK CATS JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT TO BENEFIT LOCAL CHARITIES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Former New Britain SS and Current US Marine Hero Tony Stevens to be Honored at Stadium New Britain, CT- When the fans rise to sing "The Stars Spangled Banner" at New Britain Stadium before the start of the Rock Cats' game on August 10th, they will likely do so with a bit more emotion than usual. Because on that Wednesday night, Tony Stevens - a...

Geology Picture of the Week, September 8-14, 2002

Page with additional pictures: Pago volcano, New Britain, Papua New Guinea: Brief report and photographs Aug.26-September 2, 2002 Source: Volcano Research Center, ERI, Univ. Tokyo, M. Yoshimoto. Associated stories indicate that the irritating ash and gases caused the evacuation of 3-4,000 people from the region near the volcano.

Twenty years ago, Rockland, Maine, was a gritty, blue-collar community with a string of waterfront fish processing plants. "Camden by the Sea, Rockland by the Smell" became its unofficial slogan, accentuating the old harbor's coarseness compared to its upscale neighbor. Then one by one, the plants that employed most of Rockland's residents closed. As the fishing industry collapsed, so did the local economy. The community's self-esteem hit bottom, the crime rate escalated and the once-bustling downtown turned barren. Today, that slide seems like ancient history. Residents and city officials are proud of their downtown's renaissance, which sprang from a combination...