NIANTIC, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut’s Correction Department has opened a job training center at the state’s only prison for women. The American Job Center at the York Correctional Institution in Niantic is funded by a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The center is designed to teach women who are nearing the end of their prison sentences such skills as how to write a resume, interview for a job and fill out applications for college and financial aid. The center is part of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s Second Chance Society initiatives. The Democratic governor says the center is designed to help lower the crime rate by ensuring prisoners have the skills needed to reintegrate and become productive members of society. A similar center for men opened at the New Haven Correction Institution in 2015.
AETNA LOOKING TO POSSIBLY LEAVE CT HQ
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says Connecticut is working to insure that Aetna will remain a major employer in the state. Aetna Chief Executive Mark Bertolini said Wednesday that the company is in negotiations with several states about moving its headquarters, with the goal of broadening access to innovation and talent. He says the company remains committed to its employees at its Hartford campus and hopes to finalize its plans by early summer. Malloy says he believes Aetna will continue to have a large presence in Connecticut. He says the state has offered incentives to keep the insurer, but he believes the company will move its headquarters and some jobs. Aetna currently employs about 6,000 people in Connecticut. It began in Hartford in 1819 as Aetna Fire Insurance Co.
CMEEC BILL PASSES SENATE
Legislation that places stronger restrictions on trips and retreats conducted by municipal utilities has passed the Connecticut State Senate. The measure would require such groups, including electric energy cooperatives, to hold strategic retreats within Connecticut, and publicly release meeting agendas and minutes of the gatherings. The bill was sponsored by local lawmakers in the wake of the Kentucky Derby trips paid-for by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, which local municipal officials attended. The Norwich Ethics Commission ruled city officials violated ethics regulations by attending the trips.
OFF-DUTY OFFICER IN COURT
An off-duty Pawtucket, Rhode Island police officer is in New London Superior Court Wednesday morning on charges of assaulting an elderly Foxwoods Resort Casino employee. 36-year old Michael Tousignant doesn’t have to appear in court again for two years, and has apparently applied for accelerated rehabilitation, which means charges will be dismissed should the defendant successfully complete the support program within two years. Tousignant is accused of striking a 73-year old Foxwoods restroom attendant in April, after complaining the bathroom’s water was too cold. Tousignant was placed on administrative duty by Pawtucket police.
BRIDGE JUMPER SENTENCED
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) – A Middletown man who killed his 7-month-old son when he threw the boy off a 90-foot-high bridge has been sentenced to 70 years in prison. Tony Moreno learned his fate Wednesday in Middletown Superior Court. A jury convicted him in February of murder and risk of injury to a child. Police say the 23-year-old Moreno threw his son, Aaden, off the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown in July 2015. He then jumped off, but survived. He testified during his trial that he accidentally dropped the boy and did not intend to harm him. Court records show Moreno’s relationship with the boy’s mother had become strained in the months leading up to Aaden’s death. She refused his marriage proposal, and a custody dispute was settled just days before the bridge incident.
