CANDIDATES OWE TAXES
City records indicate two mayoral candidates in Norwich owe back property taxes. Libertarian Bill Russell owes $5,621 dollars on his Laurel Hill Avenue home, while petitioning candidate Joseph Radecki owes $271 on a motor vehicle. Two of Radecki’s construction businesses owe a total of more than 15-hundred dollars in personal property taxes. Both men say the city’s tax rate is out of control, which is a primary reason why they’re running for mayor. In fact, Radecki says the list of back taxes owed by Norwich taxpayers is 88 pages long. Along with he and Russell, Democrat Derell Wilson, Republican Peter Nystrom, and petitioning candidate Jon Oldfield are looking to replace outgoing Mayor Deb Hinchey. City records also show a Democratic school board hopeful, James Maloney, owes 18-hundred dollars in overdue car taxes. Maloney says, though, that is a clerical error that should be cleared up this week.
ASSAULT CHARGES NOLLED
Charges against a New London attorney and a Colchester man have been nolled in connection with a June 24th incident at a Niantic restaurant. Attorney Anthony Basilica and Joshua Taylor appeared today in New Britain Superior Court, with the charges against them to be completely dismissed in 13 months if both men behave themselves. Court documents show Basilica and Taylor got into a fight at the Black Sheep Pub while attending a charity golf tournament banquet. Police say both men suffered injuries, with Basilica appearing intoxicated, and Tyler having a blood alcohol level of zero-point-32. It’s not known what caused the fight.
MED EXAMINER MAY LOSE ACCREDITATION
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut’s budget impasse is putting the state medical examiner’s office at risk for losing national accreditation. The office has until Wednesday to show the National Association of Medical Examiners that it has addressed a short-staffing problem, or it could lose accreditation completely. The office was downgraded to partial accreditation earlier this year. The agency’s seven forensic pathologists perform more than 325 autopsies a year – above the limit set by the association’s accreditation standards. Chief Medical Examiner James Gill says he needs two more forensic pathologists to regain full accreditation. But the state still hasn’t approved a budget for this fiscal year. Gill is asking the association to retain the partial accreditation status during the budget impasse. He’s worried losing accreditation could hurt the credibility of his office’s death investigations.
STD CASE LEVEL HIGH IN RI
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island health officials say cases of sexually transmitted disease in the state are at a 10-year high. State Department of Health data released to The Providence Journal shows that chlamydia cases have risen 55 percent from 2007, gonorrhea cases are up 78 percent and syphilis cases have more than tripled. Health officials say they’re not sure why. They say it could be due to better testing or more people getting tested after getting insurance since health care reform. Dr. Philip Chan, director of the STD clinic at The Miriam Hospital, says it could be a combination of factors, including risky sexual behavior and more people meeting sexual partners online. The health department has issued an advisory recommending more screening of certain patients at increased risk.
