FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE

TAKE ACTION ZINKE

U.S. In­te­rior Sec­re­tary Ryan Zinke has been asked by the Na­tional Congress of Amer­i­can In­di­ans to act on the Mashan­tucket Pe­quot and Mo­he­gan tribes’ amended gam­ing agree­ments with the state. The ac­tion is con­sid­ered to be crit­i­cal to the tribes’ abil­ity to move for­ward with a casino project in East Wind­sor. The state and the Mashan­tucket Pe­quot and Mo­he­gan tribes have sued the In­te­rior Depart­ment and Zinke over the de­part­ment’s in­ac­tion, and mem­bers of Con­necti­cut’s con­gres­sional del­e­ga­tion have asked the de­part­ment’s Of­fice of In­spec­tor Gen­eral to in­ves­ti­gate.

DATE SET FOR ZERO CARBON AUCTION DEADLINE

State reg­u­la­tors are looking for pro­pos­als from zero-car­bon en­ergy pro­duc­ers for an auc­tion by May 1st. And for the first time, Mill­stone Power Sta­tion in Waterford will be al­lowed to com­pete. Reg­u­la­tors want feed­back on their pro­posed re­view that will de­ter­mine whether an en­ergy pro­ducer is con­sid­ered at risk of shut­ting down. That kind of designation could give bid­ders like Mill­stone an edge over other power gen­er­a­tors in the state-spon­sored auc­tion. Do­min­ion had long sought to bid in the auc­tion against so­lar, wind and hy­dropower en­ergy pro­duc­ers, hint­ing that be­ing ex­cluded from the zero-car­bon auc­tion could jeop­ar­dize the plant’s con­tin­ued op­er­a­tion in the wake of higher-than-nor­mal costs and com­pe­ti­tion from nat­u­ral gas in the whole­sale mar­ket.

NEW MUNI COMPLEX VOTE SET

Putnam residents will vote at referendum in September on a $19.76 million proposal to build a municipal complex. If approved, the complex, Owen Tarr Park would house a new town hall, library, community center and historical society. Town officials plan to offset the costs to taxpayers by selling the existing town hall and library buildings, using money from the town’s ash landfill fund and possibly use a one million dollar grant that would go toward library construction.

COLCHESTER MAN DIES IN CRASH

(Portland, CT) — A 26-year-old Colchester man is dead following a single-vehicle crash in Portland. The crash happened early yesterday morning on Route 66.  Joshua Ogden was treated at the scene and was rushed to the hospital, but he did not survive. Anyone who may have witnessed the crash is asked to contact Portland police.

THANKS FOR THE RIDE

State police say they’ve arrested Oswaldo Cruz-Flores of Norwich who is accused of stabbing a coworker who was giving him a ride home. The driver told police that Cruz-Flores pulled out a knife and demanded the keys to the pickup truck, smashed the window and repeatedly stabbed the driver while hanging onto the door as he tried to drive away. Police said the driver stopped and fled to the vehicle of a coworker who was driving behind them, leaving Cruz-Flores on the side of Route 2 near Holly Green Plaza in North Stonington. The driver was transported to Backus Hospital and treated for several stab wounds. Cruz-Flores was reported to be bleeding and was also taken to Backus and committed to the hospital to undergo a mental health evaluation. Cruz-Florez was scheduled to appear Wednesday in New London Superior Court. He was being held on a $50,000 bond.

ALLEGED SHOOTER ARRESTED

Groton City detectives took custody of a 24-year-old New York man in connection with an early hours shooting on Branford Avenue March 11th. Nathan Ramos of Brooklyn is charged with shooting a person in the abdomen, possession of a firearm by a felon, and other offenses. Police had responded to multiple reports of shots fired, determined an altercation occurred in the parking lot and that one victim was at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound.  Ramos is being held on a $200,000 bond, is scheduled to appear in court today.