FIGHTING FOR IMPACT AID
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, along with 37 of his colleagues, is pushing for continued federal funding, of which a portion goes to the Groton Public Schools. The Federal Impact Aid Program provides money for programs that educate children in school districts that have substantial, non-taxable federal properties, such as the Groton Sub Base. Groton received 3-point-3 million dollars this year under the program. Murphy is among a bipartisan group of senators that has sent a letter to the heads of a Senate Appropriations Sub-Committee, urging the continuation of the funding. Groton officials are already expecting a significant reduction in state aid.
POLICE WERE JUSTIFIED
OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. (AP) – A Connecticut prosecutor has ruled that two state troopers were justified when they fatally shot a bank robbery suspect in a motel room two years ago. Tolland State’s Attorney Matthew Gedansky on Friday cleared troopers Daniel McCarthy and Carson Konow of any wrongdoing in the October 2015 death of Richard Love in Old Saybrook. Authorities said that when Love barricaded himself in the motel room, he was a suspect in three Connecticut bank robberies in East Lyme, Stonington and Norwich, and another in Richmond, Rhode Island. Gedansky said McCarthy and Konow were forced to defend themselves when Love pointed a gun at them. Four of the five shots fired by the troopers struck Love, who had earlier shot himself in the chin. Love was pronounced dead at the scene.
MORE DISEASES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – The Department of Consumer Protection commissioner has agreed to make three more conditions eligible for medical marijuana treatment in Connecticut. Michelle Seagull notified the Board of Physicians Friday that she will follow the panel’s recommendation to add Hydrocephalus with intractable headache, intractable migraines and Trigeminal Neuralgia to the list. The decision applies only to adult patients. The Board of Physicians did not recommend making anxiety disorders and Menieres Disease eligible for medical marijuana. There will be another public hearing on the three additional conditions after the Department of Consumer Protection drafts regulations. Those regulations will then be reviewed by the Attorney General’s office and sent to the legislature’s Regulation Review Committee for approval. There are currently 22 qualifying conditions for adults and 6 for patients under 18.
TWIN RIVER STRIKE AVERTED
LINCOLN, R.I. (AP) – Food service workers at Rhode Island’s Twin River Casino have reached a tentative deal with management on a new contract that heads off a strike. The deal was announced on Friday morning just minutes after the strike began at 4 a.m. More than 300 members of Unite Here Local 26 who serve food and beverages at the Lincoln casino’s 19 restaurants were trying to head off health benefit changes and also wanted better pay. A casino spokeswoman said in a joint statement that “Twin River Management Group and Unite Here Local 26 … are pleased to announce a settlement agreement. Details of the tentative agreement were not immediately disclosed. Employees are expected to return to work. The casino said it expected to stay open if the strike continued
