JOSE TO BRUSH US
A tropical storm warning has been issued for a stretch of New England as Hurricane Jose approaches the coast of the U.S. Northeast. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the warning was in effect for an area stretching from Watch Hill, Rhode Island, to Hull, Massachusetts. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for New London and Middlesex Counties in Connecticut. The storm is expected to remain offshore, although coastal flooding is possible from Delaware to southern New England over the next few days. The center says little change in strength is expected in the next 24 hours, although the storm will slowly weaken afterward. Maximum sustained winds Monday are near 75 mph with higher gusts. Jose is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 3 to 5 inches over eastern Long Island, southeast Connecticut, southern Rhode Island, and southeast Massachusetts, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, through Wednesday.
MALLOY: WILL COMPROMISE ON BUDGET, BUT WILL ALSO VETO
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says he’s willing to compromise with Republicans on a bipartisan budget plan, but will veto the GOP-backed budget that passed the legislature over the weekend. Malloy, a Democrat, told reporters Monday that he is willing to accept a budget that includes Republican ideas he does not like, but that Republicans must be willing to adopt some ideas they don’t like. Malloy says his office is currently vetting the details of the Republican budget, but criticized it for underfunding pension obligations, cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from higher education and not providing enough aid to municipalities such as Hartford. Malloy says any budget must provide structural fiscal reforms; prioritize helping those in need and should not be driven by additional taxes and other revenues.
MGM PLANS BRIDGEPORT CASINO
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) – MGM Resorts International has announced plans for a $675 million waterfront casino in Connecticut’s largest city. MGM and development company RCI Group revealed the MGM Bridgeport proposal on Monday. They said the casino would be privately funded, add more than 7,000 jobs to the Bridgeport area and result in $50 million in licensing fees for the state this fiscal year. The casino would include 2,000 slot machines, 160 table games and a 300-room hotel. The move comes as MGM is building a nearly $1 billion casino in Springfield, Massachusetts, that faces competition from a casino planned less than 20 miles away in northern Connecticut by the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes. The two tribes on Monday said the Bridgeport casino would violate their existing casino compact with the state.
COUSIN SLAIN
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) – Court documents show a man accused of fatally shooting his cousin in Connecticut told police the victim was spreading HIV through their Native American tribe. James Armstrong was arraigned Monday in New London on a murder charge in the April death of 31-year-old Ralph Sebastian Sidberry. Court officials lowered bail, citing possible mental health issues. Both the victim and suspect are members of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation. An affidavit says Armstrong told police Sidberry had been spreading HIV through the tribe. Tests showed Sidberry had neither HIV nor AIDS. The affidavit says a witness said Armstrong had been “decompensating mentally” over the past three years. Armstrong’s attorney says a slug recovered by forensics might not match the gun seized by investigators at the scene.
MURDERER SENTENCINGS
The first of two sentencings has taken place in the 2006 murder of an Eastern Pequot tribal member. 33-year old Christopher Vincenti will serve 20 years in prison in the death of 40-year old Anthony Hamlin. The other murderer, Timothy Johnson is to be sentenced Tuesday. The two admit to bludgeoning to death Hamlin and stripping him naked in a Ledyard field so they could take his money to buy drugs. Numerous members of Hamlin’s family attended the sentencing, expressing their grief at the loss of their family member. Many said the two murderers should be executed.
PUTNAM DISPATCHER SAYS IT WAS TOO WET
An arrest affidavit says a Putnam police department dispatcher says she’s didn’t send officers to an alleged violation of a restraining order involving her son partly because it was raining. 55-year old Ruth Bragg is accused of interfering with police and hindering prosecution. Police say she neglected to report the complaint filed against her son on July 20th. The affidavit quotes Bragg as saying there was no immediate danger at the time. She’s out on 5-thousand dollars bond, and is due back in court October 31st.
