MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL CRASH DRIVER ID
Authorities have identified the driver who they say intentionally crashed his car carrying containers of flammable liquid into Middlesex Hospital in Middletown and set himself on fire. Twenty-seven-year-old Steven Ellam, of Middletown, was listed in critical condition at Bridgeport Hospital. Court records show he has numerous convictions, including for assault, attempted assault and strangulation. He was sentenced in 2014 to 33 months in prison. Police at the time said he attempted to strangle a woman using plastic bags after telling her she had sinned and was going to die. Middletown Mayor Dan Drew says they don’t know his motivation for driving the car into the doors of the Middlesex Hospital emergency room at about 10 a.m. Thursday. Drew says there was one other injury in the incident, a security guard who was treated for smoke inhalation.
CASINO HEARING SCHEDULED
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut lawmakers will hold a public hearing after all on whether to allow a proposed competitive process for building Connecticut’s first casino on non-tribal land. The General Assembly’s Public Safety Committee voted 18-6 on Thursday in favor of holding the hearing in the coming weeks, despite objections from the committee’s Democratic and Republican Senate co-chairmen. The proposal originally did not appear on the panel’s agenda, but Democratic Rep. Jeffrey Berger of Waterbury pushed for the hearing. Bridgeport and New Haven lawmakers are advocating for a competitive process, despite the legislature throwing its support last year behind a proposed tribal casino in East Windsor. That project has since been delayed, pending federal approvals. MGM Resorts has advocated for the open process, saying it wants to build a casino complex in Bridgeport.
MORE CT FLU DEATHS
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut health officials say 20 more people including a second child have died from the flu in the state, bringing the total to 97 for the season.The Department of Public Health on Thursday released figures from the week that ended Feb. 17. Officials say this is the deadliest flu season since the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Dr. Raul Pino, the state’s public health commissioner, says about 1,950 people have been hospitalized with confirmed flu cases. He says it’s still not too late to get a flu shot. Seventy-eight of the people who died were over the age of 65. Two children died – 6-year-old Emma Splan, of Norwalk, last weekend and 10-year-old Nico Mallozzi, of New Canaan, on Jan. 14.
I-95 STUDY
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – A new Connecticut study says strategic widening and other improvements along portions of Interstate 95 can significantly reduce traffic congestion. State Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker calls the report released Thursday “a stunning set of findings.” He says an additional lane in each direction between the New York and Rhode Island borders was seen for years as the only way to relieve gridlock. He says the report suggests “much less costly investments far sooner than previously thought.” The report says adding one northbound lane from Bridgeport to Fairfield would reduce travel time from 63 minutes – with no improvements – to 41 minutes during weekday afternoon peak times. Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says the legislature now needs to financially shore up the state’s main transportation account.
GUN LAWS COALITION
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – The governors of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island are forming a coalition of like-minded states on gun control, hoping to make progress where they see the federal government has faltered. The four Democrats announced the formation of “States for Gun Safety” on Thursday, about a week after the mass shooting at a Florida high school. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says that shooting accelerated their idea to form the coalition, which has been in the works for about a year. They are creating a cross-state task force that will trace and intercept illegal guns, step up intelligence and information sharing among the participating states and create a regional gun violence research consortium. They’ll be urging others to join the coalition at this weekend’s National Governors Association meeting.
REQUEST IN SKAKEL CASE TURNED-DOWN
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – The Connecticut Supreme Court has rejected a request by state prosecutors to revoke Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s bail and send him back to prison while his murder case appeal remains pending. The court ruled late Wednesday but did not elaborate. Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, was convicted in 2002 in the bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley in their wealthy Greenwich neighborhood in 1975, when they were both teenagers. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, but another judge granted him a new trial in 2013, citing mistakes by his lawyer. The state Supreme Court reinstated the conviction in 2016, but has been considering Skakel’s request to reconsider for over a year. Skakel posted $1.2 million bail after the new trial was granted.
WILKOS CHARGED WITH DUI
DARIEN, Conn. (AP) – Television talk show host Steve Wilkos is facing a drunken driving charge in connection with a single-vehicle crash in Connecticut last month. Darien police say the 53-year-old Wilkos turned himself in Wednesday after learning there was a warrant out for his arrest. Police say Wilkos, a Darien resident, had a blood-alcohol content of .29 after the crash Jan. 21, more than three times the legal limit to drive. No other vehicles were involved and Wilkos was alone. He was treated at the hospital. He was freed on $1,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in court March 5 to face charges including operating under the influence. Wilkos in a statement said he “had a complete lapse in judgment which resulted in me drinking and getting behind the wheel of my car.”
POSSIBLE RED FLAG IN RI
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island police chiefs are calling on state legislators to approve a so-called “red flag” law that would prevent people from having guns if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. The Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association voted unanimously Tuesday in the wake of the Florida school shooting to ask the General Assembly to pass the law. The law would require people to surrender their firearms and prohibit them from buying new ones, if a judge determines they pose an imminent danger. A court hearing would have to be held within 21 days, and the order could be extended after that. The state already has a law that allows authorities to take away people’s guns in domestic violence cases. Five states currently have “red flag laws.”
