SEASIDE SALE PROPOSED
A bill that would force the state to sell the site of the former Seaside Regional Center in Waterford is before a joint General Assembly committee. If approved, it would reverse Gov. Malloy’s vision of the property as a state park and could prove a tempting way for legislators to alleviate the state’s fiscal shortfall. East Lyme State Sen. Paul Formica asked the state to hold public hearings because he said the state can’t afford to own a privately run resort, or maintain another state park.
HARRASSEMENT SETTLEMENT DETAILS UNVEILED
A $35,000 settlement paid by Norwich Public Utilities was in connection with a sexual harassment complaint filed by a female NPU employee against then-utilities commission Chairman James Sullivan. Her complaint said that Sullivan made a sexually explicit comment to her then allegedly told her he was unhappy in his marriage and then made a sexually explicit suggestion to her. She said she panicked, left the table and then returned and said she was leaving. She said Sullivan told her to stay if she didn’t want to lose her job. She said Sullivan had been drinking heavily that evening. Sullivan resigned less than a month after the complaint was filed.
TOBACCO LAWSUIT AWARD UPHELD
The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up an appeal by cigarette-maker R.J. Reynolds of former Norwich resident Barbara Izzarelli’s $28 million jury award for smoking-related cancer. Izzarelli, then of Norwich, sued the cigarette maker in 1999 after having her larynx removed at age 36 due to cancer. She had started smoking Salem Kings menthol cigarettes at age 13, during a time when her attorney says the company reduced the amount of nicotine in the cigarettes in order to induce addicted people to smoke more. Izzarelli is now 57 and lives in Florida and speaks through a voice box.
CONN COLLEGE STUDENTS WALK OUT EARLY
With a National Walkout Day planned for March 14th falling during spring break at Connecticut College in New London, ten students organized a walkout Thursday, inspiring hundreds to rally at Tempel Green. The students demonstrated solidarity with victims, families and students who recently returned to school at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Students were united in anger and resolve. They called out politicians, including President Trump, for inaction. They hammered conspiracy theories that school shooting survivors were crisis actors and they fought the notion that gun violence, especially in schools, should ever be considered normal.
STUDENT LYNCHING THREATENED
A Fitch High School student is speaking out after she said a classmate threatened to lynch her. The 17-year-old junior said she was hesitant about pressing charges because of her concern it would hamper the boys efforts to get into college but her family members wanted to press charges. Groton police declined to comment on the incident, because it involved juveniles and is under investigation.
