CITY MONEY SOUGHT FOR REID AND HUGHES
Norwich aldermen will consider Monday night whether the city should kick-in 150-thousand dollars so the crumbling Reid and Hughes building can be stabilized. The move comes after the property’s preferred developer failed to obtain the money through the city’s downtown revitalization program. The Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development says the funding is the last piece needed to get stabilization done, so they can then pursue money for an estimated 6-million dollar renovation of the building into retail space and apartments. Monday’s city council resolution requires the city funding be used last after all other money for stabilization is spent. The council meeting is at 7:30 PM at Norwich City Hall.
SCHOOL BOARD PASSES BUDGET
Some minor spending cuts are made before the Norwich Board of Education tonight approves an 83-million dollar budget for the upcoming fiscal year. It raises school spending by 9-percent, which school officials admit is a tough pill to swallow. Business Administrator Athena Nagel says it didn’t have to be this way, had the city given the schools a little more each year. Board members agree to a modest 12-thousand dollars in savings by cutting money for school supplies, and advertising, before approving the budget, which now goes to the city manager, and finally the city council. The board is suggesting it may take the city to court, if the schools don’t receive the needed funding.
SUSPENSIONS LIFTED AT TECH
Six Norwich Tech students will not be suspended after all for leaving campus Wednesday during the National School Walkout Day. A spokesman for the state technical high schools says the suspensions are being lifted, after some 50 students staged a silent sit-in this morning in front of the school administrative offices. Spokesman Peter Yazbak says students were told they would be suspended if they left campus, rather than attend an in-school demonstration marking the National Walkout. The suspensions prompted a barrage of social media posts yesterday protesting the disciplinary action. High school students across the country Wednesday staged walkouts in response to the February school shooting in Florida.
CASINO HEARING
A proposal to open up a competitive bidding process for a third casino in Connecticut is facing continued opposition from local lawmakers. Approval of the bill would lead to the existing license allowing Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun to jointly operate a new casino in East Windsor being rescinded. East Lyme Senator Paul Formica says doing so would badly damage the state’s relationship with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes. Sprague Senator Cathy Osten says the legislation would be a stab in the back to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. State Attorney General George Jepsen says the bill does not violate the state’s gaming compacts with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes. The measure is receiving strong support from officials from MGM Resorts International. They’re hoping to build a casino in Bridgeport. Formica and Osten spoke during a public safety and security committee hearing in Hartford today.
CASINO NUMBERS
Revenue numbers are down at one local tribal casino, up at the other. Foxwoods Resort Casino says it collected more than 37-million dollars in February, an 8-point-3 percent increase compared to February of last year. Mohegan Sun reports more than 46-million dollars in revenue for the same time period, that’s a decrease of just over 1 -percent compared to February 2017. The state received more than 21-million dollars from the casinos under the slots agreement.
ARMING TEACHERS NOT SUPPORTED
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal are voicing concern about President Donald Trump’s push to arm teachers, despite a state law that generally makes it illegal to possess a firearm on the grounds of a elementary or secondary school. The two Democrats said Thursday they worry the president may try to pre-empt such state laws in order to arm teachers. Blumenthal says it’s possible that Trump might issue an executive order or push for a federal law that would override Connecticut gun-free zone law. He predicted any such move would likely be challenged in court. Representatives from associations of school boards, administrators and superintendents joined Malloy and Blumenthal in announcing opposition to arming teachers, a proposal Trump has advocated since the recent Florida school shooting.
POT HEARING
HOW WOULD CONNECTICUT GO ABOUT REGULATING MARIJUANA FOR RECREATIONAL USE???. ONE OF THE TOPICS THAT WAS UP FOR A PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE STATE LEGISLATURE’S GENERAL LAW COMMITTEE TODAY. SAM TRACY, WITH THE GROUP “REGULATE CONNECTICUT” INSISTS LEGALIZING AND REGULATING RECREATIONAL POT WOULD MAKE IT SAFER. BUT NORTH BRANFORD REPRESENTATIVE VINCENT CANDELORA WORRIES ABOUT THE EFFECTS ON PUBLIC SAFETY. CANDELORA SAYS CONNECTICUT SHOULD NOT FOLLOW MASSACHUSETT’S LEAD IN LEGALIZING RECREATIONAL POT USE.
MORE CT FLU DEATHS
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – State health officials are reporting seven more flu-related deaths in Connecticut over the past week. That would bring to 119 the total number of deaths attributed to the flu in the state since August 2017. More than 2,400 patients had been hospitalized during that same period with confirmed cases of flu. The state Department of Public Health had previously reported that about 85 percent of the deaths were among people who were 65 or older. At least three children have died.
Officials say flu activity appears to have peaked in Connecticut thought it remains “widespread.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported a decrease in flu activity nationwide in its most recent weekly report.
EX-ESPN CHIEF CLAIMS HE WAS EXTORTION VICTIM
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The former president of Bristol, Connecticut-based ESPN says he resigned from the sports network after an extortion plot by his cocaine dealer. John Skipper told the Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, “they threatened me.” Skipper says he understood the threat put himself, his family and his professional life at risk. He says he discussed the situation with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger on Dec. 15, 2017, and they agreed Skipper “had placed the company in an untenable position.” He resigned on Dec. 18 after leading ESPN since 2012, citing “a substance addiction.” Skipper says he used drugs recreationally and that it never impacted his work at ESPN. He says he has undergone treatment for his substance use and hopes to re-enter sports media as a consultant.
CIANCI ON STAGE
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The story of the notorious late Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci is coming to the stage. Trinity Repertory Company in Providence has commissioned playwright George Brant to write the stage version of “The Prince of Providence,” the book detailing Cianci’s two decades at the city’s helm. Mike Stanton, who wrote the book, says Cianci had a larger-than-life persona, and he’s a natural for the stage. Cianci was forced from office twice due to felonies. In 2002, he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in federal prison. He died in 2016. It’s not the first time Cianci’s life has been adapted to the stage. “Buddy Cianci: The Musical,” played at the New York Fringe Festival in 2003.
