MEDDLING ALLEGED
The Mashantucket Pequots and the State of Connecticut allege that interference by Nevada lawmakers and the White House “tainted the administrative process” that led the U.S. Department of the Interior to withhold approval of the tribe’s amended gaming agreement with the state. That amendment is needed for the Pequots and Mohegan tribe to open a joint casino in East Windsor. In the filing Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the state and the Mashantuckets claim Interior officials were preparing to approve gaming agreements when “the (Interior) Department buckled under undue political pressure from two Nevada Republicans.” The filing says MGM Resorts International, the Las Vegas, Nevada.-based casino operator seeking to block the East Windsor project, is a major campaign contributor to Senator Dean Heller and Representative Mark Amodei of Nevada. The state and the Mashantuckets contend the tribes’ gaming agreements “function identically in the real world” and that Interior is violating federal law by treating them differently.
LEAF PICKUP KILLED
After more than ten years, the Stonington Public Works Department will no longer pick up leaves raked to the edge of the properties of homeowners this fall. The Board of Finance decided not to purchase a new leaf vacuum in the 2018-19 budget. The public works department then cut funding for the entire leaf program. Residents will now be responsible to take their leaves to the transfer station leaf compost area themselves, hire someone to do it for them or find another means of disposing of them. First Selectman Rob Simmons said he has not received any phone calls complaining about the leaf pickup program ending.
PATTEN CASE CONTINUED
Montville High School Assistant Principal Tatiana Patten has been granted a continuance of her court case involving allegations she failed to report suspected abuse after learning of slapboxing bouts taking place in a substitute teacher’s classroom in the fall of 2017. Her new appearance date in Superior Court in Norwich is Oct. 29th. Patten is on paid leave from the school district while her court case is pending. A third administrator charged, Superintendent Brian Levesque, is due back in court on Oct. 23rd. He also remains on paid leave from the school district. The state decided not to prosecute high school principal Jeffrey Theodoss since he decided to retire over the summer.
MLK SCHOLARS HONORED
Britney Toussaint is the only black girl in several of her classes at Fitch High School. Her hopes are to see young black men and women alongside young white men and women in all higher-level classes. She is one of 12 recipients this year of the $20,000 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the scholarship trust fund. A theme among the speeches at a celebration last night was experiencing discrimination or witnessing it directed toward a parent.
