The co-owner of a Waterbury tobacco shop has pleaded guilty for his role in an alleged campaign finance scheme to influence former House Speaker Chris Donovan.

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Tags: Paul Rogers, tobacco, smoke shop, roll-your-own, Chris Donovan, dh

When the next session of the General Assembly opens tomorrow there will be more Hispanic state legislators than at any other moment in Connecticut’s history, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said Tuesday.

Continue reading "Latinos Make Historic Gains In General Assembly" »

Tags: connecticut, Latinos, election, Art Linares, Andres Ayala, Hilda Santiago, Angel Arce, Victor Cuevas, Merrill, Blumenthal, Democrats, Republicans

Citing a “historically close” election which saw his defeat by 238 votes, Meriden Sen. Len Suzio wrote the secretary of the state Monday asking for a recount.

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Tags: suzio, bartolomeo, state senate, election 2012, merrill, recount

When amended vote returns were counted in Meriden and Cheshire Friday, the 13th senatorial district race was no longer close enough to force a recount, leaving Democrat Dante Bartolomeo the winner in a tight race over Meriden Republican Len Suzio.

Continue reading "Update: No Recount In 13th Senate District" »

As Sen. Len Suzio was holding his second press conference in opposition to an inmate early release program, the Malloy administration was blasting him as a hypocrite for advocating the early release of a white collar criminal who’d served only 10 percent of his sentence.

Continue reading "Senator Is Ok With Release Of White Collar Criminals" »

Tags: Len Suzio, Michael Lawlor, Frankie Resto, Meriden

A recent Meriden murder has Republican lawmakers again sounding the alarm over a state policy giving prison inmates the opportunity for an early parole hearing. However, the Malloy administration maintains the law did not result in an early prison release for the man accused of the crime.

Continue reading "Republicans Say Risk Reduction Credits Are Too Risky" »

Tags: Lawrence Cafero, Michael Lawlor, recidivism, prison, risk reduction, Andrew Roraback, Len Suzio

MERIDEN — Standing outside his campaign headquarters Sunday as rain clouds threatened, it became immediately clear to reporters that there wasn’t much Chris Donovan was going to say about the federal investigation that led to the arrest of his campaign finance director.

What Donovan did say is that he plans to stay in the 5th Congressional District race.

Continue reading "Donovan Still In, Says He Regrets Hiring Former Staff Entangled by Federal Probe" »

Tags: donovan, 5th congressional district, connecticut, FBI, investigation, braddock, Meriden, Democrat, gabe rosenberg, Tom Swan, dh

Amy Farrior, a first-grade teacher in Marlborough, was excited at first when she heard Gov. Dannel P. Malloy calling 2012 the year for education reform.  But then she heard the governor’s remarks on tenure, and how he suggests teachers can earn it. “Basically the only thing you have to do is show up,” he said.

Farrior says she was shocked.

Continue reading "A View of Malloy’s Education Proposal From The Classroom" »

Tags: education, tenure, certification, teacher, license, classroom, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Stefan Pryor

A day after unveiling his sweeping $128 million education reform proposal, including controversial changes to teacher tenure, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy toured Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Meriden.

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Tags: education, tenure, Meriden, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, union, AFT, CEA

Embracing the old proverb that it takes a village to raise a child the U.S. Department of Education awarded Meriden Children First a $460,000 planning grant to develop a community approach to educating neighborhood blocks of children.

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Tags: Meriden, early childhood education, grant, Meriden Children First, U.S. Department of Education, Family Zone