Looney Proposes a Tax Package to Fund Poorer Communities

A new proposal before the legislature would use taxes on high-value properties and capital gains to funnel more money to distressed municipalities.  State Sen. Pro Tem Martin Looney, D- New Haven, wants to fund the Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, program through revenue from a 0.1 percent tax on commercial properties and residential properties with an assessed value of more than $300,000.  Under the PILOT program, municipalities receive back a percentage of taxes that would have been paid for properties that are tax-exempt, such as hospitals, colleges and properties owned by the state.  The program, however, has long

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Police Commission Votes on Personnel Query

OLD SAYBROOK — The town’s Police Commission voted 6 to 1 on Monday night to ask Chief of Police Michael Spera to compile a public report on the number of officers who have left the police department in the past 11 years.  The request was in response to a Jan. 12 letter from the Old Saybrook Board of Selectmen requesting that Spera produce a document providing the sworn personnel who have left the department, the length of time they remained and the reasons they provided for leaving. The selectmen asked that the document include officers’ exit interviews and any other

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Banking and Business Ties Key to Federal Aid Process For Minority-Owned Businesses

Despite the federal government’s efforts to give minority and women-owned businesses priority in the latest round of PPP funding, small businesses without established ties to banks are still being left out of the aid program.  The U.S. Small Business Association, the government agency responsible for distributing PPP loans, opened a third round of PPP funding in January that brought between $3 and $3.5 million to Connecticut. After receiving backlash for not reaching many businesses that arguably needed funding the most, the agency decided to adjust the loan application system to assist women-owned, minority-owned and veteran-owned businesses, as well as those

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Marlborough State Rep. Proposes “Biz in a Box”

State Rep. Robin Green, R-Marlborough, wants to create a one-stop shop for first-time entrepreneurs who are looking to start their own business. Her bill, which she calls “Biz in a Box,” would connect potential small business owners with a mentor who can guide them through all the financial necessities and bureaucratic requirements that come with opening anything from a massage studio to a daycare center.  Green said that the idea came from her own experience starting a business. Twenty years ago, she said, she founded Discovery Zone Learning Center, a daycare center with three locations in Hartford County.    “When you

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Religious Exemption Sparks Debate Over Process on the Public Health Committee

The legislature’s Public Health Committee today received a petition with 10,000 signatures asking that legislators postpone consideration of a bill that would remove the religious exemption for children’s immunizations until they are able to hold a public hearing in person.  In an email to State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, that was shared with Connecticut Examiner, Katherine Kraemer, a signatory of the petition, said that having a virtual hearing on this bill “produces many challenges that impede a public’s right of full engagement in a fair legislative process.”  Those concerns include poor internet connections, access for people who didn’t know how

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Lamont Announces Phases for COVID Vaccinations

Gov. Ned Lamont announced today that phase 1B, which encompasses over 1.3 million Connecticut residents, would be broken down into a series of tiers that prioritizes the people who are at the highest risk of dying from the virus.  According to the timeline presented today at the governor’s press conference, individuals 75 and older continue to be first in line. The governor said he was expecting this group to have received their first doses within the next two weeks.   Lamont said that people over the age of 75 comprise eight percent of the population, but account for 71 percent of

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Letter and Closed-door Discussion Spark Call for Closer Look at Police Claims

OLD SAYBROOK — The town’s police commission has decided not to take action on a complaint from a former sergeant in the Old Saybrook Police Department who requested in a letter that the commission investigate what he called a “toxic and hostile work environment.”  The commission voted 5-2 to not take action on the complaint, with commissioners Renee Shippee and Alfred Wilcox providing the dissenting votes. Officer William Bergantino, who authored the letter, began working at the Old Saybrook Police Department in 1997, and remained there for 23 years. In 2019, Bergantino moved to another department, taking a reduction in

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After Fast Start, Connecticut Broadens Vaccinations with Uncertain Distribution

As phase 1B of the vaccine rollout is set to begin today, regional health officials have been voicing frustrations over the last week at the uncertainty surrounding the number of vaccines that they will receive on a weekly basis, a problem which they hope will stabilize as the state administers the vaccine to a much broader population. This phase includes 1.367 million people, according to a presentation given by Benjamin Bechtolsheim, the current director of the COVID-19 vaccination program, to the Governor’s Vaccine Advisory Group on Thursday. Included in Phase 1B are frontline essential workers, all individuals 64 and over,

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Opioid Bill Pairs Doctors and Recovering Addicts in Push Statewide

State Rep. Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford, introduced a bill in the state legislature to expand the use of peer “recovery navigators” — individuals who have recovered from opioid addiction and now assist others in the community still using the drug — as a method to address opioid addiction in towns across Connecticut. The legislation is based on the New London CARES program which was started in 2016 and which brings together medical doctors who specialize in addiction and navigators who know the community. The result is a comprehensive approach to opioid addiction, which McCarty hopes can help prevent overdoses.  “I’d be

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Practice for High School Winter Sports to Resume January 19

The Connecticut Inter Athletic Conference has approved the beginning of practices on Jan. 19, and games on Feb. 8, for high school winter sports, according to a report released today. Sports that are classified as “high risk” — competitive cheerleading, dance and wrestling — will not hold competitions. They will be limited to small group conditioning and non-contact skill building.  “Moderate-risk sports” — basketball, ice hockey, and gymnastics — will be allowed to compete, but athletes must wear face masks at all times, including in competition. Basketball and ice hockey will have mask breaks built into competitions. Swimming, which is

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As Applications for College Aid Drop 9.4 Percent, Connecticut Solicits Local Initiatives

For high school seniors dealing with the fallout of a pandemic, college financial aid applications sometimes end up on the backburner. “Getting into that whole college mindset is a little bit difficult this year,” said Laura Sangster, a counselor at New London Multi-Magnet High School. “A lot of students, their reality changed with COVID.”  It’s not just New London, and it’s not just Connecticut. National data shows that the number of completed FAFSAs, or Federal Applications for Free Student Aid, are down 11.4 percent as of January 1 in comparison to January of the previous year. As of the first

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Police Commission Approves Budget, After Discussing Contracts and New Initiatives

OLD SAYBROOK — The Old Saybrook Police Commission voted 5-2 to approve a budget of $5,333,360 for the town’s police department on Monday night — an increase of $95,088 over last year. The draft budget will next be sent to the town’s board of selectmen for a final vote. The budget includes a 2.25 percent raise in salaries, an increase in workman’s compensation and an increase in retirement benefits for officers as negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement with the police union. Dispatchers will also receive a two percent salary increase.  Other increases in the budget came from unfunded mandates

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Conley Reintroduces Bill Increasing Access to Specialists for Medicaid Patients

State Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, is reintroducing a bill in the state legislature to make it easier for New London County residents with Medicaid to access medical specialists.  The bill is meant to fill in a gap that exists, said Conley, for individuals who need “a little more care than primary care, but not emergency care.”  She said the bill targeted at, as an example, a person with mild high blood pressure, or a diabetic, or someone needing follow-up care after a surgery more specialized than they can receive at a Community Health Center. And not all private practices or

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ECSU Video Series Proves a Lifeline for Educators During the Pandemic

With nearly 900,000 views over the last year, an online video series from Eastern Connecticut State University’s Center for Early Childhood Education has become a lifeline for instructors in the field whose students no longer have the opportunity to practice teaching skills in a classroom.  “I and so many others would not have been successful in a remote learning environment without these videos,” wrote Carol LaLiberte, the early childhood education coordinator at Asnuntuck Community College, in an email to the center’s director, Julia DeLapp.  “I used them before the pandemic but they were literally the difference between not being able to

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Looney Would Shift Sports Betting, Marijuana, Capital Gains Taxes to Distressed Communities

State reimbursements for tax-exempt properties have steadily declined over the past five years, leaving already distressed municipalities even more strapped for cash.   The PILOT, or Payment in Lieu of Taxes, program, pays municipalities a percentage of what they would receive for a property if that property were not either state-owned or being used for a tax-exempt purpose, such as a hospital or a community college. The current PILOT program is authorized to reimburse 100 percent of lost property taxes for any towns where more than 50 percent of the town is state-owned property, and at 45 percent for all other

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Republican Legislators See Role in Distribution of Federal COVID Funds

As the state legislature reconvenes amid a continuing pandemic, Connecticut Republican legislators are raising questions over who should be responsible for the allocation of any additional Coronavirus relief funds that may come down from the federal government.  According to State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, some legislators are considering a bill that would place a certain amount of existing and future Coronavirus federal relief money under the control of the state legislature.  State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, said that no matter where the funding ends up being spent, the critical point was that the legislature should be able to have

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Connecticut Health Policy Project Director Weighs in on Needed Reforms

Ellen Andrews has served on over a dozen health policy committees in Connecticut. If it were up to her, they would all be eliminated.  “The best thing Connecticut could do is do away with all its committees and boards and task forces,” said Andrews.  Andrews has been the director of the non-profit Connecticut Health Policy Project, which publishes research and briefs about Connecticut healthcare policy, since it was founded in 1999. She also serves on the state Medical Assistance Program Oversight Council, which advises on Connecticut’s Medicare Program, and the Health Care Cabinet for the state Office of Health Strategy,

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Lyme-Old Lyme Board Approves Turf Field, By a 6 to 3 Vote

OLD LYME — The Lyme-Old Lyme Board of Education voted on Wednesday to approve the installation of an artificial turf field, with one modification: swapping the controversial crumb rubber infill for what was described as a more environmentally friendly substance.  Diane Linderman, chair of the Board of Education, said that the Facilities Committee had met in December and changed the plan for crumb rubber infill to a product called Brockfill, which are small organic pellets engineered from southern pine.  Neviaser said he hoped that the change would address some of the concerns that people had raised at previous Board of

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How I Started Out in a Pandemic

I took my first reporting job in the middle of a global pandemic. I’m sure that this will define how I approach reporting for the rest of my life.  Coming onboard at the Examiner, I had the rare opportunity to write about an incredible variety of topics – housing, law enforcement, education, taxes, domestic violence, energy, politics, business and, of course, public health.  Essentially, what I got was a birds-eye view of the state of Connecticut. From that vantage point, it became easy to see how everything – especially this year – is interconnected.  Physics tells us that any object

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Groton Launches Database to Aid Police Interactions with People with Autism and Disabilities

GROTON — The Groton Police Department is launching a new database to aid officers interacting with individuals with autism and disabilities. The Citizens At Risk Database, or CARD system, stores information about individuals who are on the autism spectrum or have handicaps or other disabilities. The system is voluntary – the individuals or their guardians fill out a form listing home address, physical characteristics and emergency contact information.  For people on the autism spectrum, the form includes spaces where people can list an individual’s likes and dislikes, atypical behaviors, things that calm them, and whether they have other risk factors,

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Contrasting Solutions as Pandemic Adds Urgency to High Insurance Costs in Connecticut

Democratic and Republican state legislators are offering very different proposals on how to deal with one of the more pressing issues facing the legislature in January: the rising cost of health insurance.  Their proposals are not new. The cost of health insurance was a topic of debate long before the pandemic hit, but lawmakers from both parties agree that the pandemic has added urgency, and pushed government solutions to the forefront of what some until recently have treated as largely a personal problem. “If your neighbor doesn’t have health insurance, that affects you,” said State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, who

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Groups Press Lamont to Allow Medical Assistants to Administer Vaccinations

The Hartford and Fairfield County Medical Associations are asking Gov. Ned Lamont to draft an executive order that would allow medical assistants to administer vaccinations.  In the letter from the Fairfield County Medical Association, the association’s president, Craig Olin, said that allowing medical assistants to administer vaccinations would help address the anticipated demand for the COVID vaccine.  “We anticipate that medical practices in Fairfield County and across the state will be deluged with requests for the vaccine,” read the letter.   Mark Thompson, executive director of the Hartford and Fairfield County Medical Associations, echoed this, saying that having medical assistants perform

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Small Gyms and Large Chains Make a Case as Healthy Outlets During the Pandemic

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As the public debates the role that gyms may play in the spread of COVID-19, small local fitness centers are saying that their businesses are fundamentally different than large chains, as large chains assure the safety of their members. “Not all gyms are created equal,” said Sharon Marr, manager at UP Fitness, a privately-owned gym in Stonington.  At the start of the pandemic, Marr said, UP Fitness had to completely change its business model. They relocated to a much smaller facility and reduced their services to private classes of 10-15 people and one-on-one personal training. During the summer, they held

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Advocates on Domestic Violence Plan for Life after COVID

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The Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence is proposing legislation that would allow victims of domestic violence to apply for a restraining order online even after the current state of emergency to limit the spread of COVID-19 is lifted. Liza Andrews, director of public policy and communications at the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said that the organization plans to present the legislation to the Judiciary Committee in January. Advocates for victims of domestic violence say that the ability to file restraining orders online during the pandemic has been a great help to their clients.  Karen Foley O’Connor, executive director at

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Tourism Grants Announced for Eastern Connecticut

The Eastern Regional Tourism District announced last week that it would distribute a total of $152,267 in grant money to nine partnerships that are developing marketing campaigns to promote local tourism.  The selected campaigns include the Airline Trail, the Thames River Heritage Park, the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce, and efforts to promote tourism through partnerships in Voluntown, Windham, New London, Norwich and Old Lyme.  Two other organizations, Olde Mistick Village and the Last Green Valley, each received $25,000 in October, increasing the total amount of grant money distributed to $202,267. To fund the grants, the district set aside $180,000

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Faculty, Board of Regents Stake Out Vast Differences on Collective Bargaining Agreement

The Board of Regents has proposed changes that, according union officials representing the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities faculty, would increase course loads, curtail academic freedom and limit faculty participation in the operations of the colleges.  “I was pretty disappointed that the Board of Regents is taking such a harsh approach, given that we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” said Patricia O’Neill, president of the Connecticut State University chapter of the American Association of University Professors.  O’Neill said that many union members were angry about the board’s proposals.  “We felt it was important to stand up and make a

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Clinton Chamber Raises Money for Small Businesses

CLINTON — The Clinton Chamber of Commerce is offering $200 grants to local small businesses that are struggling to pay their monthly bills.  Paul Orsini, executive director of the Chamber, said that the board decided to start fundraising for a grant program back in October, when they realized they were going to have to cancel all of their major events due to the COVID. He said that while $200 doesn’t seem like much, he knows from experience that it can mean a lot to a small business owner who is just starting out.   Through the support of some anonymous donors,

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Officers Say Toxic Environment Drives Departures from Old Saybrook Police

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OLD SAYBROOK — Since 2009, staff and officer turnover at the Old Saybrook Police Department has far outstripped other departments in the region — a fact that former officers attribute to a toxic work environment within the department.  Although the Old Saybrook Police Department has not provided CT Examiner with employment data requested in a Nov. 12 Freedom of Information request, a number of former officers, as well as past and present members of the town’s police commission, provided documents and spoke on the record to explain and confirm the unusual employment data. A document compiled by a former officer

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New Britain Announces Loan Program for First-time Homebuyers

NEW BRITAIN — The City of New Britain is accepting applications for a program that grants loans to individuals and families who earn under a threshold income and want to purchase a home. The funding, which comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, acts as a second mortgage for people who already have taken out loans under Fannie Mae, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the Federal Housing Authority and other programs.  New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart said that in light of the housing boom in Connecticut, she felt it was time to revive the program, which had

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Private Medical Practices Shutter as COVID Compounds Business Pressure in Connecticut

Running a private medical practice in Connecticut has likely never been easy, but now there are signs that pandemic pressures may have hastened some practices to shutter.  Mark Thompson, the executive director of Fairfield and Hartford County Medical Associations, said that since the pandemic began, his association has fielded a higher number of calls from physicians asking for names of consultants to evaluate and negotiate the sales of their practices. According to Thompson, most cited the pandemic as the last straw. The doctors were unable to sustain themselves financially, and, in some cases, weren’t even able to obtain the necessary

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