Washington

Biden says White House won’t quit on gun control

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy said there are efforts underway to modify the failed background check bill in order to sway some votes, although they admitted they have yet to win a convert.

Money from D.C. to build new Sandy Hook school a long shot

By Ana Radelat

Monday, June 17, 2013

Exterior of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown (Photo courtesy of The Newtown Bee)

Lieberman defends NSA phone, Internet data collection

By Ana Radelat

Monday, June 17, 2013

To Joseph Lieberman, the former independent Connecticut senator and former chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, outrage over the recent disclosures of secret government data gathering is overblown. The National Security Agency is simply collecting “metadata,” phone numbers and “connections between phone numbers.”

“I think people will feel better about these programs if they know more about them,” Lieberman said.

Former Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman

NTSB: Track trouble noticed before Metro-North derailment did $18 million in damage

By Ana Radelat and Neena Satija Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Washington – An inspection of the track before the May 17 derailment and collision of two Metro-North commuter trains uncovered a damaged joint bar that caused the track to move at the point of derailment, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed today.

Military wary of bills from Blumenthal, others, to combat sexual assaults

By Ana Radelat Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Washington –- The nation’s top military officers agreed that sexual assaults are a severe problem in the ranks, but they cautioned Congress Tuesday against too much meddling in military affairs.

"Sexual assault and harassment are like a cancer within the force — a cancer that left untreated will destroy the fabric of our force," said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno at a Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing.

Murphy starts Senate Polish caucus

By Ana Radelat Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Washington -- While he has a grand, old Irish surname, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Tuesday he actually has more “Polish blood.”

That’s why he founded the Senate Polish caucus with Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, just in time for the visit of Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to Washington.

“When people think ‘Murphy,’ they think Irish, but I actually have more Polish blood than Irish blood,” Murphy said in a statement.

Provoked by Newtown, Obama pushes for mental health reforms

By Ana Radelat Monday, June 3, 2013

Washington -– Having stumbled on gun control, President Barack Obama on Monday called for a national dialogue on mental illness -- a campaign touched off by last year’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

Speaking at the beginning of a day-long White House conference on the issue, Obama said the time has come to bring mental illness “out of the shadows.”

“I want to make sure people aren’t suffering,” he said.

Blame game begins in Metro-North crash

By Ana Radelat Friday, May 31, 2013

Washington –- The National Transportation Safety Board is months away from a final determination on what caused the Metro-North crash earlier this month that injured dozens of commuters, some of them severely.

The NTSB is focusing on a section of the track at the derailment site that had been held together by joint bars -- steel bars, also called fishplates, that are fastened with bolts to hold two sections of track together. An inspection by Metro-North employees of that section of track in April resulted in the replacement of a broken joint bar.

Malloy seeks public comment on Storm Sandy disaster relief plan

By Ana Radelat and Neena Satija Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Washington -– With the clock ticking toward a June 9 deadline, the Malloy administration on Wednesday unveiled its plan to spend $72 million in federal Storm Sandy recovery money and has asked for public comment.

The money involved is Connecticut’s allocation of $5.4 billion in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grants slated to go to Sandy-hit jurisdictions.

Reductions in food stamp eligibility, benefits, likely

By Ana Radelat Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Washington –- Dolores Yevich of Orange had no problem paying for food until her husband died in February.

Then the household income supplied by two Social Security checks shrunk to one Social Security check.

“I was desperate because I was destitute,” Yevich said.

Yevich, 70, applied for to the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, a federal program commonly known as food stamps.

Now she receives $174 a month in SNAP benefits to help stock her pantry.

Connecticut lags in use of Sandy relief

By Neena Satija Tuesday, May 28, 2013

As Connecticut’s shoreline continues to struggle after Superstorm Sandy pummeled it seven months ago, tens of millions of dollars in federal assistance the state is eligible for has not reached those who need it.

Some of the delay can be attributed to Congress, which took months to approve Sandy aid. Some is due to the routine bureaucracy of the federal government. But some of the lag is unique to Connecticut, which has not yet decided how it will spend any of the money it was awarded from a key part of the Sandy relief bill Congress passed in January.

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