If a bill passed Tuesday by the state House of Representatives becomes law, 170 inmates who are serving time for offenses committed as juveniles would be eligible for parole after serving 60 percent of their time.
The bill, which now goes to the Senate, responds to a trio of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions restricting state lawmakers from requiring mandatory life sentences without the chance of parole for juveniles.
“By no means is this an automatic release. It’s the opportunity for a second look at their sentence,” said Rep. Gerald M. Fox III, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
Washington –- Rep. Joe Courtney is in the middle of a partisan fight over how to spare college students from a dramatic hike in the interest rate of a popular student loan. Interest rates on Stafford loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for thousands of Connecticut college students unless Congress acts before July 1.
A federal jury in New Haven took less than three hours Tuesday to convict Robert Braddock Jr., a top campaign aide to former House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, on charges related to a conspiracy to bribe Donovan with illegal campaign contributions.
Former House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, asserted his innocence Tuesday in a surprise appearance outside federal court as jurors began deliberating whether a top campaign aide was guilty in the corruption case that derailed his 2012 congressional campaign.
A legislative task force has endorsed repeal of Connecticut’s car tax, but -- like another group before them – doesn’t recommend relief for most taxpayers to begin before 2018. The Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies Commission created by House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey also proposed a common statewide school calendar, new regional planning agencies, and an end to the requirement that communities publish public notices in local papers.
The state's largest teachers' union has filed a complaint against Bridgeport, the state's largest school district, claiming the superintendent is shutting out teachers and parents from important decisions. "The Board of Education of Bridgeport, through its superintent Paul Vallas, is not interested in following statutory mandates," says the Connecticut Education Association.
Testimony about the state Department of Social Services’ handling of Medicaid applications resembled something of a math problem Monday. At issue in the trial in U.S. District Court in Hartford is whether the department has enough employees to process Medicaid applications in time frames required by the federal government.
Does Scott Walker’s record as a conservative Republican governor of progressive Wisconsin make him a role model for GOP candidates in Connecticut? Walker thinks so. So does Jerry Labriola, the state GOP chairman who invited him to deliver a pep talk to a struggling party and headline its major annual fundraiser, the Prescott Bush Dinner.
The head of the legislature's Children's Committee, flanked by mental health experts and parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, unveiled a proposal aimed at improving the mental health system for young children.
Supporters call it a first step, a framework. It doesn't include any state spending, an advantage for its chances of passage in a tight budget year but a drawback to advocates who say the system needs more resources.
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Since 1949, there have been 67. The Mirror's interactive map provides historical detail to the violence and is regularly updated to reflect the most recent mass shootings.