Published January 13. 2021 6:08PM | Updated January 13. 2021 7:42PM
Mark Pazniokas, The Connecticut Mirror
The mob attack on the U.S. Capitol last week and concerns about potential unrest next week prompted Connecticut House leaders Wednesday to abruptly move up to Thursday a session necessary to act on expiring judicial appointments.
The move is prompted by “an abundance of caution” and not specific threats of disruption next week in Hartford, the House leaders said. The state lawmakers had been expected to meet next Wednesday, Jan. 20, the same day as the inauguration of Joe Biden in Washington.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, and House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, agreed to suspend the rules concerning advance notice and act quickly on the nominations of 13 jurists.
Published January 13. 2021 4:13PM | Updated January 13. 2021 7:38PM
KEITH M. PHANEUF, The Connecticut Mirror
Gov. Ned Lamont has to close a whopping $4.3 billion deficit in the next two-year state budget, but he won’t make cities and towns bear the brunt of that fiscal pain.
Lamont told the Connecticut Council of Small Towns at its annual meeting Wednesday morning that he wouldn’t propose cuts to municipal aid, which totals nearly $3 billion per year. COST represents 110 towns with populations of 30,000 or less.
The governor, who was the keynote speaker at COST’s annual town meeting held virtually this year also said he won’t attempt to bill municipalities for a share of Connecticut’s massive teacher pension fund debt.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, has joined local legislators to present a bill to the state legislature seeking answers to lingering questions she says
It was heartening to see a statement from Sen. Heather Somers on Wednesday afternoon describing the attack on the U.S. Capitol as an unacceptable act of treason and declaring succinctly: Donald Trump lost the election.
But like U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, who tweeted chagrin about a Wednesday Connecticut GOP tweet condemning the violence too little, too late, Himes said I couldn t help but think the same about Somers proclamation.
Himes noted in his tweet that he was removing his gas mask and brushing broken glass off his clothes as Connecticut Republicans issued a pretty mild rebuke of the Trump-inspired violence that disrupted the certification of Joe Biden s election win.