Tag: connecticut

U.S. lawmakers propose legislation to allow citizens to sue ICE. A CT senator is leading the way

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations are spreading across the nation, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is proposing legislation to allow people to sue ICE agents for violating their civil and constitutional rights.

The proposal comes amid the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis and widespread protests against ICE operations under President Donald Trump’s administration. Under Blumenthal’s proposal, the legislation would allow cases to be heard in civil court.

Under current law, federal law enforcement officers have qualified immunity from civil cases, shielding them from lawsuits. But federal law enforcement are not shielded from prosecution for committing crimes, he said.

The Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act, co-introduced by Blumenthal and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) in December, would authorize states to bring civil actions against federal agencies whose violations of the law pose an imminent and substantial risk to public safety or constitutional rights. Blumenthal said he introduced the legislation before the controversial killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis.

“Individual victims of excessive force should have recourse also. They do against local and state law enforcement, but not against federal officers,” Blumenthal said at a press conference on Friday. “I’m introducing legislation that will give everyday Americans recourse. A remedy in court when their rights our violated. In amends the 1983 statute to provide rights in court for people when they are abused by violation of the law by federal officers. Just like they can sue local and state officers when they are abused.”

The Connecticut Democrat called the legislation “overdue” and said that there is precedent in a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case. In Webster Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the court held that some lawsuits against federal officers can be warranted. Since the case 50 years ago, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have narrowed that ruling, leaving many victims of federal misconduct without meaningful recourse.

“It has been narrowed and cut back by successive Supreme Court decisions. We need to make it real and provide recourse and remedies so that rights can be vindicated. When people are shot or dragged out of cars and injured or denied a lawyer when they are retained often result in trauma and injury. These violations must be addressed,” Blumenthal said.

The Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).

Blumenthal said that some Republicans may also support the legislation.

Keep reading

‘No one is above the law.’ Former New Haven police chief admitted to stealing at least $10,000, city officials say

The city of New Haven is freezing a police bank account used to fund its confidential informant program after former police chief Karl Jacobson admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from it.

City officials shared new details about the investigation Wednesday.

The scandal began on Monday, when a group of assistant chiefs questioned Jacobson about discrepancies in withdrawals from the city’s confidential informant fund.

Mayor Justin Elicker says the former police chief admitted to stealing $10,000 from the city, but the amount could actually be more.

“Everything I’ve heard from everyone is just how shocked they are,” Mayor Elicker says. “I want to make it clear: we do not know how much money was taken.”

Jacobsen oversaw the account as assistant chief.

Despite calls for him to relinquish control when he was promoted to chief, city officials say Jacobson continued to make authorized routine withdrawals of $5,000 each month from the account to pay confidential informants.

“What the chief had done was basically make it where he would be the sole holder of the money,” acting police chief David Zannelli says, “and what he would say to us commonly is that he was doing that to protect us from any kind of liability.”

The preliminary investigation uncovered two extra $5,000 withdrawals were made by Jacobson at the end of 2025: one in November, and another in December.

Mayor Elicker was originally going to place him on administrative leave, but Jacobson said he was retiring instead.

The confidential informant program has been paused as state investigators work to find out if any other city bank accounts were affected and if any other police officers were involved.

“No one is above the law, and we are all held accountable,” acting police chief David Zannelli says. “We will move forward as a police department.”

Keep reading

HORROR: Career Criminal with Over 50 Prior Arrests Brutally Murders Man with Machete in Connecticut

A career criminal with at least 50 prior arrests and 40 convictions murdered a man with a machete in Waterbury, Connecticut, on Saturday evening.

Kendren Barnes was charged with murder after ‘stabbing’ victim Ricardo Maldonado, 57.

According to reports, police were called to an apartment complex in Waterbury on Saturday evening and found the two men suffering from stab wounds.

Barnes and Maldonado were transported to a local hospital. Moldanado died from his injuries.

Barnes is being held on a $2.5 million bond.

The News-Times reported:

Police have identified the victim of a fatal stabbing on Grove Street over the weekend as a city resident.

Ricardo Maldonado, 57, of Waterbury died at the hospital after an incident on Grove Street Saturday, police Lt. Joseph Morais said in a news release Tuesday.

Morais said officers were called to an apartment building on the 100 block of the road at 7:17 p.m. Saturday for reports of a physical altercation involving a weapon inside. He said arriving officers located two male victims, later identified as Maldonado and 47-year-old Kendren Barnes, who had sustained wounds inflicted by edged weapons.

Both were transported to area hospitals, Morais said, where Maldonado later died from his injuries.

Barnes has an extensive criminal history. Police described him as a man who is “frequently arrested.”

Keep reading

Hunter Biden disbarred in Connecticut after complaints about gun, tax convictions

A judge on Monday disbarred Hunter Biden in Connecticut for violating the state’s attorney conduct rules, a decision that comes after complaints were made about the federal gun and tax charges Biden was convicted of before being pardoned last year by his father, former President Joe Biden.

In an agreement with the state office that disciplines lawyers, Hunter Biden consented to being disbarred and admitted to attorney misconduct, but he did not admit to any criminal wrongdoing. He was disbarred in Washington, D.C., in May.

Hunter Biden did not speak as he and his lawyer, Ross Garber, appeared via video at a virtual court hearing before Judge Trial Referee Patrick L. Carroll III in Waterbury.

Hunter Biden was convicted last year in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

He had been set to stand trial in September 2024 in a California case in which prosecutors accused him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. He agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges hours after jury selection was set to begin.

The Connecticut judge found that Hunter Biden violated several ethical rules for lawyers, including engaging in conduct “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” In a court document, Hunter Biden admitted to some but not all of the misconduct allegations. The judge also cited the Washington disbarment.

Keep reading

Taxpayers Asked To Fund A Hospital Takeover They’re Not Allowed To See

When Connecticut lawmakers pushed the UConn Health hospital acquisition bill through the November special session — without a public hearing — it was clear transparency was not the priority.  

Now UConn Health, the state-run hospital system preparing to spend roughly half a billion taxpayer dollars acquiring Waterbury Hospital, has taken that secrecy a step further. Under the legislation rushed through the November special session — which authorizes UConn Health not just to purchase Waterbury Hospital but potentially to acquire additional struggling hospitals in the future — the financial stakes extend far beyond a single transaction. Yet in its Certificate of Need filing, UConn has asked state regulators to seal its cost and market impact review (CMIR) — the central analysis used to evaluate how the deal would affect prices, competition, access, and the financial risks taxpayers may ultimately assume.

The legislature avoided public scrutiny when passing the legislation. UConn Health is now avoiding scrutiny on the financials themselves. 

According to its filing, UConn Health plans to invest $195 million in Waterbury Hospital over the next two years, including $13 million paid directly to Prospect Medical Holdings, the California based, bankrupt for-profit chain that allowed the hospital to deteriorate. But the upfront investment represents only a small portion of the true cost. The bulk will come from $390 million in UConn 2000 bonds, state-backed debt. Once interest is included, taxpayers will ultimately shoulder roughly $500 million. 

The financial risk is not theoretical. It falls squarely on Connecticut residents. 

Keep reading

How The Connecticut Communist Party Helped No Kings And Connecticut For All, In The Words Of CT Party Chair Joelle Fishman

When Greenwich Patriots first started, a bunch of haters registered us for email updates from a host of Marxist and communist groups in Connecticut.

But rather than unsubscribing, we started paying attention.

Last week, we learned that the 4Cs SEIU 1973, a higher education union in Connecticut, submitted an Op Ed to People’s World, a newspaper described as a “megaphone for the Communist Party,” touting the passage of a resolution calling on the State of Connecticut to adopt an “arms embargo on Israel and divestment of Israeli genocide, apartheid, and illegal occupation of Palestine.”

This week, we learned all about what the Communist Party says is next after “No Kings 2.0” aka the on-going color revolution sponsored by a “who’s who in left-wing activism,” including “Tides, Soros, Rockefeller, Ford, Buffett, and Arabella,” and designed to create social destabilization.

One of the guests on “Good Morning Revolution” was New Haven’s very own Joelle Fishman, the Chair of the Connecticut Communist Party, the head of Communist Party USA PAC, a Commissioner on the City of New Haven Peace Commission (though she is identified as a “democrat” on the City’s website), and an executive board member for the Alliance of Retired Americans in Connecticut.

Keep reading

Blatant Lawlessness: Connecticut’s Department Of Labor And Union Leaders Betray Union Workers & Taxpayers

That question looms large in Connecticut where Department of Labor (CT DOL) commissioner Danté Bartolomeo has openly acknowledged ignoring a statute designed to protect union members.  

At issue is Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 31-77. This 1959 law requires unions to file verified annual financial reports, make them available to members, and submit them to the CT DOL for safekeeping and possible audit. It was enacted to deter corruption, protect workers’ dues, and hold union leaders accountable. The law also protects taxpayers, who subsidize union activities through paid union leave, administrative costs associated with dues collection, grants, and other state-supported benefits.  

For years, however, CT DOL has simply refused to enforce it.  

Commissioner’s Contradictions  

In an August 2025 letter to Senators Rob Sampson and Stephen Harding, Commissioner Bartolomeo acknowledged the statute but dismissed it as “redundant” because unions already file IRS Form 990s. She further complained that compliance is “burdensome” and rarely requested.  

This rationale is indefensible. Commissioners are not empowered to decide which laws are worth enforcing. The General Assembly writes the laws; the executive branch is obligated to carry them out. If Bartolomeo truly believed she had discretion to ignore Sec. 31-77, she would never have asked lawmakers last session for “technical changes.” That request alone proves she knows the law is binding — she has simply chosen not to comply.  

Keep reading

Man admits to raping girl thousands of times and impregnating her — he has agreed to unbelievable plea deal

AConnecticut man who raped and impregnated a girl in his care agreed to take a plea deal and could only serve five years in prison.

Roger Barriault, 65, of Bristol raped the girl thousands of times beginning when she was 9 years old and impregnated her when she was 12 years old, according to police records. A DNA test of the girl’s daughter proved that he was the father.

Despite the horrific nature of the accusations, Barriault was given a plea deal for first-degree sexual assault. The charge carries a sentence of 25 years that can be suspended after 10 years. He must serve a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years in prison with 20 years of probation.

Barriault was arrested after the victim, who is now an adult, went to police in 2023. She said that the Connecticut Department of Children and Families had put her in the care of a person who introduced her to Barriault. She ended up in his care and faced daily sexual assault.

Keep reading

She Couldn’t Read Her Own Diploma: Why Public Schools Pass Students but Fail Society

A nineteen-year-old college student is suing her former high school for negligence because she graduated despite being unable to read or write.

The student, Aleysha Ortiz, graduated from Hartford Public Schools in the spring of 2024 with honors.

She earned a scholarship to attend the University of Connecticut, where she’s studying public policy. But while she was in high school, she had to use speech-to-text apps to help her read and write essays, and despite years of advocating for support for her literacy struggles, her school never addressed them.

Her story is shocking, but unfortunately, it isn’t isolated. At 24 Illinois public schools, not a single student can read at grade level. Nationwide, 54 percent of the American adult population reads at or below a sixth grade level. Put a different way: only 46 percent of American adults gained even a middle-school level mastery of literacy—let alone high school or collegiate levels.

In a first-world country where we spend nearly $16,000 per student per year to educate our children, that’s a horrifying statistic.

Literacy is supposed to be the bedrock of a free and liberally educated society. As the Washington Post’s motto so aptly reminds us, “democracy dies in darkness.”

Illiteracy is a form of darkness, and an illiterate populace is not one equipped to handle the demands of a world filled with forms and papers and words, let alone be the voting citizens of a democratic society.

What Do Literacy Stats Actually Mean?

Officially, the United States reports a basic literacy rate of 99 percent (which should perhaps be called into question, if students like Aleysha Ortiz can graduate with honors and still be illiterate).

But “basic literacy” is a bit of a sales pitch. It sounds impressive, but in practice, “basic literacy skills” means a K-3 grade level of reading—things like Hop on Pop and Amelia Bedelia.

“Functional literacy” is what actually matters: the ability to read and understand things like forms, instructions, job applications, and other forms of text you’ll encounter in your day-to-day life. It measures both technical reading skill and comprehension—your ability to decipher the words, and your ability to discern their meaning.

An estimated 21 percent of American adults (~43 million Americans) are functionally illiterate, meaning they have difficulty reading and comprehending instructions and filling out forms. A functionally illiterate American adult is unable to complete tasks like reading job descriptions or filling out paperwork for Social Security and Medicaid.

Perhaps worse still is the statistic that 54 percent of the American adult population reads at or below a sixth-grade level. Most of us don’t think about reading in terms of grade level, so this statistic feels intuitively bad but practically meaningless. What is a sixth-grade level?

Books written at the sixth-grade level are intended (in both literacy and comprehension skills) for eleven- and twelve-year-olds. Think of books like A Wrinkle in Time, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, and The Giver.

They’re good stories, but they don’t require the same vocabulary and mental acuity as making sense of a tax form. This is an excerpt from The Giver:

Garbriel’s breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing barefoot on a damp lawn.

More complex than Dick and Jane or Hop on Pop, obviously. But this isn’t an adult level of comprehension. If your reading abilities cap out here, you’re going to encounter a lot of text in your day-to-day life that’s difficult to decipher—often things that are important for you to be able to comprehend, like the terms of a lease agreement or the instructions on a medication.

Keep reading

Connecticut AG Tong Told District Court That Trump’s Stop Work Order For Revolution Wind Is “Unlawful” And “Irrational”

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong on Thursday night formally notified the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts of the “unlawful wind executive order” halting the Revolution Wind project and the “severe harm to Connecticut ratepayers, grid reliability and jobs” allegedly caused by stopping the project.

On September 4th, the court will hear a motion for summary judgment where Tong and 18 other attorneys general have sought to block Trump’s effort to stop one of the biggest “scams of the century.”

“We’ve got billions of dollars in investment and a project on the finish line to deliver affordable, American-made, renewable energy right off the coast of Connecticut. There are more than 1,000 jobs on the line. We’re notifying the court now that Trump’s irrational stop to Revolution Wind will jack up energy bills, hurt workers, and weaken our grid,” said Tong.

“At a time when we’re working to lower utility costs in our state and strengthen our economy, this decision by the federal government will increase electricity costs and risk countless jobs. Connecticut has made critical investments in renewable energy in an effort to diversify our energy supply and lower prices for families and businesses. Even more frustrating, this project was 80% compete and set to be finished next year. We will do everything we can to save this project because it represents exactly the kind of investment that reduces energy costs, strengthens regional production, and builds a more secure energy future,” complained Governor Ned Lamont.

President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum on his first day in office that, among other things, indefinitely halted all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects pending federal review. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies stopped all permitting and approval activities, and issued a Stop Work Order to the fully permitted Empire Wind project that was already under construction in New York. That project has since resumed.

Keep reading