Two legislative committees today held simultaneous public hearings on bills that would implement recommendations of a task force created after the Newtown school massacre to balance the privacy of crime victims with the public’s right to know. The task force recommended that lawmakers allow only restricted access to certain crime scene photos, 911 audio tapes and other information from homicides.
The minority leader of the Connecticut Senate is renewing his call for a state Inspector General. Fairfield Republican John McKinney, who is running for governor, has advocated an inspector general’s office for a decade to fight waste and fraud in state and municipal government.
Malloy Putting $11 Million Toward Energy Efficiency
Governor Dannel Malloy says he has signed an executive order creating a program that will use $10.8 million in federal funding to bring down energy costs for Connecticut residents living in multifamily homes. The program will benefit homeowners with current mortgage with the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and tenants in homes owned by a public housing authority or subsidiary.
U.S. Senators Urge Action on Climate Change
U.S. senators from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island are among 28 lawmakers who are preparing to hold the Senate floor all night to urge congressional action on climate change.The 28 lawmakers are members of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, a group formed to highlight climate change. Connecticut U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy are members of the task force.
Yale Awards Literary Prizes
Yale University has awarded $1.2 million in literary prize, including honors to a playwright who illuminates poverty and an investigative journalist who highlights the environment.Yale handed out Windham Campbell Prizes to eight writers, each who will receive $150,000: three dramatists, three fiction writers and two nonfiction writers. All will come to New Haven this fall for an awards ceremony and a campus literary festival.
