State News

Originations like the Connecticut Bail Fund, a New Haven-based group help people post bail so they can await trial at home. Jewu Richardson, the nonprofit’s co-executive director, said it is a “harsh, sad reality” that families have to rely on community events and a GoFundMe to post bail.

Federal officials have agreed to recognize Connecticut pardons as legally valid again and stop deporting people who have been pardoned for their crimes by a state board, reversing a hard-line stance taken by the Trump administration, authorities announced Friday.

When Connecticut needed a computer system for its planned health information network, it came up with a novel solution. Instead of hiring consultants, the state tapped the University of Connecticut to develop the software for the network known as Connie. In 2017, the school created a new unit called UConn Analytics and Information Management Solutions —UConn AIMS for short — to do the work. UConn officials say the state ended the program abruptly.

Former President Donald Trump said in a lengthy statement Monday that the FBI was conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate. The statement came just over an hour before Trump was set to appear on a telephone call to rally voters for Leora Levy, a Connecticut Republican primary candidate running against the state GOP-endorsed Themis Klarides for a chance to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday that the state will begin issuing COVID-19 relief grant money to eligible businesses in the hospitality industry this week. The state is giving out a total of $30 million to over 1,700 businesses that reported a drop of at least 15% (but no more than 95%) in revenue in 2021 compared to 2019. Some of the money is coming from the federal American Rescue Plan.

A new musical is opening this week at The Legacy Theatre in Branford, Connecticut. The one-woman show, called My Unauthorized Hallmark Movie Musical, stars award-winning actress Anne Runolfsson. There are four performances that run Aug. 11-13. Tickets at The Legacy Theatre.

One of the states that has scrapped cash bail is New Jersey. The result: thousands fewer people are held in jail who otherwise might not have been able to purchase their freedom. Yet, in some cases, Connecticut inmates stay in jail for years, awaiting a jury to find someone innocent because they can’t afford to post bail.

On Friday, a Texas jury ordered Infowars host Alex Jones to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of Jesse Lewis for all of the times he said the Sandy Hook school shooting didn’t happen. Jones has since apologized and admitted the shooting was "100% real," but one survivor says she has mixed feelings after learning the outcome.

A Texas jury on Friday ordered Infowars’ Alex Jones to pay $49.3 million in total damages to the parents of a first-grader killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, which the conspiracy theorist falsely called a hoax orchestrated by the government in order to tighten U.S. gun laws.

Connecticut launched a website and telephone hotline on Friday designed to link people seeking abortions with resources in the state.