Connecticut

USA: Some state lawmakers calling it quits, can’t afford to serve

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — When trying to decide whether to seek a fourth term in the Connecticut House of Representatives, Rep. Joe de la Cruz ran the question by his wife, who he jokingly refers to as his lawyer and financial advisor.

While Tammy de la Cruz didn’t want to discourage her 51-year-old husband from stepping away from the part-time job he has grown to love, she acknowledged it didn’t make financial sense for him run again in November.

USA: After $73M win, Sandy Hook families zero in on gun marketing

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — After agreeing to a $73 million lawsuit settlement with gun-maker Remington, the families of nine Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims say they are shifting their focus to ending firearms advertising with macho, military themes that exploit young men’s insecurities, all in the hopes of preventing more mass shootings.

The families say Remington used those kinds of ads to promote its AR-15-style rifles like the one used to kill 20 young children and six educators inside the Newtown, Connecticut, school on Dec. 14, 2012.

USA: Youth’s overdose death renews pleas for Narcan in schools

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The death of a 13-year-old student who apparently overdosed on fentanyl at his Connecticut school has drawn renewed pleas for schools to stock the opioid antidote naloxone, as well as for training of both staffers and children on how to recognize and respond to overdoses.

The seventh grader was hospitalized Jan. 13 after falling ill at a Hartford school that did not have naloxone on hand. City officials vowed Wednesday to put the antidote in all city schools, as part of a wider drug use and overdose prevention strategy.

USA: Biden says he’s open to shortening length of new programs

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — President Joe Biden says he would prefer to cut the duration of programs in his big social services and climate change package rather than eliminate some entirely, as Democrats struggle to win support from moderates by trimming what had been a $3.5 trillion proposal.

Case report sheds light on COVID-19 reinfection: Yale Uni report

New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) Waning immunity in some people following the first episode of infection with the novel coronavirus may make them more susceptible to reinfection, say doctors in a new case report.

While a decline in the levels of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus after first encounter with the virus may heighten reinfection risk, the research, published in the journal BMJ Case Reports, noted that severe infection first time around may be followed by milder symptoms second time.

US Warrant: Co-worker confessed to fatally stabbing UPS driver

WATERTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A UPS employee accused of fatally assaulting a co-worker he was helping deliver packages told police he stabbed the man before fleeing into the woods, according to an arrest warrant released Thursday.

When he was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon by state troopers at a gas station in Plymouth, Elijah David Bertrand, 19, of Bristol, asked officers, “What took you guys so long to find me,” according to the warrant, posted online by the Waterbury Republican-American.

USA: Fauci’s plea ‘Wear a mask’ tops list of 2020 notable quotes

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A plea from Dr. Anthony Fauci for people to “wear a mask” to slow the spread of the coronavirus tops a Yale Law School librarian’s list of the most notable quotes of 2020.

The list assembled by Fred Shapiro, an associate director at the library, is an annual update to “The Yale Book of Quotations,” which was first published in 2006.

USA: Explosion kills 2 steam pipe workers at veterans hospital

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Two workers were killed in an explosion Friday while repairing a steam pipe in a maintenance building at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Connecticut, officials said.

Alfred Montoya Jr., director of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, said the men were in the basement of the small outer building and had just finished routine maintenance on a leaky pipe. He said the explosion occurred just after 8 a.m. as the pipe was being refilled with steam.

College student wanted in 2 Connecticut slayings is captured

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A college student sought by police as a suspect in a crime spree including two slayings in Connecticut has been captured in Maryland, police said Wednesday night.

Peter Manfredonia, 23, had been the subject of a six-day search involving several police agencies and the FBI.

He was found in the area of a truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland. He was not injured and no officers were hurt during the arrest, Connecticut State Police said.

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