Connecticut
Formica says he wants answers in wake of Connecticut Port Authority ethics probe
State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, and Senate Republican Chief Kevin Kelly are calling for “transparency and accountability” in gentle of just lately revealed ethics violations dedicated by an organization that offered items to members of the Connecticut Port Authority.
The senators issued a letter on Friday to Gov. Ned Lamont and port authority board Chairman David Kooris, calling for not solely the names of the port authority workers concerned however extra details about the investigation.
“This violation of public belief by itself is alarming and that concern is heightened even additional given the numerous weakening of public belief, lack of transparency and misuse of funds which have emerged from the Connecticut Port Authority lately,” Formica and Kelly wrote.
The Workplace of State Ethics earlier this week introduced it had concluded an investigation into items handed out by New York-based Seabury PFRA LLC, an organization employed as a advisor by the Connecticut Port Authority in 2018.
Seabury, because of the investigation, has agreed to pay a $10,000 tremendous for violating the state code of ethics when it offered $3,100 value of items that included meals, drinks, resort lodging and Nationwide Hockey League playoff tickets to 2 port authority workers, an worker’s spouse and an authority board member. The violations occurred in 2017 and 2019.
The Workplace of State Ethics didn’t reveal the names of the port authority board member or workers that had accepted the items, which included $800 spent on a CPA worker and partner at a charity occasion in New York in 2017, an in a single day keep at a Greenwich resort and two NHL playoff tickets in 2019 value $625 every.
“The folks of our state deserve full transparency and accountability if we’re to rebuild confidence,” the letter states.
Formica and Kelly, within the letter, pose a bunch of inquiries to Lamont and Kooris: When did the Workplace of State Ethics begin investigating? Why wasn’t the legislature notified? Who’re the state workers concerned in accepting impermissible items and what, if any, disciplinary motion did port authority workers face?
Formica has been amongst legislators who helped push for reforms of the quasi-public company. Final yr, he referred to as on the legal professional common to begin an investigation into the “exorbitant” $700,000 cost by the Connecticut Port Authority to Seabury, which had included a $523,000 “success price.”
It was revealed {that a} former port authority board member, Henry Juan, was a Seabury worker and resigned from the port authority board simply previous to Seabury starting work for the port authority in 2018.
On the time the violations occurred, the Connecticut Port Authority was led by former Govt Director Evan Matthews and board Chairman Scott Bates. Each have since resigned.
Formica stated on Friday he needs all related particulars associated to the investigation “to the extent they will present these solutions by regulation.” He stated he is also on the lookout for particulars about an investigation by the legal professional common’s workplace into Seabury’s dealings with the port authority.
He stated if it’s the coverage of the Workplace of State Ethics to not reveal names of state workers that accepted items, “they owe us that rationalization.”
The Connecticut Port Authority on Tuesday issued a press release calling the ethics violations “an unlucky reminder of points that occurred beneath prior management,” however declined to debate any additional particulars of the discover from the Workplace of State Ethics. Spokesmen from each the Connecticut Port Authority and Gov. Lamont stated they had been within the technique of reviewing the letter and didn’t instantly have a remark.
g.smith@theday.com
Connecticut
O Little Town of Bethlehem: Connecticut Town Celebrates Christmas All Year Long
A rural town connects beautifully to the miraculous event so long ago.
“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie,” begins a beloved Christmas carol sung since 1868, paying homage to Jesus’ birthplace.
But have you heard of Bethlehem, Connecticut?
It’s a favorite destination because of its Christmas connection. With approximately 3,400 residents, modest in size like its ancient namesake once was, the rural town of Bethlehem has two places that connect beautifully to that miraculous event of the Nativity.
The Nutmeg State’s Bethlehem is home to Regina Laudis Abbey, a community of cloistered Benedictine nuns founded after World War II. Here, the nuns have a magnificent early-18th-century Neapolitan crèche, displayed in a restored barn nearly as old and donated specifically to house this Nativity scene. Both the crèche and barn received a meticulous four-year restoration completed less than two decades ago by experts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
This is no small Neapolitan crèche. It spans 16 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The Nativity scene takes place before a backdrop mural of an 18th-century seaside and an azure sky.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph are at the heart of the crèche where our Savior’s birth is set vividly in a Neapolitan mountainside village — complete with angels hovering in wonderment and awe and scores of villagers react in different ways to the overwhelming presence of the Holy Family.
Simple peasants close to the Holy Family stand in awe and mingle with the Three Kings. Some villagers stop to contemplate Jesus’ birth. Others go on with everyday life as if nothing unusual or life-changing is happening.
The animated scene’s 68 figures and 20 animals of carved wood, ceramic, metal and plant fiber stand up to 16 inches high. They’re dressed in their original period dress that the Metropolitan Museum specialists also carefully restored to pristine condition.
From all indications and evidence, this crèche was a gift to Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia on his coronation in 1720. In 1948, it was brought to America and then in 1949 the woman who then owned it donated it to the abbey to preserve and display it.
Also on the abbey’s grounds is a simple, life-size Nativity scene of the Holy Family, located in a simple shed, with Joseph dressed in a checked farmer’s jacket. Abbey visitors might even spot a sheep or two.
Later during the Christmas season, you might want to watch the 1949 film Come to the Stable that tells the story of Regina Laudis Abbey and whose main characters, two nuns played by Loretta Young and Celeste Holm, are based on the actual Benedictine nuns who came from France after World War II to establish it. It’s a much neglected classic.
Church Highlights Nativity All Year
In nearly a straight line, less than 3 miles from the abbey and a few yards from the center of town, the Church of the Nativity remembers the birth of Jesus year-round. Now a part of Prince of Peace parish, the church was built in 1992 of fieldstone and wood and specifically designed to suggest or look like a large crèche. The church is topped with a star that is lit at night and directs people to the sacred edifice like the star directed the Magi.
The focal point of the church vestibule is a life-size manger scene. The figures were carved from a single pine tree by a Maine artist.
A panorama of the town of Bethlehem is etched high on the glass behind the Holy Family. Etched on another glass panel are the Three Kings, depicted following the star to adore the Newborn King.
In the nave, the church’s interior of stone, wood and large beams intentionally add to the manger atmosphere — as do the words “O Come All Ye Faithful” that stretch and beckon from high behind the altar.
The Nativity atmosphere continues all year. The Knights of Columbus built a 20-foot crèche on the parish’s front lawn.
Another Major Nativity
A little over 500 feet away is the Bethlehem Post Office, which, of course sees lots of extra traffic at this time of year — people enjoy getting their Christmas cards postmarked from “Bethlehem” and envelopes stamped with a Christmas greeting from the town.
Those who do visit these two Nativity treasures can continue singing Little Town of Bethlehem’s later verses:
How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him still, The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem Descend to us, we pray Cast out our sin and enter in Be born to us today O come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel!
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Visiting hours for the abbey crèche: Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Winter Closure: Jan. 7-Easter Sunday; free.
Connecticut
Man shot, killed in New Haven
A man has died after he was shot in the Elm City Tuesday night.
While details remain limited, police say the shooting happened on Edgewood Avenue.
No arrests have been made at this time and police are only tentatively identifying the man as a 43-year-old New Haven resident.
Anyone with any information is being asked to contact New Haven Police.
Connecticut
Lawmakers split over CT Medicaid funding spend, ahead of legislative session
President-elect Donald Trump, a longtime opponent to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), has the backing of a soon-to-be controlled Republican House and Senate to make changes to the ACA.
The proposed changes could result in how Medicaid is financed in Connecticut and across the U.S. Well over a half of Medicaid spending by states is financed by the federal government, with Connecticut receiving 63.4% of its Medicaid spending share in fiscal year 2023, according to KFF.
State lawmakers, however, are not overly concerned just yet.
“There have been some worrisome noises, but nothing to date that’s concrete,” State Sen. Matt Lesser, co-chair of the Human Services Committee, said.
Lesser said lawmakers are paying close attention since federal changes to Medicaid would significantly impact “over almost half of the kids in the state, pregnant women, [and] retirees.”
The state-funded Medicaid program, known as HUSKY in Connecticut, provides coverage to undocumented children. On July 1, the cap was raised to include undocumented young people up to age 15.
Medicaid cost overruns could put access for low-income patients at risk
State finances will be central to Connecticut lawmakers’ discussions in the upcoming legislative session Jan. 8, with the potential expansion of Medicaid eligibility among undocumented immigrants.
Connecticut’s Medicaid program experienced cost overruns in the hundreds of millions of dollars at the start of the current fiscal year. The Connecticut Mirror reported that the Department of Social Services (DSS) is tallying usage and cost for the program, which has had a much higher interest in enrollments than expected, according to the DSS. The total cost is expected to be out before Gov. Ned Lamont releases his budget in February.
State minority leaders have proposed to tighten the Medicaid fiscal belt.
Stephen Harding, Senate Republican Leader, and Vincent Candelora, House Republican Leader, said in a statement that the state should “suspend this policy immediately with the goal of eliminating it in the next budget cycle.”
The passage of the proposal would need the full approval of the state General Assembly.
But Democrat lawmakers seek to further expand the age cap for Medicaid eligibility among undocumented people.
State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, co-chair of the Human Services Committee, is among lawmakers and advocates who hope to push the cap higher this session – to 18 years.
Gilchrest said lack of access to health care would mean that “their need is going to be heightened down the road, and we’re going to have to cover the cost of higher cost health care.”
And that would also apply to other Connecticut residents enrolled in Medicaid, she said.
“We need to have conversations about what access to care looks like for a population that continues to increase in our state because they are experiencing economic inequality,” Gilchrest said.
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