Connecticut
'Hands Off' Protest Draws Estimated 1,500 To Connecticut Capitol | CT News Junkie
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Paige Harrison Gorman, co-founder of the Connecticut chapter of the 50501, speaks at the Capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Elizabeth Horton Sheff, a Hartford civil rights activist, speaks at the Capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong speaks at the Capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
US Sen. Richard Blumenthal stops for a picture with a protester while leaving the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest at the Capitol in Hartford, Connecticut. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
US Sen. Richard Blumenthal listens to another speaker at the Capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action. At right is Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz with Attorney General William Tong at left. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters gather at the Connecticut Capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters gather at the Connecticut Capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
Protesters with their signs raised at the Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action protest. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie -
US Rep. John Larson speaking to the crowd of protestors the Capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the “Hands Off” Hartford Day of Action. Credit: Mia Palazzo / CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD, CT — About 1,500 protestors braved a steady April rain Saturday afternoon on the north steps of the Connecticut State Capitol, marching, chanting, and carrying signs as part of the national Hands Off Protest.
The gathering, which Capitol police estimated at about 1,500, aimed to deliver the Hands Off Protest message of the day through chants, carried a unified message delivered out loud and written on poster board:
“Hands off our healthcare. Hands off our schools. Hands off our services. Hands off our rights. Hands off our democracy.”
The rally was one of many as part of a nationwide mobilization led by the 50501 movement. Saturday’s demonstrations were organized mainly in opposition to President Donald Trump’s policy agenda and Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, which protesters described as a sweeping campaign to weaken federal agencies, eliminate core public services, and roll back civil rights.
Organizers aimed to hold rallies in 1,200 locations across all 50 states. In addition to the Hartford rally, Connecticut protesters also gathered in New Haven, Stamford, Middletown, Guilford, and elsewhere.
“They think we’re going to get exhausted. I’m not exhausted—are you? Are you in this fight with me every day?” said Attorney General William Tong, drawing cheers as one of the openers of the Hartford rally.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, just back from an overnight Senate session, criticized recent legislative efforts in Washington.
“Every one of the amendments we offered last night to protect Medicare, Social Security, our courts, our universities, and our healthcare — every one was voted down by my Republican colleagues,” he said. “They are siding with Donald Trump and Elon Musk.”
Elizabeth Horton Sheff, civil rights leader and the named plaintiff in Connecticut’s landmark Sheff v. O’Neill court case that mandated equal access to quality, integrated public education, addressed attacks on education and democratic participation.
“What we have to realize is that without an educated populace, we have no democracy,” she said. “They want to take our hope, they want to take our joy. Sorry. Hands off.”
Lisa DelSesto of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut warned of mounting restrictions on reproductive healthcare.
“Twenty-eight states currently restrict abortion care, 13 have total bans,” she said. “Over one-third of reproductive-age women in this country live in states where healthcare is restricted. This is a human rights crisis.”
Leah Juliet, representing Equality Connecticut, focused on the rising hostility toward LGBTQ+ communities.
“There is a war being waged against queer and trans people,” they said. “It is not subtle. It is not quiet. It is violent. Our existence, our right to healthcare, our right to safety, and our ability to participate in public life are under attack.”
B. Rae Perryman, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, agreed.
“When they say Project 2025, we say ‘project stay alive,’” she said.
Connecticut State Treasurer Erick Russell framed the moment as part of a generational struggle. He said the administration’s goal is to wear down public engagement.
“My father will be 83 this year. He grew up in the Deep South, in the heart of Jim Crow,” Russell said. “When I think about everything he’s seen — and what we’re seeing now — it’s clear we’re back fighting the same battles,” he said. “Every generation has a responsibility to keep this fight going. These backslides happen when we become complacent. We are not going to let that happen.
Manchester’s poet laureate, Nadia Sims, shared a spoken-word piece titled “Regular Revolutionary.”
“I don’t need to be rich. But I need to afford my mother’s insulin,” she said.
Bette Marafino, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans, shared the historical impact of Social Security.
“Before Social Security, 49% of seniors lived in poverty. Today it’s 9%. And that’s still too high,” she said.
State Comptroller Sean Scanlon thanked the crowd for showing up in the rain and acknowledged that everyone, including himself, had a reason for being there Saturday.
“My five-year-old asked me why I was going to a protest,” he said. “I get a little choked up, because the answer is him.”
Elected officials from the national to the local level rounded out the day’s speakers.
U.S. Congressman John Larson voiced his support for protecting Social Security and Medicare. Local representatives, including Gillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, Robin Comey, D-Branford, Rebecca Martinez, D-Hartford, and Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, voiced their support for continued resistance and legislative action.
“I have a very, very simple message for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and for JD Vance,” Lesser said. “We are not going anywhere.”
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LYME — A body was recovered from the Connecticut River on Saturday, according to officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
At about 1 p.m., a vessel on the river reported seeing a body in the area of the Chester-Lyme Ferry, DEEP said.
The Environmental Conservation Police, along with the Connecticut State Police Major Crimes Unit and Lyme and Cheshire fire departments, responded to the area and recovered the body, DEEP said. The body has been sent to the state chief medical examiner, DEEP said.
Bill Flood, a media relations manager for DEEP, said the body was identified as a male and appeared to have been in the water for an extended period of time.
The medical examiner will determine the manner of death and EnCon is investigating, Flood said, noting there is no believed threat to the public.
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Even as a born-and-raised New Yorker, I have a relatively open mind when it comes to pizza. When I’m out on the road, I’ll eat at any pizzeria as long as I can see the oven from the counter and buy pizza by the slice. However, the idea of any place outside the Big Apple proclaiming itself “the Pizza Capital of the United States” is just sacrilege. Connecticut doubled down on its ludicrous claim last weekend by approving the rollout of a special “Pizza State” license plate. This is the worst affront to the craft since Chicagoans started shilling their crust-bowl casserole as pizza.
Connecticut Foodshare
Let’s actually take a look at this license plate. One peek, we all know the rules. “The Pizza State” plate features a similar blue-to-white gradient as on the standard Connecticut license plate. The aforementioned self-proclaimed moniker replaces the state’s official nickname, “The Constitution State,” beneath the plate number. To the right of the number is an image of a pizza slice ripped straight from Microsoft’s ClipArt library. It’s a flat image that looks nothing like what’s served in New Haven. Connecticut drivers will be able to pick up a “Pizza State” plate for $65.
This is a pizza war for good
The only undisputedly good aspect of the “Pizza State” license plate is that its introduction will help feed Connecticut’s hungry. According to CT Insider, the $28.6 billion budget bill approved by the Connecticut General Assembly last weekend, which authorized the plate, also directly appropriated funding to Connecticut Foodshare. The sitewide food bank will also receive $50 from each $65 license plate fee, as it continues to provide millions of free meals to food-insecure people.
Back to the pizza debate at the heart of the matter. Governor Ned Lamont declared Connecticut the country’s pizza capital back in 2024 as part of a marketing campaign to promote the state. That declaration could have grounds for war in a different century, but individual states apparently don’t fight wars against each other anymore. Connecticut had better go back to being a UConn Husky-obsessed suburb before New York makes Greenwich the next Toledo.
Connecticut
Suspect in preppy booze-fueled Connecticut party stabbing death asks court to drop charges: ‘Double jeopardy’
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The attorney for a Connecticut man who was recently acquitted of first-degree murder charges stemming from a booze-fueled brawl between prep school students is making another move to ensure his client’s freedom.
Last July, a jury found Raul Valle, now 19, not guilty of murder and intentional manslaughter in the May 14, 2022 stabbing death of James “Jimmy” McGrath. Valle was 16 at the time of the incident, and McGrath was 17.
The jury was deadlocked on lesser charges of reckless manslaughter in that trial, leading to a partial mistrial.
Valle attended St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, near Fairfield Prep, where McGrath was a junior and star lacrosse player. Prior to the stabbing that evening, both had been at a house party that involved underage drinking and a fight.
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Split image of Jimmy McGrath showing him in a collared shirt and tie and in his Fairfield College Preparatory School lacrosse uniform. (The McGrath Family)
After heading to another location to continue partying, tempers flared again and about 25 people engaged in another brawl on the front lawn of the second home, whose owners were present at the time, witnesses told police. It was during that fight that the stabbing death occurred.
Valle admitted to the stabbing, but said it was committed in self-defense and in defense of a friend.
The day after Valle’s July 9, 2025, acquittal on the most serious charges, the state filed new reckless manslaughter and reckless assault charges.
Raul Valle speaks during his second day of testimony at his murder trial in state Superior Court in Milford, Conn., on July 1, 2025. (Ned Gerard/Connecticut Post)
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Now, Valle’s attorney, Darnell Crosland, has filed a motion claiming that the reckless manslaughter and reckless assault charges constitute double jeopardy, which is unconstitutional, according to The Connecticut Post.
Crosland’s motion says the only explanation for the initial jury’s decision to acquit on the first-degree murder charge was that his client acted in self-defense.
“No other theory explains the acquittals,” he wrote in the motion.
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Defense attorney Kevin Smith delivers his closing arguments to the jury during Raul Valle’s murder trial in state Superior Court in Milford, Conn., on July 3, 2025. (Ned Gerard/Connecticut Post)
“The jury has spoken,” he continued. “The law is clear. The court must dismiss these charges with prejudice — immediately.”
The Connecticut Post reported that in an interview after Valle’s acquittal, the jury foreperson said self-defense was not discussed.
In their own filing, prosecutors disagreed with Crosland’s reasoning, according to the report.
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They described self-defense as a “justification defense,” not one that is central to the elements of the charges Valle still faces, and thus, cannot be used as an argument to have the current charges dismissed.
Kevin McGrath, father of slain prep school lacrosse player Jimmy McGrath, speaks to reporters outside the state Superior Court in Milford, Connecticut, following Raul Valle’s acquittal on July 9, 2025. He is accompanied by family attorney Michael Rosnick. (Fox News)
“The fact that the jury acquitted the defendant of murder, intentional manslaughter and intentional assaults, but could not reach a unanimous verdict as to the reckless charges, demonstrates only that the jury must have reached the conclusion that the defendant lacked the specific intent to either kill or to cause serious physical injury,” the filing reportedly said.
McGrath’s family was shocked by the results of the 2025 trial.
“I’m astonished at the results, but, you know, it’s due process,” a stoic Kevin McGrath said outside the state Superior Court in Milford, Connecticut, later describing his son as a “wonderful person.”
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“He’s entitled to it,” said McGrath. “And at the end of the day, the jury made their verdict. I’m not sure if, you know, they were in the same courtroom as we all were together, but that’s the verdict. And we’ll live with it.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Crosland for comment.
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