Gun owners to lawmakers: Battle to block new controls is just
beginning
Connecticut Senate roll call on
gun-control bill
CT Mirror, Apr 3, 2013
Connecticut House roll call on
gun-control bill
CT Mirror, Apr 4, 2013
Reuters Reports:
Weekly Jobless Claims Get Weaker as Outlook Dims
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits
increased 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 385,000, the highest level since
November, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the third straight week
of gains in claims. Coming on the heels of data on Wednesday showing private
employers added the fewest jobs in five months in March, the report
implied some weakening in job growth after hiring accelerated in February.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100615845
Implementing Gun Bill Could Cost Up To $25M A Year
The legislature’s bipartisan response to the Newtown shooting could
cost the state up to $25 million a year in additional prison costs due to
increased penalties for certain crimes, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis.
State pays workers $2.1 million to participate in health counseling -- that never happened
April 4,
2013
From: The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
Check Out
Below: Taxpayer
money to buy 30 more Russia Made helicopters – American manufacturers cannot
bid, Saudi Arabia buying armed drone, S. Korea asks to make nuclear Fuel, US
Moves Missile Destroyers Near Korea, Gun Owners Decry Legislation, Historic Gun
Bill Passes, Upstart Group Pushes Harder than NRA, Landmark Ruling Approves School
Vouchers, Education Spending Figures Do Not Include Full Pension Costs,
Stockton eligible for bankruptcy protection, Few Senators Sacrifice Pay Amid
Cuts
QUESTIONABLE.……
The Defense Department wants to spend taxpayers'
money to buy 30 more Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters to give to the Afghan army,
through what is effectively a no-bid contract that blocks competing bids from
such American helicopter manufacturers as Sikorsky, Bell and Boeing. Read on…..
DeLauro asks Pentagon about Russian helicopter deal -
Stamford ...Advocate Charles J.
Lewis March 29, 2013 WASHINGTON -- It's not easy to find an issue
that can leave both Connecticut Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn equally outraged. But the Pentagon paying $17 million apiece for a fleet of
Russian helicopters certainly does the trick.
The Defense Department wants to spend taxpayers'
money to buy 30 more Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters to give to the Afghan army,
through what is effectively a no-bid contract that blocks competing bids from
such American helicopter manufacturers as Sikorsky, Bell and Boeing. Stratford-based Sikorsky, which makes the
comparable S-61 craft, has strongly advocated to the U.S.
government "that U.S.
aircraft manufacturers are more than capable of delivering affordable and
reliable helicopters for the Afghan mission." In a statement, Sikorsky
said: "Given the opportunity, we would like to compete." The S-61 is
a cargo and passenger craft widely used around the world by governments and
private firms. But the Pentagon has
narrowed its Afghanistan
proposal in a way that eliminates American helicopters. Continue reading at …..
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/DeLauro-asks-Pentagon-about-Russian-helicopter-4395968.php
Saudi Arabia buying South African armed drone | Washington
Free ... BY: Bill Gertz April 2, 2013 4:59 am Saudi Arabia is buying an armed drone from South Africa after the Obama
administration declined to sell the oil-rich kingdom U.S. Predator or Reaper
missile-firing unmanned aircraft. The state-owned South African company Denel Dynamics is working covertly with the Saudis to
develop the Seeker 400 drone into an armed combat system for the Saudi
military, the Paris-based newsletter
Intelligence Online reported March 27. The Seeker
400 is an advanced version of the company’s Seeker II unarmed surveillance
aircraft. The newsletter stated that the Saudi military would be the first
customer to purchase the Seeker 400 armed drone and engineers from Denel are in the kingdom as part of the secret
program. If completed, the sale would
allow Saudi Arabia
to join the growing number of militaries that operate missile-firing drones—the
most advanced weapon currently in use to launch precision strikes on
terrorists. Continue reading at http://freebeacon.com/armed-and-dangerous/
Listen Live Saudi Arabia Buys Armed Drone From
South Africa - HuffPost Live
South Korea Asks to Make Nuclear Fuel By JAY SOLOMON Wall St Journal April 3, 2013 South
Korea is pressing the Obama administration for U.S.
permission to produce its own nuclear fuel, a move that nonproliferation
experts said could trigger a wider nuclear-arms race in North Asia and the Mideast. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324883604578399053942895628.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories
U.S. Moves Missile Destroyers Near
Korea
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BREAKING……
Hartford Courant Reports:
After more than 13 hours of debate that was at
moments impassioned and agonized, the General Assembly early Thursday approved
an historic and far-reaching gun-control bill that proponents said was their
toughest-in-the-nation response to the Dec. 14 Newtown school massacre. Read more...
Read The Gun Control Bill
Gun Owners Decry Legislation
*****************
Mental Health Provisions In Gun Bill
Called ‘Strong’ By Industry and Advocates
by Christine
Stuart, CTNewsJunkie.com | Apr 3, 2013 5:30am
Upstart Group Pushes Harder Than the NRA By JENNIFER
STEINHAUER Published: April 3, 2013 SPRINGFIELD, Va. — When word
surfaced in February that Senator Tom Coburn,
Republican of Oklahoma,
was plotting with Democrats on a bill to expand background checks for gun
buyers, Larry Pratt got really mad. Then, Mr. Pratt, the executive director of Gun Owners of America,
got busy, mounting a lobbying blitz that helps explain why a bipartisan Senate
deal on background checks remains elusive. …… Once largely unknown, Gun Owners
of America, with its war chest, membership and lobbying strength dwarfed by the
National
Rifle Association, is emerging as an influential force as a series
of gun control measures heads to the Senate floor. The group has already been successful in both
freezing senators, particularly Republicans, who have appeared to be on the
fence about supporting bills to expand background checks and increase penalties
for illegal gun purchases, and empowering those who have a strong gun rights
background. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/us/politics/gun-owners-of-america-a-lobbying-group-grows-in-influence.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The State of Connecticut’s Office of
Legislative Research on
RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS UNDER THE CONNECTICUT CONSTITUTION
SENTENCING FOR GUN-RELATED CRIMES
GUN-FREE SCHOOL ZONES
*****************
LANDMARK
RULING:
Supreme Victory for School Choice as Indiana Supreme Court Rules ...
Indiana Supreme Court Rules That Choice Scholarship Program is
Constitutional
……. with the legal
threat to the program eliminated, the door is open for all families eligible
for the program—approximately 62 percent of Indiana families—to use Choice Scholarships
in the 2013-14 school year. This would make the program the largest
school choice program in the nation.
WEB RELEASE: March 26, 2013 CONTACT: John
Kramer, (703) 682-9320 ext. 205 [School Choice]
Arlington, Va.—In a landmark legal decision issued today, the Indiana
Supreme Court held that the state’s Choice Scholarship Program does not violate
the Indiana
Constitution. In a unanimous decision, the Court rejected every legal
claim brought by the plaintiffs—who are supported by both state and national
teachers’ unions—against the program, and it ruled in favor of both the state
and two parents, Heather Coffy and Monica Poindexter,
who have intervened in the lawsuit in defense of the program. Those
parents, who use Choice Scholarships to send their children to private schools,
are represented in the case by the Institute for Justice.
“Today’s
decision is a major and decisive win for Indiana
parents and students. In unanimously upholding the Choice Scholarship
Program, the Indiana Supreme Court has made it clear that school choice is
perfectly consistent with the state constitution,” said Institute for Justice
Senior Attorney Bert Gall, who argued alongside Indiana Solicitor General Tom
Fisher for the constitutionality of the program before the Indiana Supreme
Court at its hearing on the case this past November. “The teachers’
unions tried to prevent parents from using Choice Scholarships to secure a
quality education for their children, but the unions failed.”
The Court’s
decision marks the end of the unions’ lawsuit, which was filed in June
2011. There can be no appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court because the Indiana
Supreme Court is the final arbiter on the meaning of the state
constitution. It also means that the approximately 9,000 children who are
currently benefiting from Choice Scholarships can remain in the schools their
parents have selected for them. Moreover, with the legal threat to the
program eliminated, the door is open for all families eligible for the
program—approximately 62 percent of Indiana
families—to use Choice Scholarships in the 2013-14 school year. This
would make the program the largest school choice program in the nation.
In rejecting
the argument of the plaintiffs that the Choice Scholarship Program improperly
benefits private religious schools, the Court held that the program “provide[s]
lower-income Indiana families with the educational options generally available
primarily to higher-income Indiana families. The result is a direct
benefit to these lower-income families—the provision of a wider array of
education options, a valid secular purpose. Any benefit to
program-eligible schools, religious or non-religious,
derives from the private, independent choice of the parents of program-eligible
students, not the decree of the state, and is thus ancillary and incidental to
the benefit conferred on these families.”
Continue reading this article at ….. http://ij.org/indiana-school-choice-release-3-26-2013
Official Education Spending Figures Do Not Incorporate Full
Cost of ...Teacher Pensions By Jason Richwine, Ph.D.
March 25, 2013 Despite the centrality of pensions in debates over
government budgeting and education policy, the federal government dramatically
underestimates teacher pension costs in its official education spending
figures. States report to the federal government only the yearly contributions
to teacher pension funds rather than the present value of accrued benefits.
Since states and local school districts routinely contribute less to their
pension funds than is needed to cover future benefits, correcting this
accounting problem could add tens of billions of dollars—somewhere around
$1,000 per pupil—to official education spending estimates. The federal
government should revise its data collection procedures to require proper
accounting of teacher pension costs, giving taxpayers a more accurate picture
of education expenditures. Continue reading this article at
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/03/official-education-spending-figures-do-not-incorporate-full-cost-of-teacher-pensions
Should the
School Choice – Lottery - System in Connecticut
be Replaced with a Voucher System similar to the State
of Indiana? What are Your Thoughts on this Subject. Write to fctopresident@aol.com.
Read the State Board of Education Position Statement on
Public School Choice
The State Board of Education supports efforts
to offer the following public school choice options: interdistrict magnet
schools, public charter schools, open choice, interdistrict
cooperative grant programs, state technical high schools, and regional
agricultural science and technology education centers. Read entire statement at http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/equity/choice/public_school_choice_position_statement.pdf
The following link SDE: Bureau
of Choice Programs - Connecticut State Department of ... notes: Choice programs
provide an opportunity for all Connecticut students and their families to make
public school choices among a range of high-quality educational programs and
settings. Public school choice programs maximize the opportunity for each
student to achieve his or her highest potential by offering challenging,
relevant and rigorous curriculum and instruction. In addition, these programs
provide a creative and flexible environment that values each student’s unique
abilities, talents, interests and learning styles. Increasing student
achievement and reducing racial, ethnic and economic isolation are major goals
of these programs. We are committed to closing the achievement gap and ensuring
that every student has the opportunity to succeed.
*****************
Stockton eligible for bankruptcy
protection: judge
| Reuters - Stockton, California, is
eligible for bankruptcy protection, a federal judge ruled on Monday, turning
aside creditors' arguments the city was not truly insolvent when it sought
protection and improperly failed to seek pension concessions. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Klein's
ruling permits Stockton to proceed with a Chapter
9 municipal bankruptcy case after it became the largest U.S. city ever
to file for bankruptcy. The decision is likely to increase scrutiny of how the
city will handle its pension obligations, managed by the California Public Employees Retirement System
(Calpers). Stockton
is being closely watched by the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market and by
other cash-strapped cities. Continue
reading at ……. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/01/us-stockton-bankruptcy-idUSBRE9300GP20130401
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