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The scandal no one seems to talk about

 May 19, 2013; Updated: 12:08 am

State regulators and the Office of Consumer Counsel recently issued a "good news" press release. Connecticut electric ratepayers, or at least most of them, will see their monthly bills collectively reduced by $75 million, or about $10 a...

Countdown to the Whalie Awards

 May 18, 2013; Updated: 5:29 pm

To use the old accountant's saying, this is Sean Murray's busy time of year.
Murray, the marketing and development manager at New London Main Street, was putting the finishing touches on this week's...

Lawsuits on guns and claims of selectman self porn

 May 17, 2013; Updated: 12:08 am

Some lawyers have all the fun.

Look at Scott Camassar of North Stonington, for instance.

One of his clients is the woman who is suing the first selectman of Stonington, claiming he sent her a picture of his genitals.

Her lawsuit...

Dear Diary: Does ECC need to play five finals on same night?

 May 17, 2013; Updated: 11:42 pm

Dear Diary:

You probably think it's a little weird, Dear Diary, that I spend time thinking about my epitaph. But we all have our hobbies. And mine is going to read, "Here lies Mikey D. He just didn't understand."

For instance,...

Boardroom haze sparks big ideas

 May 17, 2013; Updated: 5:31 pm

I recently had to sit through some horribly long and boring meetings about rising costs and the need to save money for our hospital. I'm not a meeting person, and what started out with doodling unartistic recreations of Botticelli's...

For Deeb it's not the wins, it's the people

 May 15, 2013; Updated: 11:56 pm

East Lyme

Here we are in Connecticut, the home office for the women's sports revolution, and even here, not enough of us comprehend the spirit of Title IX. As in: It makes no specific mention of sports. It requires equal opportunity...

Will tribal police arresting non-Indians be immune to non-tribal lawsuits?

 May 15, 2013; Updated: 11:55 pm

From the beginning, I've thought Gov. Dannel Malloy's plan to allow tribal police to take over much of the casino policing from Connecticut State Police was a terrible idea.

It is puzzling why the governor would go so far out of his way to...

Ivies come calling on NL's finest

 May 14, 2013; Updated: 11:42 pm

Inevitably, the residual effect of what follows would place some public pressure on Hunter Roman and Clayton Potter to attend the Ivy League schools pursuing them.

Note to Clayton and Hunter: Sorry, fellas. That's not the intent.

It's...

Griffin earns her chance to shine

 May 12, 2013; Updated: 11:29 pm

Mohegan

Kelsey Griffin: born in Alaska. Attended Nebraska. This makes her fluent in "askas." Just ask her.

But this is Uncasville. A long-aska way from home. This is Uncasville for the fourth time, actually. Her fourth season...

A few driving pet peeves

 May 12, 2013; Updated: 11:29 pm

I have another critical campaign platform suggestion for Connecticut's next candidates for governor, in addition to a promise to improve the state's grocery store choices.

I think voters would respond really well to a pledge to raise the...

How to fill a conversational void

 May 12, 2013; Updated: 2:19 pm

My enthusiasm for history is a family joke. When we're chatting around the dinner table and I suddenly blurt out, "Here's a little known fact...," my family rolls their eyes in tolerant amusement as I launch into a recitation of some...

Amistad still sails some troubled waters

 May 10, 2013; Updated: 11:55 pm

Where in the world is the Amistad?
It turns out it's at a dock in Charleston, S.C., at the moment. But it took me the better part of two days to figure that out. I also learned that the future for the...

Bluff Point one of few trail races

 May 10, 2013; Updated: 11:29 pm

Saturday morning at Bluff Point Coastal Reserve in Groton is one of the few opportunities we get each year in the region to race on trails.

But the Spartyka Wounded Warrior 5K is much more than that. The 9 a.m. race is designed to raise...

Charles should inspire us all

 May 9, 2013; Updated: 11:42 pm

Mohegan

People ask me frequently what I like best about this job. Usually, I say the money. (Joking, joking). Really, it's this: The opportunity to tell other peoples' stories and chronicling seminal moments, and small ones, too, in...

Bridge tenders: TV helps ward off tedium

 May 8, 2013; Updated: 11:42 pm

I heard from a reader not long ago who wrote to complain about a DirecTV dish installed on top of the control tower of the highway bridge over the Niantic River.

Wasn't this a good example, the reader suggested, of the sloth of state...

Go wild this year

 May 6, 2013; Updated: 6:37 pm

If every dog has its day, then every plant should have its year. The powers that be within the horticultural world, the people who tempt gardeners with new plants and products each year, have decided that 2013 is the year of the...

A hero's welcome ... and a special surprise

 May 5, 2013; Updated: 11:25 pm

Steve Barrett of Preston was back at the Waterford Speedbowl Saturday night, back from Afghanistan, the unwitting star of an opening ceremony that left not a dry eye.

Taylor Swift is buying into a rich Watch Hill tradition

 May 5, 2013; Updated: 11:03 pm

It is interesting that a celebrated young entertainer like Taylor Swift, reportedly in contract to pay $17 million for an oceanfront mansion in Watch Hill, would settle on a house once owned by an eccentric heiress known for her patronage of the...

When the Northern Lights go south

 May 5, 2013; Updated: 3:47 pm

An especially strong flare emanated from the sun on Thursday, April 11, revealing the aurora borealis, or northern lights, to the top third of the United States two days later.

Foreign aid, diplomacy well worth investment

 May 5, 2013; Updated: 3:15 pm

Among Secretary of State John Kerry's greatest fears, it appears, is that U.S. foreign policy will suffer not from a lack of international cooperation but from insufficient domestic support for the Foreign Service and appreciation for the role it...

A successful season can be easily thrown away

 May 4, 2013; Updated: 11:42 pm

Groton

We like to read things into the games we watch now, although all these years and all this technology later, there's rarely cause to read anything more advanced than the scoreboard. Did you win or did you lose? And at the end...

Behold the governor who came to dinner

 May 4, 2013; Updated: 3:16 pm

Having attended a number of White House Correspondents Dinners back in the last century without ever hearing a serious word spoken over drinks, dinner and lavish post dinner parties, I'm truly impressed that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was able...

Misquamicut is ready to reopen after Sandy

 May 3, 2013; Updated: 12:01 am

After the official warnings for Hurricane Sandy unfolded last fall, the staff at the oceanfront Paddy's Beach Club in Misquamicut did all the usual preparations, just like the year before, with warnings for Hurricane Irene.

When travel is for the birds

 May 3, 2013; Updated: 5:59 pm

During a recent flight from south Florida, I started thinking about the thousands of birds making their own journey north through the scattered gilded clouds. May is when most neo-tropical migrants arrive in our region and wintering...

Fischer has been in it for the kids

 May 2, 2013; Updated: 11:42 pm

New London

It was during an impromptu conversation with some New London High School kids last week that the topic of superintendent Nick Fischer's ensuing dismissal — no semantics here, Fischer was dismissed — arose. What followed...

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