CT state senator says family safe after bomb threat called in to his home
Authorities are investigating a bomb threat made Wednesday toward the Brookfield home of state Sen. Stephen Harding.
The Republican senator issued a statement late Wednesday saying he and his family were safe.
'Thank you to our state and local police for their work in responding to this threat,' Harding said. 'We are safe. And we are grateful to law enforcement for their professionalism and dedication.'
The agencies that investigated the threat included the Brookfield Police Department, Connecticut State Police and Connecticut State Capitol Police.
'Their action and attention to this matter has been extremely reassuring in a difficult time,' Harding said.
Harding called the incident a 'distraction' but said it will not stop him and other Connecticut Republicans from focusing on 'the issues that matter to Connecticut's working families,' which he described as 'affordability, safety, accountability' and 'transparency.'
Brookfield police did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the investigation into the threat.
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Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Yeah, I've changed': Former Republican congressman runs as Democrat for governor
A former GOP congressman turned MSNBC commentator made his pitch for Florida's governorship in next year's election at a packed town hall meeting on June 9 at Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter campus. 'Yeah, I've changed,' said David Jolly, and he wants his Republican opponents to make that the centerpiece of their attacks against him. During the 90-minute moderated discussion, Jolly positioned himself as a candidate who can bridge political divides and appeal across party lines in a state that hasn't elected a Democratic governor in over three decades. Next November's election will be a battle for what will be an open seat as Gov. Ron DeSantis is term limited according to Florida's constitution. Jolly's political evolution spans what he describes as 'a period of about 10 years,' moving from registered Republican to independent to Democrat. The attorney and former lobbyist served as the Republican representative in the 13th congressional district in Southwest Florida from 2014 to 2017 before leaving Congress. Now a network political contributor, he frames his party switches as an asset. 'I want my opponents to hit me on change. 'Jolly changed.' Yeah, I did,' he said. 'Is it okay to change your mind? I think it is, and that's part of my story.' Then he pointedly added: 'You know who else has changed? Most elected Republicans have changed.' During his time as a Republican congressman, Jolly said he supported positions that put him at odds with his party as it tilted toward President Donald Trump's America first and Make America Great Again movement, which Jolly has lambasted in network appearances. 'I was a Republican in Congress who supported marriage equality, climate science, gun control, campaign finance reform,' he told The Palm Beach Post. One of Trump's most ardent supporters on Capitol Hill, Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, has already entered the race on the GOP side. The Naples congressman has the president's endorsement. Whoever the GOP nominee is will count on the party's more than 1 million-plus voter advantage over the rival Democrats. Not boding well for Jolly, either, is that the last Democratic nominee for governor, Charlie Crist, a former congressman who also was a Republican-turned-Democrat, got trounced by DeSantis in a nearly 20-point rout in November 2022. Jolly is centering his campaign on what he calls Florida's 'generational affordability crisis.' 'This is a lived experience for my wife and I. We have two young children, and I am not confident that our incumbent in Tallahassee or that the next Republican candidate for governor understands the urgency of it or a desire to fix it,' he said. This crisis transcends party lines, he argued. 'The affordability crisis doesn't know party. If you're a Democrat, independent, Republican, you're worried about your homeowners insurance, your rent, property taxes,' Jolly said His proposed solutions include a state catastrophic fund to remove hurricane and natural disaster coverage from private insurance markets. It is a proposal Jolly told the crowd that he offered in national scope during his term in Washington. 'In Congress, I introduced a national cap fund to aggregate fires out west, tornadoes in the midwest, ice in the northeast, hurricanes in the southwest into a national cap fund," he said. "It didn't pass. Republicans at the time called it socialism, I just called it cheaper insurance.' He said the fund could cut private insurance for homeowners by 50% to 60%. His platform includes education reform and social issues. He argues that 'public education has been abandoned in the state of Florida' and calls for ending what he calls 'culture wars' that target immigrant and marginalized communities. 'We have excellence today in public education only out of the sheer will and determination of public school teachers and administrators,' Jolly said. 'Politicians have tried to tell them how to teach, what to teach, what they can say. We don't respect them with pay, we don't respect them politically, and we need to be a state that celebrates public education.' At the town hall, he expanded on his social agenda. 'We have to return to a place where everyone is welcome and celebrated,' Jolly said at the town hall. 'Regardless of where you were born, the color of your skin, who you love or who you worship, we need to be a state that welcomes everyone and lifts everyone up.' On reproductive rights, Jolly supports leaving the decision up to the majority of voters, pointing to the support Florida's Amendment 4 on abortion received in November 2024. 'More than 50% of the state said they wanted it. There's no reason politicians in Tallahassee should stand in the way,' he said. 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I think he really has a shot of becoming Florida's next governor,' said Scott Benarde, a registered Democrat and event sponsor. Attendees emphasized how Jolly's Republican background could appeal to voters tired of current leadership. 'He was a Republican. He understands the republican party probably better than a lot of Democrats,' said Betsey Hull, who attended with concerns about affordable housing for her daughters. 'We need somebody that will unite the state.' With 16 months until the election, Jolly reports early conversations with national Democratic Party leadership about potential support, while working to build relationships with diverse communities across the state, including Black pastors in Orlando, Fla. 'A year from now, we'll be working with each other towards change,' he said. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: AT FAU, David Jolly embraces political shift in bid for Florida governor
Indianapolis Star
42 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
Secretary of State Diego Morales gets flak for overseas travel. Is he breaking any rules?
Indiana lawmakers seemed to be sending a signal to Secretary of State Diego Morales with a new addition to the two-year budget they crafted this session: Tell us more about your world travel. Morales' 10-day trip to India had recently made headlines. Some legislators and naysayers questioned why the secretary of state needed an "economic development" sojourn and wanted to know who paid for it. But this new law requiring annual travel reports from statewide elected officials wouldn't even have applied to that trip, since taxpayer dollars allegedly weren't involved. Nor to Morales's recent "personal" trip to Hungary, during which he spoke at a Conservative Political Action Conference. Nor for his other trip to Hungary, in 2023. Nor does there seem to be any other state rule or law that requires Morales to share where he went, who paid for it, and how much it cost, given the specific circumstances of these trips. Morales can travel the world on a mystery dime, and there's little in Indiana law to compel him to share the details. "To me, he's getting while the getting's good," said Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana. His wanderlust, however legal it may be, may have in part earned him some early competition in next year's Republican state convention, where delegates choose the next secretary of state. Both Knox County Clerk Dave Shelton, who ran against Morales in 2022, and 2024 gubernatorial candidate Jamie Reitenour have said in recent weeks that they intend to run. Morales himself announced his reelection campaign in a five-minute video in early May. Morales has defended this travel on the airways and social media and said his international speaking engagements fall well within his job description. "There are people that will say that I shouldn't be doing stuff like this or that it's not part of the job. I disagree respectfully," he told Fort Wayne radio station WOWO. "We charter new businesses every day in the office, and we want to let everyone know that Indiana is the top state to start a business." "I'm not choosing to take these trips over other things," he continued. "I do it all. I'm going 100 miles per hour." His potential challengers next year have other ammunition unrelated to travel. He's currently under investigation by the Marion County Election Board for potentially violating election law by allegedly using footage from an official visit in that campaign announcement video. He's caught flak for giving a lucrative job to a brother-in-law, and was in India during his agency's budget request presentation to senators this year, during which his stand-in fielded rigorous questioning about the office's no-bid contracts. That followed a 2022 campaign season during which questions about his voting history, professional background and allegations of sexual assault came to light. If Morales were a member of Congress ― as he tried to become in 2018 ― Hoosiers would be able to find out a lot of information every time he hit the road. U.S. representatives and senators have to file travel reports for all "travel-related expenses reimbursed by non-government sources," known as "gift travel," as well as expenses related to all "official foreign travel." Their annual financial disclosure forms require great detail, including all sources and amounts of income and liabilities. Further, U.S. senators have to get approval 30 days in advance from the Select Committee on Ethics for privately sponsored trips. These requirements would likely have covered Morales's trip to India, which he said was initially sponsored by a private entity, as well as his second Hungary trip, for which he said CPAC Hungary covered his costs. But in Indiana, reporting requirements are far more lax. Statewide elected officials file annual financial disclosure forms on their own, without the assistance of their offices. In Indiana law, the definition of reportable "gifts" is anything worth more than $100 that they receive from a person who does business with the office-holder or their agency. The state budget's new language only applies to trips funded by state taxdollars and done in an "official" capacity. These rules let Morales off the hook for his two most recent trips. CPAC doesn't do business with his office, a spokesperson said. Same goes for the private sponsor of the India trip, Morales said on the radio, so disclosing that identity "never came up." Still, in light of public scrutiny, Morales said in the radio interview he decided to personally reimburse that private sponsor ― "because that's the right thing to do." The private funding sources for each of these trips exempts them from disclosure under the new state budget language. And even if that wasn't the case, Morales also billed the Hungary trip as "personal time," though he happened to also accept an invitation to speak in his official capacity at CPAC Hungary. "He's tourist Diego over in Hungary… but then he's public official Diego at the same time because they needed him," Vaughn said. "It's infuriating that there's this space in Indiana law that allows him to get away with this." His public speaking gigs likely fall through the cracks of campaign finance law, too, because Morales appears at such events as secretary of state and not as a secretary of state candidate ― even though he is now both of these things at once. The law doesn't necessarily account for activity that looks and feels like campaigning, even if it's not labeled as such ― like networking at CPAC Hungary with other high-profile conservative political figures, said Gregory Shufeldt, political science professor at the University of Indianapolis. This is where the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law can come into play, he said. "Even if there isn't a quid pro quo ― or it doesn't break the law ― the appearance of corruption can have the same disastrous effects on public confidence, support for institutions, and political efficacy," he said. Morales sees these trips differently. He told the Fort Wayne radio station that even while visiting family in Hungary, he would never turn down an opportunity to represent the state of Indiana, especially at a conservative conference. "I always enjoy these opportunities that allow me to showcase Indiana and let companies across the world know, we are open for business," he said. He also committed to never using taxpayer dollars for overseas travel. In India, accompanied again by his wife, Morales spoke at two tech conferences. He said a private business that doesn't work with his agency, but "saw the benefit of Indiana being represented in these conferences," paid for the travel arrangements. In response to many calls to disclose the funder's identity, Morales said he asked if he could, but the benefactor was "afraid of being targeted by the liberal media or the crazy left." More: Secretary of State Diego Morales faces criticism for 10-day India trip. Here's why he was there So Morales said he personally reimbursed the funder. In a statement to IndyStar, an office spokesperson said he did this "in an effort to be transparent and in respect of the business wanting to be anonymous." "Secretary Morales maintains the utmost commitment to transparency," the office said. But for observers, this action only made appearances worse. "The fact that he's working overtime to keep the original funder secret just makes it more suspicious," Vaughn said. "It's just not believable that somebody out of the goodness of their heart finances a trip like this." Even if everything is above board, speaking in an official capacity in Hungary, a country the European Union no longer considers a democracy, might not be a good look for Indiana's top election official, Shufeldt said. Morales' office did not respond to IndyStar's question about the appropriateness of networking in Hungary or whether he sought formal or informal ethics opinions on any of the international trips. "If nothing else, this is tone deaf and flouting the rules," Shufeldt said. "Whether he has broken any rules or not ― which speaks to how poor Indiana's campaign finance laws are, how perhaps toothless these new reforms passed by the IGA are or will be ― Morales has been subject to consistent controversies and bad press based on his own poor judgment. This is just another example."
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: The Rolling Stones appear on Michigan Avenue in ‘tight trousers and haggard looks'
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 11, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1953: Celinus 'Clem' Graver, state representative and 'Bloody 21st' Ward Republican committeeman, was kidnapped from his garage half a block from his home at 976 W. 18th Place, as his wife and a friend watched. Graver was never heard from again. Part of the problem — Graver was a mystery himself. 'Although his government salary totaled only $5,000, he had two $30,000 homes, wore tailored suits and panama hats, and never carried less than $500 in cash,' Tribune reporter Ann Marie Lipinski wrote in 1978. 'Investigators also discovered that the ward committeeman, often described as 'ruggedly handsome,' had made several secret trips to Cuba before the kidnapping.' 1964: A news conference held by the Rolling Stones in Nathaniel Hale Court outside Tribune Tower was abruptly ended when Larry Koznatz, a barber at the Chicago Sheraton (now Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk) hotel, offered to give the five lads hair cuts. 1971: As TWA Flight 358 boarded at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Gregory White grabbed flight attendant Catharine Culver and put a gun to her neck. When passenger Howard L. Franks of Darien, Connecticut, tried to help Culver, White shot and killed him. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was the first time a passenger had been killed in a U.S. airplane hijacking. No metal detector had been used to screen passengers at the gate. White made Culver sit next to him aboard the aircraft and told all other passengers to exit the plane before it took off for New York, as scheduled. He demanded the pilot take him to North Vietnam, requested $75,000 and 'a machine gun with plenty of ammunition.' During the confusion, word spread at the airport that a short man was needed to crawl into the plane through its cockpit window. Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph Zito, 5 foot 6, who had just retired as chief of police in Cary, donned a captain's uniform, slid into the plane undetected, then waited. It was his first-ever plane ride, which he spent most of on his stomach 'dodging bullets and matching wits' with White. With the captain's permission, Zito fired two shots during the flight, which hit White in the shoulder. After the plane landed, Culver and the flight crew escaped without harm. White, who was taken into custody by federal agents, was later found incompetent to stand trial on hijacking and murder charges. White hung himself at Chester Mental Health Center in Illinois seven years later. 1997: In what would become known as the 'Flu Game,' a vomiting, dehydrated Jordan scored 38 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer late in a series-shifting Game 5 win against the Jazz in Utah. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
