WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate agreed Wednesday to take up a sweeping transportation bill a little over a week before states will face a cutoff of highway and transit aid in the middle of the summer construction season.
The GOP-drafted bill would set policy and authorize transportation programs for six years, but provides only enough to pay for the programs for three years.
The vote was 62 to 36. Sixty votes were necessary to proceed.
Despite an array of concerns Democrats voiced with the bill over the past two days — including that some provisions may undermine safety, that transit programs didn't received their fair share of funding and that the spending offsets include budget gimmickry — 14 Democrats and two independents joined with 46 Republicans to go forward with the bill.
"The bill still needs some fixing but tonight it was a question of whether or not we even have a bill to fix," said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. "If we don't have a long-term highway funding bill, we won't have the money we need to repair and build roads and bridges."
The vote puts the Senate on a path toward likely passage of the measure by the middle of next week. That would set up a possible confrontation with the House, which has passed a five-month extension of transportation programs. GOP leaders there expressed reluctance to take up a Senate bill of more than 1,000 pages that they've only had days to consider. They say they could do a better job of drafting a long-term bill themselves if given a few more months. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Plans for the Hotel Zero Degrees, a brand that’s already been successful in Stamford and Norwalk, were recently approved by city land-use boards including the Environmental Impact Commission, according to city land use officials.
Hal Kurfehs, vice president of Bethel-based Coldwell Banker Commercial, Scalzo Group, said RMS closed on the propoerty last week. RMS purchased the almost 9-acre lot from WCI Communities for about $1.2 million, he said. The hotel, once built, will be located across the street from the Regional Hospice of Western Connecticut.
“The new hotel will provide Danbury with the luxurious facilities that top executives expect and will bring the city to the next level of hospitality,” Kurfehs said.
The hotel, according to its website, offers a combination “of old world hospitality and modern-day amenities.” Plans call for 111 rooms, a 100-seat restaurant and a 120-seat banquet facility. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Little-known history of how Meriden's Chauncey Peak got it's name
MERIDEN — Chauncy Hall was an innovator who at one point in Meriden’s history lived “in a little house on the road to Westfield.”
That’s according to the 1899 historical tome “Recollections of a New England Town,” by Frances A. Breckenridge.
The road where Hall lived is most likely Westfield Road, which winds up toward Chauncey Peak. It’s likely the well-known peak derives its name from Hall.
“To the list of odd characters once in Meriden, the name of Chauncy Hall should be added,” according to “Recollections.” “He was an inventor and went by the name of ‘Quizzy.’”
Quizzy was something of a visionary. In the 1830s, he “conceived the notion of ‘stone shingles,’” Breckenridge writes. About the same time, he came up with the concept of a wire fence, and also the notion that silk would one day become a common enough a commodity that “every servant girl would have a silk dress.”
The book continues, “Silk gowns are plenty and cheap these days, and so are wire fences and tiled roofs.”
A separate historical account, “Transactions of the Scientific Association, Meriden, Conn.” compiled in 1885 notes that a “semi-detached” portion of Lamentation Mountain “is known to the old inhabitants as Chauncy Hall Peak.”
It’s not clear how Chauncey Peak gained an ‘e’ in its spelling, nor when the peak was named for Hall.
It’s less clear how Lamentation Mountain, on which the peak sits, gained its name.
“Recollections” notes “...versions of the origin of Mt. Lamentation have been current at different times.” The story told by many in the early 1800s was that at some point in the 1700s “a Wallingford man was missed from his home and never after heard from. A few years later, a skeleton was found on the mountain, and it was thought to be the remains of the missing man.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bethsaida Community Inc., which operates the Katie Blair House and the Flora O'Neill Apartments, is scheduled to receive a grant through the state Department of Housing for $385,754 to renovate seven supportive housing units for women.
The John B. Stanton and Uncas elementary schools in Norwich are among 18 Commissioner's Network schools statewide in line to receive capital improvements funding from the state Department of Education.
Network Schools, which receive state funding for educational improvements, also are eligible to apply for capital projects including alterations, repairs, improvements, technology and equipment and for health and safety projects.
Uncas would receive $200,000 and Stanton $180,186 to continue renovations funded in previous years through the Network Schools program, Superintendent Abby Dolliver said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Horseshoes instead of shovels at Capewell ceremony
Kenneth R. Gosselin
If you've seen one groundbreaking, you've seen them all: dignitaries using gold-painted shovels to scoop and toss a bit of dirt.
Not so at Wednesday's ceremony at the former Capewell Horse Nail Co. factory where there was a different kind of tossing: gold-colored horseshoes in a regulation-size pit.
A dozen guests — including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra, Capital Region Development Authority Chairman Suzanne Hopgood and Corporation for Independent Living Chief Executive Kent Schwendy — stepped up to pitch the horseshoes.
It was a nod to the factory's history of manufacturing horseshoe nails.
The ceremony marked the completion of a financing package for a $26 million conversion of the building into 72 apartments and 5,000 square feet of commercial space.
There were a lot of smiles, but not much clinking of horseshoes against the two metal stakes.
Cancer treatment center approved in Manchester
MANCHESTER — The planning and zoning commission has approved a new cancer treatment center on Tolland Turnpike.
The center will be part of a network of cancer-care facilities run by Hartford HealthCare, the parent of Hartford Hospital and four other acute-care hospitals in the state. About 30 patients are expected each day and employees are expected to include five doctors and 40 to 45 medical staff members.
The three-story structure, a project of Hartford HealthCare, will be built on 1.47 acres of vacant land at 376 Tolland Turnpike and on the 0.76-acre site of the neighboring India Kitchen, a vacant restaurant that will be demolished.
The glass and brick veneer building, to be called East Point Cancer Center, will share an entrance with the adjacent East Point medical office building site at 360 Tolland Turnpike. The center height of the new building would be 48 feet, a feature that required a variance from the zoning board of appeals. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Expansion of New Haven's State Street station part of new Hartford line
NEW HAVEN >> Looking ahead to the rail service that will bring train riders from New Haven to Springfield, Massachusetts, the state Department of Transportation on Wednesday unveiled plans for an expanded State Street station.
The so-called Hartford Line already is under construction, with double-tracking being completed and stations being built in Wallingford, Meriden and Berlin, and others in planning stages, Bruce Olmstead, project manager for the DOT, said during a public hearing at the Ives Memorial Library.
The Meriden station “broke ground less than two weeks ago,” Olmstead said. “The construction has started. We’ve started the construction of the double track, we’ve started the construction of the stations and we’re moving forward.”
“Our goal is to have seamless, peak-hour trains” with 25 daily round trips running the 62 miles between New Haven and Springfield, Olmstead said. During the startup phase beginning in 2017, there are 17 planned trains to Hartford, with 12 going on to Springfield, up from six now. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
School, college in line for funds
HARTFORD — The State Bond Commission is expected to approve more than $6.5 million for campus improvements to Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury next week, and give $360,000 more for upgrades at two struggling Waterbury schools.
These items are among 43 requests the bond commission is set to take up for state and local agencies during a special meeting on Tuesday. In all, $975.4 million worth of projects and initiatives are up for approval. Large chunks of this money will cover the annual cost of state assistance to cities and towns for school construction, and for state transportation projects.
At NVCC, the money will pay for reconfiguring the awkward entrance on the east side of the campus, by Founders Hall. It will also pay for repair to an associated parking lot, paving of the college's perimeter road, new lighting, improved disability access, lighting and upgraded sidewalks.
"All I can say is the college is living its mission," said NVCC President Daisy Cocco De Filippis. "We are working really hard to respond to the needs of the workforce. We are eternally grateful to Governor Malloy for noticing the work we do."
De Filippis also credited Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O'Leary, Sen. Joan Hartley, D-15th District, and Rep. Jeffrey J. Berger, D-73rd District, the House chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, calling them strong advocates for the college.
"This is by far the biggest installment of funds that will serve to enhance NVCC that is instrumental in training workers for 21st century jobs," Berger said.
These state dollars, if approved as expected, come on the heels of $44 million approved by the state for complete reconstruction of Founders Hall.
The commission is also scheduled to vote on assistance for various struggling schools across the state, including $200,000 for Waterbury's Crosby High School and $160,000 for Walsh Elementary School. Both schools are enrolled in a state school reform program.
This bond money is meant to complement those reforms, paying for new equipment and building upgrades. At Walsh, the money will pay for replacement SmartBoards, carts full of iPads, intercom repairs, new classroom furniture in about a third of the building and additional recess equipment, according to Paul Whyte, turnaround supervisor for Waterbury schools.
At Crosby, a portion of the bond money will pay to reconfigure the main entrance — making it more prominent and welcoming to visitors, while helping office staff keep a better eye on the foyer, Whyte said. The money will also be used to buy new furniture for ninth grade classrooms, aimed at assisting with a new learning approach focusing on collaborative projects, Whyte said.
The bond commission agenda also includes: n $1 million for the Department of Transportation to finance a design and engineering study for improvements to the interchange of Interstate 84 and Route 8 in Waterbury.
n $24.6 million for a new Joyner Hall building at Northwestern Community College in Winsted. This project consists of a 24,400-square-foot new building that will house a veterinary technology program and classrooms.
n $265,000 grant to the town of Seymour to complete improvements to athletic fields at Seymour High School.
n $1 million for the town of Burlington for renovations to the town library.
n $1.3 million loan to Microboard Processing Inc. in Seymour to assist with plant upgrades and machinery and equipment for expansion. The company will retain 90 jobs and create 20 new jobs.
The loan will be provided at an interest rate of 2 percent for 10 years. The company will be eligible for loan forgiveness of $625,000 if it creates the 20 new jobs and retains them for two years.