Latest / Connecticut Today / Connecticut Today - September 3, 2026
Transcript
- 0:05P>Good morning. It's Thursday, September 3rd, and this is Connecticut Today, CT
- 0:09Insider's Daily Audio Briefing. Catch up on Connecticut. All news, no noise
- 0:13in under 5 minutes. We're starting off with a quick look at
- 0:16the weather: keep an umbrella handy, as showers and thunderstorms are expected
- 0:20across the state today. We'll have the full forecast at the end
- 0:22of the briefing.
- 0:24In today's headlines, It remains difficult for Connecticut residents to find out
- 0:27what stocks their state legislators own. Although laws require politicians to disclose
- 0:32financial holdings, the reports are not published online and can be vague.
- 0:36Some lawmakers provide detailed records, while others submit disclosures with little information.
- 0:41The Office of State Ethics has not audited these filings for over
- 0:44a decade due to staffing cuts. CT Insider reviewed more than 190
- 0:48filings and found that Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, and Google are among
- 0:52the most commonly owned stocks by lawmakers. State legislators are only required
- 0:56to report stocks valued over 5,000 and the lack of detailed reporting
- 1:01means much activity remains hidden.
- 1:03p>The debate over data center tax incentives is heating up in Connecticut's
- 1:06race for governor. Republican candidate Ryan Fazio is criticizing Governor Ned Lamont
- 1:11for supporting tax exemptions for qualifying data centers, a policy passed in
- 1:142021 with bipartisan support. Lamont now says he only supports data centers
- 1:19that pay for their own electricity or supply their own power, a
- 1:21position Fazio also endorses. The two differ on tax breaks: Fazio wants
- 1:27to repeal the 2021 law, while Lamont would keep the program but
- 1:30is open to adding legal guardrails. So far, only Cigna has used
- 1:33the tax incentives, receiving 23 million in state tax rebates for a
- 1:37data center renovation and creating five new jobs. Fazio argues this is
- 1:41a poor return for taxpayers, while Lamont says repealing the incentives would
- 1:45mean raising taxes on major employers like Cigna.
- 1:48p>Former New Britain Mayor Aaron Stewart missed a final deadline to pay
- 1:51more than 241,000 in restitution to the city for alleged improper payments
- 1:56and related auditing fees. City officials say Stewart and her attorney have
- 2:00not contacted them since the demand was issued in June. The city
- 2:03plans to pursue legal action to recover the funds. Stewart is also
- 2:07under state and federal investigation for alleged misuse of her city-issued credit
- 2:11card and handling of a charity fund. After a law firm's report
- 2:15on the credit card allegations was released, Stewart suspended her campaign for
- 2:18the Republican nomination for governor.
- 2:20new state highway sign in Litchfield misspelled the neighboring town of Harwinton
- 2:24as Harrington, adding an extra G. The error was quickly noticed by
- 2:28local officials and reported to the Department of Transportation, which said the
- 2:31contractor responsible will fix the sign. The misspelling has a long history
- 2:36in Connecticut records, dating back to the 1700s, and still appears in
- 2:40some state documents and websites today. Local historian Susan McLennan says the
- 2:44extra G is sometimes heard in speech but is not the correct
- 2:47spelling.
- 2:48Connecticut's doctors are getting older, and Yale New Haven Hospital has implemented
- 2:52cognitive testing for physicians over age 70 to ensure patient safety. The
- 2:56hospital is now defending the program in federal court after the Equal
- 3:00Employment Opportunity Commission sued, claiming age discrimination. Since the testing began in
- 3:042016, only TU doctors have lost their privileges, but several others have
- 3:09retired early. Experts say that while cognitive scores can decline with age,
- 3:13most older doctors remain in good health. Connecticut retains fewer than 20
- 3:18of its medical school graduates, making the issue of an aging medical
- 3:21workforce especially important for the state.
- 3:24and now for the full weather forecast. Showers and thunderstorms will move
- 3:27through Connecticut early today, with another round possible this afternoon as temperatures
- 3:32rise into the upper 70s and low 80s. Some storms could bring
- 3:35heavy rain and gusty winds, but the risk of severe weather is
- 3:38limited. Conditions will improve by Thursday evening, and Friday looks sunnier with
- 3:43lower humidity. The Labor Day weekend is expected to be cooler and
- 3:46mostly dry, with only a slight chance of a shower on Saturday.
- 3:50Thanks for listening. For more local news, visit ctinsider.com. This digest was
- 3:55partially generated by AI and then reviewed and edited by our newsroom
- 3:58staff.