The city has adopted new Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance rate maps.
The Planning and Zoning Board-approved maps were effective March 29, as part of continued participation in the National Flood Insurance Program, the city said in a written release.
If somebody has an insurance policy renewing before July 8, Assistant City Planner Emmeline Harrigan said, it will be renewed under the old maps.
After that, the new maps will take effect.
They are part of FEMA’s RISK Map project for the state to provide updated studies of coastal flooding risks.
Federal gun responsibility reforms can only make Connecticut residents safer. Ask your family and friends in other states to call their senators and representatives to support common sense gun reform legislation.
“Some back in Washington are already floating the idea that they might use political stunts to prevent votes on any of these reforms. Think about that. They’re not just saying they’ll vote ‘no’ on ideas that almost all Americans support. They’re saying they won’t allow any votes on them at all. They’re saying your opinion doesn’t matter. And that’s not right,” he said.
Taking a cue from the National Rifle Association, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the gun control group led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), will release its very own scoring system on Tuesday to evaluate lawmakers’ votes and statements on issues related to guns, the Washington Post reported.
According to WaPo, the Bloomberg-financed group will award lawmakers letter grades from “A” to “F” — not unlike the NRA’s own scorecard, which the pro-gun lobby has used effectively through the years to apply pressure on elected officials.
“For decades, the NRA has done an admirable job of tracking to minute detail how members of Congress stand on gun bills. We’ve simply decided to do the same,” Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, told WaPo.
Bloomberg has positioned himself as the leading gun control advocate in the country, saying last month that he’s trying to “level the playing field” with the NRA. Mayors Against Illegal Guns launched a $12 million advertising campaign late last month intended to pressure senators to support universal background checks.
I underwent robotic cancer surgery last Thursday at Yale Smilow Center. The surgery was a success and I’m getting stronger every day. I am homebound on medical leave until my team releases me.
I take my job as your State Representative very seriously and I’m sorry that I am in this position at this time. I am in contact with my office every day and all of your issues, questions, and concerns will be handled in the same timely professional manner as they have been in the past.
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.
The state House of Representatives at 2:26 a.m. gave final legislative approval to the bill by a vote of 105 to 44, with 2 absent. Of the 98 House Democrats present, 13 voted no; and 31 of the 51 Republicans in the hall voted no.
About eight hours earlier, the state Senate had approved it by a 26-10 vote – with two of 22 Democrats and eight of 14 Republicans opposed.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will sign the bipartisan bill into law at noon Thursday in the Old Judiciary Room on the third floor of the state Capitol.
“This is a new and historic model for the country on an issue that has typically been the most controversial and divisive. We in Connecticut are breaking new ground today,” Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said near the end of that chamber’s six-hour debate.
Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, whose district includes Newtown, said that since the mass killings, “I’ve been working, as have others … to see what we can do to heal that community — if we can do anything. What we can do to make Connecticut safer? … I’m proud that we’ve done that.”
McKinney brought a hush to the Senate chamber when he said he wanted to be “the voice” for the Dec. 14 victims – and then slowly recited the names of the 20 first-graders and six women who were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown by a disturbed 20-year-old.
Even before the gunman walked into Sandy Hook School on Dec. 14 and killed 20 children and six educators, lawmakers and their staffers were working on improving access to mental health and behavioral health services. The horrific events in Newtown just acted as a catalyst to bring advocates and the industry together to resolve the problem.
Several public hearings on the issue demonstrated what advocates already knew — Connecticut residents still face significant barriers to treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. Despite federal and state mental health parity laws, it’s an area of the health care system where having private insurance doesn’t necessarily mean access to services.
The bill the General Assembly will debate today would require mental health and substance abuse services to be considered “urgent care” and also shortens the review time for service requests from 72 hours to 24 hours.
The legislation also requires:
—insurance companies to inform consumers that they have the right to appeal a denial of care;
—the Insurance Department to evaluate and report on compliance with mental health parity laws, and;
—the health professional reviewing an insurance claim to have similar qualifications to the medical professional prescribing it.
State Healthcare Advocate Victoria Veltri called the proposal a “very strong and bold piece of legislation.”
The bill includes many more protections for consumers than ever existed before in the state, she said.
Have you ever considered running for public office?
We will not be able to continue to put Connecticut back on track without allies in elected positions up and down the ballot. We need to have strong Democratic voices at every level of government, from local school boards to the highest offices in Hartford and Washington, D.C.
Fifteen years ago, 1 in 10,000 kids had autism. Ten years ago it was 1 in 1,000, then 1 in 150, 1 in 88 and now 1 in 50. This means there is one child with autism on just about every school bus (one school bus holds about 50 children).
Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving “bye bye” are called developmental milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, behave, and move (crawling, walking, etc.).
Developmental screening is a short test to tell if children are learning basic skills when they should, or if they might have delays. During developmental screening the doctor might ask the parent some questions or talk and play with the child during an exam to see how she learns, speaks, behaves, and moves.
If the doctor sees any signs of a problem, a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation is needed.
Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation
The second step of diagnosis is a comprehensive evaluation. This thorough review may include looking at the child’s behavior and development and interviewing the parents. It may also include a hearing and vision screening, genetic testing, neurological testing, and other medical testing.
In some cases, the primary care doctor might choose to refer the child and family to a specialist for further assessment and diagnosis. Specialists who can do this type of evaluation include:
•Developmental Pediatricians (doctors who have special training in child development and children with special needs)
•Child Neurologists (doctors who work on the brain, spine, and nerves)
•Child Psychologists or Psychiatrists (doctors who know about the human mind)
Source say the bill, which is expected to be taken up by the General Assembly on Wednesday, would:
• Expand and strengthen an existing prohibition on semi-automatic assault rifles;
•Ban the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds;
•Mandate registration of existing high-capacity magazines;
•Create a “dangerous weapon offenders registry,” available only to law enforcement;
•Require a “certificate of eligibility” or gun permit before buying any ammunition. Certificates of eligibility could only be obtained after undergoing a national criminal background check;
•Institute a universal background check for all purchases of firearms, including private sales.
More details:
Gun Deal Allows High Capacity Magazine Owners To Keep Them
Sandy Hook Parents Demand Changes
The deal sets up a potential conflict between those legislative leaders seeking a gun-control compromise and a coalition of the most outspoken parents of victims of the Newtown school massacre.
A group of those parents held a press conference in the State Capitol Monday morning to demand an up-or-down vote on an amendment that would ban the high-capacity magazines outright and not allow existing owners to keep them under a so-called “grandfather clause,” as the agreement negotiated by the leaders reportedly provides.
They said that if Lanza had been limited to 10 rounds at a time, he would have had to stop shooting more often to reload, and he might not have killed as many people.
“We specifically want an up or down vote on the banning of these large-capacity magazines with no grandfathering clause,” said Nicole Hockley, whose son, Dylan, 6, was killed Dec. 14. “Because we learned, the way that no other parents should learn, that the most dangerous, dangerous part of an assault weapon is the magazine.”
“The horrible, brutal truth is that 154 bullets were fired in four minutes, killing our children, our daughters, our wives. The shooter carried 10, 30-round large-capacity magazines,” Hockley said. “We have learned that in the time it took him to reload in one of the classrooms, 11 children were able to escape. We ask ourselves every day – every minute – if those magazines had held 10 rounds, forcing the shooter to reload at least six more times, would our children be alive today?”
Snip
Hockley said that she thinks a more reasonable approach would be to give owners of high-capacity magazines six months or a year to give them up. “My personal opinion is six months to a year is a reasonable point for hand back or buyback – whatever method is decided on that gives people enough time to do what they need to do.”
While legislative leaders have declined to comment on specifics of their gun-control agreement, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy responded quickly to news about the compromise.
“I have been clear for weeks that a ban on the possession and sale of high capacity magazines is an important part of our effort to prevent gun violence – simply banning their sale moving forward would not be an effective solution. This morning, we heard from victims’ families on that very point. They’ve asked for an up or down vote on that provision and, whether it’s in the larger bill or as an amendment, the families, and every resident of our state, deserve a vote. We know this is an issue that has bipartisan support, including from Senate Minority Leader John McKinney. We cannot lose sight of our ultimate goal – improving public safety for all of our residents, including our children.”
