The U.S. Senate will take up one of two nominations to fill vacancies of Connecticut judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week as Democrats race to confirm more of President Joe Biden’s nominees before the November elections — or at least by the end of the year.Sarah Merriam was nominated by Biden last year to serve as a federal... Read More about Senate races to confirm Connecticut judges to 2nd Circuit Court

988’S EARLY RESULTS — The 988 suicide prevention line, launched in mid-July, saw a 45 percent increase in calls in August 2022 compared to August 2021.The new system’s first full month showed improvements, according to HHS data released Friday, including faster response times and higher answered rates.Calls, texts and chats routed to 988... Read More about Mental health policy continues to evolve

Hartford ?Joined by a group of nurses benefiting by the measure, Democratic U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy discussed the importance of partially canceling student loan debt during a news conference Tuesday morning.Among the nurses were Sherri Dayton, an emergency room nurse and president of the Backus Hospital Federation of... Read More about Murphy, Blumenthal discuss what student loan debt cancellation means for state residents

Bradley International Airport soon will mark the end of time-wasting shuttle bus rides for travelers picking up rental cars, a significant milestone celebrated Thursday with the completion of the airport’s $210 million ground transportation center. All the airport’s rental car companies — now scattered in and around Bradley — will be consolidated... Read More about The new, $210 million transportation center at Bradley International Airport is completed. Here are 7 things to know.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has dominated headlines for the last few days, so much so that it almost eclipsed some major developments in a different long-running American debate - the Second Amendment and the fight over gun safety. Last week, the Supreme Court and Congress made big moves in opposite... Read More about On Gun Control, Two Big Steps In Opposite Directions

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Saturday signed into law a bipartisan gun bill intended to prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms and increase investments in the nation’s mental health system, ending nearly three decades of gridlock in Washington over how to address gun violence in the United States. Final passage of the... Read More about Biden Signs Gun Bill Into Law, Ending Years of Stalemate

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Saturday signed into law a bipartisan gun bill intended to prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms and increase investments in the nation’s mental health system, ending nearly three decades of gridlock in Washington over how to address gun violence in the United States. Final passage of the... Read More about The bill is the most significant gun measure to clear Congress in nearly three decades, though it falls short of more restrictive gun control proposals that Democrats favor.

WASHINGTON — Inside a pink-hued hideaway office in the basement of the Capitol last month, Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, did something unusual for the start of a high-stakes legislative negotiation: Instead of a wish list, he came with a blacklist.Two days earlier, an 18-year-old man had walked into an elementary school in... Read More about Leaving Wish Lists at the Door, Senators Found Consensus on Guns

In the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, a group of lawmakers announced a new round of negotiations on a possible bill to address gun violence. The eye-rolling from many observers was practically audible. After all, it was relatively early in Bill Clinton’s first term when Congress approved legislation to address gun violence, and... Read More about Congress overcomes GOP opposition, passes bill on gun violence

In a Washington run by Baby Boomers and octogenarians, it took two 40-something Democrats with a yin-and-yang approach to get a gun safety deal done.  Chris Murphy had developed self-described “pessimism” in his decadelong quest to rein in gun violence. That’s where Kyrsten Sinema came in, pushing her more liberal friend... Read More about ‘Unwilling to accept defeat’: How Sinema and Murphy clinched guns deal for Dems

Chris Murphy flew home Friday in rumpled gray jeans and a blue dress shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows, eyes bleary. He didn’t wait in Washington for final passage of America’s first significant gun safety law in three decades, one that he negotiated and shepherded to passage late Thursday in the Senate. “We worked last night... Read More about Chris Murphy and Connecticut’s gun safety movement get their moment

Thursday night, both Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer had reason to celebrate. After decades of inaction on gun legislation, the two men were able to achieve something that neither had imagined possible just weeks before: a compromise on gun safety legislation brokered by four members they'd each given their blessing to negotiate. For... Read More about Why now? How four senators finally got a gun deal no one thought was possible

As the country commemorates the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark law banning sex discrimination in education, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, will introduce a bill in the coming weeks to improve gender equity in sports, his office told USA TODAY. Murphy, who will cosponsor the Fair Play for Women Act of 2022 with Rep. Alma Adams,... Read More about As US celebrates 50 years of Title IX, a new bill aims to improve gender equity in sports

The Senate on Thursday passed legislation aimed at stanching acts of mass gun violence, with 15 Republicans joining Democrats to advance a bill combining modest new firearms restrictions with $15 billion in mental health and school security funding. The 65-to-33 vote represented an unlikely breakthrough on the emotional and polarizing question of... Read More about Senate passes bipartisan gun violence bill, marking breakthrough

Sen. Chris Murphy said, "we value white life in this country more than Black life" when asked about the bipartisan gun legislation in an interview with PBS. Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, has been at the forefront of a bill introduced last month after the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York,... Read More about Senator Chris Murphy on his decades long-fight for gun reform: 'We value white life in this country more than Black life'

 The Senate has reached a bipartisan deal that could lead to the most significant federal response to gun violence in decades. Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, was deeply involved in the negotiations. Today, he tells us how news of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, left him with a feeling of desperation — and renewed... Read More about Senator Chris Murphy on the Bipartisan Gun Safety Deal

Time is the enemy of gun-control legislation, any advocate will tell you. The outcry for stricter gun laws has always been loudest during moments of national horror, in the hours and days after a massacre, when the anger is raw and the anguish of grieving survivors and families fills the airwaves. That brief window for action quickly begins to... Read More about How Bipartisan Gun-Control Talks Actually Succeeded

Getting sensible gun reform has long been thought to be all but impossible. Yet on June 12th ten Democrats and ten Republicans reached an agreement designed to curb gun violence. If passed into law, it could be the most significant reform in three decades. “This is not window dressing,” Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from... Read More about Why a deal on gun control became possible in America’s Senate

The first step in understanding the new legislative framework on gun violence that a bipartisan group of senators agreed to on Sunday is grasping how its Republican participants see it. “This is not about creating new restrictions on law-abiding citizens,” Senator John Cornyn, who led the Republican side, said last week.... Read More about The Bipartisan Gun Deal Represents Slow, Painful Progress

Senate bargainers on Sunday announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last month’s mass shootings, a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many... Read More about Senate negotiators announce a deal on guns, breaking logjam