Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Tuesday, March 26, 2013


Dozens of activists from around the state held a rally outside the downtown New Haven branch of TD Bank on Saturday morning, targeting its financial support for the Keystone XL pipeline, which they oppose. WPKN’s Melinda Tuhus was there.
Organizer Anthony Sourge, with the group Capitalism Versus the Climate, explained the issue to a curious passerby.
Listen here
Organizers included 350 CT.Protesters said TD Bank has made almost a billion dollars in corporate loans to TransCanada to fund the pipeline project.
Asked for comment, a bank spokesman wrote in an email that TD Bank “supports responsible energy development and employs due diligence in our financing and investing activities relating to energy production.” It also claims on its website to be carbon-neutral in its corporate operations.
Melinda Tuhus, WPKN News.
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U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy said Connecticut’s ability to act swiftly on comprehensive gun control could affect national policy, and its failure to act would also send a message.
Gun control will be the first non-budget issue the U.S. Senate tackles after the spring recess. Blumenthal and Murphy said their Capitol Hill colleagues have been asking what steps Connecticut has taken in the wake of the Newtown shooting nearly 100 days ago.
At a press conference Monday in Blumenthal’s Hartford office Murphy said “It would be a tragedy if Connecticut didn’t pass a law that was the strongest in the nation,”.
Blumenthal said there has been enough time for Connecticut to act and it should act.
He added that if a national ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines were in effect on Dec. 14, some of the 20 children and six adults killed by the gunman might be alive today.
Murphy said the most important piece of the assault weapons ban is the ban on high-capacity magazine clips.
Connecticut’s legislative leaders continue to work behind closed-doors to craft a legislative response to the tragedy, but no final bill has been completed.
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The Suffolk Times reports more than 100 different pesticide-related chemicals have been detected in Long Island’s groundwater since 1996. That’s according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
To prevent future pesticide contamination, the DEC has released a draft version of a strategy aimed at protecting Long Island’s waters. Its goal is to establish effective pest management, while protecting the Island’s waters.
A public hearing on the Long Island Pesticide Use Management Plan (LIPUMP).will be held by the DEC on Wednesday, April 3 from 7 to 9 PM at the Suffolk County Community College Eastern Campus in Riverhead.
A summary of the plan and the Draft Strategy are available at EastHampton.Patch.com. Search for “LIPUMP”
If you cannot attend the hearings, please send your written comments on the Draft Strategy, by 5pm April 30, 2013
via fax to : 518-402-9024
Comments on the Draft Strategy, may be sent by 5pm April 30 by email to
LongIslandStrategy@gw.dec.state.ny.us
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Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine is considering selling the former Town Tax Receiver’s building on Port Jefferson’s Main Street.
Romaine said that selling it could reduce the amount the town would have to dip into its reserve funds at the end of 2013. He estimated it could yield the town anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million.
The Long Island Music Hall of Fame (LIMHOF) has planned the building as their future home.
The Hall of Fame and Brookhaven Town entered into a 15-year lease agreement on the building two years ago. Romaine said he believes LIMHOF may be in default for failing to pay rent and possibly failing to insure itself.
LIMHOF Chair Jeffrey James said they have “absolutely not” breached any terms of its lease with the town.
It remains unclear whether Port Jefferson Village would buy the property should it become available. Mayor Margot Garant has directed the village attorney to reach out to Brookhaven’s law department to see how to get the village involved.
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