A Plainville electrical contractor pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing more than $3.3 million from 300 employees. Sixty-two-year-old Lee Ferguson owns and operates Ferguson Electric and Ferguson Mechanical. According to the U.S. Attorney District of Connecticut’s Office, from 2013 to 2017 Ferguson deducted around $1.60 to $3.15 per hour from each of his employees’ fringe benefits […]
The bipartisan bill represents the latest step in Bridgeport’s nearly three-decade pursuit of a casino development. It does not yet have the support of Gov. Ned Lamont and faces other obstacles, like the threat of legal action, to passage and implementation. The bill allows the Mashantucket and Mohegan Pequot tribes, who run Foxwoods and Mohegan […]
If you are brand new to public works projects, start at square one: familiarize yourself with Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage laws to better understand what’s at stake (check out the US Department of Labor website). There are very real consequences for violations, such as payment of back wages, additional fines and penalties, prosecution, and other […]
The first phase of the $1 billion green-energy and high-speed data center complex is a $100 million, 20-megawatt fuel cell. Construction will begin in the fall and the project will take place at the Stanley Works campus. According to the announcement, the company will spend $300 million in Phase 2 to build and renovate the […]
New Britain officials, led by Republican Mayor Erin Stewart, have embraced the CTfastrak bus rapid transit system as an economic engine, and it seems to be working. The mayor said in a recent interview that she expects 200 new units of downtown housing in place by the end of this year, with another 100 coming […]
The 485-megawatt plant went online roughly a month ago, providing energy to thousands of homes and businesses throughout the state. It also set in motion plans to retire PSEG’s longstanding coal plant next door, which officials say is scheduled for June 2021. Monday was the official opening. That includes PSEG’s $600,000 Ready2Work program which helped […]
According to the American Lung Association, all of our state’s counties receive a grade of “F” when it comes to the ozone. Metro-North mostly runs its trains on electricity, but its diesels are downright filthy as are local buses, though many fleets are converting to natural gas or electric operation. Even shipping by water contributes […]
Ideanomics in a court filing said the $21.9 million assessment was “grossly excessive, disproportionate and unlawful.” Based on West Hartford’s 2019-2020 mill rate of 41.8, Ideanomics would owe about $918,834 in property taxes this fiscal year. Meantime, Ideanomics last week unveiled renderings of its planned sprawling West Hartford project — previously estimated at $283 million […]
While the debate over electronic tolls may seem over for the summer, Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney said Thursday that discussions are ongoing and a proposal could include tolling on some bridges combined with additional borrowing. The bridge-only proposal is the newest variation of ideas put forward this year, with others consisting of […]
The developer of a $1 billion fuel-cell powered data center in New Britain, slated to begin first-phase construction this fall, has secured a state tax break worth up to $55.2 million. It’s the largest benefit of its kind ever granted under the CI-administered relief program, which dates back well over a decade. The data center […]
The votes have been cast and the 2019 ENR New England Best Projects winners have finally been chosen. Three industry judges reviewed 43 projects located throughout the region, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. https://www.enr.com/blogs/8-new-england-news-and-views/post/47185-ern-new-england-announces-2019-best-project-winners
Permits for new housing construction across Connecticut rose about 10.5 percent in June. The permits were issued in 104 cities and towns the U.S. Census Bureau regularly samples. https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/ct-june-housing-permits-up-10
The chairwoman of the Connecticut Port Authority, Bonnie Reemsnyder, resigned Wednesday amid calls for her to step down by Gov. Ned Lamont. The authority also recently placed its executive director, Evan Matthews, on administrative leave, but has not stated the reason. Head of troubled CT port authority steps down
The path is clear for The Haven upscale retail outlet to begin demolition and construction, as the City Council late Monday cleared the last two hurdles by voting unanimously to approve a $5 million state grant for construction and abandonment of streets where the project will take place. The Haven has been five years in […]
A review of Connecticut transportation projects over the past three years shows Connecticut companies are awarded state contracts over 80 percent of the time, although some major projects are performed by out-of-state contractors. In 2018, CT DOT awarded a total of 61 contracts worth $899 million to 35 different companies. https://yankeeinstitute.org/2019/07/22/majority-of-transportation-projects-awarded-to-connecticut-companies-some-big-projects-go-to-out-of-state-firms/
The next step in connecting the southwestern part of the city with downtown, a project that will bring Orange Street across what is now a multilane highway, was officially launched Monday. Phase 2 of Downtown Crossing, which will take two years to complete, will bring 10 acres of vacant land and roadway back onto the […]
In discussions with Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative leaders, Looney, the Senate president pro tempore, is pressing for a limited tolling plan and more state bonding to fund improvements to the state’s highways, bridges and rails. As they pursue a proposal that can pass the General Assembly, Looney believes his experience as a toll taker […]
“Fintech village will be a unique and special place the likes of which Connecticut has not seen, adapted to fit organically into the scale and footprint of the former UConn campus…,” The state has pledged $10 million to the development in exchange for the 330 jobs Ideanomics promised to create. https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/ideanomics-unveils-virtual-fly-through-of-400m-fintech-village
Touted by lawmakers as the smallest school construction package in years, $160.5 million in grants for eight new school construction projects was passed with little debate Monday. Two of the eight new schools will be built in Fairfield, and one each will be built in Bridgeport, Enfield, Norwalk, Simsbury, Middletown, and Newington. The bill, which […]
In addition to attempting to override one of Gov. Ned Lamont’s vetoes Monday, the General Assembly is expected to approve school construction funds for eight schools in seven towns. However, negotiations on the annual bond package, which is the amount of money Connecticut borrows for infrastructure improvements, have hit a wall. Lamont’s offer to use […]
The $54 million project, which received a $15 million state grant, includes constructing a new nearly 20,000-square-foot building for treating and processing water and two new above-ground storage tanks, while repurposing elements of the 1939 facility, according to Groton Utilities. R.H. White Construction Co. of Massachusetts is the general contractor on the project. The water […]
The new facility will place all rental car companies at the airport, eliminating the need for shuttle service from the airport to the rental agencies off-site locations. It will include 830 parking spaces for rental cars. In addition to centralizing rental car facilities, the CAA said, the new transportation center will add public parking spaces […]
For 10 days starting Friday evening, the state Department of Transportation will close the southbound lane of Interstate 395 in Waterford to complete a $6 million bridge rehabilitation where the highway crosses Route 85. The project replaces the bridge deck and parapet, and installs a precast concrete median barrier that will be safer than the […]
Tolling a dozen “deficient” bridges – the number that’s being bandied about at the Capitol — at 50 cents a trip for all vehicles would raise $210 million a year, before expenses. We could charge trucks a bit more, maybe bring it up to $250 million, but that’s the reasonable limit. These are my calculations […]
Rep. Joe Courtney scored a win Wednesday after a decade of trying to repeal a tax on expensive health care plans that was imposed by the Affordable Care Act. The House voted overwhelmingly, 419-6, to approve Courtney’s Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019, which would abolish a tax imposed by the Affordable […]
Evan Matthews, head of the quasi-public agency responsible for promoting investments in Connecticut’s three deepwater ports, has been placed on administrative leave. The news comes as the state continues work to finalize a $93 million public-private investment in New London’s State Pier. In an email Thursday, Governor Lamont’s Director of Communications Maribel La Luz, confirmed […]
President Trump’s embattled labor secretary, R. Alexander Acosta, on Friday announced his plans to resign as controversy lingered over his handling of a sex crimes case involving a financier, Jeffrey E. Epstein, when Mr. Acosta was a federal prosecutor in Florida. Mr. Acosta’s resignation, effective July 19, brings to four the number of cabinet agencies […]
Even though highway tolls is the top priority on the legislative agenda for Gov. Ned Lamont, no date has been set for a special session. “The governor is working hard,” Aresimowicz said. He added, “We know we have a problem. The question is: are we willing to compromise to do something about it or are […]
The Parks and Recreation Department is eying a complete renovation of the pool at Page Park, as well as additional improvements in the park that will total $3 million. Joshua Medeiros, superintendent of Parks and Recreation, said the current pool was installed in the 1950s and it needs an “overhaul” to be safe and accessible. […]
Ideanomics CEO and President Alfred Poor sent letters to neighbors of the former UConn campus in West Hartford, letting them know that company representatives will be canvassing the area next week in advance of the company’s project design reveal. Ideanomics, a China- and New York-based company focusing on financial services technology, purchased the former UConn […]
Under an agreement inked this week between the state’s selected developer, Sacyr Rooney, and the quasi-public Materials Innovation Recycling Authority (MIRA), which oversees the Mid-Connecticut plant and related facilities, MIRA agreed to finance the waste-to-energy portion of the project entirely on its own — a cost estimated at between $120 million and $140 million. That […]
A federal judge has cleared the way for state and federal transportation officials to move forward with a $1.1 billion project to replace a 122-year-old movable railroad bridge in Norwalk. The existing Walk Bridge, or Norwalk River Railroad Bridge, carries four tracks that serve about 200 trains daily, including Amtrak. The U.S. Department of Transportation […]
Lamont told reporters on Tuesday that he has no plans to direct the DOT to proceed if he is unable to get House and Senate majorities to authorize an electronic highway tolling system. The first-term Democrat also had no progress to report Tuesday concerning his discussions with General Assembly leaders, or his plans to recall […]
The Greenwich Transportation Center will undergo a large-scale redevelopment that organizers say will be launched next year through a public-private partnership. The plan is to begin construction in a little more than a year and have the project completed in about 18 months. Under the project outlined Tuesday, the current building would be demolished, but […]
The Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority along with the City of New Haven sought to invalidate a state statute that limited the runway’s length to 5,600 feet. The appeals court noted that Tweed’s runway is one of the shortest commercial airport runways in the country and that it lacked nonstop flights to Orlando, Boston, Washington, D.C. […]
Lamont told reporters Monday that he is not giving up on a special session on tolls, although no session has been scheduled as many legislators are away on vacation in the middle of the summer. Lamont held a high-profile meeting with top lawmakers on tolls on June 19, but no agreements were reached. In a […]
The property, which is the site of the former Connecticut Tar & Asphalt Co., is made up of three parcels of land: 222, 230 and 248 Brownstone Ave. The town currently receives $16,415 a year in property taxes. That money would stop if the town buys the property. One of the ideas put forward for […]
The remediation work on the PCB-contaminated brownfield property at 894 Middle St. is in its final phases. The council voted to make an additional appropriation of $350,000 within the Capital Projects Fund for environmental engineering at the site. The city began the remediation work last April, with a $1.3 million grant from the Connecticut Department […]
Our bridges are still corroding, our highways are still potholed and our trains are running slower than ever. Transportation is grinding to a halt, and with it our state’s economy. Something must be done. The money must be found. It is clear that the Special Transportation Fund is headed into the red unless additional funding […]
With state legislators on vacation in the middle of the summer, lawmakers expect to return to the state Capitol as soon as July 22 to vote on the annual bond package to pay for municipal construction projects. When the regular legislative session ended on June 5, lawmakers said they would return to complete unfinished business […]
State officials recently ended a lengthy effort to find a private partner to redevelop the historic former Seaside Regional Center into a luxury hotel on state park property, saying a pair of proposals failed to meet the state’s criteria to move forward. DEEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Whalen, in an email to The Day, said neither […]
Those four properties next to the train station will make up the project known as “Farmington at Steele.” The estimated $18 million project will be funded entirely by the Newport Realty Group’s private financing through equity and banking partners. No state funds will be used during the development phase. Approximately $2 million in grants from […]
Connecticut’s jobs picture, meantime, has worsened in 2019 as the state has lost about 300 jobs since January. The state Department of Labor recently announced the state shed 1,500 jobs in May. Wages in Connecticut are also growing at a modest pace. New Haven County led employment growth, up 0.7 percent, followed by Hartford County […]
Capping a civil suit that spanned nearly three years, a Superior Court jury on Tuesday decided that Middletown-based Centerplan Construction and DoNo Hartford LLC — companies both controlled by Robert Landino — must pay the city $335,000, court records show. An attorney for the companies, Raymond Garcia, said Tuesday afternoon that his clients would appeal […]
UConn’s board of trustees last week finalized an amended purchase and sale agreement to allow Ideanomics to substitute an existing $8 million surety bond with a performance bond worth approximately $4 million. Release of the surety bond will allow Ideanomics to unlock capital currently earmarked as collateral for additional environmental remediation needed at the 58-acre […]
The discoveries have added an estimated $4 million in cleanup costs associated with the 393-acre property, prompting town officials to seek release of a $2 million low-interest contingency loan approved by the state in addition to a $10 million grant awarded to cover final cleanup costs. The low-interest loan has payment forgiveness provisions based on […]
The State Bond Commission is to release tens of millions of dollars in funding for repairs to the bridge that connects Middletown and Portland. With a total cost of $46.8 million, $39.4 million coming from the state, the phase two replacement of the Arrigoni Bridge from Middletown to Portland will involve the bridge’s approach spans, […]
