Category: Local News

WASHINGTON, DC] – The Senate unanimously passed the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act last week, bipartisan legislation to improve veterans’ mental health services, which includes a provision authored by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to expand the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) suicide prevention media outreach campaigns. Applauding the bill’s passage, Blumenthal released the following statement:

 

“This issue unites us all. We’ve all seen the devastating impacts on our community from mental health, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries. Connecticut’s own Staff Sergeant Tyler Michael Reeb, who served as a sniper on various tours in the Marine Corps, took his own life in October of last year. His is one of countless heartbreaking stories, evidence of the failure of our mental health system to help those who gave their lives – literally – for our nation. This bill provides many critically – potentially lifesaving – programs and funding for veterans who may suffer from the invisible wounds of war. I will keep fighting to make sure it becomes law.”

  

The Senate passed this comprehensive mental health package to provide critical programs and funding to strengthen access to mental health services for our country’s veterans. The bill includes a provision based on the Reach Every Veteran in Crisis Act, authored by Blumenthal. This provision would improve the operation, oversight, and evaluation of its suicide prevention media outreach campaigns. It adopts several recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which reported in December 2018 that the VA’s suicide prevention outreach activities had “dropped off in 2017 and 2018.” The provision establishes targets to evaluate the efficacy of its mental health and suicide prevention outreach campaigns and creates a process to oversee VA’s suicide prevention media outreach campaigns.

 

The Senate-passed Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act also includes provisions long-supported by Blumenthal to authorize a report on expanding care for veterans with other-than-honorable discharges who are currently ineligible to receive VA benefits and to strengthen support for service members transitioning from military to civilian life.

 

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U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal posted a series of tweets calling on Eversource not to charge customers for storm cleanup costs.

Consumers Beware: Eversource’s next ploy—even as the pandemic persists—will be to charge us for hundreds of millions in their repair expenses. I’ll fight it. PURA should just say No. (https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1292486684244873218)

More intolerable Eversource rate increase attempts imminent—as they try to hit consumers with costs of restoring power. They’d combine insult & injury during the COVID-19 crisis. The company is rolling in money, top execs collecting tens of millions, these expenses are on them.

(https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1292486686123995139)

Consumers deserve refunds, right away. Not rate hikes to cover costs of Eversource misjudgments, amounting to utility malpractice. Especially as consumers & businesses struggle to survive & recover, Eversource owes them rebates & respect.

 

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#Hartford, CT– Attorney General William Tong today joined a bipartisan coalition of 28 attorneys general led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson in urging the U.S. Senate to provide relief for all federal student loan borrowers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) currently only covers federal student loans owned by the federal government, excluding nearly 8 million borrowers whose federal student loans are owned by private entities.

“Student loan borrowers with all types of federal loans are struggling to pay their bills just like many Americans,” said Attorney General Tong. “The Senate must pass legislation that allows all borrowers with federal loans – regardless of the type – to get much needed financial assistance. Students should not have to choose between paying their loans and buying groceries or paying rent during this unprecedented public health and economic crisis.”

In March 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act, which provides financial relief for Americans, including student loan borrowers, impacted by the global pandemic. Under the CARES Act, student loan borrowers do not have to make payments and interest will not accrue on their loans through Sept. 30, 2020. The CARES Act also suspends involuntary collection activities and negative credit reporting through Sept. 30, 2020. While this relief is critical, the CARES Act only applies to federal student loans held by the federal government.

Nearly 8 million federal student loan borrowers have Perkins loans that are held by schools, or commercially held Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL) loans that are held by financial institutions. While the federal government supports or guarantees these loans against default, borrowers were excluded from CARES Act relief. These borrowers are struggling with the pandemic just like other federal student loan borrowers, but do not have relief options under the CARES Act solely because of the entity that owns their loan.

In the letter, the coalition urges the Senate to provide the same relief currently available to borrowers whose federal student loans are owned by the federal government, including a temporary suspension of payments, a 0 percent interest rate, and the suspension of involuntary collections. The coalition also calls for the relief measures to apply retroactively if borrowers have already made payments. The attorneys general ask members of the Senate to support added relief as part of a stand-alone bill – the Student Loan Fairness Act, S.4237 – recently introduced by Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, or as part of the larger coronavirus relief package currently being debated in the Senate.

Recognizing that the effects of the pandemic will be long-lasting, the coalition calls on Congress to implement longer-term solutions for struggling borrowers. Such measures include extending the temporary suspension of payments past Sept. 30, 2020 and requiring student loan servicers to evaluate borrowers for income-driven repayment plans once they resume payments.

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(HARTFORD) – Attorney General William Tong today warned Connecticut residents to be on alert for tree removal, power restoration or other repair scams in areas still without power or where heavy damage resulted from Tropical Storm Isaias.

After past significant storms and weather events, Connecticut residents have reported individuals, some claiming to work for utility companies, going door to door offering to reconnect electric power, repair roofs, remove trees or do other work in exchange for cash. The utility companies, and their authorized contractors, always carry identification and none will ask for payments from consumers. Be wary of any other contractor who is either going door to door, or who contacts you offering a service during this time.

“With some Connecticut residents still waiting desperately for their power to be reconnected and or trees to be removed from their driveways, it is important to be vigilant of bad actors looking to make money off vulnerable, frustrated people,” Attorney General Tong said.  “Always verify the legitimacy of a contractor or business offering to do work for you.”

The Attorney General advises Connecticut residents to hire only contractors licensed by the state to repair damage to their homes and property. Consumers should always verify the registration and insurance of any individual or company before allowing them to work on their property. When contracting for home repairs, homeowners should always use licensed local contractors, and ask for and investigate their references.  Furthermore, be sure to ask for a written estimate from at least three contractors that include labor and materials, read the fine print before signing a contract, and do not pay a contractor in-full in advance.

The Attorney General further cautioned consumers against purchasing electrical generators from unlicensed retailers, sometimes from the backs of trucks. There are serious risks posed by a damaged or defective generator and consumers should only purchase them from a reputable business.

Consumers can check and verify whether a contractor is licensed in Connecticut at https://www.elicense.ct.gov/Lookup/LicenseLookup.aspx. Suspected scams can be reported to the Office of the Attorney General at attorney.general@ct.gov or to the Department of Consumer Protection’s Hotline at 1-800-842 2649 during business hours and at 860-713-6160 after hours and on the weekend.

 

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2020-08-10@1:49pm–#Milford CT– #cttraffic– Firefighters extinguish a brush fire on I-95 near exit 35 and 36.  This is the third time in a month this has happened in the same locations at the same time.

 

Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong formally requested to intervene in the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s open investigation of the Eversource and United Illuminating response to Tropical Storm Isaias.  The Attorney General is urging PURA to put the company on notice of potential fines and penalties.

“We pay far too much for our energy in Connecticut to be left in the dark. Consumers have poured millions of our ratepayer dollars into resiliency investments to harden our system and prepare for this precise type of storm. Eversource and United Illuminating appear to have been unacceptably unprepared for Isaias and must be held accountable. The Office of the Attorney General will be fully engaged in this investigation on behalf of ratepayers who are entitled to answers and any appropriate relief. PURA is right to open this investigation, and must be prepared to issue real fines and penalties to hold the utilities accountable for their failure,” said Attorney General Tong. “Consumers have a right to be angry here—as am I. At the same time, I am deeply grateful to the line crews and first responders who have worked tirelessly to restore power across our state. Their efforts should be commended and they deserve our full support.”

The PURA investigation should examine carefully a variety of issues, including:

1. The prudency of the companies’ preparedness and response. 

Eversource filed its notice of pre-staging in preparation for the upcoming storm on July 31.  In that notice, the company declared the “event” a level 4 to begin on August 3.  Eversource did not upgrade this classification to a level 3 until August 5 – 12 hours after the storm had hit.  It then further upgraded the storm to level 2 on August 6.  United Illuminating, in contrast, waited to file its notice of prestaging until August 3, the day before the storm hit, and declared it a level 3 event.

These notices raise questions that must be considered in this case.  How did these classifications impact the companies’ preparations and public messaging?  With regard to Eversource, even if its classification of this storm as a level 4 was appropriate on July 31, should that have been upgraded as the storm got closer?  And, why did UI wait so long to declare this an event and was there adequate time to pre-stage at that point?

Also, PURA must investigate whether, aside from these classifications, the companies’ preparations were prudent.  Did they have enough crews and equipment available?  Were their actions after the storm him reasonable?  Did they provide the public adequate and timely information to inform customers and towns of what they need to do in order to be prepared?  And, what about all of the money customers invested in “hardening” their systems since 2011?

2. The companies’ customer information systems.  

After the major 2011/2012 storms, Eversource dramatically upgraded its customer information process and procedures to improve two-way communications. This was intended to make their system for taking calls about outages more efficient and effective and to make sure that they could get information out to individual customers more effectively.  This system simply failed to work as intended during this storm.   Many customers could not get through to report outages and did not receive any updates or information from the company.  Why is that?  Why was Eversource’s system down and not available to many of its customers when it was needed?  PURA previously identified issues with this system three years ago and raised them with the company.  This failure must be addressed.

3. PURA must consider whether penalties are appropriate.  

PURA must make clear at the outset of this investigation that it will consider the prudence of the companies’ preparation and response and that it may impose appropriate penalties if warranted.   A prudency review essentially examines whether the utility met the industry standard of care and whether there is any causal connection between imprudent conduct and actual loss or damage.  Such a prudence review could lead to fines and penalties if noticed at the outset of the proceeding. Penalties could include disallowing storm cost recovery and, in a future rate case, reducing the utility’s authorized return on equity (“ROE”).

 

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U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal posted a series of tweets calling on immediate refunds for Eversource customers following power outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias.

After no power, higher rates, & more excuses there should be immediate consumer refunds. Eversource is rolling in money, top management is making tens of millions while consumers sit without power. That money should be returned to the consumers. (https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1292152065733668864)

Consumers deserve refunds—now. They have been overcharged, deprived of service, & given no answers. (https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1292152066673188871)

 

Eversource’s CEO, Jim Judge, was paid $19.8 million last year, but can’t be bothered to face the public, return phone calls, restore power, or say when. He should go. (https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1292163516120604675)

Anger & frustration are boiling over—mine included. This injury added to the insult of higher rates seems like the last straw. (https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1292163517055995910)

 

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2020-08-07@4:00pm–#Monroe CT– First responders are on scene at Garder Road at Applegate Lane where one of the occupants were ejected from the vehicle according to radio reports.

 

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