Category Archives: Legal

Audio of Supreme Court Oral Arguments Available via Judicial Branch Website – Connecticut Judicial Department

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12/14/18
The Supreme Court has made available on its website, free of charge, audio recordings of oral arguments: 

https://www.jud.ct.gov/supremecourt/Audio/OralArgumentsAudio.aspx
The audio is available from the Court’s Second Term, which began on Oct. 9, 2018.

Audio recordings are typically available on the website the same day as the oral argument, and are available for all matters in which there is a presumption of coverage by cameras and electronic media, pursuant to Section 70-9 of the Connecticut Practice Book.

Five Ways To Find The ‘Real News’ Media – Hartford Courant

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03/11/18 – By David Fink

I fear — as I read so many ignorant, obstinate comments about news and the reporters who gather it — that our democracy is at risk because too many Americans don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to the “news media.” The First Amendment’s sacred power of free information and a free press has been at the center of The Courant’s recent focus on the state of journalism. [Read More]

Public’s Right to Know Should Include Government Use of Algorithms – CFOG News Release

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03/13/18 – The Connecticut Foundation for Open Government has released a policy paper calling for elected officials and the public to consider the connection between proprietary computer algorithms owned or used by government and the public’s right to know what its government is doing.

CFOG White Paper – Government Algorithms and the Public’s Right to Know

 

Supreme Court Justices Grill Attorneys In Sandy Hook Records Case – Hartford Courant

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03/01/18 – By Matthew Kauffman

When Adam Lanza was in fifth grade, he created an eight-chapter booklet about a brutal gun-toting woman and her son, who attacked children, soldiers and eventually, each other. Years later, Lanza built a meticulously detailed spreadsheet of mass murders around the world, one more window into the obsession with violence that he would carry through the doors of Sandy Hook Elementary School. [Read More]

Police Refuse to Say if Accused Troopers Were Disciplined – U.S. News & World Report

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08/15/17 – By Dave Collins

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut State Police are citing “invasion of privacy” concerns in refusing to release the findings of an internal affairs investigation involving a trooper and two sergeants accused of fabricating charges against a sobriety checkpoint protester during an encounter recorded on video. [Read More]

And Now to the (Police) Videotape – The Connecticut Law Tribune

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12/21/16

On Dec. 8, recently retired Hartford police officer Sean Spell was arrested and charged with excessive force for his actions last summer. On June 4, police dashboard cameras recorded Spell kicking Emilio Diaz in the head as Diaz lay prone and handcuffed after a high-speed chase. Diaz was already injured when this occurred; Spell himself claimed he kicked Diaz to stop him from spitting blood.Read More

Legislation would allow for more private meetings – Meriden Record-Journal

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03/13/16 – By Andrew Ragali

Three decades ago, lawmakers amended a provision in the state’s freedom of information law to prevent public agencies entering executive session to consult with attorneys on general legal matters. A study of the issue at the time found that government agencies were paying attorneys to attend meetings so that the public could be excluded from controversial discussions. [Read More]