Good morning. Four years after the New Canaan mother of five disappeared, jury selection is set to begin Wednesday in the Jennifer Dulos murder trial.
Dulos disappearedfrom her home in 2019 amid a divorce from her husband Fotis Dulos. Prosecutors used blood found at her home to charge him and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis for murder. In 2020, Fotis Dulos killed himself while awaiting trial. Troconis and his former attorney Kent Mawhinney have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
Prosecutors expect Mawhinney will testify against Troconis. Her trial is expected to begin in January.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we are hearing:
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer has called for federal support for Fire Island. Schumer (D-NY) sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers after several Fire Island beaches eroded away from recent severe storms. Without protection from the barrier island, Long Island’s south shore may become more exposed to increasingly dangerous storms and coastal flooding. Schumer is calling for the Corps to devise an immediate, permanent restoration of the beaches to protect Fire Island from the intensifying impacts of climate change.
Over 200 strike captains from across Connecticut, Long Island and northern New Jersey began contract negotiations. At the Service Employees Union’s Manhattan headquarters, leaders met with their employers to discuss a new contract that would cover commercial cleaners from all three states. The union represents more than 10,000 employees, who are seeking improved pay, protections and expanded benefits. It’s the first negotiation since the start of the pandemic. The current contract expires at the end of the year.
Long Island residents rallied on Sunday in Manhasset in support of Daniel’s Law. The billin New York that would replace police officers with mental health professionals trained to de-escalate situations and connect people with trauma-informed mental care. The legislation was drafted after the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who was killed by police in Rochester after experiencing a mental crisis in 2020. Prude would have turned 45 years old in September.
There were more than 11,000 domestic violence incidents reported in Connecticut last year, according to the Coalition Against Domestic Violence. More than half of incidents were identified as “high danger.” State Attorney General William Tong met with the group ahead of October — which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. He said dangerous incidents are highly underreported and encouraged people to use Safe Connect, the state’s domestic violence and information resource line (888) 774-2900. Almost 13,000 people contacted the hotline last year.
General Dynamics Electric Boat and many of its shipyard workers have agreed to a new five-year contact. The previous four-year contract expired Friday. The contract will provide employees with five general wage increases and a total of $10,500 in bonuses each. Electric Boat employs over 21,000 employees building submarines for the U.S. Navy. The Metal Trades Council of New London County represents over 3,000 shipyard workers.
United Illuminating is seeking a rate hike for its natural gas subsidiaries. Southern Connecticut Natural Gas, which serves 206,000 customers in the New Haven and Bridgeport area, wants regulators to approve a $42 million increase from a 9% hike and Connecticut Natural Gas, which serves 184,000 customers in central Connecticut and Greenwich, is seeking a $21 million increase from a 5% hike. State Attorney General William Tong said residents should not have to shoulder the cost. Regulators last approved an increase for the companies in 2018.
Health insurance company Cigna Group will pay over $172 million to resolve federal allegations. The U.S. Department of Justice said Cigna, which is based in Bloomfield, Connecticut, submitted and failed to withdraw inaccurate diagnosis codes for its Medicare Advantage Plan enrollees in order to increase its payments from 2014-19. This was in violation of the False Claims Act.
A patient who was treated for cannibalism was released from Connecticut’s Whiting Forensic Hospital last week. Tyree Smith, of Bridgeport, was arrested for the death of a homeless man in 2013. He was committed for 60 years but was released after 10 years by the state Psychiatric Security Review Board. Smith will live in a Waterbury group home.
