Search for missing persons continues after boat crash
A boat crash in Old Saybrook on Monday resulted in one death and two missing persons.
According to the Associated Press, the boat crashed at approximately 9:15 p.m. The boat was carrying nine people, six of whom were taken to the hospital upon being rescued Tuesday morning. One man was found dead on the boat, and the search for the remaining two is ongoing.
According to NBC Connecticut, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection identified the man who died as 34-year-old Christopher Hallahan, a resident of Westbrook.
NBC also reported that as of Tuesday, one of the six who had been taken to the hospital was in critical condition and another had been released from the hospital.
The search for the remaining two people has continued from sunrise to sunset each day since the crash. According to NBC, “multiple agencies, including police and fire crews from several nearby towns, the State Police Dive Unit, and a helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard station on Cape Cod have been involved in the search.”
According to the Associated Press, another boat crashed in a nearby area roughly a year ago. Authorities reportedly remarked that the area is not particularly hazardous and the jetties are well-marked.
Republicans petitioning for special session to address energy costs
Connecticut Republicans are continuing to push for a special session to address concerns over the rising cost of electricity. They announced a petition for a special session on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
According to WTNH, Governor Ned Lamont said that he was unlikely to call a special session to address the issue, but planned to hold a bipartisan meeting with the legislature’s energy committee to discuss more long-term solutions that would get to the root of the rising prices.
According to the CT Mirror, Lamont thought a special session “would be unlikely to produce immediate or significant changes in electric rates that typically are among the highest in the U.S.”
WTNH also reported that Republicans have proposed a five-point plan to address the issue. Their plan is to eliminate public benefits charges from ratepayer bills, use the leftover money from federal COVID-19 relief funds to offset ratepayer costs, cap future power purchase agreements, include all nuclear and hydropower forms in class 1 renewable energy sources and make the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority into an independent agency again.
Lamont nominates new Connecticut Supreme Court chief justice
Additionally, Lamont announced on Thursday, Aug. 29, that he is nominating Raheem L. Mullins to be the chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, according to a press release.
Mullins has been serving as an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court since November 2017. Becoming chief justice would make Mullins head of the state’s judicial branch and put him in charge of overseeing state court administration.
Mullins was the youngest person to be a justice of the state’s Supreme Court. He served on the Connecticut Appellate Court from 2014 to 2017 and the Superior Court from 2012 to 2014, according to the press release.
“Justice Mullins has had an impressive career serving on all three levels of Connecticut’s courts, and during his years on the bench he has earned the respect of many in the state’s legal community and those who have come before him as a fair, transparent, measured, and sensible jurist with a keen interest in researching and analyzing any number of complex legal issues that come before him,” Lamont said in the press release.