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State employees hoping to take an early retirement incentive package are dismayed that talks between Gov. M. Jodi Rell and union leaders have faltered, the Hartford Courant reports.

Rell wanted to save $65 million a year by offering early retirements. But the unions balked, saying state services would be hurt by such a large departure, the newspaper reported.

The rank-and-file aren’t happy with their leaders’ stance, House Republican leader Lawrence Cafero said.

“They’re getting a lot of pressure from their union guys,” Cafero said. “They’re sitting at their desks with their briefcases and their purses packed, ready to go.”

In the meantime, one Democratic candidate to succeed Rell is critical of the governor for what he says is her unwillingness to listen to union ideas.

“Connecticut state employees say they have an 18-point plan to save money, why not at least listen to them?” asked Dannel Malloy, former Stamford mayor.  Shouldn’t any plan that purports to save money at least be listened to?”

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NEW HAVEN. (AP) — Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel has asked the Connecticut Supreme Court to reconsider its rejection of an appeal of his conviction for the 1975 killing of his 15-year-old neighbor.

The high court ruled 4-1 on April 12 against Skakel’s bid for a new trial, saying a claim implicating two other men in the killing was not credible.

Skakel — a nephew of Robert Kennedy’s widow, Ethel — was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in 2002 for fatally beating Martha Moxley with a golf club in wealthy Greenwich.

Skakel wants all seven justices to reconsider the case.

Skakel argues the claim implicating two other men in the killing was credible enough to affect the verdict, especially when compared to testimony at the trial.

A prosecutor said she will respond in court.

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It will be BEACH PARTY fun in the Barlow sun, as the Joel Barlow High School Student Activities Group, REACT, invites all 8th grade students from Easton and Redding to join us at the upcoming Spring 8th Grade Transition Dance. It will be held in the JBHS cafeteria from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, May 14.

The goal of this ever-popular event is help eighth grade students from both Helen Keller Middle School and John Read Middle School meet and mingle with one another BEFORE they enter Barlow next fall. Admission cost is $12.00 per person. Checks should be made payable to Joel Barlow High School.

Senior Samantha Curtis, a member of REACT for 4 years, remarks, “We try to make the 8th Grade Transition Dance exciting for all participants. Students from both middle schools have the opportunity to meet one another in a fun, upbeat environment.”

Permission slip forms are available in both middle school offices and homerooms. Information about the dance is on the websites of both middle schools. Signed permission slips are due to the respective middle schools by May 11. As in past years, “Dance to the Music Entertainment Company” will be taking requests and playing music. Refreshments, which will be of the “beach” variety, will be subsidized by the JBHS PTSA.

For further information about REACT and the 8th Grade Transition Dance,
please email Co-Advisor Barbara Bloom at bbloom@region9ps.org.

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From: Kenneth L. Bakalar, PIO/Administrative Captain

Stratford Police Department

The attempted abduction in the Boston Ave. area, reported yesterday, was fabricated. Detectives speaking with the victim found some discrepancies in her claims, and subsequently she admitted that the claim was false.

Without going into detail, it appears that some medical/behavioral issues may have been a factor, but it is safe to say that the public can be reassured this alleged abductor does not exist.

The Stratford Police Department Detective Bureau is continuing the investigation.

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Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today expressed outrage over reports that United Healthcare paid its CEO $102 million in compensation last year and called on the state Department of Insurance to consider executive pay in future company rate cases, according to a press release from Blumenthal’s office.
United Healthcare recently acquired Health Net.
“I was shocked to learn that United Healthcare, the company that just acquired the membership renewal rights of Health Net customers in Connecticut, paid its CEO, Stephen Hemsley, $102 million in total compensation for 2009,” Blumenthal said in a letter to the Insurance Commissioner. “The company also reported that its first quarter profit for 2010 rose 21 percent to $1.2 billion. This news is especially troubling in light of the Insurance Department’s recent approval of a 19 per cent rate increase for Health Net group plans sold through Connecticut employers for 2010 (which followed approval of a similar 13 percent rate increase for 2009).
“These double-digit rate increases imposed on Connecticut Health Net consumers are staggering — and stupefying in light of the lavish sums paid to its new CEO,” Blumental wrote. “In this economic climate, consumers should not be subject to soaring health insurance rate increases while insurance companies and their executives continue to reap outrageously surging profits. I urge you to strongly consider United Healthcare’s profits and its generous CEO pay package when reviewing any future rate increase requests filed by United Healthcare.”
Blumenthal reiterated his concern that the commission approved 26 of 26 rate increase requests since 2006 and urged it to strengthen its standards by requiring rates be reviewed for “reasonableness” instead of the current “excessiveness.”
He noted that the recently passed federal healthcare reform law requires insurers to spend at least 85 percent of premiums on care, a figure that is now often below 80 percent.
Blumenthal said that a recent report, “Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System” by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services named Connecticut as a state where health insurers have been requesting unjustified premium increases.
“Whether they are insured through an individual plan or a group plan like those offered by Health Net — now United Healthcare — premium increases are becoming unaffordable for Connecticut consumers,” Blumenthal said. “Our rate increase process fails to consider consumers’ ability to pay and company profitability — allowing insurance companies to blame every increase on rising medical costs. This system is broken and must be fixed.”

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Food Bazaar will celebrate the grand opening of its newest store in Bridgeport, CT on Thursday, May 6th.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will mark the opening of this brand-new, 61,000 square foot store at 10:30 a.m. Scheduled to attend are Mayor Bill Finch and several other community leaders.

The new Food Bazaar brings more than 175 jobs to the local community and will offer the area a broad selection of products and services, specializing in ethnic foods at Food Bazaar’s traditional low prices.

Located at 500 Sylvan Avenue, the store will be the first in Connecticut and will provide customers with a wide array of groceries and fresh produce, as well as a full-service deli with prepared foods, an in-store bakery providing fresh baked goods daily, a tortilleria for freshly made tortillas, fresh meats with free custom cutting, the largest variety of fresh seafood in the area, an extensive variety of international and specialty foods and products, a broad selection of natural and packaged products, and a department filled with party supplies.

“We are pleased to welcome Food Bazaar to Bridgeport, it’s first location in Connecticut,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “This new store will be a welcome addition to this part of the North End/Upper East Side. The An family is known for its clean, bright and ethnically diverse supermarkets that bring the freshest food at reasonable prices to city residents. Our planning and economic development office worked very hard to bring this store to Bridgeport, and I know it will be a great success.”

The Food Bazaar of Bridgeport is owned by the An Family, who has been in the supermarket business since 1988. The 22-year-old chain, whose 16 stores are located in NY, NJ and now in CT, specializes in running inner-city supermarkets that cater to a variety of ethnic tastes, from Caribbean to West Indian to African to Asian. “We pride ourselves on going to great lengths in order to provide each of the communities that we serve with the flavors that they love and recall from ‘back home’ as well as providing a culinary adventure for those seeking something new and exciting,” said company spokesperson Suzanne Kuczun.

Francis An, owner of Food Bazaar, said the store will specialize in fresh produce, fish, meat and dairy for a variety of ethnic backgrounds. “We are very proud to come into this community,” he said. “Our family-owned Food Bazaars have long-served the people of New York and New Jersey, and we are now happy to extend our supermarkets into Connecticut.”

The store is conveniently located at 500 Sylvan Avenue, Bridgeport, CT, (203) 683-3740. Store hours are: Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

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Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced a breakthrough in negotiations with the town of Fairfield and developer Blackrock Realty that will allow the completion of the Fairfield Metro Center commuter rail station with full parking facilities and accompanying vehicle and pedestrian access.
“We have an innovative solution to help finish this project despite an extraordinarily difficult economy,” Rell said in a press release. “That solution will benefit the state and the community, as well as the thousands of commuters who depend on Metro-North’s New Haven Line to get to and from work every day.
“We are taking a once-blighted ‘brownfield’ and turning it into positive, transit-oriented development – along with open space for a park and improved protections for wetlands,” the governor said. “And, of course, the project itself keeps and creates construction jobs, which are always welcome. I want to commend everyone involved for making this happen.”

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The parents of the bridegroom seeking a restraining order against his future in laws are incensed by his future father-in-law’s assessment of their son as “a loser.”

“He’s far from a loser,” said Mary Banacowski in a phone interview  Thursday morning.

Banacowski’s son, 31-year-old Brian Banacowski, of Bridgeport, was in Bridgeport Superior Court Wednesday with her to get a restraining order barring his future wife’s family from attending their wedding.

When interviewed by a Connecticut Post reporter on Wednesday, Brian Banacowski’s future father-in-law Hans Leichsenring of Trumbull, said he had no interest in going to the wedding, adding that “as long as my daughter is married to that loser, she is nothing to me and my wife.”

Mary Banacowski and her husband Raymond took issue with that assessment, saying their son is a decent man who used to volunteer at Bridgeport Hospital as a Eucharistic minister.

“The family of the bride would be OK with the wedding if my son was a doctor or a lawyer, because they looking for somebody rich to marry their daughter,” Mary Banacowski said. “But it did not happen the way they planned it.”

She said her husband was also upset by Leichsenring’s comments, and wanted it to be known that their son “is not a loser. My son is a very good person.”