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We caught up with Gov. Dannel Malloy during his visit this morning to Newtown about this Internet gambling news that’s been making waves this week.

Although plenty of questions remain, it appears a recent Department of Justice decision – first reported last week by the Wall Street Journal - paves the way for online gaming nationwide.

Attorney General George Jepsen in an email today told me his office continues to review the opinion, but he’s leaning toward that interpretation. And Malloy’s pretty darn certain.

The governor expressed an openness to online gaming and other efforts at bolstering the state’s gaming industry in a mid-December interview with the CT Mirror. Then the Hartford Courant caught up with the governor this week following the release of the DOJ’s ruling.

And today – perhaps feeling some heat from gambling critics – Malloy expanded on his thoughts in an interview with our Hearst columnist, Brian Koonz.

“Listen, I’m not a big proponent of gaming. But what’s going to happen based on the change in position by the U.S. Justice Department … is that there’s going to be online gaming in the United States,” the governor told Koonz. “So it’s not a question of whether it’s going to happen … (And if) all of the online potential within our state goes to companies that are outside our state, then obviously we end up the big loser.”

What about concerns expanded gambling creates more addicts and societal burdens? As Courant columnist Rick Green recently wrote on his blog, “What do you think will happen when out-of-control gambling is as easy as logging on?”

“We do spend about $1.9 million a year (to help problem gamblers),” Malloy told us in Newtown. “If you’re asking me do I think it’s foreseeable in the futrue we may need to spend more money, I think the answer is in the affirmative. What the right level of money is and what the actual challenges will be remain to be seen. But at $1.9 million we’re big investors and we’re probably going to have to invest more.”

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Dennis House, host of Face the State, is reporting Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia has been hospitalized with a stroke.

I don’t care whether you agree with her political positions or not. She should be admired for remaining active and engaged at the age of 86.

Just yesterday I was reading a letter she sent last week to state utility regulators opposing the merger of Northeast Utilities with Massachusetts’-based NSTAR.

In the final frenzied days of the legislative session, when folks half her age are in bed, Prague can still be found in the Senate chamber, chatting with colleagues, staffers and lobbyists, debating bills and casting late night/early morning votes.

This 37-year-old has always found her presence in Hartford inspiring and wishes her a speedy recovery.

UPDATE: Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn released the following statement: “Our thoughts are with Edith and her family as she recovers from a minor stroke. I spoke with Edith earlier this week and she was in good spirits and eager to begin her rehabilitation. On behalf of her Senate family, we look forward to her speedy return to the Capitol.”

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I’m thumbing through Northeast Utilities’ December 23 response to requests state regulators reconsider a June decision to stay out of the company’s controversial merger with Massachusetts’ NSTAR.

The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) is, according to a spokesman, scheduled next Wednesday to issue a draft decision on whether it will reverse that earlier position and join Mass’ regulators in reviewing the NSTAR union. PURA’S final report is scheduled for release January 18.

Critics of the merger believe NU’s questionable response, through Connecticut Light & Power, to both August’s Tropical Storm Irene and the October 29 nor’easter warrants the state’s involving itself in the NU/NSTAR proposal

NU strongly opposes any effort by PURA to “relitigate” the authority’s June decision arguing in part that to do so will send a signal final regulatory decisions in Connecticut are unreliable.

Gov. Dannel Malloy has been one of NU’s/CL&P’s harshest and most vocal critics in recent weeks. So it’s amusing to watch the company make a case PURA could hurt Malloy’s job/economic growth agenda:

“In the current economy, it is critical for policy makers to consider how their actions may affect policies to encourage business growth and job creation. Governor Malloy’s administration has been leading this effort and has made it a priority of the state to put in place an economic development strategy to foster job growth, to attract employers from other states, and to keep the jobs we already have … It would be fundamentally unfair for (PURA) to reverse course … It would jeopardize the cost savings expected from the transaction, and would send a negative signal to the business community that the state’s regulatory actions lack the consistency and stability needed to promote growth and job creation, which could undermine broader efforts to bring about economic development in the state.”

UPDATE: Here’s our full story on the debate over the NU/NSTAR merger and two key dates next week.

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There’s a good chance you had better things to do Sunday than read my report on the continuing havoc Gov. Dannel Malloy’s and Democratic lawmakers’ retroactive income tax is playing with paychecks.

We first wrote about this back in November. Since then things have just gotten worse, with everyone from 1,000 workers at Electric Boat in Groton to public employees in Stamford having too much tax withheld from December paychecks.

Eventually folks will get their money back, either directly from their employers or when they file their taxes in 2012.

It’s that latter solution that concerns state Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin Sullivan, who believes the miscalculations will have an impact on the state’s tax estimates and on budget surplus projections.

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The state Board of Labor Relations has recommended dismissal of Lisa Herskowitz’s complaint that state union leaders violated collective bargaining laws when they salvaged a $1.6 billion concessions deal this summer with Governor Dannel Malloy.

Herskowitz, a state prosecutor, took issue with several actions, particularly the successful effort by union heads to change their rules to hold a successful second vote on the givebacks. The concessions were initially rejected, resulting in Malloy’s decision to move forward with thousands of layoffs.

The decision was issued on December 16 but only publicly announced today after all parties had been notified. I’ll have more details later in our Hearst newspapers.

UPDATE: Herskowitz plans to appeal. She has 14 days to do so.

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I feel kind of petty blogging about this. Then I think about the readers who point out spelling, punctuation and grammar errors in my stories and the teachers who did the same and that makes it easier.

The Connecticut Education Association issued a response today to Governor Dannel Malloy’s call to focus on education reforms in 2012. The following paragraph of the group’s statement contains a punctuation error. Can you find it?:

“We could not agree more with the governor that our state’s economic future is dependent on our student’s educational outcomes.  As CEA has repeatedly indicated: We live in a knowledge-based global economy, and generations of citizens—young and old—depend on our students being able to compete in a global economy.”

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Around this same time in 2009 then-Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration inked what some lawmakers later considered a bad 35 year deal to turn over operation of the state’s 23 highway service plazas to a partnership with no prior experience in that area.

Project Service of Milford, made up of representatives from Subway sandwiches and the Carlyle Group, has already successfully renovated two plazas along the Merritt Parkway in North Haven.

But a much larger pair of plazas in Milford are set to reopen over the course of January and February.

The good news is the Milford locations look and sound pretty impressive. Anyone familiar with the former buildings just has to drive by the new facilities to see they are a huge improvement.

But those who continue to harbor some concerns about Rell’s deal with Project Service also have reason for continued skepticism. The partners have fallen in some cases several months behind on their aggressive building schedule.

Here’s our full report.

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Our Hearst newspapers today reported that, nearly a year after she retired from office, there are no plans nor funds in place for the state to commission a portrait of ex-Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

In response, her successor, Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy, just issued the following statement: “The Governor plans to address this issue with members of the legislature. Governor Rell served our state at a time of tremendous uncertainty, and she should receive her full due honor and respect.”