No one wants to inflict additional pain on the families who lost loved ones last December in Newtown, but it’s absurd for officials to try to hide certain findings of the Newtown investigation from the public in the name of protecting the families’ privacy.
What’s worse, it’s alarming that prosecutors, members of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration and leaders in the General Assembly crafted legislation along those lines in secret, apparently aiming to avoid public hearings on the topic.

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By Tom Cleary

Register Citizen

A bill crafted in secret by the state’s chief prosecutor, the governor’s office and key legislators would prevent the release of some Newtown school shooting investigation records, including crime scene photos and videos and 911 recordings.
A draft of the proposal was released by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office Wednesday afternoon, a day after the Hartford Courant reported on the efforts to create the bill.
The legislation would apply only to the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, although emails obtained by the Courant showed that the Chief State’s Attorney’s office hoped the bill would apply to all cases in Connecticut.


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By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
New Haven Register
HAMDEN — The town Thursday disclosed it settled an excessive force lawsuit against the Police Department last year for $55,000.
Mayor Scott Jackson called it a “business decision” to settle as opposed to taking the case to trial.
The suit had been filed by Stephen and Nicholas Alberino in U.S. District Court in 2008. While the case was settled early last year, town officials refused to release the amount involved until now.
The New Haven Register filed a complaint with the state Freedom of Information Commission last fall, arguing the public has a right to information about a settlement involving litigation against a municipality.
A hearing took place in Hartford in February. The town Thursday finally revealed the amount, in exchange for the Register withdrawing its complaint.

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