May 8 / 6:00 pm
Family in mourning after teen accidentally shoots self
(Hartford-WTNH) _ A tragic story of playing with a gun has family and friends mourning the death of a 16-year-old boy. Friends say Juan Ortiz was goofing off with a gun Friday. He he pointed it away from himself pulled the trigger and nothing happened - then pointed it at himself and it discharged.
He was pronounced dead three hours later.
 News Channel 8's Jocelyn Sigue reports.
Nursing home union ends walkout
(Ansonia-WTNH) _ Nursing home workers from Ansonia have ended their strike and are going back to work Monday. Members of the New England Health Care Employees Union, district 1199, settled their four day strike after 88 hours of bargaining sessions. A union spokesman said the settlement is "wonderful" and says it meets most of their major goals. Things are different at another nursing home in Bridgeport, where workers remain on strike.
Here's more on the settlement.
Group stages protest at circus
(New Haven-WTNH) _ Some animal rights' activists are accusing Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus of abusing the animals that are part of its show. Several people showed up at the New Haven Coliseum Saturday to protest the way the circus handles its animals. Demonstrators passed out fliers and showed a videotape that they argue proves the animals are being abused.
Protesters say it's bad enough to make the animals perform during a show, but they claim it's the treatment outside of the ring that is unacceptable.
Christina Matyasovsky, Animal Defense League: "They're taken from state to state in little train cars. 99% of their lives they live in cages sometimes they don't get adequate water sometimes they don't get adequate food, and stunts like this where they're standing on their back feet, it's not natural for animals to do it."
No one from Ringling Brothers was available for comment. The circus wraps up in New Haven Sunday, then heads to Hartford.
New discrimination suit filed against Hartford fire chief
(Hartford-AP) -- Eight white and two Hispanic firefighters are claiming in a federal lawsuit that Hartford's black fire chief allowed promotional lists to expire because they contained too few black candidates. The lawsuit, assigned to US District Court Judge Alvin Thompson, is the third discrimination action filed against Fire Chief Robert Dobson in the last six months. A dozen firefighters are involved in the three cases. A 13th firefighter has filed a discrimination complaint against Dobson with the state Commission on Human Rights. The latest lawsuit stems from a decision Dobson made in early 1997. He chose not to seek an additional extension for two promotional lists saying he didn't foresee a need to fill the positions. The plaintiffs argue that Dobson allowed the list to expire because he knew that almost all of the eligible candidates were white.
Man admits selling bogus Pratt parts again
(Hartford-AP) _ A former Pratt and Whitney aircraft parts distributor has pleaded guilty to counterfeiting Pratt and Whitney aircraft engine parts while he was already on probation for the same crime. Magno Palacios pleaded guilty yesterday in Hartford Superior Court to charges of first-degree attempt to commit larceny, unauthorized use of a trademark and violation of probation. The 57-year-old West Hartford resident is scheduled for sentencing August 20th.
Assistant State's Attorney Michael Gailor said he would request an eight-year jail term, suspended after four years, followed by a period of probation, as part of a plea bargain. Palacios was arrested in February 1998 when police raided his South Windsor machine shop, and seized hundreds of illegally manufactured engine parts worth more than $148,000. Three years ago, Palacios was given a five-year suspended sentence on the same charge.
Connecticut men earn national award for fraud-busting program
(Manchester-AP) _ Five Connecticut men developed a computer program that has sniffed out $11 million in Medicare fraud, and their efforts have earned them a national award and a place in history.
The program recently received a 1999 Computerworld Smithsonian Award.
Here's more of the story.
New Haven official fired for not reporting tax conviction
(New Haven-AP) _ The recently promoted Senior Code Enforcement Supervisor in New Haven has been fired from his city job after failing to reveal convictions for gambling and tax evasion on a job application. A spokesman for Mayor John DeStefano Junior said 48-year-old Nicholas Onofrio Junior was suspended with pay yesterday pending a pre-termination hearing. He has worked for the city since 1994. Larry Amendola, president of Onofrio's labor union, has vowed to fight the dismissal. During the 1980s, Onofrio was convicted twice for gambling, and once for federal tax evasion. He didn't report his criminal record on an application he filled out for his promotion. Meanwhile, a state police report of alleged gambling records seized from Onofrio and a partner in December shows that the pair were running a major sports betting ring. The alleged operation averaged more than $5,000 a day in illegal wagers.
Pupils' message in a bottle answered _ an ocean away
(North Stonington-AP) _ Fourteen months and one ocean later, a message from Jeanne Robbins' first-grade class got through. The North Stonington Elementary School class participated in the Coast Guard Ice Patrol program that invites students to write messages, seal them in a bottle and send them out to sea with a Coast Guard patrol.
Here's more on where it turned up.
|
