TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalWhole Foods is slammed over Yellow Fever restaurant; owner says it's not racist
Kelly Kim and her husband wanted the name of their new pan-Asian restaurant to stand out, eschewing bland or stereotypical phrases, like bamboo, dragon and lotus.
Then it hit them. Yellow Fever.
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The announcement triggered a national outcry on social media, with many criticizing the name's racist undertones.
Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne infection that kills thousands every year, mostly in Africa, and named for the jaundice hemorrhage that the virus produces. But the phrase is also a common reference to a term associated with a white man's sexual fascination with Asian women.
Read more: http://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-whole-foods-yellow-fever-20180429-story.html
The brother of Toronto mayor Rob Ford is running for office -- and he sounds a lot like Trump
Doug Ford is campaigning to become leader of Ontario, Canada's most populous province — and perhaps to bring glory to the Ford name.
The family name was marred by his brother Rob Ford, the late mayor of Toronto whose political career was dogged by drunken escapades and a video of him smoking crack cocaine.
But Doug Ford's rhetoric on the campaign trail has compelled observers to link him to another political name: President Donald Trump.
Ford has positioned himself as the antithesis of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and as a right-of-center businessman who derides elites, whom he has described as "people who look down on the average, common folk, thinking they're smarter and that they know better to tell us how to live our lives."
Read more: http://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-rob-ford-brother-ontario-election-20180429-story.html
Loophole Would Give Ex-Senator $110,000 Annual Pension After 3 Years As Judge
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s final-year batch of 32 Superior Court judicial nominees has unleashed lots of discussion about the political connections of some, about whether taxpayers can afford to pay them — and about whether any new judges are even needed.
But one thing that’s been overlooked is a loophole that the state legislature left open in a 2014 reform law, which was supposed to prevent excessive pensions for judges appointed late in life who serve for only a few years.
That loophole permits lifetime judicial pensions of about $110,000 a year to ex-legislators and other lawyers with past state employment who get appointed as judges when they’re well into their 60s — which means they spend only a few years on the bench before reaching the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70.
And now the loophole is coming into play in the case of one of Malloy’s current nominees, former Democratic state Sen. Eric Coleman of Bloomfield, an attorney. He turns 67 on May 26, and so would serve as a judge only about three years before turning 70 in 2021 and becoming eligible for the pension jackpot.
Read more: http://www.courant.com/politics/government-watch/hc-pol-lender-state-judgeships-political-20180424-story.html
House Sends Health Benefits Bill To Senate
HARTFORD, CT—The House passed a bill Thursday morning that ensures 10 “essential health benefits” will continued to be covered in Connecticut even if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act.
The bill passed 114-32 with broad bipartisan support.
It now moves to the Senate, which passed a similar bill last year.
Most of the debate had nothing to do with the bill, but the ideological divide over the Affordable Care Act, which Congress has been unable to repeal or replace.
Rep. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, said the bill was about “identity politics.”
Read more: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20180426_house_sends_health_benefits_bill_to_senate/
Strike Is Back On for Care Workers for the Disabled
HARTFORD, CT — Workers who take care of the disabled through nine nonprofit agencies in Connecticut voted to authorize a strike that will begin 6 a.m., May 7.
That’s two days before the end of the legislative session. The 2,400 workers are hoping it gives legislators enough time to approve a budget that would increase their wages.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said he was recently at a group home in his district and learned they lost two of their “house managers” to a dollar store.
“We’re talking about people who are giving care to our most vulnerable citizens and they’re going to put on a green smock at a dollar store because they’re making more money,” Aresimowicz said. “It just doesn’t seem fair.”
Read more: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20180426_strike_is_back_on/
Female Lawmakers Look To Push Minimum Wage Increase, Other Bills Over Finish Line
HARTFORD, CT — Democratic female lawmakers and their advocates are putting pressure on legislative leadership to get a number of bills that impact women and families over the finish line.
But the clock is ticking and a handful of the bills will need to be moved by the state Senate, which won’t meet again until Tuesday.
“I get so worried when we’re not going into session,” Sen. Bye Bye, D-West Hartford, said. “And when we’re not staying late.”
The Senate passed six bills on Tuesday and 11 on Wednesday. They didn’t meet Thursday and they won’t meet Friday or Monday.
Read more: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/female_lawmakers_look_to_push_minimum_wage_increase_other_bills_over_finish/
Harris Drops Out, Endorses Lamont
HARTFORD, CT — The Democratic field of gubernatorial candidates is narrowing as the convention nears.
Jonathan Harris announced Friday that he would be dropping his bid for governor and endorsing Ned Lamont.
At a state Capitol press conference, Harris said that he felt that this was the time to bow out of the race and start reducing divisions in the party ahead of the November general election. “Now is a time where we all have to get together and we have to be cohesive, as Democrats and beyond,” he said.
Harris felt comfortable with the endorsement after criss-crossing the state with Lamont at various campaign events, and he joked that his wife, someone he felt was a better judge of character, supported his decision to endorse Lamont.
Read more: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20180427_harris_drops_out_endorses_lamont/
Ex-Rhode Island governor considers run for old Senate seat
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee says he's considering running for his old seat in the U.S. Senate.
Chafee made the announcement Wednesday in an interview with WPRO-AM.
Chafee was a Republican when he lost the seat to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in 2006. Whitehouse is seeking a third term.
Whitehouse's campaign issued a statement that didn't mention Chafee after it was asked for comment. It says Whitehouse looks forward to talking with Rhode Island residents about his Senate priorities.
Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/news/nation-world/national/article209788839.html
Cross-posted in the Rhode Island Group.
Ex-Rhode Island governor considers run for old Senate seat
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee says he's considering running for his old seat in the U.S. Senate.
Chafee made the announcement Wednesday in an interview with WPRO-AM.
Chafee was a Republican when he lost the seat to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in 2006. Whitehouse is seeking a third term.
Whitehouse's campaign issued a statement that didn't mention Chafee after it was asked for comment. It says Whitehouse looks forward to talking with Rhode Island residents about his Senate priorities.
Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/news/nation-world/national/article209788839.html
Cross-posted in the Lincoln Chafee Group.
R.I. GOP leader calls for Democratic House Speaker Mattiello to step down
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Amid GOP calls for his resignation, Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello on Wednesday acknowledged, but also sought to downplay the severity of “the mistakes? that led the state Board of Elections to order him to repay $72,067.80 in over-the-limit spending that a PAC he controls spent on his 2016 reelection campaign.
“It was a mistake,? Mattiello told reporters gathered in his State House office Wednesday. “But there was nothing intentionally done wrong ... Some folks are trying to make it into something it’s not.”
“We used the wrong checking account. Everything else was 100 percent appropriate,? he said. “You determine what the gravity of what the consequences should be.?
Mattiello also denied having any knowledge of the behind-the-scenes machinations of operatives Jeff Britt and Matthew Jerzyk regarding a late-campaign mailer. That mailer told voters in Mattiello’s Cranston House district that Shawna Lawton, the Republican who lost the September 2016 GOP primary, was endorsing him over his Republican opponent, Steven Frias.
Read more: http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180425/ri-gop-leader-calls-for-democrat-mattiello-speaker-to-step-down
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