Conn. lawmakers seek federal funds for Newtown

May 16, 2013 @ 9:47 am

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Members of Connecticut's congressional delegation are attempting to secure federal funds to help Newtown build a new elementary school after last year's massacre _ and they say senators owe the residents after failing to support legislation that would have expanded background checks for certain gun purchases.

U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, and U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, all Democrats, said Thursday they plan to offer legislation next week that would modify an existing grant that funds mental health counselors and overtime costs after tragedies such as the Dec. 14 shooting.

Murphy acknowledged it will be "a heavy lift" because the federal government does not fund school construction.

A Newtown task force recently decided to tear down Sandy Hook Elementary School and replace it with a new building.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (165)


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  • Forrest wrote...
    Maybe instead of debating about guns...
    December 14, 2012 7:47 pm
    We should be debating about healthcare and mental health issues. The first thing cut during a budget shortfall is money for mental health and the care for mentally ill Americans.
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  • BeenThere wrote...
    @Forrest
    December 14, 2012 10:08 pm
    Good point.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick (4) wrote...
    I agree
    December 15, 2012 6:48 am
    ...
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Forrest
    December 15, 2012 11:29 am
    Where was the Right when Ronald Reagan starting kicking the mentally ill out of care homes in the 1980s?The Dems are ALSO to blame for not righting that wrong during the 90s or during Obamas first term.Face it the NRA is one of the most powerful lobby groups and the politicians tremble in front of those clowns.Obama expressed a thought that he maybe ready to tangle with the NRA now that he hasn't got another election however he will be beaten down by the Congress and the Senate
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  • Rick (4) wrote...
    @messiah101
    December 15, 2012 11:38 am
    This is not a right versus left issue. I know a lot of of liberals that own guns as well as conservatives. Concerning the mentally ill, it was both parties that destroyed are facilities and treatment. But the kicker was the democrat bill that prevented forcing the mentally ill to get treatment unless they harmed someone or themselves first.
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  • RonJ wrote...
    Rick and Messiah
    December 16, 2012 11:04 am
    I have friends that are left of Obama, voted for him both times, and they have more guns than I have.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    messiah, I know you can't remember or admit it but......
    December 15, 2012 7:47 pm
    for the democrats back then it was for the civil rights of the mentally ill that they were freed from involuntary treatment at mental hospitals. ... Seemed like a good idea at the time for BOTH the right and the left.

    But, would you today return to massive numbers being confined to mental hospitals like Western State ???????

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  • RonJ wrote...
    I would like to see a system of courts
    December 16, 2012 11:07 am
    set up similar to drug courts where a person with severe mental health issues who is deemed to be a danger to him/herself by a judge is commited to a facility for treatment.
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  • RonJ wrote...
    Forrest I think this is a debate
    December 16, 2012 12:42 pm
    that is sorely needed, but let's not count on it as it doesn't get as many headlines as "assault weapons etc etc.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • missssy wrote...
    .
    December 14, 2012 8:00 pm
    The gun law controversy does need to be addressed. THE DAY of the tragedy doesn't seem to be the day. Tomorrow seems like a better day.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    M101
    December 15, 2012 3:03 pm
    It's NOT THE GUNS! Why oh WHY, can't you Liberals EVER take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY or ACCOUNTABLY at face value? You people always knee - jerk and blame the GUNS. It' is SOOO predictable that its PATHETIC!
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  • RonJ wrote...
    What controversy
    December 16, 2012 11:07 am
    misssy?
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  • RonJ wrote...
    There's no controversy, ,issy
    December 23, 2012 5:57 pm
    This is a nation of guns, and bad people, with and without guns, r never going away. Utopia does not exist.
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  • BikeNazi wrote...
    Freedom isn't free
    December 14, 2012 8:29 pm
    Maybe killing an entire kindergarten classroom is the price you pay for the right to keep and bear arms per the second amendment? Hoorah,devil dogs. You aren't guaranteeing anything for me in Afghanistan. I have a guy murdering kindergartens here to keep me free because the constitution says so.

    Think about this: that entire class was killed. That school won't have a first grade, second grade, third grade because this Lanza guy had access to legal firearms, ones that would never be used for hunting. Only for killing people. Killing kindergartens. Just think about their gifts under their Christmas trees which were chosen and wrapped with care, never to be opened. Just because someone had the right to have that gun. Excellent work. Strong work.

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  • Chrisfrommv wrote...
    Bike nazi-
    December 14, 2012 9:54 pm
    I'll forgive your ignorance. Nothing about this guy having a gun was legal. His mental capacity, his age (must be 21 for a handgun and in CT must be 21 to have a gun outside your home) or on school grounds (I can't even go on school grounds with all my licenses and training, only on-duty law enforcement) This guy did not kill, he Murdered! which I am pretty sure is illegal too. I'll have to check the RCW's on that one though. Please respect the "Devil Dogs" and leave them out of your comments.
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  • Hectic wrote...
    You don't get it
    December 15, 2012 4:55 am
    The fact that what the shooter did was illegal is not the point. The point is, he had easy access to guns, that were purchased legally by a kindergarten teacher. If the teacher hadn't been so easily able to buy a bunch of semi auto, high capacity weapons, then here crazy son couldn't have used them to kill 20 little kids. The problem is too many guns.
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  • Rick (4) wrote...
    @Hectic
    December 15, 2012 7:04 am
    No the problem is people like you, who do not understand the 2nd amendment and why it is there in the first place.

    Why do you think that making guns illegal will help? How has that worked for illegal drugs? People can get illegal drugs easily, and the same would be true if guns were illegal. So you want only the law breakers to have guns, but not the honest people who need to defend themselves against these law breakers?

    Are you aware that law abiding people will not give up their guns willingly? Want to start a civil war? All you need to do, is go ahead and try to take the guns away from honest law abiding citizens.

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  • Rick1 wrote...
    agree
    December 16, 2012 8:50 pm
    but, had they been grandpas over under shot gun, or bolt action hunting rifle, etc., then 20-25 year olds may be less fascinated in the aweness and coolfactor and power play of an "Assualt weapon" Look, these guns look tough as nails. They are attractive for the young male. But... where do we draw the line. Movie theatre's malls,schools. Just wait, it will be a stadium soon.
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  • Rick (4) wrote...
    @BikeNazi
    December 15, 2012 6:57 am
    The person that murdered those people did not have a right to have a gun. In CT, you must be 21 to own and carry a gun. He stole those guns from his mother and killed her with them.

    The right to bare arms has NOTHING to do with hunting. It has to do with us protecting our freedoms. This could mean protecting our families or ourselves from others. This could also mean stopping government tyranny. The second amendment is there for these purposes and not hunting.

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  • Newton wrote...
    Its Is looking Like a staged event.
    December 14, 2012 9:29 pm
    Just like the Denver Batman movie shooting. Inside information more then one shooter by witnesses. Staged event witness principal dead mother, dead shooter. They are going after the second amendment. The media puppets of miss-information will hide the truth.
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  • NWGUY wrote...
    unfortunately,
    December 15, 2012 6:42 pm
    you'll be seen as a wacko for presenting this evidence, the press will have no interviews of anyone seeing a separate shooter, just focus on the boy, and his mother, niether of which are around to give their side of the story. BTW, no one has come forward saying when the shots were fired at the mom's house, so it is an assumption that he was the one that killed her before he drove to the school. And while the coronor may have a time of death, they can be off by an hour quite easily.
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  • BeenThere wrote...
    This had to have been the WORST job of reporting ever.
    December 14, 2012 10:06 pm
    Everything Kim Shepherd reported was wrong. Even what was corrected was later changed. The media is guilty of totally blowing it in covering this tragedy. In an effort to have non stop coverage they sacrificed accuracy. It is irresponsible and disrespectful to the families of the victims. KIRO and the national media ought to be ashamed of their pathetic attempt at reporting "news". Why even report unconfirmed information? Did the reporters at KIRO get their facts from Facebook? What a joke.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • C"mon Man wrote...
    Can't we all get along?
    December 14, 2012 10:32 pm
    We can do better, I will lead by example.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hpitantso wrote...
    Holiday attack on children
    December 14, 2012 11:08 pm
    Time,love and true caring,will never be found a a mall. Make Christmas real again. Toys and games of violence sold as the "next best thing" Life way too short and kids way to innocent if we'll allow them to be. Sometime it's how you grow up as to how you became what your capable of.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    hpitantso
    December 15, 2012 3:12 pm
    Excellent point. Thank you & Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chris Halliday wrote...
    Good point hpitantso
    December 15, 2012 5:34 am
    America is the biggest promoter of violence for profit in the world. Hollywood and all those violent game makers have more to do with this sort of behavior than guns. I sincerely feel kids are just way more apt to kill and mame than they have ever been as a direct result of witnessing so much violence. But God forbid they watch two adults having sex on the big screen. That's inappropriate and that is why it's rated "R" to protect their virgin little eyes. What a crock that all is! I say things have gotten to the point where every school needs to have a hard hitting mercenary on staff at all times just in case, or more than likely "when", this sort of thing happens again. Kids are our most valuable resource and they should be treated and protected as such. They have air marshals on planes. Have school marshals at schools. Have the teachers packing heat as well. Switzerland has the most efficient military in the world as a result of almost every household having a gun. If the s$(t hits the fan they can be mobilized in twenty minutes. Another result is they have almost zero violent crime. America needs to take a serious look at what works in the world and copy it. I'm all for our constitutional rights and especially numbers one and two. I'm sure there's got to be a way we can have our cake and eat it too.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Evil Exists.
    December 15, 2012 5:41 am
    Now that it is the morning after, though the mourning continues, there are some things that can be explained no other way. ...... Although it is my belief that the vast, vast majority of human kind is good and caring of their fellows, Evil exists in the hearts and minds of at least some of us. What else can explain the wantant murder of so many children, really still babies, who now will never know a full life of love and children of their own, let alone this Christmas so close? .. What except - evil.

    And this evil has always existed and perhaps will always exist. .. Be it in this school with guns or in a school in China with a knife of in too many mosques and markets with with bombs. ... And Cain needed only his bare hands to kill his brother.

    I've no answers. And whatever answers have been offered over the past several thousand years have not worked. ... All we can do is try to abate future evil or simply to grieve and to mourn and to pity.

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  • messiah101 wrote...
    ron p, Give me a break
    December 15, 2012 11:35 am
    "All we can do is try to abate future evil or simply grieve and to mourn and pity"So your saying that we just have to live with this type of tragedy because there is no solution.You really need to put some thought into a solution instead of your usual HAND WRINGING which accomplishes NOTHING. A multi facet approach that involves violent movies,video games,tv shows.comic books and a test case should be presented to the Supreme Court to get a better definition of our gun laws should be part of the fix.(types of guns allowed,number of guns and ammo,waiting period, gun show sales,ammo types and number of rounds you can legally own, gun training for a starter)Now I challenge you to come up with something,anything but your "hand wringing" no can do attitude
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick (4) wrote...
    @messiah101
    December 15, 2012 12:05 pm
    Yep, lets ban the roadrunner and bugs bunny cartoons, but they already have been removed from TV because of violence. Here is my suggestion everyone should be required to carry a gun at least then the odds are 50/50 instead of 100/0.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Rick4
    December 15, 2012 1:25 pm
    Its idiotic remarks like yours that fail to move the conversation forward.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick (4) wrote...
    @messiah101
    December 15, 2012 1:47 pm
    What? You have a problem with banning cartoons, or leveling the playing field? You suggest banning tv, movies, video games, etc. and stricter gun laws. I support no censorship and no new gun laws.
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  • maplefish wrote...
    @Rick
    December 15, 2012 3:13 pm
    Yep,,that's messiah for ya. Typical Liberal. Take away more personal liberty & freedom so moony & daddy big government can keep us safe. That's the "Progressive" mindset.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    OK, messiah. I've avoided the condemnation that so many other posters put on you but....
    December 15, 2012 8:04 pm
    this type of response shows you to be so concerned with ideology and talking points that you've lost whatever humanity you once might have had. .... Yesterday, you would not even wait for those dead babies to be recovered before your tirade. Appreciated by virtually no one on this site - left or right.

    But, today is the day after. And perhaps I am wrong about a solution. .. Stupid me, but I thought mass murder went on long before guns were even invented. And that bombers of various ideologies have been using EXPLOSIVES, rather than bullets.

    But, messiah, if you believe such violence as this can be prevented simply by keeping guns out of the equation ..............

    Oh, and let's not have any human reactions. That would be un-politic.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    ron p
    December 15, 2012 8:20 pm
    It seems my statements have gone over your head or perhaps you have missed several of my posts,because what is sickening about your and several other posters comments is that you guys say essentially the same BS after every tragedy of this type.You tell others to pray and keep the family's of the victims in their prayers and then in several weeks you will have moved on to the horrible things you feel that Obama and the Dems are doing to ruin our country.Why not draw a line in the sand and start searching for a solution to this seemingly growing mass killing problem.As I stated before it will require a multi faceted approach and some adjustments to our archaic gun laws will need to be part of the solution.You Rightys claim to be so worried about the future of our children,well its time for you guys to give more then cheap lip service and start becoming part of the solution
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    go to bed, messiah.
    December 15, 2012 8:30 pm
    You are so into your ideological talking points that you no longer recognize your own excess. ...... And violence and/or guns need not be a left/right divide. ..Except as you make it.

    Funny, though. Back in the 60s we needed LSD to hallucinate as bad as you. ... And we had more pleasant trips.

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  • RonJ wrote...
    Her'e more cheap lip service for ya messiah
    December 16, 2012 11:12 am
    I'm as left as they come and I believe every man, woman and child should be armed to the teeth.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    RonJ
    December 16, 2012 12:27 pm
    And perhaps some Ultra Conservatives are also pro abortion,so what?
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  • RonJ wrote...
    That this is not a left
    December 16, 2012 12:45 pm
    vs. right issue.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @Ron
    December 16, 2012 11:46 am
    In addition to your mass murder before guns sentiment, mass murders were a rare thing at the time when guns were the most freely available. That's not to say that our civility was forced upon us by deterrence. It's to say that there's other, more relevant issues in need of correcting. Unfortunately, said correction is far more difficult than reacting to a tangible piece of hardware.
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  • dspuy wrote...
    guns do not kill people, people do
    December 15, 2012 5:50 am
    No gun control law or(gun ban) could have prevented the tragedy. people who are determined to cause harm will always find a way to get these weapons. The only way to resolve this is to change people's mind set and address real issues of mental health, and how society treats people with mental health health issues, and also create atmosphere of more caring for each other.
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  • Drool wrote...
    dspuy
    December 16, 2012 5:08 pm
    You do not know that. One law kept him form purchasing a weapon a few days ago.

    Irresponsibility cost a woman her life and the lives of those kids and teachers.

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