Andrew Brown / CT Mirror

Connecticut Republican lawmakers called for the creation of an inspector general’s office to investigate unethical behavior and alleged corruption in state government, citing local news stories about alleged waste and fraud.

Five Bridgeport Democratic officials made their first appearance in court after being accused of abusing Connecticut's absentee ballot system and other election-related crimes during city's 2023 mayoral primary.

Of nearly 2,500 people who were granted clemency for drug offenses last Friday, about a dozen of them are defendants from Connecticut. But it was unclear if any of them had been convicted of other offenses. The clemency order was intended for nonviolent drug offenders, but some question whether every prisoner met that test.

The Connecticut State Pier in New London is already serving as a new launching point for offshore wind turbines, but two sections of the newly renovated port facility will need to be fixed due to flaws in parts of the $311 million construction project.

Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scanlon said his four-month investigation into the Social Equity Council — the government body that was set up to ensure the state’s new recreational marijuana industry also benefits the communities that were hit hardest by the war on drugs — found no “evidence of criminal wrongdoing.”

Connecticut’s State Elections Enforcement Commission continues to refer allegations of absentee ballot abuse in Bridgeport to state prosecutors for potential criminal charges — and the latest referral could ensnare another sitting Bridgeport city council member.

Bowden-Lewis is seeking compensatory damages, including back pay, state benefits and reimbursement for her attorney’s fees.

A new election between Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim and his Democratic opponent John Gomes was scheduled for Jan. 23 after a state Superior Court judge concluded that last year’s primary between the two men was marred by widespread ballot fraud.

A temporary election monitor was quietly appointed in Bridgeport this week, one day before a judge threw out the results of the city’s recent Democratic mayoral primary and while hundreds of people preemptively cast absentee ballots ahead of the city’s Nov. 7 general election.

State officials have taken unprecedented steps to preserve any fingerprints or DNA evidence that might remain on the roughly 2,630 absentee ballots cast in Bridgeport’s recent Democratic primary in the expectation that the material may be used in eventual criminal prosecutions.