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In 2022, several Connecticut municipalities spent millions of dollars of COVID-19 stimulus funds to equip local police departments with surveillance technology.

Proponents argued the cameras would help officers locate witnesses to crimes, identify suspects in shootings, investigate burglaries and apprehend stolen vehicles.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and similar organizations said the money would be more effective if it were used to counteract poverty, unemployment and housing insecurity — all of which can contribute to crime in a community.

Now, four years later, communities in Connecticut are pushing back against the expansion of surveillance technology. Do you think these cameras help keep communities safe or invade privacy? Let us know. https://ctmirror.org/2022/06/19/arpa-funds-ct-towns-police-surveillance-tools/

The Connecticut State Board of Education adopted new guidance Wednesday encouraging schools to implement bell-to-bell restrictions on cellphone and personal technology use.

Under the new guidance, the board is urging schools to enact “districtwide Personal Technology Use and Purposeful Screen Time Policies.” In addition, it “strongly recommends such policies restrict the student use of personal technology, including cell phones and other current and emerging technology, from the beginning to the end of the school day (i.e., ‘bell to bell’)” — with an exception for students with disabilities and other “documented needs” receiving individualized supports. https://ctmirror.org/2026/08/05/ct-cellphone-guidelines-public-schools/

Emergency rooms aren’t equipped to meet the needs of patients in the midst of a mental health crisis. The rush of people, beeping machines and bright, fluorescent lighting can all worsen anxiety, confusion and agitation.

Today, Griffin is one of three hospitals in Connecticut, along with Stamford Hospital and Yale New Haven Hospital, that is reimagining the emergency room experience for behavioral health patients.

The Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing, or EmPATH, Unit at Griffin is technically part of the emergency department but is physically separate, designed to be a calming, welcoming environment — outfitted with natural light, recliner chairs and open space. It’s staffed with behavioral health specialists who work to stabilize patients within 12-48 hours and connect them to outpatient mental health services. https://ctmirror.org/2026/07/28/ct-hospitals-emergency-room-behavioral-health-crisis/

Connecticut residents will head to the polls on Aug. 11 to cast ballots in party primaries for governor, U.S. Congress and state legislative and constitutional races. Many will have questions about where to vote, how to vote and for whom to vote when Primary Election Day rolls around. The Connecticut Mirror, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization, is here to help with this primary voter guide — a comprehensive look at the key dates to know ahead of Aug. 11, a one-stop-shop for election-related information.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/07/27/ct-primary-election-2026-voter-guide/

At the end of the first half of 2026**,** Connecticut’s unemployment stood at 5.2%, a full percentage point higher than the national rate. 

June marked the sixth month in a row that the state’s unemployment rate rose, according to the state Department of Labor’s mid-year jobs report.

But department officials were quick to emphasize a different statistic in the mid-year report. Connecticut set a new record for the total number of nonfarm jobs, which reached 1,726,500. And they pointed out that some long-struggling industries, including manufacturing and construction, were showing promising job growth. https://ctmirror.org/2026/07/21/economy-unemployment-workforce-jobs-ct/

Sherill Baldwin an amateur genealogist who is researching the identities of the roughly 2,200 people who are buried at Blake Street Cemetery, the vast majority of them in graves marked only with numbers.

Using census records, newspaper archives and other historical records, Baldwin has pieced together narratives about their lives, which she publishes on her blog, Buried Stories.

“New Haven is trying to uncover stories that are not always told,” Baldwin said. “And people who are buried here, while they may have been sort of economically disadvantaged, they contributed in some way into the creation of the community.” https://ctmirror.org/2026/07/19/new-haven-blake-street-cemetery/

https://ctmirror.org/2026/05/12/erin-stewart-mayoral-expenses-credit-card/

Republican gubernatorial candidate Erin Stewart promised supporters at a campaign rally Tuesday night she will make a substantive response to reports about her use of a city credit card for personal purchases while mayor of New Britain — but not until after this weekend’s nominating convention.

Stewart intends to make a freedom of information request Wednesday to the administration of her Democratic successor, Bobby Sanchez, for records of the purchases made with her city credit card over the final nine years of her 12 years as mayor, said her senior campaign adviser, John Healey.

About $22,000 of the $207,076 in purchases made with Stewart’s city card were for purchases delivered to her home, including women’s clothing, makeup, a compact ice maker, thank-you notes for a baby shower, diapers and $129.60 for Similac baby formula.

“Until today, the only people who possess the records in question were the Democrats, the media and my Republican opponents,” Stewart said. “So I want you to know that I am in the process of personally engaging a team to obtain and review all of these records myself.”

https://ctmirror.org/2026/05/04/ice-bill-lamont-signing-ceremony/

A bill signing ceremony Monday, staged on the steps of the Connecticut Supreme Court, underscored that the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration tactics will be a wedge issue trumpeted by Gov. Ned Lamont and other Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

The Democrats were celebrating a law drafted to curtail U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundups at schools, churches and other sensitive places; require federal agents be identifiable by name tag or badge number; and assert the state’s inspector general has jurisdiction to review use of lethal force by ICE, as he does with local police.

Passed over heated and unanimous Republican opposition in the General Assembly, Senate Bill 397 is a partisan rebuke of a president who has broken numerous norms of government, including the mass detentions of immigrants here without legal status — as well as some refugees and others who do.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/04/30/erin-stewart-governor-witch-hunt/

The race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination has turned into an intra-party brawl in which the record of Gov. Ned Lamont, the Democrat seeking a third term, is getting less attention than the New Britain mayoral tenure of Erin Stewart, the favorite to win the GOP convention endorsement.

Stewart on Thursday proclaimed herself a victim of Republican collaborators, Democratic puppeteers and a two-party “cabal” in a scathing video posted hours after the Connecticut Mirror published a story about her effort to seek a partial pension benefit that is not authorized by the city’s charter or ordinances.

“I need to update you on what really happening. It’s a witch hunt against me,” Stewart said. “The corrupt Democrat machine that has run our state into the ground is coming after me, and they’re coming after me hard.”