New Britain Mayor Tim Stewart is the main guest this weekend on The Stan Simpson Show on Fox 61.

The half-hour program, which was taped in the station's Hartford studios this week, will air at 10 a.m. Sunday and then will be repeated at precisely 9:54 p.m. on the Sunday night loop on the CT-N public affairs network.

Stewart won his fourth term in the city by less than 200 votes after a spirited battle with Rep. Timothy O'Brien, a New Britain Democrat. Even though Democrats outnumber Republicans by a margin of about 4 to 1, the Republican incumbent won yet another term.

"They trust me to run the city,'' Stewart said of the city's electorate. "Our first order of business is to break ground on a police station.''

Former U.S. ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley says that the 10.2 percent national unemployment rate proves that President Barack Obama's federal stimulus plan is not working.

Foley is battling against four other Republicans for the right to run against U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd in the November 2010 election.

"With unemployment rising into double digits, it's time for the Democrats and Chris Dodd to admit the stimulus bill isn't working,'' Foley said Friday. "Instead of stopping job loss in the private sector, the stimulus bill is just adding to our debt and expanding the size and scale of our federal government.  We need our Washington politicians to focus on jobs and the economy instead of trying to ram through large new government spending programs that will slow future economic growth and aren't supported by voters."

BRIDGEPORT - Ken Krayeske, the free-lance journalist and political activist who was arrested in 2007 after taking pictures of Gov. M. Jodi Rell at her inauguration parade in Hartford, saw most of his federal lawsuit over the incident thrown out Friday.

In U.S. District Court, Judge Stefan R. Underhill granted motions to dismiss Krayeske's case against the city of Hartford and all but one of the city and state police officers Krayeske has sued for alleged violations of his constitutional rights during the arrest and events leading up to it.

Underhill's decision leaves one remaining action by Krayeske to go to trial - his case against Jeffrey Antuna, the Hartford city police officer who arrested him at the parade on Jan. 3, 2007. Antuna's lawyer, Joseph W. McQuade of Hartford, declined comment after the hearing.

Senator John Kerry's statements on his friend, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, during an interview on CNBC are being sent around the Internet.

The interview is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-30MODxLbw

One of the few highlights of this year's budget - for taxpayers - was a drop in the sales tax cut that is scheduled to take effect on January 1.

But that cut, from the current 6 percent down to 5.5 percent, will not happen if state tax collections are not strong enough. At the moment, the tax cut will not occur if the current trends continue.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which represents most cities and towns, is calling for Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Democratic-controlled legislature to drop plans for the tax cut. Instead, the money should be sent to cities and towns to help hold down property taxes, CCM says.

"Hometown Connecticut and their property taxpayers need help," said CCM CEO Jim Finley. "Tough economic times mean the state has been unwilling to maintain previous funding commitments. The state's share of public education is down to its lowest level in 25 years; payments-in lieu of taxes to reimburse towns and cities for state-mandated property tax exemptions have been slashed; and the municipal share of the Pequot-Mohegan slot-machine revenues continues to be cut back dramatically."

Bernard Kerik, known for his high-profile as the New York City police commissioner on September 11, 2001, pleaded guilty to eight felonies that prevents the charges from being the subject of as many as three criminal trials.

Further details are at http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-us-kerik-investigation,0,5449254.story

Robert DeLuca, the son of former Senate Republican leader Louis DeLuca, has been arrested and charged this week with first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

The Hartford Courant's Bill Leukhardt is reporting that DeLuca, 53, posted $25,000 bail and is free.

Leukhardt reported that:

DeLuca's attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis of Waterbury, said after the arraignment Wednesday that his client denies any wrongdoing "100 percent.''

"When the facts come out,'' Kaloidis told Leukhardt, "it will be clear that there are very serious issues of credibility in the accusations against him.''

In an already tough budget year, Gov. M. Jodi Rell used her authority Thursday to cut $34 million from the state budget.

The cuts were made under Rell's limited budget powers that allow her to make reductions in various state agencies. Any large cuts, however, require approval by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.

The reductions were ordered in hundreds of categories, including $8.5 million from the Department of Children and Families, $7.25 million from the multi-billion-dollar Department of Social Services, $3.7 million from the Department of Developmental Services, $1.26 million from the Department of Environmental Protection, $500,000 from the state agriculture department, and $200,000 from the chief medical examiner's office.

Under the Commission on Culture and Tourism, various reductions were made for the Ivoryton Playhouse, Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, Stamford Center for the Arts, New Britain Arts Council, and the New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas, among others.

A frustrated Sen. Chris Dodd is asking why private firms on Wall Street have received H1N1 vaccines at a time when local hospitals and doctors offices have had a hard time securing sufficient supplies to serve children, pregnant women and other at-risk groups.

"Every day, I am receiving phone calls and letters from constituents in Connecticut about the difficulties they are facing with obtaining the H1N1 vaccine,'' Dodd wrote to Health and Human service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  "Schools in my state have closed; hospitals and health clinics report widespread shortages.  It is shocking to think that private firms would be prioritized ahead of hospitals when the vaccine supply cannot meet the demand."

UPDATE: Two of Dodd's GOP opponents are also weighing in.

"Isn't it sad that after 30 years in Washington, Chris Dodd is still writing letters and putting out press releases after the fact,'' Ed Patru, spokesman for Linda McMahon, said in a press release. "The H1N1 shortage didn't just occur over night - it has been months in the making. Connecticut families deserve to have H1N1 vaccine availability, but they also deserve a Senator who puts timely leadership ahead of late-to-the-game outrage."

 And Rob Simmons, another one of Dodd's GOP opponents, compared the government's handling of the flu vaccines to its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.

"It is intolerable that H1N1 vaccines have arrived on Wall Street before they found their way to the most vulnerable on the Main Streets of Connecticut where infections grow by the day,'' Simmons said in a statement. "This situation is quickly becoming Katrina-like in its mismanagement, and it is providing an early glimpse at how government-run health care would operate under Senator Dodd's plan." 
 

Tom Swan was the high-profile, 24-7 campaign manager for Democrat Ned Lamont's campaign in 2006 that sent shock waves across the country when Lamont upset U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in the Democratic primary.

Swan, the longtime executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, personified the Lamont efforts to gather as many anti-war and liberal groups as possible in the Herculean battle that eventually led to a loss against Lieberman in the general election.

But when Lamont announced this week that he is exploring a run for governor, Swan and CCAG had not yet signed up.

"He hasn't asked for our support, and we haven't begun deliberations yet,'' Swan said of CCAG. "We have a participatory process. He's exploring. We're exploring. We're on fine terms. I don't think anything should be read into any of this.''

CCAG has an organizational retreat later this month in which the topic will likely come up, but it's unclear what the members will do. The group, for example, never endorsed anyone when Democrat Barbara Kennelly ran against Republican John G. Rowland in 1998.