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Welcome to the Collinsville Press, an community newspaper for Avon and Canton, Conn., on the web. Our focus is sports in these two towns along with regional items of interest. Your contributions of photos and stories are welcome. Send them to us at CTwrestling7
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Debate begins on CT's hidden gasoline tax
Connecticut News Junkie
HARTFORD, Jan. 5 -- A freshman senator from Meriden says he’s going to introduce legislation to cap the state’s gross receipts tax on gasoline. For those unfamiliar with gas taxes the gross receipts tax is often referred to as the hidden gas tax. Currently the tax is 7 percent of the wholesale price of gas and Sen. Len Suzio, R-Meriden, is proposing capping it once the wholesale price hits $3. Connecticut also has a flat 25-cent-per-gallon state gas tax. The gross receipts tax adds about another 20 to 25 cents per gallon depending on the wholesale price of gas. Asked about what he thought about the proposal to cap the gross receipts tax, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said, “Let me remind everybody that New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, all have tolls. This is how we pay for transportation in the state of Connecticut.” Read more
CT regulators say they will review proposed merger of NU, NSTAR
Connecticut News Junkie
HARTFORD, Jan. 5 -- Regulators from Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) have reversed their position and say they do now have the authority to review a proposed merger between Northeast Utilities and Massachusetts-based NSTAR. In June, the regulatory board concluded it didn’t have the jurisdiction to review the merger, which would create one of the biggest utilities in New England. Under the deal NSTAR shareholders would acquire 44 percent of NU, the parent company of Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) and Yankee Gas, and be allowed to appoint seven of its 14 board members. Some state officials are worried about the influence of Massachusetts regulators, the new management team at NU and how their decisions could affect CL&P and Yankee Gas. Read more
CIGNA quietly moves jobs to India, but not enough to jeopardize
CT tax incentives
Connecticut News Junkie
HARTFORD, Dec. 28 – CIGNA plans to lay off an undisclosed number of employees starting in May as it shifts some of its accounting functions to India over the next three years. However, CIGNA has far more job openings—about 330 in Connecticut and 320 in Pennsylvania— than the number of jobs it will be outsourcing to a subcontractor in New Delhi. The news that some of its accounting functions will be outsourced to India doesn’t impact the tax incentives from the state of Connecticut as long as the company creates more than 200 jobs over the next two years. An additional 200 jobs would bring the company’s state payroll to more than 4,000.
Baldwin says investment in XL Center obvious; Malloy not on board
CT News Junkie
Hockey promoter and Hartford cheerleader Howard Baldwin helped unveil a $105 million plan to modernize and revitalized downtown Hartford’s XL Center in December, but in order to make it happen he needs the state to make a sizeable investment to be matched by private funds. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said that the state’s not interested in Baldwin’s plan. “Listen the XL Center needs to stand on its own. I can’t imagine a Hartford without an XL Center or its equivalent, but whether any particular proposal at this early date is the right one, clearly I’m not making that judgment,” he said.
wipe out bloggers
Politico.com
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 28 -- The conservative and liberal blogospheres are unifying behind opposition to Congress’s Stop Online Piracy Act, with right-leaning bloggers aruging their very existence could be wiped out if the anti-piracy bill passes.
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Boys basketball
Enfield's knockout punch comes quickly
AVON, Jan. 27 -- Defending NCCC champion Enfield scored the first 13 points of the game and remained undefeated with a 65-45 victory over Avon. The visiting Raiders had three players score in double figures, led by Hugh Lindo with 20 points.
Left, Avon's Brandon Feinberg (32) tries to get to the basket as Enfield's Hugh Lindo (12) closes in to make a block from behind.
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