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VP Kamala Harris says she plans to 'earn and win' Democratic nomination after Joe Biden drops out and endorses her; New Alabama bill threatens voter rights, legal challenge ensues; Fact-checking GOP claims on immigrants; Water contamination a concern in Midwest flood aftermath.

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President Joe Biden drops his 2024 re-election bid. He's endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to take his spot on the ticket, and election experts say they see benefits to this decision.

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It's grass-cutting season and with it, rural lawn mower races, Montana's drive-thru blood project is easing shortages, rural Americans spend more on food when transportation costs are tallied, and a lack of good childcare is thwarting rural business owners.

CT advocates observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month

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Tuesday, October 10, 2023   

As part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a Connecticut group wants to better educate people about the problem. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence finds, in Connecticut, close to 38% of women and about 34% of men experience violent abuse.

Megan Scanlon, CEO of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence said her groups works with victims to create safety plans for leaving their abuser.

"Sometimes that does mean that you might be applying for a restraining order or a protective order, but sometimes it may mean you might not be," she said. "And then there's other factors to keep in mind. Sometimes it requires changing the locks, adding cameras. There's just a lot of nuance depending on the situation."

She noted developing these plans can help kids in abusive homes, adding this trend increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Studies show the isolation of quarantine made it harder for people to report signs of abuse, and help them escape a dangerous environment.

Another part of this education effort is breaking misconceptions, like the notion it is simple for domestic violence victims to just leave their abuser. There are other misunderstandings,too, Scanlon added.

"I think they think, 'Okay, like this isn't something I should get involved in or it's not my problem because it's between two people or a family member.' And, I think that's absolutely not the case. I think until the community response is similar to other levels of crime, then I think we're going to continue to perpetuate this issue," she continued.

Scanlon added given that abuse can occur over a period of time, it can take quite some time for a person to fully understand something is wrong.

In the last three years, the state's General Assembly made legislative efforts to reduce domestic violence. One law prohibits courts from ordering injured spouses to make alimony payments to convicted spouses. Despite this progress, Scanlon said there's still more work to do.

"So, there are a couple things in the criminal justice response system that I think we want to look at in terms of what is the process for protective orders when there's firearms involved," she explained. "Is that going as smoothly, or as well as it should be so we want to look at that."

She also wants to see the development of a domestic violence docket for the state's courts. In March, the Department of Justice awarded the state's court system more than $3 million which could up the number of protective orders, and misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence.


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Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a political event in Grand Rapids, Mich., in early 2024. (The White House/Wikimedia Commons)

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