Andrew Brown / CT Mirror

With the 2022 legislative session just weeks away, Republican lawmakers in Connecticut on Thursday called for their colleagues in the General Assembly to increase their oversight and control of billions of dollars that are intended to help the state fund transportation projects, counteract the opioid epidemic and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yale University researchers have been sampling wastewater plants in Connecticut since the early stages of the pandemic, and the latest numbers from that testing have one official “cautiously optimistic” the omicron wave has finally crested in the state.

Workers in Connecticut can now apply for a new paid family and medical leave program, which will allow people to cover basic living expenses if they take time off work to raise a child or care for a sick relative.

State officials are set to launch an expansive audit into how Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities spent roughly $60 million in federal relief funding — money that was meant to help local governments cover emergency costs during the pandemic.

West Haven officials spent tens of thousands of dollars in federal COVID relief funding on Christmas decorations, payments to a city councilman’s business — and a marching band that performed at the city’s Memorial Day parade, according to records reviewed by the CT Mirror.

A team of auditors is set to review tens of thousands of dollars in overtime-related pay that went to several West Haven officials over the past year as part of an ongoing investigation into the city’s finances.

State Rep. Michael DiMassa, D-West Haven, resigned his seat in the Connecticut General Assembly on Monday following charges that he allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding that was meant to help the city of West Haven recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Over the past year, millions of dollars in federal funds flowed into Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities in an effort to help the municipalities recover from the coronavirus pandemic and corresponding recession.

A pair of Democratic lawmakers are calling on the state to stop pursuing thousands of people who collected unemployment benefits over the past year and are now being ordered to return all, or part, of that aid.