Including this weekend's carnage in Texas and Ohio, there were 253 incidents in which four or more victims were shot in the first 217 days of this year, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

But is Congress ever going to take Connecticut's lead and address any of them?

That remains to be seen, though Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is hopeful about his new partnership with Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham on a legislative proposal to promote so-called "red flag" laws, a step Connecticut took back in 1999.

This week, we sort through what, if any, progress may come from these latest tragedies, which President Donald Trump's critics say his racist rhetoric clearly helped to fuel. Is such partisanship leveled against our commander-in-chief ill-timed or long overdue? 

We also analyze the latest potential variable in the state's ever-evolving casino expansion quagmire: Hartford's XL Center. And we consider the surge in businesses starting up in Connecticut. What does it mean for the state's economic future?

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