Groton - Politicians praised the Navy's decision to award Electric Boat a $14 billion contract to build the next eight Virginia-class submarines Tuesday, calling it an economic stimulus that will help Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia and states across the country that build submarine parts.

Electric Boat, with facilities in Groton and North Kingstown, R.I., and the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard in Virginia will jointly build one ship per year in 2009 and 2010, and two ships per year from 2011 through 2013 - a production increase that starts a year earlier than the Navy had originally planned.

A new $14 billion contract with General Dynamics Corp.'s Electric Boat unit and Northrop Grumman Corp. will double submarine production to two annually and save and create thousands of jobs amid the recession, officials said Tuesday.

Representatives of the U.S. Navy and the two companies, along with labor union leaders and members of Connecticut and Rhode Island's congressional delegations, hailed the contract at Electric Boat's shipyard in Groton. They called it critical to the region's economy and for national security as China and other countries build submarines..

NEW YORK (AP) — In some ways, conditions couldn't be better for those seeking to make family leave and paid sick days available to more American workers. In some ways, conditions could scarcely be worse.

The work/family cause now has ardent champions in President-elect Barack Obama and self-described mom-in-chief Michelle Obama, who says it will be among her top priorities. The strengthened Democratic majority in Congress is certain to lend a hand.

FARMINGTON — U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd warned Saturday that the failure to develop comprehensive after-school programs places not just children, but the nation as a whole at risk.

Speaking before nearly 300 delegates of the Connecticut After School Network symposium, Dodd hailed their efforts and told the delegates he uses Connecticut’s programs “as a model for national after-school programs.”

WASHINGTON -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said Thursday he would pursue legislation as early as next week to allow homeowners facing foreclosure to seek protection in bankruptcy court.

A similar effort failed earlier in the year, but Dodd, D-Conn., said he believes the political landscape has changed, given the growing number of foreclosures across the country.

Washington - Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said Thursday he will stay at the helm of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in order to serve his constituents and tackle “the defining issue of our day”- the economy.

”Our economy is the center of gravity to which all our problems are being pulled,” Dodd said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “As the United States senator from Connecticut, there is no more important way right now that I can serve the people of Connecticut and our country than as banking committee chairman.”

WASHINGTON -- Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd said Thursday he intends to remain at the helm of the Senate Banking Committee next year rather than take on a new assignment in the post-election leadership shuffle.

After taking a day to consider his options, Dodd decided against succeeding Sen. Joe Biden as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will instead remain chairman of the Banking Committee -- a post he assumed in January 2007 when Democrats regained the majority in the upper chamber.

Sen. Chris Dodd made it official Thursday that he will remain chairman of the Senate banking committee as the U.S. financial crisis rages on.

The announcement lays to rest questions of whether Dodd, D-Conn., would decide that the grass was greener on another committee. With Vice President-elect Joe Biden's departure from the Senate, there is an opening on the foreign relations committee, where Dodd is the next Democrat on the seniority list. On Thursday, Dodd recalled Biden having told him that an Obama-Biden victory would mean the gift to Dodd of the foreign relations chair.

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, are asking Pfizer Inc.'s chief executive officer to reconsider plans to replace local contractors at its southeastern Connecticut campuses with foreign workers.

In a letter Monday to Jeffrey B. Kindler, Pfizer's chairman and chief executive officer, Dodd and Courtney said they are concerned about a companywide policy dubbed Procedure 117 that would replace local information-technology contract workers at its Groton and New London sites with workers from outside firms, including those from overseas.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd is urging the Bush administration to focus its attention on a strategy to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

In a letter sent to the president Thursday evening, Dodd criticized the administration for failing to "dedicate the time, attention or resources" needed to address the historic levels of foreclosure that were the root cause of the nation's economic crisis.