Daily Five: Decision Expected Shortly About Pfizer Building 118

1.  Today is Wednesday, Jan. 2.  The National Weather Service predicts mostly sunny skies and a high temperature of 33 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 17 degrees.

2.  Pfizer will make a decision “in the near future” about the fate of Building 118 - the sprawling complex on Eastern Point Road that the company warned it might demolish if it does not find a buyer.

“At this point, a decision has not yet been made about the building, but expect there to be one in the near future,” Pfizer spokeswoman 

Joan Campion said in an email Dec. 28. Representatives from the University of Connecticut toured the grounds of Pfizer in August, but there’s been no word since then about additional interest.

If the company tears down building 118, Groton would take a $2.1 million hit on its tax revenues.

3.  Attorney General George Jepsen issued this statement Dec. 31 in response to the filing of a $100 million lawsuit against the state in the Sandy Hook shooting:

“As Attorney General, my Office has a statutory obligation to defend this claim.  Our hearts go out to this family, and to all the children and families affected by the Newtown shootings. They deserve a thoughtful and deliberate examination of the causes of this tragedy and of the appropriate public policy responses. 

However, the Office of the Claims Commissioner is not the appropriate venue for that important and complex discussion.  Although the investigation is still under way, we are aware of no facts or legal theory under which the State of Connecticut should be liable for causing the harms inflicted at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Nor does the claim letter filed in this case identify a valid basis to support a claim against the state and, by extension, its taxpayers.”

4.  Groton-based Electric Boat received a $309 million contract add-on on Friday, on top of the $2.5 billion contract it was awarded Dec. 20.  The initial Navy contract for EB would have the company build two Virginia class submarines in the coming fiscal year, according to U.S.Rep. Joseph Courtney.

According to dailyfinance.com, the defense department also added a $307.9 million "undefinitized" contract modification on Friday for EB.

5.  The Town Council's peronnel, rules and appointments committee meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. today and the council's regular meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today have been canceled.