The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is often recognized as the oldest continuously-published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury, its headquarters on Broad Street are a short walk from the state capitol. It reports regional news with a chain of bureaus in smaller cities and a series of local editions. Since 2000, it has been owned by Tribune Company, which later combined the paper's management and facilities with those of Tribune-owned WTIC-TV in Hartford.

The Connecticut Courant began as a weekly on October 29, 1764, started by Thomas Green. The word "courant," borrowed from the Dutch, was a popular name for English-language newspapers. The daily Hartford Courant traces its existence back to the weekly, thereby claiming the title "America's oldest continuously published newspaper" and adopting as its slogan, "Older than the nation." (The New Hampshire Gazette, which started publication in 1756 and all but disappeared into other publications for most of a century, trademarked the title of oldest paper in the nation after being revived as a small biweekly in 1989. See also, The New York Post as oldest daily, and Time magazine's view of "oldest" claims.)

Linda Marie McMahon (née Edwards, born October 4, 1948) is an American professional wrestling magnate and politician. She is notable for her career developing WWE with her husband Vince McMahon. She was active with the company from 1980 to 2009. During this time, WWE grew from a small regional business in New York to a large multinational. McMahon and her husband became wealthy through the WWE's success, and the McMahon family name is now synonymous with the wrestling industry. As President and later CEO of the company, she negotiated business deals, launched wrestling merchandise, signed wrestler contracts, and managed and wrote for WWE publications. She also started the company's civic programs, Get REAL and Smackdown Your Vote. McMahon has occasionally performed in the ring, most notably in a wrestling feud with her husband which climaxed at WrestleMania 17.

McMahon left WWE in 2009 to run for U.S. Senator of Connecticut. She won the Republican primary and faced Democrat Richard Blumenthal. At one point in the campaign, she approached within three points of Blumenthal, but she lost on election day by 12 percent. McMahon spent over $50 million of her own money on the campaign.