Good afternoon! January was one of the hottest winter months in history, but February is expected to bring winter chills back in force. Here’s a bite-sized look at what we are hearing:
- Construction has started on the Great Wolf Lodge water park resort inMashantucket. The resort is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and will be open by mid 2025.
- Connecticut Democrats have proposed new legislation to provide 1.6 million small business employees with mandatory paid sick days. If approved, employers with fewer than 50 employees would have to provide this benefit to their workers.
- Six grants totaling $2.4 million were awarded to Connecticut through the federal “Safe Streets and Roads for All” grant program. Among the awardees are the City of New Haven, Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments and the Town of Westport. The program will provide $5 billion over five years to improve roads with the ultimate goal of reducing traffic deaths and injuries.
- Rock star Marilyn Manson has been sued on Long Island for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in the 1990s. The unnamed plaintiff sued Manson in Nassau County Court under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which allows sexual assault survivors to use a one-year lookback window to sue their abusers regardless of when the assault took place.
- An affordable housing complex planned for East Northport is being cleared for construction, but the groundbreaking will have to wait until mid-February. This is to protect the local, endangered long-eared bat, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
- Greenport, Mattituck-Cutchogue, and Southold schools in eastern Long Island have renewed discussions to expand shared academic and athletic services. These discussions are due to decreasing enrollment in Mattituck-Cutchogue and Southold schools, specifically.
- New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is calling for new reform measures to address increasing state debt. These measures include binding debt limits, state debt voter approval, a state debt service structure, and flexibility for state emergencies.
- Five Democrats in Connecticut filed abill to ban the use of “Latinx” in official documents. For many in the Hispanic community, “Latinx” is an offensive term with some proposing to use “Latine” instead, which is generally easier for native Spanish speakers to pronounce.
- UConn basketball star Breanna Stewart will returnto the East Coast to play for the WNBA’s New York Liberty team. Stewart won four national championships for the Huskies and will begin playing for the WNBA team in May.
