Good morning. Dozens of UConn’s men’s basketball team fans violently celebrated their the NCAA championship win in April. Recent data shows fans caused nearly $125,000 in damages to university property on the Storrs campus, including:
- Destruction of a central air conditioner condenser
- Knocking down light poles
- Using fallen light poles as battering rams to smash glass doors
- Breaking several glass doors and windows
- Fires set from propellant cans
- Flood damages from a running emergency shower and eyewash station
- Flipping and smashing of campus patrol and work vans
The university also reports 16 people were injured during the riot. Several students have been arrested and expelled for their role in the riot.
Officials note that these are preliminary costs and do not include additional employee labor costs to conduct campus repairs. UConn Police will be asking prosecutors to require suspects to pay restitution as part of court proceedings. Other investigations into the riot remain underway.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we are hearing:
Nassau Community College will keep its tuition prices stable. Nassau County lawmakers approved a $185 million budget for the next academic year, which is the first since the pandemic that the college was not supported by federal Higher Education Emergency Relief stimulus funds. Tuition costs roughly $5,800 a year for full-time students.
A federal regulator pleaded guilty in receiving over $18,000 in bribes. Between 2017 and 2020, Jami Anthony, a former Department of Energy procurement officer, conspired with distributor M.S. Hi-Tech owner Michael Montenes, of Hauppauge, NY, to enter over $900,000 worth of federal contracts in exchange for the bribes. These contracts led to a major fire occurring in a DOE Virginia laboratory caused by faulty electrical components. Anthony agreed to forfeit approximately $18,800 and faces up to 15 years in prison.
AmeriCares will send a team of local doctors and nurses to Haiti after two earthquakes rocked the southwest region of the country. It’s estimated that the earthquakes damaged over 14,000 homes, displaced 13,000 people and killed 51 individuals. The Stamford-based disaster relief organization plans to provide emergency aid to Haiti for three months.
More permits could mean more housing in Connecticut. According to a report released by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, almost 6,500 permits were issued last year, a 28.9% increase from 2021. Fairfield, Hartford and New Haven counties saw the most housing construction activity in the state. The city of Norwalk approved the most housing units for a total of 654.
A Connecticut construction firm was temporarily prohibited from working in Massachusetts after a Confederate flag was seen flying on a company truck. Bloomfield-based Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming Inc. was hired as a subcontractor on a paving project near the city of Fitchburg. Massachusetts' Department of Transportation prohibits the display of Confederate flags or similar racist propaganda and will not allow the company to continue until the flag is removed.
Is New York City coal-fired pizza in danger? Pizzerias are scrambling after the city Department of Environmental Protection drafted new rules to have pizzerias install emission-control devices or replace coal-fire stoves entirely. Coal-fire stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in the city. These emission control devices could help reduce carbon emissions from the stoves by 75%. Less than 100 pizzerias with stoves installed before 2016 would be required to install these devices.
