Good morning. Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Events are being held throughout the week.
Since opening in 1973, the aquarium has:
- answered over 5,000 distressed marine calls
- had 25,000 people participate in its community science programs
- remove 54,000 pounds of trash from aquatic environments
- published over 300 scientific papers.
For the future, Susette Tibus, the aquarium’s president, hopes to expand their seal rescue clinic’s facilities, penguin and river otter exhibits, and address its aging infrastructure.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we are hearing:
Connecticut will overhaul policies to address the increasing number of gender non-confirming inmates. In 2018, when the state Department of Correction created its current policy, 21 inmates self-identified as transgender or intersex. That number has increased to at least 57 people. The policy revisions could allow for more people to be granted gender non-conforming management plans.
A fire broke out at the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center on Long Island. Emergency responders extinguished the blaze on Sunday. No injuries were reported. This is the second fire at the center with another incident on Friday, Sept. 15. Suffolk County police are investigating. The center closed in 1996 due to a declining patient population. New York City Mayor Eric Adams previously suggested housing asylum seekers in the center in August, but Governor Kathy Hochul denied the proposal.
A Pawcatuck, Connecticut man was arrested for bringing a gun to a school. Police charged Vincent Parker with possession of a gun on school grounds on Sunday. A paraprofessional overseeing student pick-up at West Vine Street School in September reported Parker for having a handgun “clearly visible” on his front passenger seat for four consecutive days. He told police the gun was never in the open when he came to pick up his kids. Parker is expected to appear in New London Superior Court on Wednesday.
Stony Brook University will offer a minor in Native American and Indigenous Peoples Studies as early as next fall. The program will be available to students as a minor and could launch in the fall of 2024. Students will learn about Indigenous language, culture, and history. The courses might also include literature, climate and the environment. The university hopes to involve local tribal leadership in the development of the program curriculum and hire new faculty for the program in the coming years.
Nine percent of all New London County households have become impoverished after federal COVID-19 financial aid ended in 2021. According to a recent ALICE report, a single Connecticut adult needed to earn $33,120 annually to meet bare-minimum costs. A family of four needed to earn $91,428 annually. The United Way of Southeastern Connecticut blamed racial and gender disparities, as well as rising inflation costs, for increasing poverty rates. Most of the families were headed by single women.
An Old Lyme high school bus driver was fired for intentionally ramming into another school vehicle on Friday. The unidentified M&J Bus company driver repeatedly drove into the other vehicle while carrying 10 students after school. No injuries were reported. The driver was arrested by police. School Superintendent Ian Neviaser told the Day of New London that police may also take action against the other driver who was transporting one student.
A Montauk fisherman was found guilty of overfishing. According to federal prosecutors, Captain Christopher Winkler conspired to catch and sell more than 200,000 pounds of fish over the legal limits. Winkler is with the commercial fishing trawler New Age. He was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice for filing false fishing reports and more. Winkler’s lawyer argued outdated fish landing quotas cheat New York fishermen out of their livelihoods. Winkler could face up to 20 years in prison at sentencing.
A World War II veteran from Waterbury, Connecticut will finally be laid to rest with full military honors — almost 80 years after he went missing in Germany. The remains of Army Sergeant Bernard Sweeney, Jr. will be buried Tuesday at Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island. The funeral procession will include a flyover, a horse drawn caisson, the Eastern Long Island Police Pipes and Drums, and World War II era military vehicles.
