Good morning. Ørsted, the offshore wind company in charge of the redevelopment of State Pier in New London, have canceled two projects in New Jersey due to rising costs.
However, Ørsted says New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island will see their offshore wind projects completed. The announcement came as Ørsted began shipping wind turbine parts to New York from State Pier. The South Fork Wind project will consist of a dozen wind turbines and should be completed by 2024.
The company also made a final investment decision to proceed with their Revolution Wind project with power company Eversource. That will produce energy for 700,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut with 65 offshore wind turbines by 2025.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we are hearing:
Over 9,000 children are ineligible for Connecticut kindergarten enrollment in 2024. A new state law will take effect in July that will change the kindergarten age-cutoff date from January to Sept. 1. This will prevent four-year-olds who turn five in the fall from enrolling at the beginning of the school year. This enrollment cutoff is expected to cut 18 kindergarten classes and prevent 440 four-year-olds from attending kindergarten in Bridgeport.
A proposal to increase Connecticut Water Co.’s rates by 18% goes to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Wednesday. Connecticut Water provides over 15,000 gallons of water per quarter to 107,000 customers across 60 communities. PURA will host two more public hearings to discuss the rate hike at the end of November and mid-December. If approved, customer water bills may increase by $20 to $60 quarterly.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation will replace the southbound bridge on I-95 this weekend. From Friday night to early Monday morning, construction crews will demolish the existing bridge and slide in a new bridge just as they replaced the northbound bridge. Southbound traffic will be diverted to the northbound side of the highway but officials recommend drivers use alternate routes this weekend.
New York still has racial homeownership gaps, according to a report from state Attorney General Letitia James’s office. White residents own nearly double the amount of homes compared to residents of color, who are also charged higher interest rates for loans and other costs. The report recommends the state subsidize down payments and interest rates for first-generation home buyers to help close this racial gap, among other suggestions.
An East Hampton battery storage facility will remain out of commission for over a year after catching fire in May. The Florida-based renewable NextEra energy company told Newsday that the site will need to be rebuilt but construction won’t begin until damaged equipment is removed by 2024. Repair costs will be paid by NextEra and the electricity and natural gas utility National Grid.
The University of Connecticut is set to increase tuition, housing and dining costs for undergraduate students next year. Administrators announced the rate hikes during a public forum on Monday. Tuition will increase by $678 while low-demand housing costs will increase by 2.75% and high-demand housing by 5%. Dining rates will also increase by 2.75%. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Geoghegan blames rising utilities and food costs.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong issued an inquiry letter to ancestry test company 23andMe after a data breach exposed sensitive information of 5 million people on Halloween. Unknown perpetrators accessed customer profiles specifically targeting those with Ashkenazi Jewish and Chinese heritage. Tong fears Jewish and Chinese residents may be targets for hate crimes amid the rising instances of antisemitic and anti-Asian rhetoric. The breach may be in violation of the state’s Data Privacy Act, which requires companies to impose corresponding privacy and data security on consumer data.
Connecticut will lead a meeting of public and private higher education security officials to combat hate crimes on state campuses. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 93 hate incidents have occurred in Connecticut so far this year with 26 being antisemitic and 65 being white supremacist propaganda. Governor Ned Lamont, who organized the meeting, said the state has a zero tolerance policy for acts of antisemitism, Islamophobia or hatred of any kind.
