Good morning. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont swore in a new commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection this week.
Ronnell Higgins previouslyserved in the New Haven Police Department for decades, as well as a corrections officer for three years. He succeeded James Rovella who retired following several votes of no confidence from union members amid a fake ticket scandal.
A June audit found that almost 26,000 tickets issued between 2014 and 2021 were falsified. Over 300 state troopers were found to have submitted false or inaccurate tickets.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we are hearing:
A review of New York’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is delayed for a second time. Gov. Kathy Hochul hired The Olson Group, a Virginia-based emergency management firm, for $4.3 million in January to review how the state handled the pandemic, including its March 2020 order to force nursing homes to house those who tested positive for the virus. The reportwas expected to be complete by January 2024 but is now expected for a mid-2024 release.
New Haven’s Housing Authority will build a new mixed-income housing complex on Church Street South. The authority purchased the 13-acre property from the Massachusetts-based Northland Investment Corp for $21 million. The authority will hold a public meeting on Nov. 27 to evaluate the details of the new complex and potential retail and business sites on the property.
A commission tasked with reviewing New York’s high school graduation requirements has recommended replacing the state Regents exams. Most students would still have to complete several exams to graduate, but others may write research papers or deliver oral reports instead. An estimated 160,000 high school seniors could see alternatives by 2026 at the earliest. The Board of Regents recommends including civics, cultural competence, financial literacy, arts, STEM and writing skills in any credit requirements. With the recommendations in hand, the state education department will be developing changes in the coming months.
Long Island customers are expected to pay 2% more in annual power supply costs by 2030. According to an analysis by the Long Island Power Authority, this increase in costs will coincide with the island receiving half of its energy from offshore wind by 2030. Nearly 800-megawatts of fossil-fuel powered plants will be replaced with offshore wind in addition to solar farms and battery-storage units.
Connecticut recycled almost 200,000 mattresses last year, according to the state’s Mattress Recycling Council. Nearly 4,000 tons of steel, foam, fiber and wood were turned into carpet padding, metal alloys, plastic containers and other new products. The “Bye Bye Mattress Program” is designed to prevent mattresses from filling up landfills and clogging trash plants.
A Brentwood man was sentenced to up to four years in prison for impersonating a police officer. Eric Diaz dressed as an officer with multiple fraudulent law enforcement identification cards from April to May to receive police discounts at a store in Bay Shore. Suffolk County police searched Diaz’s home and found numerous fraudulent police items, including police attire, imitation pistols, a gun belt, a bulletproof vest and handcuffs. He pleaded guilty during the spring.
A Yale University student and Levittown native was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship. Jacqueline Testamark was one of almost 30 students to receive the prestigious prize, which funds two-year graduate programs at England’s University of Oxford. Testamark will pursue a master of studies in history of art and visual culture once she graduates from Yale with a bachelor's degree in classical civilizations and history in spring 2024.
