Good morning. Seventy percent of Connecticut residents are Christian while 23% are unaffiliated with any faith, according to the latest findings from the Pew Research Center. Only 7% of residents follow non-Christian religions.
Most residents surveyed say they never or seldom read scriptures or participate in prayer and religious education. In comparison, 67% of residents support abortion and 76% of residents believe homosexuality should be accepted.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we are hearing:
Children entering foster care in Connecticut are steadily decreasing. According to the nonprofit Fostering Media Connections, 3,069 children were in foster care last year. This is a 7% decrease from the year prior — and a 31% decline from record highs in 2019. Despite this decrease, the state Department of Children and Families is requesting more families to become foster homes. The number of foster homes in the state decreased by 11% last year.
A judge fined Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation another $250. The state Supreme Court judge issued the fine after the owners of the Nassau County-based nursing home failed to pay $2.65 million to the National Benefit Funds on time. State Attorney General Letitia James sued the owners in 2022, after she found $22 million in government funds were diverted to their personal accounts. They have until Wednesday to pay the funds.
Shoplifting continues to increase across Long Island. According to law enforcement and retail officials, petit larceny shoplifting in Suffolk County increased by 23% with almost 6,500 complaints. Police cited staffing shortages in stores, increased self-checkout lanes, and high housing and food costs for the increase.
By June 2025, 13 Long Island school districts are expected to have new mascots. This is to comply with a state mandate for public schools to remove all Native American imagery or risk losing state aid. Eight districts have already or plan on changing their mascots soon. The five remaining districts have sued the state to keep their “Thunderbird” and “Warrior” mascots, which they claim are not unique to Native American cultures.
Bridgeport’s Public School system will close the city’s Learning Center in June. The closure is part of an initiative developed by the superintendent and the Board of Education to close or repurpose schools in unsafe conditions with poor academic performance. The center helped special needs students transition to mainstream classrooms. After the closure, the 50 students currently enrolled in the center will be sent to other city schools.
Beavers are coming back to Connecticut! How many? That’s a really hard question. This is because the state is not currently tracking beaver populations, according to the UConn projectConnecticut Beaver Site Mapping. There are believed to be 8,000 beavers in the state. Beavers were nearly extinct due to fur trading and development in the 1800s until they were reintroduced in 1914.
