Good morning. Former UConn women’s basketball athlete Sue Bird will become immortalized with her very own Barbie doll. Bird played for the Huskies from 1998-2002 before playing for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm for 20 seasons.
Mattel announced Bird’s Barbie doll as a part of its summer of sports initiative, which will see 10 other athletes turned into Barbies. Bird called her Barbie incarnation “surreal” and hopes it will inspire boys and girls to play basketball. The doll costs $30.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we’re hearing:
New York State will invest nearly $8 million in repairing the Baxter Beach shoreline in Port Washington. Governor Kathy Hochul said the fund will help improve coastal infrastructure and protect thousands of Long Island residents from flooding events. As a part of the improvements, this fund will go towards building porous asphalt walks, elevated overlook walkways, energy efficient lighting and a bus shelter among other projects. These developments are expected to attract new visitors and support local businesses.
Seventeen Connecticut municipalities will receive $12 million in grants for public transportation and safety improvements. These funds are a part of the Department of Transportation’s sixth round of grants from the Community Connectivity Grant Program. Governor Ned Lamont said the grants will help improve local infrastructure and lead to economic growth statewide. Some improvements include safety and mobility enhancements for schools, jobs and public transit.
Riverhead and Southold town board members joined together to discuss Riverhead’s proposed agri-tourism resorts. Riverhead officials plan on establishing agri-tourism laws to allow local farms to use 70% of their land for agriculture while the other 30% could be used to develop resorts. Riverhead Ken Rothwell clarified that the resorts cannot be taller than 35 feet and won’t be seen from the Long Island Sound. The potential resorts are expected to bring more jobs to Riverhead and help boost town tax revenue.
The Town of Greenwich has begun publishing the names of people who submit public records requests. First Selectman Fred Camillo believes this will increase transparency in town government and lead to less governmental abuse. From mid-June to mid-July, 43 requests had been publicized so far, 35 of which were in connection to underground storage tanks. Public records requests are authorized via the Freedom of Information Act, which requires government documents and data to be shared with people when requested.
Connecticut is the third worst state to travel through for summer road trips, according to a study from the personal finance website WalletHub. In the study, each state was ranked by its travel costs, safety and available activities. Connecticut was only ranked above Rhode Island and Delaware. In contrast, New York was ranked the third best state to travel through for summer road trips, only behind Texas and Minnesota.
