Thumbs up, thumbs down

to the drivers who don’t slow down in construction zones. A new speed camera program offers evidence to the long-held suspicion that too many cars are moving too quickly through construction area, despite the risk of higher fines. Of the 2.8 million vehicles logged by the program, nearly 25,000 drivers received written warnings, while 700 were fined at least $75. The cameras were placed at three major projects, on Interstate-95 in Westport/Norwalk as well as East Lyme and in Waterbury on Interstate-84. Hopefully, this will help to slow the pace in work zones, though the 10 fatalities from 2020 to 2022 should be persuasive enough.

to ridership on Metro-North’s Hartford line surging past levels it recorded before the arrival of COVID-19 in March 2020. This is particularly noteworthy because ridership has been lagging on commuter rails across the United States. The Hartford line only launched in 2018, but it’s encouraging to see it on a pace that is expected to break ridership records for the year. The Hartford line runs from New Haven to Hartford, and then onto Springfield, Mass. Meanwhile, Gov. Ned Lamont has cut funding to the New Haven Line and Shore Line East routes as those numbers continue to decline. to the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team suffering yet another injury to a player. Aubrey Griffin, the Huskies’ go-to sixth player, suffered a knee injury against Creighton last week. Griffin remained on the bench with crutches during UConn’s 83-55 win over Georgetown Sunday, and her long-term status remains uncertain. In the meantime, the Huskies are down to nine available players. It’s all the more reason to cheer them on this season. to electric bills rising during the time of year when power in New England is needed the most. United Illuminating predicts that typical customers will see a hike of $19.31 per month in the first six months of 2024, compared with the second half of 2023. Customers won’t be hard quite as hard by Eversource, but they are still expected to pay about $6 per month more. There are a lot of reasons for these increases, but at the end of the day they just translate to another financial blow to Connecticut residents. to the upgraded “bottle bill” drawing more residents to redemption centers as the deposit doubles from a nickel to a dime per container. The program needed a boost, as returns were relatively tepid in recent years. In addition to increasing the reward, lawmakers also expanded the eligible products to include products such as as iced teas, sports drinks and some hard seltzers. Some residents have been hoarding in recent months to take advantage of the bigger payout, so it’s doubtful the turnout will reflect a new normal. Still, we prefer to take a “bottle half full” attitude.