Thumbs up, thumbs down

Thumbs down to Disney for shuttering Blue Sky Studio in Greenwich. Blue Sky, which created the “Ice Age” series, “The Peanuts Movie,” “Spies in Disguise” and more, had offered promise that the film industry could be further expanded in Connecticut. Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox assets two years ago included Blue Sky, but it already operates Pixar and Disney Animation, making Blue Sky vulnerable as the media giant has suffered financial losses throughout the pandemic.

Thumbs up to coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Connecticut moving in the right direction. The state’s total dropped to 674 after a decline of 57 patients, the lowest since Nov. 12. It’s notable that the spike came during the holiday season. Just 4.5 percent of Connecticut’s population received both doses of the vaccine, so hopefully the curve will continue to bend as more residents get the shots.

Thumbs up to Ashley, a 15-year-old Newtown student who spoke about surviving the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in a video released by a gun violence prevention group. The video was a reminder that as gun safety laws stalled in Washington, D.C., over the past eight years, the survivors of this shooting are poised to become powerful voices as they become adults. “If ... we continue to fight long enough and hard enough things will change,” Ashley says in the video.

Thumbs up to Bradley International Airport snaring the No 7 spot in a USA Today contest of the 10 best small airports in the United States. This was not a rundown determined by editors or experts, but by readers. MacArthur Airport in Long Airline finished fourth and the top spot went to Myrtle Beach International Airport in South Carolina.

Thumbs down to Connecticut residents falling behind in mortgage payments, a trend that is no less terrifying because it was expected. It’s a national challenge, but Connecticut has not been able to avoid it, with an estimated 12 percent of homeowners falling behind on payments. Losing their homes would not only be a tragedy for these homeowners, but would further impair the state’s vulnerable economy. It’s not an issue federal or state lawmakers can ignore.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service Lucy and Charlie Brown in “The Peanuts Movie.”