Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up to voting. The wait is finally over as Connecticut gets its say on the biggest races in the state, including governor, U.S. senator, all five congressional seats and the entire General Assembly, plus the state constitutional officers. The campaign has seemed endless at times, and we’ve all seen enough commercials to last through the winter, at least. Connecticut offers same-day voter registration in some locations for people who have not yet registered. And if a statewide referendum is approved this year, we could finally join most of the rest of the country in offering early voting, so people don’t have to rearrange their schedules to make time to vote. Whatever your preferences, it’s vital to make your voice heard. Now is your chance.
Thumbs up to the start of college basketball. Connecticut has something of a reputation in this area, so it makes sense that people here look forward to
this time of year. The UConn women are facing uncertainty with their best player, Paige Bueckers, sidelined for the season, but there’s plenty of talent on the roster to make things interesting. The men, too, have many good players returning from last year plus some promising freshman, including Bristol’s own Donovan Clingan. And don’t forget teams getting underway from Yale, Sacred Heart, Central and other schools around the region. Baseball is over, but the best sports season of the year is finally here.
Thumbs up to a push for turning Connecticut’s largest city into a hub for wind power. Connecticut’s congressional delegation recently announced
$17 million for improvements to Bridgeport’s and New London’s ports, with $10.5 million headed to the Bridgeport Port Authority to design and build an “operations maintenance and wind port” that involves harbor dredging, the installation of bulkheads, a floating service dock and pads for cranes. Though there has been uncertainty as to the specifics of Bridgeport’s wind power future due to some zoning questions, this infusion shows that the industry still has a future here.
Thumbs up, tentatively, to a rare November stretch of warm weather. Record highs were set across the region in recent days as temperatures reached
the 70s, which is far higher than we’re used to seeing this time of year. And there’s no question it’s been nice to leave windows open at a time when many people are turning up the heat and hunkering down for the winter. But we shouldn’t ignore what it means, either. Just as powerful storms and coastal flooding are signs of climate change, so is unseasonably mild weather. It’s not normal to see 75 degree weather in early November, nor is it something we should look forward to. All the more reason to control emissions now as the problem continues to worsen.
Thumbs down to the warning from Eversource Energy that “if we have a really cold winter, there is a potential we could see rolling blackouts.” Hearing the head of a power company issue a November warning about the possibility of the lights going out for a few hours at a time is unsettling. Eversource CEO Joseph Nolan reached out to President Joe Biden for help to ensure there is enough natural gas to get through the winter months. Nolan noted that his customers are guaranteed delivery, but power plant operators lack such assurances. It has a similar feel to summer warnings to restrict water usage during droughts.
Thumbs up to the apparent success of free phone calls for people serving time in state prisons and youth detention facilities in Connecticut, the first state to do so. Everyone who felt isolated during the early days of the pandemic can likely feel a sense of empathy for prisoners cut off from the outside world. Ideally, this will help prisoners be better prepared to return to civilian life.