Thumbs up, thumbs down
to the University of Connecticut students who turned out at the State Capitol in Hartford last week to protest how Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget proposal could impact the school. UConn leadership claims the budget plan would leave the school $195 million short of what they had to work with in the previous year, when they got a boost from pandemic relief funding. It’s always encouraging to see students raise their hands and voices. Hopefully, it will inspire some of them to speak out on other issues in the future. to the $1 million donation made by the Mandel family to the Norwalk Community College Foundation to help address the shortage of health care workers in Connecticut. Former board President Ann Mandel and her children made the donation, which will be used for scholarships for the school’s health care programs. NCC’s Center for Science, Health and Wellness program has sent more than 4,000 graduates into the field over the past 11 years, which only hints at how much need is out there. to Eversource’s record profits and CEO salary at a time when the utility’s Connecticut customers are coping with soaring electric bills. It’s hard to imagine a better example of “bad corporate optics” than to see profits of $1.4 billion in 2022, while Eversource estimated Joe Nolan’s compensation at nearly $13 million. The company released a statement that “Joe Nolan is uniquely sensitive to the challenges that our customers face” and “he knows that cutting executive pay does not help customers one bit.” In this case, Eversource may have been wiser to have said nothing. to the expectation that Connecticut is experiencing a 25 percent increase in the number of students experiencing homelessness in this school year. While the pandemic likely contributed to the increase, the projected figures are the highest since 2017. In real numbers, that means 3,979 students experienced unstable housing throughout the 2021-22 school year. That could mean they stayed with friends, or were forced to sleep in a shelter or a car. And the expectation is that the 2022-23 figures will be closer to 5,000. The state has launched a campaign to spread awareness of the issue, but it’s one anyone should be willing to help bring to an end. to the crisis in the childcare industry. The problem became more apparent during the pandemic, but it was always there. Many childcare business have been unable to pay the bills, while caretakers have left to try to earn a better living elsewhere. It’s an important cog in the wheel of keeping bigger businesses turning, and Connecticut is not the only state with the problem.
to Quinnipiac claiming the ECAC men’s hockey regular-season championship for the third year in a row, and fifth time in a decade. As a bonus, the Bobcats beat rival Yale before a packed house at M&T Bank Center in Hamden, coming back from a 1-0 deficit to claim the Cleary Cup with a 5-1 win.