Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up to Maya Moore. The former UConn great recently announced her retirement from professional basketball, and though it's been several years since she played, her legacy on and off the court remains secure. Moore is among the handful of best players ever to wear a Huskies jersey, and she continued her success in the WNBA. But it's her work in the field of social justice where she may have made her biggest mark. Moore stepped away from basketball to help overturn the wrongful conviction of a man serving decades in prison, and has continued to advocate for criminal justice reform, creating an organization that advocates for those who are wrongly convicted. She makes her many fans proud.
Thumbs down to the ongoing scourge of wrong-way deaths on Connecticut highways, highlighted by the death of state Rep. Quentin “Q” Williams earlier this month. Last year was an especially deadly year for this phenomenon, and lawmakers, in response to Williams' death and the sheer number of similar tragedies, are vowing a crackdown. There's no good explanation for the rise in numbers of such deaths last year, which was more than the previous three years combined. But it's a uniquely dangerous situation, one where the person driving in the correct lane has almost no time to respond to signs of danger. It's vital that the state Legislature take action.
Thumbs up to calls for pedestrian safety. Derby resident Susan Lanzaro-Schroeder is among many who are putting a spotlight on the issue, in her case following the death of a fellow Derby resident who was struck by a car on Division Street and later died of his injuries. Lanzaro-Schroeder announced she was organizing a walk highlighting the issue of pedestrian safety both to honor Jepson and raise awareness about the dangers of walking along that road. Division Street is certainly a dangerous place, but it's far from the only street where pedestrians find themselves at risk from inattentive drivers, road design aimed at speed over safety, and a lack of amenities for people on foot or bicycle. Whatever can be done to raise awareness of the problem should be welcomed.
Thumbs down to suburbs for not doing their part. Despite an increase in funding from the state to pay for school desegregation measures, suburban school districts enrolled fewer Hartford students during the 2022-23 school year than in any of the previous five years, state numbers show. Open Choice is a voluntary program that arose from the Sheff vs. O'Neill case of the 1980s and was aimed at diversifying school enrollment. Numbers, however, remain stubbornly similar in many places, with large numbers of minority students in cities and overwhelmingly white populations in many suburbs. The issue goes far beyond the Hartford area, and may finally dissuade people who believe voluntary solutions are ever going to be enough to take on this challenge.
Thumbs up to plans to tackle a growing problem with bears. It wasn't a problem a generation or two ago, but bears have made themselves a part of Connecticut suburban life in recent years. And while that mostly amounts to fleeting sightings in the woods, sometimes there are problems. Bears, after all, can cause serious harm when they're so inclined, and though they typically steer clear of human interaction, that isn't always the case. A number of proposals have been floated for dealing with the rising bear population in the state, which is sure to cause some consternation from all corners. Regardless, the problem isn't going away, so it's incumbent on the state to find some answers.