Connecticut
Connecticut is failing higher education
The state of Connecticut is tightening its belt around higher education, leading the University of Connecticut to begin fiscal year 2025 with a deficit of $70 million, according to The Daily Campus. UConn President Radenka Maric has stated that the deficit, stemming from nearly $50 million in reduced state support from COVID-19 funds, will result in 15% cuts to academic programs over the next five years.
The impact of the cuts has led to concerns among the UConn branch of the Association of American University Professors (AAUP) of the “potential for layoffs, departure, or early retirement of faculty members, the closing of graduate programs and the loss of UConn’s R1 research institution classification.”
The Daily Campus Editorial Board has been vocal about the UConn administration’s exorbitant spending on construction of new dormitories and other facilities despite their knowledge of expiring COVID-19 funds, a charge that is now corroborated by the present budget shortfall. As such, the university’s leaders bear major responsibility for impending program closures and department downsizing, which, as one member of the history department told the Chronicle of Higher Education, would eliminate entire graduate programs without coming close to meeting the required 15% reduction in their operating budget.
However, when it comes to the supposed lack of funds for public colleges and universities, Governor Ned Lamont and the state legislature don’t exactly have their backs to the wall — the reasoning requires parsing through seven years of tax policy.
According to in-depth reporting by the CT Mirror, the funding gap faced by public higher education, which includes UConn as well as 17 state universities and community colleges, is a symptom of steep “fiscal guardrails” meant to finance pensions for employees of the state’s large public sector. Since 2017, the state has capped spending to help chop $7.7 billion off its $37 billion in unfunded liabilities. But one cost-saving mechanism — which prohibits the state from spending any revenue collected from businesses that exceeds $3.15 billion — leaves anywhere from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars per year untouchable. The policy enables less spending on services such as healthcare, housing, investments in low-income communities and communities of color and, not least, higher education. In other words, the cost of Connecticut’s pension debt is displaced unto these underserviced social resources.
This demands the question: How much of state funds have been drained on servicing debt that could have been invested in higher education?
To make matters — and deficits — worse, the state has provided robust tax incentives to large corporations over the past decade, compounding with ambitious tax cuts to limit the amount of potential support for colleges and universities.
In 2022, the legislature passed an agreement with Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky, a manufacturer of military helicopters, providing the company with up to $75 million in tax relief to remain in the state for two decades and keep jobs in the state. Sikorsky later thanked the state for its fealty to the war industry by losing a $7.1 billion contract with the U.S. Army and, in October 2023, laying off 179 employees, short-changing taxpayers on both jobs and revenue.
In 2014, East Hartford-based manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, which produces engines for commercial and military aircraft, struck an agreement with the state for up to $400 million in tax incentives for remaining in the state up to 2029. In July 2023, the producer’s parent company and fellow weapons manufacturer Raytheon Technologies (RTX) disclosed a malfunction in Pratt & Whitney engines that could cost the company up to $7 billion in lost income — effectively eating its own profits from the past two years and negating the anticipated benefits of the past decade’s tax abatement.
Other corporate tax relief from the past year include tens of millions to animation studios — whose permanence in Connecticut is uncertain, according to reporting from the CT Mirror — and as much as $100 million to property developers looking to “revitalize” communities (the siren song of gentrification). Households and individuals earning $100,000 may see their taxes decrease by as much as $600, but those savings might be negated entirely if a family member is attending one of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities increasing tuition by $610.
Tax cuts for individuals and corporations are generally an incentive to unleash spending and keep jobs and people in the state; however, not only is the evidence that higher taxes lead to more outward migration scant, but Connecticut’s handouts to corporations have failed to solve the fundamental crises facing residents, be they renters, unhoused people or students. Furthermore, the legislature’s parochial mission to slash pension debt and serve the people of the state has done precisely the opposite, penalizing students and faculty of public universities and colleges for decades of fiscal problems they had no part in.
Connecticut
Florida High School State Bronze Medalist Dajah German Verbals To Connecticut For Fall 2027
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Florida high school state bronze medalist Dajah German has announced her verbal commitment to swim and study at the University of Connecticut beginning in the fall of 2027. She publicized the news on SwimCloud, writing:
I am so excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Connecticut! I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who has supported me throughout this journey, my family, coaches, teammates, and friends who have pushed me to be my best throughout the years. And a very special thank you to Coach Chris and Coach Nicole for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. I’m so excited for what’s ahead. GO HUSKIES!
A rising senior at Fort Lauderdale High School in Florida, German trains year-round with Swim Fort Lauderdale and primarily specializes in the sprint and middle-distance freestyle events.
German has improved each year of her high school career, most recently dropping from 23.78, 51.39, and 1:50.56 in the 50/100/200 free to 23.54, 51.35, and 1:49.69 during the 2025-26 short course season.
German’s top meet of the season was the Florida Senior Championships in March, where she recorded her current PBs in both the 50 and 200 free. She finished second in the 500 free (4:55.94) and 1650 free (17:02.78), third in both the 50 free and 200 free, and fifth in the 100 free (51.43). She set her current 100 free PB at a smaller holiday meet in December. In the 500 free, she clocked a season-best 4:55.21 at the Speedo Cup in January, with her lifetime best of 4:53.19 coming at the 2025 Florida Senior Championships.
German has qualified for the FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) State Championships for the past three years, with her top performance coming at the 2025 iteration in November. She placed third in the 50 free (23.96), fifth in the 500 free (5:01.12), and helped Fort Lauderdale to fourth place in both the 200 free relay (24.64 leadoff) and 400 free relay (53.08 anchor).
Top SCY Times:
- 50 Freestyle: 23.54
- 100 Freestyle: 51.35
- 200 Freestyle: 1:49.69
- 500 Freestyle: 4:53.19
A Division I Mid-Major program, Connecticut competes in the Big East, with the women’s team placing second out of seven teams at this past season’s conference championships. German’s current lifetime bests would have placed third in the 200 free, fourth in the 500 free, eighth in the 50 free, and ninth in the 100 free, setting her up as an immediate contributor with two full seasons of training still ahead before her first conference meet.
German joins Anna Mumford, Lyla Devlin, Lena Brown, and Louisa Holda in committing to the Huskies’ class of 2031 so far.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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Here are the forecast details for northern Connecticut via the National Weather Service:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 80. Light west wind increasing to 6 to 11 mph in the morning.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: A chance of showers before 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 2pm and 4pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 4pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 76. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Monday Night: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 59. Southeast wind around 8 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
WASHINGTON (7News) — A Park Police chase ends with a moped rider getting hit and killed on the Taft Bridge in Northwest D.C.
7News’ Washington, D.C. reporter, Phylicia Ashley, went to the scene moments after it happened Saturday evening and spoke to multiple witnesses.
Ximen DeFillippes was riding her bike near Woodley Road when she saw the chase.
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“The Park Police passed me. We were on Woodley Road. And then I saw the car they were pursuing,” said DeFillippes. “It was going very fast on the sidewalk. It drove up on the sidewalk up Woodley Road.”
DeFilippes was on one side of the Taft Bridge.
“I’d never seen anything that crazy,” said DeFillippes. “It was, it was like really like homicidal. It was just insane. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
7News also saw the aftermath of the chase and found Lamont Penry on the other side of the bridge. He also saw the chase. It ended on the steps of the Chinese Embassy staff housing.
“The car crashed into the diplomatic car,” Penry said. “A young man jumps out, takes off running down the street. The other three guys came out kind of dizzy. They apprehended one who was on the bench. One was at the rear. Tire of the vehicle, looked to be a Camry, and the other was on the other side of the diplomatic car.”
In the middle of the bridge, 7News saw the victim’s body covered by a white sheet. Witnesses said that when the chase reached the Taft Bridge, one of the vehicles involved struck someone riding a scooter.
“Once the gentleman on the bridge was hit. We realized that no one stopped,” said Penry. “Police continued the pursuit until here, and then they turned around.”
RELATED | President Trump allows US Park Police to chase fleeing vehicles
Penry said all the alleged suspects involved looked young. While on scene, 7News saw one person get arrested and placed in an ambulance.
DeFilippes was riding her bike when she said two cars blocked her from getting caught in the midst of the chase.
“I’m feeling lucky that for those few seconds of my path being kind of blocked,” said DeFillippes. “I’m just so glad that happened. Or else I would have been right there. I’m not at all surprised that someone was hurt. Just. Just from the way everything was unfolding, I could just tell it was going to be bad.
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