Connecticut
On CT Adoption Day, 40 children find their forever homes
Judge Matthew Larock asked Ryan Soto if he had a statement to make. Soto was sitting next to 11-year-old Gabriel in a Torrington court room on Friday, finalizing his adoption.
Soto stood up and turned toward the gallery. The courtroom benches were filled with family members and case workers from the state Department of Children and Families, wearing proud smiles. This was a good day.
First, Soto thanked the many people who had helped make the adoption a reality. Then, he looked at his son.
“Gabe, I am honored that you came into my life. You are such an intelligent, kind kid. Thank you for making room in your heart for me as your dad, because we all have options here,” Soto said. Then, Soto addressed the rest of the room, and even the imagined audience that might be listening beyond:
“There’s so many kids out there and a lot of older youth, they need help, and oftentimes we forget that they are still kids. They still yearn for love and family. So, we can make a difference. I didn’t do this alone — we made a difference in Gabe’s life.”
Soto gave Gabriel a kiss on the forehead and took a seat.
Gabriel was one of 40 children who were adopted across Connecticut on Friday, CT Adoption Day. DCF spokesman Peter Yazbak said that around 350 children are expected to be adopted this year in Connecticut.
DCF Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lilly joined the ceremonies in Torrington on Friday, with balloons, toys and cake to celebrate. Once Soto finished his comments, Hill-Lilly said a few words.
“What a tribute. I just personally want to say thank you for stepping up and doing what I consider to be God’s work,” Hill-Lilly said. Hill-Lilly urged other families to consider taking on a fostering role.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t say you too can be an adoptive or a foster parent,” Hill-Lilly said.
After the ceremony ended, Soto shared a little more of his journey to adopting Gabriel. As a gay man who wanted to be a dad, “for obvious reasons it wasn’t happening naturally.” So, he started considering fostering a child to adopt, and imagined a kid under 5 years old.
But then, DCF sent him Gabriel’s profile, a 9-year-old looking for a forever home. “I said why not? Let me give him a chance.”
There were challenges. Gabriel had a hard time building trust with Soto, and sometimes grated against his rules. Those, Soto said, are typical challenges with older kids. “But when that wall comes down, it’s a big wall.”
That wall started to come down when Soto attended an awards ceremony at Gabriel’s school. “He was able to count on someone to be there, and I think from there he started trusting — trusting that somebody could care,” Soto said.
Gabriel is still in contact with his biological family. His 4-year-old half-sibling, Elias, who had been adopted by another family, was also present at the event.
DCF has made a major effort in recent years to place children with relatives if they can’t remain with their birth parents. That means the number of children eligible for adoption to non-biological families has gone down. But there remains a bigger need for foster parents who are willing to serve as temporary placements for children who may need a home until they can return to their families.
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Natalia Liriano, the director of foster care for DCF, said that many of the children who do need adoptive homes may be older children, or children with significant health issues. People can learn more about those kids by visiting the DCF Heart Gallery page.
“We’re talking about teenagers who can give you a run for your money but they still need love and they still are deserving of being in relationships, children with medically complex needs who need to be in longstanding relationships,” Liriano said.
Earlier on Friday, 1-year-old Corrina was adopted by mom Michelle Gonzalez. Corrina, dressed in a pink tutu, took to the courtroom like a massive play area. She batted at the heart-shaped balloons, smiled at reporters, enjoyed bites of cake, and hugged her mom when it all got to be too much.
When the ceremony was over, Richard Federico, a judicial marshall walked through the court room, taking in the happy faces and tutu-clad toddler.
“This is probably the best thing to happen here,” he said.
Connecticut
Watch New Canaan vs. Cheshire in Connecticut Class L football championship: Live stream
New Canaan faces Cheshire in the 2025 Connecticut high school Class L football state championship on Saturday afternoon.
The game begins at 4 p.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 13, at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut.
The game will stream live on the NFHS Network.
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What: Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Class L football championship
Who: New Canaan vs. Cheshire
When: Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025
Where: Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut
Time: 4 p.m. EST
Stream: NFHS Network
Tickets: $11,50
Record, MaxPrep state rankings: New Canaan 12-0, No. 1; Cheshire 9-3, No. 11
Here’s more information about the game from the Hartford Courant, via the Tribune News Service:
New Canaan is going for its 16th state title and fourth straight under veteran coach Lou Marinelli and New Canaan outscored its playoff opponents, 85-13. Cheshire’s last finals appearance was 2009, when coach Don Drust was an assistant for the Rams’ team, which beat Staples in overtime to win a Class LL title. Cheshire rallied from a 19-point deficit against Fairfield Ludlowe to win the Class L quarterfinal game and beat Ridgefield 21-0 in the semifinals. QB Aiden Gregorich’s pass to Liam Suomala proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds left in the quarterfinal.
What is the NFHS Network?
The NFHS Network covers more than 30 sports across the country. NFHS Network costs $13.99 per month or $79.99 per year.
Connecticut
Could mini-liquor bottles be banned in Connecticut?
Have you still seen a lot of mini-liquor bottles, littering the streets in Connecticut?
Members of one environmental group said they still see them, and believe a ban is the best way to solve a multi-tiered problem.
State data shows in the past 12 months, ending September 30, there were more than 93 million mini-liquor bottles sold in our state.
The group supporting local bans says it’s not just the litter, but also the fact mini-liquor bottles are easy to conceal and consume on the job, in the car, or at school.
The group “Connecticut Towns Nixing the Nip” met this week, working on strategies to get a legislative hearing on the issue in the upcoming 2026 session.
Right now, stores collect a 5-cent surcharge for every mini-liquor bottle sold, resulting in about $5 million annually for town and city environmental cleanup efforts.
Town funding from nip sales
Average revenue per year 2021 to 2025.
“Having talked to a number of towns, well a few towns, they like the money, said Tom Metzner, a member of the group. “It’s fairly broad in how it can be used. It’s environmental. It doesn’t have to be used for cleaning up nips. And so the towns have become somewhat silent on the issue of banning nips.”
The group cited Chelsea, Massachusetts, where minis are banned, both litter and alcohol related EMS calls decreased.
The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut, which devised the “nickel per nip” program, said banning the mini-liquor bottles would be unprecedented.
Instead, it said the environmental group should be challenging municipalities to prove they actually use the money for cleanup.
Legislative leaders suggested several years ago the way to really do this is to have a redemption program for mini liquor bottles, and now, that could be possible.
At least one state with the Clynk bottle collection program has redeemed mini-liquor bottles for cash.
The company just announced a major expansion in our state, but it told us it is not aware of a redemption program for mini-liquor bottles here any time soon.
Connecticut
National trust in the federal government is low. CT residents agree
National trust in the federal government is at some of its lowest levels in nearly seven decades, and many Connecticut residents fall in line with that belief, a survey found.
New data from the Pew Research Center found only 17% of Americans believe that what the government does is right either “just about always” or “most of the time,” hitting one of the lowest points Pew has seen since first asking this question in 1958. And according to a DataHaven survey, Connecticut residents trust the federal government less than state or local institutions.
While these are some of the lowest polling numbers seen in American history, national trust in the federal government has been on the decline for decades. Public trust initially dropped in the 1960s and ’70s during the Vietnam War from a near 80% but began rising again in the 1980s into the early ’90s. Trust peaked again after 9/11 before falling.
The DataHaven survey found that of all Connecticut residents surveyed, only 9% trust the federal government “a great deal” to look out for the best interests of them and their family. About 28% trust the federal government “a fair amount.”
Federal government trust among Connecticut residents was at its highest in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the federal stimulus programs and child tax credit were active.
The DataHaven survey also asked about trust in local and state government. Connecticut residents generally trust these institutions more than they trust the federal government, the survey found.
Trust in the local governments was higher than trust in both state and federal, with 67% of residents surveyed trusting their local government “a great deal” or “a fair amount.”
And when it came to state government, 61% of residents trust the state “a great deal” or “a fair amount.”
However, across the board, white residents are more likely to trust local and state government than are residents of color. Black residents had higher levels of trust in government than Latino and Puerto Rican residents, but less than white residents.
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