Connecticut
UConn is the big favorite in East regional. Florida Atlantic could be best sleeper pick
Connecticut is the latest defending national champion to make a run at the most elite list in college basketball.
The top-overall seed in the men’s NCAA Tournament is looking to become the eighth program in Division I and first since Florida in 2006-7 to go back-to-back in the tournament era. The others are Oklahoma State (1945-46), Kentucky (1948-49), San Francisco (1955-56), Cincinnati (1961-62), UCLA (1964-65, 1967-73) and Duke (1991-92).
The Huskies will try to do so coming out of the East Region, where the stiffest competition should come from No. 2 Iowa State, the Big 12 tournament champion; No. 3 Illinois, the second-place team from the Big Ten; and No. 4 Auburn, winners of the SEC tournament.
Jay Wright believes college basketball court storming should be banned
College basketball analyst Jay Wright believes that NCAA court storming should be banned, primarily because of player and fan safety.
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It’s a strong region. But no team in the country has looked as strong as UConn, the prohibitive favorites to repeat.
USA TODAY Sports breaks down the men’s NCAA Tournament East Region:
Best first-round matchup: Washington State vs. Drake
No. 7 Washington State is back in the tournament for the first since 2008 after going 24-9 and finishing second in the Pac-12 under coach Kyle Smith. Drake had another outstanding regular season — the Bulldogs have won at least 25 games in each of the past four years — but won the Missouri Valley tournament championship to land the No. 10 seed. Drake’s offense is one of the highest-scoring in program history but will be challenged by a WSU defense that hasn’t given up 80 points since a win against Washington on Feb. 3.
Potential upset in first round: Auburn vs. Yale
No. 12 Alabama-Birmingham is hot enough to take down No. 5 San Diego State, though the Blazers’ play for the vast majority of the regular season doesn’t speak too well to their chances. Let’s go instead with No. 13 Yale finding a hot hand and taking down No. 4 Auburn, which had one of the cruelest tournament landing spots of any Power Six team. The Tigers were placed behind No. 3 Kentucky despite winning the SEC, for one, and worse yet will very likely have to tussle with one of the Huskies and Iowa State to get back to the Final Four behind coach Bruce Pearl.
The sleeper: Florida Atlantic
If for no other reason than the fact that FAU doesn’t lose NCAA Tournament games in New York. (If we’re counting all five boroughs, that is.) A year ago, the Owls punched their ticket to the Final Four out of Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. This time, the No. 8 Owls will get started at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center against No. 9 Northwestern before — gulp — taking on UConn. FAU struggled at times during the regular season as first-year members of the American but have the experienced roster and depth of production to make another March run in the Big Apple.
The winner: Connecticut
OK, so let’s get real: Anyone other than UConn winning the region and going to the Final Four would be a big surprise. (Anyone other than UConn winning the whole thing might be a big surprise, actually.) The Huskies are long, deep, explosive, dripping with athleticism and loaded with the sort of confidence you’d expect from the defending champs. The Huskies are built to handle the intensity of tournament play and will benefit from the depth developed while battling some injuries during the regular season.
NCAA Tournament East Region schedule
Thursday, March 21
Omaha, Neb.
No. 2 Iowa State vs. No. 15 Dakota StateNo. 3 Illinois vs. No. 14 Morehead StateNo. 7 Washington State vs. No. 10 DrakeNo. 6 Brigham Young vs. No. 11 Duquesne
Friday, March 22
Brooklyn, NY
No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 16 StetsonNo. 8 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 9 Northwestern
Spokane, Wash.
No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 12 Alabama-BirminghamNo. 4 Auburn vs. No. 13 Yale
Connecticut
2 Powerball tickets sold in Connecticut won $50,000
There were two $50,000 Powerball winning tickets sold in Connecticut for Monday’s drawing.
The winning numbers were 23-35-59-63-68 and the Powerball was 2.
The Powerplay was X4, but neither ticket had that option.
The tickets matched four white balls and the Powerball.
No information was available on where it was sold.
No one won the jackpot on Monday night, sending it soaring to $1.25 billion for Wednesday’s drawing.
Connecticut
Opinion: Flavored vapes and Connecticut’s youth: a call for action
My generation grew up thinking we would be the ones to bring teen smoking to an end. But then came the cotton candy vapes.
They were, and still are, everywhere you look. Back in middle and high school, I remember friends had them in their backpacks and hoodie sleeves, they even used them in the school bathrooms.
This past summer, I witnessed firsthand the real impact it has had. My friends and I took a girls’ trip, and one day, we decided we wanted to blow up a pool floatie. Given that we didn’t have an air pump, the only option was to do it manually. One of my friends, who has vaped regularly for years, couldn’t get more than three breaths in before giving up. She began coughing and ran out of breath. It was funny for a second…until it wasn’t.
This was the moment that made me realize how this epidemic is hurting the people closest to us.
When e-cigarettes first hit the market, companies claimed that they were safer than smoking real cigarettes and that they would help adults quit smoking, when in reality, they’ve only really done the opposite for young people. Vaping may look harmless because of the fun flavors, names, and colors on the packaging, but the reality of it is way darker. E-cigarette use can lead to cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, and even long term damage to the airways that can make something as simple as inhaling a serious struggle. These devices push harmful chemicals deep into young people’s lungs, disrupting their bodies in ways they’re not even aware of until it’s too late.
A Yale-led study found that one in four Connecticut high school students and one in 30 middle schoolers had already tried vaping. This may not seem like much at first glance, but the fact of the matter is that a vast majority of adolescents know at least one peer who vapes, at the very minimum. A large portion of the teens from the study preferred sweet and fruity flavors, and many students who had never smoked cigarettes before began experimenting with nicotine through vapes, which demonstrates that flavored e-cigarettes are a gateway, not a solution.

The problem is not just about curiosity. The brain is not finished developing until about age 25. This time is critical in the development of areas like attention, memory, and decision making. The CDC mentions that nicotine exposure during these earlier years of development can impair brain chemistry, having outcomes that linger into adulthood.
Despite this, vape companies continue to sell what seems like nicotine candy to minors, disguised in bright packaging and flavors like “blue razz” or “mango blast.” When you think about it, it makes sense that as soon as companies began seeing a decline in sales, they had to figure out a way to create new products that were trendy, tasted good, and addictive.
Our neighboring states, such as New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, have already taken action to address this issue. Massachusetts, for example, passed its 2019 Tobacco Control Law, which banned all flavored nicotine and tobacco products. These states were able to recognize the problem for what it is, a public health emergency. How is it that states just hours away have taken initiative to protect their youth, and Connecticut still hasn’t banned the very flavors that helped hook an entire generation?
While nothing in CT has become law yet, lawmakers have tried. Senate Bill 326, An Act Concerning Flavored Tobacco Products, was designed precisely to restrict the sale of flavored nicotine and vaping products across the state of Connecticut, however, it did not pass. As a result, flavored vapes remain widely available and attractive to younger audiences.
It’s time for that to change. Connecticut should revive, strengthen, and reconsider SB 326 to create a statewide law to ban flavored vapes, mirroring our neighboring states. The law should eliminate all non-tobacco flavors from retail shelves and increase penalties for selling to minors. Taking this step towards better health and a future for our youth would do more than just reduce teen vaping rates, it would also send a clear message that the health and safety of our children are valued and prioritized over the profits of the tobacco industry.
When I think back to that summer afternoon, watching my friend struggle to breathe, I can’t help but feel how preventable it all is. Our generation came so close to ending teen smoking, we never would’ve thought that nicotine would come back disguised as a fruit flavored cloud. If Connecticut wants to protect its minors, it’s time to clear the air once and for all.
Kiara Salas is a student at Sacred Heart University.
Connecticut
Connecticut to erase $63 million in medical debt for 40,000 residents
HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) – Nearly 40,000 Connecticut residents will find some good news in their mailboxes this week: their medical debt has been erased.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday that letters are going out to residents informing them that some or all of their medical bills have been eliminated. This third round of the Medical Debt Erasure Initiative is wiping out more than $63 million in medical debt.
Since the program began in December 2024, nearly 160,000 Connecticut residents have had a total of $198 million in medical debt eliminated.
“Medical debt can delay healing due to stress and anxiety about how to pay these bills,” Lamont said. “This makes a real difference in the lives of our families, reducing fear and concerns.”
The state partners with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to buy large bundles of qualifying medical debt for pennies on the dollar. To qualify, residents must have income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level or have medical debt that equals 5% or more of their income.
There’s no application process — the debt erasure happens automatically through purchases from participating hospitals and collection agencies. Residents who qualify will receive letters from Undue Medical Debt over the next several days.
The first round erased about $30 million for roughly 23,000 people, and the second round eliminated more than $100 million for 100,000 people. Lamont plans to continue the program using $6.5 million in federal ARPA funding.
Copyright 2025 WFSB. All rights reserved.
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