HARTFORD — Since it was first put on display in December 2009, the modern bronze copy of “The Genius of Connecticut,” with its steely face, prominent wings and flowing robes, has been a major attraction on the daily tours of the State Capitol.
Connecticut
Vote: Who has been the best sophomore football player in Connecticut so far in 2024?
We are just past the mid-point part of the 2024 high school football season here in Connecticut and there’s no shortage of underclassmen performing at a high level. It’s no surprise that sophomores are showing out in Constitution State as that’s been the case in the past many times over. This list of underclassmen features some of the top sophomores football players we’ve seen or have been on the rise in Connecticut. Take a look at our list and vote for who you feel has been the top performing sophomores high school football player in Connecticut.
SBLive voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams. Unless expressly noted, there are no awards for winning the voting. Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll. You can vote as often as you wish and are encouraged to share our polls with others. The use of voting bots and other forms of automated voting are not allowed. Individuals will be removed from the poll if any form of automated voting can be verified. – SBLive Sports
Voting closes on December 8th, 11:59pm
Here are the nominees:
The signal caller has played really well through the season, completing 94-of-138 passes for 1,811 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Another sophomore signal caller that’s played really well this season is Witteman for Law and he’s put up some solid stats. Witteman has completed 127-of-205 passes for 1,586 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Sandish has played just about as well as any sophomore signal caller this season and he’s got the numbers to prove it. The sophomore has thrown for 1,255 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Though Croucher hasn’t seen as much time under center like the others ahead of him, his numbers match up pretty well. Croucher has thrown for 1,108 yards, 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Casdia has been strong out of the backfield for Glastonbury, rushing for 1,248 yards on 215 carries and scoring 14 touchdowns.
The Rockville running back has carried the rock 90 carries for 766 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. Boland is also averaging 8.5 yards per carry.
Graves has been one of the state’s top sophomore receivers this season, hauling in 61 passes for 942 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns.
The middle linebacker has been strong in the heart of the New Britain defense this season, with Mendez making 81 total tackles, four have gone for a loss and one sack.
Rivera has been a strong tackler for Crosby, making 71 total tackles and a sack so far this season.
The Greenwich linebacker has had a solid season in the front seven, totaling 70 tackles, seven going for a loss and 3.5 sacks so far this fall.
Duverce has been a menace for opposing offensive linemen this fall, with the stalwart totaling 31 total tackles, 11 have gone for a loss and seven sacks.
The sophomore defensive back has been among the leaders in the interception department, racking up four so far this season.
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— Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Housing advocates and experts are weighing in on a recent report on Connecticut’s housing crisis, after the state received a failing score for a second year in a row.
Titled “Grading the States: Affordability & Homebuilding Report Cards,” the Nutmeg State ranks at number 46 compared to all 50 states. Each grade is weighed on a 100-point scale across two factors: affordability and homebuilding.
The median household income sits at $95,392 per year in Connecticut, yet the median listing price for a home lands a little over $500,000.
While some believe there is some truth to the score, people like Connecticut Realtor Michael Barbaro say it’s a bit of an oversimplification.
“The fact is, we’re a small state. We have high density, we have older housing stock,” Barbaro said. “So all these factors coming together, giving us that score is probably not fair. It’s probably penalizing us for characteristics that we just can’t change here.”
While Connecticut has seen a rise in building permits, factors like a high cost of living, rising construction costs and restrictive regulations aren’t helping in the eyes of some.
To address the state’s housing needs, at least 120,000 units need to be built, according to a 2025 commissioned study by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management.
“We’re digging out of like a really deep hole on under production,” Chelsea Ross, executive director of the Partnership for Strong Communities, said. “So it’s going to take us a while to have that part of our grade increase.”
State lawmakers passed legislation last year, formally known as House Bill 5002, with the goal to incentivize new builds and alter zoning regulations.
While advocates of the bill praised the step, some say it’s just a start.
“What we have is kind of a framework for that work, but no real enforcement on how suburbs are going to handle that and ensure that they’re building more affordable housing,” Representative Antonio Felipe, chair of the legislative housing committee said.
Connecticut
‘The Genius of Connecticut,’ an allegorical statue, may never ‘return’ to the top of State Capitol
Brian Pencz, facilities administrator for the state Office of Legislative Management, which runs the 14-acre State Capitol complex, in a file photo in 2024. A statue called ‘The Genius of Connecticut’ has no skeletal body inside, ‘so it’s not stable enough to go up on top of the Capitol,’ said Pencz.
While thousands have seen the 18-foot-tall sculpture up close and personal, the goal of Capitol historians and preservationists has been to put the replica atop the gold dome. The original ruled over the building’s Gothic architecture from 1878 until damage to its base was found after the Hurricane of 1938, when the statue was dismantled and removed piece-by-piece.
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Now, though, the discovery of a lack of interior framing inside the 5,500-pound daemon, the allegorical protector of Connecticut, is making the administrators who run the 14-acre State Capitol complex worry whether it would be safe to put the sculpture atop the 274-foot-tall gold dome after a $50 million rehabilitation of the building begins late this year.
“There’s no skeletal body inside, so it’s not stable enough to go up on top of the Capitol,” said Brian Pencz, facilities administrator for the Office of Legislative Management in Hartford. “That is what the X-rays that we had done show.”
‘The Genius of Connecticut’ statue in the central atrium on the State Capitol, in Hartford, Conn., on Sept. 28, 2023. A plan to move it to the top of the dome may not move forward because of structural concerns about the statute.
The half-million dollars budgeted to hoist “The Genius” atop the dome — with its crown of oak leaves representing the state tree, a wreath of dried flowers in her right hand and mountain laurel, the state flower, in the left — could increase dramatically if the 20 pieces have to be taken apart, an armature inserted and the pieces welded back together, he said.
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That’s the issue before the State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission. The advisory panel, along with the Office of Legislative Management, considers a remounted “Genius” the culmination of the $50 million cleaning and repair program at the Capitol that includes applying a 3/1000ths-inch of gold leaf on the dome and rehabilitating 522 windows.
That cost doesn’t include necessary repairs to the original base of the “Genius,” above the dome in the area called the “lantern” of the Capitol, itself a tribute to the nation’s role in the American Civil War.
Complicating the work on the “Genius” is that the Polich Tallix Foundry of Rock Tavern, N.Y. — where it was cast, based on the 2007 advanced laser imaging of the plaster copy of the original that resides in the Capitol’s north lobby — has been sold to another company.
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Pencz recently told the Capitol Preservation Commission that it will have to wait a year or more to see whether adding a new skeleton or armature is even possible.
“I reached out to that company and a competitor of theirs to have them come in and look at it so we can at least get the process started, and I have only heard back from one and they’re out until mid-summer next year,” he said.
‘The Genius of Connecticut,’ a copy of an identical statue that was atop the State Capitol between 1878 and 1938, is a regular stop for tours under the Capitol’s 257-foot-tall rotunda. Plans to move it to the dome are threatened by a structural assessment of the sculpture.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, co-chair of the legislative Appropriations Committee who leads the Preservation Commission, said she would like to know the cost of a skeletal component for the “Genius.”
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“I think it’s important for us to kind of get there. Personally, I’d like to see the ‘Genius’ get back where it belongs,” she said. “That’s where I’ve been along and I’d like to see that happen.”
Before the 1938 hurricane, the original statue had previously been hauled down in 1903, for about a year, when officials were concerned about damage from high winds, according to a 2021 article by Central Connecticut State University Professor Matthew Warshauer.
Warshauer, in a phone interview Monday, said he would also like to see the new version of the “Genius” atop the dome. But Warshauer also said he’d prefer that a statewide, grassroots citizen-fundraising effort pay for it, rather than state funds. He cited the importance of civic engagement, particularly in this semiquincentennial year of celebrating — and discussing — the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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“I wholeheartedly support raising the ‘Genius’ to the center of the Capitol and its towering heights,” Warshauer said. “But what will such an action mean if it’s done only by the General Assembly and not the public? Today we have to decide what our symbols are and what they can mean. It’s up to the people to decide, with the help of civic leaders and historians. It’s more meaningful if done with intention by the people and different groups of people.”
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