NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A new report is highlighting deep economic and racial disparities across Connecticut’s public school districts, ranking the state among the most segregated in the country.

The study by the nonprofit Brown’s Promise found Connecticut has some of the nation’s most pronounced divides — placing sixth worst for economic segregation and 11th for racial segregation.

Researchers measured economic segregation by the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.

According to the report, some of the highest concentrations of low-income students are found in districts just miles from the state’s wealthiest communities.

“We provide this measure of how much is it happening between districts, like across those district lines, versus inside districts like what you would find in larger school districts,” said Stephen Owens, a researcher with Brown’s Promise.

The findings may seem surprising, as Connecticut and other Northeastern states show higher levels of segregation than some Southern states that once legally enforced it.

But Owens said those historic boundaries — and the way communities developed — continue to shape access to education today.

“If your schools were built out of like the lines of the towns, the municipality, then it means that the residential patterns, where people choose to live or where they grew up, end up being copied right onto the schools,” he said.

State and local leaders across the political spectrum have long acknowledged with variations of a phrase that has become alarmingly common.

“You are essentially going to attend the school where your ZIP code is,” House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said poverty plays a central role.

“It has nothing to do with the quality of education being provided. It has everything to do with poverty,” Elicker said.

Efforts to address the issue have long been debated at the state Capitol.

To varying degrees, Democrats have pushed for increased education funding, progressives often jousting with moderates about size and scale. Republicans tend to emphasize the charter school model. There is bipartisan agreement that the state’s current education aide system needs to be retooled.

Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged the challenge, saying the state must continue working toward improvement.

“You’ve got to try every day to do better,” the Democrat said.

The issue is expected to play a major role in Connecticut’s upcoming gubernatorial race, with the three candidates offering their own solutions.

PORTLAND — Perhaps the June Swoon is over for the Portland Hearts of Pine.

A flurry of second-half activity Wednesday night resulted in four goals and a much-needed 5-1 USL League One victory against the Richmond Kickers that had fans buzzing with feel-good frenzy at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Ollie Wright scored the go-ahead goal on a header off a great cross from Jaden Jones-Reilly in the 57th minute. In short order, Konstantinos Georgallides and Aboubacar Camara each added a goal, and then Camara got a second late in extra time.

Diego Gonzalez, playing his third game with Portland, added friskiness to the midfield and opened the scoring with a header in the first half. He also assisted on Camara’s first goal with a slick through pass.

Portland had lost four straight games, including three in a row in USL1. The Hearts are now 4-5-5 in league play and moved from 13th to 10th in the 17-team league, just three points out of the eight-team playoff picture.

It was a dramatic reversal from Portland’s most recent game, a 5-1 loss at Westchester SC on Friday that was shown live back in Portland at an open-air setting in Monument Square.

PREVIOUSLY IN JUNE

When the month of May ended with a gritty home win against Spokane, Portland was 3-2-4 in league play and overcoming injuries.

June has not been as kind. Portland entered Wednesday’s game on a four-game losing streak. Digging into the numbers, the skid looked even worse.

It was the first time the Hearts had lost four straight games in their brief year-and-a-half history. They were outscored 15-5 in that stretch, and 15-3 starting with the two extra-time goals they allowed in a 3-2 loss at Corpus Christi.

Portland had also lost three straight against USL League One games for the first time.

Two of the four losses were ugly 5-1 affairs. Portland didn’t lose by more than three goals and had just four losses by two or more goals in 2025.

RETURNS AND NOTES

Portland was glad to have Mikey Lopez back on the game-day roster. Lopez, who had bene out more than month because of an injury, entered as a 75th-minute sub with Portland leading 4-1. … Sean Vinberg, one of Portland’s primary starting center backs in 2025, became the second former Hearts player to return to Fitzpatrick, wearing the captain’s band for Richmond. Vinberg was released at the end of the 2025 season. He made 33 starts for Portland, second most on the team. … Maine Gatorade High School Soccer Players of the Year Finn Coburn (Scarborough) and Noelle Mallory (Cape Elizabeth) handled the honorary coin toss before the match.

A Massachusetts man who allegedly looked to have sex with a 15-year-old girl and bring drugs and alcohol to the meet-up has been arrested during a crackdown on human trafficking amid the World Cup.

Richard Lallier, 34, of Rehoboth, is one of 13 individuals who face exploitation and trafficking charges stemming from an operation that the FBI Boston has partnered on with the Massachusetts State Police and Rhode Island State Police during the global soccer tournament, dubbed “Operation Red Card.”

“Participating agencies emphasized that while major international sporting events bring significant economic and cultural benefits to host communities,” the Rhode Island State Police said in a statement on Tuesday, “they may also create opportunities for traffickers and those who exploit vulnerable populations.”

“Law enforcement agencies throughout the region remain committed to proactive enforcement efforts designed to deter human trafficking, identify victims, and hold offenders accountable,” the State Police added.

The Rhode Island State Police arrested six individuals, including Lallier, while the Massachusetts State Police apprehended seven suspects during a five-day operation between June 12 and 16.

The suspects arrested in Massachusetts range in age between 21 and 71, all of whom have been arraigned on state charges of sex for a fee with a child under 18, enticement of a child under 16, and attempted rape of a child.

In Rhode Island, Lallier, with a last known address in Rehoboth, is being held without bail on charges of attempted enticement, attempted interstate travel for sexual contact with a minor under 16 years old, and attempted transmission of obscene material to a minor.

Lindsay Laurie, a Rhode Island state trooper who went undercover to operate a Facebook profile that featured “age-regressed images” of herself, said in an affidavit that she informed Lallier via Messenger that he was speaking to a 15-year-old.

In response, Lallier, who went by the name of “Frank Land” on Facebook, allegedly said he was 34 years old before he asked for a “naughty video.”

Lallier also allegedly “sent multiple videos of his penis” to the undercover profile.

Two days later, last Wednesday, Lallier messaged the undercover profile again, explaining that he wanted to find “snow,” a “code word for cocaine,” Laurie stated. Lallier said he would “bring weed and fireball” to a meetup.

Last Friday, after Lallier confirmed to the undercover profile that he arrived in Rhode Island’s Lincoln Woods State Park, authorities arrested him, according to Laurie’s affidavit.

Major international events, such as the World Cup, lead to “large-scale travel” and “increased demand for lodging,” creating “opportunities for criminal exploitation,” according to Michael Soper, the program director of Boston Hotel Watch, an intelligence network connecting hotels and law enforcement.

Soper pointed to the “rapid expansion of short-term rental platforms” in creating a “significant and evolving challenge” to prevent human trafficking since the accommodations often have “less oversight, fewer standardized security protocols, and limited participation in established reporting networks.”

“As a result,” Soper said in a statement shared with the Herald, “illicit activity may occur outside the visibility of hospitality professionals and law enforcement partnerships, making the full scope of the problem difficult to measure.”