Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker are congratulating two Connecticut students who were named as 2023 U.S. Presidential Scholars for their accomplishments in academics, the arts, and career and technical education fields. The recognition is one of the nation’s highest honors for graduating high school seniors. One of them is from our general area… Lukas Koutsoukos from Wilton High School. The entire Presidential Scholars Class of 2023 will be recognized for their outstanding achievement this summer with an online recognition program.
Another national chain of big box stores appears to be going under. Christmas Tree Shops, which has a retail location in The Danbury Square Plaza… one of its four Connecticut stores… is headed for bankruptcy. For now anyway, while they admit that they plan to close up to ten stores overall to cut expenses, the company says they have no plans to close any of their four Connecticut stores. Christmas Tree Shops in Danbury is next to another retail giant that has filed for bankruptcy protection…David’s Bridal.
A 66 year old diver from Ridgefield has won 3 gold medals at the US National Masters Diving Championships that were held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Gail Heaslip of Ridgefield was a triple gold medalist at last month’s championship competition. Heaslip took first place in the 1-meter diving in the women’s 65-69 age group and the women’s grand masters for the 65-79 age group, as well as the women’s synchronized diving in the 65-80 age group.
The Connecticut House of Representatives has voted… by a 98-45 vote margin… to approve a bill that would prohibit marriage for anyone under the age of 18 here in Connecticut. It’s aimed at combating human trafficking and arranged marriages, and if it becomes law, it would overhaul a 2018 law that has allowed state Probate Courts to approve some marriages of 16- to 17-year-olds. The vote in the House now sends the bill to the Senate.
State Senator Julie Kushner of Danbury, led the state Senate yesterday in the successful passage of a bill to strengthen penalties against contractors who refuse to pay their employees the prevailing wage on building projects, or who don’t maintain worker’s compensation insurance in case one of their workers is injured on the job. Senate Bill 1035 broadens the state Department of Labor commissioner’s authority to issue stop work orders. The bill also increases the civil penalty for violating a stop work order from $1,000 a day to $5,000 for each day that an order is violated.