Connecticut has opened a center at UConn Health to offer breakthrough medical treatment to U.S. military veterans suffering from strokes, chronic pain, PTSD and mobility impairment conditions.

The Neuromodulation Center of Excellence for Veterans at UConn Health is the first in the state to offer the new medical technology that acts directly on the nervous system to help improve mobility, said Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, CEO of UConn Health, on Thursday.

“The device delivers mild electrical pulses to the nerve,” Agwunobi said. “ And that stimulation is time with the specific movements in the physical or occupational therapy.”

It helps the brain strengthen neural connections and basically improves the quality of life for those veterans and stroke survivors.

He said the center will also provide medical professionals with invaluable research and position the state as a national leader in neuromodulation.

Governor Ned Lamont and state lawmakers allocated $2 million in the 2025 budget to open the center.

It expects to treat its first U.S. military veterans struggling with service-related conditions later this summer.

Schools out for the summer! But there are plenty of events around the Long Island Sound region to keep the kids entertained.

This summer, parents can look forward to free or budget-friendly family-friendly activities. From established parks and museums to new and annual events, there is something for every age.

Connecticut

Passport to Parks programs allow Connecticut-registered vehicles to park free of charge at all CT State Parks and Forests. Families have access to 142 state parks and forests across the state. Sites include areas for hiking, fishing, camping, swimming and nature observatories.

Blueberry Festival on July 18th. In addition to blueberry picking, free activities for kids include a pie-eating contest, live music, and crafts. Visitors can return throughout the summer to buy from the market or other fruit-picking seasons.

United States Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton has free admission and parking. The museum showcases submarine history and visitors can tour the inside of the first nuclear-powered submarine. Guided tours are also available for visitors.

SoNo Switch Tower museum, located in Norwalk, is open Saturday and Sunday from noon until 4 p.m. The restored signal station showcases levels and switches used to move original trains to and from tracks. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.

Long Island

Jones Beach State Park and Robert Moses State Park will be open throughout the summer with an entrance fee of $10 per car.

The Bridge Gardens, located in Bridgehampton, are free and open to the public. It's open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Sunday through Saturday. The five-acre grounds showcase a floral garden, a vegetable garden, a large rose garden, and a unique 4-quadrant herb garden.

A Connecticut lawmaker is concerned that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a case challenging the state’s assault weapon ban that followed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

“I’m a little surprised the Supreme Court has taken this up. I think it's fairly settled law that states have a right and, frankly, an obligation to keep their citizens safe. And reasonable restrictions on firearms are one way to do that,” said state Rep. Steve Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport), co-chair of the Judiciary Committee.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld Connecticut’s law last year, and there’s been a significant reduction in gun violence in the state since the 2013 law, he said.

“Our Connecticut assault weapon ban is designed to reduce violent crime in our state and frankly it's been successful in doing that,” Stafstrom said.

“As Connecticut has pushed to strengthen its firearms laws, we’ve seen our violent crime rate drop dramatically. And I really hope that the Supreme Court will not engage in partisanship on this,” he said.

Several states and cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C., have similar laws.

Gun rights advocates claim they violate the Second Amendment. The case is to be argued before the Supreme Court in the fall.

H.R. 1 — or President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — makes a lot of changes to programs like the SNAP food assistance program.

new report from the New York State Association of Counties finds one of those changes would put local taxpayers on the hook for more than $160 million.

New York is one of the few states where counties administer SNAP. That means they will bear the brunt of a change that shifts more of the costs for the food program away from Washington.

Currently, the federal government handles 50% of the administrative costs for SNAP. In October, that will drop to 25%.

The NYSAC report estimates the shift could mean close to $110.8 million in new costs for New York City alone. Erie County would face $3.84 million in new costs, and Monroe just more than $3 million.

But Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said smaller counties face a strain as well. The report estimates the county would face at least $250,000 in new costs and with tax levy increases capped at 2% without a board vote, that leaves less wiggle room to absorb the changes.

“My budget overall isn't supposed to grow more than that, a little more than a half a million dollars." Groden said. "Just the SNAP change is approximately $250,000, so right from the giddy up, half of my tax cap flexibility is now gone.”

Counties could also face more costs from another part of the bill: States will now face penalties based on the error rates in SNAP benefits. As it stands, New York could face a $1 billion penalty since it has an error rate of 13.1%. The state hasn’t decided how much to pass along to the counties.

“These payment error rates are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a itnews release. “USDA has taken historic action to help interested states curb SNAP waste, and I hope other states, regardless of political leadership, prioritize needy families and the American taxpayer over politics.”

Error rates don’t necessarily mean fraud, advocates say. It could reflect mistakes in data entry of wages, for example.

Groden said the situation creates uncertainty when it comes to budgeting in future years, since the data rates are determined at the state level and not the local level.

NYSAC is asking congressional leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies of Brooklyn and U.S. Senate Minority Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to push for a reprieve so counties can better prepare for the transition.

“We need these individuals to use their influence and encourage their Republican colleagues to give us a delay, and that's why we put this report out,” said Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties. “We're trying to seek a delay in implementation of this massive change in this massive law that was passed one year ago. There's no reason why we can't get a two-year delay.”

Other states with high error rates have already received a two-year delay.

Acquario said efforts to get state lawmakers to absorb more of the costs during this year’s legislative session were unsuccessful. Lawmakers in New Jersey, another state where counties handle administrative costs for SNAP, voted to have the state absorb more of the cost shift as part of a budget approved Tuesday night.

The report said counties will also face increased costs to enforce the new work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks passed under the law.

Advocates say H.R. 1 has already led to fewer people using SNAP, a problem magnified by the cost shift. The number of New Yorkers on SNAP dropped 5% from July 2025 to March 2026, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“We need those local agencies to be fully resourced, able to respond to questions, to provide a high level of one-on-one assistance to help people navigate these changes,” said Krista Hesdorfer, director of public affairs for Hunger Solutions New York. “It's much harder to do that if your administrative funding from the federal government is being cut in half, and that's exactly what's happening. It feels like agencies are being set up to fail, and ultimately that will jeopardize food access for New Yorkers.”

like hers to ask questions.

Connecticut energy company Eversource plans to seek an 11% rate hike in the coming weeks. They also want hundreds of thousands of documents about the request to be kept confidential.

Eversource hasn’t had a formal rate hike in 9 years, though it has made adjustments.

Governor Ned Lamont (D) noted that the request must go through the Public Utilities Regulatory Board.

“Look, they can ask for whatever they want,” Lamont said. “Then you'd have to go through PURA, which is our regulatory board. They push back hard to make sure that every dime is justified; it's going to go into upgrading the grid.”

The request comes as energy costs across the state continue to rise and remain a top concern for residents.

A bipartisan group of almost 70 state lawmakers has written to PURA, asking them to review the application with “the most rigorous scrutiny possible.”

The public, however, may not be able to see the documents.

Eversource has requested that they remain sealed, citing sensitive information in the request.

"This request is not unusual and is something we’ve asked for and received in previous rate reviews," Eversource spokesperson Jamie Ratliff said. "It’s important to note, we’re not asking PURA to withhold public records. The pages we’re asking to keep confidential include competitively sensitive pricing and information on critical energy infrastructure, which is allowed under the law. Redacting all the sensitive information in those pages will cost approximately $800,000, which could end up being paid for by customers – a cost that can easily be avoided by keeping those pages confidential instead."

Attorney General William Tong said, "Not so fast" — he plans to pore through every page of the application.

National Weather Service is predicting scorching temperatures Wednesday through Saturday. The extreme heat warning means the combination of heat and humidity could make it feel like 105 degrees or higher.

severe drought conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor.

That led the Suffolk County Water Authority to call on customers to reduce water consumption.

“Without immediate reductions in water use, pressure drops will occur, compromising emergency fire response,” SCWA Chairman Charlie Lefkowitz said in a statement.

How to stay safe

Hydrate and cool off: those are the top two tips from Dr. Gregson Piggot, Suffolk County Health Commissioner.

“Your body's natural reaction is to sweat, and so you're losing fluid, you're losing electrolytes, and you need to stay hydrated. Dehydration is one of the main causes of heat strokes and heat emergencies,” Piggot said at a news conference Tuesday at Smith Point Beach.

dozens of places to cool off, including beaches, pools, and public libraries. Some facilities and beaches will extend their hours due to the heat wave.

Grief is not linear. It’s like quicksand.

One day, when you think you’re taking steps forward to heal from the death of someone you love, you step into quicksand. Suddenly you feel like you’re sinking, being pulled down by trauma and grief.

This is how University of Kentucky senior Caroline Cygan described the feeling that hits when grief starts to consume her. Cygan lost her brother Christian to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, or SUDEP, in 2022. She was in her sophomore year of college as a neuroscience student. He was 21.

“Losing someone specifically during college is just so disorienting, because you feel like you’re in this whole other space while everyone else is in the college world. I remember during the first year I had a lot of brain fog because I couldn’t cope. You’re just trying your best,” Cygan said.

Like others who suffer loss in college, Cygan reached out for support from her professors while experiencing periods of intense grief – grief that would hit even years later in ways that ranged from insomnia and hypochondria to tension headaches and chest pain.

She says she did not find that support from some of her professors. And she isn’t alone.

Evermore, a nonprofit group that focuses on helping people through grief and loss. Evermore, which advocates for higher-education institutions to adopt student bereavement-leave policies, adds that only a small fraction of such institutions – a little more than 1% – have formal accommodations for students.

As of the end of the 2025-26 school year, no accredited colleges in Connecticut have formal bereavement leave policies. Most deal with student bereavement on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of individual professors.

Cygan is part of a push to adopt student bereavement policies at her university. That idea is gaining momentum throughout the U.S.

New push for student bereavement policies

Ball State Universitystudy on the effects of grief on student academics.

She would find that 227 students at her university who reported experiencing the death of a family member or friend also saw a drop in academic performance during the semester the loss occurred, with lower GPAs than a non-bereaved group.

Grief Absence Policy for Students.

article published in 2019, they wrote that such policies show respect and empathy for students, help students succeed in the long run, promote consistency and allow students to contact a single source rather than each of their professors when they’ve experienced the death of a loved one.

And it’s not a minor consideration. Servaty-Seib says studies show that 37-44% of college students experience the death of a loved one during any two-year period in college.

Servaty-Seib, who’s now the senior associate vice provost for teaching and learning at Purdue, has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and specializes in the study of death and dying, called thanatology. She said in a recent phone interview that in talking to students over the years about grief, they report having difficulty getting time off from class and accommodations because the professors think they’re lying to get an extension.

Most of the time, she says, that isn’t the case.

“There’s lots of jokes out there that I see online with people saying, ‘Oh, I have a test coming, all the grandparents are going to die,’” Servaty-Seib said. “But the reason that professors only hear about it when there’s an exam is because if nothing’s happening on that day of class and students have a death,” they just won’t go to class and won’t tell the professor.

Meanwhile, many college students find that no set guidelines or policies exist at their schools to determine if they’re eligible for leave or extended deadlines. They may be instructed to consider taking an incomplete for the class, making up the work later or taking a break from college altogether.

Since publishing her initial study in 2006, Servaty-Seib has advocated for student bereavement policies at Actively Moving Forward conferences, a student nationwide chapter organization for bereaved students. In 2015, she published a book called “We Get It,” a collection of 33 stories by bereaved students and young adults. In that time, Servaty-Seib’s research and policies became a blueprint for implementing bereavement policies at many other schools.

Boston UniversityUniversity of BaltimoreOakland University.

Purdue’s rules

Purdue’s Grief Absence Policy provides students with the number of days they can take after a death, depending on their relationship with the deceased. If the relationship isn’t specifically covered by the policy, students request an absence through the Office of the Dean of Students.

To apply for the leave, students must submit a Grief Absence Request Form, which sends an absence notification to their instructors and requires documentation of the death or funeral service. If approved, students will be excused from class and allowed to make up missed work or assessments.

Servaty-Seib says she finds that professors may dislike losing control over decisions concerning classwork and attendance. But she has found that once professors learn they don’t have to determine if a student is telling the truth about a death they are more likely to support the policy.

“All we’re asking for is for the students to have the same rights” as professors, Servaty-Seib said.

Other schools have adopted similar types of bereavement policies, with some differences in the amount of days students get off or how students notify the school of a death.

Working toward a how-to guide

toolkit in collaboration with Evermore for colleges and students to use when pushing for bereavement policies at their schools. Servaty-Seib explains that for years she would send resources over to students and college organizations looking to implement bereavement policies and this toolkit is an accumulation of that.

“It is a document that is going to walk people through, how do you build rationale and argue for the need for a policy like this on your campus?” she said, adding: “You can connect it to the mission of the institution. It helps you figure out who needs to be involved in the process – who are the voices that will most likely be listened to.”

The toolkit, which will include three parts, will provide data, policy ideas and promotion plans.

Red Douglas, the manager of Higher Education Initiatives at Evermore and a graduate student at Oakland University, is also working on the toolkit.

He says he became interested in working with grieving students after his father died while he was in college. As a graduate student, he worked toward enacting bereavement policies at Oakland. Now he works with students from other schools who are trying to get bereavement policies put in place. He says in a recent interview that the process varies from school to school.

“The University of Maryland – those girls have been fighting tooth and nail for 10 years to try to get one, and Maryland will not budge on it,” he said. “The University of Kentucky is getting really close. They were successful at Gonzaga. We are working very closely with Santa Clara as well.”

Douglas says continuing to spread the idea of bereavement policies is also important. He hopes the toolkit and the work of Servaty-Seib will continue to inspire people at different universities to push for bereavement policy.

“Are we there yet?” he asked. “No. We have lots of work to be done, but because of people like Heather … it’s allowed later generations like me and now even you, another generation behind me, to continue picking this up and doing it.”

The question is: Do bereavement policies work?

Data are lacking as to whether these policies prove effective in helping students through grief. Servaty-Seib says she hopes to conduct studies on this in the future, but for now the evidence is largely anecdotal.

2025 study that looks at support in general for grieving students indicates that “short-term, crisis-oriented focus often leaves gaps in ongoing emotional support for bereaved students, highlighting the need for stronger, long-term planning.”

Cygan, the University of Kentucky student, says she would like to create a bereavement policy at her school that not only helps students when they lose a loved one, but long after. She says she believes many people view the loss as a “one-time event” a young person will get over.

“But that’s the thing about grief … it’s not like that,” she said.

anniversary effect.” Cygan says she reached out to one of her professors to ask for accommodations for a physics exam. He declined her request.

“His response was, ‘What does that have to do with anything?’” Cygan said. When she asked the teaching assistant about the response, she says, the TA responded: “‘You’ll be OK. I think the professor’s just going take it easy on people with this test.’ It just felt very dismissing. It didn’t feel like they actually understood. It felt very impersonal, and it felt like I was an inconvenience.”

online forums dedicated to dealing with the death of a loved one in college, often saying they felt dismissed by professors in seeking accommodations or extensions.

Universities that lack student bereavement leave may still have a few options for students experiencing grief.

The University of Connecticut is among those institutions with no set bereavement policy, opting instead to deal with such situations on a case-by-case basis. Students are urged to meet with the Dean of Students office to discuss their options, which could include taking an extended leave for the semester, reducing their course load or requesting an incomplete for a class. The office will work with faculty to help students.

UConn’s associate dean and director of the Dean of Students office is Maureen Armstrong. She writes in an email that the office regularly meets with students who are struggling from the death of a family member or friend, whether they come in on their own or are referred.

“We will go over as many options as we can to help the student make an informed decision,” Armstrong writes. “Many students stay enrolled and work with us for flexibility on due dates when possible or the incomplete option. If a student decided stepping away is the best option, we will help them with that and go over the process of readmission for when they are ready to return.”

Armstrong says if a student misses class the office will ask professors for flexibility in making up the work. The office also refers students to UConn’s Student Health and Wellness mental health and ensures students are aware of services such as grief loss groups and counseling available on campus, in addition to yoga, meditation, pet therapy and UConn Faith. If a student has lost a parent, the discussion could involve financial aid and steps the student might take to adjust it.

She adds that the Dean of Students office helps students who have suffered a loss to reschedule final exams and that experts there often meet with students more than once.

“We also may not meet with a student right after the loss but down the road, they discover the grief is more than they can manage and we will help them,” Armstrong writes.

As for Cygan, she’s hopeful the University of Kentucky will soon become one of the colleges that has set bereavement leave policies. Cygan says she’s in talks with the Student Government Association and plans to present a proposed policy soon. If the SGA passes the policy, it will go before the university’s board of trustees.

“The biggest thing that I want to see is that kids feel like they can navigate this better and have an immediate resource, rather than feeling like they’re just kind of more isolated and alienated,” Cygan said.

She will graduate before the policy is voted upon but says she plans on staying involved, using a gap year after graduation to continue pushing for it. After that, she plans to return to school to become a physician’s assistant. Cygan says she wants to use everything she has learned through this experience in her work as a PA.

“We talk about emotional intelligence and healthcare, but I think it can be extended so much more beyond just understanding what the patient’s going through,” she said. “Having psych knowledge, I think that we need to be approaching patient care a lot differently than we do, and actually evaluating patients’ needs.”

Resources for those seeking to create bereavement policies at their schools can be found at the Evermore HELP Toolkit

This story is republished via CT Community News, a service of the Connecticut Student Journalism Collaborative, an organization sponsored by journalism departments at college and university campuses across the state. It is supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. CT Community News is proud to be a member of the Solutions Journalism Network Student Media Challenge cohort for 2025-26.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right to birthright citizenship.

The right to be a U.S. citizen if born on U.S. soil was challenged by a January 2025 executive order issued by President Donald Trump (R).

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) immediately filed a lawsuit.

When the decision came down on Tuesday, he quoted former president Ronald Reagan, “He said this: 'If you're born in Germany, it doesn't mean you're German. If you go to Japan or Turkey, it doesn't mean you're Japanese or Turkish. But if you come here from any corner of the globe, you can be an American,'" Tong said. “That is the enduring promise and hope and aspiration of all Americans, of all of us.”

The decision was a 5-4 split. Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett sided with the three liberal justices on the decision.

“This is a second ratification of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, where they confirmed one more time, in case it wasn't clear, that the 14th Amendment and the citizenship clause mean what they say, and they say what they mean,” Tong said.

Trump expressed his disappointment with the decision on social media.

Trump said. “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship.”

The decision was celebrated by both of Connecticut’s U.S. Senators.

“Today's decision is an incredible relief to the thousands of United States citizens born on American soil, whose citizenship is incontrovertible,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “In America, we follow the language of the Constitution, not the edicts of pretend Kings.”

“It’s just shocking this was a 5-4 ruling,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said. “The plain language of the Constitution is clear, and the fact that four justices chose to willingly ignore the Constitution in order to give Trump a total victory is a sign that this court is badly broken. I’m glad for the decision but deeply worried about the growing overt politicization of this court.”

The Supreme Court released several other consequential decisions on Tuesday: one that allows states to keep transgender kids out of girls' sports, and another that lets political parties spend as much as they want on candidates.

On a cold December night, Laura Chomentowski, a retired social worker, gathered with two other bereaved mothers around her small dining room table in Hamden as Patricia Bode arrived in her Toyota Prius with her mobile studio.

They were there for an art project: decorating small fabric banners called recovery flags, each carrying a story of loss, resilience and recovery. Waving in the breeze, the flags stand as a reminder of a harsh reality: addiction remains one of the most misunderstood health conditions in America.

Chomentowski lost her son in 2020 to an accidental drug overdose. Creating recovery flags with the three other mothers, including Bode, each of whom had lost sons the same way, turned the evening into a space of shared understanding.

“There’s a lot of guilt we feel as moms that this happened to our kids,” Chomentowski said, “and you look around the table and see three other really great moms.”

Addressing stigma through art

For Bode, an associate professor of art at Southern Connecticut State University, changing the narrative around substance abuse became a personal mission after the accidental overdose death of her son, Ryan Moriarty, in 2018.

Through the Remember Love Recovery Project, Bode has used her loss to launch a healing movement that has stretched across Connecticut and beyond.

“Our mission is to destigmatize addiction disorder through art, education and human connection,” Bode said.

Shatterproof Addiction, nearly 49 million Americans aged 12 or older experienced a substance use disorder within the past year.

Despite the widespread impact of addiction, stigma continues to stand as one of the greatest barriers to recovery.

2024 Addiction Stigma Index Report found that 57% of the public believe a person living with substance abuse disorder is not trustworthy. These attitudes can discourage individuals from seeking treatment, isolate families and prevent communities from addressing the addiction crisis.

“Our goal is to raise consciousness about how important recovery is, and how we need to support people, and to build compassion for those in recovery,” Bode said. “And using art to do that and also allowing art to be a pathway to support those individuals who are engaging in [other] recovery tools.”

Bode said the Remember Love Recovery Project was inspired by what she believes was the message her son left behind.

Moriarty’s work as an artist, musician and T-shirt designer featured the phrase “Remember Love,” which became the root of the project’s mission to reduce stigma surrounding addiction and foster human connection.

“We knew we wanted to do something that generated the energy and the thought of what it means to remember love,” Bode said.

Bode has led workshops in 15 states, bringing the program to community centers, museums, correctional facilities and transitional housing centers. Through partnerships with schools nationwide, Bode uses the recovery flag project to encourage discussions about addiction, empathy and prevention while working alongside school clinicians.

“It’s unusual for kids to be able to make art about something like this in schools,” Bode said. “It’s way beyond the ‘just say no’ programs of the past.”

After becoming a nonprofit organization in 2025, the Remember Love Recovery Project is preparing for its next chapter as Bode plans to transition from her university teaching career to managing the project full time.

Art movements aimed at healing

While the project continues to expand across communities and institutions, Bode also acknowledged that its role has limits.

“We’re not clinicians, and we’re very clear about that,” Bode said. “We are a means to be connected to recovery, and we are a means to support recovery.”

Bode also emphasized the initiative is centered on art and community, it can not encompass every aspect of addiction recovery on its own.

“There’s a lot of steps to recovery that we cannot address,” Bode said.

De-Stigmatize: Healing Through Art,” this year to shed light on the role of creative expression in recovery.

Over the course of eight weeks, participants worked with artists and therapists who used creative activities to help them explore their experiences, express themselves and support their healing journeys.

SocialRx are promoting what it calls a social prescribing movement: integrating arts and cultural experiences into healthcare to address mental health challenges and social isolation. The program is building a network to connect healthcare providers with local arts organizations, allowing those providers to prescribe activities like museum visits, theater performances, and art workshops to patients.

including Connecticut.

Recovery flags

Bode said the idea for recovery flags came to her as posters of her son’s artwork swayed in the wind.

“When they were hanging on the clothesline in our backyard, I said, ‘Oh, they remind me of prayer flags from the Buddhist tradition, and I got the idea: what if we made something called recovery flags?” Bode said.

Bode said her vision for the Remember Love Recovery Project was also shaped by her experience as a young art teacher helping with the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Through seeing how art sparked conversation and challenged the stigma surrounding AIDS, Bode said she was inspired to create a similar approach to address the stigma around substance use disorder.

“I saw social thought change in our country,” Bode said. “If we could destigmatize and raise consciousness at local levels, and eventually at the national level, that would be an aspirational goal.”

Today, participants are able to breathe life into their artwork by transforming a 9-by-12-inch banner into their own recovery flag.

The initiative has created more than 4,000 recovery flags, with about half donated to the project’s collection.

“We hang them at the different places we go, whether it’s on a city street for an arts festival or in a museum, and people report that they’re moved by just looking at them and understanding the story,” Bode said.

Chomentowski and the other mothers in that winter Hamden gathering donated their flags to Bode’s collection.

“The feeling of being part of a project and knowing that your little flag, your little piece of creativity, and that our sons could be represented to something bigger that we all believe in,” Chomentowski said, “which is to end the stigma.”

This story is supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. CT Community News is proud to be a member of the Solutions Journalism Network Student Media Challenge cohort for 2025-26.

This story has been updated to reflect that Art Pharmacy officially changed its name to SocialRx in February 2026.

No-excuse absentee voting is one of several new laws that take effect in Connecticut on Wednesday, July 1.

The law removes previous restrictions on absentee voting and allows any eligible Connecticut voter to cast an absentee ballot without providing a specific reason.

It’s based on an amendment to the state constitution that was overwhelmingly approved by voters.

Another new law aims to strengthen recruitment of first responders and law enforcement personnel by expanding benefits, including tuition waivers and mortgage assistance.

And there’s another that permanently removes the 6.35% state tax from non-electronic school supplies such as pencils and notebooks.

It also extends the August tax-free week to include clothing and shoes up to $300.