Hartford Courant -- January 10, 2022

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by  Hartford Couramt

Tough talks for US, Russia UConn women hold on Patriots drop finale Chance for snow
Secretary of state hopes for short-term Huskies get sloppy, hold off fourth-quarter Dolphins sweep New England for first time Chance of late-day snow;
deal to de-escalate tensions. News, Page 4 run to beat Creighton. Sports, Page 1 since the 2000 season. Sports, Page 1 high of 29. Sports, Page 8
VOLUME CLXXXVI CCOOUURRAANNTT..CCOOMM MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2022
Meriden to launch state’s pilot program
Household food- waste throughout Connecticut. a critical time for Connecticut’s will be going to out-of-state land- by Hartford-based Blue Earth
Green bags will be distributed waste system,” DEEP Commis- fills. State environmental officials Compost.
scrap collection to
to homes on Jan. 22 and 23 for the sioner Katie Dykes said. “These have been urging recycling and DEEP officials say about 35%
help reduce waste four-month program, the state strategies have been shown to reuse solutions. of material sent from Connecti-
Department of Energy and Envi- work elsewhere in the U.S. and The city of Middletown last year cut homes and businesses to land-
ronmental Protection announced. abroad.” launched a pioneering food-scrap fills and trash-to-energy plants
By Jesse Leavenworth The bags will be collected along The program is part of an effort recycling effort, enlisting Main is organic and could be used
Hartford Courant with other trash in orange bags, but to address the statewide waste- Street restaurants in collecting all as compost and animal feed or
the organic waste will be sent to disposal crisis, which will soon get vegetable and meat scraps from converted to gas and fuel at anaer-
A pilot food-scrap collection Quantum Biopower in Southing- worse with the planned shutdown their kitchens and patrons’ plates. obic digestion facilities.
set to launch this month in 1,000 ton to be transformed into energy. of the trash-to-energy plant in The scraps go into yellow-lid- The DEEP, Dykes said, has
Meriden households is meant to “The city of Meriden is leading Hartford in June and the certainty ded blue bins and smaller black
spearhead a reduction in organic the way by launching this pilot at that much of Connecticut’s waste pails, to be collected twice weekly Turn to Program, Page 3
Film tax
CORONAVIRUS IN CONNECTICUT
“Everyone’s tired now. You frequently hear, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m done’ —
credits
then five minutes later, someone picks them right up and they’re back to where they were.”
— Barbara O’Neill, emergency department nurse at Bristol Hospital not
worth it
Hundreds of millions
spent on jobs before
Disney closed shop
By Erica E. Phillips
CT Mirror
It was a Hollywood ending,
but not the good kind.
An executive decision, made
in a Disney boardroom thou-
sands of miles away, led to
the shuttering of Greenwich
animation company Blue Sky
Studios in April, leaving more
than 450 people out of work.
The move came after more
than a decade of state support
for Blue Sky Studios, in the
form of hundreds of millions of
Connecticut taxpayer dollars
in incentives aimed at creating
and retaining jobs and economic
activity. The most recent install-
ment — a $32 million tax credit
payment — was disbursed less
than two weeks before corporate
Dr. Andrew Lim walks to the Bristol Hospital emergency department with nurse Barbara O’Neill, right, and case manager Theresa Landau. parent Disney announced it was
COVID-19 pressures have increased patient load and decreased staffing numbers at hospitals across the state. MARK MIRKO PHOTOS/ closing the shop.
HARTFORD COURANT That’s raised questions about
whether Connecticut should
More patients, fewer keep rolling out the red carpet
for an industry that is charac-
teristically fleeting.
Beyond its home base in
Hollywood, film and televi-
sion production is driven by
staff and a lack of beds tax incentives. Steve Kaplan, a
representative with The Anima-
tion Guild in Los Angeles, said
animation studios in places like
Atlanta, Portland and Vancouver
perform a lot of contract work
Connecticut emergency departments hit by omicron surge for Hollywood conglomerates,
passing along local tax credits
to the major studio — often as a
condition of the contract.
By Don Stacom | Hartford Courant But with so many tax cred-
its available across states and
A
s the omicron surge ran through central around the world, Connecti-
Connecticut during the holidays, Bris- cut’s incentive program may
tol Hospital’s emergency department was not have even factored into
at times handling almost twice its normal Disney’s move to shutter Blue
number of patients — and with a reduced staff. Sky Studios, Kaplan said.
“We expect on average about 80 patients in a day. “They’re a multinational
Last week we would see peaks of 150,” said Dr. Andrew conglomerate. They made a
Lim, director of the emergency department. “And that’s decision based on money. I
with less staff. With the positivity rate above 25 percent doubt the Connecticut incen-
a lot of our staff are becoming sick.” tive crossed their mind.”
The situation is similar in many hospitals across the The dynamics of the
state, where COVID-19 patients are once again filling Hollywood-centered film and
beds after a seasonlong lull following the worst of the TV industry aren’t entirely lost
delta variant. on the state’s economic devel-
But at the same time, the ranks of nurses and support opment officials. In its 2019
staff are down, partly because some frustrated and annual report, DECD found
that over the last decade, the
At Bristol Hospital, O’Neill talks in a hallway with President and CEO Kurt Barwis. Turn to Strain, Page 2
Turn to Credits, Page 3
Restaurants resist
9 children among 19 dead
vaccine mandate
in apartment fire in NYC The state’s digital vaccine
card was introduced as a tool
businesses can use protect
Faulty space heater said the fire “started in a malfunc- employees and customers. But
without a mandate, most local
tioning electric space heater” in
to blame for blaze in
restaurants don’t plan to use it.
an apartment unit spanning the
Bronx, officials say second and third floors of the CONNECTICUT, PAGE 1
19-story building.
Opinion .......................News, 9
By Michelle L. Price, The door of the apartment
Obits .........................News, 10
Bobby Caina Calvan was left open, allowing smoke to
Lottery ........................News, 2
and David Porter quickly spread throughout the
Classified .................News, 12
Associated Press building, Nigro said.
Puzzles ...Connecticut, 7-8
Some residents, trapped in their
Comics ...Connecticut, 6-7
NEW YORK — New York City’s apartments, broke windows for air
deadliest fire in more than three and stuffed wet towels under their
decades, killing 19 people Sunday doors.
at a Bronx apartment building, was Some residents “could not
caused by a faulty space heater, escape because of the volume of
officials said. Nine children were smoke,” Nigro said. A paramedic treats a woman who escaped the deadly fire Sunday in the
among the dead. Bronx borough of New York. Dozens of people were injured. THEODORE
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro Turn to Fire, Page 3 PARISIENNE/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
2 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022
FROM PAGE ONE
Bitter cold coming this week, with lows in the single digits
By Susan Dunne and 25 to 30 degrees, but a late day most of the day,” Lessor said. The should be in the 30s and partly a tank of gas at all times so that
Hartford Courant snow shower or flurry is possible as temperature should be around zero sunny, he added. doesn’t freeze. Do not leave pets
an Arctic front comes through the on Tuesday night, with cold air spots Lessor advised preparedness and outside even during the daytime.
After a weekend of snow and icy state. reaching possibly 10 below zero, caution during the bitter days. It’s just going to be too cold. If you
roads, Connecticut should expect That snow should clear later in especially in Litchfield County. “Those that have oil heat, fill bring your pets on walks, make them
a few days of bitter cold early in the evening, with lows in the single The temperatures should the oil tanks to make sure you short, not long, walks. Limit your
the week, with Tuesday especially digits and wind-chill values below rebound by Wednesday, rising to the have enough oil to get through. No exposure to the outdoors,” he said.
dangerous, according to forecasts. zero, Lessor said. low- to mid-30s with partly sunny exposed skin. This is the time where For updates, visit forecast.
Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist Tuesday will be even more frigid, skies, he said, with higher eleva- you wear a scarf or something to weather.gov.
at the Western Connecticut State he said. “We’ll be looking at the tions such as Litchfield, Tolland cover your face. Mittens are better
University Weather Center, said mid-teens for highs with sunshine, and Windham counties staying in than gloves,” Lessor said. Susan Dunne can be reached
Monday should be partly sunny and wind chill values around zero the upper 20s. Thursday and Friday “At least minimally have half at [email protected].
Strain hospital executives who spoke broken and backwards.”
with The Courant said the quality Theresa Landau, a case manager
from Page 1 of care remains strong, but acknowl- at Bristol Hospital, said she’s seen
edged they’re going to extraordinary how those delays frustrate patients
burned-out workers left the career. lengths to keep staffing up. and staff alike. Medicare advantage
Even worse, the highly contagious Nearly all hospitals are shut- plans are particularly bad about this,
omicron variant is striking hospi- tling staff from other assignments she said.
tal staff too, sidelining hundreds of into the emergency department “Now it’s difficult to get those
workers when they’re needed most. or medical floors as needed, and authorizations. We are constantly
That means in emergency rooms offering incentive — sometimes fighting that battle every day,” she
— and across health care — the staff triple base bay — to attract staff said. “We know we need to move
is worn down from nearly two years to work overtime. Agencies that people because they’re medically
of the pandemic and battling a new supply temporary nurses are ready, and then it backs up because
wave of extra work. charging even more. everyone is challenged by how
“We have more staff out now than Bristol Hospital, for instance, has many patients they have.”
last winter or than in the initial surge paid up to $175 an hour for a fill-in The hospital was housing nearly
of 2020,” said Caryl Ryan, chief registered nurse on a medical surgi- 10 such patients a week ago —
nursing officer at UConn’s John cal floor and $190 in the intensive people who were ready for a lower
Dempsey Hospital. “And our patient care unit or operating room. level of care, but still occupied
volumes are very high. Our numbers A few hospitals now pull in Nurse Barbara O’Neill, left, case manager Theresa Landau and Dr. Andrew hospital beds because of insurance
for COVID-19 (cases) are going up administrative workers to pitch in Lim work in the Bristol Hospital emergency department. MARK MIRKO/ delays, she said.
to probably half of where they were with the lower-skill tasks such as HARTFORD COURANT “Everything backs up. A couple
in the first and second surges, and housekeeping that would normally of days ago, Anthem and Cigna
it’s supposed to keep rising for three fall to nurses or aides. Barwis’ staff to death. I’m old, and the old people this big influx in the waiting room,” decided to temporarily pause the
weeks. credits his executive team for step- were the ones who were dying,” she O’Neill said. need for prior authorizations,” Lim
“Our ED is the department that’s ping forward. said. “The staff was very protective said. “The other insurance compa-
probably encountered the biggest “Leadership is out on the floors of me. It was very rare I’d get an A paperwork wall nies in the state need to follow suit.
change in patient volume and staff every day — they sign up to do ‘help- assignment with a COVID patient. “The frustration is that every-
outage.” ing hands’ on the floor, answer call If I did, I’d be getting dressed (in A lot of the backlog is because one in the hospital has gone above
The situation is serious at Hart- bells, walk patients to the bath- protective equipment) to go in and transferring relatively stable and beyond to be creative, to work
ford HealthCare, parent of Hartford room, sit with patients who need somebody would push me out of the patients to other facilities isn’t as longer hours and after hours. To this
Hospital, St. Vincent’s in Bridgeport, constant observation,” said Michelle way saying ‘No, I’ll do it.’ ” simple as in 2020, when insurers point, insurance companies haven’t
the Hospital of Central Connecticut, Miranda, Bristol Hospital’s director With the risk lower and patient were waiving the time-consum- stepped up.
Backus Hospital and several others. of inpatient and emergency services. volume up, O’Neill is handling the ing paperwork, according to some “Sometimes they’re here in the
“We have just over 600 Hartford “We’re holding it together. We same duties as any other emergency hospitals. Restoring that system Emergency Department for two or
HealthCare colleagues who are out have a dedicated core staff that’s department nurse this time around. would help a lot, said Kurt Barwis, three days. In two or three days, we
of work, who are quarantining and toughing it out.” But she acknowl- She’s working 12-hour shifts and Bristol Hospital president. could have used that bed and that
COVID positive,” President and edged that following the national credits her young colleagues with Now, administrative workers nursing care for 20 patients.”
Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Flaks trend, some Bristol nursing and keeping everyone’s morale up. spend days getting authorizations, As pressures mount on hospital
told a news conference last week. support staff have left the field alto- “Everyone is tired now. You he said. Many insurers work strictly staff, Lim, O’Neill and others are
At Stamford Hospital, Dr. Rohit gether because they’re burned out. frequently hear, ‘I can’t do this daytime hours and only on week- calling on patients and their families
Bhalla noted that even though At Bristol’s emergency depart- anymore. I’m done’ — then five days, so a delay on Thursday after- to practice extra patience — espe-
patient volumes and demand for ment, nurse Barbara O’Neill said minutes later, someone picks them noon can mean a hospital bed is tied cially in long emergency depart-
staff are high, hospitals are still doing it’s a tough time — and she has the right up and they’re back to where up until Monday or longer. ment waits during the pandemic.
routine services and procedures — experience to know. they were,” she said. “On average over the last four “Everybody is frustrated, we
unlike in the spring of 2020 when “It’s been challenging. I’d be a liar A particular frustration is that weeks, we had 1.26 patients parked know that. But just try to speak
nearly all of that was suspended. if I said it hasn’t been. The volume is when waves of COVID-19 patients in in-patient beds waiting for insur- calmly: We really are sorry you have
“We’re functioning as we terrible now, but we handle it much show up at the emergency depart- ance authorization to discharge to wait, but we’re doing the best we
normally do but at a very, very busy better than we did with the first ment, there’s often an hourslong them to a skilled nursing facility,” can,” O’Neill said. “One nurse was
level,” Bhalla said. round. And we know so much more wait and no available room after Barwis said. “Timely authorization crying last week — she was tired; she
now than we did,” said O’Neill, 75, they’re admitted, she said. by insurance companies would have was picking up extra shifts because
All hands on deck who has been an emergency nurse “The floors are in the same reduced the ED holds by a whop- we need it now. I just told her, ‘It’s
at Bristol for 53 years. predicament with low staff, so we ping 26 percent. It’s totally dumb- OK. This too shall pass. You can get
All of the physicians, nurses and “In the first round, I was scared have all these in-patients and then founding that our system is this through this.’ ”
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Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022 3
FROM PAGE ONE
Fire
from Page 1
Stefan Ringel, a senior adviser to
Mayor Eric Adams, said the chil-
dren killed were 16 years old or
younger.
Many of the building’s residents
were originally from the West
African nation of Gambia, Adams
said, and there was a large Muslim
community.
Thirteen people remained
hospitalized in critical condition,
Ringel said.
In all, more than five dozen
people were hurt. Most of the Firefighters hoisted a ladder
victims had severe smoke inhala- to rescue people through their
tion, Nigro said. windows. THEODORE PARISIENNE/
Adams, who was inaugurated as NEW YORK DAILY NEWS/TNS
the city’s new mayor Jan. 1, called
the fire’s toll “horrific” and said girlfriend and being thrown out of
“this is going to be one of the worst the Bronx club.
fires that we have witnessed during Sunday’s death toll was the
modern times.” highest for a fire in the city since
Firefighters “found victims on the Happy Land fire. It was also
every floor and were taking them the deadliest fire at a U.S. resi-
out in cardiac and respiratory dential apartment building since
arrest,” Nigro said. A firefighter carries a child out of a fire in a high-rise building in the Tremont section of the Bronx on Sunday. 2017 when 13 people died in an
About 200 firefighters Residents who survived the inferno described a quiet morning that suddenly was overtaken by terror and tragedy. apartment building, also in the
responded to the building on East DAVID DEE DELGADO/THE NEW YORK TIMES Bronx, according to data from the
181st Street around 11 a.m. Sunday. National Fire Protection Associ-
Building resident Luis Rosa said hallway,” Rosa said. The 120-unit building in the there’s a working fire alarm in ation.
he was awakened Sunday by a fire “All we could do was wait,” he Twin Parks North West complex every apartment, or in every The deadliest fire in the city’s
alarm, but dismissed it at first, said. was built in 1973 as part of a project common area,” said U.S. Rep. history was in 1911, at the Trian-
thinking it was one of the build- Another resident, Vernessa to build modern, affordable hous- Ritchie Torres, who represents gle Shirtwaist Company factory
ing’s periodic false alarms. Cunningham said she raced home ing in the Bronx. the area. “Most of these buildings in lower Manhattan, where 146
But when a notification popped from church after getting an alert The drab brown building have no sprinkler system. And so people died.
up on his phone, he and his mother on her cellphone that the building looms over an intersection of the housing stock of the Bronx is Sunday’s blaze happened just
began to worry. was on fire. smaller, aging brick buildings much more susceptible to devas- days after 12 people, including
By then, smoke began wafting “I couldn’t believe what I was overlooking Webster Avenue, tating fires than most of the hous- eight children, were killed in a
into his 13th-floor apartment and seeing. I was in shock,” Cunning- one of the Bronx’s main thor- ing stock in the city.” house fire in Philadelphia.
he heard sirens in the distance. ham, 60, said from a nearby school oughfares. Nigro and Torres compared the The deadliest fire prior to that
He opened the front door, but where some residents gathered. Apartments as high as the 12th fire’s severity to a 1990 blaze at the was in 1989 when a Tennessee
the smoke had gotten too thick for “I could see my apartment. The floor also had broken windows. Happy Land social club where 87 apartment building fire claimed
an escape, he said. windows were all busted out. And The intersection was choked with people were killed when a man set the lives of 16 people.
“Once I opened the door, I I could see flames coming from the police and fire vehicles. fire to the building after getting
couldn’t even see that far down the back of the building.” “There’s no guarantee that into an argument with his former The New York Times contributed.
Credits strengthen their physical roots in Program
Connecticut, Norfleet said. Since
from Page 1 2009, WWE has received just over from Page 1
$10 million under the infrastructure
average economic impact of the program, NBC about $32 million, been working closely with
Film and Digital Media Produc- and ESPN has gained $48 million municipalities over the past
tion Tax Credit amounted to a in tax credits toward buildings and year through the Connecti-
loss of $58,510,604 in net revenue facilities, according to DECD data. cut Coalition for Sustain-
per year — well over half a billion Each of those studios also receives able Materials Management
dollars in all. several million in annual credits (CCSMM) to expand solutions
“While there are gains in jobs, under the film and digital media to the waste problem.
the additional revenue gained by credit program. “We look forward to
the state do not compensate for “Our bread and butter is definitely supporting the progress of
the loss in state tax revenue due the brick-and-mortar television this pilot as a model for others
to the credits,” the department soundstage-type studio businesses, to replicate, and, if successful,
concluded in the report. But DECD where people come to work 250 explore at scale,” Dykes said.
went on to recommend continuing days a year to the same building — The learning curve about
the program despite those losses. to a production,” Norfleet said. organics recycling, however,
DECD said it has commis- A film crew sets up to shoot a scene in the yard of a Hartford residence on is nationwide.
sioned an outside consultancy to Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford in May, where “Call Jane” was being filmed. Taking a closer look New York City recycles less
evaluate the state’s film tax credit MARK MIRKO than 20% of the 3.1 million
programs. And in its most recent For the first 10 years of the head- tons of garbage that its resi-
2020 annual report, the agency any infrastructure costs, such as that is highly sensitive to incentives line Film and Digital Media Produc- dents produce each year, The
said it was awaiting the results of buildings and production facilities, and will go where the incentives are. tion Tax Credit, the state paid out New York Times reported. In
that study — originally expected in of over $3 million. Blue Sky received You can see that in the numbers: As between $22 million and $79 neighborhoods where brown
mid-2021 — before recommend- a total of about $7.4 million in infra- states expand their tax credits, the million in incentives each year. But organics bins are available, just
ing any changes. The report was structure credits in the years 2009, industry responds. It’s quite elastic.” from 2017 to 2020, the value of the 10% of residents use them, the
delayed and is now expected to be 2012 and 2014. Auditors didn’t take Connecticut’s Film and Digital program jumped to an average of paper reported.
made public later this month. issue with those credits.) Media Production Tax Credit is about $130 million a year. Connecticut law requires
The audit report, released March this state’s only continuing business Blue Sky Studios’ $32 million supermarkets, industrial food
A fixture in 31 of last year, didn’t include tax incentive program — grant, loan or in 2020 accounted for roughly manufacturers and resorts and
credit data for 2020 and 2021. But tax credit — that is calculated as a one-quarter of the total credit conference centers that gener-
Greenwich by the auditors’ same logic, the two discount off a company’s expenses payments issued under the program ate at least 52 tons of organic
$32 million payments to Blue Sky in the state, as opposed to being tied — even as the company was swal- material each year and are
After nearly 35 years in Connecti- Studios in the last two years would to a specific project, investment or lowed up by a Hollywood behemoth located within 20 miles of a
cut, Blue Sky Studios had become a amount to overpayment of another number of jobs created or retained. and founders and longtime employ- composting facility to separate
source of pride for the state’s film $34 million, they told the Mirror. And there’s no limit on the number ees braced themselves for closure. the organics from other solid
and television sector. Soon after That’s because, according to audi- of years a company can receive the Connecticut has a major advan- waste and ensure the material
20th Century Fox took a major- tors, Blue Sky Studios applied for tax credit. In this way, Connecticut’s tage in its proximity to New York is recycled.
ity stake in the company, in the — and received — the wrong credit. program is very similar to those in City’s media industry and work- Funded through a $40,000
late 1990s, the studio launched its The company should have been other states competing for film force. According to the Motion DEEP Save Money and
“Ice Age” franchise, followed by eligible for a program known as production activity. Picture Association’s latest report, Reduce Trash (SMART)
its “Rio” movies. It also produced the Digital Animation Produc- George Norfleet, commissioner Connecticut’s film industry was grant, the Meriden pilot
the Oscar-nominated “Ferdinand,” tion Tax Credit, which is capped of the Connecticut film office, said directly responsible for more than program, according to a news
“The Peanuts Movie” and others. at $15 million a year, auditors said. tying a production tax credit to a 13,500 jobs and $1.8 billion in wages release, “will provide the
In 2019, Disney absorbed Blue Between 2009 and 2016, Blue Sky company’s expenditures makes in 2019. The association compiled a city and the state with valu-
Sky Studios in a $70 billion deal to Studios received the full $15 million more sense than requiring a set list of Connecticut productions over able information on how the
acquire Fox’s film and television animation credit every year, and it number of jobs. “You’re not going 2019 and 2020, which included a half process of food scrap co-col-
assets. And over the following two remains the only company that to need the same amount of people dozen Christmas movies and several lection can reduce the amount
years, employees at the studio grew has received incentives under that working on a webisode or commer- long-running television series such of trash residents dispose of at
increasingly concerned about their program. cial that you would have working as “Judge Jerry,” “Maury,” “The a time when cities and towns
fate — even as production continued Beginning in 2016, Blue Sky on an continuing television produc- People’s Court,” “The Steve Wilkos have seen municipal solid-
on the animated feature “Nimona.” Studios shifted to the broader Film tion. So I think it’s hard for us to tell Show,” and WWE’s “Smackdown” waste tipping fees increase
In early February 2021, Disney and Digital Media Production Tax a producer how many people he or and “Monday Night Raw.” considerably over the last few
announced plans to shutter the Credit, which has no cap. Under she needs or that company might Still, state officials continue to years.”
studio, shelving “Nimona.” Blue that program, companies can need to execute a particular type of provide tens of millions of dollars in With tipping fees for munic-
Sky Studios vice president Carolyn receive — in the form of a tax credit production,” he said. “We’ve tied it tax incentives every year to retain ipal solid-waste disposal
Wilson notified the Connecticut — up to 30% off qualified produc- to [capital expenditures] as opposed the studios that have put down roots increasing over the past couple
Department of Labor of the immi- tion expenses or costs incurred in to job creation, but of course you’ve here — with no limit on the number of years, “the economic impact
nent layoffs of all 469 the company’s the state. “These tax credits are not got to have a crew, so you know of years companies can apply for the to all residents is significant.
employees. tied to a specific economic develop- you’re creating jobs.” credit and no guarantee a company Fully implemented programs
“Due to the continuing business ment project or the amount of jobs Norfleet also pointed to the other receiving incentives will keep could help keep costs down,”
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, created or retained,” auditors said. two film and television indus- production going in the state year said Meriden City Manager
Blue Sky Studios Inc. has made According to DECD data, 2020 try incentive programs his office to year. Tim Coon.
the very difficult decision to close and 2021 payments to Blue Sky administers: the Digital Anima- State auditors pointed out in an State funding will cover
its studio and begin the process of Studios under this program were tion Production Tax Credit, which email to the CT Mirror that the law the color-coded bags, person-
permanent layoffs at its One Amer- based on in-state spending of requires recipients to employ at requires that businesses receiving nel to sort the bags and ship-
ica Lane, Greenwich, Connecticut more than $105 million each of the least 200 full-time employees and is financial assistance “shall not relo- ment to Quantum Biopower.
06831 location,” Wilson wrote. “We two years in question. By the time capped at $15 million, and the Film cate out of state for 10 years after In addition to DEEP, the city
hope to accomplish our reduction in the second of those two tax credit Infrastructure Tax Credit, which receiving such assistance or during and Quantum Biopower, proj-
force with the least possible disrup- payments arrived, Disney was days covers a portion of facility construc- the term of a loan or loan guarantee, ect partners include the South
tion to the lives of our employees.” away from announcing Blue Sky tion costs of over $3 million. whichever is longer, unless the full Central Regional Council of
That notice was dated less than Studios’ permanent closure. Infrastructure credits have amount of the assistance is repaid to Governments (SCRCOG), HQ
two weeks after Blue Sky Studios declined steeply since a high of the state and a penalty equal to 5% of Dumpsters (waste hauler),
received a $32 million tax credit The ‘ephemeral $40 million in 2013, and the state the total assistance received is paid Sustainable Meriden and
from the state of Connecticut — the didn’t award any in 2018 or 2020. to the state.” But recent audits have WasteZero.
second such payment in as many industry’ Since 2017, the state has awarded found that DECD hasn’t consis- DEEP has found that food-
years. no animation credits. tently applied those requirements, scrap collection programs are
The value of those credits Many studies in other states N’dolo said the kind of incen- nor has the department adequately most effective when paired
exceeded what auditors have since and countries have raised similar tives that encourage the long-term kept track of “whether companies with unit-based pricing
said should have been the upper criticisms of local film tax credits. development of an industry — like that received financial assistance programs, according to the
limit of any credit granted to anima- Production activity may build up infrastructure credits — are more remain in the state during the relo- agency’s news release.
tion studios in the state: $15 million somewhere for a period of years, as economically sound. Building up an cation period,” auditors said. Unit-based pricing is
a year. In their most recent audit of long as tax incentives are available, industry “cluster” for film and tele- In the case of Blue Sky Studios, based on the amount of trash
the Department of Economic and but the industry base has remained vision can attract multiple studios it’s a moot point. The studio was disposed and is meant to incen-
Community Development, which in California. Hollywood still holds and a permanent workforce avail- shuttered by its corporate parent. tivize participation in food-
administers film and television tax the purse strings. able for whatever productions And while many of its former scrap collection and other
credits, state auditors concluded “When I spend a dollar on a might come through, he said. “If I employees have gone on to work at recycling programs.
that Connecticut overpaid Blue Sky film tax credit, I’m incentiviz- were to do anything, that’s what I Disney’s other animation studios, For more information on the
Studios by almost $50 million during ing economic activity today that would suggest a state to do — incen- the company is no longer. pilot program, visit meridenct.
the fiscal years 2016 through 2019. may not be there tomorrow,” said tivize fixed assets associated with gov.
(Blue Sky Studios also received Michael N’dolo, an economic devel- your production capacity.” Erica E. Phillips is a reporter for
incentives under another state opment consultant who has studied The Film Infrastructure Tax The Connecticut Mirror (ctmirror. Jesse Leavenworth can be
program, the Film Infrastructure film tax credits in several states. “It’s Credit has helped companies like org). Copyright 2022 © The Con- reached at jleavenworth@
Tax Credit, which covers 20% of a somewhat ephemeral industry ESPN, NBC, Disney and WWE necticut Mirror. courant.com.
4 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022
US, Russia see difficult talks ahead
Blinken hoping for ahead of larger, more inclu-
a short-term deal to sive meetings in Brussels
and Vienna on Wednesday
de-escalate tensions
and Thursday.
“We fully expect that
By Matthew Lee the Russian side will make
Associated Press public comments follow-
ing the meeting on Monday
WASHINGTON — With that will not reflect the true
the fate of Ukraine and nature of the discussions
potentially broader post- that took place,” said one
Cold War European stabil- senior U.S. official who will
ity at stake, the United States participate in the talks. The
and Russia are holding criti- official spoke on condition of
cal strategic talks that could anonymity.
shape the future of not only That official and others
their relationship but the have urged allies to view
relationship between the with “extreme skepticism”
U.S. and its NATO allies. anything Moscow says
Though the immediacy about the so-called Strate-
of the threat of a Russian gic Stability Talks and wait
invasion of Ukraine will until they are briefed by U.S.
top the agenda in a series of participants to form opin-
high-level meetings that are ions.
scheduled to get underway Blinken has accused
Monday, there is a litany of Russia of mounting a
festering but largely unre- full-scale disinformation
lated disputes, ranging from campaign designed to blame
arms control to cybercrime Ukraine, NATO and partic-
and diplomatic issues, for ularly the United States for
Washington and Moscow the current tensions and
to overcome if tensions undercut Western unity.
are to ease. And the recent He said Russian President
deployment of Russian Russian troops take part in drills in December at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia. Crises in Vladimir Putin is engaged in
troops to Kazakhstan may Ukraine and Kazakhstan are two of the issues that hover over U.S.-Russian talks that will take place Monday in Geneva. AP 2021 an all-out war on the truth
cast a shadow over the entire that ignores Russia’s own
exercise. would be an agreement to officials said the U.S. is open Minister Sergei Ryab- expand eastward and the provocative and destabiliz-
With much at risk and de-escalate tensions in the to discussions on curtailing kov, who will lead Russia’s removal of U.S. troops ing actions over the course
both warning of dire conse- short term and return to possible future deployments delegation at the Geneva and weapons from parts of the past decade.
quences of failure, the two talks at an appropriate time of offensive missiles in talks, responded harshly to of Europe. But the U.S. Russia, meanwhile, has
sides have been position- in the future. But the U.S. Ukraine and putting limits Blinken’s statement. and its allies say those are spun a narrative that it is a
ing themselves for what will have to see a de-esca- on American and NATO “Demands of the United non-starters intentionally threatened victim of West-
will be a nearly unprece- lation for there to be actual military exercises in Eastern States and other NATO designed by Moscow to ern aggression and wants
dented flurry of activity in progress. Europe if Russia is willing to countries that we carry distract and divide. quick results from the meet-
Europe this week. Yet the “It’s very hard to see that back off on Ukraine. out some de-escalation In a bid to forestall efforts ings despite what appear
wide divergence in their happening when there’s an But they also said Russia measures on our terri- by Russia to sow discord in insurmountable differences.
opening positions bodes ill ongoing escalation when will be hit hard with tory are excluded from the West, the Biden admin- Putin has repeatedly
for any type of speedy reso- Russia has a gun to the head economic sanctions should the discussion. This is a istration has stressed that warned that Moscow
lution, and levels of distrust of Ukraine with 100,000 it intervene in Ukraine. In non-starter in the literal neither Ukraine nor Europe will have to take unspec-
appear higher than at any troops near its borders, the addition to direct sanctions sense of the word,” Ryabkov more broadly will be ified “military-technical
point since the collapse of possibility of doubling that on Russian entities, those told the Tass news agency. excluded from any discus- measures” if the West stone-
the Soviet Union. on very short order,” Blinken penalties could include He added: “The talks are sion of Ukraine’s or Europe’s walls Russia’s demands,
Secretary of State Antony said on ABC’s “This Week.” restrictions on products going to be difficult.” security. and affirmed that NATO
Blinken said Sunday that he U.S. officials Saturday exported from the U.S. Russia wants the talks Biden administration offi- membership for Ukraine or
doesn’t expect any break- unveiled some details of to Russia and potentially initially to produce formally cials allow that neither topic the deployment of alliance
throughs in the coming the administration’s stance, foreign-made products binding security guaran- can be ignored when senior weapons there is a red line
week. Instead, he said a which seem to fall well short subject to U.S. jurisdiction. tees for itself with a pledge American and Russian for Moscow that it wouldn’t
more likely positive outcome of Russian demands. The Russian Deputy Foreign that NATO will not further diplomats meet in Geneva allow the West to cross.
Omicron variant puts employees in a jam
Those with no paid it will cost $160 per day of On the federal front,
time off either stay work missed if they test the movement has stalled.
negative. “Now I wish I just Congress passed a law in
home or work sick
would’ve gone to work and the spring of 2020 requiring
not said anything.” most employers to provide
By Anne D’Innocenzio Some companies are paid sick leave for employ-
and Dee-Ann Durbin curtailing sick time that ees with COVID-related
Associated Press they offered earlier in the illnesses. But the require-
pandemic. ment expired Dec. 31 of
As the raging omicron Kroger, the country’s that year. Congress later
variant of COVID-19 infects biggest traditional grocery extended tax credits for
workers across the nation, chain, is ending some bene- employers who voluntarily
millions of those whose fits for unvaccinated sala- provide paid sick leave, but
jobs don’t provide paid sick ried workers in an attempt the extension lapsed at the
days are having to choose to compel more of them to end of September, accord-
between their health and get the shot as COVID-19 ing to the U.S. Department
their paycheck. cases rise again. Unvacci- of Labor.
While many companies nated workers enrolled in In November, the House
instituted more robust sick Kroger’s health care plan passed a version of Pres-
leave policies at the begin- will no longer be eligible ident Joe Biden’s Build
ning of the pandemic, some to receive up to two weeks Back Better plan that
of those have since been paid emergency leave if they would require employ-
scaled back with the rollout become infected — a policy ers to provide 20 days of
of the vaccines, even though A medical technician performs a nasal swab test on a motorist last month in Denver. that was put into place last paid leave for employees
omicron has managed to DAVID ZALUBOWSKI/AP 2021 year when vaccines were who are sick or caring for a
evade the shots. Meanwhile, unavailable. family member. But the fate
the current labor shortage of all private sector work- work anyway. That’s lower The worker, who asked Meanwhile, Walmart, the of that bill is uncertain in the
is adding to the pressure of ers get at least one paid than the 85% who showed not to be named because nation’s largest retailer, is Senate.
workers having to decide sick day, according to a up to work sick before the it might jeopardize their slashing pandemic-related The U.S. is among 11
whether to show up to their national compensation pandemic, but much higher employment, took a day off paid leave from two weeks countries worldwide with-
job sick if they can’t afford to survey of employee benefits than it should be in the to get tested and two more to one after the Centers out any federal mandate for
stay home. conducted in March by the middle of a public health days to wait for the results. for Disease Control and paid sick leave, according to
“It’s a vicious cycle,” said U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis- crisis. Schneider says it A supervisor called and Prevention reduced isola- a 2020 study by the World
Daniel Schneider, profes- tics. But only 33% of work- could get worse. told the worker they would tion requirements for people Policy Analysis Center at the
sor of public policy at the ers whose wages are at the What’s more, Schnei- qualify for paid sick days who don’t have symptoms University of California, Los
Harvard Kennedy School bottom 10% get paid sick der noted that the share only if the COVID-19 test after they test positive. Angeles.
of Government. “As staff- leave, compared with 95% of workers with paid sick turns out to be positive. Workers have received On the flipside are
ing gets depleted because in the top 10%. leave before the pandemic If the test is negative, the some relief from a grow- small-business owners
people are out sick, that A survey this past fall barely budged during the worker will have to take ing number of states. In like Dawn Crawley, CEO
means that those that are on of roughly 6,600 hourly pandemic — 50% versus the days without pay, since the last decade, 14 states of House Cleaning Heroes,
the job have more to do and low-wage workers 51%, respectively. they haven’t accrued enough and the District of Colum- who can’t afford to pay
are even more reluctant to conducted by Harvard’s The AP interviewed one time for sick leave. bia have passed laws or workers when they are out
call in sick when they in turn Shift Project, which focuses worker who started a new “I thought I was doing ballot measures requiring sick. But she recently drove
get sick.” on inequality, found that job with the state of New the right thing by protect- employers to provide paid one cleaner who didn’t have
Low-income hourly 65% of those workers who Mexico last month and ing my co-workers,” said the sick leave, according to the a car to a nearby testing site.
workers are especially reported being sick in the started experiencing symp- worker, who is still awaiting National Conference of State “If they are out, I try to
vulnerable. Nearly 80% last month said they went to toms earlier in the week. the results and estimates Legislatures. give them money but at the
New law in NYC allows noncitizens to vote in local races
By Bobby Caina Calvan Unless a judge halts its state elections that pick the noncitizens make up nearly public advocate.
Associated Press implementation, New York governor, judges and legis- 1 in 9 of the city’s 7 million “Dreamers” are immi-
City is the first major U.S. lators. voting-age inhabitants. The grants brought to the U.S.
NEW YORK — More than city to grant widespread The Board of Elections movement to win voting illegally as children who
800,000 noncitizens and municipal voting rights to must now begin drawing rights for noncitizens would benefit from the
“Dreamers” in New York noncitizens. an implementation plan by prevailed after numerous never-passed DREAM Act
City will have access to the More than a dozen July, including voter regis- setbacks. or the Deferred Action
ballot box — and could vote communities across the tration rules and provisions The measure would allow for Childhood Arrivals
in municipal elections as country already allow that would create separate noncitizens who have been program, which allows them
early as next year — after noncitizens to cast ballots in ballots for municipal races lawful permanent residents to remain in the country if
Mayor Eric Adams allowed local elections, including 11 to prevent noncitizens from of the city for at least 30 days, they meet certain criteria.
legislation to automatically towns in Maryland and two casting ballots in federal and as well as those authorized Some states, including
become law Sunday. in Vermont. state contests. to work in the U.S., includ- Alabama, Arizona and Flor-
New York City Mayor Eric Opponents have vowed Noncitizens still wouldn’t It’s a watershed moment ing “Dreamers,” to help ida, have adopted rules that
Adams allowed the measure to challenge the new law, be able to vote for president for the nation’s most popu- select the city’s mayor, city would preempt any attempts
to become law Sunday. which the City Coun- or members of Congress lous city, where legally council members, borough to pass laws like the one in
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY cil approved a month ago. in federal races, or in the documented, voting-age presidents, comptroller and New York City.
Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022 5
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Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022 7
WORLD & NATION
NEWS BRIEFING
US flight cancellations
continue to snowball
due to weather, virus
From news services about 1 in 10 flights planned
for the month to gain “the
Airlines canceled thou- flexibility and capacity
sands more flights in recent needed to reset.”
days as the industry tried to As in many other indus-
move past its holiday hang- tries, airlines are also
over. contending with workers
Bad weather and coro- calling in sick at high rates
navirus outbreaks among as the omicron virus variant
workers continued to surges.
disrupt schedules across the To deal with staffing
United States, but airlines shortages, many carriers
have also called off many have started offering extra
recent flights, in advance, pay to those who were
so they can correct course otherwise not scheduled to
at a traditionally slow time work.
for travel without surprising
customers with last-minute AOC tests positive: New
cancellations. York Rep. Alexandria
About 5,000 flights Ocasio-Cortez has tested
were canceled from Friday positive for COVID-19 and
through Sunday, according “is experiencing symptoms
to FlightAware, a data track- and recovering at home,”
ing service, with the daily her office said in a statement Pope Francis with one of 16 babies he baptized Sunday in the Sistine Chapel. The decades-old tradition was interrupted last
number of cuts declining Sunday evening. year by the pandemic. In 1981, Pope John Paul II began the tradition by baptizing children whose parents are Holy See employees.
steadily over that period. The Democratic Since 1983, the ceremony has been held in the Sistine Chapel. SIMONE RISOLUTI/DIVISIONE PRODUZIONE FOTOGRAFICA
Southwest Airlines congresswoman’s office
suspended over 1,000 flights, said Ocasio-Cortez received
more than any other carrier. a booster in the fall, adding announcing his reelection Lundberg of the Lund- many people regularly travel ago after publicly question-
SkyWest Airlines, which that she “encourages every- bid, saying circumstances berg Survey said Sunday back and forth by car or on ing government policy, has
operates flights for several one to get their booster” and have changed after Demo- that prices at the pump a high-speed rail link that been released, a legal adviser
major carriers, and United follow the guidance of the crats won the White House could start increasing again takes less than one hour. to her family said Sunday.
Airlines each canceled more Centers for Disease Control and control of Congress. because crude oil costs are The princess, Basmah
than 500 flights. and Prevention. rising. Brazil cliff collapse: The bint Saud, returned home
The turmoil began before Wisconsin ice rescue: Nationwide, the high- death toll from an acci- Thursday with her daugh-
Christmas, caused by bad Johnson reelection: Repub- Authorities rescued 27 est average price for regu- dent in which a slab of cliff ter Suhoud al-Sharif, who
weather in the West and staff lican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson people from a floating chunk lar-grade gas is in the San rock toppled onto pleasure was imprisoned with her,
shortages because of virus of Wisconsin, one of former of ice that broke away from Francisco Bay Area, at $4.74 boaters on a Brazilian lake according to the legal
outbreaks among employ- President Donald Trump’s shore in the bay of Green per gallon. The lowest aver- has risen to 10, police said adviser, Henri Estramant.
ees. Snowfall in the North- biggest backers, announced Bay in eastern Wiscon- age is in Houston, at $2.79 Sunday. Princess Basmah was
east continued to wreak Sunday that he will seek sin, the sheriff’s office said per gallon. Police Chief Marcos among a number of prom-
havoc at major airport hubs reelection in the battle- Sunday. Pimenta said there was a inent Saudi activists, dissi-
across the country into the ground state, breaking his No injuries were reported Omicron in China: The major possibility that some people dents and members of the
first weekend of this month. promise not to seek a third in the incident that port of Tianjin may be facing were missing following royal family either jailed
“Given the ongoing surge term. happened Saturday north of China’s first outbreak of the accident Saturday in or put under house arrest
in COVID cases and related Johnson announced his Green Bay, in the arm that’s omicron of any size, less Minas Gerais state. At least during the rise of Crown
sick calls, we’ve been work- decision via email two days part of Lake Michigan, the than four weeks before the 32 people were injured, Prince Mohammed bin
ing with each of our major after a pair of Republicans Brown County Sheriff’s Winter Olympics open in though most were released Salman.
partners to proactively with knowledge of his deci- Office reported. Many of nearby Beijing. from hospitals by Saturday The prince has consoli-
reduce our January sched- sion said he was close to the 27 people rescued were The city began mass test- evening. dated his grip on the king-
ules,” SkyWest said. launching a bid. Johnson ice fishing at the time of the ing of its 14 million residents Officials suggested the dom since his father, King
The airline operates has also been a leading voice incident. Sunday after a cluster of 20 wall coming loose could Salman, ascended to the
flights for United, Delta Air in downplaying the Jan. 6, Authorities said the children and adults tested have been related to heavy throne in 2015.
Lines, American Airlines 2021, Capitol riot and the stranded people were on positive for COVID-19, rains recently that caused A number of prominent
and Alaska Airlines. coronavirus pandemic. the ice for about 90 minutes. including at least two with flooding in the state and people, including two sons
After canceling flights Johnson, 66, had long said the omicron variant. forced almost 17,000 people of the previous monarch,
at high rates over the holi- his preference was to serve Gas prices drop: The aver- China has stepped up out of their homes. King Abdullah, remain in
days, JetBlue Airways said just two terms and pledged age U.S. price of regu- its zero tolerance strategy detention, according to their
it would preemptively cut in 2016 not to run a third lar-grade gasoline dropped in the run-up to the Olym- Saudi princess released: A associates, and information
about 1,300 flights in the first time. 2 cents over the past three pics, which open Feb. 4. The Saudi princess, a critic of her continues to come to light
half of January. Alaska said But Johnson rescinded weeks to $3.39 per gallon. Chinese capital is 70 miles country’s government who about the mistreatment of
last week that it would slash the pledge in the lead-up to Industry analyst Trilby northwest of Tianjin and was jailed nearly three years some detainees.
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Alice Fall/Winter 2021
8 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022
WORLD & NATION
Chinese activists face Beijing’s fury
Trial looms after Ding received 3 1/2 years.
In the years that followed,
2019 gathering of
growing numbers of rights
‘rights movement’ activists and outspoken
lawyers were detained, and
By Chris Buckley some sentenced to prison.
The New York Times Still, after their release in
2017, Xu and Ding quietly
Twenty or so lawyers and renewed contacts with
activists quietly arrived at a sympathizers. Even as Xi
gaudy “Nice Home Party” tightened political controls,
rental villa near the Chinese Xu and Ding hoped party
seaside. They ate takeout rule was more brittle than
food, sang along to a karaoke many outsiders believed.
machine and played table “They just wanted to
soccer. But they also had a keep alive the movement,”
serious purpose: discuss- Teng Biao, a Chinese human
ing China’s besieged human rights lawyer and a longtime
rights movement. friend of Xu’s
Two years after that week- In 2018, Xu, Ding and like-
end gathering in December minded individuals in Shan-
2019, the two best-known dong province, in eastern
attendees — Xu Zhiyong and China, to relax and discuss
Ding Jiaxi — are awaiting their cause.
trial on subversion charges When they gathered a
related to the gathering, year later in the Xiamen
according to indictments. villa, nobody there noticed
Police and prosecutors anything alarming, said
have seized on the weekend Liu, the songwriter who
meeting to deliver a hammer attended.
blow to China’s beleaguered Participants thought they
“rights defense” movement had temporarily shaken the
of lawyers and activists seek- police officers assigned to
ing democratic change. Liu Sifang in Los Angeles. Key members of the “rights defense” movement face a trial. ALLISON ZAUCHA/THE NEW YORK TIMES watch them. But they were
Get-togethers like this, still found out.
once common among wife from joining him, he trolled court convicts them, which means “people’s he said, was to find ways for Eighteen days later, the
Chinese rights campaigners, said. as seems almost inevitable. rights.” In 2003, he and two independent social groups detentions began.
have become increasingly “They don’t want to allow Some experts and support- other Peking University to “grow in the gaps of the Those rounded up
risky under Xi Jinping’s these sprouts to survive,” Liu ers had expected they would law school classmates shot autocratic system.” included Ding, who later
hard-line rule. Under him, said, “so our little gathering stand trial in late 2021. That to prominence through a By 2012, Ding, an engineer told his lawyer that inves-
many journals, research has been treated as a big time passed without a trial successful campaign to abol- turned successful commer- tigators forced him to stay
organizations and groups political incident.” announcement, however. ish a widely despised deten- cial lawyer, had joined the awake by constantly show-
that once sustained inde- At a restaurant lunch They still are waiting for tion system used against cause. ing him an adulatory docu-
pendent-minded activists in on the second day of their news of a hearing, possibly migrant workers in Chinese He and Xu turned to mentary about China’s
China have been dissolved. two-day meetup, some in the buildup to the Winter cities. promoting a “New Citi- leader, Xi, at an earsplit-
As he prepares to extend noticed people who seemed Olympics, which start next In the following decade, zens’ Movement,” which ting volume for 10 days and
his era in power, those who to be watching them and month in Beijing. he and other activist lawyers encouraged Chinese people nights.
still speak out are wondering taking pictures. Although Western sought to awaken citi- to exercise the rights given Xu slipped into hiding,
how China’s human rights Several people who governments have focused zen initiative and expand lip service in China’s consti- sheltered for a time by
movement can survive a attended the weekend on mass detentions of rights by taking up cases tution: to association, free a former prosecutor in
tightening ring of monitor- session in Xiamen, in eastern Uyghurs in the Xinjiang that exposed the failings of speech and a say in govern- southern China. By then,
ing, house arrest, detentions China, were soon detained, region, the prosecution China’s legal system: farm- ment. Xu was the theorist of the COVID outbreak was
and trials. spending weeks or months of Xu and Ding highlights ers whose land had been the cause, while Ding tended spreading across China, stir-
“This shows how they’re locked up before release. the Chinese Communist confiscated, prisoners to focus on meeting support- ring anger that the govern-
terrified of even small One attendee, lawyer Chang Party’s intense campaign who claimed torture and ers. ment had not acted sooner
buds of Chinese citizen Weiping, was detained for a against dissent all across concocted testimony by the Ding and Xu seemed to stifle infections. From
consciousness and civic second time and arrested China. Security officials police, and aggrieved citi- hopeful at first that Xi’s hiding, Xu issued a letter
society,” Liu Sifang, a teacher on the charge of subversion have vowed to root out any zens detained in informal government would be no urging Xi to step down,
and amateur musician after stating on video that political opposition before jails for trying to take their harsher than his predeces- arguing that he was trying
who took part in the gath- interrogators had tortured a party congress later this complaints to officials in sor. But they were detained to “defy the tide of history.”
ering, said from Los Ange- him during his first stint of year, when Xi is poised to Beijing. in 2013 after promoting an He was arrested in Febru-
les, where he now lives. He detention. gain another five-year term “We must find a way to open letter urging China’s ary 2020. His girlfriend, Li
fled abroad in late 2019 after Xu, 48, and Ding, 54, both as top leader. grow political forces that most powerful officials to Qiaochu, who spoke out
the police began detaining have told lawyers that they Xu sometimes noted exist outside the system,” disclose their wealth. They about Xi’s treatment and
those who attended the villa did nothing illegal, but they with a smile that his home he wrote in “A Beautiful were convicted in 2014, her own secretive deten-
get-together. Border police face prison terms of 10 years county in rural central China,” a manifesto of his when Xu received a prison tion, was detained again and
in China have blocked his or even longer if a party-con- China is called Minquan, beliefs. The way forward, sentence of four years and formally arrested last year.
BOB SAGET 1956-2022
Comedian rose to fame
on TV’s ‘Full House’
By Lynn Elber
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Bob
Saget, the actor-come-
dian known for his role as
beloved single dad Danny
Tanner on the sitcom “Full
House” and as the wise-
cracking host of “America’s
Funniest Home Videos,” has
died, according to author-
ities in Florida. He was 65.
A crane loads a military truck, which was burned during last week’s clashes with protesters, The Orange County, Flor-
onto a big rig’s platform Sunday in Almaty, Kazakhstan. VLADIMIR TRETYAKOV/NUR.KZ ida, sheriff’s office was called
Sunday about an “unrespon-
Death toll from Kazakhstan sive man” in a hotel room at
the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando,
according to a sheriff’s state-
unrest hits 164, officials say ment on Twitter. Comedian and actor Bob Saget, known for his role in “Full
“The man was identi- House,” died in Orlando, Florida. MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY
fied as Robert Saget” and
death was pronounced at I am in complete and utter clean Danny Tanner, a
By Jim Heintz discontent with the author- Kazakh authorities said the scene, the statement shock. I will never ever have widower and father to three
Associated Press itarian government. They earlier Sunday that 16 said, adding that detectives another friend like him,” girls, on “Full House,” the
prompted a Russia-led mili- members of the police or found “no signs of foul play wrote John Stamos, who ABC sitcom that debuted
MOSCOW — Kazakh- tary alliance to send troops national guard had been or drug use in this case.” co-starred with Saget on in 1987.
stan authorities said Sunday to the country. killed. Saget was in Florida as “Full House.” “I love you so Saget showed his flip side
that 164 people were killed U.S. Secretary of State The ministry said 103 part of his “I Don’t Do Nega- much, Bobby.” with what become a much-
in a week of protests that Antony Blinken called of the deaths occurred in tive Comedy Tour,” accord- Norman Lear, who called talked-about cameo in the
marked the worst unrest Tokayev’s order “something Almaty, and Kazakhstan’s ing to his Twitter feed. Saget a close friend, wrote 2005 documentary “The
since the former Soviet I resolutely reject.” ombudswoman for chil- Fellow comedians and the comedian “was as lovely Aristocrats” — in which 100
republic gained indepen- “The shoot-to-kill order, dren’s rights said three of friends praised Saget not a human as he was funny. comics riffed on the world’s
dence 30 years ago. to the extent it exists, those killed were minors, only for his wit, but his And to my mind, he was dirtiest joke — that revealed
The office of President is wrong and should be including a 4-year-old girl. kindness. hilarious.” his notoriously filthy sense
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev rescinded,” he said Sunday The ministry earlier “I am broken. I am gutted. Saget played squeaky of humor.
said order has been restored on ABC’s “This Week.” reported more than 2,200
in the Central Asian coun- The same party has ruled people sought treatment
try and that the government Kazakhstan since it gained for injuries, and the Inte-
has regained control of all independence from the rior Ministry said about
buildings that were taken Soviet Union in 1991. 1,300 security officers were
over by the protesters. Anyone aspiring to injured. Get more out of
Some of the buildings oppose the government Almaty’s airport, which
were set on fire. has either been repressed, had been taken over by your subscription
Sporadic gunfire was sidelined, or co-opted, amid protesters last week,
by setting up your
heard Sunday in Almaty, the widespread economic hard- remained closed but was
largest city in Kazakhstan, ship despite the country’s expected to resume opera-
digital account
according to the Russian enormous reserves of oil, tions Monday.
TV station Mir-24, but it natural gas, uranium and Tokayev said the demon-
was unclear whether those minerals. strations were instigated
It’s easy to start your
were warning shots by law About 5,800 people were by “terrorists” with foreign
enforcement. detained during the unrest, backing, although the online access!
Tokayev said Friday he Tokayev’s office said. protests have shown no
had authorized a shoot-to- The death toll of 164, obvious leaders or orga- Visit:
kill order for police and the reported by the state news nization. Sunday’s state-
go-activate.com
military to restore order. channel Khabar-24 and ment from his office said
The demonstrations, citing the Health Ministry, the detentions included “a
which began in the western was a significant increase sizable number of foreign
part of Kazakhstan, began from previously announced nationals,” but gave no VALUED
Jan. 2. over a sharp rise totals. It was unclear if that details.
SUBSCRIBER
in fuel prices and spread number referred only to It was unclear how many
throughout the country, civilians or if law enforce- of those detained remained
apparently reflecting wider ment deaths were included. in custody.
Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022 9
OPINION
Helen Bennett
Executive Editor
[email protected]
COURANT.COM/OPINION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Where do leaders stand
on Jan. 6 insurrection?
Jan. 6 marks the anniversary of
the deadliest insurrection in United
States history. Now is the time to
take measure of our nation’s polit-
ical leaders to judge the country’s
risk of — and tolerance for —
another domestic terrorist attack on
our government. After 9/11, Pres-
ident George Bush famously said:
“Either you are with us or you are
with the terrorists.” The same rheto-
ric is relevant today.
FBI Director Christopher Wray
has described the insurrection
as domestic terrorism. The judi-
cial branch has spent nearly a year
adjudicating the cases of almost 775
individuals who were engaged in the
insurrection. The legislative branch
promptly began hearings.
On the other hand, Rep. Andrew
Clyde astonishingly referred to the
presence of rioters, tear gas, blar-
ing sirens, shattered windows, and
numerous casualties as a normal
“tourist visit.” So where do our
leaders stand? Are they willing to
condemn the fateful event as the
terrorist attack almost everyone
witnessed live or through the thou-
sands of replayed video feeds? Or Peter and Lisa Marshall hold their wedding album and sit for a portrait in their living room of their home on Dec. 6, 2019, in Andover. The couple
will some continue to prosecute remarried in 2021, two years after Peter was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. COURANT FILE PHOTO
the delusion that the horrific event
that unfolded was simply part of a EDITORIAL
normal exercise of domestic tour-
ism, and not domestic terrorism? This love story offered a moving
Peter A. Antonucci, Ridgefield
Support teachers:
glimpse at scourge of Alzheimer’s
Put more protections
in place at schools
Urgent action is needed to
protect students, staff and their Many in Connecticut and beyond were Lisa and Peter Marshall were struggling growing.
families. The state’s plan to return taken by the story of Peter Marshall. and that many days were frustrating In 2021, Alzheimer’s and other demen-
to school without additional safety We were captivated by the love story he and infuriating and exhausting for Lisa tias were expected to cost the United States
measures is misguided. I refuse to played a role in, as he remarried Lisa, his Marshall. about $355 billion, including $239 billion
believe the people making these wife of 11 years, in a love-filled 2021 cere- Lisa always wanted her husband and in Medicare and Medicaid payments
decisions have considered the facts, mony attended by many family members her life back, but she always looked at combined, the association reported.
for if they had, they are choosing and friends. the disease through the prism that it was “Unless a treatment to slow, stop or
to condemn students/staff and This ceremony was special not only Alzheimer’s talking or acting a certain way, prevent the disease is developed, in 2050,
their family to illness and worse. It because it reaffirmed the couple’s love, as not her husband, Riley reported. Alzheimer’s is projected to cost more than
is understandably hard to stay on they danced and kissed like any delighted While the story of the love they shared $1.1 trillion (in 2021 dollars),” a “dramatic
top of the latest scientific studies pair might do, but also because it took place drew many to the story of the Marshalls, rise,” the association reports. Part of this is
related to COVID-19, but when lives two years after Peter Marshall was diag- the couple was not alone in the struggle of government spending under Medicare and
are at stake, it is too important to be nosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. coping with Alzheimer’s. Medicaid.
uninformed. In the past two weeks, “It was just magical — straight out of a According to the Alzheimer’s Asso- Between the human impact and the
the following information has fairy tale,” Lisa Marshall told The Wash- ciation, there were about 6.2 million financial impact, the scourge of Alzhei-
come out of the NIH, Cedars-Si- ington Post after the wedding. Americans age 65 and older living with mer’s spares few.
nai, and the FDA: The virus is still Lisa Marshall also told The Post she Alzheimer’s dementia in 2021. Further, Lisa Marshall created a Facebook page,
present and active in almost every had decided her mantra would be not to older Black Americans and older Hispanic “Oh Hello, Alzheimer’s,” that told the story
organ system, hundreds of days have regrets. She lived this as she worked Americans are about 2 and 1.5 times, of living with a loved one with early-on-
after infection. It shows the contin- to give her husband “a beautiful life” from respectively, as likely to have Alzheimer’s set Alzheimer’s. More than 24,000 people
ued generation of autoantibodies the beginning, through when he asked or other dementias as older white Ameri- follow the page.
months after infection. That means her to marry him — not recalling that they cans, the association reports, and discrim- On it, she is honest about her grief, “the
chronic illnesses. already were married — and as his condi- ination is a barrier to Alzheimer’s and waves. They crash in when I least expect
Stand in support of your teach- tion declined terribly in recent months. dementia care. it,” she wrote.
ers’ union request to put more It wasn’t easy, as The Courant’s Lori By 2050, the number of people age 65 She is honest that she is “relieved for
protections in place before send- Riley reported after Marshall’s recent and older with Alzheimer’s dementia “may Peter mostly, that he is no longer suffering”
ing students back to school. Every death. grow to a projected 12.7 million,” according while also noting that he “has been gone a
infection prevented is a life changed Riley noted that Marshall ran the Hart- to the association. long time.”
for the better. ford Marathon in 2016 (and a race in each And 11 million Americans were provid- This honesty, along with their love
Courtney Phillips, Wethersfield of the state’s 169 towns) but five years later, ing unpaid care for loved ones and others story, offered the public a glimpse into
struggled to walk a familiar 3-mile loop. with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, the many costs Alzheimer’s brings and
Biden is ruining Then, Marshall couldn’t walk down the according to the association. for this we should be thankful to Lisa
stairs, and a hospital bed was installed in That is a lot of people upon whom this Marshall.
this country the front room. Hospice was there to help, terrible disease makes an impact. It’s a window that is hard to look
Riley reported. But while the human impact is startling through but one that all Americans should
I don’t know if Americans can Riley also noted that she had known in its broadness, the financial impact also is see.
endure more years with Joe Biden
as president. In the year that he
has been in office, Biden has done
more to ruin this country than any
president in history. His doctors OP-ED
have given him a clean bill of health,
but for some reason they did not Cheers for first college football
include his cognitive ability in
the tests. A list of Biden’s failures
includes: Leaving Americans behind
in Afghanistan; Proposing trillion title of name-image-likeness era
dollar bills that could bankrupt
our country; Allowing millions of
undocumented immigrants to enter
America. This, in the hope of gath-
ering a few thousand votes in the By George F. Will pay the talent. ball or basketball coach. Louisiana State
upcoming election. The Washington Post Andrew Perloff, writing in Educa- University recently gave its (now-former)
We could easily eradicate this ploy tion Next, says “student athlete” entered football coach Ed Orgeron — he won the
by making all Americans produce a WASHINGTON — Monday night’s academia’s lexicon in 1957 when a widow national championship game just two years
legal ID (preferably with a photo) national championship game is the mara- lost a claim for workmen’s compensa- ago — a $16.9 million severance payment
before being allowed to vote. While schino cherry atop the sundae of post- tion death benefits from Fort Lewis A&M to go away. (This was less than the $21.45
we are discussing voting, maybe we season college football. The nation’s College for fatal injuries her husband million Auburn paid in order to fire coach
should take up the topic of absentee highest-paid government employee — suffered playing football. The school said Gus Malzahn in 2020.) Orgeron’s replace-
ballots, which caused problems in coach Nick Saban, $9.75 million — will lead the player was not an employee because ment, Brian Kelly, was lured from Notre
the last election. Perhaps getting an the University of Alabama’s student-ath- the school was not in the “football busi- Dame by a contract worth $9 million per
absentee ballot should be limited to letes against their counterparts from the ness.” The NCAA adopted the “student year, plus a $500,000 “longevity” bonus
those unable to drive to the polls, the University of Georgia. They are coached by athlete” mantra, but Perloff says: “Between every July. Plus $500,000 if LSU wins half
physically disabled, the ill or those Kirby Smart, whose salary ($7.13 million) long daily practices, ongoing physical of its regular-season games: Inflation has
on vacation. ranks only fifth among Southeastern conditioning, and cross-country travel, lifted the price of mediocrity.
John Mills, Bristol Conference coaches, but is 40 times larger playing on a team can stand in for a full- In 2018, Georgia spent $2.6 million
than that of Georgia’s governor. time job.” recruiting players. Given the likely return
Another power play The game will be watched by perhaps The supposedly precious aura of — in money, and in prestige, which has
20 million potential purchasers of beer amateurism is supposedly imperiled by monetary value — from getting the Bull-
by Democrats and trucks and other stuff that corpora- new rules that allow those who make $9 dogs into Monday night’s game, this was a
tions pay broadcast entities to advertise. million coaches possible — the players — to good investment. As is Saban’s compensa-
The Democrats want to ram ESPN reportedly pays about $470 million earn a comparative pittance. Last summer, tion, which is scheduled to soon pass $10
the so-called and draconian “John annually under a 12-year, $5.64 billion the NCAA (2019 athletics revenue: $18.9 million per year.
Lewis Voting Rights Act” through agreement for the right to broadcast major billion), having uneasily watched more than Schools increasingly compete for
Congress with no debate, which is postseason games. two dozen states pass laws to give college customers, a.k.a. students, by emphasizing
why “Schumer says Senate to vote There always are, however, solemn athletes some rights to market themselves, the college “experience.” This is enhanced
on filibuster rules changes” [Page 4, warnings that the appeal of high-revenue faced this fact of federalism: Schools in by decreasing academic demands: There
Jan. 4]. college sports — football and basketball states where athletes cannot be punished is less studying — Education Next reports
Is not the Democrats’ proposed — is jeopardized by any departures from for monetizing their fame will have an that students spent 27 hours a week on
federal seizure of the 50 states’ the “revered tradition of amateurism in advantage in recruiting blue-chip prospects. studies in 2003, down from 40 hours in the
Constitutional authority to manage college sports.” Supreme Court Justice So, welcome to the NIL era: Increasingly, 1960s — and more grade inflation. In “The
their own elections, draw their own John Paul Stevens wrote those words in a an athlete can earn money from his or her Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became
Congressional districts, maintain 1984 case that came from the University name, image and likeness. A few football a National Catastrophe,” the Wall Street
voter ID laws, scrutinize their voter of Oklahoma. (One of OU’s wittier presi- and basketball players will benefit a lot; Journal’s Josh Mitchell reports that one
registration lists in accordance with dents, when a state legislator asked why volleyball and field hockey players not so school’s experience includes “amenities
existing federal law, and prevent the school needed more money, answered, much. Gender disparities will energize the like a state-of-the-art recreation center
partisan goons from intimidating or “I would like to build a university of which “equity” police. And what boosters used with a climbing wall and a ‘lazy river’ pool
hectoring voters enough reason to the football team would be proud.”) The to do by passing cash under the table can complex with a 30-foot water slide. ... A
hold this bill up for honest debate by 1984 court weakened the NCAA’s grip on now be done on the top of the table, which campus dining hall served steak cooked to
preserving the filibuster? Or is this schools’ football television arrangements, might be progress, of sorts. But if you graft order.” Which school? Roll Tide!
simply another political smash-and- but the court’s rhetoric strengthened the a multibillion industry onto higher educa-
grab power play? lucrative myth that sustains the business tion, some awkwardness is unavoidable. George F. Will writes on politics and domes-
John Carey, West Hartford model of the academia-entertainment In most states, the highest-paid govern- tic and foreign affairs for The Washington
complex: Amateurism is beautiful, so don’t ment employee is a state university foot- Post.
10 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Monday, January 10, 2022
OBITUARIES
Avon New Britain
Frederick G. Humphrey Ronald Matyka
Humphrey, Frederick Griswold
Berlin OUT OF STATE
Ronald Matyka Frederick G. Humphrey
Frederick Griswold Humphrey II (known to all as "Fred"), 95, died peacefully of natural
Canton Brattleboro, VT
causes in Brattleboro,VT on January 5, 2022.
Frederick G. Humphrey
Fred was born on the family dairy farm in Canton Center, CT on October 28, 1926, to
Genevieve Stockwell Humphrey and Harold William Humphrey. Cherry Brook Farm had
beenhome toHumphreysforeightgenerations andFred tookprideinhisYankeeheritage.
He had two brothers, Sam and Harold, both deceased, and two sisters, Ruth (deceased),
and Lucy Wong (who lives in Killingly, CT). Growing up during the depression, Fred walked
orrodehisponytoaone-roomschoolhouseandwasresponsibleforendlessfarmchores.
He never forgot his rural roots. He was too young to serve in World War II but enlisted
at the end of the war in the Air Force Cadets, where he was trained as an electrician.
Subsequently, Fred graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in social
work and married his high school sweetheart Dorothy Marie Peterson, a graduate of the
Hartford School of Nursing.
Fred and Dot moved often in their early years together: to Philadelphia, PA, where he received his MSW
from the University of Pennsylvania; Garrison, NY, where he worked as a counselor at the local Veterans' hospital;
Brattleboro, VT where he was a family counselor; back to Philadelphia, where he earned an EdD at the University
of Pennsylvania; then to Storrs, CT, where he was a Professor of Child Development and Family Relations at the
University of Connecticut for 25 years, specializing in human sexuality. Along the way, Fred and Dot raised three
children: Brian (formerly of Guilford, VT, now deceased), Heidi (Shaftsbury, VT), and Alan (Ventnor City, NJ, and
Ardmore, PA). Fred loved his work and rose to become the president of the American Association of Marriage and
Family Therapists. He also developed a thriving marriage counseling practice. After retiring from UConn in 1991,
Fred and Dot moved back to Guilford,VT, just up the street from where they had lived 35 years earlier.
Fred had a lifetime love of skiing—from conquering the headwall at Tuckerman's Ravine to ski patrolling
at his beloved Hogback to venturing out west to Utah. He continued to ski into his 80s. His family shared his
passion and it became the reason for many family adventures. In retirement, he became a devoted volunteer and
fundraiser for many nonprofit organizations, including the Vermont Land Trust, the Guilford Fire Department, the
Guilford Historical Society,and the Friends ofAlgiers,for which he was instrumental in raising funds to acquire and
renovate the Guilford Country Store. During the 1990s, he helped to establish the Guilford 4th of July celebration
and often acted as master of ceremonies. He could be found on his tractor year-round, mowing during the summer
and plowing during the winter, and helped out every year on his family's Christmas Tree farm in Canton Center, CT.
He also enjoyed reading history, particularly books about World War II. He loved to meet new people and gab.
Fred leaves behind his loving children Alan and Heidi, their spouses Wendy Rosen Humphrey and Ben
Benedict, as well as four grandchildren: Lincoln Benedict, Ian Humphrey, Margot Benedict, and Erica Humphrey,
and their spouses and partners; and his special friend Mary Sargent. He was very proud of his family and enjoyed
presiding over family gatherings. Three years ago, he moved from his hilltop home in Guilford to Bradley House
in Brattleboro, where he received kind attention and loving care. The family is most grateful to Bradley House for
providing such a welcoming home during his final years.
Fred's memorial service will be held when we can gather safely in person.
Donations may be made in Fred's memory to Garden Path Elder Living (Bradley House), the Guilford, VT Historical
Society, or the Dr. Frederick G. Humphrey Fellowship in Family Studies at the University of Connecticut.
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