On Friday, President Trump’s former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about communicating with Russians.
According to the Associated Press, his plea to a single felony count of false statements makes him the first person from the Trump administration to be charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The Associated Press is also reporting that court papers make it clear that senior Trump transition officials were fully aware of Flynn reaching out to Russian officials just weeks before the presidential inauguration.
In a statement released on Dec. 1, Flynn denied “false accusations of ‘treason’” and said, “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
On Friday and Saturday, President Trump tweeted about Flynn, saying that he fired him because he lied to Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI.
On Monday, CNN reported that the White House’s chief lawyer told Trump in January that Flynn misled the FBI and lied to Pence.
The U.S. Senate passed a new tax bill in the dead of night on Friday evening into Saturday morning, creating the largest changes to the country’s tax code in three decades.
The bill is 479 pages long and was distributed to senators around 7 p.m. on Friday. It was passed with 51 votes just before 2 a.m. on Saturday, leaving little time for senators to rummage through the proposals in changes before the deadline. No democrats voted to pass the bill.
The major change with the new tax bill is the deduction of tax rates for businesses and corporations, which will go into effect in 2019. The tax rate for big businesses will drop from 35 to 20 percent, and those companies will also be able to write off most of their investments for the next five years.
Tax rates for millionaires will also see a decrease from 39.6 percent to 38.5 percent. Most Americans making between $500,000 to $1 million annually will enjoy the new bill, as 91 percent of that group will get a tax cut of at least $100 in 2019. However, only 46 percent of Americans who make between $20,000 and $30,000 a year will see such a cut.
Americans who may not like the bill changes could be students at Quinnipiac and beyond, as the House bill eliminates student debt write-offs. This forces graduate students whose tuition bills are waived due to working for professors or for their school to include that waived money as taxed income. In short, graduate student assistants will be taxed on their tuition money that is going directly to the school because of their services while seeking their advanced degrees. Universities fear these changes could deter students from seeking graduate study programs.
Among other effects of the bill is an increase in the American debt. The national debt of roughly $20 trillion will likely increase by another trillion due to the bill, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
As the five year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting approaches, the Newtown Action Alliance (NAA) is organizing its annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence in Washington, D.C.
Newtown residents founded the NAA to advocate for families and victims affected by gun violence. The advocacy organization is dedicated to “reversing the escalating gun violence epidemic in this nation through the introduction of smarter, safer gun laws and broader cultural change.”
The NAA organizes a two-day trip, during which supporters take a bus from Newtown, Connecticut to Washington, D.C. This year the trip is planned for Wednesday, Dec. 6 and Thursday, Dec. 7.
The vigil will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Over the course of the trip, members of the NAA and supporters will attend congressional meetings and hold a press conference at the Capitol Building.
Last year, more than 330 vigils were organized in 43 states. The goal for this year is to hold more than 500 local vigils in all 50 states.
The vigil is in partnership with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown Survivor Network, Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Organizing for Action, States United to Prevent Gun Violence, St Marks Episcopal Church and Women’s March.
Quinnipiac University announced the availability of a new short summer school program in Warsaw, Poland last week. The 12-day program will run from July 9-21 at Kozminski University in Warsaw, and will include students from all around the world.
The program is called “Law and Business in the Globalizing World,” according to Kozminski’s academic website. It includes multiple business and law courses. There is also an official visit to three different Polish corporations, including Polsat, a commercial television station in Poland. Students are able to register for one or two courses, which will total as three credits and transfer back to Quinnipiac as a business elective.
Courses will be taught in English, and students are required to show proof of English proficiency upon submitting applications, which are due April 15. The cost of the program is 500 euros, or roughly $600. The price includes the actual program and the necessary course materials, daily lunches at the university, and social activities such as sightseeing tours and the company visits.
Travel and housing are not included in the overall price, however the university encourages prospective students to seek room and board with Polish families near the school. According to Kozminski’s website, a number of families in the area have housed students in the past for no charge. Living with a family offers an opportunity to learn and embrace the Polish culture at a greater degree.
Students with any questions regarding the program should contact Quinnipiac representative Hanna Hejmonski at the Quinnipiac Central European Institute.
The Quinnipiac rugby team took down undefeated Dartmouth 29-20 in the 2017 National Intercollegiate Rugby Association Championship by scoring 24 unanswered points and capturing its third straight national title. The trio of national championships remain the only ones in school history.
The third title was anything but a sure thing. The Bobcats had lost to Dartmouth earlier in the season, and eventually surrendered their top-ranked position to the Big Green. The Bobcats fell behind 15-5 early in the championship game and needed a momentum spurt if they were to hoist the crown for the unprecedented third straight time.
Of course, they turned to senior Ilona Maher.
The eventual tournament MVP scored a big try to tie the match and send the Bobcats on their way. She would finish the game with two tries and two assists, and finished the season with a team-high 23 tries. The backbone of the most successful team in Quinnipiac history, Maher now rides into the shadows of Sleeping Giant with a resume that makes her the top candidate for the best athlete the school has ever seen.
The string of success was something even Maher could not have imagined when transferring from Norwich prior to her sophomore season.
“Sometimes it feels unreal,” Maher said. “To win three just shows all the work we put in throughout these years. I came here and winning a champ wasn’t really on my mind. I just wanted to keep playing rugby. Each year we got better and do what we said we were going to do. We completed our mission.”
Head coach Becky Carlson has witnessed Maher’s profound impact on the Bobcats since she courted Maher from Norwich three years ago, before altering the course of Quinnipiac rugby history.
“Her work ethic is magnetic,” Carlson said. “She’s the type of player that a lot of people look to as an example of what they want to achieve. Not just physically, but also in terms of being a good teammate and leading by example.”
If Maher’s personal mission was to win it all during all three of her seasons as a Bobcat, then she accomplished her goal with flying colors, while earning plenty of personal honors along the way. She took home the MA Sorensen Award last season for the best women’s rugby player in the country, and followed it up by leading the Bobcats to the pinnacle of college rugby once again.
Maher and the Bobcats have made a living off conquering obstacles during their remarkable three-year stretch. The team didn’t have a home pitch all last season. They were able to host the NIRA Tournament this season, but needed to take down a Dartmouth team that looked poised to take Quinnipiac’s spot on top of the rugby world. Maher believes their struggles against Big Green were exactly what the Bobcats needed, and reminded her group that resting on their laurels was a death sentence for a chance to repeat as champs.
“To have that first game against Dartmouth and to lose was kind of a wake-up call,” Maher said. “We realized these other teams were here to play. When we do get beaten, we know it’s not who we are and we’re much better than that.”
The Bobcats woke up from their brief early season snooze and rolled to their third championship, making Norwich the only team in the past four seasons to beat the Bobcats in their final game of the season. That was when Maher was playing for Norwich, before becoming a Bobcat and igniting a national powerhouse.
Maher leaves the new pitch in Hamden with an undeniable legacy of winning, and plans to carry that legacy to wherever she finds herself next. Wherever it is, she plans to have her rugby cleats on.
“I want to go on and play more rugby,” Maher said. “This isn’t the end for me. It’s just the beginning.”
For Maher, her Bobcats career ended the way it began: with a championship trophy.
“The only regret I have is I wish I had more time. I was far behind in money. I was far behind in days. While everyone was announcing their candidacy in January, I was still teaching school, and I had no idea this was coming.”
Salman Hamid’s classroom at Wintergreen School.
For Wintergreen Social Studies teacher Salman Hamid, running for mayor was a pipe dream. Hamid is someone who stays active in his community by doing charity work and maintaining his position on the cleaning green commission, so all he wanted was to see Hamden be the best it could be.
“I ran because I love my community, and I want the best for it,” Hamid said. “Mayor Leng and I had different visions of doing that but we both shared that ideal.”
A Hamden resident since childhood, Hamid grew up loving his town. He saw the opportunity to run for mayor as a way of continuing to grow his community.
“I just wanted to see the town that raised me become the best version of itself. I thought I had some good ideas in which to do that,” Hamid said.
Hamid’s Social Studies class’ schedule.
His efforts, however, came up short as Mayor Curtis Leng was re-elected for his second term for the town of Hamden with 74 percent of the vote on November 7.
“At first, it was a bit of a shocker. Then you realize it’s fine, it was an uphill battle from day one no matter what,” Hamid said. “People tend to forget that everyone had started across Connecticut in January, and I had started in late July. So, here’s a guy who walked off the street running on a very unpopular ticket, because, unfortunately, people associate a Republican with being a Trump supporter.”
“By the time I was relaxing over the summer, my opponent already had $40,000 in the bank, and I was still relaxing. So I was completely behind the 8 ball. So of course I knew I was the underdog, but I played to win. I was aggressive as I possibly could be.”
After the results came out, Hamid mentioned he did speak with his opponent afterward.
“We talked briefly on election night. I congratulated him on a good run…on a well run campaign,” Hamid said. “I do plan on being actively involved in community events, and I’m sure I’ll see him there. And at the end of the day, we both live in town as we had spoken of, and we had different visions, but we both want the town to do well in our own ways.”
Hamid reflected on his campaign for a while, reiterating his only regret being his slow start. When asked about what was next for him, Hamid discussed his current job and the possibility of a future in politics.
Salman Hamid, left, greets voters on election day.
“I love my job, It’s a great school and I have great colleagues to work with. Good kids, you know, and, like I said, I wouldn’t trade teaching for the world. I do enjoy it a lot,” Hamid said. “But no matter what I do next, I was told do not stop. Because people who were politically and non politically affiliated said I did very, very well given everything that went against me. You also have to understand there were no republicans running in districts one through eight. They went unopposed. So no one was out there either promoting my name, and I was still able to get that many votes.”
Through his Campaign, Hamid gained recognition and opportunities in ways he would have never expected. He is keeping his promise to work with the “Gimme Shelter” foundation that gives shelter to homeless pets. He has been asked to join the League of Women Voters to help assist groups of women who traditionally have not voted to participate.
“A lot of people from South-East Asia and muslim-affiliated women voted for the first time in their lives this past election, which was impressive.”
Hamid also continues to work with various elderly homes. He has even had a few businesses grab his attention.
“When I was campaigning, I had a lot of interesting opportunities – I won’t say the names yet – that I could venture into part-time because people liked how I spoke. They felt I was confident,” Hamid said. “So, some opportunities came up that I might be interested in doing while I’m still teaching. I’m actually really good at sales, but my passion is teaching.”
Considering everything that Hamid went up against, I asked him what his thoughts are about a potential future run at Mayor again. Of course preparedness was the key to any possibility of that.
“It’s going to be top secret until I know what’s going on with the playing field,” Hamid said. “I’ve learned how to become a political animal and so I’ll sit and watch and observe the environment, the culture, what’s going on, the economics and I’ll make a calculated decision come January 2019. So, I guess, hold tight onto your seats and wait for the ride and we’ll see come that time.”
In 2017 alone, there has been more than 320,000 crashes in the state of Connecticut, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository.
Both police and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) are trying to crack down on unsafe drivers.
“I think drivers should be more careful because they are not only impacting their lives but other people’s lives as well,” Afsha Kasam, a senior public relations major, said. Kasam was involved in a three car accident in Cheshire earlier this year and suspects one of the drivers was distracted by their phone.
Screenshot from Connecticut Crash Data Repository
Reckless driving and distracted driving can indeed have severe consequences. Statistics from the Connecticut Crash Data Repository show that of the 320,000 crashes in Connecticut this year, 254 were fatal. In 2016, there 268 fatal crashes, in 2015 there were 246 and in 2014 there 248.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has 2015 Distracted Driving distracted-affected crash data which states that: 10% of fatal crashes, 15% of injury crashes, and 14% of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes were distraction-affected (for 2015),” Judd Everhart, Connecticut Department of Transportation Director of Communications said.
Last week, Connecticut State Police implemented increased security patrols for the Thanksgiving holiday week beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and ending on Sunday, Nov. 26. Troopers patrolled highways and roads throughout the state and focused on drunk driving as well as aggressive drivers.
During this time frame, there were 524 accidents investigated. Seventy of them involved injuries and two of them were fatal. One of the fatal crashes happened in Cromwell on Interstate-91 northbound. Fifty-year-old Michael Rogers veered off the highway into the right shoulder and hit some trees. He was pronounced dead on scene.
As police were responding to the crash in Cromwell, a drunk driver struck a parked police cruiser.
Connecticut State Police tweet photos of police cruiser hit by drunk driver
The other fatal crash during this enforcement period took place in Killingly. Twenty-six-year-old Hope Butler traveled left off the Providence Pike and struck a tree. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Over the course of the Thanksgiving holiday enforcement period, there were 1,010 speeding violations, 363 seatbelt violations, 51 drunken driving violations.
Numbers from the Connecticut Crash Repository Data show that most crashes in Connecticut this year occurred on Interstate-95 and Interstate-84. More than 16,000 crashes on Interstate-84 and more than 12,000 on Interstate-84.
Most crashes occur between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Fridays.
Screenshot from Connecticut Crash Data Repository
“Defensive driving is something that most drivers have learned and is a vital tactic for being aware of potential dangers on the road – including distracted drivers,” Everhart said. “For those who consider using their phones, eat while driving, check their GPS for directions, it is important to rethink those actions and get into the mindset of driving without distraction.”
The Connecticut DOT Office of Highway Safety has been implementing aggressive yearly safe driving campaigns that consists of high visibility enforcement, public outreach and education campaigns and educational programming for high schools and young drivers.
August is National Distracted Driving month and during that month, Hamden Police relaunched the “U Text, U Drive, U Pay” campaign in which police cracked down on distracted driving. This campaign included partnerships with 51 police agencies in 2016.
“At the Highway Safety Office, Distracted Driving is one of many challenges that we work to address and it is a top priority. People go to work here at Highway Safety with the goal to save and protect lives on our roads from death or injury,” Everhart said. “We partner with all levels of law enforcement agencies, universities, schools, and the media to get this message out in all forms including education, enforcement, and greater public awareness.”
While police in Connecticut have conducted enforcement periods and distracted driving campaigns, the number of crashes within the state is still high and some are questioning whether law enforcement officials are doing enough to ensure people’s safety.
Faith Watkins is an employee at the Modell’s sporting goods store located on Dixwell Avenue. Watkins has just started working there and has really enjoyed her time. It has only been a total of 3 weeks but she feels she is at the right place.
With the combination of her passion for sports and wanting to give back to her community, Watkins wanted to help out while things are bound to get hectic with the holiday season shopping.
“ I like it here, I am very interested in sports and that’s why I applied for this job and this is my second job,” Watkins said. “However, I also applied here to do the holiday time and also I know they needed the extra help.”
The store is seeking business and during the holiday part of the year with everyone looking to buy great gifts for each other, sports gear will always be something that is needed and Modell’s will be expecting people to walk through its doors.
“Business has been really good” Watkins said. “It’s very busy. The Hamden Plaza is a busy area so we tend to see a lot of business. Especially around the holiday time with having very good sales around the store will be expecting it to be very busy in here.”
What makes Watkins happy is seeing that people are happier getting the things they need. That is why she loves when the store has things on sale because it makes things easier for the people.
“It’s great place and we definitely look forward to seeing a lot of people for the holidays and making our customers satisfied with prices that could help them,” Watkins said.
Jennifer Fontaine has been working at Bob’s Stores located Dixwell Avenue for 10 years. She is currently the supervisor at the store and really loves her position. She looks at Bob’s Stores as not just a place of work, but a place of learning.
“I have been here ever since high school, so it’s been a long time and I have learned so much here and this place has really given me a lot,” Fontaine said. “I learned how to work and communicate with other people something I was not the best at when I was younger.”
It was recently that the store had a lot of people come in for the Black Friday deals and is one of the store’s busiest days of the year.
“It is just expected at this point and is no surprise to me by now,” Fontaine said. “We know how well to plan for this and things ran very smoothly at the store.”
The holiday season is here and from what she knows from the past and being there for so long, she expects the store to be “epic.”
“It is going to be epic in here and that’s just the way it’s been, but we’ll do well like we always do.”
It was a mild Thanksgiving across the Northeast, with temperatures in the mid-forties across the board, but what kind of weather should we be expecting over the next several months?
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the Northeast and New England will be seeing cold and snowy weather.
This prediction includes New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington D.C.
map via Farmersalmanac.com
To break it down, the Almanac has also posted weather predictions for three to four day spans through the end of January. These predictions report light snow in the beginning of December, with significant snowstorms expected in mid-December and the end of January. Unfortunately, a white Christmas isn’t looking likely this year.
