State’s First Law Incubators Set to Launch in Hartford, Bridgeport

Connecticut’s first law incubators are due to open early this year at the Center for Family Justice, a Bridgeport-based nonprofit, and at UConn School of Law,  being established to provide affordable legal services to people who need them and help lawyers establish solo practices. The Connecticut Community Law Center, an initiative of the law school and the Hartford County Bar Association, aims to help people who have traditionally been underserved by the justice system: low- and moderate-income clients who don’t qualify for legal aid but can’t afford standard legal fees, the UConn School of Law announced this month.

“Too many people face legal problems concerning essential human needs without proper representation because they fall into the growing access-to-justice gap, between the very poor who qualify for legal aid and those with the financial means to pay a private lawyer,” said attorney Mark Schreier, who was appointed director of the Connecticut Community Law Center. “Standing alone and without professional guidance, those individuals enter our justice system at a tremendous disadvantage.”

The incubator is set to open in February in William F. Starr Hall on the UConn Law campus in Hartford. In addition to the services of the director, the law school will provide office space and support – including training, guidance, and legal research resources – for up to six solo practitioners. The Hartford County Bar Association and the law school faculty will provide mentors, and Greater Hartford Legal Aid will help with training and referrals.

The subsidized working environment will allow participating lawyers to provide legal services at a modest cost that is lower than standard legal fees, with each lawyer setting the fee on a case by case basis. Schreier said he expects cases to involve a wide range of legal problems, including family, consumer, probate, housing, bankruptcy, employment, immigration, and other general civil matters.

In Bridgeport, the Center for Family Justice, a Bridgeport-based nonprofit that provides services to trauma survivors affected by domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse, will house the incubator.

The Center is working with Connecticut law schools to help build the center’s legal apparatus, Fairfield County Business Journal reported, with several professors from Quinnipiac University on the steering committee to help develop the parameters of the program.  Four attorneys are being sought.

Lawyers in the incubator program at the Center will provide the legal advices services and representation needed by victims of domestic violence, including restraining orders, divorce proceedings, child custody and support, housing and immigration issues.  An Open House was held in September to interest local attorneys in participating.

“A legal incubator is like a business incubator,” Jennifer Ferrante, who joined the Center for Family Justice staff as the coordinator for the new service, told the Journal.  At the center’s office at 753 Fairfield Ave., “We are going to be housing four attorneys here on site,” she said. Two of the first attorneys who applied and were accepted in the program are recent law school graduates.

The American Bar Association counts more than 60 lawyer incubators around the country, three-fourths of them established since 2014. The Connecticut Community Law Center and the Justice Legal Center at the Center for Family Justice in Bridgeport, will be the first in Connecticut.

Participating lawyers will spend 18 to 24 months at the Connecticut Community Law Center before moving on with their practices. The training and experience they receive will not only help them jump-start their practices, it will spread seeds of innovation in the delivery of legal services at an affordable cost, UConn Law Dean Timothy Fisher said.

Clients who qualify for services at the Hartford incubator will be those whose incomes exceed the limits for legal aid but fall within three times the federal poverty level. For a family of four, this would mean a maximum household income of $72,900. Clients wishing to apply for services may do so beginning in February, when information will be available at the center’s website: cclc.law.uconn.edu.

“I think it will give the low- and moderate-income community a real chance in getting their legal needs met and ending their cycles in abuse and poverty,” Ferrante said of the new Bridgeport center.

Planning for the legal incubator has been ongoing since 2009. Although the Center for Family Justice is focused on serving six Fairfield County municipalities – Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull – it also welcomes those seeking help from elsewhere in the state, officials said.

CT Council Urges Change in Focus to Combat Human Trafficking in State

Recognizing that the sex industry – especially when it involves underage children – is a form of human trafficking, the Connecticut Trafficking in Persons Council (TIP) is making several legislative recommendations aimed at shifting the onus for the crime of prostitution from the prostitute to “the demand side” – the buyers of sex. On National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, the TIP Council released its Annual Report and recommendations for the state legislature, and launched a new initiative and website, www.enddemandct.org.

“Conversations about sex trafficking almost exclusively disregard the role of the individual buying sex—the ‘john,’” says Jillian Gilchrest, chair of Connecticut’s Trafficking in Persons Council and Director of Health Professional Outreach at the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “The sex trafficking of Connecticut’s women, men, and children is driven by demand for the commercial sex acts they perform. Put simply, without ‘buyers’ to purchase sex there would be no sex-for-pay industry. So, we are embarking on an ‘End Demand’ campaign to bring much needed attention to those buying sex who create the demand that fuels sex trafficking.”

The TIP report questions why, since Connecticut enacted the felony crime of patronizing sex from a minor in 2013, there have been no arrests or convictions for the felony. Significantly, DCF has seen an increase in the trafficking of children; currently, there are 456 referrals for children at high risk of trafficking.

The report also calls on Connecticut lawmakers, state agencies, and advocates to work together to better understand the demand side of sex trafficking in order to effectively prevent this crime from happening. This begins, the report explains, with creating awareness, since more often than not, those buying sex are left out of conversations about human trafficking. With the use of social media, traditional media, and advertising, the TIP Council indicated it aims to raise public awareness about the individuals in our state who choose to pay to sexually abuse children and exploited individuals.

The report indicates that law enforcement and State’s prosecutors argue that those buying sex with children and exploited adults can be charged with other crimes, such as sexual assault in the second degree or risk of injury. The Council will be looking into this, the report notes, to better understand if buyers of sex are being arrested, and if not, why.

In addition, the report outlined that with over 100 members, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) Human Anti-trafficking Response Team (HART) comprises multi-department, multiagency partners, various levels of law enforcement, the provider community, faith-based network, among others. In 2015, DCF received 133 referrals of youth who were at risk or confirmed victims of human trafficking. As of September 2016, DCF has received 151 referrals of youth who were at risk or confirmed victims of human trafficking, the report indicated.

Tammy Sneed, Director of Gender Responsive Adolescent Services at Department of Children and Families and co-chair of DCF’s Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team, said: “Reports of children suspected to be victims of domestic minor sex trafficking are increasing every year -- and, in 2016, there were just under 200 such referrals. For every child victim, the number of buyers on a given day in Connecticut is unfathomable. Some children report 10 to 15 buyers per night, which leads us to estimate that a minimum of 2,000 buyers in Connecticut bought sex from children last year.”

In the report, the Council recommends:

• the Connecticut Sentencing Commission, Special Committee on Sex Offender, Subcommittee on Sex Offender Sentencing consider whether to include 53a-192a. Trafficking in persons and 53a-83(c), Patronizing a prostitute when such other person is under the age of 18, to the Registration of Sex Offender statutes;
• further discussion and inquiry on why there have not been any convictions under Sec. 53a-83(c), Patronizing a prostitute under the age of 18, effective 2013;
• further discussion on increasing the penalty for Sec. 53a-83(c), patronizing a prostitute under the age of 18, to align with similar sexual crimes against children; and
• further discussion on revising Sec. 53a-192a, Trafficking in persons, to include recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act and increasing penalties to recognize the severity of the crime.

The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Council is convened by the Commission on Women, Children and Seniors and chaired by the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV). The Council was formerly run by the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. The council consists of members from a diversity of backgrounds, including representatives from state agencies, the judicial branch, law enforcement, motor transport and community based organizations that work with victims of sexual and domestic violence and immigrants and refugees, and address behavioral health needs and social justice and human rights.

“Demand keeps sexual exploitation and trafficking profitable,” says Beth Hamilton, associate director of the Alliance to End Sexual Violence (formerly CONNSACS). “We’ve started seeing the criminal justice system hold traffickers responsible, but we do not often see the people who purchase sex being held accountable for their role in keeping the industry thriving.  If we want to end commercial sexual exploitation, we need to focus on ending demand and creating survivor-centered services.”

In Connecticut, a person is guilty of trafficking in persons when such person compels or induces another person to engage in sexual contact or provide labor or services by means of force, threat of force, fraud or coercion. Anyone under the age of 18 engaged in commercial sexual exploitation is deemed a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking irrespective of the use of force, threat of force, fraud or coercion.

The report points out that “For many people, sex and labor trafficking bring visions of foreign places and people, but this idea is false. In reality, sex and labor trafficking are happening in the state, to Connecticut residents.”

Sandy Hook Shooting Among Top 10 Impactful Historic Events for Millennials

Among American millennials, the 2012 shooting of students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown is one of the 10 events during their lifetime with the greatest impact on the country. That’s according to a new survey conducted by Pew Research Center in association with A+E Networks’ HISTORY. For Millennials, the 9/11 terror attacks and the Obama election leads the list – and by a greater margin than for other generations.

The top 10 list for these young Americans also varies from the rankings of other generations. For example, the Columbine school shooting makes the top 10 list of Millennials and Gen Xers but not Boomers or the Silent Generation.

Millennials also are unique in that five of their top 10 events – the Sandy Hook and Orlando/Pulse nightclub shootings, the death of Osama bin Laden, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Great Recession – appear in no other generation’s top 10 list.

The perceived historic importance of the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, span virtually every traditional demographic divide, the survey found.

The top 12 among millennials were: Sept.11; Obama election; Iraq/Afghanistan wars; Gay marriage; the tech revolution; Orlando shooting; Hurricane Katrina; Columbine shooting; Bin Laden; Sandy Hook; Boston Marathon bombing; Great Recession.

When participants of all ages were asked to identify a time or event during their lifetime when “you felt most disappointed in America,” among the events mentioned most often were the school shootings at Sandy Hook and Columbine.

To measure how Americans view the importance of recent historic events, Pew Research Center conducted a national, probability-based survey with a representative sample of adults who are members of the GfK KnowledgePanel, a national, probability-based online panel. Pew Research Center received supplemental funding from HISTORY to conduct this survey.

Survey participants were asked to list the 10 historic events that occurred during their lifetimes that they thought “have had the greatest impact on the country.” Respondents were further told that they could name a specific event, a series of related events or any other historic development that had a major influence on American life.

Leading the list among Generation X were Sept. 11; Obama election; Fall of Berlin Wall/End of Cold War; The tech revolution; Iraq/Afghanistan wars; Gulf War; Challenger disaster; Gay marriage; Hurricane Katrina; Columbine shooting; Orlando shooting; Oklahoma City bombing.

For baby boomers, the top historic events were Sept. 11; JFK assassination; Vietnam War; Obama election; Moon landing; the tech revolution; Civil rights movement; Fall of Berlin Wall/end of Cold War; MLK assassination; Iraq/Afghanistan wars.

Millennials are those young adults born between 1981 and 1998.  Generation X were born 1965 to 1980; the Baby Boom generation were born between 1946 and 1964.

Charitable Giving in CT Not Keeping Pace with U.S., Report Finds

The latest report from the Connecticut Council of Philanthropy (CCP), which highlights philanthropic giving in Connecticut shows that as giving across the U.S. has increased, the opposite is true of Connecticut, even as individual giving – which makes up the lion’s share of giving – has increased. The report, which highlights calendar year 2014 and the years leading up to it, reveals that while total giving in the U.S. increased from 2013 to 2014, total giving in Connecticut dropped from $4.66 billion to $4.51 billion. Over the five years through 2014, individual giving by Connecticut taxpayers who itemized rose 14 percent, less than the increase nationally of 25 percent.  More than three-quarters of giving in Connecticut is by individuals.

In 2014, Connecticut was ranked number one in per capita income by state and 45^th in charitable giving.  All six New England states rank at the bottom in per capita giving, while Southern states rank near the top.  Yet the proportion of tax returns reporting contributions in 2014 at 34.5 percent was considerably higher than the national average of 24.5 percent, the report indicated.

The annual report, Giving in Connecticut, looks at charitable giving by Connecticut grant makers and residents, including: individual giving through reported contributions, bequests made through estate giving, and foundation giving. Giving in Connecticut uses data from the IRS Statistics of income Division, the Foundation Center, and self-reported data gathered by CCP.

The report, published this month, found that:

• Giving in Connecticut from all sources at $4.51 billion was down 3.2 percent from 2013, due primarily to a drop in bequests.
• The giving breakdown: $3.39 billion from individuals; $1.02 billion from foundations; $.09 billion from bequests
• Giving by individuals was up 2.8 percent.
• Giving by all foundations was up 2.1 percent.
• Giving via bequests was down 74 percent after being up the previous year by 76 percent.
• Giving by individuals and bequests combined at $3.48 billion amounted to 77 percent of all giving.

The report indicated that giving by foundations saw most grants going to Education and Health. Giving by foundations is greatest in Fairfield County where 56 percent of Connecticut foundations are based. They gave $747 million to charities, representing 73 percent of total foundation grant making.

Religion is the largest single category of recipient type of charity across the U.S., at 33 percent.  Education ranks second at 15 percent.

The 20-page report also found that in 2012, individual giving in Connecticut spiked, apparently in response to Superstorm Sandy and the tragedy at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown.

Connecticut has 1,425 Private Foundations, 79 of which are Operating Foundations, 59 are Corporate Foundations and 20 are Community Foundations, according to the report. Community Foundations assets showed strong growth of 41 percent from 2010 to 2014, from $1.37 billion to $1.92 billion. Connecticut Corporate Foundation giving remained steady during the five year period while private foundation giving climbed.  

The top five foundations, by giving, were the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, Dalio Foundation, GE Foundation, The Zoom Foundation, and the Steven & Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation.  Rounding out the top 12 in 2014 were Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Seedlings Foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Smith Richardson Foundation, Connecticut Bar Foundation and Aetna Foundation.

The Connecticut Council for Philanthropy is an association of grantmakers committed to promoting philanthropy for the public good.

CT’s Mortality Rate from Drug Poisoning is 11th Highest in US; Was 6th Lowest A Decade Ago

Connecticut’s mortality rate from firearms is less than half the national average, the state’s homicide rate is slightly above half the national average, but the rate of drug poisoning deaths exceeds the national average. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that Connecticut’s mortality rate from drug poisoning was 17.6 per 100,000 population, with 623 deaths in the state in 2014, the 19^th highest rate in the nation.  The U.S. rate that year was 14.7, with 47,055 fatalities.  Last year, Connecticut’s mortality rate from drug poisoning climbed to 22.1, which was the 11^th highest rate in the nation, with 800 deaths. 

The states with the highest drug poisoning mortality rates in the nation in 2015 were West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Ohio, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Utah, Tennessee and Connecticut.  The lowest rates were in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas and Iowa.

The CDC reported this month that opioids—prescription and illicit—are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.

In 2015, according to the CDC, significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2014 to 2015 were primarily seen in the Northeast and South Census Regions. States with statistically significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2014 to 2015 included Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia.

The five states with the highest rates of death due to drug overdose were West Virginia (41.5 per 100,000), New Hampshire (34.3 per 100,000), Kentucky (29.9 per 100,000), Ohio (29.9 per 100,000), and Rhode Island (28.2 per 100,000).

The increase in drug overdose deaths in Connecticut from 2014 to 2015 was 25.2 percent, the fourth highest in the nation among states that had a statistically significant increase.  Only Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine had larger increases.

Among the 28 states meeting inclusion criteria for state-level analyses, 16 (57.1%) experienced increases in death rates involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, and 11 (39.3%) experienced increases in heroin death rates from 2014 to 2015, the CDC reported.

The largest absolute rate change in deaths from synthetic opioids other than methadone occurred in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia. The largest percentage increases in rates occurred in New York (135.7%), Connecticut (125.9%) and Illinois (120%).

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, and West Virginia experienced the largest absolute rate changes in heroin deaths, while the largest percentage increases in rates occurred in South Carolina (57.1%), North Carolina (46.4%), and Tennessee (43.5).

Connecticut announced a detailed opiate response initiative this fall.  The Connecticut Opioid REsponse Initiative (CORE) is a strategic plan from Yale experts in response to the state’s opioid and overdose epidemics. It recommends: 1) expanding access to effective, medication-based treatment for substance use disorders; 2) improving transitions within the treatment domain; 3) increasing the availability of naloxone — the antidote to reverse an opioid overdose — and; 4) decreasing the over-prescribing of opioid at high doses or in combination with sedatives.

The CDC said “there is an urgent need for a multifaceted, collaborative public health and law enforcement approach to the opioid epidemic;” the Drug Enforcement Administration referred to prescription drugs, heroin, and fentanyl as the most significant drug-related threats to the United States, the CDC reported.

Connecticut Opioid REsponse Initiative (CORE) news conference, 10/6/16

https://youtu.be/fqw-AXvsL_8

Northeast Sees Relatively Strong International Migration Amidst Overall Weak Population Growth

New data from the U.S. Census indicates that population growth and domestic migration patterns have continued to move away from the East and the Midwest to the South and West, at accelerated rates, the website newgeography is reporting. Equally important, according to the site, pre-Great Recession interstate mobility rates have been restored.  The Census population estimates for the nation, states and the District of Columbia indicate a population increase for the South of 7.7 million between 2010 and 2016. The West gained 4.7 million. By contrast, the Midwest grew 1.1 million, while the East, including Connecticut, was even lower, at 900,000.

Combined, the South and West accounted for 87 percent of the national growth, the website’s analysis of the Census data indicated. In 2011, the South and West captured 82 percent of the national growth. By 2016, the South and West had risen to 94 percent of the national population increase. The South, alone had 57 percent of the growth, up from 52 percent in 2011. The West also had a strong gain, from 31 percent in 2011 to 36 percent in 2016.  The growth leaders:

• Texas has led the nation in total population growth. Total population growth includes the natural change (births minus deaths), international migration and net domestic migration. Texas added 2.7 million residents, a 10.8 percent increase compared to its 2010 population. This is more than double the national rate of 4.7 percent.
• California was well behind, with a gain of 2.0 million, despite having started the decade with a 50 percent higher population. California’s growth rate was 5.3 percent.
• Florida added the third largest number of new residents, at 1.8 million, for a 9.6 percent growth rate from 2010.

Three states suffered population losses over the period. Illinois lost 30,000 residents and West Virginia lost 20,000. Vermont lost 1,000 and was joined by New England neighbors Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island in the bottom 10, with slim increases in overall population.

International migration was a bright spot for the Northeast, which along with the South were the two leading regions, followed by the West and Midwest.

The East and Midwest had a near monopoly on the bottom 10 in net domestic migration. New York lost 867,000 net domestic migrants, while Illinois lost 540,000. California’s loss was 383,000. New Jersey lost 336,000 and Michigan 216,000. Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Ohio lost between 100,000 and 200,000, while Maryland and Massachusetts lost between 70,000 and 100,000.

In 2016, there were 825,000 interstate moves, according to the data outlined by newgeography, which is more than double the post-2000 low of 411,000 in 2011. The 2016 moves exceeded the 2001 to 2009 average by more than 10 percent

Lead Poisoning Is A Problem for Connecticut Children, National Study Reveals

A Reuters news service examination of lead testing results across the country found almost 3,000 areas with poisoning rates far higher than in Flint, Michigan, which was the focus of national attention this year for its dangerously tainted water supply. The review and analysis found at least seven areas in Connecticut, based on zip code geography, where the percentage of children found to have elevated lead levels exceeded – more than doubled – the percentage in Flint.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nationwide, around 2.5 percent of children ages 0-6 have an elevated lead level, defined as 5 micrograms/deciliter or higher. Among small children tested in Flint, Michigan during the peak of that city’s lead contamination crisis, 5 percent had elevated levels, or double the average.

In many neighborhoods – census tracts or zip code areas – across the country, a far higher rate of children have tested high in recent years.  The zip codes in Connecticut with elevated lead levels in more than 5 percent of children tested include more than a dozen neighborhoods and communities scattered across the state, with the highest levels  in the towns of Canaan and Sharon, and the cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Waterbury.

The State Department of Public Health website indicates that “childhood lead poisoning is the most common pediatric public health problem, yet it is entirely preventable. Once a child has been poisoned, the impairment it may cause is irreversible. Lead harms children’s nervous systems and is associated with reduced IQ, behavioral problems, and learning disabilities.”

Since the 1970s, U.S. efforts to eradicate childhood lead poisoning have made what Reuters describes as “remarkable progress,” while pointing out that “the advances have been uneven.”  Legacy lead – in paint, plumbing, yards, well-water or even playgrounds – means that kids in many neighborhoods remain at a disproportionately high risk of poisoning, the news service report explained.

The news service conducted a nationwide analysis of childhood blood lead testing data at the neighborhood level. Census tract or zip code level data reflecting the local prevalence of elevated lead tests was obtained from 21 states, including Connecticut.  The highest prevalence was found in:

Zip Code                              Tested Children /Elevated Results

06031 Canaan                    107 / 15.89%

06608 Bridgeport            8,602 / 13.32%

06511 New Haven            15,731/12.88%

06519 New Haven            8,318 / 11.95%

06607 Bridgeport             4,079/10.9%

06710 Waterbury             6,133/ 10.48%

06069    Sharon                  137 /10.22%

Across the country, Reuters found nearly 3,000 areas with recently recorded lead poisoning rates at least double those in Flint during the peak of that city’s contamination crisis. And more than 1,100 of these communities had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher.

Reuters reports that zip codes have average populations of 7,500. In each area, a relatively small number of children are screened for lead poisoning each year, the report indicated.

The poisoned places stretch from Warren, Pennsylvania, a town on the Allegheny River where 36 percent of children tested had high lead levels, to a zip code on Goat Island, Texas, where a quarter of tests showed poisoning, the Reuters analysis indicated. In some pockets of Baltimore, Cleveland and Philadelphia, where lead poisoning has spanned generations, the rate of elevated tests over the last decade was 40 to 50 percent.

“I hope this data spurs questions from the public to community leaders who can make changes,” said epidemiologist Robert Walker, co-chair of the CDC’s Lead Content Work Group, which analyzes lead poisoning nationwide. “I would think that it would turn some heads.”

The findings, Walker told Reuters, will help inform the public about risks in their own neighborhoods and allow health officials to seek lead abatement grants in the most dangerous spots.

Congress recently directed $170 million in aid to Flint - 10 times the CDC’s budget for assisting states with lead poisoning this year, Reuters reported.

Efforts Forge Awareness From Tragedy, As CT Nonprofit Stresses Fire Safety

Jeff Block founded One Innocent Life, a Connecticut-based nonprofit organization, 18 months ago while battling for a new state law to improve Connecticut fire safety standards. He has been campaigning for fire safety in Connecticut homes since 2012, when his daughter, Eva, of Woodbridge, and two friends, died in a fire in their off-campus housing at Marist College in upstate New York on January 21st.  Approximately 66 percent of students attending college in the U.S. live in off-campus housing, according to the Center for Campus Fire Safety Student Committee.

His efforts led to legislation in Connecticut, but One Innocent Life is continuing to advocate for greater awareness, in Connecticut and beyond, on campuses and in local communities.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated annual average of 3,870 structure fires in dormitories, fraternities, sororities, and barracks between 2009 and 2013.  From 2000 - 2015, 89 fires that killed 126 people have occurred on a college campus, in Greek housing or in off-campus housing within three miles of the campus. Of these, 76 off-campus fires caused 107 deaths, while 7 on-campus building or residence hall fires claimed 9 victims and 6 fires in Greek housing took the lives of 10 people.

Public Act 15-5, approved by the Connecticut legislature in the June 2015 Special Session, took effect on October 1, 2015.  The law requires landlords to include a notice in each dwelling unit's lease disclosing whether the unit has a working fire sprinkler system. If a unit has a working system, the lease must also include a notice indicating the date of its last maintenance and inspection. Both notices must be printed in a uniform font of at least 12-point, boldface type.

Under the state law, a “fire sprinkler system” is a system of piping and appurtenances designed and installed according to generally accepted standards so that heat from a fire automatically causes water to discharge over the area, extinguishing the fire or preventing it from spreading.

There were seven college students in the rental house that night in Poughkeepsie. Four made it out. New Canaan resident Kevin Johnson, a student at Duchess Community College at the time, Kerry Fitzsimmons, a Marist senior from Long Island, and Eva Block, a Marist senior, did not. “One Innocent Life is dedicated to raising awareness about the living conditions of college students, involving fire safety,” the organization’s website explains.

“The annual number of fires in dormitories, fraternities, sororities and barracks reported to U.S. fire departments has been substantially higher in recent years than any time prior to 2000,” the NFPA’s Richard Campbell said in August 2016.

The National Fire Prevention Association suggests that students renting off campus housing – and other renters – ask the following of landlords:

• Does every room have a smoke alarm?
• What is the power supply to the detector (hardwire/battery/both)?
• Who provides the battery replacement?
• Does the off-campus housing have sprinklers and fire extinguishers?
• What is your disciplinary policy toward tenants who cause false alarms or fail to evacuate during an alarm?
• Do the rooms have enough outlets with enough power to feed energy needs?
• Can the exit doors be opened from the inside without a key?
• What fire safety training does your building staff receive?

One Innocent Life's video to extend awareness, made with the help of Wesleyan University, the City of Middletown Professional Firefighters Local 1073, includes more than a dozen volunteers from Connecticut.

https://youtu.be/9tVQGDyzUHQ

State Steps Up to Help Residents Locate What’s Lost

Connecticut’s Office of State Treasurer has long been responsible for what is described as “unclaimed property” – assets that rightful owners have lost track of – as well as efforts to reunite people with their money.  Now, the State Department of Insurance is getting into the “lost and found” business, too. Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade has announced that the Department is offering a free online service to help consumers search for a deceased family member’s lost life insurance policies and annuities.

“It can be a frustrating and overwhelming process at times to locate a missing policy. Whether you are settling the estate of a deceased loved one or trying to help an elderly relative sort out his or her affairs, the Department has resources to help,” Commissioner Wade said. “We are pleased to offer this latest tool that will streamline and simplify the process while protecting confidentiality.”

The Department’s  Frequently Asked Questions    will help consumers through the process. Consumer requests to find a lost policy are encrypted and secured to maintain confidentiality. Participating insurers will compare submitted requests with available policyholder information and report all matches to state insurance departments through the locator. Companies will then contact beneficiaries or their authorized representatives within 90 days.

The Life Insurance Policy Locator, developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), provides free nationwide access for help in finding old policies and annuities. There are an estimated $1 billion in benefits and life insurance policies that are unclaimed in the U.S.

Also this month, the State Treasurer’s office is closing the year with a push urging consumers to check the agency’s CT Big List to determine if misplaced assets can be claimed.  State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier said the special online publication is one component of the Treasury’s efforts to reunite rightful owners with their unclaimed property and is available through its homepage, www.ott.ct.gov.

The mission of the Treasury’s Unclaimed Property Division is to safeguard assets until rightful owners step forward to claim them. Unclaimed property includes money from uncashed payroll checks, bank accounts and utility deposits, insurance proceeds, liquidated assets from safe deposit boxes, stocks, and bonds.

The electronic special edition at www.CTBigList.com has 49,729 names with property valued between $50 and $100; 36,467 names with property valued between $100 and $500; 4,941 names with property valued between $500 and $1,000; 3,538 names with property valued between $1,000 and $5,000; and 551 names with property valued greater than $5,000. Five owners have unclaimed property valued at more than $100,000, with two having property valued at more than $250,000.

The Treasury’s interactive website, www.CTBigList.com, contains the complete list of about 1.5 million names of individuals and entities that may be entitled to as much as $807 million in unclaimed property. The website features a searchable database -- updated with new names weekly -- that makes it easy for residents to find their names. Often, people are unaware that they have inherited money, and others may simply have forgotten an old savings account or payroll check that went uncashed, officials point out.

Treasurer Nappier emphasized, “Searching the Treasury’s unclaimed property website is free.” She said that state residents are regularly contacted by firms, often called “finders,” offering search services for fees that go as high as 10 percent of assets recovered – and that some individuals hire these firms, believing it is the only way to recover lost assets.

“But that’s not true. My advice is that before you send your hard earned money to strangers, check out the CT Big List first – there is no charge for this public service,” Treasurer Nappier said.

CT Residents See Regionalism as Viable Option for Local Services; Highway Improvement A Transportation Priority

Connecticut residents believe that some services traditionally handled by individual municipalities  can be effectively delivered regionally.  A new statewide survey found that public health earns the most support for a regional approach and public safety the least.  More than 3 in 4 people (76%) say that public health services can be provided on a regional basis, followed by animal control (68 percent) and education (66 percent).  The survey found that 65 percent of state residents believe that library services can be delivered regionally, and 61 percent share that view regarding public safety services. The survey for InformCT, a public-private partnership that provides independent, non-partisan research, analysis, and public outreach, was administered by researchers from the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. (CERC) and Smith & Company.  The analysis is based on the responses of survey of 510 state residents, with a margin of error of 5 percent. 

Survey respondents were asked about regionalization of services in surveys conducted in the first three quarters this year, and support was generally consistent – respondent’s views of regionalizing the various services did not vary more than four percentage points for any of the policy areas during that time.  Favorability of regionalization of public health services has increased each quarter, while regionalizing education has increased from Quarter 1.  While support for regional public safety services has also increased from Quarter 1, it received the least support among the services queried in each survey.  Only regionalizing libraries has seen a decline from the first quarter, and preferences for regionalizing animal control has held steady.

“Increasingly, towns will not be able to afford to sustain the level of services to which they have become accustomed, as budget pressures increase along with a reluctance to raise taxes. Residents showed concern, and a willingness to consider regionalism as a partial solution,” said Robert W. Santy, who serves as Board Chair of Inform CT and is President & CEO of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) Inc.

The  also found that the most important factor when choosing a town in which to live, is property taxes, followed by the quality of the school system.  Those factors earned 53 percent and 51 percent of respondents, respectively, who describe the factor as “very important” - the only aspects  described as very important factor by a majority. Other factors deemed very important include recent appreciation of home values (30 percent), proximity to transportation and employment (29 percent) and proximity to entertainment ad amenities (24 percent).

The survey  also asked about transportation in Connecticut, finding that 74 percent said they use their car almost every day.  Other modes of transportation were not nearly as popular.   More than 80 percent indicated that they had used a local bus (86%), long distance bus (91%), commuter rail (87%), Amtrak (92%), an airplane (92%) or a bicycle (82%) only once, or not at all, in the past month.  Regarding state spending to improve transportation, respondents ranked highway improvements as the highest priority by a wide margin, with commuter rail, local bus, and bicycle lanes/pedestrian walkways, ranked next highest.  Highway improvements was described as the highest priority by more respondents than the other six options combined.