CT is Among Last Down the Aisle in Wedding Business

Spring wedding season is upon us, and Connecticut is just warming up.  Where do we stand among the states?  According to the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (as reported by the AARP) , Connecticut has 5.6 weddings per 1,000 residents (2010 statistics).  That ranks us in the bottom 10. Leading the way, not surprisingly, is Nevada, with an over-the-top 38.3 weddings per 1,000 residents (visitors, even those getting married, are not considered "residents").  Behind Nevada are Hawaii (17.6), Arkansas (10.8) Vermont (9.3), Idaho and Tennessee (8.8) and Utah (8.5).  Mississippi, with 4.9 weddings per 1,000 residents, is the last state down the aisle.  Sharing space among the bottom ten:  Delaware, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, along with the Nutmeg State.   Keep a look-out for low flying bouquets.

Bozrah is #13; Mashantucket #170: Towns by the Numbers

Every town in Connecticut has a tax code number, issued by the state and used in a variety of official reports across state agencies.  How are the numbers determined?  The towns are listed alphabetically, and given their appropriate number, in order.   Which means that:

• Bozrah is lucky #13
• Andover is #1
• Woodstock is #169
• Middletown may be at the state’s center geographically, but Monroe is half-way down the list at #85
• Towns that begin with “New” start with New Britain at #89 and run through Newtown at #97
• The first double digit town is Bethlehem at #10; the first triple digit town is North Canaan at #100
• The final locale on the list hasn’t been considered a town through the years:  at #170 in a state with 169 towns is “Mashantucket”

If you’d like to know your town’s number, take a look at the full list.

State's Residential Solar Investment Program Off to Fast Start

The Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA) has announced that one month in to a new Residential Solar Investment Program (Program) it has already approved 126 applications for installations of photovoltaic rooftop systems.  Bryan Garcia, President of CEFIA said, “The initial response to our new program has been dramatic, demonstrating strong public interest in solar power and the dynamic nature of our state’s solar industry.  We will be providing approximately $1.4 million in funding for these first 126 installations leveraging $2.8 million of additional private capital, which will produce more than 800 kW of new residential solar capacity.” Garcia noted that more than one-third of the 70 approved installation companies in CEFIA’s program have been involved in submitting the initial applications for the solar installations.  

Jackson Labs CEO Center Stage for UConn Health Center Commencement

Dr. Edison Liu, Jackson Lab’s president and chief executive officer, will speak at the Health Center commencement exercises, May 13 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. Liu, who has been president of the international group the Human Genome Organisation since 2007, joined Jackson Labs (JAX) in Maine from the Genome Institute of Singapore. As founding executive director, he built the GIS from a staff of three into a major research institute of 27 laboratory groups and a staff of 270, with faculty in functional genomics, computational biology, population genetics and genome-to-systems biology.  Before moving to Singapore in 2001, he was the scientific director of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Clinical Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

Update on the Jackson Labs - UConn plans, from the JAX website:

JAX Genomic Medicine will be built on a 17-acre site on the University of Connecticut Health Center campus in Farmington. Initial operations will begin in 2012 using leased space while a 173,000-square-foot permanent facility is designed and built. Construction will begin in 2013, and the new facility will open in 2014. It will house 300 biomedical researchers, technicians and support staff in state-of-the-art computing facilities and laboratories.

The JAX Genomic Medicine facility is an expansion, not a relocation, of The Jackson Laboratory. JAX will continue to grow its basic research campus in Bar Harbor, Maine, while the new facility in Connecticut focuses on medical applications of genomics with academic and clinical research partners from Connecticut and around the world.

CT Better Than Average (in some stats)

According to the most recent U.S. Census, Connecticut has a larger percentage of women (51.3% in CT vs. 50.8% in the U.S.), senior citizens (14.2% vs. 13%), and white people (77.6% vs. 72.4%) than the nationwide percentage. The state’s home ownership number is also higher than the national average (69.2% vs. 66.6%) as is the percentage of the population living in the same home for more than a year (87.4% vs. 84.2%) and the percentage of foreign born residents (13.2% vs. 12.7%).

Closing Connecticut's Reading Gap for Young Children

"Every Child Reading by Third Grade," an informational forum sponsored this month by the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus of the General Assembly, the Connecticut Commission on Children, Literacy How, Haskins Laboratories, and the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS), revealed some sit-up-and-take-notice statistics:

• More than 1/3 of poor children enter kindergarten already behind their peers in reading.
• Of every 100 children who leave first grade as poor readers, 88 will still be poor readers at the end of third grade, limiting their changes of academic and future workforce success.
• 74% of Hispanic and African-American students are not at goal in reading y  the end of third grade
• Connecticut has the largest reading gap in the nation.

The policy forum included speakers highlighting progress and strategies to help children learn how to read.

Personalized Medicine Future is Underway in New Haven

While Jackson Labs has garnered most of the public attention in Connecticut with their high profile plan to establish a personalized medicine research facility on the UConn Health Center campus in Farmington - with significant financial incentives courtesy of the State of Connecticut - the effort to establish Connecticut as a leader in the emerging medical research field is taking root elsewhere in the state as well. Precipio Diagnostics - recently relocated from New Jersey to New Haven - is in the vanguard of the personalized medicine revolution, bringing scientific breakthroughs to the broader market where diagnostic developments can reach more oncology practices, and through them, help provide the best care to more cancer patients.  The company's association with Yale's School of Medicine puts the latest scientific advances within reach of oncology practices in Connecticut, and beyond.  The company currently has 14 staff members, including four who relocated from New Jersey.  Plans are to hire 15 more employees within the next 24 months.

“The accuracy of diagnosis is the basis for treatment. And the correct treatment can extend, and even save, patients’ lives,” said Precipio CEO Ilan Danieli. “Our goal is to become the market leader of personalized medicine in cancer diagnostics.”

Keeping Young Professionals in CT is Forum Focus

The Partnership for Strong Communities is planning a forum on April 13 focusing on the challenge to attract and retain young professionals in Connecticut.  Highlighting the challenge facing the state, the organization points out that Connecticut is the 7th oldest state in the nation, and the state has lost a higher percentage of our 25-34-year-old population since 1990 than any states but Maine and New Hampshire. The demographic crunch as baby-boomers retire will affect the entire country – but Connecticut is poised for the most hardship, unless actions are taken to respond to the challenge.  The program will be held at The Lyceum in Hartford and will include  young professionals, municipal and state policymakers, business leaders, planners and other experts discussing the needed physical and social infrastructure that will make Connecticut an attractive place for a new generation to settle.

Growing Latino Population Surveyed Nationally

Connecticut’s Hispanic and Latino population grew nearly 50 percent to about 479,000 between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census, in data released a year ago.  Now, a national survey by the Pew Hispanic Center delves into the views of the nation's fastest growing population. By a ratio of more than two-to-one (69% versus 29%), survey respondents say that the more than 50 million Latinos in the U.S. have many different cultures rather than a common culture. Respondents express a strong, shared connection to the Spanish language. More than eight-in-ten (82%) Latino adults say they speak Spanish, and nearly all (95%) say it is important for future generations to continue to do so. Also, nearly nine-in-ten (87%) say it is important for immigrant Hispanics to learn English in order to succeed in the U.S.

The survey finds that, regardless of where they were born, large majorities of Latinos say that life in the U.S. is better than in their family’s country of origin.

More Devices In Need of Numbers Means More Area Codes

Connecticut is in the midst of its transition from two area codes to four, as the number combinations  in 203 and 860 are nearly all used, less than 20 years after the 860 area code was introduced into the state. In the 203 area code, which covers the southern portion of the state, area code 475 has been designated as the overlay for that region, to be used for new service.  For the northern part of the state, now utilizing area code 860, the overlay area code to be used as new phone numbers are assigned will be 959 (start date to be determined).

In 1947, U.S. states and Canadian provinces were assigned three digit codes with 0 as the middle number, such as 203 for Connecticut and 305 for Florida . The 860 area code was created on August 28, 1995 as a split from area code 203 when the latter was cut back to Fairfield County (except for the Town of Sherman) and New Haven County, plus the towns of Bethlehem, Woodbury, and a small part of Roxbury in Litchfield County.

Use of 860 began almost 50 years after the assignment of 203 - on October 4, 1996.  The ever-increasing number of devices requiring phone numbers in the 21st century has accelerated the need for additional area codes.  While it took nearly 50 years to move from one area code to two, it is expected to take less than 20 years to move from two to four.

Back in 1947, there were 86 area codes in North America.  States and provinces that had more than one area code distributed to them were given three digit codes with 1 as the middle number, such as 916 and 213 for various sections of California , and 212 and 516 for various sections of New York .  The first and third digits were allotted according to population density in the city or region the area code was going to, with the most populated areas getting the lowest numbers. The New York City area, for example, was assigned 212, while the surrounding suburbs were assigned 914.

The rationale for the original “low number/high population” scheme was based on the fact that phones had rotary dials in those days. Lower numbers resulted in shorter “dial pulls” so it was reasoned that the regions with the most people in them should require the least “work” to call.