The Fox 61 Morning News starts now.
And right now it's 6:00 o'clock,
a big push forward to provide free school
lunches for all students in Connecticut.
We'll have the vote from lawmakers
and where the bill heads now. Had
a reminder to move over when
you see emergency vehicles.
What a new study is saying that
could help reduce incidents
cracking down on illegal THC sales
in Connecticut, what Attorney
General William Tong had to say.
And what's the secret behind the best pie
here in Connecticut?
The priceless ingredients to success
that's ahead. It's 630. Good
morning. Happy Friday.
Thanks for being with us here,
Fox 61 America areas.
And I'm Tim Lammers.
Good morning to you.
Yes, we have made it to Friday,
and we've got a lot of fun on tap here
being the Friday before the Super Bowl.
We'll get to that throughout
the next five hours.
First things first.
Meteorologist Rachel Piscitelli joins us now.
Rachel, not curious how
many people experience this,
but it was a little frozen.
On my car I had one last
to scrape ohh really.
And it looks like it had just done it
because there were still even thick
raindrops that kind of OK frozen.
We did have some
rain showers move their way through this day.
And if you're closer to that I 91 corridor,
really close to that Massachusetts border,
you're in the 30s as we do have this cold
air wedge kind of settling into place.
So you can see that here towards Hartford
at 37 and in New Haven at 37 too.
But take a look at Western Connecticut,
you're in the 50s already this
morning at 52 in Waterbury.
It's 54 in Danbury.
48 degrees in Groton, 48 in Chester as well,
but with the cooler temperatures, again,
numbers ranging anywhere from 8 to 29
degrees warmer than this time yesterday.
But we do have some areas of fog,
especially towards Meridian and down the
I91 corridor towards about New Haven or so.
But we'll have those winds begin
to pick up this afternoon,
that and through this morning,
and that'll help with the fog.
In any case.
Today we'll have a lot of sunshine,
45 degrees at the right of the
ride to school, at the ride home,
we're talking about near record-breaking.
Warmth with temperatures approaching the
mid to upper 50s this afternoon with the
stronger W to southwest wind 10 to 20 mph.
So we are talking about
near record-breaking warm.
Full detail it out for you.
Plus talk about the weekend
forecast coming up in just a bit.
Lauren.
Good morning.
Good morning to you, Rach.
Thanks so much for bringing that
warmth to us. I love a good
walk outside. It's all me. It's all me. Yeah,
it is all Rachel's 2.
Rachel's credit when we were
all outside in the nice weather.
Let's bring us out into
the Hartford area we have.
Been seeing some heavier delays
over on the eastbound side of I4.
Traffic has been moving
between 5 and 10 miles an hour.
Same thing right now heading
into the Hartford Tunnel,
you'll definitely be tapping the brakes,
but 91 Route 2 and 84 coming in over
the bridge looking great this morning
for the morning commute in Waterbury.
I4 East and westbound in and out of the mix.
Master moving just fine.
Route 8 S and northbound looking
great as well as we take a live
drive down Bridgeport to Fairfield.
We were seeing some construction.
Were on that northbound side,
but now that has gone away and those
delays really starting to ramp up
on the southbound side of I-95.
As we take a live look out
in Fairfield and New Haven,
we could see that volume starting
to build in Fairfield.
New Haven is looking good.
We'll check in again on the roads
coming up in the next half hour.
Tim and Erica, good morning to you.
Laura, thanks. Good morning to you.
Well, free lunches are expected
to be making a comeback after the
funds were suspended last fall.
Fox 61. Brooke Griffin is live with
how that legislation might benefit
your family. Brooke, good morning.
Well, good morning to you both.
Now, Governor Lamont does still
have to sign that bill into law,
but if and when he does,
then that means all Connecticut schools
would have free lunch through the remainder
of the year and then beyond that as well.
Now this is due to the General Assembly.
Voting in support of the law that makes sure
kids don't go hungry during school hours.
Federal COVID relief funds in
place since 2020 provided free
lunches to Connecticut schools,
but those expired on December 1st.
School leaders say this was a
hard transition for many families.
They no longer qualified to
receive free lunch after that date,
saying many of them made too much to
qualify but not enough to be food secure,
making some kids go hungry.
Pre pandemic.
Up to 80% of families across some
Connecticut districts qualified for free.
Lunches.
That number is expected to be
similar or even more now.
These free meals are expected to
continue for the next few years
given many families Peace of Mind,
Governor Ned Lamont said in a statement.
Quote,
the ability of our administration and
all four caucuses to work together in
a bipartisan manner to quickly get
this bill approved for the benefit
of the residents of Connecticut is a
good sign for what the remainder of
this legislative session has to offer.
Now these free lunches, again,
if he signs the bill into law,
would start immediately and go
throughout the rest of the year.
And then upcoming years as well.
But one thing I do want to mention is
if your family is experiencing any
food insecurity at home, there are options.
You can go to ctfoodshare.org and
sign up to receive a meal assistance there.
That is an incredibly good resource to have.
If you do need a little extra help
this month, live in Hartford.
Brooke Griffin,
Fox 61 news.
All right, Brooke, thanks.
Now, also in that bill,
there's an extension of so-called
budgetary guardrails that will
last until at least 2028.
They were first put in place back in 2017,
and the Governors Governors administration
says the safeguards have strengthened
Connecticut's reserves and helped pay
down billions of dollars in debt. Again,
lawmakers unanimously approved the measure.
And Speaking of money,
the governor is facing some
criticism over his budget proposal.
When it comes to funding
higher education now,
UConn and other state colleges and
universities are speaking out.
Yukons president came out early in protests,
saying the budget proposal would leave
Yukon nearly $160 million short.
Elvis budget technically raises
base appropriations for Yukon
by about $23 million,
but overall funding is too higher
education institutions would shrink,
which schools say they cannot sustain.
We're not a corporation asking for
a tax break. We're not, you know,
some some large business that made
a mistake and now we're asking for
the states help and fixing it.
We are Connecticut's future.
This week, Uconn's president said that
if the university tried to cover just
the stores campus portion of these
budget shortfalls, it would need to
raise tuition by $3000 per student.
Well, we're learning more about a deadly
truck crash in Windsor that we brought to
you as breaking news yesterday morning.
We now know the driver has been
identified as 66 year old Leonard
Price of Manchester Police said just
before 7:00 o'clock yesterday morning,
price was driving on I-91 N near exit
38 when he somehow lost control and
hit a concrete barrier before his
truck went over the overpass and came
crashing down onto Pequannock Ave.
below. If anybody saw the crash,
please call the state police.
Well, when first responders are at scenes
like that one on I-91 or the other
day on Route 9 S when one was hit by
a spinning driver who was sliding around,
it's so important to remember to
please slow down well ahead of time
and move over well ahead of time
to get away from those emergency
vehicles on the side of the road.
That includes first responders
and tow truck drivers.
Really anybody on the side of the road.
Still, though, some drivers ignore the law.
A new study by the AAA
Foundation for Traffic.
Safety found that one of the most
effective ways to grab drivers
attentions is to use electronic signs.
Whether they were
static at the roadside or on a vehicle,
a tow vehicle or construction vehicle
that actually had the messaging
to slow down and move over,
there you have it right from AAA.
When that signage was used,
the study found the odds of a
vehicle moving over were 95% higher.
For now, it's 6.
Connecticut's Attorney general is warning
several retailers that they say were
caught in an undercover investigation.
About 5 retailers are being
accused of illegally selling Delta
H THC products to children.
Now, these products mimic popular
snack brands from cocoa pebbles.
Lifesavers to Rice Krispies and Skittles.
You saw those packages for some moment ago.
Now. If you don't know,
Delta 8 is a specific type of THC
derived from hemp, not marijuana.
However, in the wrong hands,
chemicals can be used to boost its potency.
We
have reasonably that kids are buying
them them to take these products
off their shelves right away.
Really need to see federal action to
back up what Attorney General Tong is
doing because they're working on the
new Farm bill right now here in 2023.
And so we need federal action to close
the loophole and ban all D8 THC products.
Now. What he's talking about is a
2018 Federal farm bill loophole.
Attorney General Tong
says the state has sued 5.
Retailers and sent a warning letter
to the state's 2000 vape retailers.
A school Superintendent in Prospect
prospect in Beacon Falls pleaded
guilty to a reckless driving charge
while on a trip in Florida last month.
Region 16 Superintendent Michael
Yamin was originally charged
with driving under the influence.
It was reduced when he appeared in court.
Yemen released a statement saying
an incident happened while he
was visiting his father to help
with medical care and Yemen.
Goes on to say I am truly sorry for
this lapse in judgment and take
full responsibility for my actions.
I recognize that as the Superintendent
of schools,
my conduct reflects poorly on the region.