Latest / Connecticut Today / Connecticut Today - October 22, 2026
Transcript
- 0:05P>Good morning. It's Thursday, October 22nd, and this is Connecticut Today, CT
- 0:09Insider's Daily Audio Briefing. Catch up on Connecticut. All news, no noise
- 0:14in under 5 minutes. We're starting off with a quick look at
- 0:17the weather. Expect sunny skies and breezy conditions across Connecticut today, with
- 0:22the strongest winds in the southeast this morning. We'll have the full
- 0:25weather update at the end of the briefing.
- 0:28In today's headlines, The University of Connecticut’s storied basketball arena at the
- 0:32Storrs campus has a new name. The Yukon board unanimously approved a
- 0:3632.5 million 20-year naming rights deal with MT Bank. The arena will
- 0:41now be called the MT Bank Center at Gample Pavilion. MT Bank,
- 0:45which became one of Connecticut’s largest banks in 2022, is already the
- 0:49official bank of Yukon and the Huskies. The deal expands their partnership
- 0:54to include co-branded credit cards and support for Yukon athletes. Yukon officials
- 0:59say the Gample family was consulted about the change, and for now,
- 1:02many still expect the building to be called Gample. The women's basketball
- 1:06team will open the new era at the arena on November 8
- 1:09against Iowa, followed by the men's team on November 9th. P>Senator Richard
- 1:14Blumenthal took a test flight in Stratford on a new version of
- 1:16Sikorsky's Black Hawk helicopter that can be remotely controlled. The helicopter, called
- 1:21an optimally piloted vehicle, can be flown by pilots or operated with
- 1:25a tablet using Sikorsky's Matrix software. Blumenthal said, quote, what Sikorsky
- 1:31is doing here is the future of warfare, and noted the technology
- 1:34could reduce risks for service members and lower costs. The U.S. Army
- 1:38is currently testing one of these helicopters and has ordered three more.
- 1:42Blumenthal also learned about Sikorsky's fully autonomous Nomad-100 aircraft, which is being
- 1:47tested by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Sikorsky employs about 7,000
- 1:53people in Connecticut, and Blumenthal said he will advocate for more contracts
- 1:57for the company.
- 1:58p>Officials in the borough of Fenwick are preparing to take over stewardship
- 2:02of the Lyn Point Lighthouse in Old Saybrook. The Department of Interior
- 2:05awarded the property to Fenwick at no cost, with the transfer expected
- 2:09after federal remediation is complete. Fenwick plans to restore the lighthouse and
- 2:14its property to its 19th century character, remove later additions, and offer
- 2:18both in-person and virtual tours. The project will include stabilizing the granite
- 2:23seawall, demolishing a nearby duplex, and reintroducing native plants. Fenwick officials say
- 2:29they are committed to using historically accurate materials and techniques, and the
- 2:33restoration will be fitted through municipal funds. The project is expected to
- 2:37take place in four phases over ten years. Many Connecticut College applicants
- 2:42are finding themselves on waitlists this year. Some schools, like Sacred Heart
- 2:47universities, and the state universities, do. Not use wait lists, but others
- 2:51do. At Yale University, only 32 out of 944 waitlisted applicants for
- 2:57the class of 2027. Were admitted. At Quinna Piac University, 516 out
- 3:02of 848 waitlisted students were admitted for the class of 2027. The
- 3:08University of Connecticut offer 4,365 waitlist bots for its class of 2029,
- 3:14with 85 students ultimately admitted. Admissions experts say a waitlist offer means
- 3:19the applicant meets the criteria but did not make the first cut.
- 3:22Students are advised to send a concise update to admissions counselors if
- 3:26waitlisted, but not to send extra recommendations or materials. The Social Security
- 3:31Administration announced it has corrected records for nearly 15 of active Social
- 3:36Security numbers since the start of The Trump administration. Updates include adding
- 3:4117 million dates of death and updating about 25 million records with
- 3:46missing citizenship information. The agency used data from the State Department and
- 3:50the Department of Homeland Security to make these changes. SSA says the
- 3:55corrections are part of its most comprehensive record cleanup ever, but did
- 3:59not specify how many current beneficiaries were affected or if any payments
- 4:03were impacted. The agency's announcement did not provide details on how the
- 4:0715 figure was calculated. And now for the full weather forecast, Connecticut
- 4:12will see mostly sunny skies today, with highs in the lower sixties
- 4:16and breezy winds, especially in the southeast, where gusts could top twenty
- 4:20five miles per hour this morning. Temperatures will drop overnight, with lows
- 4:24in the mid thirties inland and lower forties along the coast, and
- 4:27then wind will make it feel even colder. The cooler weather will
- 4:31continue into the weekend, but clear skies and dry conditions are expected
- 4:35through Sunday. Thanks for listening. For more local news, visit ctinsider.com. This
- 4:41digest was partially generated by AI and then reviewed and edited by
- 4:44our newsroom staff.