I want to share some highlights including state and local updates.
In this email you'll find updates on district resources and news. Please click the links below to read the section that corresponds with the highlighted headline.
A NOTE: If you're having trouble clicking through the following links, open this email in a browser, use a computer or scroll through this email to the relevant section.
Shana Tova to all who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah this weekend!
Happy #HispanicHeritageMonth! Join me all month long in celebrating the rich culture and contributions our community brings to Connecticut.
Legislative Updates
Connecticut is about to take a transformative step toward making prescription drugs more affordable for all.
On Oct. 2, all Connecticut residents will be eligible tosign up for ArrayRx, a prescription drug discount card program that provides up to 80% off certain prescriptions at nearly all pharmacies in the state.
Valid physical Connecticut addresses and email addresses are required to enroll, and a digital card will be provided after registering.
The program is part of Public Act 23-171, An Act Protecting Patients and Prohibiting Unnecessary Health Care Costs, which I proudly supported.
I highly encourage you to not miss out on this great opportunity. Residents should never have to worry about accessing the lifesaving care they need, and this free program is a massive leap forward. I'm thrilled ArrayRx is coming to Connecticut, and I will continue the fight to lower healthcare costs for all.
For more information on ArrayRx, including a drug price lookup tool, visit arrayrxcard.com
Today In History
Today in 1905, an employee using a hot iron to clear fuse debris from a reeling machine touched off a muffled explosion in the main building of the Climax Fuse factory in Avon. Though the blast was barely heard 300 feet away, the sheets of flame it triggered instantly engulfed the factory, suffocating seven workers and desperately burning dozens more.
A Hartford doctor, E. W. Kellogg, whose summer home was across the street, called the mad rush of men and women trying to escape the flames the most awful sight (of many) he had ever witnessed. “Some jumped from the windows, and some were trampled underfoot. They were horribly burned. . . It was a sickening sight.”
As Kellogg tried to assist the injured and doctors and fire companies from throughout the region raced to help the injured and quench the factory flames, the death toll rose dramatically. Of the 65 workers employed by the company – whose renowned safety-fuses were widely used to set off dynamite in blasting and construction projects – almost two-thirds were killed, or suffered agonizing and disfiguring injuries. The factory itself was a complete loss.
A lunch-time card game at the Climax Fuse Company. (Avon Free Public Library)
The impact on a single family is a telling reminder of the risks immigrant workers often faced during Connecticut’s era of great industrial expansion. Six of the eight living children of John J. McCarthy and Mary Dalton, who had emigrated to the state from Ireland in 1872, worked at Climax Fuse when the blast occurred. Twin brothers Richard and Michael McCarthy were killed in the fire. Their15-year-old brother T. R. survived, though the skin was burned off both his arms. Twenty-one-year-old Simon McCarthy was blown out a window and landed unconscious on a mortar pile, while P. H. McCarthy was blown out of a second story window and landed in a brook 40 feet away. He immediately waded ashore and began looking for his brothers. A sister, Mary, the family’s only girl, worked some distance from the explosion and was unharmed, though her cousin Molly McCarthy was not so lucky. She also died in the fire, another one of the tragedy’s 15 fatalities.
For the McCarthys, and for all involved, the Climax Fuse Company explosion was a never-to-be-forgotten catastrophe. For us, it serves as a climactic reminder that Connecticut’s industrial greatness sometimes came at a terrible price, today in Connecticut history.
Climax Fuse Company Postcard. (Avon Free Public Library)
Please arrive early to be in line for 9 am as the truck leaves promptly at 9:30 am. Open to the public--bring a sturdy grocery bag! This program is made possible by Foodshare and Winn Residential - Resident Service Program. For more information call 860-646-1280.
Squire Village, 48 Spencer Street, 06040 (1st parking lot off Imperial Drive #78)
This family friendly event will give the public an interactive, educational, and behind the scenes experience in what their fire department does on a daily basis. Featuring apparatus and equipment demonstrations as well as information about fire department history and modern fire protection & EMS capabilities.
This event is FREE to the public.
Date: 9/16/2023 Time: 10:00AM-2:00PM
Location: Fire Headquarters, 75 Center St
Civil War Battle Reenactment at Wickham Park
Saturday, September 16, 2023 | 09:30 AM - 03:30 PM
The Town of Manchester is launching two reimbursement grant programs to assist businesses in town. One is the Business Investment Fund Grant Program which offers reimbursable matching grants to eligible Manchester small business owners. The second one is the Business Façade and Signage Improvement Fund Grant Program which offers reimbursement grants to eligible Manchester small business owners to improve the exterior appearance of commercial and mixed-use buildings and signage.
Manchester has launched planning efforts for its 2023 Bicentennial Celebration. This year long celebration will consist of a variety of opportunities to remember the past, celebrate the present, and dream about the future. Festivities will include historical and educational programs, special events, and commemorative projects.
East Hartford’s Greater Together Community Fund has released its second open call for project proposals. Amounts from $250 to $2,500 will be awarded in grant funds to selected proposals. All projects must benefit the residents of East Hartford. For further details on project guidelines and how to apply, please visit: hfpg.org/EastHartfordcf. Completed applications are due by September 8, 2023. Grant Awards will be announced in October 2023.
The East Hartford Farmers’ Market are excited to present to you their new and improved Farmers' Market, with new vendors and updated hours. The 2023 farmers’ market dates are held Tuesdays from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00p.m. They invite residents to celebrate Connecticut-grown fruits, vegetables and locally produced foods, as well as enjoy our market - a place to connect with others in our community.
Location: Raymond Library at 840 Main Street, East Hartford, CT 06108
The Town of East Hartford Invites You to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the Latin Festival
The Town of East Hartford in collaboration with East Hartford Parks and Recreation, invites all to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the Latin Festival.
The celebration will take place Saturday, September 23 from 12 to 6 PM at Alumni Park (1021 Main Street). Admission is FREE. This celebration is a rescheduled rain date from July.
We expect this event to be one of our biggest family events of the season for everyone as we celebrate our Hispanic Community and embrace our uniqueness and enrichment with local vendors and crafters, cultural activities and live performances.
Please be advised the Town of East Hartford is looking for East Hartford residents to serve on the newly established Fair Rent & Quality Housing Commission.
During the past year, residential rents have dramatically increased across the state. For more than 50 years, Connecticut towns have been authorized by state law to create fair rent commissions to address these very issues. Such commissions are empowered to stop or delay an unconscionable rent increase and also to limit rent to a fair level when there are health or safety violations. Fair rent commissions have been proven to be an important municipal tool to prevent unreasonable rent increases and to buttress housing code enforcement.
In 2022, the Connecticut legislature passed Public Act 22-30, which requires each town with a population greater than 25,000 to adopt a fair rent commission ordinance in accordance with the Fair Rent Commission Act (C.G.S. 7-148b through 7-148f).
East Hartford will be enacting a Fair Rent Commission in the next couple of months and has begun recruiting residents to the commission. The Town will take in applications and prioritize them in the order in which they come in.
Commissioners will receive training from CT Fair Housing and training related to procedural operations of the commission before the Town starts to accept complaints for the commission’s consideration.
My office is always open if you or your family are in need of assistance. Please do not hesitate to contact me by email atJason.Rojas@cga.ct.govor by phone at 860-240-8541.
