After All Things

Primary day

It’s primary election day in Connecticut today. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro calls for the return of an expanded child tax credit. The Shinnecock Nation breaks ground on a new travel plaza in Hampton Bays. And one former Olympian says a lot has changed about the games since her time.

Duration:: 11m
Broadcast on:: 13 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(soft music) You're listening to After All Things, WSHU's Daily News and Culture Update from the Long Island Sound region. It's primary election day in Connecticut today. Congresswoman Rosa Delaro calls for the return of an expanded child tax credit. The Shinnecock Tribe breaks ground on a new travel plaza in Hampton Bay is, and half of this year's Olympic athletes were women, but just a short time ago, that wasn't the case. Those stories and more are ahead. I'm Sabrina Garon. (soft music) Connecticut local election officials are better prepared to handle early voting for November's general election, following a successful rollout of the process for today's primaries. That's according to Secretary of the State, Stephanie Thomas, WSHU's Abong Udama reports. - Only about 8,700 Connecticut voters took advantage of early voting leading up to the primaries, but Thomas says local election officials have learned a lot from the process, even though lawmakers declined to fund a public information campaign. - The entire election community is doing what they can within their available resources to help the public understand that early voting is finally here in Connecticut. And to make sure they have the details to utilize it. - The Secretary of the State praises the town of Hampton for having the highest number of early voters. - There were 1,300. The next nearest town was about 360. And that was the same in the presidential preference primary. So it shows that if efforts are made to reach out to voters directly and educate them, we can expect to see more turnout in the polls. - She says her office will print and distribute early voting guides to every library in the state ahead of the November general election. Connecticut has a week of early voting before the election. Abong Udama, WSHU's. - U.S. Representative Rosa Deloro of Connecticut wants the federal government to bring back the expanded child tax credit. Deloro says the monthly benefit would help working families. WSHU's Molly Ingram has more. - The child tax credit was enacted in the late '90s. It gives around 40 million families up to $2,000 per child per year. The government temporarily expanded it in 2021. More families became eligible for more money and it became a monthly payment. Deloro says that temporary expansion cut child poverty in half. Her bill would make it permanent. - My bill, the American Family Act, would create the strongest version of the child tax credit ever. It indexes the value of the credit to inflation. It establishes a baby bonus. It ensures children receive the same value of the child tax credit in the first year of their life. - Deloro voted against a bill with a version of the credit earlier this year. She said it gave tax breaks to big businesses and didn't help enough working families. Molly Ingram, WSHU News. - The Shinnecock Tribal Nation has asserted its sovereignty and has broken ground on a new gas station and Travel Plaza in Hampton Bay's WSHU's Janice Roman has more. - The nation plans to build a travel plaza near its 60 foot tall billboards on Sunrise Highway. The plaza will occupy about 10 acres on tribal land just north of the westbound lanes. It's entirely funded and managed by the Shinnecock Nation. The project has been in the works for the past five years. Chairwoman Lisa Gore told the East Hampton Star that the plaza will be complete by spring of 2025. The tribe says revenues will support essential municipal services for tribal members. That includes programs in mental health, drug addiction recovery, and home expansions. Janice Roman, WSHU News. - Ever wonder what it's like to be an Olympian? A runner in the 1984 games says a lot has changed since her time, that conversation is ahead first, a message from our supporter. - Local support comes from Hartford HealthCare, the only health system in the Northeast, with all its hospitals receiving A grades for safety from the LeapFrog group, the nation's leading independent safety watchdog group, HartfordHealthCare.org. (upbeat music) - The Discount Airline Breeze Airways says it will expand to Tweed New Haven Airport. It'll offer non-stop service to a handful of destinations in Florida, beginning in December. This comes just a few weeks after Avello Airlines announced new service out of Bradley International Airport in Windsor-Locks. Three Long Island communities are getting $6 million from the state to revamp blighted areas. The state wants to knock down vacant buildings to make room for more housing. Hempstead Village, Mastic Beach, and Riverhead Town will each get a piece of the funding. Connecticut Health officials are warning parents of a rise in whooping cough as kids return to school. The state is seeing its largest outbreak in years with more than 90 cases so far in 2024. Last year, only saw 11 reported cases. Long Island food banks say there's an increased need for emergency food assistance. According to Newsday, they worry a proposed farm bill provision being discussed in Congress would potentially slow shipments of emergency food as it would give the government more oversight of the USDA's budget. A possible solution, they say, would be to regionalize poverty levels to better account for Long Island's high cost of living. (upbeat music) The 2024 Olympics wrapped up in Paris on Sunday, the U.S. earned 126 total medals, more than any other country. WSHU's Ada Uzemar spoke with former Olympian, Judith Brown Clark, who participated in the 1984 games to explore how the games have changed over the past 40 years. Judy, you ran the 400 meter hurdle race the very first time it was introduced as a track and field event for women, even though men had been running the event since 1900. Tell me about that feeling and how the Olympics has changed since. - So I think it wasn't lost on us that we were the start of something. And it was really a movement of respect and seeing women as athletes doing very competitive and very complex events. That was a point of pride for me and everyone that competed. And I think of now, I mean, at that point in time, we were probably, I think, 32% of women that participated in the Olympics. And now it's 50%. So in this Olympics, it's 50% of all the participants across countries and across all the events were women. - That's beautiful. - You're currently the chief diversity officer and vice president for equity and inclusion at Stony Brook University. I wanna ask how you navigated an event like the Olympics that originally was not made for a black female athlete at just 23 years old. - You know, I was bust. And so probably since I was 10, I've walked in rooms that weren't my room. It felt like that. From 10 to 23, I was in rooms that people didn't want me in or I found my way in there. What I learned at a very young age is like, you know, so what gives you the legitimacy of staying in this room? And then how do you excel? So how do I counter the narrative? You know, so I gotta have good grades because I have to counter the narrative of intelligence and so on and leadership and so on. So I was like in everything. So walking in a room where you didn't expect me, it just was like, hello friend. - You also ran in the Olympics during a high tension time in the Cold War. I want to know more about competing on the global stage at a time of great political strife, which can also apply to this year's games. - So during that time, you know, and we had Boycott at 1980, saw '84 was kind of a reaction to that. We were prepared when we would run the second World Cup and World Championship. The KGB was on the track. They were in full black suits. It was very obvious that, you know, there was a very strong presence of government there, even on the track when we're warming up and so on. I think what sport taught me is two things can be right at the same time. You can look at a cup that has, you know, it's filled half way. It is half full. It is half empty. Both are wrecked. I'm three generations from enslaved ancestors, and I'm asked often, how can you represent a country that had slavery? And the one thing that I say is like, you know, there is no country without some level of enslavement, cruelty, inhumanity. What I can do to the best of my ability is offset the things that are unfair. And if we choose to stay on the half empty part of the glass and say I don't understand why you can't stay in the void of the glass, it's because I choose not to. I clearly understand what unslavery is, but I also know I come from an ancestry of resiliency and tenacity. That's where I choose to stand. I stand on those shoulders. Judy, thanks so much for speaking with me. It was my pleasure. I really enjoyed having this time to talk with you. (gentle music) For the latest news from Long Island and Connecticut, you can listen on the radio stream online at WSHU.org or download the WSHU app. After all things is supported by Hartford HealthCare. And whether it's news, classical music or podcasts, like this one, they're all made possible with support from our listeners. So if you like what you hear, please consider making a donation to WSHU. All the info on how to do that is there for you on our website, which again is WSHU.org. I'm Sabrina Garone. Enjoy the rest of your day. I'll talk to you tomorrow. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO]