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Connecticut (/kəˈnɛtɪkət/ kə-NET-ik-ət) is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Connecticut lies between the major hubs of New York City and Boston along the Northeast Corridor, where the New York metropolitan area, which includes six of Connecticut's seven largest cities, extends well into the southwestern part of the state. Connecticut is the third-smallest state by area after Rhode Island and Delaware, and the 29th most populous with slightly more than 3.6 million residents as of 2020, ranking it fourth among the most densely populated U.S. states.
The state is named after the Connecticut River, the longest in New England which roughly bisects the state and drains into the Long Island Sound between the towns of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The name of the river is in turn derived from anglicized spellings of Quinnetuket, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river". Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the region was inhabited by various Algonquian tribes. In 1633, the Dutch West India Company established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the first major settlements were established by the English around the same time. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Connecticut Colony, while other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony; both merged into the former by 1664.
Connecticut's official nickname, the "Constitution State", refers to the Fundamental Orders adopted by the Connecticut Colony in 1639, which is considered by some to be the first written constitution in Western history. As one of the Thirteen Colonies that rejected British rule during the American Revolution, Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. In 1787, Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, state delegates to the Constitutional Convention, proposed a compromise between the Virginia and New Jersey Plans; its bicameral structure for Congress, with a respectively proportional and equal representation of the states in the House of Representatives and Senate, was adopted and remains to this day. In January 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution. (Full article...)
The Joseph Carpenter Silversmith Shop is a historic building that was built between 1772 and 1774 on the green in Norwichtown, now a section of Norwich, Connecticut. It is a 30 feet (9.1 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m) 1+1⁄2-story clapboarded building with a gambrel roof. The interior has a single brick chimney that was used for the forge, but it has been modified and adapted for modern use with modern doors, electric lighting and heat, and a disappearing overhead stairway that leads to the attic. Joseph Carpenter (1747–1804) was a successful of silversmith, clockmaker, and pewterer, and shared the building with his brother, a merchant. The shop was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 6, 1970, and was listed as a contributory property for the Norwichtown Historic District on January 17, 1973. (Full article...)
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State facts
- Nicknames: The Provisions State, The Land of Steady Habits, The Constitution State, The Nutmeg State
- Capital: Hartford
- Governor: Ned Lamont (D)
- Lieutenant Governor: Susan Bysiewicz (D)
- Secretary of State: Stephanie Thomas (D)
- Attorney General: William Tong (D)
- Senators: Chris Murphy (D), Richard Blumenthal (D)
- Representatives: Jahana Hayes (D), Jim Himes (D), Joe Courtney (D), John B. Larson (D), Rosa DeLauro (D)
- Total area: 5,543 mi2
- Land: 4,845 mi2
- Water: 698 mi2
- Highest elevation: 2,379 ft (Mount Frissell)
- Population 3,576,452 (2015 est)
- Admission to the Union: January 9, 1788 (5th)
State symbols:
- Animal: Sperm whale
- Bird: American Robin
- Fish: American Shad
- Flower: Mountain Laurel
- Fossil: Dinosaur Track
- Insect: European Praying Mantis
- Ship: USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
- Songs: Yankee Doodle
- Tree: Charter Oak
- Mineral: Almandine
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Bradley David Ausmus (/ˈɔːsməs/; born April 14, 1969) is an American former professional baseball player, manager and current coach. He is the bench coach for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). In his 18-year MLB playing career, Ausmus played as a catcher for the San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also managed the Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, and Israeli national baseball team.
A 1987 draft pick of the Yankees, Ausmus chose to alternate between attending Dartmouth College and playing minor league baseball. Ausmus then had an 18-year major league playing career with the Padres, Tigers, Astros, and Dodgers. During his playing days he was an All Star in 1999, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner (2001, 2002, and 2006), and won the 2007 Darryl Kile Award "for integrity and courage". A five-time league-leader at catcher in fielding percentage, Ausmus led the league twice each in range factor and in percentage caught stealing, and once each in putouts and assists. (Full article...)Did you know? -
- ... that a Connecticut radio station left the FM band for good after it was out of service for a week and only one person wrote a letter to complain?
- ... that under a new Connecticut law, abortion providers in the state can countersue anyone who sues them under the Texas Heartbeat Act?
- ... that the Connecticut Valley Railroad successfully fooled the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad into purchasing it by pretending that it planned to expand northwards?
- ... that New Haven, Connecticut, was home to the world's first commercial telephone exchange?
- ... that in 2023, Ralph Nader founded the newspaper Winsted Citizen in his hometown of Winsted, Connecticut, where he delivered papers as a boy?
- ... that after her father received hospice care, Connecticut state legislator Claudia Powers introduced bills to include hospice under Medicare?
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- February 10: Disney to shut down Blue Sky Studios, animation studio behind 'Ice Age'
- October 17: Hundreds arrested for 'dark web' child porn by international task force
- October 3: World War II era plane crashes in Connecticut, US, killing at least seven
- February 21: Sixteen states sue U.S. President Trump to stop declaration of emergency for border wall
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