News: Cities and towns in southeastern Connecticut have taken different approaches and timelines to allocating American Rescue Plan Act funding. Where are they in the process? Over the next few weeks, we'll also be looking at COVID-19 relief spending not by town, but by topic, starting with outdoor recreation.

Daybreak: Deepak Kumar is relishing his experience at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference after his first play, "House of India," was accepted and will premier Friday and Saturday.

Perspective: "Homelessness is an experience of deep and profound poverty that sucks the life out of those who must live in that experience," Ron Steed writes in a "fond farewell" as deputy director of the Homeless Hospitality Center. "We try not to refer to such people as 'the homeless' or 'homeless people' because that labels them... it makes them into something they are not. Rather, they are neighbors, just like all of you, and they have all the problems, joys, and heartbreak that all of you have, except that they have one big problem; they are experiencing homelessness ... they don't have a home."

Business: Illinois wants to rebrand the invasive Asian carp, which is threatening the Great Lakes. Could folks soon be noshing on "copi" sliders and cooking up "copi" tacos?