BRIDGEPORT — A legal challenge to the city primary that saw Mayor Joe Ganim best Marilyn Moore for the Democratic mayoral nomination will continue.
Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens, ruling on an issue not argued by either side, Monday denied a request by city officials to dismiss the lawsuit brought by three voters.
Testimony will begin Tuesday morning at 11.
“Work is currently progressing on the widening of the west side of the road and the Oronoque Lane intersection,” a prepared statement from Mayor Laura Hoydick’s chief of staff said. “At the same time, overhead utility wire relocation will be taking place on the east side of the road.”
Violent crime in Connnecticut dropped in 2018, moreso than in almost every other state in the region.
After initially being told the mayor wasn’t in — and then that a meeting couldn’t be scheduled immediately — the group was brought into a conference room where they met with Ganim for nearly an hour.
A body was been found in the water near the Bridgeport Harbor Power Plant on Atlantic Avenue.
The Bristol parents cited the information was an invasion of privacy, but the judge said they had not exhausted all of their administrative remedies before filing the lawsuit.
All of the residents, three adults and two children, safely escaped.
The former U.S. Senate candidates recently spent several hours together for the first time since the 1982 election.
As Connecticut wrestles with a rise in the number of mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping, the state is preparing to increase the legal age to purchase tobacco products.
Beginning Tuesday, businesses will no longer be able to sell cigarettes, cigars, chewing and pipe tobacco and vaping products to people younger than 21. The General Assembly in May threw its support behind the effort, with the Senate approving the measure 33-3 and the House backing it by a vote of 124-22.
Advocates say they hope the change will curb the number of young smokers and prevent others from getting hooked on vaping and cigarettes. Vaping is of particular concern, given its popularity among teenagers.
The number of Connecticut high school students who used e-cigarette products doubled from 2015 to 2017, according to a study released by the state Department of Public Health last fall. Overall, 14.7 percent of high school students reported vaping in 2017, compared to 7.2 percent in 2015.
What kind of impact the law change might have on vaping-related illnesses in the state remains to be seen. No single product or device has been associated with all of the cases.
Here’s a look at what happens when the amendment takes effect:
More restrictions
The legal age to buy tobacco products in Connecticut...
President Wilson’s war speech before Congress on April 3, 1917, did not catch Connecticut divided and complacent. State munitions industries were operating at full capacity to satisfy Allied contracts. Governor Marcus Holcomb had won reelection in 1916 on a “preparedness” platform. In February, he authorized a State Military Census and, in March, the formation of a Home Guard for protection against saboteurs. After the Declaration of War, Holcomb created the State Council of Defense, one of 48, to mobilize citizens, industries, labor, and organizations to win the war.
“Truth” is said to be the first casualty in war; freedom of speech and print declined under the pressure of anti-German war hysteria and paranoid suspicion that foreigners were enemy agents. In April 1918, Governor Holcomb designated English as the only language to be used in teaching and prohibited schools from employing “alien enemies.” Amid this excessive patriotism and resurgent nativism, Connecticut’s librarians supported campaigns to raise money to purchase books and to collect books for use in military base camps and field hospitals in the US, Europe, and Asia. Books, according to one ALA (American Library Association) poster, were the basis of civilization that the war intended to protect. However, it followed that some books were not suitable.
George Seymour Godard, State Librarian 1900-1936 – Connecticut State Library
In January 1918, State Librarian George Godard expressed concerns to Joseph W. Alsop, Secretary of the State Council of Defense. “I feel, somewhat sure that some material that is really a German propaganda is not looked upon by such by some of our librarians.” He suggested that Council members visit their public libraries and examine the collection for pro-German works. He sent a questionnaire to public librarians to determine the degree of the problem. His survey yielded poor results. Only 50 librarians responded and according to the Hartford Courant, provided little information. In March, the Hartford newspapers carried a story that Trinity College Professor Edward F. Humphrey had found enemy propaganda in the Hartford Public Library. Calling for the removal of Thorstein Veblen’s Inquiry into the Nature of War on the Nature of Peace, Humphrey asserted that “every day I am finding things like this in our libraries, and if some of them are not treasonable, they are dangerously close to it.” “Certainly,” he advised, “we should not countenance them.” [Humphrey or the newspaper appear to have misidentified the title of Veblen’s tome, An Inquiry Into the Nature Of Peace And the Terms Of Its Perpetuation.]
Still there was no official campaign to enforce censorship. Standards for unpatriotic literature did not exist. The public viewed libraries as patriotic centers for exhibits and community meetings, not plans of espionage. In June 1918, the National Council of Defense issued the inevitable list of unpatriotic literature. In a memorandum marked “Confidential,” the Council justified the list by stating that it had been annotated and approved by the American Library Association. “Great care should be exercised in the use of this list,” the memo warned. Only librarians should receive it. Books on the list should be ‘”withdrawn temporarily from circulation.” Moreover, the loyalty of authors whose works were published before the war should not be questioned. The memo warned that “an argument or controversy over a book would give it the very publicity which it is deemed advisable to eliminate during the present period.”
In July, the list and a letter from the State Council of Defense were sent to public and academic librarians in the state. Thirty-six responded. Most had removed one or more of the books on the list. One librarian wanted to remove all suspicious books, but her office already was filled with other titles. Some responded that they handed the list and letter to trustees for action. A few reported total cooperation. The list confused many respondents because many titles in their removal were pro-Ally. The State Council advised that each librarian should exercise his/her own professional judgment. The most defiant answer came from Andrew Keogh, the distinguished Head Librarian at Yale University. He wrote that the list appeared to be intended for small public libraries and not academic libraries like Yale’s. He labeled the recommendation that all biographies of Frederick the Great and Bismarck be removed as “absurd.” “It might interest you,” he continued sardonically, “to know that practically all the books in the list are already in our possession; the few that are not here will be obtained as quickly as possible, if for no other reason, as curiosities of censorship.”
Four months later the war ended. Connecticut’s brief experiment in official censorship produced mixed results. More librarians failed to respond than replied. Did this mean that censorship was unpalatable or had they already engaged in their own brand of removal in order to avoid the protests of local jingoistic patriots? We simply do not know.
Mark Jones retired from his long-tome position as the State Archivist at the Connecticut State Library in 2013
© Connecticut State Library. All rights reserved. This article is excerpted and originally appeared in The Connector Vol. 1/ No. 3, November 1999.
A 22-year-old mechanic has died after a car fell off a lift and fell on top of him on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. The accident happened at a local dealership/auto garage at 147 Franklin Avenue in Hartford.
Wednesday will likely see record setting temperatures across most of the region as temperatures rise well above normal. Highs are expected to range in the 80s. The record high for Oct. 2 is 87 at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks; 84 in Greenwich; 83 at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford; and 82 degrees in Danbury and New Haven.
When firefighters arrived they found smoke coming from the eaves of the two and one-half story house.
CFJ's President and CEO Debra Greenwood cited the case of Jennifer Dulos, the missing mother of five, who is suspected victim of domestic violence, and the recent murders of Perrie Mason, of Meriden, and Monica Dominguez, of Cheshire, as examples of what a challenging year it has been for those who seek to help victims of intimate partner violence.
Hartford police officer Jovan Gonzalez, 26, of Windsor, allegedly pistol whipped a man and assaulted his former girlfriend in an early morning incident at a city motel Sunday, police said.
Reports indicate a Social Security card scam in Bridgeport is targeting undocumented immigrants.
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim supports the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Two women were injured after a Connecticut state trooper allegedly drove through a stop sign and crashed into their car earlier this week.
Lenny Antinozzi was a member of the Derby Fire Department for nearly 50 years. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 62.
In danger of extinction, monarch butterflies’ being tracked by members of the Audobon Society in Connecticut.
The suspected thief was identified after someone recognized the thief from a video of the daytime theft, News12 Connecticut reported.
By Rena Tobey
Imagine a Loyalist to the British king sitting for hours opposite a rebel who fought to overturn British rule. The ratification of the United States Constitution in 1789 brought them together. What did they talk about? Perhaps they did not talk at all. After all, the Loyalist was a painter, and the rebel was his portrait sitter. Not speaking would be fairly typical, but nothing in Ralph Earl‘s portrait of Mariann Wolcott conveys silence. Earl’s likeness of Wolcott suggests an easy rapport and admiring respect. In the work, he captures her rousing spirit and self-assurance. Perhaps she holds one soft glove to demonstrate grace, or gloves off, she is ready to fight for her point of view. This portrait leaves no doubt that 24-year-old Mariann Wolcott was a figure of fashion and force, befitting one who took shaping a nation literally into her own hands.
Ralph Earl, Mariann Wolcott, 1789, oil on canvas – Litchfield Historical Society
On July 9, 1776, a broadsheet of the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to George Washington’s Continental army troops mustered in New York at the Battery in lower Manhattan. Against Washington’s expressed wish for order, the soldiers and young men of The Sons of Liberty jumped the tall protective fence of nearby Bowling Green Park. They then tied ropes around the equestrian statue of King George III and pulled it to the ground. The gilded lead statue smashed, and angry colonists then further hacked it into bits.
An idea formed for using the “leaden George.” Colonists painstakingly loaded pieces onto wagons and hauled them to the wharf before placing them on a schooner that sailed to Norwalk. From there men transferred the statue shards onto oxcarts and transported them to a foundry in Litchfield. General Oliver Wolcott, Mariann’s father, owned that foundry. The plan? To melt the former statue’s lead to form bullets. The exorbitantly expensive statue, itself a symbol of the taxation policies that led to colonial revolt, ironically became “melted majesty” to be fired back at British troops.
Craftsmen required one pound of lead to make 20 balls, and Mariann Wolcott kept careful accounting of the production of bullets in the Wolcott orchard. She tracked 42,088 bullets. Her mother Laura produced 8,378 bullets and her 10-year-old brother, Frederick, 936. Mariann herself formed 10,790, a figure representing a quarter of all the bullets produced from King George’s fallen statue.
Meantime, Ralph Earl firmly allied himself with England, assessing his career as a portraitist to be more secure siding with affluent Loyalists. Disinherited by his father, a captain in the “rebel service,” Earl staged his own rebellion in March 1777. Acting as a British spy, he disclosed information about the “rebel army” plan to invade Long Island. Later, while in England, Earl requested recompense for this act. No record of a response survives.
When (in April 1777) the Committee of Safety in New Haven told Earl to “take up arms,” face imprisonment, or “quit the Province,” Earl chose the latter. He disguised himself as a servant to British Captain John Money, the Quartermaster General of General John Burgoyne’s Northern Army. They sailed to Newport under a flag of truce, then on to England. Earl used his time there to hone his artistic skills. He married Ann Whiteside, while his first wife, Sarah, and their daughter still resided in New Haven. But the painter felt the call to return home and in 1785, sailed for North America on the Neptune—borrowing money for passage.
Ralph Earl, Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell, 1791, oil on canvas – The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
In New York City, the profligate Earl landed himself in prison, for a debt amounting to less than $25. Earl was freed in 1788, and his court-appointed guardian, Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell, helped Earl start over, yet again, in Connecticut. The talented artist reasserted himself into Connecticut society, traveling around the state to paint notables.
By 1789, when Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Oliver Wolcott commissioned Earl to paint his wife, his daughter Mariann, and himself to commemorate the ratification of the Constitution, Earl was at the peak of his career. So was Wolcott, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and just seven years away from serving as governor of his home state.
In his work, Earl shows Mariann Wolcott as more than just “one of the most distinguished beauties of her time,” as Samuel Wolcott wrote in his 1881 family history. She stands proudly in front of her family’s tidy fields. The illusion of depth suggests the Wolcott land holdings were vast, with the Bantam River snaking toward Litchfield, its white meetinghouse spire just visible in the distance. Mariann wears a cotton day dress, and her spotted muslin shawl, kid gloves, and fashionable parasol, all protect her skin from acquiring a working-class suntan. Her herisson (“hedgehog” in French) hairstyle, with its two soft ringlets and light powdering, was the latest rage. Anything but foppish and delicate, Mariann’s intelligence is what lingers, created with the painterly trope of light bouncing off her forehead.
Ralph Earl, Oliver Wolcott, ca. 1789, oil on canvas – Museum of Connecticut History
In October 1789, Mariann married Chauncey Goodrich, a lawyer in Hartford. She then wrote lively letters to her family, wittily advising her brother “in the mysteries of the female heart” and sharing her husband’s growing political prominence. In her portrait, the sprig of pink roses placed demurely at her bodice functioned as an air freshener, but also symbolized the bud of fertility and motherhood. Yet Mariann, once more, defied tradition. A month after marrying, in a letter to her sister-in-law, Elizabeth, she wrote, “As for being obedient and dutiful, tell [her brother Oliver] it is not in my creed.”
From her take-charge act early in the Revolutionary War to the celebration of the new country, Mariann Wolcott stood in contrast to the opportunistic artist Ralph Earl. The coming together of these divergent temperaments with her portrait immortalizes that fascinating encounter.
Rena Tobey is an American art historian, providing talks and tours around the state. She has also created Artventures! Game—a party game on the adventures of art and art history.
Bridgeport police say parents left an infant in a running vehicle at the Home Depot on Reservoir Avenue for 20 minutes Saturday night.
A judge filed a ruling on an appeal this week, dismissing a case against a major development project in Shelton.
Councilwoman Karen Jackson, who has a history of losing her city-issued debit card, is asking voters to support her write-in bid for re-election.
An opening of the Devon Bridge near Stratford Station could cause delays of up to 25 minutes on Metro-North Saturday, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority alert said.
The opening is scheduled for 3:00 p.m., the MTA said.
The MTA asked travelers to listen for announcements at their stations.
meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
While Connecticut remains among the top-10 states with the least poverty, it was the only one to see in an increase last year.
Sen. Chris Murphy calls for alternative plan in case Appellate Court upholds ACA ruling.
The board’s vote begins a review period that could take up to a year for state agencies to draft regulations for chronic pain and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome patients.
City attorney argues plaintiffs asking for election do-over don’t have standing and weren’t aggrieved
A dog went missing in Trumbull in early September. Her owners are now turning to the public for help finding her.
A total of 40 whistleblower claims made against state agencies were investigated during the fiscal year ending June 30.
Rubin was on her way home from an ophthalmologist appointment and had gauze over one of her eyes that “drastically reduced her field of vision” at the time of the collision, according to an arrest warrant.
Sen. Cathy Osten, a former corrections officer, has asked the Sentencing Commission to study whether inmates have mental illness and what is being done to treat it.
NAUGATUCK - First responders are on the scene of a reported blasting accident on Friday.
The call came in just before noon from the area of Field Street and Hillside Avenue.
Field Street is closed to traffic.
There are reports of a downed power line in the area.
Police are advising residents to avoid the area.
No word yet on whether there are injuries.
The street will be closed from Tremont Street to Maple Street from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
BRIDGEPORT — A crash involving an overturned tractor-trailer was reported on Interstate 95 late Friday morning.
The crash was reported about 11:20 a.m. on Exit 27A on I-95 south.
The exit was closed about 10 minutes later. The Exit 27A connector from I-95 north was closed as well an would be for an “extended period of time,” according to emergency radio transmissions.
A secondary crash involving another truck and car was also reported.
The driver of the overturned truck was being treated for injuries at the scene and fuel was leaking from one of the truck’s fuel tanks about 11:30 a.m.
No was reported injured in the second crash.
Judges from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals have sent the case back to district court.
Here are five Connecticut whistleblowers, many of whom faced retaliation for coming forward.
A Fairfield woman has won $100,000 on a $10 CT Lottery ticket.
Anne M. Doucette claimed the prize on Tuesday at the lottery’s headquarters in Rocky Hill.
She bought the $100,000 Cashword 9 ticket at Stratfield Wine & Liquor in Faifield.
The $100,000 Cashword scratch game ticket has 21 grand prizes, six of which remain unclaimed.
Here’s a look at the impeachment process.
by Andy Piascik
The years after the Second World War were prosperous ones for American businesses. With ever-greater profits and international power, there seemed no limits on the potential for domestic growth. This coincided with prevailing views of the natural world as something to be conquered and exploited for the betterment of society. It was in this favorable business climate that Monsanto, Ciba, and other chemical companies produced Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, for widespread use as an insecticide to promote the growth of the nation’s agricultural business.
This is America…where free enterprise encourages men to invent, create, and improve… – World War II Posters, Office of War Information, National Archives
In the late 1940s, however, a Westport physician by the name of Morton Biskind began noticing new ailments (and new variations on old ailments) in the people he treated, as well as in domestic animals and wildlife. The maladies he observed initially proved most pronounced in dogs, cats, sheep, and cattle and included degenerative problems in their brains, internal organs, and muscles.
When Biskind noticed a dramatic increase in similar symptoms in humans, he began doing research and consulting other doctors. In 1949, he and Dr. Irving Bieber published “DDT Poisoning: A New Syndrome With Neuropsychiatric Manifestations” in the American Journal of Psychotherapy. Much of the article focused on what Biskind and Bieber saw as a link between DDT exposure and the occurrence of polio. “Facts are stubborn,” the authors wrote, “and refusal to accept them does not avoid their inexorable effects—the tragic consequences are now upon us.”
Biskind, Bieber, and others alarmed by the effects of DDT bucked the status quo. Just one year before Biskind and Bieber published their article, Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Muller won the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the effectiveness of DDT against yellow fever and malaria. Chemical giants such as DuPont and Geigy manufactured large quantities of the insecticide for use during World War II and government regulators (such as those at the Food and Drug Administration) dismissed Biskind’s claims.
In reality, it was already well known among scientists that DDT had a devastating impact on life forms beyond the insects its manufacturers intended it to kill. In addition to the humans and mammals Biskind observed in and around Westport, virtually every kind of fish, bird, animal, and insect exposed even to small doses of DDT suffered adverse health consequences.
Shoot to Kill! Protect Your Victory Garden – World War II Posters, Office of War Information, National Archives
Though largely ignored (and sometimes reviled), Biskind continued to spread his message of warning. In 1950, he testified before Congress about the harmful effects of DDT, and in 1953, he published another important article, “Public Health Aspects of the New Insecticides,” in the American Journal of Digestive Diseases. Though resistance from powerful quarters continued, the message began to get through. More and more studies showed the destructive impact DDT spraying had on all forms of wildlife, as well as its direct links to cancer and other diseases in humans.
It was in the 1960s that the work Biskind accomplished actually bore fruit, as others, such as biologist Paul Shepard, carried forward his efforts. Most famous among those inspired by Biskind was Rachel Carson, a marine biologist who in 1962 authored Silent Spring, a landmark in environmental literature. Five years later, in 1967, a group of scientists and lawyers formed the Environmental Defense Fund for the express purpose of banning the production and use of DDT.
In 1968, Hungary became the first nation to ban DDT for agricultural use and other countries soon followed—the United States banning DDT in 1972. In response, DDT manufacturers sued the Environmental Protection Agency. Authorities eventually upheld the ban, however, and DDT has ever since only been authorized for use in extreme cases (such as when facing possible threats from fleas spreading bubonic plague or mosquitoes spreading yellow fever).
Morton Biskind died in 1981 at the age of 74. His work, however, continues to live on—celebrated by environmentalists around the world, as well as by such influential public health advocates and writers as E. G. Vallianatos.
Bridgeport native Andy Piascik is an award-winning author who has written for many publications and websites over the last four decades. He is also the author of two books.
YOUTUBE – DDT: Weapon Against Disease – Documentary Film (1945)
from Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project https://connecticuthistory.org/morton-biskind-warned-the-world-about-ddt/
WINDSOR LOCKS - An American Airlines flight to Washington D.C. with 64 aboard had to turn back to Bradley International Airport after reporting a mechanical problem Friday morning, according to an airport spokesperson.
The flight was traveling from Bradley to Washington D.C. at about 6 a.m. when a problem was reported and the plane returned to the airport, reports said.
Firefighters staged at the airport as the plane returned, according to alerts sent out. But the plane landed safely without incident, according to airport spokesperson Alisa Sisic.
There was no impact to airport operations, Sisic said.
While warm weather is expected to persist into early next week, the longer range outlook for the end of next week into the second week of October is for cool temperatures across New England.
A Southington farm owner is mourning the loss of three goats he said choked to death after eating whole apples dumped in their pen. He said mostly likely the person didn't realize that the apples need to be cut up before given to the goats. He is now planning to have more animals and a better fence by next spring.
The woman was reportedly stabbed by a man at 1015 Fairfield Ave, Bridgeport police said.
A new Congressional Research Service report shows there are continued concerns about EB’s abilities to build a new line of submarines in its shipyard.
The “Centers of Excellence” network will steer patients toward hospitals, doctors and other providers who offer the most cost-effective treatment.
Jan. 31 and April 5 are, for whatever reason, the most common days for crashes in Connecticut. But most fatalities happen at 2 a.m. Saturdays.
Sen. Chris Murphy said White House officials indicated a deal could still be struck, but President Donald Trump was not as optimistic.
Some of the worst roads in the country are in Fairfield County, according to AAA
Town leaders want the Board of Education to sever its more than 30-year relationship with Timothy Hollister’s firm.
by Andy Piascik
In its early, freewheeling years during the 1920s, the National Football League (NFL) primarily located teams in small and medium-sized cities. Toledo, Akron, Providence, and Decatur all hosted NFL franchises during those years, with varying success. For one season, Hartford, too, played host to the NFL. It was a season racked with challenges.
In 1924, sports promoter George Mulligan established the Waterbury Blues as an independent football team. After one season in the Brass City, they moved to Hartford. The NFL accepted just about any half-way organized football operation during this time as long as the owner paid the league’s entrance fee, and Mulligan signed Hartford up for the 1926 season.
The Blues played their home games in the brand new Velodrome, a bicycle racing arena in East Hartford. After one exhibition game, the Blues made their official NFL debut on September 26, 1926, with many of the same players as the previous year. Playing before an estimated crowd of 6,500 at the Velodrome, the Blues lost to the New York Giants, 21-0.
Hartford Blues fall schedule, 1926. Published in the Hartford Courant, July 13, 1926
After three more losses, the Blues won for the first time, on October 24, by beating the Brooklyn Lions, 16-6. That game also took place in the Velodrome, though attendance slipped down to 1,000. After a fifth defeat, the Blues won their second game on November 7, again in the Velodrome, by a 16-7 score over the Canton Bulldogs. The attendance for that game reached 4,500.
The Blues won for the third time, over the Dayton Triangles, on November 21, by a score of 21-0. That win raised Hartford’s record to 3-6 and proved to be their last victory of the season and, as it turned out, their NFL history. Heavy rain plagued the Blues on game days, keeping attendance down, and several times the rain became so severe in the Hartford area that officials cancelled the games.
As the cold winter weather approached and with the team’s poor performance dragging down local interest (attendance slid below 1,000 for each of the last three home games), Mulligan cancelled several home games scheduled for December. Mulligan paid most players on a per-game basis and apparently decided to save money by simply cancelling games that did not figure to bring in enough revenue to cover costs. On the plus side, the Blues saved on travel expenses by playing only two road games. Hartford’s final NFL game was a 16-0 loss to the Duluth Eskimos in the Velodrome on November 27. The Blues finished the season 3-7.
Though the season was hardly a success, Hartford fans who attended games had the opportunity to see some of the best football players in the world. Among the stars who played against the Blues in Hartford that year were two who played for the Blues in Waterbury: Harry Stuhldreher, one of the famed Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, who played for Brooklyn in 1926, and Steve Owen of the Giants, who earned enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.
Display advertisement for the Hartford Blues Football Season Tickets, Hartford Courant, September 25, 1926.
Other greats who played against the Blues at the Velodrome were Ernie Nevers and Johnny “Blood” McNally of Duluth, Guy Chamberlin of the Frankford Yellow Jackets, and Pete Henry of Canton. The one and only Jim Thorpe was also on the Canton roster that year but unable to play in the game in Hartford because of injury. Like Owen, all became members of the Hall of Fame. Also of note was the appearance in Hartford of one of the five African Americans in the NFL in 1926, Sol Butler of Canton.
In 1927 the NFL looked to reduce the number of teams in the league and voted to drop Hartford from its ranks. Mulligan subsequently renamed the team the “Hartford Giants” and they posted a 7-1 record as an independent team in 1927 before disbanding.
In 1973 and 1974, the New York Giants played their home games at the Yale Bowl in New Haven while renovations took place at Yankee Stadium (their former home) and workers finished construction on Giants Stadium, (their future home). The arrangement was strictly temporary, however,
and all of the team’s administrative offices remained in Manhattan. So nearly a century after their moment in the sun, the Hartford Blues remain the only NFL franchise ever truly to call Connecticut home.
Bridgeport native Andy Piascik is an award-winning author who has written for many publications and websites over the last four decades. He is also the author of two books.
Weston firefighters shared a video that so far has received more than 1 million views.
It was taken last June in Fishlake National Forest in Utah.
It was a fire that was deliberately set ... by the U.S. Forest Service.
After months of planning and preparation, Fishlake National Forest fire crews ignited more than 2,000 acres of Utah forest in an effort to consume living upper canopy vegetation and initiate growth of new vegetation. In June prescribed fire was designed to restore aspen ecosystems by removing conifer trees and stimulating the regrowth of aspen.
The U.S. Forest Service said researchers at the Pacific Northwest Research Station and Rocky Mountain Research Station saw the fire as a unique opportunity for study.
Prior to the fire, Forest Service research experts took measurements of the forest vegetation and fuel loads. They also set up special fire-proof equipment to record and measure the heat of the fire throughout the project. Embedded below is a video recorded during the burn.
During the fire, scientists used LiDAR, radar, aircraft and satellite imagery, weather and atmospheric measurements, and ground monitoring to study the fuel (dead materials) consumed, fire behavior and the fire’s impact on living vegetation. Scientists will continue to monitor the area to determine how vegetation recovers after fire.
“More than 40 scientists from multiple agencies participated in the effort, gathering a variety of...
WOLCOTT - A Wolcott High School student with special needs was arrested Wednesday after creating a "death list" and a "nice list" following an incident when he been bullied and told "he looked like a school shooter," according to police.
In a post on Facebook Wednesday night, Police Chief Edward Stephens said staff discovered Wednesday that the student had written the lists which included the names of the people who bullied him on the "death list" and then isolated the teen with the help of a school resource officer so he wasn't an "imminent" threat to anyone.
The bullying incident occurred Tuesday, Stephens said.
The parents of the students on the "death list" were notified and a search of the home of the special needs student revealed only non-working antique guns and no ammunition, Stephens said.
He was arrested and removed from school and isn't expected to return "anytime soon," Stephens said. He then encouraged parents to send their children to school after the incident as police take threats and concerns seriously.
"I want to ensure everyone that every threat, no matter how small it is, is taken very serious by both the police department and the school administration as well as the school department," Stephens said.
"Everyday there is an officer (SRO) assigned to the schools to make sure our kids are safe. Officers on patrol also stop by the schools, as well as myself, several times throughout the school week. Whether or not you intend to keep your child home or not is your prerogative, but I can assure you that the school and police are taking this serious as we have in other past incidents, and the Wolcott Police Department will always be there to do whatever we have to do keep you children safe."
From a friendly place to continued opportunities for growth, there are many reasons to enjoy going to work every day. This year’s list of Top Workplace winners have plenty of those reasons. We had no trouble finding three people to talk about why they love their jobs.
Iris Morales
Employer: Wade’s Dairy
Title: Accounts Receivable
Time with company: 1 year
Town of Residence: Bridgeport
How did you come into this industry?
I saw an ad in the [Connecticut] Post, and I got called in. When I got called for the interview, that’s when I made my final decision of choosing this company to work for.
Why do you love your job?
It’s family oriented, it’s welcoming and it’s a comfortable atmosphere. They really make you feel comfortable.
Why do you love your company?
The reason I chose [Wade’s Dairy] is because they are family oriented. Even if you’re from the outside they make you feel like you’re part of [the family]. I think that’s the most important part of a company.
Fun Fact
We get to try all the products from drinks to desserts.
Asif Ali
Employer: ICON International
Job Title: Manager of end-user computing
Years with the company 8 years
How did you come into this industry?
It was my very first job after college. I remember it was peak of the recession. I graduated in 2009, and I was trying my luck with all of those different companies. I dropped in my resume and I was able to get a call. Since then there...
In addition to the awards for overall excellence and top leaders, the Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces includes a dozen special awards. Each one is given for a top score in employees’ responses to the statements shown.
Direction — “I believe this company is going in the right direction.”
William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance
Managers — “My manager helps me learn and grow. My manager makes it easier to do my job well. My manager cares about my concerns.”
Power Home Remodeling Group
New Ideas — “New Ideas are encouraged at this company.”
Whip Salon
Doers — “At this company, we do things efficiently and well.”
Teed & Brown Inc.
Meaningfulness — “My job makes me feel like I am part of something meaningful.”
Greenwich Emergency Medical Service
Values — “This company operates by strong values.”
The Star Supply Co.
Clued-in Senior Management — “Senior managers understand what is really happening at this company.”
White Rose Home Healthcare Agency
Communication — “I feel well informed about important decisions at this company.”
Webster Bank
Appreciation — “I feel genuinely appreciated at this company.”
United Rentals Inc.
Work/Life Flexibility — “I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life.”
Family and Children’s Agency
Training — “I get the formal training I want for my career.”
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties
Benefits —...
Technology is influencing the culture of your workplace. The question is, will it create intended positive results or sidetrack the organization’s mission?
Powerful tools are giving leaders deeper understanding of their organization’s culture and work dynamics. They also provide a way to get ahead of issues that could handicap success.
We see this as an emerging field of “culture technology,” a multidisciplinary, science-based approach to improve workplace culture. It seeks to help everyone — from senior leaders to rookie employees — collaborate to build an intentional and purposeful culture.
We have seen Top Workplaces winners solicit feedback and drive meaningful dialogue with employees in a way that builds trust and makes employees feel heard. For example, companies are using short pulse questions in between annual surveys to track progress throughout the year.
Others have set up anonymous channels where employees can provide feedback in a safe way. One medical records digitization company used anonymous employee feedback to address barriers to growth. Over the last four years, it expanded from 400 to over 1000 employees without losing sight of its culture.
Leaders of Top Workplaces companies know culture is the foundation of success, and they know how to use technology to create a better work environment. The challenge is looking past the obvious role of technology — efficiency and speed - and understanding how to engage the human spirit.
The new confluence of disciplines has the potential to substantially improve the key relationships that make up our work experience, from a person’s relationship with their work, their manager, colleagues — and the organization itself.
This requires...
A focus on listening to and supporting employees has earned equipment-rentals giant United Rentals, a Fortune 500 company, a No. 1 ranking in Hearst Connecticut Media’s 2019 Top Workplaces contest.
We can see a remarkable sweep of the state’s commerce in the top three winners of the Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces contest among large employers. If that’s a sign of broad strength, or at least potential, then other employers with hundreds of people on their payrolls may take notice, to the benefit of the state.
Finishing as No. 1 in 2019, for the second year in a row, is Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties, one of the region’s largest residential real estate brokerages — a unit of the corporation headed by Warren Buffett.
O&G Industries, of Torrington, comes in at the No. 2 position among large employers, bringing heavy construction, quarrying and mason materials — including several retail locations — to the top tier of Top Workplaces. O&G’s three-person leadership group, all in the Oneglia family, won this year’s top leadership awards among large employers.
Indeed, the online employment and staffing firm, rounds out the top three at No. 3. Indeed won the contest in its first year, 2016.
For all three companies, Connecticut in 2019 presents a challenge along with opportunity. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices — and William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance, another winning company in the large employers category for 2019 — must navigate a housing market that’s largely flat in the state, in contrast, for example, to fast-growing Massachusetts.
They do it by making communications and analysis tools available to agents and staff, and by maintaining flexible working conditions.
O&G faces two challenges in public-sector spending. First, the state and municipalities are building many fewer new schools because the number of students is decreasing. And...
These are strange times for the econony, nowhere more than in Connecticut.
The state remains far and away the nation’s richest and unemployment levels here, as in the nation, are at or near record lows. Quality of life surveys remain solid for Connecticut, especially in health and education. Even the most pessimistic business surveys show rising numbers of companies showing profits.
Winning employers in the Hearst Connecticut Top Workplaces contest of 2019 exemplify and feed the continued strength of the state and national economies. For many, especially expanding companies such as Indeed (3rd place large employers category) and Colony Grill Development (6th place midsize), the challenge is finding people.
And yet, Connecticut remains a slow-growth location and many experts fear a recession in 2020 or 2021. The state is just emerging, we hope, from a fiscal crisis that has lasted for 20 years with litttle abatement, and overall job creation has been sluggish since the Great Recession.
The common thread for successful companies navigating these waters is workplace excellence. Winning organizations, whether for-profit or nonprofit, large, midsize or small, will tell you there’s no formula for treating employees well but there is a culture. It’s about listening, respect, teamwork and offering opportunities.
At Berkshire Hathaway Home Services New England Properties (1st place large for the second consecutive year), that means flexibility and top-notch technology support at the 22 local real estate sales locations in the three-county area covered by Hearst Connecticut.
Those counties are Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield. See page for an explanation of how the list was made.
This year’s winner in the...
Christopher Bogart founded The Southfield Center for Development — offering behavioral health services for children and teens — in 2009 after he built a similar practice in Stamford, with Maud Purcell, who today runs The Life Solution Center of Darien.
Bogart, 58, is also president of the board of directors for Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, a nonprofit that provides families services across four Connecticut chapters. He is a Georgetown University graduate with a Ph.D in psychology from American University, with his post-doctorate work at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. He later worked at the Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, N.Y.
A resident of Norwalk, Bogart grew up in the Philadelphia area as the fifth of six children, with his mom an elementary school teacher and his sister prodding him toward studying special education in college, her own field.
At Southfield, he’s credited with creating an atmosphere that’s nurturing for clients and employees alike, a culture that helped him win the top leadership award among small employers in the Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces contest for 2019.
How did you go about building The Southfield Center’s culture?
When we first opened up, we were a loosely knit organization of different and separate businesses — one that did tutoring, one that did occupational therapy, one that did speech-and-language therapy. And what we found was that while we were providing great services to the kids, there wasn’t a lot of integration of the staff. If you needed someone to do something outside of the typical, they wouldn’t necessarily step up to the plate.
We really were in a situation where everybody [was] ... part not only of the...
It was a perfectly quiet September morning for Coltrane and Zola, Christopher Bogart’s pets who by day moonlight as therapy dogs at his Darien office; an oasis of sorts in advance of the bustle of kids who would come through that afternoon, a few perhaps who could use a friendly tail wag or two.
At The Southfield Center for Development, calm and friendliness are in ample supply — not just for those children and teens, but for the staff who help them with any number of developmental needs to overcome challenges they encounter at school or in the community.
Bogart, 58, has built a culture that makes The Southfield Center the Hearst Connecticut Top Workplaces No. 1 winner in 2019 for small employers, with an eye on taking the edge out of what can be a stressful job while helping staff eliminate the pressures absorbed by families.
Bogart founded the center in 2009, focused on the developmental and treatment needs of children. (See a Q&A with Bogart, page XX)
He has built up The Southfield Center to a staff of 40 as the clinic as expanded in its original building on Old Kings Highway North in Darien. The center recently opened a satellite office in Wilton, near the high school.
“We now have about 1,000 open cases and we have contracts with all the school districts in the area — Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Wilton, Ridgefield — to provide either individual therapy services or testing services or consultation for staff professional development,” he said. “We take a lot of private referrals from doctors in the area.”
For the people who work at The Southfield Center, atmosphere is important given the stresses that they help children and their families...
If you ask employees of O&G Industries Inc. whether they “have confidence in the leader of this organization,” they may think of David Oneglia, the president and grandson of the company founder. Or they may think of Oneglia’s brother, Raymond Jr., or his cousin, Greg Oneglia — both executive vice chairman.
That’s because the trio of third-generation leaders at O&G, the large, diversified construction and materials company based in Torrington, share top responsibility for the family-owned corporation by heading separate businesses. And they do it, David Oneglia explained, along with members of the fourth generation in a way that combines competition and cooperation.
Whatever they do, it works well enough that the three men at the top have earned the confidence of employees in the 900-person company — the workforce varies depending on contract jobs — and so they share the Hearst Connecticut Media outstanding leadership award for large employers in the 2019 Top Workplaces contest.
David Oneglia, 67, like his brother and cousin, came up in the business founded by their grandfather in 1923, working summers there as a student. Never doubting his destiny of leadership at O&G, he studied civil engineering at Villanova and joined the company full time in 1974.
He started in the highway-building division, which his father, Raymond Sr., had run, but was winding down. The interstate system, after all, was almost done. David, seeing a need for constant highway work, built it up again and O&G remains one of the state’s premier contractors for roads and bridges. Today he runs the divisions for highways, bridges and poweer plants.
The following conversation was edited for length and clarity.
O&G has...
Mark Curtis was a young commercial loan officer at a local bank in Greenwich, where he grew up, when he saw an ad for a single-location car wash for sale. It was 1981 and he called his buddy, Chris Fisher, and said, “We’ve got to buy this place!” They had washed boats together as teenagers and they renamed it the Tahiti Auto Spa, so named because their goal was to earn enough to biy a boat and sail to Tahiti. They renamed it The Car Wash of Greenwich in 1985 and, later, Splash Car Wash when they expanded to full-service, hand-washing services.
They started with four employees but cut back to just Curtis after the Mianus River Bridge collapse choked off Route 1. Today the company has 15 locations in Connecticut and Westchester County, plus a joint venture in China.
In November, the partners sold a majority stake to a private equity firm. Curtis, 64, remains as CEO and the management team is the same.
It’s common to find Curtis out talking with the crews, having fun. That spirit earned him the Top Leader award for midsize employers in the 2019 Hearst Connecticut Medis Top Workplaces competition.
Have you had a major crisis with an employee?
My first manager we found stealing from us. And the dilemma we found firing him was he was the only guy who knew how to fix everything on the site, and there was a lot of stuff to be fixed on a daily basis. We inherited him and one of the employees who didn’t speak English called me one night with an interpreter to tell me they had washed some number of cars that day. When I went in the next day I found the cars that he had reported were less. So I came on an off hour and found that he had disconnected the counter. I fired him, and then I just tried to find somebody to help me, I actually...
A real estate firm, a global equipment rental corporation and a behavioral health center won the highest honors Wednesday night in the 9th annual Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces awards.
The awards are given based on employee surveys rating employers based on collaboration, communication, strategy, flexibility, innovation and benefits. Hearst hosted a dinner at the Waterview banquet center in Monroe.
In the large employer category for companies with at least 400 people in Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield counties, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties came in as No. 1, for the second year in a row. The brokerage has 22 offices in the area, and its regional office is in Wallingford.
Among midsize employers with 125 to 399 employees, United Rentals Inc., a global company based in Stamford, was the top finisher. United Rentals, with 19,000 employees in total, has about 300 in Connecticut at several locations, including 129 at its headquarters.
In the small employer category, The Southfield Center for Development, a behavioral health care provider for children and teenagers in Darien and Wilton, won first place, among 33 companies on the top Workplaces list. Southfield, with 40 employees, is a first-time participant in the awards.
Employers, including nonprofits, local offices of larger companies and government agencies, are eligible for the contest if they have at least 35 employees in the three-county area.
Three awards went to top-ranked leaders based on survey responses of their employees. They were Christopher Bogart, founder and executive director of The Southfield Center; Mark Curtis, founder and CEO of Splash Car Wash; and, at O&G Industries in Torrington, a trio of third-generation...
Governors Ned Lamont and Andrew Cuomo held a press conference Wednesday in Hartford, announcing they will each ask their state lawmakers to legalize marijuana next year.
Sikorsky is looking to ramp up production at its Stratford facility.
Little gleaned from Wednesday press conference in which none of the plaintiffs spoke
Trial about a controversial bust at a pre-Halloween party in Bridgeport goes to the jury on Thursday
State Sen. Marilyn Moore’s own absentee ballot operation is under scrutiny
One facility was fined $10,000 for several violations, including for the death of a resident who did not immediately receive CPR.
MILFORD — A former Shelton firefighter accused of arson and child porn possession has been offered a plea deal that would see him sentenced to a year in prison.
But because William Tortora already spent more than 12 months behind bars after his arrest last March, he would be freed soon after pleading guilty if he accepts the deal when he returns to court Oct. 22.
State’s Attorney Margaret Kelley said the offer calls on Tortora to plead guilty to charges of reckless burning, violating home improvement contractor requirements and admitting violating a previous probation for a 2015 motor vehicle case.
Police said he and another firefighter drunkenly set cardboard boxes on fire in the bed of Tortora’s pickup truck last February in the rear parking lot of Echo Hose Hook & Ladder Co. 1 as a “past captains dinner” took place inside the firehouse last February.
The home improvement contractor charge, a class B misdemeanor, dates to a September 2017 Shelton arrest, according to court records.
About two months after his arrest in the arson case, police charged Tortora with possession of child pornography after they said they found images depicting children involved in sex acts on his phone, which they had seized during the arson investigation.
But in March a judge agreed to drastically lower Tortora’s bond after his lawyer, Senior Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Bunker, presented a report from an expert that called the child porn charges into question.
Kelley did...
There’s a problem at the Mixmaster in Waterbury on Wednesday.
State Police said Wednesday afternoon that the bridge from Route 8 north to I-84 west is closed “due to unforeseen circumstances relating to the current bridge deck demolition.”
All traffic looking to access I-84 from northbound Route 8 must use the U-Turn at Exit 35.
“This closure will impact rush hour. Motorists are advised to avoid the area if possible.”
The Mixmaster is undergoing a $152 million rehabilitation.
The project consists of the rehabilitation of numerous bridges located within the Route 8 and I-84 interchange. “The purpose is to preserve and provide a 25-year service life to the structures and to assure their structural integrity,” according to the state Department of Transportation. “The project consists of deck repairs and replacements, steel repairs, substructure repairs, joint repairs, and other general repairs.”
For more details on the work, visit https://mixmaster-rehab.com/
ANSONIA - A 2-year-old boy was rescued on the roof of a Main Street house about 30 feet from the ground on Wednesday morning.
At 8:27 a.m., police received a complaint of a child on the roof of a house at 681 Main St.
Within minutes, police located the boy on the roof.
“Officer Christopher Kelley was able to talk to the child and keep him from moving around the roof while Sergeant Christopher Flynn and Officer Peter Lovermi III forced entry into the house to get to the child off the roof,” Lt Patrick Lynch said.
“Inside the home was the child’s father, David Hustek, and the child’s aunt, Sarah Barker. Both had been sleeping and unaware the child was on the roof of the house,” Lynch said.
The child was transported to a local hospital for precautionary reasons, but did not appear to be injured.
“The home was found to be in deplorable living conditions, city building officials were contacted and the home was condemned,” Lynch said.
Hustek and Barker were both arrested.
Both Hustek, 23, and Barker, 20, were was charged with risk of injury to a minor and reckless endangerment in the first degree.
They are being held on $10,000 bond and will be arraigned at Derby Superior Court on Thursday.
MONROE — The town will celebrate the centennial of the passage of the arborist law with the ceremonial planting of a white oak tree 4 p.m. Sunday on the town green.
The ceremony and a commemorative plaque were arranged by David Solek, Monroe’s Park Ranger and Tree Warden.
Monroe’s first selectman, Ken Kellogg, and civic officials have been invited to participate.
The Connecticut Tree Protective Association, representing 800 members, 575 of them licensed arborists, donated the white oak to mark the passage of the Arborist Law in 1919, believed to be the first such legislation in the U.S.
Under the legislation, individuals who engage in commercial tree care need to be accredited by board certification.
Connecticut’s model has been adopted by other states such as New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
MILFORD - A 48-year-old Bridgeport woman has been arrested for allegedly shoplifting from the Marshall’s store on Tuesday.
Beryl Brooks, of Colorado Avenue, was charged with sixth-degree larceny after police went to the Boston Post Road store around 6:30 p.m.
“The investigation led to the arrest of Brooks who is accused of taking over $400 worth of items from the store without paying,” police said.
Further investigation revealed that Brooks had an arrest warrant for failure to appear in court on breach of peace arrest in Norwalk on Sept. 11.
Brooks was held on a $1,000 bond.
Murphy openly questioned Giuliani’s involvement in Ukraine. Now Giuliani says it’s Murphy who should be impeached for questioning Trump’s and Giuliani's actions.
BRIDGEPORT - An odor of gas has caused the temporary closing of City Hall at 45 Lyon Terrace Wednesday morning.
There is no confirmed immediate threat to life or safety, the city tweeted.
The Bridgeport Fire Department and a crew from the Water Pollution Control Authority are on the scene investigating the source of the odor.
City Hall Offices will reopen at 11 a.m.
By Mike Messina for Your Public Media
“What a night – couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, so dropped down on all fours and crawled in the direction of the tractor, – just a few feet away mind you, and I just don’t know how long it did take me to reach the back door of the tractor which was now half buried in the snowdrift…recorded -60 below,” wrote Connecticut native John Henry Von der Wall on September 25, 1934. Von der Wall was a member of an Antarctic expedition led by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Byrd was the first person to fly over the South Pole and North Pole (although the latter claim remains a matter of debate). This was Von der Wall’s and Byrd’s second expedition to explore and study this empty and isolated continent.
John Henry Von der Wall, 1933-35. Connecticut native John Henry Von der Wall is shown wearing his Antarctic expedition gear – Connecticut Historical Society
Byrd used a combination of snowshoe, dogsled, snow tractor, and airplane to explore Antarctica during his second expedition (1933-1935). Von der Wall, a life-long resident of Bolton, Connecticut, and master diver in the US Navy, was a tractor driver and the first man to dive under the polar ice. The expedition arrived at Byrd’s post in Little America on January 17, 1934, with 56 men, 147 dogs, 4 airplanes, a handful of snow tractors, and tons of food and supplies. For over a year, the team went on a variety of exploring trips throughout the continent. The extreme cold weather paired with the treacherous icy landscape meant danger on every journey.
Von der Wall described an accident that occurred as one of the airplanes took off for an exploration trip:
[The plane] glided and after a short run took off the ice surface….it headed out over the dangerous pressure ridge with its tons upon tons of ice reaching skyward as if trying to grasp this giant bird of mankind and haul it into mighty yawning crevasse, it seemed to grin and mock at is ability to stay aloft. Then the unexpected happened…we saw the giant plane stagger as if hit or grasped by some unseen hands…the camp was alive…men came from everywhere…the pilot was struggling with the controls…the plane was losing altitude fast…the plane headed towards the smooth barrier [of ice] and crashed burying its left wing and part of its motor in the snow.
Luckily, nobody was seriously injured in the crash and there were no deaths on the expedition.
Despite the difficulties, the explorations were successful, bringing back new information about the landscape, weather, and wildlife of the South Polar regions. Byrd made three more expeditions to Antarctica to learn more about the frozen continent.
Mike Messina is the Interpretive Projects Associate at the Connecticut Historical Society.
© Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and Connecticut Historical Society. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Your Public Media.
New Haven Line customers traveling between Stamford and South Norwalk should anticipate delays of 10 to 15 minutes due to a broken rail near Stamford
Q poll: Elizabeth Warren gets 27 percent of the vote while Joe Biden gets 25 percent of Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic.
A $100 fee on vehicle trade ins goes into effect on Oct. 1, 2019.
New York State police said that 43 tickets were issued during last week’s “Operation Hardhat” in Westchester County, a joint initiative that featured state troopers dressed as highway workers to crackdown on work zone violations, and highlight the importance of safe driving through active construction and maintenance work zones.
How does a company make the Top Workplaces list? By inspiring employees.
“Top Workplaces put the employee at the center of things, and focus on creating the right environment to unleash potential and inspire performance,” said Doug Claffey, founder of Energage, the research partner for Top Workplaces for Hearst Connecticut newspapers.
This is the ninth year Hearst Connecticut Media has joined with Philadelphia-based Energage to determine the region’s best places to work. The results are based solely on a scientific employee survey process.
Starting in February, Hearst Connecticut newspapers welcomed anyone to nominate companies as Top Workplaces. Energage also reached out to companies. In all, 951 employers in the region were invited to take part in the process.
Any employer — including provate firms, publicly traded companies, nonprofits, local offices of multistate corporations and government agencies — was eligible, as long as it had at least 35 employees in Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield counties. There is no cost to enter the Top Workplaces program.
A smaller number of employers agreed to take the survey. Combined, they employ 13,595 people in the region. A total of 8,473 employees responded to questionnaires, either on paper or online.
For this year’s winners list, 50 employers earned recognition as Top Workplaces based on the employee feedback.
The employee engagement survey of 24 questions gathers responses on issues relating to workplace culture:
* Alignment - where the company is headed, its values, cooperation
* Connection - employees feel appreciated and well informed, their work is...
Shelton and Hamden nurses were among those cited last week by the state Board of Examiners for Nursing.
Bridgeport-based optometry practice triples its space in the city where it all started.
The state Department of Public Health is reporting that a second person in the state has died as a result of Eastern Equine Encephalitis this year.
DPH spokesman Av Harris confirmed Tuesday afternoon that a person from Old Lyme had died from EEE. Last week, the state announced that someone from East Lyme had died from the illness. It was the first death from EEE since 2013.
It has been a particularly active season for EEE in the Northeastern United States. In addition to the two deaths in Connecticut, there have been human illnesses and death in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
As of Tuesday, 101 mosquitoes in Connecticut have tested postive for EEE since June, according to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. By comparison, only 78 have tested positive for West Nile Virus, which is usually the most worrisome mosquito-borne illness in the state.
DPH said it takes four to 10 days after the bite from an infected mosquito for a person to develop symptoms of EEE. Severe cases of the infection lead to an inflammation of the brain. About one-third of patients who develop EEE die from it. There is no specific treatment for EEE.
MONROE — Various first responders will show up at the Monroe Farmers’ Market Friday to help mark National Preparedness Month, which is September.
Emergency service workers will be on hand from 3 to 6 p.m. to help educate the public about emergencies, said Dave York, Monroe’s Emergency Management director. He said, every year during National Preparedness Month, emergency workers in town make public appearances, but this is the first time they’ve been to the Farmers’ Market.
National Preparedness Month is a time dedicated to teaching people to prepared for such disasters as hurricanes, flood and the like. York said with hurricane season underway and winter around the corner, it’s good time for residents to learn how to be ready for an emergency.
“It’s a timely topic,” he said.
The Monroe Farmers’ Market takes place at 7 Fan Hill Road. For information, call 203-452-2800, ext. 1088.
Average household income can have a big impact on communities. Higher incomes may bring more money for school districts, local government services, and more consumer spending for local businesses.
MONROE — The Women’s Club is seeking donations of new and gently used costumes, candy and towels.
The costumes and candy are being collect for donation to Monroe social services and other social service program. The towels will be given to area animal shelters and animal rehab.
Donations will be accepted from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 12 at the Union Savings Bank parking lot, 411 Monroe Turnpike. For more information, visit www.monroewomensclub.org or email monroewomensclub@yahoo.com.
A Virginia man was arrested after State Police found two pounds of marijuana hidden under the center console of his vehicle.
Gary Diaz, 30, of Alexandria, Va., was stopped around 4 a.m. Monday near southbound Exit 19 in Fairfield.
Trooper Eduardo Santiago said Diaz’s vehicle was stopped for “failure to maintain its lane.”
“The trooper suspected that the operator was in possession of narcotics. A search of the vehicle was conducted, in which two large Zip-Loc bags containing marijuana were found concealed in a hidden void underneath the center console of the vehicle. The total weight of the marijuana was approximately two pounds,” state police said.
Diaz was then taken into custody. He was charged with failure to drive in the proper lane, possession with intent to sell and possession of a controlled substance.
Diaz was released after posting a $5,000 bond.
He is scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Oct. 15.
Police said Perez-Ortiz was shot following a dispute outside the store in which he is shown on video apparently attempting to stab another man.
State investigators ate trying to find out who tied four baby squirrels together by their tails and left them to die.
Since DCF took responsibility for treating at-risk minors 14 months ago, no new beds have been made available aside from those in the Hartford and Bridgeport juvenile detention centers.
The couple sold much of the loot at pawn shops in Seymour and Waterbury for a fraction of its value, according to the warrants. Police suspected they used the money to buy drugs.
Republicans want Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration to release stalled financing for a program designed to help small towns’ economic development initiatives.
Gov. Ned Lamont is asking legislative leaders to return in special session to vote on a revised version of a restaurant tip-credit bill he vetoed in July.
STRATFORD — The Stratford Library, 2203 Main St., will be open on Sundays beginning Oct. 6.
Hours on Sunday will be from 1 to 5 p.m. and will continue until May 17, 2020.
The return of “Sunday Afternoon Talks” will coincide with the library reopening with engineer and historian Rick Abramson discussing “Streamlined Trains of the 1930s”. The series will continue on monthly Sundays through May. Also currently scheduled: “Meet-the-Author: Ken Lynch” (November 3), Stratford Historical Society Open Meeting (November 24) and Holiday Music Concerts (December 1, 8, 15 & 22)
For further library information, call 203.385.4161 or visit its website at: www.stratfordlibrary.org.
The library will be closed for in-house staff training on Friday, Oct. 4. The Library will reopen on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 10 a.m.
Current library hours are: Monday-Thursday: 10-8, Friday-Saturday: 10-5.
STRATFORD — The Stratford Library will begin the fall season of “Sunday Afternoon Talks,” its monthly series of informative and entertaining talks featuring prominent local guest speakers, on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. with “Streamlined Trains of the 1930s.” Guest speaker is engineer Richard Abramson.
“Sunday Afternoon Talks” is free and open to the public.
Richard Abramson, a retired railroader of 44 years, will discuss streamlined trains of the 1930s and their famous industrial designers. The talk will cover the concept of streamlined trains originating in the 1860s, the classic Art Deco era of the 1930s and the attempts by the railroads in the 1950s to bring riders back to the rails with innovative trains. Abramson, having an interest in trains since age six and, after working for various railroads, retired from the Housatonic RR in September of 2012 as Superintendent of Operations. He is also an avid model railroader and has built an HO scale layout of the New Haven RR which has been featured in several publications and DVDs.
“Sunday Afternoon Talks” will be held in the Stratford Library’s Lovell Room beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6.
A complete schedule of future talks through May 2020 is now available at the Library or online at: www.stratfordlibrary.org.
There are big southbound traffic delays on Route 8 south Tuesday morning.
A three-vehicle accident has closed one lane on southbound Route 8 between Exits 12 and 11 in Shelton.
The state Department of Transportation said the accident was reported at 7:56 a.m.
Average speed is 11 mph.
DOT estimates it will take 40 minutes to travel eight miles from downtown Shelton to the Merritt Parkway.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy put out a call to get “friend” Cory Booker some much-needed campaign cash, but said it’s not an endorsement.
