Danbury | featured news

DANBURY—A Danbury woman crashed her car, ran and hid in bushes to escape police Friday night after being stopped on Lake Avenue.

An officer was driving westbound on Lake Avenue around 11 p.m. when he said Bianca Marie Cruz, who was driving in the opposite direction, veered into his lane and almost hit the police cruiser. The officers then watched Cruz continue on Lake Avenue and run a red light, police said.

When he pulled her over, the officers could smell marijuana smoke as Cruz opened the window, police said.

DANBURY—A Danbury man was charged with driving under the influence early Saturday morning after he drove into the wall and urinated on a security guard’s car, police said.

Parking staff at the Patriot Garage on Delay Street called police around 2 a.m. to help with an intoxicated man who had driven into the wall while trying to leave, police said. When the officers arrived, the employee pointed out Hector Rolando Ordonez-Morocho, 31, who had fallen asleep slumped over an ATM machine.

KENT - A Superior Court judge has rejected the state’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation seeking more than $610 million in compensation for the sale of reservation land. The lawsuit, filed by the tribal nation last year, claims that the state violated statutes dating back to 1757 in selling off more than 2,000 acres of the reservation during the early 19th century. The Schaghticoke reservation, which originally included about 2,400 acres, was one of the first in the country when it was created in 1736.

DANBURY - A driver was extricated from a motor vehicle Thursday morning after crashing into the El Dorado Center building on West Street.

When firefighters arrived on the scene they found that a small car had traveled off of Oil Hill Road road and hit the the corner of masonry building at 152 West St.

Firefighters removed the driver, who was the single occupant in the vehicle.

The person, who was not identified, was taken to Danbury Hospital by Danbury EMS.

HARTFORD - The fallout from House and Senate passage of a $40 billion Republican state budget - and stunning defeat for the General Assembly’s Democratic majority - poured in Saturday as both sides of the isle surveyed the landscape.

State Rep. Kim Rose, D-Milford, one of four House Democrats who voted for the Republican spending plan, said she supported the GOP plan because she wanted both sides to negotiate a better budget.

“I didn’t feel either budget was a good budget,” Rose said. “The Republican budget was a little kinder to Milford. But we need to move forward.

NEW MILFORD—The reopening of the Young’s Field skate park will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday.

The park has been closed since June 1, when town officials padlocked it after learning skaters made unauthorized modifications over the last two years, including the addition of concrete ramps and quarter-pipes. It was a liability concern, town officials said.

Skater Tristan Cornelis and others raised $5,000 through a GoFundMe page and enlisted park builder Dave Peterson to help fix the park.

The Candlewood Lake Authority has completed a survey in its search for a new executive director and plans to develop a job description for the position by its next meeting.

The authority’s Human Resources Committee has been leading the search for a replacement for former Executive Director Larry Marsicano, who stepped down June 30.

The committee told the rest of the Board of Delegates Wednesday that they reviewed a summary of a seven-question survey aimed at finding a new executive director.

The decision Friday by three Democratic senators to vote for a Republican budget sent shockwaves through the state’s political system and left the next two-year spending plan in limbo. State Sens. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, and Joan Hartley, D-Waterbury, declined to vote for a $41.4 billion Democrat-backed budget and instead allowed a Republican version to clear the state Senate by a 21-15 vote. The House began debate over both the Republican and Democratic budgets at about 9 p.m.

SHERMAN — Authorities are reporting that a seaplane has gone down in Candlewood Lake near Chicken Rock.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said it doesn’t appear the plane crashed, but began taking on water once it landed near the New Fairfield, Sherman border around 4 p.m.

The passengers on the plane were able to get off with the help of a good Samaritan’s boat and it appears there were no injuries, said Dennis Schain, a spokesman for DEEP.

State troopers are helping Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officers after the plane had a “rough la

HARTFORD — The new state budget before the House and Senate provides a pathway to electronic tolls on state highways.

The spending plan creates the Connecticut Transportation Finance Authority, which includes an appointed board of directors and an executive director.