Fairfield County | featured news

Residents will have a chance to hear about the state budget at a forum on Dec. 11, led by state Sen. Toni Boucher and state Representatives Adam Dunsbyand and Will Duff.

The Republican legislators will host the event from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Redding Town Hall. They will discuss recent developments with the state budget and legislation that passed in 2017.

NEW FAIRFIELD — The Board of Education unanimously voted to elect Rick Regan to fill the vacant seat left by former Chairman Steve Burfeind’s resignation last month.

Regan, a Democrat and retired computer scientist, was one of seven candidates that ran for a full term on the board this year, but did not win one of the four empty seats on Election Day.

DANBURY — Metro-North’s Danbury branch line is now operating on schedule after officials reported up to an hour of delays earlier Saturday morning.

The delays, announced around 8:30 a.m. for southbound trains, were due to mechanical difficulties at the Redding Station, Metro-North officials said. By about 9:30 a.m., the delays were up to 90 minutes long.

Officials said the trains were back to operating on or close to schedule a little after 10:30 a.m.

NEW MILFORD — Hours after receiving the keys to Town Hall, Mayor Pete Bass called for a Town Council meeting Monday to deliberate whether his predecessor’s last-minute appointments to town boards are valid. Acting Town Attorney Matt Grimes, who was hired Friday, contends in a written opinion that a special meeting scheduled this week by outgoing Mayor David Gronbach was illegal because he did not identify any “exigent circumstances” that allowed him to call it with less than three days’ notice.

STAMFORD — A city man who police say bragged about finding stolen cars for sale with counterfeit serial numbers has been charged with being in possession and altering the vehicle identification number of a car stolen last year in Washington, D.C.

According to the five-page arrest warrant of Darren Baldwin, property crimes officer Richard Vetter launched an investigation in October when he was tipped off to the stolen car scheme.

Baldwin was arrested on drug charges in October and Vetter discovered the serial number of the 2012 Acura TL he was driving had no prior history before it was reg

STAMFORD — A trendy South End eatery was shut down by the health department this week after inspectors found it didn’t have hot water needed for hand-washing and sanitizing equipment.

Harlan Social was ordered closed Thursday by the Stamford Health Department after inspectors learned its hot water heater wasn’t working. The restaurant’s executive chef said it was expected to reopen Friday night after a temporary heater was installed.

“This food service establishment does not meet minimal standards set by regulations of the Connectiut state Department of Health ...

STAMFORD-Beware. Santas are coming to town. Tomorrow.

SantaCon the annual convention of hard-drinking Santa costume owners is getting started at noon Saturday Dec. 2 in Stamford at just about any Bedford Street bar you can think of.

The yearly drink fest and pub crawl, which for some hard drinking Santas will last until closing at 2 a.m. Sunday, will migrate over to Tiernan’s Bar for closing festivities.

STAMFORD-Police say the armed robbery of an employee of a popular West Side pizza parlor late Thursday night was foiled when the victim saw that the robber was pointing a fake gun at him.

Sgt. Brian Butler said an employee from Westover Pizza had taken the proceeds from pizza sales shortly after closing at 10 p.m. The man, who took his girlfriend with him for some reason decided to pull his car over on nearby Burr Street to count the money.

DANBURY - Two area men were arrested this week and charged with police for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy they met online.

Authorities said the youth came to police headquarters in July, accompanied by his parents, and reported that he had a sexual encounter with two men that he had met online through a dating application earlier that day.

Police said they were able to identify the two men as Jamal Jackson, 31, of Brookfield, and Timothy Connolly, 56, of New Milford. Jackson was arrested on Nov. 30 when he appeared in Superior Court in Danbury for an unrelated matter, police said.

STAMFORD — A West Side man was charged with stabbing his girlfriend in the arm with a knife late Wednesday night.

Police responded to a Fairfield Avenue apartment about 11 p.m. Wednesday for the report of a stabbing and found Wilmer Cardona-Sandoval, 28, sitting on the porch.

Cardona-Sandoval’s girlfriend told police he came home drunk, threw her on the bed, got on top of her and demanded his half of the rent back, the report said.

The woman said he then pulled out a knife and tossed it from hand to hand, police said.