New Haven County | featured news

MIDDLETOWN >> A "new standard for college bookstores" was launched Tuesday as more than 150 people were introduced to the 12,000-square-foot Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore located in the old Itkins building on Main Street.Outside, the bright red Wesleyan Cardinals mascot joked with passersby and waved them inside, while inside, the two-floor space was milling with dignitaries and others perusing stacks and stacks of books lined floor to ceiling throughout.

TORRINGTON >> There are a series of plaques on the walls of the Beth El Synagogue on Litchfield Street, each bearing the name of a member of the congregation and their date of death. On the anniversary of their passing, a small light is illuminated next to their name, and they are announced during the next service in remembrance.

NEW HAVEN >> New Haven apparently has an ally in the Office of Policy and Management when it comes to criticism of the garage proposed for Union Station.New Haven officials, neighborhood groups and cycling advocates have rejected the design of the garage as half a century out of date.They also objected to the lack of first-floor retail, the size of the facility, skimpy accommodations for bicycles and a pedestrian bridge behind the garage that would only be accessible to state Department of Transportation and rail personnel.

NEW HAVEN >> When Ethan Sachs ate at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant for the first time with friends, he was a student at Amity High School.Sachs, now 26, said he's "been in love ever since.""Everywhere you go, the offerings are pretty standard: some small finger foods from the kitchen and a wide variety of sushi: hand rolls, maki and sashimi," he said.

HARTFORD >> The House approved a bill, 120-30, Tuesday that would expand employment protections for women in the workplace under Connecticut's anti-discrimination laws.The Republican lawmakers who opposed the legislation - no Democrats voted against the bill - said it would be a hardship for small business owners because the law would apply to businesses with as few as three people.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) >> The Latest on the blast at an Ariana Grande concert in northern England (all times local):10:05 p.m.British Prime Minister Theresa May says raising the country's terror threat level and deploying soldiers to patrol key sites a "proportionate and sensible response" to the suicide bombing at a Manchester concert venue.

NEW HAVEN >> The Asian tiger mosquito, which thrives in urban and suburban environments and readily feeds on humans, can survive the winter in Connecticut and could help spread West Nile virus, according to an article published by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell entered the history books when he spoke to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, through his prototype telephone, famously proclaiming, "Mr. Watson - come here - I want to see you."Dazzling as it was, the telephone was an impractical invention at first. Early phones were owned by businesses or people, and were sold in pairs, connecting one specific location to another specific location.

NEW HAVEN >> As a sober Board of Education meeting came to a close, following renewed calls for more transparency and an investigation into unauthorized school board spending, a last-minute comment poured gasoline onto low-simmering tensions Monday. Following a discussion about a report in the New Haven Register that city

NEW HAVEN >> The operator of a three-wheel motorcycle who lost control of the vehicle, resulting in the death of his best friend, has avoided serving jail time on a charge of negligent homicide with a motor vehicle.Dean L. Williams, 38, of Grandview Avenue, Hamden, received a six-month sentence, execution suspended, with two years of conditional discharge.