Connecticut, Danbury | featured news

DANBURY — A competency evaluation was ordered Friday for Steven Flood, a New Fairfield man facing murder charges in connection to the gruesome slaying of his roommate in May. Flood is facing several charges, including felony murder and first-degree sexual assault, in the death of Susan Guido, a 55-year-old woman who was found beaten to death in a home she shared with Flood near Candlewood Lake. According to court records, Flood was receiving disability payments at the time of the slaying and he had been suffering from both post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.

SOUTHBURY - Students have returned to Pomperaug High School after the school was briefly evacuated this morning for smoke in the air ducts.

School officials sent out a notice to parents stating that smoke was observed coming from the air ducts in the wood shop area around 8:30 a.m. and that the school was evacuated as a precaution.

Local firefighters responded to the school and said it was safe for the students to return after inspecting the building. Officials said the day is expected to proceed as normal.

dperrefort@newstimes.com

BETHEL - Firefighers from throughout the region battled a brush fire that erupted late Tuesday in the Terra Haute property on the town’s west side.

According to the fire department’s Facebook account of the incident, both Bethel and Stony Hill volunteer firefighters responded to a large brush fire on the Terre Haute property at the end of Trowbridge Drive.

DANBURY - Firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze that erupted near the furnace of a home on the city’s north end.

Officials with the fire department said the call came in around noon for a fire on Coach Road. Firefighters responding discovered a fire that had broke out near the furnace in the home’s basement.

A 26-year-old woman and her 14-year-old brother who were home at the time heard the smoke alarm and called 911 after evacuating the house, officials said.

Those who rely on Route 7 for their morning commute may want to find an alternative route, as a stretch of the main thoroughfare will be closed until Monday morning. Southbound drivers can expect delays in the Branchville section of Route 7 from 8 p.m. on Sept. 29 to 6 a.m. on Oct. 2, as the approximately two-mile stretch between Florida Hill Road and Branchville Road in Ridgefield will be closed to traffic. The closure is the results of Connecticut Department of Transportation conducting work on a bridge located in the Branchville stretch of Route 7.

RIDGEFIELD—Residents will get a chance to learn more about candidates running for open positions on the Board of Education and Board of Finance during a forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Ridgefield League of Women Voters will host the forum at the Ridgefield Library. Each slate of candidates, in two separate forums, will answer questions on issues impacting the town.

In July, the Republican Town Committee endorsed four candidates for the Board of Education and three for the finance board.

DANBURY - City Council member Thomas Saadi was named acting commissioner of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Friday. Saadi, chief of staff and general counsel of the department, will take over on Oct. 4 for Sean Connolly, who is stepping down, Malloy said in a release. Saadi will serve until a permanent successor is named, according to the release. “I am honored to be named as Acting Commissioner by Governor Malloy,” Saadi said in a prepared statement.

DANBURY - Two people are facing drug charges after being arrested Thursday by members of the police department’s special investigations division.

Police said both Bernardo Albarran, of Terrance Place and Nixalyz Colazzo, of Stillman Avenue were facing numerous charges after their arrest including possession of a controlled substance and possession with the intent to sell.

Detectives searched Colazzo’s Stillman Avenue apartment on Thursday where they discovered illegal drugs packaged for sale and a “significant” amount of cash.

DANBURY - Police arrested a city man Saturday after they said investigators found a substantial amount of drugs including Xanax and cocaine in his apartment.

According to police, Jason Perez, of Town Hill Avenue, is facing numerous drug charges including possession of narcotics and possession with intent to sell. Investigators responding to citizen complaints of possible drug activity searched the suspects apartment and located a substantial amount of Xanax pills, cocaine and marijuana, police said.

He was held on a $50,000 bond.

dperrefort@newstimes.com

The Freedom of Information Commission has found the Candlewood Lake Authority in violation of two statutes, ruling that it did not promptly respond last year to a request for records from an authority member John Hodge, a delegate from New Fairfield, had asked in December for copies of three years’ worth of communications, including emails, letters, texts and notes on phone calls, between former Executive Director Larry Marsicano and elected officials of the five lakeshore towns.