Danbury, Fairfield County | featured news

HARTFORD — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Wednesday offered a sermon on fairness, using his final State of the State address to push back at President Donald Trump’s policies and boost his own agenda and legacy.

"We find ourselves at a defining moment in our history, as a state and as a nation," Malloy told a joint session of the General Assembly.

"We can no-longer afford the luxury of silence, or the alluring comfort of the status quo,” Malloy continued.

HARTFORD — The General Assembly’s Democratic leaders on Tuesday vowed to bring electronic highway tolls to a vote while laying out a progressive agenda that includes increasing the minimum wage, mandating paid family leave and creating tuition free community colleges.

"I am proud to stand here as we unveil our Democratic Values Agenda," said Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven.

HARTFORD - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Monday proposed changes to the state budget that restores $4.3 billion in planned transportation projects, cancels proposed Metro-North fare hikes and service cuts and places electronic tolls on state highways.

The proposed adjustments to the current two-year state budget also wipes out the $200 personal property tax exemption, creates a new 25-cent deposit on wine and spirit bottles and eliminates education cost sharing for the 33 wealthiest communities.

RIDGEFIELD — A group of residents and business owners, who teamed up last summer to promote the town, have decided to hire SandorMax marketing agency.

Wayne Addessi, who started the group, said the Newtown-based company will help it develop a website. The group was started last summer to advertise Ridgefield and has since collected nearly $50,000 in private donations and created a promotional video about the town, Addessi said at a Board of Selectmen meeting this week.

Addessi, who owns Addessi Jewelers on Main Street, said his goal is for the group to raise $100,000.

NEW FAIRFIELD — Board of Education members voted Thursday to add a second opportunity for public comment to their meetings.

Board members discussed the idea at a previous meeting, where they said a second public comment portion might let residents ask questions about board decisions or discussions instead of waiting until the next meeting to do so. The public comment portion now sits at the beginning of the meetings.

The second public comment portion will be added between “action items” and “board member comments,” which are typically the last items on the agenda.

NEW MILFORD — A Bethel man accused of breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s New Milford home last summer Friday pleaded guilty to a home invasion charge.

Mark Benoit was originally charged with home invasion, stalking, third-degree assault, burglary, and attempting to commit unlawful restrain after his June. 14 arrest.

The charges stem from when he appeared outside his ex-girlfriend’s home wearing a ski mask and carrying duct tape and a knife in June, according to court documents.

STAMFORD — “Beetle Bailey” creator Mort Walker, who chronicled the mishaps of the world’s laziest U.S. Army private since 1950 while maintaining an unrivaled run of work in the comics industry, died at his Stamford, Connecticut, home Saturday at 94.

Walker’s work ethic was defined by “Beetle Bailey,” the longest-running comic strip drawn by its original creator in the history of comics, but he published eight other strips at various points of his career.

DANBURY — Police checking on a suspicious car Friday night ended up taking a Danbury man into custody on a string of outstanding charges.

Officers were called to Boat Road around 10:20 p.m. for reports of suspicious activity and found Lenny Almonte, 22, and another person sitting in a car.

Police discovered that Almonte was wanted on six outstanding warrants over the last year. He had failed to appear in court for many of the charges, police said.

Two of the warrants were for car accidents, including a hit-and-run in October where Almonte fled the scene.

It may not look like it but early morning commutes on Saturday could prove to be sneakily icy, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

The NWS issued a special weather advisory to warn residents of potentially icy conditions in the early hours of Saturday morning.

KENT - A nearly four-mile stretch of Route 7 has reopened after waters of the Housatonic River receded.

“CT DOT has confirmed that Route 7 has now reopened,” State Rep. Brian Ohler tweeted Friday morning. “Water has receded and clean up efforts have been completed. Please travel with caution.”

The road has been closed for days because of rising waters of the Housatonic.

The highest level was 6.42 feet on Tuesday.

Flood stage is eight feet.

On Friday morning the river had fallen to 5.4 feet, according to the Northeast River Forecast Center.