Danbury, Fairfield County | featured news

RIDGEFIELD — When New York-based artist Xiomaro applied to Weir Farm’s artist-in-residence program six years ago, he didn’t think he would be accepted, let alone write the first book about the national park.

“I didn’t think I was qualified,” Xiomaro said, adding he had started photographing parks as a hobby only a few years earlier. “But, I applied anyway. I thought, ‘I have nothing to lose.’”

The park selected him to live at Weir Farm National Historic site for a month in 2011.

NEWTOWN — First Selectman Dan Rosenthal and the town’s Emergency Management Office are urging residents to prepare for the severe cold weather forecast for the next week.

Officials reminded residents to review preparedness plans, protect pets and check on elderly or frail neighbors. They listed locations in town they can use to seek relief from the cold:

The library is open from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It will be closed Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

Light snowfall Saturday could hamper the travels of those looking to get out of town for New Year’s Eve, according to the latest National Weather Service forecasts.

The NWS says that there is a 90 percent chance of snow in Southwestern Connecticut today, with the highest amounts expected along the coast.

Snow is expected to start falling around 7 a.m. before kicking up a notch around 1 p.m. Between 1-3 p.m., the NWS predicts one to two inches of snow to accumulate, making for “slippery traveling conditions” around the state.

Police around the region are stepping up enforcement to prevent dangerous driving on the roads this New Year’s weekend. Newtown began its extra enforcement Thursday evening and will continue through the weekend, with two officers dedicated each evening solely to enforcing speed and driving-while-intoxicated violations, said Lt. Aaron Bahamonde. He said the two violations often go hand in hand. “People under the influence tend to drive very fast or extremely slow, so those are certainly clues our officers look for,” he said.

There were far fewer moving violations and DUI arrests this Christmas weekend than last year, according to State Police statistics released Tuesday morning.

State Police, which bumps up enforcement efforts over the holiday, saw 777 moving violations from midnight Dec. 22 to the morning of Dec. 26. Of those violations, 347 were for speeding infractions and 11 were for seat belt infractions. Other violations included unsafe lane change and cell phone usage.

Over the same span last year, police logged 1,586 moving violations, of which speeding made up 579.

Most residents in Southwestern Connecticut are waking up to a wet, not white Christmas.

The wintery mix forecast for Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London overnight Christmas Eve, was largely rain.

As of 6 a.m.

Some residents in Southwestern Connecticut woke up to a white Christmas, while for others it was just wet.

The wintery mix forecast for Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London overnight Christmas Eve, was largely rain, turning over to flurries by daybreak followed by clear skies.

As of 6 a.m. Christmas morning, there was a coating along the shoreline from Greenwich to New Haven, with freezing rain in Meriden, and rain turning over to snow in Oxford.

Oxford was left with about an inch of snow on the ground.

In Danbury, meanwhile, close to two inches of snow had fallen.

REDDING - Some residents have recently questioned the size of the town’s police department and whether it’s needed in a mostly rural community like Redding. The 17-officer department costs the town about $2.4 million a year, money that some residents think could be better spent on other needs. At one recent meeting of the Board of Selectmen, resident Wolf Boehme proposed a return to the resident state trooper program, which the town used until about 15 years ago.

A Redding administrator has been named the 2018 Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year by the Connecticut Association of Schools. Darlene Wallin, this year’s winner, is the assistant principal at John Read Middle School. She was nominated for the award by Diane Martin, the school’s principal. Wallin has also served as the school climate coordinator since 2011 and is the newly appointed School climate specialist for the five schools that make up the Easton, Redding and Region 9 districts.

DANBURY — Danbury police located man lost in the woods off Sugar Hollow Road late Wednesday, but are still searching for a state police canine that was lost in the search.

The 42-year-old man with autism ran into the woods near the Wooster Mountain State Park at around 1 p.m. Wednesday after getting into a fight with his mother. But shortly after state police entered the woods around 5 p.m.