5:00pm–#Bridgeport CT– A car crashed into a strip mall at the intersection of Suburban and Brooklawn Avenue. Fortunately it was an empty store being converted into a liquor store. I briefly saw the driver, she appeared to be in her thirties, there were no reported injuries. Firefighters can be seen in the photograph removing shards of glass to the frame of the window.
![20150620_171359[1]](http://www.doingitlocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/20150620_1713591-1024x576.jpg)
Westport CT–Screening of the film THE GOOD LIE with Screenwriter Margaret Nagle, June 24 at 6:30 pm at Westport Woman’s Club A screening of the film, The Good Lie about the “Lost Boys” of Sudan will take place on
Wednesday, June 24 at 6:30 pm at The Westport Woman’s Club, located at 44 Imperial Avenue in Westport. It will be followed by a talkback with the screenwriter, Margaret Nagle. The program is free and open to the public, presented in partnership with The Westport Library, TEAM Westport and The Westport Woman’s Club.
Starring Reese Witherspoon, the film was released theatrically in 2014. It tells the true story of five Sudanese children orphaned following a massacre in their village during the second Sudanese civil war. After an arduous and dangerous trek they reach safety in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Years later, the four surviving youths finally are selected for resettlement in the United States but they are separated, with the one girl among them sent to Boston, while the three boys must make a new life in Kansas City. Together, these young men adjust to an alien culture even as the emotional baggage of their past haunts them. These newcomers and their new friends, including employment counselor, Carrie Davis (Reese Witherspoon), struggle to understand each other as they make peace with their histories in a challenge that will change all Filmmaker Margaret Nagle has devoted herself to bringing this story to life. Her Westport appearance precedes a presentation of the film at the United Nations the following day. Nagle’s screenplay for The Good Lie was nominated for the 2014 NAACP Image Award as Best Original Screenplay. Directed by Academy Award nominated director Philippe Falardeau, the film has garnered the rare distinction of an A+ CinemaScore rating, the only film of 2014 to do so.
Currently, among Nagle’s other credits are Boardwalk Empire and the Emmy winning HBO film, Warm Springs, starring Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Nagle has received the Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Long Form Original TV Movie, as well as Humanitas and Pen Award nominations. Nagle worked as a writer and supervising producer on the first season of “Boardwalk Empire” for HBO, earning a WGA Award for Outstanding New Series and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. The show won the Golden Globe for Best Series.
For further information, phone 203-291-4800, or check westportlibrary.org.
2:45pm–Stratford CT–What was thought to be a boat or car on the rocks turned out to be a two car accident on the docks at Long Beach. The building inspector was requested to the scene as one car is partially hanging off the docks.
This report sponsored by:
Under a new law passed during the 2015 Legislative Session, municipalities and local residents will no longer have to foot the bill to hold a public information meeting on a proposed cell tower – the applicant will.
Sen. Tony Hwang (R-28), a leading proponent of greater local control, accountability and transparency in cell tower decisions, was a co-sponsor of the legislation (Public Act No. 15-186).
“It is absolutely essential that residents who live near a proposed cell tower are engaged in the process early and in a meaningful way that is open, inclusive and respectful,” Sen. Hwang said. “I am thankful this law provides a funding mechanism that helps achieve that for our neighborhoods without placing a financial burden on our already tight municipal budgets.”
The Connecticut Siting Council, a quasi-governmental agency, has sole jurisdiction in these matters. And while the Council painstakingly reviews proposals to ensure they meet a strict set of legal criteria, of the last 146 cell tower applications received, 113 were approved, 12 were denied, and 21 were withdrawn. In other words, three out of four cell tower applications are approved.
“That’s why it is essential to have stakeholders – both the applicant and the public – come together to address any potential issues and work together prior to the submission of an application,” Sen. Hwang said. “We need to employ a proactive approach.”
Indeed, a groundswell of grassroots involvement led to coordinated community efforts that helped thwart at least two cell tower proposals within the past year – one in the Green’s Farms section of Westport and another near the branch public library in Fairfield. While the Fairfield proposal was withdrawn, the one in Green’s Farms is still, unfortunately, an ongoing possibility, Sen. Hwang noted.
“I believe we all recognize the need for cell phone companies to increase their capacity to meet growing demand, but we must work together to create an equitable balance between their needs as businesses and our rights and responsibilities as citizens to ensure the health and safety of people and our environment,” Sen. Hwang said. “Once again, I’m confident that this new law puts us further down that path.”
The new law builds on one Sen. Hwang co-sponsored in 2012, when he was a state Representative. That law, Public Act 12-165, expands the factors the Siting Council must consider when approving cell towers; prohibits the Council from approving a telecommunications tower’s installation within 250 feet of a school or commercial child day care center; and requires telecommunications tower developers to consult with municipalities that may be affected by the location of a tower at least 90 days before applying to the Council.
How about some likes for Nima who has been sponsoring DoingItLocal.com for two years now? He continues to keep DoingItLocal FREE to YOU. Nima is a mortgage specialist who can get you the lowest rates on mortgages and can save your thousands a year in lower monthly payments. If you plan to purchase a home please give him a call. He’s got a warm personality that you will immediately feel comfortable with!
3:03am–UPDATE: Person freed, highway still shutdown.
3:00am UPDATE: Highway is shutdown southbound at exit 14.
UPDATE: Radio reports say he is pinned under the vehicle against a wall.
2:47am–#cttraffic–#Shelton CT–Report of an accident with a person ejected from the vehicle on Route 8 southbound near exit 14. Passerby on scene reporting the person is pinned against a wall, still alive but desperately needing an ambulance. First responders on the way. UPDATE: Radio reports say he is pinned under the vehicle against a wall.
This report sponsored by:
Researching that it was just as violent over 100 years ago. Here is an article from the Bridgeport Farmer dated June 20, 1910. I will be posting these over the weekends and as Throwback Thursdays. If you like to reminisce you should visit my other website http://www.yourememberthat.com/
#Bridgeport CT (June 19, 2015) – A Monroe man was jailed on $500,000 bond after police apprehended him with five guns, including two assault weapons, that investigators believe he intended to sell to a drug dealer.
The seizure and arrest was made by the Statewide Urban Violence Cooperative Crime Control Task Force, which is a joint task force that consists of Bridgeport Police, the Connecticut State Police and Department of Corrections. Their goal is to identify and target violence related to firearms in the city of Bridgeport.
The task force was conducting surveillance in the area of North and Park avenues in an unrelated investigation when officers noticed a white pickup truck parked in the lot of a nearby fast-food restaurant. The driver, however, never exited the vehicle and was looking around as if he was waiting for someone.
Through their training and experience, the officers suspected he might be waiting to purchase narcotics. Addicts often meet their dealers in public parking lots. Never exiting the truck, the driver pulled out of the restaurant lot. Task force members followed and contacted a patrol officer to pull over the driver for a seatbelt violation.
When the officer activated his lights and sirens, the driver, later identified as Robert Nolan, 30, of Monroe, made an abrupt turn into a Benham Avenue driveway.
Nolan ignored officers’ instructions and was reaching around the interior of the vehicle. When he did exit the car, police saw a gun holster on his hip and detained him. As police investigated further, they recovered a loaded .40-caliber handgun and two magazines, two AR-15-style assault weapons and a .308 sniper rifle loaded with tracer rounds.
Nolan told police that the guns belonged to him and that over the last few years had been purchasing guns in Vermont where gun laws are less strict. “Mr. Nolan said he came to Bridgeport to meet a friend, who was going to hook him up with a drug dealer who was willing to pay him between $5,000 and $10,000 for the weapons,” said Police Chief Joseph L. Gaudett Jr. “He also indicated that he was addicted to heroin.”
“The members of the task force followed their instincts and prevented these very dangerous weapons from ending up on the street in the possession of a drug dealer.”
Straw gun buyers are dangerous source of illegal guns that plague cities across the country, Gaudett said. In most cases, weapons are purchased legally and the straw buyer then sells them on the street for a profit or trades them for drugs.
Nolan faces five counts of illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, five counts of illegal possession of a firearm, two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit, five counts of attempted illegal sale of a firearm, five counts of attempted firearms trafficking, two counts of possession of an assault weapon, two counts of transportation of a loaded assault weapon in a motor vehicle and six counts of possession of an illegal high-capacity magazine.
(Edited City of Bridgeport Press Release)
11:37pm–#cttraffic–Milford CT–A three car crash I-95 southbound near the rest area with injuries.
This report sponsored by:
10:50pm–#Bridgeport A naked man was trying to get into parked cars on Newfield and Stratford Avenue. Police held him until EMS transported him to Bridgeport Hospital. He is allegedly on PCP.
This report sponsored by:
