#Norwalk CT—The Norwalk Police Emerald Society is proud to announce that Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling has been chosen as the Inaugural Norwalk St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal. The parade will take place on Thursday March 17, 2016. A ceremony will be conducted in front of Norwalk Police Headquarters at 10:30 a.m. followed by the parade at 11:00 a.m. The parade will feature the music of the Norwalk Emerald Society Pipe Band along with members of the Norwalk Police Department, Norwalk Fire Department, Norwalk Emergency Medical Service, Norwalk Veterans, O’Neill’s Irish Pub and Diageo float and much more.
The parade will start on South Main Street and proceed to North Main Street, ending on Pine Street. Norwalk Emerald Society President Brendan Collins stated that this year’s parade is just the start of an annual event that will spread warmth and cheer throughout the community.
L-R NPES President Brendan Collins, Mayor Harry Rilling, NPES Vice President Terrence Blake
#MIDDLETOWN CT – February 24, 2016) – Connecticut State Police’s K-9 Jesse will receive a bullet and stab protective vest thanks to a charitable donation from non-profit organization Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. K9 Jesse’s vest is sponsored by MacKenzie Machine, Inc., of New Haven, CT, and will be embroidered with the sentiment “Keeping our dogs safe! In loving memory of BRP.” Delivery is expected within eight to ten weeks. K9 Jesse has been assigned to Trooper First Class Scott Menard for the past 18 months and the K9 team is currently working at Troop H in Hartford. K9 Jesse is a six-year-old male German Shepard who is trained in all patrol functions including tracking, building searches, evidence recovery, apprehension, obstacles and obedience. K9 Jesse is also cross-trained as a narcotics detection canine.
Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. is a 501c (3) charity located in East Taunton, MA., whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. The nonprofit was established in 2009 to assist law enforcement agencies with this potentially lifesaving body armor for their four -legged K9 partners. Through private and corporate donations, Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., has provided more than 1,700 protective vests in 49 states at a cost of more than $1.6 million. All vests are custom made in the USA by Armor Express in Central Lake, MI. The program is open to dogs actively employed in the U.S. with law enforcement or related agencies who are certified and at least 20 months of age. New K9 graduates, as well as K9s with expired vests, are eligible to participate.
The donation to provide one protective vest for a law enforcement K9 is $1,050. Each vest has an average weight of 4-5 pounds and has a value between $1,795 – $2,234 and a five-year warranty. There are an estimated 30,000 law enforcement K9s throughout the United States. For more information or to learn about volunteer opportunities, please call 508-824-6978. Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. provides information, lists events, and accepts tax-deductible donations of any denomination at www.vik9s.org or mailed to P.O. Box 9 East Taunton, MA 02718.
3:00pm–#Easton CT– Homeowners on Pond Road and Morning Glory Driver are reporting break ins to their homes. The homeowner on Pond Road said she was in the house at the time the suspect was in her home according to radio reports. Police are on the scene.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy joined with a bipartisan group of 17 governors to announce the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future – a joint commitment to take action to promote clean energy, clean transportation choices and a modern electrical grid.
The accord provides participating governors – a bipartisan coalition together representing 127 million Americans – with a platform through which their states will collaborate, learn from one another, and leverage partnerships in energy planning and policymaking.
“Advancing clean energy is about advancing our future,” Governor Malloy said. “In Connecticut, we have coupled a forward-thinking vision with first-in-the-nation initiatives that dramatically reduce carbon emissions. We believe that economic growth and environmental protection aren’t mutually exclusive, but can happen in concert – we can indeed create good paying jobs, lower electricity bills for residents, and embrace greener, cleaner forms of energy. These are critical issues for our nation, and the world we leave for future generations tomorrow hinges on our actions today. I am glad to join my fellow governors in supporting this agreement.”
Democratic and Republican signatories to the accord commit that their states will continue to diversify energy generation and expand clean energy sources, modernize energy infrastructure, and encourage clean transportation options. The seventeen participating governors represent states that vary considerably in their energy mix and policy portfolios. However, these governors have committed to working together to make transformational policy changes to secure a stronger energy future for their states and the nation.
“American prosperity has always depended on embracing new ideas and technologies,” the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future states. “Embracing new energy solutions allows us to expand our economy while protecting the health of our communities and natural resources. These improvements will help secure a safe and prosperous future for our country. We recognize that now is the time to embrace a bold vision of the nation’s energy future, and to do so, states are once again poised to lead.”
States involved in the accord will:
Diversify energy generation and expand clean energy sources
Modernize energy infrastructure
Encourage clean transportation options
Plan for energy transition
Work together to make transformational policy changes.
Secure a stronger national energy future
Senior advisors to participating governors will convene shortly to discuss initial steps to pursue their shared priorities and commitments contained in the Accord.
Congressman Jim Himes (CT-04) celebrated the news that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced $23.4 million dollars in funding to housing authorities across the State of Connecticut. Four areas in the 4th District received a total of $6,268,644 divided as follows:
Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport – $3,876,098
New Canaan Housing Authority – $25,523
Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk – $1,272,166
Housing Authority of the City of Stamford – $1,094857
The grants announced today are provided through HUD’s Capital Fund Program, which is aimed at supporting renovation and modernization for housing authorities throughout the country. Projects supported by these funds include roof replacement, electrical and plumbing repair or updating electrical systems.
“We have a potential housing crisis on our hands in Southwest Connecticut,” said Himes. “There is not enough affordable housing for low-income individuals, and the housing that we do have is too often dated, inefficient, and in need of repair. The Capital Fund Program is absolutely invaluable in helping us deal with the most pressing of these issues, but only scratches the surface of addressing the underlying needs.
“I spent many years working in the field of affordable housing, both at Enterprise Community Partners and as Commissioner of the Greenwich Housing Authority. While both of those experiences came with their own challenges, I emerged with a strong belief that we can provide affordable housing in the 21st Century if we continue the strong partnerships between federal, state and local officials and are committed to using innovative, forward-thinking solutions. Our task will only be done when every individual and family has access to safe affordable housing, which will save us money and lives in the long run.”
That maybe the questions asked to us Weatherdogs over the next few days but our answer is a big fat NO! You will start to see a lot of hyping and chatting going on with other weather sources about what some may call a huge storm for next week… but this is what we can tell you as of today.
A model consensus and almost total agreement as of this morning is showing us that all the ingredients for what could potentially be a good sized East Coast Storm for next week will be in place. Now before we get bombarded with questions it is way too early to do much of any type of forecast. There will be changes every model run over the next 5-6 days. We will have a nice little break in the winter weather action to recharge our batteries. For our landscaping and DOT friends take these next 5 days to rest up, fix and clean up any equipment that might need it.
Next Wednesday and Thursday is the time frame as of today. If we were to show you the model output for snow totals it would be an injust and not fair. Just know we are closely monitoring the potential for a storm mid to late next week.
For all our weather geek friends… yes that’s you.. yes you the one who just stopped reading our post and went and looked at the model snow fall potential please take those model images for a grain of salt. There will be plenty of changes to those pretty colors on the map in the next 5 days.
We are closely monitoring the potential for a storm. Please follow us on Facebook at Valley Shore Weatherdogs for more up to date information and posts!
These are some of the warning headlines from the NWS this morning. This will be by far the colds temps we have seen in the last 5-10 years. Heed the warnings… the only good thing is it only lasts for 36 hours and then we will see this polar air exit stage right.
Lots of model agreement and disagreement for the Early week storm. Hopefully by late tonight or early tomorrow we should have a better idea of what will happen.
10:01pm–#Milford CT– A car has hit Tony’s Auto Body at 987 Bridgeport Avenue. Everyone got out of the car, EMS to evaluate them. It doesn’t sound like there is any significant damage to the building.
9:50pm–#New Canaan CT– A South Avenue resident was robbed in his driveway by three males, no weapons were used. They fled in a blue 1998 Honda Accord with CT plates AC07027 apparently from Bridgeport because police are suspect that is where it is headed. Three laptops were taken in the robbery.
