Taryn and Michael Aiello of Oxford were the first parents to enter their children in this year’s Beautiful Baby Photo Contest. The contest is a charitable fundraiser, this year raising funds for Newtown’s First Responders and the My Sandy Hook Family Fund.
The usually placid Gill Corn Farm in Hurley, N.Y., an expansive cornfield in the southern foothills of the Catskill Mountains, was alive with the sights and sounds of rocket engines during Connecticut Rocket Association’s (CTRA) bimonthly rocket launch on Saturday, May 4. Powerful rockets, some exceeding eight feet in length, ripped off the launching pads with a roar and reached heights of up to 6,000 feet before floating safely back down to earth with the aid of parachutes. Approximately 30 spectators, many of them members of CTRA, and among them a few residents of Newtown, watched scores of adrenaline-producing launches from a dirt road that cut through the field.
After about two hours of community input, deliberations and two failed amendments, the Legislative Council voted 9-3 to further reduce the school district’s budget request by $300,000. If approved at a planned third round referendum June 4, that would drop requested Board of Education increase to 3.93 percent
Voters already passed the municipal budget request in a split May 14 referendum. Upon approval, the district budget would stand at $71,045,304.
Prior to this week’s reduction, the district budget increase stood at 4.37 percent. If voters support the latest proposal, it would deliver a total budget increase of 3.58 percent, and a 2013-14 tax rate of 33.32 mills. [read more]
The Town of Newtown has launched a new recovery website called onenewtown.org. This website has been developed to bring information on recovery together in one place and is different from the town’s website which focuses on town departments, meeting agendas, minutes and other details. According to a release, Onenewtown.org provides information, support resources, and the opportunity to ask questions. It details the ideas and stories that will help the community to heal. “Onenewtown.org is focused on connection and communication, being engaged with one another and sharing experiences that refresh and inspire us,” said First Selectman Pat Llodra. “Our hope is that the site will be a key source for critical and timely information on our recovery, promote community participation, and detail our collective path forward.” Mrs Llodra extended a personal note of thanks
Following an executive session, the Board of Education unanimously voted on Tuesday, May 21, to name a principal and assistant principal for Sandy Hook School.
Kathleen Gombos, the current principal at R.M.T. Johnson School in Bethel, was chosen as the new principal for Sandy Hook School, and Timothy Napolitano, who currently teaches at Reed Intermediate School, was appointed as assistant principal.
According to a press release from the school district, Dr Gombos “has been viewed by her staff as intelligent, compassionate, a true leader, and a person who empowers others but yet holds them accountable...
Dana Sellner of Minnesota stood on the curb near Edmond Town Hall Wednesday afternoon, repeating: “The turn is here” to the many bicyclists coming off Main Street following their trip from Waterbury.Remarking on the ride that morning she said, “They have climbed a lot of hills in the past couple of days.” Wednesday afternoon saw more than 80 of the roughly 140 registrants taking part in all or some of the Muddy Angels National EMS Memorial Bike Ride (NEMSMBR) from Maine to Pennsylvania (see MuddyAngels.com for more information).The long-distance cycling event honors EMTs and paramedics who have become sick or injured while performing...
The View From Newtown
Contribute your Instagram view of Newtown at #viewfromnewtown !