News

On The Ground: Former Newtown Residents Report In From Houston

By John Voket

Updated: February 29, 2024 10:43 am

As self-appointed responders team with expanding organized efforts to help rescue and support residents in Houston and surrounding communities hardest hit by Hurricane — now tropical storm — Harvey, several former local residents checked in with The Newtown Bee about the situation as they were seeing it.

Hurricane Harvey Pet Food Relief Drive Underway

By Shannon Hicks

Published: August 31, 2017 12:00 am

This story has been updated to reflect information received from Your Healthy Pet, extending the original Thursday deadline to Friday. Your Healthy Pet, the pet supply store at 61 Church Hill Roa...

Selectmen Hear Residents' Concerns, Issue Temporary LOF License

By Kendra Bobowick

Published: August 31, 2017 12:00 am

"The discussion in front of us is not about value or merits of the Leaps of Faith," said First Selectman Pat Llodra, during an August 17 Board of Selectmen's meeting. The three selectmen and other off...

Disabled Waterski Group And Neighbors At Odds

By Kendra Bobowick

Published: August 31, 2017 12:00 am

Finding themselves at odds this year are town officials, LOF Adaptive Skiers operations, and neighbors in the vicinity of those operations. The Sandy Hook-based LOF Founder Joel Zeisler has been runni...

Police Seeking Evading Vehicle

By Shannon Hicks

Published: August 31, 2017 12:00 am

Newtown Police Department is looking this morning for an older model white or silver Jeep Grand Cherokee whose driver reportedly evaded an officer during a motor vehicle stop. The vehicle, believed to...

T-Shirt Sales To Support Victims Of Hurricane Harvey

Published: August 31, 2017 12:00 am

John Celli and his wife of NewtownApparel.com are raising funds to support victims of Hurricane Harvey, which has devastated the mid-Gulf coast of Texas.newtownapparel.com/collections/houston-relief-2...

Governor Advises On Hurricane Harvey Response And Recovery

Published: August 29, 2017 12:00 am

HARTFORD - Governor Dannel P. Malloy is advising Connecticut residents who are considering providing monetary donations to nonprofit organizations that are assisting with Hurricane Harvey response and...

Road Closures For Newtown 5-K Road Race And Labor Day ParadeÂ

Published: August 28, 2017 12:00 am

Local officials have listed the road closures planned for two major events scheduled for the Labor Day weekend - the 12th Annual Newtown 5-K Road Race to be held on Saturday, September 2, and the 56th...

New Family Pharmacy Hosting Narcan Training Day

By John Voket

Published: August 27, 2017 12:00 am

NOTE (Monday, August 28, 2017): This story has been updated [and from the print version of August 25, 2017] to correct a misspelled name, hours of operation, and to remove the word "giveaway" in r...

Public Hearings Scheduled For Three Town Ordinances

By John Voket

Published: August 26, 2017 12:00 am

The comprehensive update of a local Roads Ordinance that will give the town much more flexibility and lays out specific guidelines on the development, maintenance, and improvements of town roads is am...

Fire Reports | July 1-7, 2026

BOE CFF Discusses Itemized Estimates, Expected Summer Projects, OPEB

Newtown Students Recognized For Work In Lt Governor's Computing Challenge

Police Reports | June 19-July 5, 2026

State Champs Again! U10 Hawks Defeat Milford 3-2

Bruce, welcome to the conversation. Your recent statement after the storm — admitting that you should have communicated “faster, more completely, and more personally” — was fine as far as it went. But this is not just about one storm. It is about a pattern. You ran on openness, responsiveness, and transparency, even saying that “evasive answers or silence are unacceptable in government.” The problem is that Newtown residents have been dealing with exactly that silence from you since you were elected. Newtown’s Emergency Management page says the town, together with the Office of the First Selectman, provides “critical public information and warning” during emergencies. The town also rolled out CodeRED cellphone registration on March 24, 2022 so residents could receive emergency information directly. So where were you when police were searching for missing 23-year-old Kateri Doty in January? Where were you during the brush fires near the Newtown town line in April? Where were you on April 22, when state police and Newtown police were searching for two people who fled an I-84 crash and a canine search moved into the Church Hill Road area? Residents should not be hearing about a missing person, wildfire conditions, or police tracking dogs moving through backyards from Facebook, neighbors, or kids in town. They should be hearing from their town government. This is not really about whether you personally press the CodeRED button. Or how many task forces you have created. It is about leadership. You are the First Selectman. You are responsible for making sure the town communicates clearly, quickly, and visibly when public safety is involved. So yes, it is nice that you have finally acknowledged the problem. But the public did not need this storm to figure it out. We have been saying it for a long time. Bruce, you were missing when the town needed to hear from you. The question now is whether this storm finally woke you up, or whether this is just another late apology followed by more silence.

First Selectman Addresses Storm Response

The topic may be the same but the narratives every other week differ and I appreciate the installments. Rebuttals on factual content rather than focusing on form would improve the discourse.

Elections Have Consequences XXVI

Who would think that we would start losing count? Maybe not so much a typo as a copy-and-paste error, easy to understand after this much repetition.

Elections Have Consequences XXVI

Congrats to all the 275 graduates. For context...class of 2005 had 360 students, the number of graduating seniors seemed to cap out in the late 2000's in the low 400's.

Onwards And Upwards — NHS Class Of 2026 Graduates

It was actually a typo on my part, turns out.

Elections Have Consequences XXVI

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