News

Visiting Ballfields To Get The Vote Out

By Eliza Hallabeck

Published: June 03, 2013 12:00 am

With the third round school budget referendum set for Tuesday, June 4, Acting Superintendent of Schools John Reed and others ventured to ballfields around Newtown last Saturday and Sunday to speak wit...

Newtown Families To Legislators: Stop Release Of Crime Scene Photos

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Published: June 01, 2013 12:00 am

The families of those massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School are calling on legislators to amend state law so that photos and audio of the 911 phone calls from the December incident are not release...

Traffic-Lane Shifts Planned For I-84 Overpasses Above Center St.

By Andrew Gorosko

Published: May 31, 2013 12:00 am

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) will be shifting the lanes of traffic flow on the two Interstate-84 bridges which cross above Center Street in the Riverside section of Sandy Hook. The con...

Sandy Hook Families Call For Privacy Of 12/14 Crime Scene Information

Published: May 31, 2013 12:00 am

HARTFORD — Twenty parents and spouses who lost loved ones at the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary on 12/14 gathered together at the Capitol in Hartford on Friday, May 31, to call on legislators to pa...

Yankees To Host Newtown Day On July 7

Published: May 31, 2013 12:00 am

UPDATE: As of the mid afternoon on May 31, the available tickets have been spoken for but interested fans may still be in contention for tickets via a waiting list by clicking on the link belo...

The Newtown Bee's Buzzcast From May 31

By Eliza Hallabeck

Published: May 31, 2013 12:00 am

This is The Newtown Bee's Buzzcast for the edition dated May 31, 2013. The Buzzcast is a podcast roundup of top news from each edition of The Newtown Bee. Tune in weekly.

The Newtown Bee's Buzzcast From May 31

By Eliza Hallabeck

Published: May 31, 2013 12:00 am

This is The Newtown Bee's Buzzcast for the edition dated May 31, 2013. The Buzzcast is a podcast roundup of top news from each edition of The Newtown Bee. Tune in weekly.

12/14 Report Release May Not Be Until October

By Andrew Gorosko

Published: May 30, 2013 12:00 am

Those awaiting the release of the long-awaited public investigatory report on the criminal actions of Adam Lanza, who shot and killed 28 people including himself in Sandy Hook last December 14, likely...

June 13 Event In Washington, DC, To Commemorate 12/14

Published: May 30, 2013 12:00 am

Newtown Action Alliance, a local grassroots organization committed to reducing gun violence, is sponsoring an all-day event in Washington, D.C., Thursday, June 13, to demand that Congress vote on and ...

CT DEEP Forecasting Unhealthy Air Quality For Most Of The State May 30-June 1

Published: May 30, 2013 12:00 am

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is forecasting unhealthy air quality for “sensitive groups” on Thursday, May 30, through Saturday, June 1, due to predicted ele...

Absentee Ballots Available For August 11 Primary, Early Voting Opens Monday

Snapshot: Michael Trnik

P&Z Continues 9 Beechwood Drive Subdivision Discussion, Approves Text Amendments

Career Coach Returning For ‘Introduction To Microsoft Word’

Northern Fairfield Professionals To Meet August 11

It's a bit ironic. On July 31, 2025, Bruce Walczak wrote that "evasive answers or silence are unacceptable in government." He also promised to respond to constituent inquiries and to "close the loop," even when there wasn't an immediate answer. Two weeks of silence in response to a legitimate question seems difficult to reconcile with that pledge. The standard wasn't set by his critics—it was set by Bruce himself. Just another politician ... say whatever is necessary to get the job. Original letter: https://www.newtownbee.com/07312025/a-commitment-to-responsiveness/

First Selectman Addresses Storm Response

CT primaries are closed to voters not registered with the party's designation. Dems can't vote in Rep. primaries and, vice versa. Unaffiliated and Independent voters cannot vote in them. Keep primaries closed!

Time to Change the Guard

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

Copyright ©2026 The Newtown Bee / All rights reserved