Following a November 7 public hearing, at which a large gas station/convenience store proposed for a vacant 3.7-acre lot at 13 Hawleyville Road (Route 25) drew stiff opposition from the public, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members unanimously rejected the development project.
While a motor vehicle colliding with a deer is not an unusual event on local roads, a collision involving a vehicle and a black bear is out of the ordinary.
The Design Advisory Board (DAB) on Tuesday, November 12, is scheduled to review the architectural and landscaping aspects of a proposed Botsford restaurant expansion project. The DAB session is slated for 7 pm at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street.
Residents interested in offering their views on a land developer’s controversial proposal to raze the former Inn at Newtown at 19 Main Street and replace it with several buildings comprising a market-rate rental apartment complex will have an opportunity to comment when the Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) holds a public hearing on the matter next week.
Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke announced on November 1 that he would be ending his campaign for the 2020 presidential race, just two days after visiting Newtown.
Mr O’Rourke had been invited t...
Veterans Day on Monday, November 11, will have an effect on local offices and businesses. Many entities will be closed in observance of the federal holiday. VFW Post 308 and American Legion Post 202 are planning special events.
With no top of ticket contest for First Selectman, and a somewhat historic lack of competition on the Board of Selectmen, local races were all about which party would either retain or reclaim majority status on the various boards and commissions that have been almost exclusively controlled by Newtown Democrats since 2017.
People’s United Bank, located inside the Sand Hill Plaza’s Stop & Shop, at 228 South Main Street, hosted its Purse Patrol program on October 25, from 10 am to noon.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation is planning overnight ramp closures this week and next on I-84 West in Newtown at Exits 9 and 10 that will bring mean paved and striped ramps, bridge decks, and travel lanes without exposed concrete foundation repairs once work is complete.
I look forward to hearing about RTD's to be scheduled protests over the following public hearing controversies during the most recent legislative session. Or does it only matter if the person has an (R) next to their name?
(1) Emergency Certifications: The Democratic supermajority for used "emergency certification" for bills—such as those on election security or worker protections—which allows them to bring legislation directly to the floor without a public hearing.
(2) Midnight Cutoffs: During a March 2026 Public Health Committee hearing on vaccine mandates, Democratic leaders voted to end the hearing at approximately 12:15 a.m., which resulted in hundreds of residents who waited all day to speak losing their opportunity to testify in person.
(3) Limiting Testimony: Democrat-led committees, such as the Education and Public Health committees, imposed time limits or capped public testimony on highly contentious bills related to vaccines, parental rights, and homeschooling.
I thank you for the tone of your reply. I appreciate it. I too stand by my statement that, not the candidates, but the process and those pushing it, has become divisive. I also continue to take offense to some of the labels, such as "surrogate" and "camp". I do not find them to be proper references for groups of people. I confidently add that the lack of primary in the Kamala Harris defeat was not due to the lack of a primary. I campaigned for Kamala and we can have a private discussion, if you like, at another time the defeat. I also completely disagree with the statement that primaries improve voter turnout. In Connecticut, primaries are met with low voter turnout and they are expensive to administer. This will not be any different but I respect your opinion and am open to discussion.
Hi Yolanda, you clearly are a supporter of Michelle Ku. I see that our letters about the recent decision by the Democratic Town Committee regarding how they/we will choose a nominee have been published on the same day.
Last week the DTC voted to have a Caucus (where all Newtown registered Dems in the 106 get to vote instead of a DTC meeting where only 55 dems get to vote) to help determine which Dem will run for the 106 seat against Mitch Bolinsky. Your letter indicates you prefer the DTC meeting (55 votes) while I prefer the Caucus where it is open to thousands of democrats in town. I prefer a Caucus vote for either Ku or Moore (by the way you’re limited to 300 words in a LTE so first names take up words so I don’t use them) for the reasons I stated in my letter above - more people get to vote, more people are engaged, more turnout in November.
About the divisiveness, there are many comments on social media before and since this decision by DTC that claim there should be no such contest these have been made by Ku supporters on her pages and they have in fact written what I mentioned above.
In politics “Surrogates” and “Camp”are commonly used shorthand for supporters of a particular candidate - I’ve never heard it used offensively so I never thought anyone would interpret using such terms as an attack.
I have seen nothing from the other campaign neither posts from the Candidate or his supporters, “surrogates”, or camp that make such negative comments and that’s the truth.
People can have their beliefs about the process - I believe primaries are good , you may not - but to try to say one candidate is “divisive” because they choose to run and provide us a choice and a chance to promote the party at the same time is not good for any of us - citizens should not just be allowed but should be encouraged to step up and run. I stand by what I said- for one candidate’s team to say that they are or their people are so mad that they’ll vote for the opposing party is divisive.
All is going well! Thank you for advancing critical initiatives and making such quick progress where it matters for our community. We are honored to have you as our First Selectman!
