East Lyme News

“Keeping our highways safe is a quality of life issue”

More eyes may be watching you as you cruise down the highway if Governor M. Jodi Rell's recent budget presented to the Connecticut General Assembly is approved. via Associated Content

East Lyme _ An overturned box truck has closed an I-95 exit ramp in East Lyme. It happened at the end of the exit 73 northbound ramp just before 2 p.m. Pictures from Chopper 8 show a Sears truck on its side in ... via WTNH

“It was a prank, it was incredibly stupid and I am deeply sorry for the disruption to the community I care about”

Dressed in suit jackets and ties, several teenagers stood in the hallway of New London Superior Court Monday. via The Day

“If he got somebody's name wrong, he was crushed”

McCook's simply won't be the same. For years, the face you were most likely to see at the East Lyme town beach was Frank Eagen's. He was more than a regular. via The Day

Leah Clement won the 600-meter race and anchored East Lyme's winning 4x800 relay team as the Vikings won the 2008 CIAC Class L girls' indoor track and field championship Saturday at the New Haven Athletic ... via The Day

A Coventry woman being held in prison awaiting trial on charges that she tried to poison her then-husband was arraigned Friday on new charges of trying to hire someone outside jail to kill him. via Journal Inquirer

"Beauty and the Beast" was chosen last fall by Theater Director Carol Rosenfield and high school Choral Director Kristine Pekar. via Pictoral Gazette

“In this case, the public policy of encouraging the development of affordable housing must yield in light of the unique and important environmental setting of the property sought to be developed”

Developer Glenn Russo has been trying for years to build affordable housing on property he owns in the Oswegatchie Hills, but his applications so far have been rejected by the town. via The Day

“We will root it up, toss it away and send a message to those on the entrepreneurial cutting edge.”

When Gov. M. Jodi Rell unveils her new budget Wednesday, she will call for cutting business taxes and hiring 100 new state troopers over the next five years for increased traffic enforcement.

Declaring war on dangerous drivers, Rell will ask for funding for a pilot program of speed detection cameras along a treacherous stretch of I-95 - enabling the state to capture images of speeders and then mail them tickets.

'Those who choose to break the rules of the road need to learn the hard way,' Rell said in a statement released to The Courant. 'That requires more manpower and a larger state police presence on our roadways.' Read more

“I had flowers, and I was going to welcome them to the neighborhood”

It was a case of the early bird not catching the caffeine. Bruce Cohen, a town resident, planned to be the first customer Friday morning at the new Starbucks Coffee shop in Niantic, at the site of a long-vacant ... via The Day

“The condition crisis in Connecticut is becoming worse”

A Washington-based transportation research group reported Monday that nearly half of state roadways are in poor and mediocre condition, while a third of Connecticut bridges have significantly deteriorated or else fail to meet current design standards. Officials from The Road Improvement Program, known as TRIP, calculate that Connecticut over the next decade faces a $3.1 billion shortfall to properly repair and modernize its ailing transportation infrastructure. TRIP urged Connecticut officials to expedite funding of such critical projects as the reconstruction of I-95 from Branford to the Rhode Island line and reconstruction of the bridge spanning the Thames River in Preston. Chris Cooper, spokesman for Gov. M. Jodi Rell, counters that his boss has ably confronted the need for infrastructure rehabilitation. Rell, for instance, recently targeted $20 million in funding for improvements to the dangerous I-95 stretch in East Lyme, where three people died in November when an oil tanker collided with oncoming traffic. Read more

“It seems more so lately, anecdotally people are complaining about it more often”

Cash discounts at the pumps may be making a comeback. Cory's Petroleum Inc., with gas stations in East Lyme and Groton as well as Rhode Island and Massachusetts, is one of the first locally offering discounts ... via The Day

“Who's the workforce going to be in 10 years?”

The people who live along South Main Street in East Hampton think that a proposed 129-unit condo development - with 39 units designated as affordable - is wrong for their single-family neighborhood.

Too dense, say the two dozen property owners who have signed a petition opposing a zoning change for the proposed Belltown Place - which meets the state definition of affordable housing because portions of the units are for families making either 80 percent or 60 percent of the median income of $79,600. Read more

The owner of the Millstone Power Station in Waterford will present information on new nuclear reactor technology at a meeting Thursday of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council. via The Day

PRISCILLA LLOYD, at left, and Alice Pembrook, teachers at East Lyme High School, paddle past spectators during the technology education department's annual Cardboard Boat Race on Tuesday. via Hartford Courant

Enfield High School will be closed today while crews fix the problem. classes are expected to resume tomorrow. via WTNH

“Anything that anybody can do to make this safer is welcome”

The governor is proposing $20 million in safety enhancements along a dangerous stretch of I-95 in East Lyme where a tanker truck in November barreled through a metal median divider and crashed into oncoming traffic, killing three people.

Pending State Bond Commission approval Jan. 25, the money would pay for a host of turnpike safety features, including installation of 2,000 feet of concrete median barriers in the vicinity of the crash between exits 74 and 75.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell also seeks funding to expedite design work to add a third lane in each direction between exits 70 and 72. Read more

“It's somewhat of a routine procedure to change the units, somewhat like a sports contest where you send in a new wave because some people get older, some children get older, some people move”

The developer suing the town in federal court, alleging that East Lyme is trying to keep out minorities by blocking affordable housing, is seeking to add more individual plaintiffs who would make that claim. via The Day

Keith T. Steamer, a former University of Connecticut student convicted in December on charges related to an assault on a female acquaintance in his dorm room a year ago, was sentenced today to 18 months in ... via Hartford Courant

Conn College at Johnson & Wales, 7 p.m. High School boys Old Saybrook at Old Lyme, 7 p.m. High School girls East Lyme at NFA, 7 p.m. Douglas at Tourtellotte, 7 p.m. WRESTLING College Coast Guard at Kings Point, ... via The Day