Page 16 - Bart Busterna News Today

On Wednesday, County Executive Kevin Byrne announced his intention to construct a new state-of-the-art Fire Training Center in Putnam County. The new facility will replace the former center, including the tower that has not been utilized for over a decade due to its poor safety conditions, forcing many local fire departments to travel to neighboring counties for essential training. Funding for the project will primarily come from the American Rescue Plan Act dollars which had been previously com...

A pair of brothers from Danbury have been granted some tax breaks to further their efforts to build more housing in New Milford. Scott and David Benincasa plan to build a four-story multifamily apartment building on Church St. in New Milford. The New Milford Town Council has approved their request for tax breaks that will potentially save them about $43,000 annually for the next five years. In a separate case, Eastern Connector Supply Corp. of New Milford was also granted a $16,000 annual abatem...

Danbury’s director of Parks & Recreation has retired. Nick Kaplanis is a Danbury native, and he is often credited with keeping the city’s parks in top shape. He also oversaw Danbury’s rec programs. Kaplanis recently called it quits after 16 years on the job. The Stephen A. Kaplanis Memorial Field is named after his brother who died in 2005. Kaplanis, who is now in his early 70’s, cited personal and family reasons for his decision.

It happened again this weekend… Squantz Pond State Park in New Fairfield reached capacity and had to be closed on Sunday. But that wasn’t the only state park that faced occupancy challenges. Several other Connecticut State Parks also had to close Sunday after reaching parking capacity. In the case of Squantz Pond State Park… it shut down by 1pm yesterday. It could happen again, and it very well may happen again before the end of the summer with all the hot weather we have bee...

The City of Danbury is kicking off an investigation into Councilman Joe Britton’s attempts to access secured areas of Danbury City Hall that he does not have authorization to enter back on the evening of Saturday, April 15. Concerns arise after it was learned that Councilman Britton and an unidentified female entered areas of City Hall that Councilmembers do not have access to. The revelations come following a review of Councilman Britton’s key card record. Britton has released a sta...

Photo: Courtesy of Papa Al’s Pizza A famous face made a stop in our area last weekend… Former President Bill Clinton visited Papa Al’s Pizza in Newtown last Sunday. The former president and his security detail popped in at Papa Al’s and ordered a couple of slices of pizza and garlic knots. They weren’t there long… only about ten minutes in all… but Clinton joked and posed with the restaurant staff. The former President and his wife Hillary are often s...

Hundreds of runners and even more spectators turned out this past weekend in Ridgefield for the annual Southwest Cafe Margarita 5K race. The big event was held on Saturday evening in Ridgefield, and more than 300 runners kicked it off under cloudy skies. Minutes later, heavy rain started, and both runners and spectators got drenched but they still remained in high spirits. The winner was 21 year old Davis Cote. 37 year old Cat Gransog was the top female runner.

According to a new report, 5 towns in Connecticut are among the top 100 safest towns in the entire country. One of them in our area in fact, topped the list. Ridgefield in Fairfield County came in at number one as the Safest City in America according to the survey done by real estate analytics firm Neighborhood Scout. The survey determined the 100 safest cities in America with 25,000 or more people, based on the total number of property and violent crimes per 1,000 residents.

A burglary in Monroe led to the arrests of two teens with illegal weapons in Newtown. 19-year-old Marcos Scott and a 17-year-old whose name has not been released, were found in possession of at least one illegal gun during a traffic stop early Wednesday after being accused of committing a burglary on Route 25 in Monroe by Monroe police. Authorities did not identify the target of the burglary.

A Newtown woman is in trouble following the death of a Fairfield woman. 51 year old Meghan Rice of Newtown, was charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, failure to drive right, and traveling unreasonably fast in connection with the June crash that claimed the life of a pedestrian… 45 year old Meghan Raveis… of Fairfield. Rice was arraigned on Monday, and then released on $100,000 bond. She is now scheduled to appear in court on July 31st.