State police identified the man whose body washed up on a local shore Monday as a 44-year-old New Britain resident reported missing last year …
Read the full article at this link, Missing New Britain man found dead in Old Lyme. It was written by Lisa Backus and published today on www.newbritainherald.com
Essex First Selectman Norman Needleman who yesterday announced a second run for the 33rd State Senate District.
Yesterday, Essex First Selectman and successful businessman Norm Needleman announced his campaign as a Democratic candidate for the 33rd State Senate District, promising to use his business and small town leadership experience to bring people together to get Connecticut back on track.
The seat will be vacant due to the incumbent Senator Art Linares (R) moving out of the District and announcing his candidacy for State Treasurer.
“Leading a small town and building a business taught me that the best way to get things done is to put people and their needs ahead of party politics,” said Needleman. “I respect taxpayers’ dollars because I know how hard you’ve worked to earn them.”
He continued, “That’s why as First Selectman, I brought Democrats and Republicans together, found consensus, solved problems, and kept property taxes among the lowest in the state without cutting services. If elected State Senator for the 33rd District, I will make a clean break from the decades of bickering and harmful policies that have come from Hartford, and I will get Connecticut working for the towns in our district.”
“As an elected town official, I’ve seen the work Norm does as the First Selectman of Essex,” said Colchester Selectman Rosemary Coyle. “Norm governs in a fiscally responsible manner, making sound decisions. His hands-on, small town government experience in the legislature will benefit our communities and help us build a brighter future for our children and families.”
Needleman, who campaigned for the seat in 2016, is currently in his fourth term as Essex First Selectman. He has over 20 years of experience advocating for his small town, having previously served as an Essex Selectman, a member of the Essex Zoning Board of Appeals, and a member of the Essex Economic Development Commission.
Needleman is also a member of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, helping the 17 member towns coordinate various government functions. He is also a board member of Valley Shore Emergency Communications, a center formed by local pubic safety professionals to handle emergency call processing and dispatching needs for communities throughout the region.
“Building a company from the ground up has given me invaluable experience on how to grow jobs and create a region where businesses want to start and thrive,” said Needleman. “I will be a State Senator who will create good-paying jobs in our towns and throughout Connecticut.”
Needleman founded Tower Laboratories, an Essex manufacturing company, 38 years ago. The company has grown to become a leader in its field, employing over 250 people. As a leading CEO in the region, he serves as a board member of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce. He is also a board member of Valley Shore Emergency Communications, a center formed by local pubic safety professionals to handle emergency call processing and dispatching needs for communities throughout the region.
“Norm asks the right questions, and is willing to listen to all options,” said Centerbrook businessman and Clinton resident Gary Stevens. “I believe that with Norm’s insight into the way that a successful business (his) is run and considering the wasteful and unnecessary spending habits of the State, he could go a long way to make the government a more responsible entity.” Stevens, an unaffiliated voter who has known Needleman since the 1980s, owns Stevens Excavating, Inc. and has worked with Needleman on numerous projects.
The 33rd State Senate District consists of the Town of Lyme along with the Towns of Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Portland, Westbrook, and a portion of Old Saybrook.
Needleman lives in Essex with Jacqueline Hubbard, the Executive Director of the Ivoryton Playhouse. His two sons and their families also live in Essex.
Chris George, CEO of IRIS, will speak on “Refugee Resettlement in Connecticut,” Feb. 5, at Saybrook Point Inn.
The next Southeast Connecticut World Affairs Council (SECWAC) meeting takes place Tuesday, Feb. 6, at Saybrook Point Inn. Chris George, Executive Director of Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), based in New Haven, will speak at 6 p.m. on “Refugee Resettlement in Connecticut,” and discuss the role of IRIS, a government- and privately-funded nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a new home to refugees.
IRIS helps refugees on the road to self-sufficiency by providing lifesaving support during their transition to life in the United States. The organization helped welcome 475 refugees to Connecticut in 2016.
A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., and the main event will begin at 6 p.m.
The presentation is a part of the SECWAC Speaker Series. SECWAC meetings are free to members (half-year membership February-June is $37.50/year; $12.50/year for young professionals under 35). Walk-ins are $20 for the general public (non-members; the $20 cost can subsequently be applied towards a SECWAC membership). SECWAC membership is free for area college and high school students.
Immediately following the presentation, SECWAC meeting attendees have the option for $35 to attend a dinner with the speaker at Saybrook Point Inn. Reservations are required by Monday, Jan. 29, at 860-912-5718. Reporters are welcome to attend as guests of the SECWAC Board. Interested reporters should contact Paul Nugent at info@secwac.org or 860-388-9241. -more-
IRIS is a government- and privately-funded nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a new home to refugees. Starting out in 1982 as the Diocesan Refugee Services Committee, it changed its name to the Interfaith Refugee Ministry (IRM) in 1990. The organization then underwent another name change in 2007 to IRIS – Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services – reflecting its inclusive, more secular organizational culture and the decision to extend some services to address the critical needs of immigrants. Throughout its history, IRIS has helped refugees from all over the world, with the numbers and nationalities of clients fluctuating over time. Learn more at http://www.irisct.org/.
Chris George has worked overseas for most of his career. Beginning in 1977, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Sultanate of Oman, which led to a job with the Quakers in Lebanon, and then to a job with Save the Children in the Gaza strip. Overall he spent about 12 years on the West Bank in Gaza, doing humanitarian work, working with refugees. He returned to the United States in 2004, settling in Connecticut, and was hired by the Interfaith Refugee Ministry in 2005.
SECWAC is a regional, nonprofit, membership organization affiliated with the World Affairs Councils of America (WACA). The organization dates back to 1999, and has continued to arrange 8-10 Speaker Series meetings annually, between September and June. The meetings range in foreign affairs topics, and are hosted at venues along the I-95 corridor, welcoming members and guests from Stonington to Old Saybrook, and beyond.
SECWAC’s mission is “to foster an understanding of issues of foreign policy and international affairs through study, debate, and educational programming.” It provides a forum for nonpartisan, non-advocacy dialogue between members and speakers, who can be U.S. policy makers, educators, authors, and other experts on foreign relations. Learn more at http://secwac.org.
Nicole Prévost Logan
The Paris floods crested Friday, Jan. 26, at almost six meters, therefore slightly lower than in June 2016 . They did not even make the ‘Top 10’ among the most destructive floods of the past 100 years. The monster flood of 1910 saw the river’s level rise eight meters and 60 centimeters. However, the inhabitants in the communities upstream from the city, who have been underwater for days and have now been flooded twice in 18 months, were certainly entitled to call it a natural disaster brought on by the global warming.
The submerged tree and lamp post in the foreground show the depth of the flooding on the Seine. The Hotel de Ville stands at right in the background while the Ile de la Cité is at left. Photo by Sylvia Logan.
Monumental work has been done in the past century to protect the capital and the resultant price is paid by the surrounding areas. Paris is such a strategic place that it has to be protected by a system of locks and reservoirs, both up and down stream. Besides, France is endowed with numerous waterways and this is particularly true in the Paris basin. The Seine’s tributaries — Marne, Yonne, Aube and Loing — flow toward Paris. In the case of extreme precipitation, these small rivers easily overflow and submerge their unprotected banks. The small towns of Champagne, Moret or Thomery, only 30 minutes by train south of Paris, had disappeared underwater by midweek.
The banks of the Seine are submerged while the Cathedral of Notre Dame still stands proudly in the background. Photo by Sylvia Logan.
In prehistoric times, the Seine was a shallow stream, indolent and undisciplined, moving its bed all over the place. The most northern of its secondary beds followed what is today the ring of Grands Boulevards and flowed from the Bastille, along the hills of Buttes Chaumont and Montmartre, and back down to the main channel below the hill of Chaillot. On the Left Bank, the Seine also had a secondary bed, which used to flow under the modern Boulevard Saint Germain.
The restaurant ”Calife,” which is moored in the middle of the river near the Pont des Arts, is flooded. Photo by Sylvia Logan.
Between 1991 and 1993, excavations prior to the building of the new Bercy district, brought to light spectacular remains of human settlements on the banks of the wandering Seine river. Neolithic pirogues dating back to more than 3,000 years BC are exposed today in the Orangerie of the Carnavalet museum. They are the oldest found in Europe.
The construction of massive stone quays in Paris started in the 14th century. In 1991, they became part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
By midweek , as the peak of the floods approached, there was no panic among the city officials, engineers and technicians, but a feverish activity to prevent disaster. By way of precaution, the RERC running along the river, was closed until the end of the month. Already the treasures exposed on the lower levels of the Louvre and Orsay museums had been moved to safe locations. The great danger was that the dense network of cables, pipes and wiring, providing gas, electricity and internet, and lying eight floor deep underground would be reached by the water.
Crowds gather above the famous Zouave statue on the Pont de l’Alma. Photo by Karen Logan
Curious onlookers have been following the progress of water on the statue of the Zouave at the Pont de l’Alma. The statue was placed below the bridge in 1836 to mark one of the battles at Alma, near Sebastopol, during the Crimean war (1853-56.)
The Zouave at the Pont de l’Alma has been a point of reference for the severity of Seine floods for centuries.. Photo by Karen Logan
The coalition of France, England and the Ottoman Empire wanted to put a stop to the expansionist policy of the Russian Tsar Alexander II (1856-1881.) The Zouaves were part of the Algerian light brigade in the days of French Algeria — their bright red baggy pants were famous.
Down he goes! As the waters rise, the Zouave at the Pont de l’Alma disappears deeper into the River Seine. Photo by Karen Logan
Although not very reliable – since the statue was raised by 40-80 centimeters in 1970 – the Zouave remains the most popular indicator of the severity of the floods in Paris.
Editor’s Note: This is the opinion of Nicole Prévost Logan.
Nicole Prévost Logan
About the author: Nicole Prévost Logan divides her time between Essex and Paris, spending summers in the former and winters in the latter. She writes a regular column for us from her Paris home where her topics will include politics, economy, social unrest — mostly in France — but also in other European countries. She also covers a variety of art exhibits and the performing arts in Europe. Logan is the author of ‘Forever on the Road: A Franco-American Family’s Thirty Years in the Foreign Service,’ an autobiography of her life as the wife of an overseas diplomat, who lived in 10 foreign countries on three continents. Her experiences during her foreign service life included being in Lebanon when civil war erupted, excavating a medieval city in Moscow and spending a week under house arrest in Guinea.
Professor MaryAnne Borelli of Connecticut College.
Throughout the history of the United States, first ladies have routinely been influential members of the presidents’ inner circle. The Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library hosts a fascinating prsesentation Saturday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m. titled, ‘Politics, Power and Policy: The Modern First Ladies.’
MaryAnne Borrelli, who is a professor of government at Connecticut College, will discuss the politics, policy, and power of the presidents’ wives throughout the modern presidency and their contributions to their husband’s administrations. Come and enjoy a conversation that is both historical and timely, examining the contributions of the men and women who have won the White House.
Borrelli, a graduate of Wellesley College, Boston College and Harvard University, joined the faculty of Connecticut Cohttp://www.oldlyme.lioninc.org/llege in 1992. Her research focuses on gender and the U.S. presidency, and she has participated in the White House Transition Project, which has mentored both Democratic and Republican White House staff members.
Borelli is the author/editor of several books and articles with her most recent book being The Politics of the President’s Wife.
Register for this event at this link. Admission is free, all are welcome.
For more information about the library, visit this link.