Stories from surrounding communities, closest first.
Lakeville Journal · Torrington, CT
Nearby: Torrington, CTThe following information was provided by the Connecticut State Police at Troop B. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. North Canaan DUI A 21-year-old driver was charged with driving under the influence after a single-vehicle crash on Casey Hill Road early Nov. 3, state police said. Troopers responding to an automatic crash notification found that Samuel Green had been driving north near the intersection with Route 44 when his Ford F-150 struck a Frontier utility pole, left the road and came to rest atop a dirt mound, police said. Green, the vehicle’s sole occupant, had no reported injuries. He is scheduled to appear Nov. 13 in Torrington Superior Court. North Canaan possession of a controlled substance Police arrested a Torrington man in North Canaan on Nov. 8 for alleged possession of a controlled substance after a routine traffic stop investigating an equipment violation.
Lakeville Journal · Litchfield, CT
Nearby: Litchfield, CTThe gallery is really meant to create a very intimate relationship with the artist and the story behind their work. —Jennifer TerzianOn a recent crisp, fall afternoon in Litchfield, Jennifer Terzian welcomed a steady stream of collectors, artists, and art-world insiders into her jewel box of an art space on South Street, just off the town’s manicured historic Green. The occasion was an opening for Jenny Kemp, an artist noted for balancing fluidity and structure in her abstractions through repetition, variation, and gradual shifts in hue. Hers is exactly the kind of tactile, process-driven work Terzian champions at a subterranean space that feels less like a commercial art gallery and more like stumbling into an impeccably edited sanctuary of contemporary thought. “I don’t really consider myself a traditional gallerist,” explained Terzian, a Southern California native who moved to Connecticut in 2008.
Sentinel Colorado · Hartford, CT
Nearby: Hartford, CTLEXINGTON, S.C. | A South Carolina man accused of burying his 11-month-old son in a dog crate in a clump of scrubby pines was denied bond Thursday. Michael Comer showed no remorse for attempting to kill his son, Koah, and tried to flee the state, Tyler Douglas, lead investigator for the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, told Judge Gary W. Reinhart. Reinhart approved a public defender for Comer and set a hearing for Dec. 10. Comer, 25, has been charged with attempted murder, burglary and unlawfully placing a child at risk in connection with the disappearance and rescue of Koah, who survived and is expected to make a full recovery. Comer has been in custody in Lexington County since Monday, when his son was reported missing. An attorney for Comer has not yet been appointed. Koah, who rescuers found after about 24 hours, was released from a hospital Tuesday night, Sheriff Jay Koon said.
Lakeville Journal · Kent, CT
Nearby: Kent, CTThere’s a corner of YouTube populated by real-time footage of high-dollar art sales from prestigious New York and London auction houses like Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips. Hundreds of thousands of viewers routinely watch with rapt attention, popcorn and cocktails in hand, as recognizable pieces from art history make their way to the upper echelons of grossly unattainable hammer prices. Pieces can often start with opening bids of tens of thousands of dollars and work their way up to multiple millions. Bidding increments alone can grow to sums unattainable for the average American family in several lifetimes. Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Kent, Connecticut, wants to help make fine art more accessible. The 2026 version of the gallery’s annual “Cool and Collected” exhibition is subtitled “The Gift Edit” and features dozens of works by fine artists at prices that are much more in reach than an art-world outsider might expect. More than 30 artists contributed pieces to the show.
New Haven Independent · New Haven, CT
Nearby: New Haven, CTThe following letter was submitted to the Board of Education on Monday by Dani McTiernan Huge, a student representative on the city’s school board and a junior at Wilbur Cross High School. The letter addresses the district’s response to Hillhouse Assistant Principal Daniel Bonet’s alleged sexual assault of a student during school hours. Dear New Haven Public Schools Board of Education Members, It has been almost five months since Jane Doe, a student at Hillhouse High School, was reportedly sexually assaulted by Hillhouse Assistant Principal Daniel Bonet in his office during school hours. She was brave enough to report this to Hillhouse staff who are mandatory reporters. They then honored their obligation by reporting this up, where it reached Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), the Hillhouse principal, and New Haven police. You would think that after this report, the Hillhouse assistant principal would not be allowed access to Hillhouse’s building or its students.
New Haven Independent · New Haven, CT
Nearby: New Haven, CTRent rises are unprecedented. Regulating short-term rentals can help slow the climb and keep our neighbors in their homes. (Opinion) I grew up in a small town where community meant showing up on a neighbor’s porch with a warm meal when life got hard. When I moved to New Haven, a city of neighborhoods, I was relieved to find that exact same spirit in a bigger city. When I was in need, my neighbors dropped everything to make sure I was not alone. Having neighbors who were deeply rooted on our street is what truly made me feel at home — and protecting those rooted communities is why I serve as alder for Ward 8. This is my chosen home. Since the pandemic, there has been a fundamental switch in how we value our living spaces. Since 2020, rents in New Haven have risen 53 percent, from roughly $1,290 to nearly $2,000 a month, according to Zillow’s Observed Rent Index. We no longer just sleep in our homes; our work, our lives, and our entertainment happen inside them.
New Haven Independent · New Haven, CT
Nearby: New Haven, CTThe New Haven Police Department (NHPD) is transitioning to exclusively using pistols equipped with red-dot optics, under a general order approved by the Board of Police Commissioners at their monthly meeting on Tuesday. The new general order — which replaces the last firearms general order passed in 2016 — comes several months after the department purchased and began issuing new Glock 45 pistols to officers. Once the newly approved general order is signed by Police Chief David Zannelli, it will officially make the new firearm — equipped with a pistol-mounted optics — standard for all full-time personnel. “The policy is reflecting the new equipment and some small changes, but the substance of it is the same,” NHPD spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart wrote in an email, comparing the 2026 and 2016 policies. “It’s analogous to the department switching from Dodge Chargers to Durangos.
Amherst Bulletin · New Haven, CT
Nearby: New Haven, CTAMHERST/NORTHAMPTON — Dr. Katherine Atkinson has left the Amherst and Northampton family practice she ran for more than two decades, a year and a half after selling it to keep it out of bankruptcy. “I would never leave my patients on short notice if I had any option,” Atkinson said in a phone interview with the Gazette. “I didn’t have options, and I’m devastated. I miss my patients and my practice.” Atkinson announced her departure in an Oct. 15 Facebook post. She declined to say why she left, noting that paperwork she signed when she sold the business bars her from discussing it in detail. She said retirement was not the reason. “If I was retiring, I would have done it with plenty of notice and tried to make sure that patients had everything they needed to,” Atkinson said. Public business records list Dr. Piyush Gupta as owner of Atkinson Family Practice, as well as CEO of healthcare company Sevi Health based in New Haven, Connecticut.
Lakeville Journal · Sharon, CT
Nearby: Sharon, CTSHARON — The median sale price of a single-family home in Sharon reached $710,000 for the 12 months ending Oct. 31. The median, which excludes condominiums, was 16% higher than the $610,000 recorded for the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 2025, and 5% above the $677,500 recorded for the corresponding period in 2024. Sharon’s record 12-month median was $880,000, which was for the year ending August 2024. Single-family home sales totaled 33 for the 12 months ending Oct. 31, down from 37 for the same period in 2025 and 40 in 2024. The town’s highest 12-month sales volume was 87, recorded for the 12 months ending in May 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Annual sales over the past decade have typically ranged from 30 to 60. Housing inventory was up in early November, with 33 homes listed for sale, including one condominium. Of those, 13 had asking prices above $1 million and 11 were listed below the $710,000 median sale price.
Lakeville Journal · Sharon, CT
Nearby: Sharon, CTSHARON — Residents can honor loved ones while supporting local emergency responders through two holiday fundraisers: the Sharon Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary’s annual Memory Tree and the ambulance squad’s “Lights of Love” display on the town Green. The auxiliary is accepting $5 donations for ornaments bearing the names of family members, friends and loved ones. The Memory Tree will be displayed at Town Hall from Nov. 25 through Dec. 31. Tina Pitcher, an auxiliary member and Sharon’s town secretary, said she proposed the fundraiser in 2014 after Sharon Hospital stopped offering a memory tree. The auxiliary uses proceeds from the tree and other fundraisers, including bunco games, to help meet equipment needs at the fire department and ambulance squad, Pitcher said. The group has four or five members who also provide food and coffee to firefighters and other emergency responders at incident scenes.
Lakeville Journal · North Canaan, CT
Nearby: North Canaan, CTNORTHWEST CORNER — Libraries provide much more than books nowadays, and eligible Connecticut residents now have another resource available. All six libraries in the Region One school district are participating in Laptop ConneCT, a program that allows eligible residents to borrow laptops for long-term use. “It’s terrific,” said Meg Sher, executive director of the D.M. Hunt Library in Falls Village. “We’ve already given out two.” Laura Moran, director of the Douglas Library in North Canaan, spoke enthusiastically about the program, saying it has particularly benefited people over 65. “They are able to use it for such things as telehealth,” she said. “They are finding it easier to read because of a larger screen and keyboard than on their phones.” Each library has received an allocation of laptops through the statewide program. The Dell Pro 16 laptops run Windows and have built-in cameras for video calls, online classes, virtual doctor appointments and more.
Lakeville Journal · North Canaan, CT
Nearby: North Canaan, CT“I think art is the thing that allows us to feel there’s something in the universe that loves us,” said painter Peter Cusack in his new studio, a mid-19th-century stone church on Main Street in North Canaan. For Cusack, art has always been a way of reaching toward something beyond the physical world. That sensibility runs through “Eternal: New, Recent, and Near Distant Paintings,” his upcoming exhibition in the church, a setting that seems an improbably good fit. Cusack recently moved his painting practice from Torrington into the former church at 58 Main Street. The move came about somewhat unexpectedly, after a change in ownership made his previous studio untenable. “At first I thought it was just gonna be too much,” Cusack said. When he first saw it, the building still looked unmistakably like a church, with its vaulted ceiling, stained glass and architectural details intact. It had served as a place of worship for generations before closing roughly 12 years ago.
