Good morning — At least 200,000 people were estimated to attend Sailfest — the largest maritime summer event in southeastern Connecticut — over the weekend.
The two-day event, which turned 45 this year, drew visitors from across Connecticut and the surrounding New England states for more than 200 street vendors, offering food, arts and crafts and the region’s largest fireworks display.
“If you drive through the neighborhoods in New London, you see all sorts of family picnics and gatherings and eventually everybody just walks down to the river, wherever they watch the fireworks from,” New London Mayor Mike Passero said, “and it's really the fireworks that are the amazing part of them.”
Ten Northeast states will work together to improve regional electric transmission and connect more clean energy to the grid. State leaders approved a nonbinding agreement to collaborate on infrastructure planning and coordinate offshore wind power development. Waters off the coast of Connecticut and Long Island are expected to house major offshore wind farms to meet the region’s climate goals.
In just a year, hundreds of workers at five Connecticut dispensaries have joined UFCW, the largest cannabis workers union in the country. The first workers to organize was in March 2023 at a West Haven dispensary. The most recent to unionize were 17 workers in Willimantic last month to protect themselves in an emerging industry.
A dozen more mosquito samples test positive for West Nile virus in Suffolk County. Most of the samples collected earlier this month were found in central Suffolk. Four positive samples were also collected last month. The virus is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito. Officials recommend covering arms and legs with clothing or bug spray after dark and removing stagnant water.
A Coram man was given 25 years to life for trying to kill a Suffolk County police officer last year. 21-year-old Janell Funderburke shot Officer Michael LaFauci — who was investigating a robbery from a few days earlier. LaFauci was following Funderburke as a plainclothes officer with an anti-gang detail when he was shot.
A Connecticut contractor broke several workplace safety regulations, according to a U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the death of an employee at a New Canaan work site. Sound Construction was working underground on a water line at Silver Hill Hospital in December when a worker was injured and later died due to a cave-in.
A workers’ compensation fraud case involving a Connecticut state senator has ended. The State Division of Criminal Justice closed its inquiry into complaints against State Senator Paul Ciccarella (R-North Haven) because the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution expired in 2019. Ciccarella collected disability benefits from 2008 to 2014. He was injured while working as a state correctional officer.
The Town of Riverhead is suing the Town of Southampton. Their dispute is over a $35 million waste treatment plant approved for Riverside, a hamlet that is a part of Southampton. Riverhead provides many municipal services, including schools and libraries, to Riverside. Teachers and the town of Riverhead oppose the location of a planned sewage plant near Phillips Avenue School.
An investigation is underway into a street takeover in New Haven on Saturday evening. There were more than 100 motorists on bikes, buggies and other all-terrain vehicles illegally driving on city roads. Videos posted to social media show drivers swerving in and around traffic. A bill to quash street takeovers failed to pass the legislature.
Stop & Shop announced it will close five stores in Connecticut as part of a larger shutdown of under-performing locations. Stores in Ansonia, Torrington, Stamford, Milford and Danbury are scheduled to close by Nov. 2. Four Long Island Stop & Shops are also set to close in East Meadow, Greenvale, Hempstead and Coram.
Shelley Hassman Kadish, Desiree D’Iorio and Jeniece Roman contributed reporting…
