The Day
IT’S A GROWING BUSINESS
Crisp Cannabis has been growing marijuana for less than a year in Norwich, but it seems like half a lifetime to President Andrew Simonow, a former builder who went from constructing horticultural environments to running medicalmarijuana outlets to...
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Murphy: Museum needs bridge funds
New London — U. S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Wednesday said that without a new funding commitment by the state for a promised — but seemingly stalled — pedestrian bridge project in downtown New London, the success of the incoming National Coast...
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Yantic fire still funded under Norwich city manager’s budget proposal
Norwich — City Manager John Salomone’s proposed 2026-27 budget of $152.6 million continues to fund the inactive Yantic volunteer fire department, which has been shut for nearly two months, along with the three other volunteer departments who are also...
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Officials: Get ready to slow down
Beginning Wednesday morning, the southbound Gold Star Memorial Bridge will be reduced to three lanes, with crews restriping lanes starting Tuesday evening. Due to weather, the new traffic configuration was delayed from the original start date of...
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A SUNRISE EASTER TRADITION IN STONINGTON
Stonington — There wasn’t much to see to the east at Stonington Point as the sun rose through a windy, foggy morning on Sunday. But still, more than 50 parishioners gathered at Stonington Point for the annual Ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service. For the...
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THE BIRTH of CRYSTAL MALL
Fifteen hundred people shouted in unison: “One, two, three!” Then a red and blue ribbon was cut as the crowd cheered. It was a long-awaited moment on Sept. 25, 1984. When it was over, people scattered, serenaded by the Waterford High School band. They...
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New Waterford police chief aims to expand wellness program
Waterford — Until he went to college, new Police Chief David Ferland, who started the job this week, thought he would be a high school math teacher. “A lot of my family worked in education, and I thought I was going to, too," Ferland said Thursday,...
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Woman pleads guilty in teenager’s death
A 43-year-old New London woman pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to the death of a 17-year-old girl, which occurred during an earlymorning struggle nearly three years ago. Erica Cherry — who along with her son N’Shon Cherry was charged in...
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OFF TO THE MOON
Cape Canaveral, Fla. — Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a landing in two years. Carrying three...
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It’s not about vanity, but survival
New London — From ancient times to modern day, from the Americas to the Asian islands, from St. Joan of Arc to Stonewall Riot leader Marsha P. Johnson, transgender, non-binary and gender-nonconforming figures have left their mark on not just LGBTQ+...
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Ledyard man to be committed for violent attack of Old Lyme employer
A 54-year-old Ledyard man who committed a violent home invasion at the Old Lyme home of his employer in 2024 and later bragged to state police about it being a “good cardio workout” will be sentenced to a term at the state-run psychiatric facility for...
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Mystic Seaport showcases Lego shipwrecks
Mystic — With more than 170,000 Lego bricks, reproduced artifacts and interactive displays, a new exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum spans 3,000 years of ill-fated maritime history. Beginning Saturday, Lego aficionados young and old have had the...
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ENDING HUNGER IS THE GOAL
A group of volunteers including moms and daughters from the age of 9 to 71 years old react to a speaker while participating in the New London Rotary event for End Hunger New England. The group spent the morning packing stable meals for the New London...
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ROOF REPAIR
Fredy, right, and Ari Oxcal patch the roof of the former Thames National Bank in downtown Norwich on Friday.
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New L+M hospice unit seeks to provide peace, comfort for patients and families
New London — Down a long sixthfloor corridor that passes through Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s oncology unit are three rooms that for its patients are the last they’ll ever enter. Those recently refurbished patient rooms, along with a renovated...
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Celebrating an energy milestone
New London — Gov. Ned Lamont, flanked by other state and local cheerleaders for the nearly complete Revolution Wind project, took a victory lap Wednesday as they stood on the city’s waterfront and lauded the wind farm’s recent activation. As far as...
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Housing construction booms in region
New London — A Norwalk-based developer of large- scale housing projects is seeking to build 230 apartments — spread among two multi-story buildings and one smaller structure — on a dilapidated stretch of Hamilton Street. A public hearing on special...
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EB hiring projections continue to grow
Groton — Electric Boat’s president said Monday that the shipyard will be ramping up hiring by 8,000 both this year and next year as it continues to build capacity to deliver submarines at a faster rate. “We are planning to keep this pipeline moving at...
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MYSTIC GOES GREEN
Mystic — Jessica Saciloski has traveled to St. Patrick’s Day parades throughout the country, from Boston to Chicago, over the years. However, the Willimantic resident was about to see one for the first time Sunday afternoon as she waited for the Mystic...
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PROTEST with a SOUNDTRACK
An enthusiastic mix of seasoned and amateur singers gathered inside the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation church earlier this month where they continued a long tradition of giving protests a soundtrack. The newly formed New London Justice...
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Herb Plotnick, owner of Herb’s in Montville, dies
Montville — Herb Plotnick, owner of the widely beloved Herb’s Country Deli & Restaurant on Route 32, has died. The restaurant he and his family have run for 60 years has become a landmark. Locals have passed Herb’s big yellow sign their entire lives,...
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No go for data center
Waterford — A developer that sought to build a 1.5 million square foot AI data center on the site of Millstone Power Station has failed to file a permit application with the town in time, resulting in the termination of a 2023 agreement between it and...
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BUILDING THE MYSTIC RIVER BOATHOUSE PARK
Construction continued on the Mystic River Boathouse Park on Wednesday as workers installed docking along the Mystic River and roofing on top of the building. The $5.3 million project, located next to the new Delamar hotel and across the street from...
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Video shows firefighter dispute that preceded Yantic shutdown
Norwich — In response to a Freedom of Information request, the city has released a video showing a disagreement between city and volunteer firefighters during a fire call in Yantic two weeks before the department was shut down by the city. The...
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Killingly seeks solution for PFAS-contaminated wells
Killingly — As the number of private wells contaminated with toxic “forever chemicals” continues to grow, town officials are exploring a plan to extend water mains to impacted households in the Rogers area. According to the town, the drinking water at...
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System is failing residents recovering from addiction in the state’s ‘forgotten corner’
Every week, Andrew DeMalia’s phone rings with calls from people asking if his sober home has an empty bed. When DeMalias House of Hope opened on Easy Street in Plainfield in December, the six-bed, coed recovery home became the state’s second certified...
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A milestone for the Silent Service
News this month that the U.S. Navy had sunk an Iranian frigate wasn’t just another war update for members of the submarine community. It was word of an unexpected and historic milestone. The March 4 incident in the Indian Ocean marked the first time...
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PICKLEBREAK
Emma Marelli, right, returns the ball as Adrianna Donahue looks on during a game of pickleball with friends Friday at Waterford Tennis Courts. Marelli, Donahue and their opponents graduated from Waterford High School in 2022 and were home on spring...
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MUSIC APPRECIATION
Fourth-grader Estelle Aspinwall and classmates take a Drums Alive class during the annual Celebrate the Arts event at Northeast Academy Arts Magnet School in Groton on Thursday. The annual two-day event features performances and special classes for...
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SPRING FEVER
Mason McGullum, 5, of Andover, sprints from the water after testing how cold it was at Ocean Beach Park in New London on Wednesday. McGullum was visiting the park after school with his grandparents Jeff and Bobbi Seger, of New London.
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Would-be ‘Traitors’ invade Mohegan Sun
Montville — Equipped with charm, a dash of deceit and unshakeable poker faces, thousands of aspiring stars chased their dreams at Tuesday’s audition for the popular reality TV show “The Traitors” at Mohegan Sun. The casting call drew hopefuls from...
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‘It’s brand new and it’s perfect’
New London — As a large group of state, local and community leaders stood outside for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday for the opening of a 36-unit complex on Bayonet Street, new tenant Michael A. McDowell was in the background moving items from a...
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U.S. attack on Iran angers state’s congressional crew
Members of Connecticut’s federal delegation, reacting Saturday to strikes on Iran, called for congressional action on a war powers resolution. “President (Donald) Trump’s decision to attack Iran to achieve ‘regime change’ without a clear mandate from...
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Leaders talk ways to draw tourists
Mashantucket — For the state’s tourism industry to thrive, it’s going to require cooperation, nimbleness and a significant financial commitment from the state. That was the message industry experts hammered home during the 2026 Tourism Conference held...
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‘Could have … been me’
New London — In the wake of a recent fatal shooting, a coalition of city and community leaders gathered Thursday night to try to make sense of the senseless. Inside the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) on Truman Street, the city’s mayor...
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Niantic tenants on landlord: ‘They’re completely useless’
East Lyme — Living in the Bay Point apartment complex on Main Street, as its tenants battle a corporate landlord, has felt like a reality TV show for 23-year-old renter Jaden Sponzo. “We moved here last May," Sponzo said Wednesday after attending a...
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New London gets help with snow
New London — The state has given snow- inundated municipalities temporary permission to dispose of plowed snow into and around some local waterways. In New London, that meant public works crews on Tuesday were ferrying loads of downtown snow to City...
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SNOWED UNDER
As winds howled and snow piled up across southeastern Connecticut, some residents hunkered down at home. Others rolled out cots under shark tanks. At Mystic Aquarium, about 20 staff members camped overnight inside the aquarium to ensure thousands of...
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Home show attendees already thinking about spring projects
Montville — On the final day of its three-day run Sunday, the 45th Annual Home & Garden Show at Mohegan Sun was still drawing homeowners looking past winter and toward their next project. With a winter storm forecast to arrive later in the day,...
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Pressing for housing at Avery Point
When Zachary Boudah, a recent graduate of the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, gave campus tours or met with admitted students and their parents, he said they always asked about where students live. It’s the big question in deciding whether...
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Iconic Noank eatery to close
Groton — Diane Hitchcock and Mac McMahon, longtime customers at Carson’s Store on Main Street in Noank, remembered Friday when their children used to buy penny candy with their allowance there. Every Monday, Hitchcock and McMahon now bring their...
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Norwich seeks to move downtown boat launch
Norwich — The city continues to work with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as it seeks approval to move the city boat launch at Howard T. Brown Park to the Viaduct Parking lot, about a quarter-mile up the Shetucket...
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Fundraising events will transform Old Lyme library
Old Lyme — The town’s nonprofit library will mark the green flush of spring with a transformation of its own. The Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library will become the scene of a mystery for its biggest fundraiser of the year, the Bookworm Bash, on April 25...
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Courtney visits region to highlight $9.6M in funding
As sunlight streamed through the large windows on the second floor of Wheeler Library in North Stonington on Tuesday, highlighting the ornate wood and historic space, there was one thing missing. Books. Pre-renovation work has started on the more than...
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Killingly weighs applications for 3 big warehouses
Killingly — The Planning and Zoning Commission is reviewing two major proposals for distribution centers along the Interstate 395 corridor as residents continue to push back on new developments on undisturbed land. The separate proposals call for a...
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HOUSE OF CARDS
Mohegan — Inside the Uncas Ballroom at Mohegan Sun, filling the space wasn’t slot machines, it was the snap of card cases opening, people of all ages negotiating trades and vendors counting bills beside glass displays of sports legends and holographic...
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How is downtown NL looking?
The fliers hang in various downtown establishments, seeking the one thing New Londoners offer passionately, spontaneously and without hesitation: an opinion. The theme is familiar, as the topic has been discussed regularly, if not loudly, over the...
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Students in Montville walk out
Montville — A large group of Montville High School students staged a walkout Friday morning to protest the actions of federal immigration officers across the country and express their concerns for family or friends. The students exited the school and...
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CREATING ‘ZENTANGLES’
From right to left, Clara Reeve of Groton, Donna Richards of Groton, Robin Franklin of Ledyard and Liz Freeman of Mystic participate in a Zentangle art class at the Thrive55+ Active Living Center in Groton on Thursday. Zentangle is an art form that...
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Norwich repossesses Yantic firetrucks
Norwich — City employees with a police escort on Wednesday repossessed fire trucks being used by Yantic Fire Engine. Co. No. 1, a volunteer fire company that was shut down by the city a day earlier. Around 1:42 p.m., a green public works van, a...
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Landmark Flatiron building in Norwich has a new owner
Norwich — The iconic Flatiron Building has been sold for the second time in the last five years. According to Signature Properties of New England, which had listed the building at 9-15 Main St. for sale, the deal was closed on Jan. 30 by Anna Starr...
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Putnam’s first poet laureate wants to show poetry is for all
Putnam — For Aubrey Waz-Grant, poetry is more than an art form — it’s a tool that builds community. On Monday, Waz-Grant was sworn in as the town’s first-ever poet laureate following a three-month-long search by the Poet Laureate Selection...
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At Mitchell, students make their voices heard
New London — Behind the maroon curtain at Mitchell College’s Clarke Auditorium on Sunday afternoon was 24-year-old Azzure Brown as she prepared to step on stage for her first spoken word performance. Brown, an artist who has kept her work unpublished...
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Caring for the littlest ones
On Wednesday morning in Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in New London, registered nurse Chrissy Abbate checked the vital signs of 4-pound Olivia and prepared her milk. Meanwhile, Olivia’s father, Matt Jodoin, changed...
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Students walk to protest ICE
Groton — A group of Robert E. Fitch High School students walked out of school Friday morning in protest of U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and took their message to the sidewalks and Town Hall. Meanwhile, across the Thames River at the New...
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Ice skating returns to the Waterford duck pond
Waterford — Outdoor ice skating has returned to Waterford’s “duck pond” for the first time in about two decades, as a deep freeze finally produced thick enough ice, and town staff moved quickly to clear, test and open the surface for residents. Town...
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Waterford group urges anonymous notes of encouragement
Waterford — In the middle of winter, when days are short and stress can feel loud, the town’s Youth and Family Services has created a place for people to leave each other something they may need right now. Hope. The department’s February Random Acts...
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Plainfield bingo game has meaty prizes
Plainfield — With $480 on the line, the caller kicked off the final game of “meat bingo” Sunday as a packed room tracked a jumbo deck of playing cards and waited for someone to hit the winning pattern. The event was hosted by the AMVETS Post 47 Ladies...
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This room has a stellar view
With time, elbow grease and considerable resources from the NFA Foundation, a Norwich Free Academy student and the school’s technology director have restored the observatory atop the Cranston Building. The Norwich observatory was originally opened in...
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Dozens attend ‘ICE Out’ rally in New London
New London — A crowd at the steps of City Hall cursed, raised fists, lit candles and, at the very end of Friday’s “ICE Out” protest, sang in the bitter cold. “We keep the little flame alive,” the approximately 75 protesters sang, accompanied by a...
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Massive Norwich dock project nears completion
Norwich — Anyone who’s driven by Howard T. Brown Memorial Park within the past month has likely noticed the large, red crane shuffling pieces of dock through the air. The crane, towering high above the waterfront, has been used by Long Island- based...
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Church collapse no longer feared
New London — A Broad Street church that has undergone weeks of emergency repairs is now stable enough that the city has reopened some of the roads near the structure. “A collapse is no longer a concern,” Mayor Michael Passero said Tuesday, referring...
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Jury deliberating fate of man charged in Norwich murder
If Atlantik Balidemaj did not shoot and kill 30-year-old Jashira Pagan, Assistant State’s Attorney Marissa Goldberg asked jurors on Tuesday why Balidemaj initially lied to police about where he was when the shooting occurred and why his version of...
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After the storm, the Big Dig
A winter storm warning will remain in effect until 8 p.m. Monday, with town and city governments, schools and businesses shutting down to recover from Sunday’s nor’easter, the largest in more than a decade. New London Public Works Director Brian Sear...
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STORM SHUTS DOWN THE REGION
As a major winter storm barreled through Connecticut on Sunday, state and local officials urged residents to stay off the roads and prepare for dangerously low temperatures, freezing rain, and rapidly accumulating snow expected to last through this...
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