Month: June 2013 - Page 40 - Westportnow.com

Monday, December 11, 2023

GMO Labeling Advocates Turn Focus to Other States

By Arielle Levin Becker

www.ctmirror.org

Shortly after the bill they endorsed got pulled “out of the legislative graveyard,” the grass-roots network of advocates pushing for labels on genetically engineered food gathered today to cheer about it.

Advocates for labeling genetically engineered food declare victory today as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reminds them what’s next. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Ctmirror.org photo

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy showed up and congratulated them. But, characteristically, he pointed to the next thing on the agenda.

“You better go win in some other states right now,” Malloy told the crowd.

Advocates lauded the bill’s passage in the Senate Saturday and the House today as a groundbreaking win. But under its terms, the requirement that food containing genetically modified organisms be labeled won’t occur until a “trigger” is met: Four other states in the Northeast with a population of 20 million must pass a similar law, and one of those four must border Connecticut.

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Lautenberg Funeral Set; Daughter a Westport Resident

Funeral services for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey will be held Wednesday at a New York City synagogue. His survivors include a daughter, Ellen Lautenberg Hendel of Westport.

Westporter Ellen Lautenberg Hendel with her father. File photo

The 89-year-old Lautenberg, a multimillionaire businessman and the last World War II veteran remaining in the Senate, died early today at a New York hospital after suffering complications from viral pneumonia.

The funeral is planned for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan.

Then Rabbi David Lincoln of Park Avenue Synagogue performed Lautenberg’s 2004 wedding ceremony to Bonnie S. Englebardt. (See WestportNow Jan. 28, 2004) Lautenberg’s first marriage ended in divorce. It was also the second marriage for Englebardt, a widow.

Lawmakers Want Slot Machines in Their Cities

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

www.ctmirror.org

Tired of watching neighboring states expanding gambling while Connecticut’s revenue from the casinos steadily declines, a handful of Democratic legislators today threw their support behind allowing 7,500 slot machines to open in Bridgeport, New Haven and Windsor Locks.

“The tide of competition has just begun to rise,” said Sen. Andres Ayala Jr., D-Bridgeport, the vice chairman of the Public Safety and Security Committee. “This is about us being proactive.”

But gambling opponents seized the group’s press conference to vent about the state budget approved by the House over the weekend, which expands gambling in the state by allowing Keno games for the first time in facilities outside the state’s two casinos.

“We feel thrown under the bus… No one has looked at the social cost,” Mary Drexler, the executive director of the Connecticut Council of Problem Gambling, told the six legislators during the press conference at the state Capitol.

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Wet Going

Heavy rains today flooded the Metro-North underpass on Westport’s Compo Road South. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Heavy Rains Flood Roadways

Traffic on Post Road East in front of The Fresh Market was down to one lane today because of flooding caused by heavy rains. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Flood Advisory Issued

The National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y. has issued an Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory for Westport and area until 11:30 a.m.

Backyard Stroll

Westport resident Luke Foreman took this video of a black bear in a backyard near Westport’s Bayberry Lane on Saturday. Luke Foreman for WestportNow.com

Monday, June 3, 2013

10 a.m. – Westport Senior Center – Center for Senior Activities Policy & Planning Board
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Westport Historical Society – “5 Generations of Yankee Ingenuity: The Gault Family” & “Tracy Sugarman, Citizen-Artist”
7 p.m. – Staples High School Room 1025C – Board of Education Executive Session
7:30 p.m. – Westport Public Library – David Burstein, “Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation is Shaping Our World”
7:30 p.m. – Staples High School Cafeteria B – Board of Education Public Meeting (live coverage cable channel 78, AT&T channel 99, and www.westport.k12.ct.us)
7:30 p.m. – Town Hall Room 201 – Golf Advisory Committee

See more events: Celebrate Westport Calendar

WN on the Scene: Istanbul Protests

WestportNow contributing photographer Helen Klisser During was on the scene today in Istanbul, Turkey where violent protests are posing the most serious challenge yet to the decade-long rule of the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “There was tear gas, a cacaphony of beeping horns, and red flags draped over cars,” she said. Having just arrived from Venice where she attended the 2013 Venice Biennale art fair, Klisser During said as her car got caught up in demonstrations, “I felt a bit out of place—dressed for dinner in a white dress, gold jewels, and with two cameras and a cell phone.” But following her journalistic instincts, she managed to get a few shots. She was not the first WestportNow photographer to get caught up in foreign street protests.Two years ago, Dave Matlow was on the scene in Athens as protesters demonstrated as Greece’s parliament prepared to vote on new austerity measures. (See WestportNow June 15, 2011) (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

Turkish Troubles

Street protests went into their third day today in Istanbul,Turkey where WestportNow contributing photograher Helen Klisser During found herself caught up in the action. The mood at the protests in Taksim Square was one of celebration for much of the day, until the police fired tear gas on protesters in the Besiktas neighborhood. WestportNow.com video by Helen Klisser During