Month: March 2014

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Library to Honor Nile Rodgers for BOOKED for Evening

Westporter Nile Rodgers, Grammy Award-winning musician, composer, arranger, producer, philanthropist, and writer, will receive the Westport Library’s BOOKED for the Evening Award on May 15, it was announced today.

Nile Rodgers: won three 2014 Grammy Awards. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Rodgers, who has sold more than 100 million copies of his recordings, began his career as a session guitarist touring with the Sesame Street band in his teens He went on to the create the groundbreaking funk band Chic with a string of No. 1 hits.

His collaborators over the years have included Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna and Michael Jackson. He has composed music for the movies and received the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences New York Chapter Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Heroes Award.

In 2005, he was honored at the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York when he was inducted for his many outstanding achievements as a producer, along with former bandmate Bernard Edwards. Rodgers’ bestselling memoir, “Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny,” was published in 2011. He is also the subject of the highly rated 2013 BBC documentary “The Hitmaker.”

Last Day of March: Snow at Start, Sunny at End

A day that began in Westport as a brutal reminder of a winter to forget ended with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s. Owners and their dogs made one last visit to Compo Beach before the annual ban on dogs at the beach takes effect on Tuesday. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Mark Molesworth for WestportNow.com

Conspirators’ Guilty Pleas Make Rowland a Target

By Mark Pazniokas

www.ctmirror.org

Lisa Wilson-Foley and her husband, Brian Foley, pleaded guilty today to a federal conspiracy charge stemming from what they described as an effort to conceal $35,000 in payments to former Gov. John G. Rowland for help with Wilson-Foley’s unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2012.

Rowland, 56, who reinvented himself as a popular radio host on Hartford’s WTIC-AM after serving 10 months in prison on a federal corruption conviction, was identified in court as a co-conspirator of the couple, meaning he is the target of a federal corruption investigation for the second time in a decade.

The former governor was spared being on the air as the story broke: His afternoon drive-time program was preempted on WTIC AM by the season opener of the Boston Red Sox.

Rowland and his local lawyer, Bartley Halloran, did not respond to requests for comment.

Click here for more of story

Police: Case Closed in Ride Offer to 13-Year-Old

UPDATE Westport police said they have closed their investigation into the case of what was earlier reported as a “suspicious” incident involving a man offering a ride to a 13-year-old girl today in the Compo Beach area.

They said the man lived in the neighborhood and had come forward to say he had merely offered the ride to the youngster at about 7:30 a.m. because of snow and rain that was falling.

Driving a van, the man offered the ride to the teen as she was waiting without an umbrella for a school bus in the Apple Tree Trail-Murvon Court area.

The male identified himself to the student as “living around here,” police said in their initial report. The incident was witnessed by a parent who was sitting in a car with her children waiting for the same bus, police said.

WestportNow Teardown of the Day: 16 Silent Grove North

An application for a permit to demolish the house at Westport’s 16 Silent Grove North, off Cross Highway, is in process. Built in 1963, the one-story raised ranch has 1,477 square feet and is situated on a 1.02-acre property. The property changed hands in February for $650,000. Because the house was built more than 50 years ago, the application will be reviewed by the Westport Historic District Commission. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Plans Advance for Main Street Tree Planting

Members of the Downtown Steering Committee met at Town Hall today following a walking tour of Westport’s downtown area earlier in the day. Committee Chairman Dewey Loselle (c) said, “Before we plant the 10-12 trees and install the lights, we need to evaluate all the elements that could be affected by the placements.” He said these include existing awnings, underground utilities, drainage and other factors. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com