At the Westport Historical Society (WHS) annual meeting today outgoing president Edward F. Gerber (l), who completed his two-year term, passes the gavel to incoming president Robert W. Mitchell. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Swinging at the Senior Center
It was a capacity, enthusiastic crowd at the Westport Center for Senior Activities today for a performance by the Galvanized Jazz Band. They played New Orleans jazz, Dixieland, blues, rags, swing, spirituals and more. The Sunday Indoor Music Festival is sponsored by the Friends of the Westport Center for Senior Activities, programmed by the Levitt Pavilion, and funded by the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com
Real Chickens at ‘Chicken Dance’
Families attending today’s Westport Country Playhouse Children’s Festivities Series musical “Chicken Dance” got to meet some live chickens from Westport’s Wakeman Town Farm. Carrie Aitkenhead and daughter Cora, 5, showed two bantam (small) breed chickens, Nuggets, a Japanese breed black silkie, and Lula, a white cochin. According to Aitkenhead, these chickens are particularly tame and friendly with adults and children. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Playing Chicken
Jazz With the Choir
Four members of a quartet from the Regional Center for the Arts in Trumbull today joined with the choir at The Unitarian Church of Westport for a number of jazz pieces written or arranged by Edward Thompson, minister of music. Words accompanying the music came from the Tao Te Ching, a Chinese classic text, and paralleled the sermon given by the Rev. John Morehouse, senior minister. Quartet members were Paul Buzel, TJ Croke, Laura Kandro and Mike LaRocca. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jane Sherman for WestportNow.com
Enjoying Compo Thaw
Warming Up at Compo
Westport Gets $126,290 School Technology Grant

Commissioner Dianna R. Wentzell (at Westport forum Nov. 15, 2015): “will empower more students.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Westport will receive a $126,390 technology grant as part of a state effort to help Connecticut school districts put more computers in classrooms and increase Internet bandwidth in schools across Connecticut.
State Department of Education Commissioner Dianna R. Wentzell announced the grant following State Bond Commission approval of $10.9 million to be distributed to 171 school districts across the state.
The investment is part of the state’s broad efforts to strengthen computer and technology resources as schools continue to implement Connecticut Core Standards and administer computer-adaptive tests aligned to these standards, an announcement said.
“If we want our students to thrive in school and have the skills and knowledge to succeed in the hightech world they will enter after high school and college, we have to teach them technology skills,” Wentzell said.
Checking Burning Odor at Vineyard Vines
A Westport firefighter prepares to hook up a line to a hydrant on Elm Street today as other firefighters checked out a report of a burning odor at Vineyard Vines, 90 Main St. Nothing was found, but the store was shut down as a precaution as maintenance workers checked the premises. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) David Dreyfuss for WestportNow.com
High Speed I-95 Chase Ends in Westport

John Belbusti: held on $50,000 bond. State Police photo

A Connecticut Department of Transportation camera took this image during the pursuit. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) CDOT photo
Three times police deployed stop sticks, which puncture tires, to slow and eventually stop the car, police said.
After the car hit sticks near Exit 18, a trooper said all four tires were punctured and sparks were flying as the car slowed as it reached Exit 17.
When the 26-minute chase from New Haven ended, police arrested John P. Belbusti, 34, of North Haven for operating under the influence of drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and the possession of bags of crack cocaine with the intent to sell.