Workers today cleaned up at Westport’s 1655 Post Road East, site of a kitchen fire Wednesday night that was extinguished by a sprinkler. According to Carol Martin, Westport Housing Authority manager of the multi-residence complex known as Sasco Creek Village, a resident of second floor unit No. 32 was cooking on an electric range when the pot caught fire. She said the resident tried to move the pot to the sink when detectors activated the sprinkler system, causing flooding in the lower level unit No. 34.  “The good news is that no one was injured,” she said. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

A sprinkler tonight extinguished a kitchen fire at a multi-family residence at 1655 Post Road East before arrival of firefighters, said Assistant Chief Brian Meadows. All residents safely evacuated the residence, operated by the Westport Housing Authority. Cause of the fire was under investigation by the Fire Marshal’s Office. Temporary accommodations for residents displaced by the fire were arranged by the Westport Housing Authority and American Red Cross. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Westport firefighters tonight work at 1655 Post Road East where a kitchen fire was extinguished by a sprinkler before their arrival. All residents in the mult-family home evacuated safely and were assisted in finding temporary lodgings by the Westport Housing Authority, which operates the Sasco Creek Village complex, and the American Red Cross, said Assistant Chief Brian Meadows. The complex underwent a $22 million makeover, which was competed last year and involved demolition of 33 mobile homes and construction of 54 new units. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Westport resident Anita M. Lopker and her five Japanese Chins, including two, Valentino and Orion, each 2 1/2, who competed and earned awards this week at the 140th annual Westminster Kennel Club All Breed Dog Show in New York City. Lopker, who bred and trained the dogs, is a psychiatrist who has had a practice in Westport since 1987. Valentino earned the Award of Merit and Orion earned the Winners Dog prize. In addition to the mother Xena, 5-1/2, Lopker bred and trained l’Etoile Noire and Perseus, the call names of the Fleur de Passy Dauphin family. Lopker said Valentino now ranks as the No. 2 Japanese Chin in the country and ranks No.1 in the Breeder-Owner-Handler category. The dogs (l-r) are Bronze GCH Fleur de Passy Dauphin, known as Valentino; Fleur de Passy L’Etoile Noire, known as L’Etoile; Fleur de Passy Orion, known as Orion; FCI Int Ch -Multi Int CH -AKC & FCPR GCH Tsunami Inagiku of Fleur de Passy, known as Xena, and Fleur de Passy Perseus, known as Percy (the Hero). (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By Mark Pazniokas

www.ctmirror.org

East Lyme—Until three weeks ago, 90 percent of Amy Gully’s daily routine in York Correctional, the state’s only prison for women, was staying in a cell, marking days off a 30-month sentence for embezzlement and waiting her turn to make a phone call home.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy listens to Damaris Vega Torres (c). (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Ctmirror.org photo

“Today, I am up every morning. I am downstairs teaching. I know how to do computers and typing and things like that, and the girls just don’t know how to do that,” Gully said today after a chat with a visiting VIP. “I have responsibilities, and I’m starting to feel useful.”

The visitor was Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, making his sixth prison visit in the past nine months. This time, he was marking the dedication of York’s new community reintegration center, a program to prepare women to return home from prison.

“What we want to do is make sure you don’t come back,” Malloy told Gully and five other inmates, who sat in a circle with their warden, counselor and Correction Commissioner Scott Semple. “And we like you, but we don’t want you to come back here.”

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By Jim Cameron

Each week, dozens of people ride Metro-North for the first time. This week’s column is to let both new and veteran commuters in on the secrets of a successful rail commute. 

Parking: You can’t take the train if you can’t get to the station, so invest in your commuting future by getting your name on your town’s (and neighboring towns’) waiting lists for annual parking permits. 

In four or five years, when your name rises to the top of the list, you’ll thank yourself. Meantime, opt for legal day-parking, find a friend to ride to the station with, or try biking. There are free bike racks at most stations.

Platform Positioning: There’s a science to deciding where on the platform to wait for your train. Many commuters position themselves at the front or rear of the train for a quick get-away when they arrive in Grand Central.

By Susan Granger

After previous attempts to embody a comic-book character – like DC’s ill-fated “Green Lantern” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” – Ryan Reynolds scores with “Deadpool,” playing brash, brazen mercenary Wade Wilson, who falls wildly in love with a bitter, wise-cracking hooker (Morena Baccarin).

Their short-lived romantic tryst is interrupted when Wade is diagnosed with late stage, incurable cancer and then tricked by a sadistic scientist (Ed Skrien) into a painful transformation (via injected mutant genes) to become the facially disfigured yet indestructible anti-hero Deadpool.

With the help of his bartender buddy (T.J. Miller) at a dive called Sister Margaret’s Home for Wayward Girls and encouragement by his blind landlady (Leslie Uggams), Deadpool is determined to wreak revenge.

Working from a long-gestating, slyly sardonic screenplay by Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick, it’s irreverently directed by Tim Miller, whose creative background is in commercials and visual effects. He opens the film with cheeky, self-conscious credits and breaks the fourth wall when Deadpool talks directly to the audience.