By Gordon Joseloff

Jeff Pegues shows off his Staples Wall of Fame plaque last September. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Jeff Pegues, now CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Department correspondent, grew up in Westport, belonging to one of a handful of black families in town at the time.

“From elementary school through high school, I always felt comfortable in Westport,” he writes in his new book, “Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America.” [Prometheus Books, $24]

There were some incidents in which he felt “the sting of racism,” but they were rare, he says. “Westport welcomed me; and my friends there remain a big part of my life to this day.”

At Staples High School, the Class of 1988 graduate met and became friends with a fellow player on the football team who emigrated from Greece at age 9, speaking not a word of English.

The Westport Country Playhouse (WCP) today announced that Broadway Method Academy (BMA) of Fairfield will be Resident Conservatory of WCP, presenting a series of programs on the Playhouse campus. 

J. Scott Handley, Broadway Method Academy co-founder and executive director; Michael Barker, Westport Country Playhouse managing director; and Connor Deane, BMA co-founder and executive director. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo by Peter Chernot

“Broadway Method Academy is clearly one of the leading theatrical training grounds in Connecticut, bringing young people together with professionals of the highest caliber,” said Michael Barker, Westport Country Playhouse managing director.

“Our new partnership with BMA builds on the Playhouse’s mission-level commitment to arts education, alongside the Woodward Internship program, teaching artist residencies, Family Festivities programming, and student matinee series. We are thrilled to welcome BMA as the Westport Country Playhouse’s Resident Conservatory.”

BMA provides comprehensive training for young people in musical theater, including acting, singing, and dancing, bringing in Broadway professionals to work with students. The nonprofit organization, founded in 2014, offers at its Unquowa Road studio in Fairfield a variety of classes, private coaching sessions, and performance opportunities.

In a raucous session, the State Bond Commission today approved a $1 million grant for renovation work for the Westport Library.

The project was among more than $350 million approved by the commission in a session where the prospect of more borrowing sparked what Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called one of his “weirder” confrontations with legislators.

Malloy and two Republican legislators who sit on the commission, Sen. Scott Frantz of Greenwich and Rep. Chris Davis of Ellington, sparred over the necessity for hundreds of millions of dollars in approved borrowing, CTMirror.org reported.

The State Bond Commission agenda listed the Westport Library grant as part of a $18,542,950 “library expansion for new conference, media, collections and staff rooms.”

ABC has renewed sitcom “American Housewife,” which is set in Westport, for a second season, Variety reported today.

“American Housewife” star Katy Mixon with Kenny Schwartz, an executive producer of the show and a 1985 Staples High School graduate. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Kelsey McNeal/ABC photo

The half-hour comedy on Tuesday nights starring Katy Mixon — originally called “The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport” — debuted Oct. 4, 2016.

Mixon plays Katie Otto, a confident, unapologetic wife and mother of three, as she raises her flawed family in Westport, which is portrayed as filled with “perfect” mommies and their “perfect” offspring.

Kenny Schwartz, a 1985 Staples High School graduate, is an executive producer. Mixon’s co-star, Diedrich Bader, who plays her husband, is married to actress Dulcy Rogers, a 1982 Staples High School graduate.

There was a large turn out today for “Shared Voices,” the first public reading of the Writer’s Workshop at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. Eleven workshop members read original pieces across a variety of genres. Workshop director Jan Bassin developed the program and has been running it since 2015, with the aim of inspiring and supporting the creative goals of each writer. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

With less than three months to go until the Westport Library breaks ground on its long-awaited Transformation Project, volunteers and staff have been hard at work carefully packaging and cataloging the more than 150 pieces in the library’s art collection. Pictured are wrapped pictures from the McManus Room, which will be moved to a fine arts storage facility for safekeeping during the renovation. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com

Scenes today as children’s book author and illustrator Clare Pernice of Weston read her book, “Circus Girl”, and conducted a story time/craft workshop during “A Day at the Circus” at the Westport Library. “Circus Girl” is the tale of a young girl who morphs into a superstar—the main attraction—in a circus of her own. Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com