Around the Rosy, a store that buys and sells used clothing and accessories for newborns to 14-year-olds, opened today at 222 Post Road West. (see WestportNow July 17, 2013.) Owner Taryn Bolotin, a Westport resident and mother of 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year-old daughters, said, “there’s so much wastefulness in children’s clothing because the kids grow so fast – I saw a need for quality used clothing – and there’s nothing between Westport and Danbury with the broad range of our inventory.” The daughter of songwriter and entertainer Michael Bolton of Westport, Bolotin said she just completed her Master’s in education at the University of Bridgeport in May. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Westport’s unemployment rate in June was 6.1 percent, up from 6 percent in May, the Connecticut Department of Labor said today.

The department said the number of Westport unemployed in June was 778, up from 752 in May.

The June labor force in Westport numbered 12,655, up from 12,531 in May.

There were 11,877 employed in June, up from 11,779 employed in May. A year ago in June, Westport’s unemployment rate was 6.6 percent.

A jury has found that Westport National Bank and its parent company, Connecticut Community Bank, were not liable for the losses of investors in Bernard Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme in its role as a custodial bank, The New York Times reported.

Separately, the bank agreed to pay $7.5 million to 240 investors in a related case, the newspaper said, citing a lawyer for the bank.

A federal jury in Hartford had finished hearing eight days of evidence last month in a case that had consolidated three similar lawsuits against the bank. Two of those cases settled before the jury began its deliberations.

After the other cases settled, the jury did evaluate the bank’s custodial duties in a case brought by two Florida investors, but sent a mixed message, the Times said.

Westport’s Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs Group director spending time at his Greens Farms home awaiting appeal of his insider trading conviction, today got more bad news – a $13.9 million civil fine.
Rajat Gupta: another fine in case. File photo

Gupta, 64, who was found guilty of passing confidential tips to jailed billionaire hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, was also permanently barred from acting as an officer or director of a public company and from associating with any broker or investment adviser, the Securities and Exchange Commission said. It cited an order by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan.

Gupta is appealing his June 2012 conviction and two-year prison term and $5 million criminal fine for having fed confidential tips he learned at Goldman board meetings in the second half of 2008 to Rajaratnam, a former billionaire who ran Galleon Group.

“The sanctions imposed today send a clear message to board members who are entrusted with protecting the confidences of the companies they serve,” George Canellos, co-director of the SEC’s enforcement division, said in a statement.

Alex and Ani, an eco-friendly jewelry store, has opened at 117 Post Road East in the space previously occupied by The Avenue. Founded in 2004, the Rhode Island-based company has more than 30 retail locations nationwide. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

Sally White seemed overwhelmed by all the media attention today, seemingly tired of parroting the same lines about her plans to shutter Sally’s Place, a record, tape and CD shop that has been a mainstay on Westport’s Main Street since 1985.

Sally White on her shop’s closing: “It’s all been said. I don’t want to sound like a broken record. “(CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

“It’s all been said,” said White as a cable news truck hummed below her store at 190 Main St.

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record,” she added.

News that White would close as the end of the summer hit Thursday, sounding a note around town far more melancholy than the somber jazz tune playing in her shop.  For almost five decades White has been revered as the go-to person with encyclopedic knowledge of the music industry.