THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE

TENANT RELOCATION APPROVED

The New Lon­don Hous­ing has been granted fed­eral ap­proval of its ap­pli­ca­tion to dis­pose of the troubled Thames River Apart­ments in its ef­fort to re­lo­cate its res­i­dents. The ap­proval opens the door for an ap­pli­ca­tion to HUD for ten­ant pro­tec­tion vouch­ers, or Sec­tion 8 vouch­ers, to al­low for re­lo­ca­tion of the more than 300 res­i­dents there. HUD agreed with what city of­fi­cials and res­i­dents have rec­og­nized for years, that the prop­erty “is not suited for mul­ti­fam­ily use.”

DERELL DEPARTURE

Derell Wilson was employed by the Norwich Public Schools but the Democratic mayoral candidate left with only two days notice last May. Two months earlier, school administrators cited examples of a “lack of follow through” in his position as an after-school program site coordinator at Kelly Middle School.
Wilson said Wednesday he resigned in order to devote all his time to running for mayor. Wilson said he has been employed since early September at the Integrated Day Charter School in Norwich, but that if elected he would be a “full-time mayor.”

EL SEEKS MICROGRID GRANT

The town of East Lyme is seeking a state grant for a po­ten­tial mi­cro­grid that would pro­vide power to crit­i­cal in­fra­struc­ture. The mi­cro­grid, with a fuel cell that po­ten­tially would be lo­cated in the vicin­ity of the Lil­lie B. Haynes School, would serve the school and nearby fa­cil­i­ties, in­clud­ing a sewer pump sta­tion, the com­mu­nity cen­ter and the mid­dle school, which is a seven-town emer­gency shel­ter dur­ing storms. The pro­gram is de­signed to help cre­ate ways to en­sure that crit­i­cal build­ings re­main pow­ered dur­ing elec­tri­cal grid out­ages.

VIGIL TONIGHT

A vigil will be held tonight at the David Ruggles Courtyard at Norwich City Hall, to honor the victims of the Las Vegas concert shooting and the Sept. 24 shooting at a church in Antioch, Tennessee. The vigil, “Stand in Unity, Peace, and Love,” will be held at 6 p.m., and is open to the public.  It’s sponsored by the Norwich Area Clergy Association, and others. The community is asked to participate. For more information, contact the Rev. Gregory A. Perry, president of the Norwich Area Clergy Association.

BOAT SINKS, TWO RESCUED

East Lyme Police responded to reports of a boat sinking near Hatchetts Reef just after 4 o’clock Wednesday afternoon. Two officers using a rescue boat were able to save the two unidentified boaters who were cold but uninjured. Rescuers described the water conditions as choppy.

GROTON GETS MATH GRANT

The Department of Defense Education Activity has awarded Groton Public Schools a five-year, $1.25 million grant to support mathematics instruction across the district. Through the math grant, teachers will participate in a professional development program with the New London-based organization New Perspectives on Learning. It’s the third DoDEA grant it has received, the most recent being $1 million in 2015 to support reading and writing professional development for teachers.