STEFANOWSKI VS LAMONT
Connecticut businessman Bob Stefanowski has won the Republican nomination for governor, defeating four fellow contenders in Tuesday’s election, including the GOP’s endorsed candidate. A political newcomer from Madison, Stefanowski is a former GE executive who pitched himself as Bob the Rebuilder in his TV ads and who has pledged to eliminate the state’s personal income tax. He will face Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont in November.
GRISWOLD HIGH GRAD WINS AG NOMINATION
State prosecutor Sue Hatfield has won the Republican nomination for attorney general. Hatfield, A Griswold High School graduate who was endorsed by the party, defeated challenger and former state Rep. John Shaban of Redding. Hatfield, of Pomfret, was a policy assistant for Newt Gingrich and an early supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy for president. She served as a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Connecticut, but she says she does not agree with Trump on every issue. She has said she wants the attorney general’s office to be more pro-business. Hatfield recently lost the endorsement of the Connecticut’s largest gun owners’ group, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, after saying she opposed the ability to download blueprints for making untraceable plastic guns with 3D printers.
BOB’S MAY BE COMING BACK TO WHALING CITY
Bob’s Discount Furniture may be returning to New London. A 35,600-square-foot building proposed for construction in the back of the New London Mall, at Frontage Road may become the new home of the furniture retailer. Felix Reyes, director of the Office of Development and Planning, said he was excited to have a long-blighted area reclaimed by the development of a reputable and recognizable company. Bob’s previously had operated a retail operation on Colman Street in New London, which closed sometime after the opening of its East Lyme store in 2006.
OAKS NOT RECOVERING
After about three years of drought, and damage by gypsy moth caterpillars, state and utility officials say they’re seeing more and more trees, particularly oaks, that have been unable to recover. Experts with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Eversource say not all of their tree work is related to gypsy moth caterpillar damage. Other tree issues can include compromised root systems, disease, and rotting bases. Experts say soil in Eastern Connecticut dries out faster than in Western Connecticut and in some cases isn’t as fertile, particularly in the Voluntown area. But this spring, they say they saw “far less” defoliation from the caterpillars than last year, which is a positive sign.
MAKING THE BONDING CASE
Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom wants to make sure voters are informed about what is at stake with the $8 1/2 million dollar economic development bond ordinance. Yesterday, Nystrom and Norwich Community Development Corp. President Robert Mills held an informational session on the proposed bond program at Otis Library. Nystrom, is an an advocate for the program. One Norwich resident, Brian Kobylarz said his concern was not with the new businesses that have come into the downtown area through the existing bond program, but rather, the businesses that have come and left.
