BODY FOUND IN OLD LYME
State Police are trying to identify a body found in Old Lyme. Troopers found the body on the shore near Hatchett’s Point yesterday afternoon. A cause of death hasn’t been released, but the medical examiner is looking into it. Police ask anyone with information to call.
MAN KILLED IN COLCHESTER CRASH
A deadly crash in Colchester is under investigation. State Police say yesterday afternoon Edward Thomas of Hadley, Massachusetts, lost control of his car on Route Two and drove off the road. He was pronounced dead after being flown to Hartford Hospital. No one else was involved in the crash.
NOISE ORDINANCE REVIEWED
Waterford officials have agreed to review the town’s 25-year-old noise ordinance after residents debated that race car noise produced at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl was a health hazard while Speedbowl supporters argued the complaints were overblown. Neighbors to the track say their intent was “not to put the Speedbowl out of business,” but to come to reasonable solutions and potential schedule shifts. A committee will consult police and fire officials, residents and Speedbowl workers to determine if changes to the noise ordinance are in order.
FEDS: PEQUOTS HAVE NO STANDING
The state and the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes sued U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in November over approvals for the amendments Gov. Malloy signed with each of the tribes last summer on a third casino. Development of that new gaming complex in East Windsor is contingent on the Interior Department approvals. Attorneys for the feds claim that Foxwoods operates under gaming procedures prescribed by the secretary rather than in accordance with a state-tribal compact and argues the Mashantuckets should be dropped from the suit. Attorneys for U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Department of the Interior moved Monday for “partial dismissal” of a lawsuit. Mohegan officials have said the tribes plan to proceed this month with demolition work at the East Windsor casino site.
SUPPLY OF VACCINE LOW
Health officials continue to urge Connecticut residents to get flu shots, but some local pharmacies are running low on the vaccines. Only some pharmacies have run out of flu shots entirely. The shots are still available at regional health departments and private providers. Local pharmacists say demand for flu shots has been high with state health officials reporting more than 50 deaths attributed to the flu since August. Local health officials say it’s still not too late to protect yourself or people vulnerable to severe flu symptoms, like children or the elderly. Uncas Health District will hold another flu shot clinic Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Otis Library in Norwich.
ABSENTEEISM EXAMINED
According to EdSight , the data portal for the Connecticut Department of Education, the district-wide chronic absenteeism rate in Groton is 11.3 percent, while the state average is 9.9 percent. Chronic absenteeism was one of the factors that landed Groton on the state’s list of Alliance Districts. That’s a list of the 33 lowest-performing districts in the state. Superintendent Michael Graner said the district’s plan proposes a social worker to be hired at the high school “to monitor attendance and work with students and families.” The district will get $600,000 from the state to be used solely on improving the factors that made Groton an Alliance District.
