When the Board of Selectwomen meet Wednesday (February 26, 9 a.m., Town Hall auditorium), they’ll discuss the usual types of items: road closures for events like the Memorial Day parade and road races, sewer connections, etc.
One item is different: approval of a maintenance agreement between the town and the state Department of Transportation “for permission to work within the highway right-of-way to install, maintain and replace automatic license plate readers.”
The town already has one set of license plate readers, at I-95 Exit 17. This agenda item is for another set, at I-95 Exit 18 at the Sherwood Island Connector.
The readers are a response to the rash of car thefts in the area. They give the Westport Police Department a head’s-up if a stolen car is entering town off the highway — or headed out of here, onto it.
The selectwomen’s approval is needed to ensure the state that local officials will maintain the devices.
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Early reviews are in for “Native Gardens” — and they’re raves.
Westport Country Playhouse’s current production — a hilarious yet thought-provoking show about a neighborly dispute that turns into a battle of cultures — gets high marks for its acting, message, and breathtaking set.
The show runs through March 8. Click here for tickets, and more information. Click below for the trailer:
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Tomorrow’s Run4TheirLives walk honors the Bibas family. The 2 boys, ages 4 and 9 months, were killed by Hamas, after being kidnapped from their kibbutz. The fate of their mother is unknown.
As they’ve done for over a year, Westporters will gather at 11 a.m. in the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot on Sunday, then walk through town.
They will say the Mourner’s Kaddish, carry orange balloons in memory of the flame-haired brothers, and pray for their mother.
All Westporters of all ages are invited to join. Wear orange sweaters, coats, hats or reflector vests; bring orange balloons or Bibas signs.
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In November, Startup Westport’s “Young Innovators” forum drew an SRO crowd to the Westport Library.
Entrepreneurs and investors from their 30s through 70s were awed by presentations from a quartet of Staples High School alumni — none older than 25 — who have crushed the tech world.
The star of the star-studded panel was Dylan Diamond. The 2017 grad is co-founder and CEO of Saturn. The Gen Z calendar app has raised $68 million, scaled to millions users, reached 18,000 schools, and hit #1 in the App Store — all after starting out as a high school project.
The event was moderated by Molly O’Shea. The oldest person on stage — she graduated from Staples in 2014 — is no slouch herself. A venture capital investor, Molly founded Sourcery, the VC deal and startup trend newsletter.
Now she’s posted a podcast with Dylan. It opens with a huge shout-out to the Startup Westport event (which she links to, and includes in every Sourcery social post).
Click below for Molly and Dylan’s very insightful — and entertaining — chat.
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There are many ways to prepare students for college. Sometimes overlooked — but crucial — is to focus on mental health.
On Tuesday (February 25, 6:30 p.m., Westport Library), Dr. James Geisler will discuss mental health challenges on college campuses, and help parents support their children’s transition to higher education. For more information, click here.
Graduation is fun. But preparing for the next step is very important.
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This year’s Westport Woman’s Club gala celebrates women who have made significant contributions to philanthropy and service to the community.
The April 5 event (6 p.m., Patterson Club, Fairfield) will be emceed by Scott Foley. His 30-year career in films and on TV include “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scream 3,” and (currently) “Will Trent” and “La Dolce Villa.”
He lives in Westport with his wife, 3 children and many pets.
The evening includes a performance by the R&B, soul and dance band the Bernadettes, plus a silent and live auction.
Guests will enjoy a vibrant performance by The Bernadettes, an R&B/Soul and Dance band, creating a lively atmosphere as well as an opportunity to bid on wonderful silent and live auction items.
Click here for tickets, and more information. Sponsorships are available for $1,000 (to provide clothing for children in need), $5,000 (a need-based scholarship for a graduating senioro) and $10,000 (225 bags of food to struggling families).
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Kings Highway Elementary School students spent Kindness Week spreading joy — within the building, and the entire district.
Every student helped design and create a “kindness rock” — a KHS tradition.
Fifty of them will be delivered to Westport’s 4 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and Staples High — along with a video message explaining their significance, and how each school might use them.
That’s “kind” of a great idea!
Kings Highway’s “kindness rocks.”
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As a 2-year captain of Staples’ boys soccer team, Mike Dobbs earned renown on the field. Like any soccer player (except the goalkeeper), he did plenty of running.
After a start at Athletic Shoe Factory in Westport, he’s spent his professional career in the running shoe industry. And he’s still running — though on roads, not soccer pitches.
Mike will compete in the Boston Marathon in April. It’s a way to compete — and raise money for Dana Farber Cancer Research, in honor of his late mother Sharon (a well-known and dedicated Westport Soccer Association volunteer).
The funds Mike raises will go to the Claudia Adams Barr Program. Click here for more information, and to contribute to his campaign.
Mike Dobbs
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There’s always something going on at MoCA CT. Ahead:
Upcycle Sculpture Workshop (today, Saturday, 1 p.m.): Tour of WestPAC’s :On Fire” and the high school exhibition “Humans & Nature”; then create sculptures with artist Remy Sosa.
Darwin Shen (violin), Michelle Kim (piano): Putting on the Fritz (Sunday, February 23, 4 p.m.): Recital of rarely performed, newly discovered and reconstructed works by Fritz Kreisler.
Art Adventures! Drop-Ins for Kids (Saturdays, 12 to 1:30 p.m.): For children of all abilities: multi-media classes with space to explore new techniques and expression through art.
Community Conversation: Art, Infrastructure, and the Environment (February 27, 6 p.m.): Moderated by curator Ive Covaci; a diverse panel of speakers discuss the intersection of art, sustainability, and community resilience.
Upcoming Art Workshops: Hands-on classes include Ceramic Multi-Bowl Building with Leah Corbett (March 6) and Basket Weaving with Tina Puckett (March 8).
East Coast Contemporary Ballet: Galerie de Danse (March 6 and 7, 7:30 p.m.): Dance and live music in a gallery setting. .
RSO Quartet: Daylight & Dances (March 8, 7 p.m.): Sring players of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra; works by Haydn, Price, Bartok and Puccini.
Sound Healing Meditations with SoulOSoaring (March 18, 6 p.m.): Healing practitioner Terry Eldh uses crystal alchemy singing bowls, crystal harp and koshi chimes.
Current Exhibition, through March 2: “On Fire”: Over 75 works in a variety of media; explores how artists from the 1930s to today have envisioned and responded to the interrelationships of energy, infrastructure, and the environment. The 4th annual exhibition by Westport Permanent Art Collections, inspired by 8 paintings created by Ralph Boyer in 1934 for the old Staples High School, as part of the Federal Public Works of Art Project. These paintings usually hang in the Westport central fire station.
For more information on MoMA CT, click here.
MoMA’s “On Fire” exhibition.
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This kingfisher bird hangs out by the bridge between the Imperial Avenue parking lot and the Westport Library parking lot.
He seemed to be looking sideways — right at Johanna Keyser Rossi — as she captured him for our “Westport … Naturally” feature.
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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And finally … on this date in 1872, the Prohibition Party held their first national convention, in Columbus, Ohio. It took nearly 50 years, but the 19th Amendment went into effect in 1920. Thirteen years later, it was repealed.
(“06880” relies on reader support. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. We’ll drink to that!)
License plate readers rely on many things, including the plate is not removed or swapped, and timely notification with the plate # of the stolen car known and provided. my understanding is many car thieves and stolen cars lack plates, have fake plates, or plates get switched. So limitations should be shared as long as data on their success rate and true value-add.
As it relates to License Plate Readers, how far do we let a government intrude into our privacy before we realize that we no longer have any? This is one more example of your government “knowing what’s best for you better than you do”…
Supreme Court already ruled that you have no expectation of privacy for the limited information recorded by LPRs while you’re driving in public. It’s no different than a cop running your license plate while you’re driving. For a town that is incapable of locking their cars you’d think people would be welcome to this idea. Police are handcuffed by the laws passed by CT legislature so why is it an issue that they have tools to help in other ways
I don’t believe you have an expectation of privacy on a public road?
i think a valid concern is who has access to the data and is it secure? the data in the wrong hands, it might be easy to identify people that have left their homes, to go and rob them. i think there should be a line drawn as to where they get placed and how many, if any.
regarding the hostage walk. I wish all the families well. Trump made a recent threat to Hamas to release all the hostages by last Saturday. What happened to that deadline ? trump said all hell will break loose. Here we are today trying to make the hostage situation better.
First of all Richard thanks to weak democrat leadership under Biden/Harris these wars started. The world new we had 2 dingbats running America. He was only concerned on his shell companies paying his family. That’s why he pardoned his whole family. Corruption at its best.
The guys been president for 5 weeks and is trying to fix the crap he was left. Maybe your party should spend more time listening to Americans than opposing everything Trump does.
I know when you are Rich white and liberal it’s hard to understand. Get out of your bubble and see what middle class people have dealt with for 4 year.
You’ll be ok. You have Kamala Harris for 2028.
God bless all the hostages.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏🙏🙏🙏
Sorry if I offended you by saying God.
OOOh such remarkable comments- please try spell check. I’m sure you’re going to hurl some nonsensical insults, as usual.
Rich. There’s no use asking Jeff or his good buddy Tom any questions, they’ll never answer. Let me demonstrate:
1. As a result of President Putinmusktrump shutting down USAID, seniors, children and woman and their babies have died because their food and medicine have been cut off. Is that okay with you Jeff?
2. Jeff, President Putinmusktrump said it was the Capitol police that assaulted the J6 choir, not the other way surround. Hey Jeff, who assaulted who on 1/6?
3. President Putinmusktrump said Ukraine started the war and invaded itself. Jeff, is that true?
And now, back to our regularly scheduled Jeff programming, already in progress: Hunter Biden’s laptop! Benghazi!
Who actually cares what Trump said. At least he appears to be supporting this crisis. This travesty.
If there is one hope I have, watching how Trump has managed his first 30 days it is that he is not going to forget about the hostages now 500 plus days in captivity.
The horrors these hostages have been put through , rubber stamped by the UN are beyond deranged.
These are not political pawns. They are innocent bystanders, and they are being returned malnourished at best.
They have been mistreated in an unimaginable way.
And the world, especially the UN watched and allowed this to happen. Even suggested it was an eye for an eye.
Nobody stood up for the hostages except the USA !!!
We did. And it is a fine line because hostage negotiations are delicate, and set precedents.
It’s agonizing to watch whose name is up and whose body is being returned.
Not to mention the men who are coming back to their annihilated families..
it is vile.
So please put your fg politics aside on this.
Or pray that Trump destroys the UN !!!
As they should have to eat the horrors they basically approved .
Right. It doesn’t matter what he said, evidently, it’s okay with you that the deranged, criminal and homicidal J6 crowd has been released back into our neighborhoods. It’s okay with you that babies have been starved to death because dear leader doesn’t give a shit.
I’ll put you down for as a card carrying member of the we’re not answering any questions club.
and musk and Steve Bannon make the Natzi salute. who cares ??
Ignorance is bliss, they say.
Ignorance is more than bliss it gets people killed. Anyone who thinks Trump is for peace is obviously not seeing what he’s done before and continuing on now. He’s captured by the MIC like every other president since Eisenhower so not much he can do about it.