It’s official: Carolyn Doan — Westport’s unofficial osprey spotter — says that the Fresh Market osprey is back.
The actual first raptor of the spring was spotted earlier, by Gray’s Creek. An earlier report of the osprey at the tall perch next to Terrain turned out to be a hawk.
Their mates will no doubt join them soon. We’ll see them building nests, fishing for food, and — hopefully — tending their young.
Carolyn Doan usually has a high-powered lens. This was taken with her iPhone. (Photo/Carolyn Doan)
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“Your State, Your Business” — the program that brings high-ranking officials to the Westport Library to share their work with business owners and residents — continued Thursday.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong — the third speaker, in the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce series — opened with “Law School 101,” which set the stage for the civil legal and constitutional law discussions that followed.
Key topics included the role of the AG here, and differences with other states; high profile issues like personal data and privacy, and cases Tong has filed on behalf of the state and its citizens.
The “Your State, Your Business” series — sponsored by the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce — wraps up April 13 (11 a.m.). Click here for more information, and to register.
Attorney General William Tong, at the Westport Library.
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Congratulations to Ignacy Nieweglowski, Sahil Vora, Rohan Sareen, Ezra Schwartz and Kevin Cano!
On Sunday, the Staples High School students captured first place in the Lockheed Martin CyberQuest Competition.
And they snagged gold for the second year in a row.
In the annual capture-the-flag competition, students take on a wide range of challenges designed by professional cybersecurity engineers. They include multi-step intrusion scenarios, steganography, reverse engineering, operating system exploitation, packet analysis, web vulnerabilities and social engineering.
The event was held at Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky headquarters in Stratford. Facing teams from across the region, the Stapleites worked collaboratively through 3 hours of intense problem-solving.
Following last year’s win, the students grew Staples’ cybersecurity program, and formed a larger team.
In addition to this year’s first-place finish, the B and C teams also placed in the top 5. The B team included Anit Arvind, Tucker Eklund, Srihan Popuri, Maadhav Subramaniam and Jonah Frey, while the C team was Joey Carpenter, Cora Barrett and Nora Ismael-Bakkali.
Up next: the national semifinals. Go Wreckers!
From left: Ignacy Nieweglowski, Sahil Vora, Rohan Sareen, Ezra Schwartz, Kevin Cano.
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Speaking of Staples: Congratulations to the 24 band, orchestra and choir programs who participated in the recent Connecticut Music Educators Association All-State Festival at the Hartford Convention Center.
The 3 days included rehearsals led by guest conductors, culminating in a final performance.
Staples All-State Festival musicians included
Band: Justin Jendrock, Gargi Karve, Dylan Taylor, Christian Green (horn in orchestra)
Choir: Veronica Albee, Josie Caricato, James Donoghue, Beckwith Fipp, Catherine Herbert, Abigail Kim, Josephine Lewertoff, Jasmita Mani Lorenzato, Lyla McEntee, Sophia Macris, Christian Michaels, Denver Razza, Helen Root, Ari Sklar, Samantha Skopp
Orchestra: Kirthana Gowthaman, Isabel Jo, Isabella Mariani, Ayush Rudra, Chloe Wong
Staples’ All-State Festival musicians (missing James Donoghue and Josephine Lewertoff).
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“06880” is Westport’s full-service blog, and the Roundup is where you can find nearly every service: upcoming events, achievements, obituaries.
The other day, we helped a Westport firm find a summer intern.
The New England Consulting Group received inquiries from several outstanding applicants. They extended an offer to a Staples graduate.
Now they’ve got another opening. This is for a part-time, experienced administrative assistant. For details, contact Applicants can contact Susan Owen, CFO: seo@necg.net (put “part-time admin at NECG” in the subject line), or call 203-297-9389.
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The other day, Scott Smith enjoyed an annual visit from a pileated woodpecker.
“It likes to dine off the rotting logs I use to frame my backyard compost heap,” Scott says.
“It’s a beautiful bird — and big!”
It’s also today’s “Westport … Naturally” featured photo.
(Photo/Scott Smith)
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And finally … on this date in 1865, Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.
(You can’t raise a Kane back up when he’s in defeat. But you can click here, to support “06880” with a tax-deductible contribution. Bells will ring, and we will thank you!)
Ospreys are indeed back. And unless I’m mistaken there are two more nests in town. One is on the little island in Grays creek and the other in E.R. Strait parking lot