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The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” was touted as a way to relieve taxes.

However, according to DataHaven — a non-profit that collects data on “well-being, equity and quality of life” in Connecticut — it will have “unequal effects on American families, and will contribute to income and wealth inequality.”

They cite the Congressional Budget Office, which says the bill will increase after-tax earnings for households at the top of the income distribution, while negatively impacting households in the bottom fifth.

Weighing the positive effects of reduced taxes against the costs of reductions in Medicaid and SNAP, DataHaven says that statewide, “much of the tax relief from (the bill) will go to high-income households in southwest Connecticut.”

Taken as a whole, Westporters will reap $121 million in benefits from the bill, according to DataHaven.

The top 25% of households (based on income) will receive $73.5 million in benefits. The middle 50% will get $46.7 million, while the bottom 25% will see $789,000.

Meanwhile, just 2 towns over, Bridgeport — with a population 6 times ours — will see a total benefit of $60.3 million. Of that, $60.7 million will accrue to the top 25%, and $13.7 million to the middle 50%.

The bottom quarter of Bridgeport’s households, however, will lose $14.1 million, DataHaven says.

Click here for the full report. (Hat tip: Sal Liccione)

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The transfer station on Sherwood Island Connector, and the yard waste facility on Bayberry Lane, are both closed today because of the snowstorm.

They’ll reopen on Monday.

The Westport Library will open, but late: 1 p.m.

Stay warm and dry, and drive safe!

Before the storm.

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Berthold Nebel was one of Westport’s earliest artists.

Born in Switzerland in 1889, he came to the US with his parents when he was 1.

He was hired as noted sculptor James Earle Fraser’s studio assistant in Gramercy Park. Nebel moved to Westport in 1930, on the advice of Fraser, and bought a 9-acre piece of land on Roseville Road, with a farmhouse on it.

Nebel soon built an artist studio much like Fraser’s. He lived and worked there with his family, until his death in 1964.

Here, he worked on commissions that included 2 sets of bronze doors for the Museum of the American Indian, and the Museum of the National Geographic Society.

Among Nebel’s other works: a statue of Confederate General Joseph Wheeler for the rotunda of the US Capitol, and another of General John Sedgwick for the state Capitol in Hartford.

Now — as his family prepares to put the studio on the market — his granddaughter Maria Nebel White Keogh writes that the family has finally found a home for “Wrestlers,” Nebel’s Rodin-inspired sculpture created during World War I as his thesis at the Academy in Rome.

It’s being donated to the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme. Other important figurative works are displayed there too.

While the work is a donation, transporting and installing the work will cost up to $25,000.

Lyme Academy is soliciting donations, for that project and the sculpture’s care and maintenance. Click here for details. 

Berthold Nebel, with “Wrestlers.”

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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo was taken on Christmas Day, at Deadman Brook.

The scene — and the rest of town — look a bit different today.

(Photo/Tomoko Meth)

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And finally … on this date in 1831, Charles Darwin began his journey on HMS Beagle. Along the way, he formulated his theory of evolution.

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