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The tagline says “06880: Where Westport meets the world.”
Today, it’s “where Westport meets the solar system.”
When Perseverance — NASA’s $2.7 billion robotic explorer — landed successfully on Mars yesterday, it got a boost from a 2012 Staples High School graduate.
Alexandria Rosa spent more than 2 years helping source one of the spacecraft’s arms. She’s a mechanical engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.
Nice to know there’s now a little bit of Westport on the red planet!
Alexandria Rosa
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The St. Vincent’s/Hartford Healthcare testing on Long Lots Road — a very popular location for several months — now operates only Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (8 a.m. to noon).
On March 1, it will close permanently as a testing site.
The scene at St. Vincent’s Medical Center on Long Lots Road, a few days before Christmas. (Photo/Randy Ford)
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Another closure: Citibank’s Post Road East branch — the one by Walgreens — will officially close on April 30. It has been shut for a while, during COVID.
An email to customers says “we assure you that you will receive the same great service, now at a new location.”
The email does not explain where that “new location” is. It does, however, say that “it may be convenient” to use the 399 Post Road West branch.
Many banks have closed branches during COVID. For example, none of Bank of America’s 3 Westport locations are open.
The Citibank branch, in the Walgreens plaza.
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Greg Naughton’s new film, “The Independents,” will be released virtually to art house cinemas on February 26. The wider on-demand release comes March 9.
But there’s a special screening — with Q-and-A afterward — at Fairfield’s FTC on Saturday, February 27.
That’s close to here. But the film has an even closer connection: Some of it was shot in Westport.
“The Independents” is a comedy/drama about 3 solo artists who collide at the same crossroads and discover harmony. They share a rollercoaster ride across America for a shot at musical glory.
The film stars (and was inspired by) the real-life folk-rock Sweet Remains. The Hollywood Reporter called it “an extremely engaging film (that) subverts all the clichés of the star-is-born story and proves there are plenty of offbeat ways to satisfy audiences without hewing to formula.”
Naughton — a longtime Westport resident — had quite a bit to do with “The Independents.” In addition to writing, directing and producing, he stars in it.
Click here for tickets and more information. Click below for the trailer.
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Today’s New York Times carries an obituary of Bruce Blackburn. The graphic designer — famous for creating both the NASA “worm” logo and the American bicentennial star — died in Colorado, at 82.
He also designed the logo for the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Weston, of which he was a longtime congregant, the Times says.
However, the logo appears only once on the church’s website: on the home page.
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And finally … happy 58th birthday to Seal!
