Incumbent Keith Hedrick is facing off against former State Rep. Aundré Bumgardner in the Democratic primary for Groton City Mayor on Monday, March 8. Hedrick served for decades in the U.S. Navy and is endorsed by the Groton Democratic Committee. In a conversation with Connecticut Examiner, Hedrick shared why he...
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Former State Rep. Aundre Bumgardner is challenging incumbent Keith Hedrick in the Democratic primary for the Groton City mayorship on Monday, March 8. Bumgardner, who represented Groton and New London in the General Assembly from 2015 through 2017, was sworn in at the age of 20, making him the youngest...
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...be introduced to police at a younger age, ” said Sergeant Richard Sawyer, who supervises school resource officers in the Groton Police Department. Sawyer said he believes their presence decreases the number of juvenile arrests. If the students know the police officer personally, he said, it’s less likely that a...
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...approved. Reginald Eadie, co-chair of the state’s Vaccine Advisory Group, said that the decision to base eligibility on age had come out of discussions with the group’s Allocation Subcommittee. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, a member of the governor’s Vaccine Advisory Group, told CT Examiner that she believed age was...
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...the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, all insisting that having medical assistants administer vaccinations would reduce some of the stress on other medical professionals. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, said that she’d spoken with a number of private practices, and that all had responded positively to the bill. “One of...
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...do is start a conversation. “I think we just need to change the legal way we approach voting in Connecticut as more of a right that is universal,” he said. “ Just making sure that voting rights are the same in Greenwich and Groton and Goshen, and every town in...
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...things together then, we’re going to recommend that it be returned to DOT, so we’re asking DOT what are the steps to do that.” Other co-sponsors of the bill include State Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, State Rep. Joe de la Cruz, D-Groton and State Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London. Osten...
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...to remain open for in-person learning for the vast majority of the fall of 2020. Susan Austin, superintendent of Groton Public Schools, said that Groton had done a pilot assessment of their students in May, and then another one when the students returned to school in September. She said that...
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The legislature’s Public Health Committee today received a petition with 10,000 signatures asking that legislators postpone consideration of a bill that would remove the religious exemption for children’s immunizations until they are able to hold a public hearing in person. In an email to State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, that...
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...go around as possible,” said Fitzgerald. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, a member of the Governor’s Vaccine Advisory Group, said that with Connecticut receiving about 44,000 doses per week, and over 1.2 million people eligible as part of phase 1B, it would necessarily take time to vaccinate everyone. “I’m telling...
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...in support of anything that remotely looks like that,” said State Rep. Joe de la Cruz, D-Groton. De la Cruz is the co-founder of Community Speaks Out, a Groton-based nonprofit that supports families who are dealing with opioid addiction. De la Cruz said his organization has been sponsoring individuals who...
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State Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, is reintroducing a bill in the state legislature to make it easier for New London County residents with Medicaid to access medical specialists. The bill is meant to fill in a gap that exists, said Conley, for individuals who need “a little more care than...
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...averaging 4,000 views daily. DeLapp said that the project began in 2005, when the school received a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The grant was to work with the sub base in Groton to develop an online training for U.S. childcare providers who were in the Navy. From...
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...bill that would place a certain amount of existing and future Coronavirus federal relief money under the control of the state legislature. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, said that no matter where the funding ends up being spent, the critical point was that the legislature should be able to have...
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GROTON — The Groton Police Department is launching a new database to aid officers interacting with individuals with autism and disabilities. The Citizens At Risk Database, or CARD system, stores information about individuals who are on the autism spectrum or have handicaps or other disabilities. The system is voluntary –...
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...stealing good ideas from other states,” said Cheeseman. “In any realm of state government, we need to see the best ideas out there.” State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, who was also a founding partner of the medical device manufacturer Hydrofera, said that insurance companies should be required to make public...
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...to administer vaccinations. The bill passed in the House, receiving the support of community health centers, physicians and the Connecticut Hospital Association. However, the bill was never passed by the Senate. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, said she believed that the COVID vaccine was particularly challenging to administer because of...
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...marketing Digital marketing campaigns are another popular use for the funds. The Thames River Heritage Park is using the $9,000 in grant money, plus $4,500 it raised independently, to create a series of 30- and 60-second videos featuring nine New London and Groton historical sites it partners with. Amy Perry,...
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...Groton school district. “Groton has about 1000 military-dependent children who live in military housing, and because their parents don’t pay property taxes on their military housing, the town misses out on that revenue.” The bipartisan “Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act” will allow school districts to receive the same federal Impact...
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GROTON — For years, plans to redevelop five vacant school buildings in Groton have inched ahead, but with the first project — a 280-unit apartment complex — set to break ground as soon as next year, town officials say they hope that new developments will attract many of the thousands...
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...covered, according to the state website. There are also no-cost options available for testing. Community Health Center is holding free drive-through or walk-up testing in Middletown, Meriden, Old Saybrook, New London and Groton, and other locations throughout the state. Other free testing locations can be found on the state’s website....
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...Waterbury, Bridgeport, Shelton, Wallingford, Hamden and Region 14 – have reverted to remote learning from Nov. 30 to Jan. 18. Many others, however, are relying on remote learning for at least a week after the Thanksgiving break. Michael Graner, superintendent of schools in Groton, said that his district had decided...
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...only around specific water bodies. The town of Groton mandates a 100-foot review area, which expands to 200 feet around five specific brooks, and to 150 feet around four specific streams, named in the regulations. Other towns, including Killingworth and Old Lyme, maintain expanded review areas around seasonally dry vernal...
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...says that their production levels have remained the same as always — albeit with COVID precautions. “It’s a little more challenging, you have to sanitize and everything, but other than that, we’re keeping pretty busy.” Facchini said that the station, which serves Groton, Ledyard, Stonington, North Stonington, and Voluntown, occupies...
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GROTON — State Sen. Heather Somers is pushing for Gov. Ned Lamont to allow trained EMTs to test firefighters at local fire stations once a week for COVID-19 as a proactive measure against the spread of the virus. “So many of these firehouses are volunteers. They’re taking time off to...
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...and it’s made people particularly proud of southeastern and shoreline Connecticut because of our folks in Groton at Pfizer. Still, though, we have a big task ahead, which is to create a vaccine supply chain. Rep. John Larson and I announced a bill this week that would use the Defense...
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...the amount of produce they are ordering. Whittle’s produce ready to ship to schools last year (Courtesy of Rik Whittle) Ernie Koschmieder, food service director at Groton Public Schools, said that Groton cafeterias normally serve 3,800 to 4,000 meals each day, but now the number has dropped to between 1,200...
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...in Mystic, City of Groton and Town of Groton. “We’re large enough, but small enough to accommodate projects like a bathroom or a kitchen all the way to large scale whole rehab — a bank or a medical facility,” said Preka, who is a board member of the Home Builders...
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...races, incumbents across the region held their seats despite strong challengers in tightly-contested elections. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, defeated two-time Democratic challenger Robert Statchen, who also carried the Independent and Working Families party lines, by 988 votes, with an unofficial tally of 24,802 to 23,814. She will represent the...
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...other problems that exist within this system. Betsy Moukawsher, the town clerk of Groton, said that opening up the envelopes early meant that you have to take out the inner envelope, paperclip one to the other, and then worry about having to keep everything together. “It’s really time consuming,” she...
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