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Amtrak has suspended Acela Express service between New Haven and Boston, due to high water conditions along the tracks, east of Providence, Rhode Island. Northeast Regional service will continue to operate, but passengers should expect delays through the area.
Northeast Corridor service between New York City and Washington, D.C. is not affected.
NEW HAVEN — The female juror in Shelton developer James Botti’s federal corruption case — who attempted to read personal observations from a journal she’s been keeping to fellow jurors during deliberations earlier today — has been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Charles Haight, who dismissed the juror, called the 11 remaining jurors back into the courtroom later in the day and asked them four questions, including whether anyone attempted to discuss the case with them outside the jury room, of if they personally made statements to another juror before other jurors arrived to deliberate.
All jurors responded no to all four questions.
He also asked them if, as a result of what happened earlier in the day, they would be still be able to act as an impartial jury. All said they still could.
Haight then sent the jurors back to deliberate.
The dismissal came after Haight interviewed the jury foreperson and the juror who had the journal.
The female foreperson told Haight, during questioning this morning, that when the juror attempted to read from the journal, “We told her to stop it right now.”
The foreperson said the same juror attempted to discuss a conversation she had earlier in the trial with another juror, but didn’t say what that conversation was about.
Haight then asked the foreperson if she believed the juror who brought in the journal could continue to openly deliberate in this case. The foreperson shook her head no.
Haight then called in the juror, who told the judge she’s been keeping personal journals for 27 years. She told the judge it appeared the jury could not get a consensus in the case and also said one juror said that (Botti) has “the best lawyer in New Haven,” a reference to Botti’s attorney, William F. Dow, III.
Haight then asked the juror if she could continue to deliberate and she told him that she often played chess in championship tournaments and that when you play chess you have to concentrate on the big picture and, if you don’t, you lose.
She also told Haight that she has “logic and reason” and can get “500 signatures for you that can tell you that.”
Haight asked the juror why she brought in her personal journal into the jury room despite his daily order against doing so.
She said she didn’t remember the order, adding she brought them in so “I can say verbatim (to the other jurors) what was said” in court.
She also told the judge that she had a conversation with at least one other juror on the way home, but didn’t elaborate.
The jury has been deliberating the fate of Botti since the afternoon of March 25.
Botti, 47, of Maple Avenue, Shelton is accused of conspiring with Shelton Mayor Mark A. Lauretti to deprive the city’s residents of honest government, bribing the mayor and committing mail fraud. Lauretti has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has repeatedly denied the accusation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Schechter and Rahul Kale maintain Botti used the mayor’s influence to push through approval of his 828 Bridgeport Ave. project, which resulted in the construction of two restaurants, a bank branch and a hotel on land that formerly housed a vacant perfume factory.
The prosecution claims pressure was put on Planning & Zoning Commission members to vote in favor of the project during their June 20, 2006 meeting. Just a week earlier, it appeared that the commission would deny approval of the plan.
—–By Michael P. Mayko
Two teenaged boys were on Seabreeze Avenue, walking home from East Shore Middle School in Milford Tuesday, when a vehicle slowed down and the male operator yelled out the window, asking them if they wanted money in exchange for sexual acts, according to police.
The man never exited the vehicle and just continued eastbound on Seabreeze Avenue, police said.
The two teens fled the area and called police about the incident.
Police describe the suspect as a male, bald, clean shaven, wearing a white T-shirt.
The vehicle was described as a white or silver, full-size van with stripes -possibly purple, blue and white – along the side.
There was also a ladder affixed to a rack on top of the van and a spare tire attached to the rear of the vehicle.
Police are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to contact the detective division at (203) 877-1465.
STRATFORD — Seizure-prone Police Officer Justin LoSchiavo has been fired, but did not lose his job for crashing his cruiser into four cars while in the throes of a seizure last June, but for displaying a lack of “integrity and attention to duty” and “conduct unbecoming an officer,” Mayor John A. Harkins said today.
Harkins, in announcing LoSchiavo’s termination a day after the conclusion of a disciplinary hearing for the officer, said that in the course of determining LoSchiavo’s “fitness to return to active duty following the events of June 6, 2009, several inconsistencies were uncovered in this individual’s personnel files.
“Upon thorough investigation by Human Resources Director Ron Ing, it was determined that Mr. LoSchiavo made deliberately false statements to town officials during his efforts to return to active police duty following the events of last year,” Harkins said.
During the disciplinary, or “Loudermill,” hearing mandated for public employees facing termination, LoSchiavo “willfully admitted to engaging in the misconduct alleged by the town,” the mayor said.
“Law-enforcement officials must be held to the highest standards of professional conduct,” Harkins said. “By willfully making false statements in order to maintain employment with the town of Stratford, Justin LoSchiavo violated the trust of his fellow officers and the public he had elected to serve. As mayor, I cannot and will not excuse, condone or tolerate any employee who uses dishonesty to reap personal benefit at public expense.”
LoSchiavo, 32, son of former Deputy Police Chief Joseph LoSchiavo and Human Resources Assistant Linda LoSchiavo and brother of Stratford Police Officer Joe LoSchiavo Jr., was assigned to “light duty” the past seven months after his driver’s license was seized and suspended following last June’s crash.
LoSchiavo, hired in June 2006 by former Mayor James R. Miron, will receive no pension benefits because he did not work as a police officer for at least five years, said Town Attorney Tim Bishop.
“This decision was pre-determined, baseless and was reached in a manner to avoid the true threshold issue — whether this officer was fit for patrol duty,” said Jon August, LoSchiavo’s lawyer. “We expect the union to file a grievance and we’re considering all of our (legal) options.”
A school bus and an SUV collided this morning around 7:30 a.m. sending five people to the hospital, according to police.
The accident happened at the intersection of Shelton Avenue and North Constitution Boulevard.
There were two juveniles, a school bus monitor and driver on the school bus at the time of the accident, according to information provided by Sgt. Robert Kozlowsky, Shelton police spokesman.
He said all four were taken to a local hospital for evaluation, as well as the driver of the SUV. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
Based on the investigation on scene it was determined that the school bus was traveling on Shelton Avenue heading towards downtown. The bus was going through a green light at the intersection of Shelton Avenue and North Constitution Boulevard when it was struck by the SUV that was traveling on North Constitution Boulevard towards Nells Rock Road, according to Kozlowsky.
The driver of the SUV, Sharon Spinosa, 53, of Shelton, was issued a motor vehicle infraction for violation of a traffic control signal, Kozlowsky said.
Both the school bus and the SUV were towed from the scene with extensive damage.
Soon, chain restaurants with more than 20 locations will have to post calorie information on their menus. The move is supposed to make Americans more aware of what they’re eating, with the goal of tapering off the obesity epidemic in the country.
But what do you think? If you regularly eat at chain restaurants (and “chains” include everything from fast food to sit down establishments, like The Olive Garden and Chili’s) and have an opinion, we want to hear from you.
Please contact Amanda Cuda at acuda@ctpost.com with your thoughts, and she might interview you for an upcoming story.
David Title, the Bloomfield superintendent of schools and the state’s Superintendent of the Year, is expected to be formally hired as the new Fairfield superintendent of schools tonight.
The Board of Education has a special meeting set for 8 p.m. to do just that, and since Title is only candidate left for the job being vacated by Ann Clark, it is considered just a formality.
Before the board votes, however, he’ll meet with some top town officials, and then from 7 to 8 o’clock, the public is invited to meet the superintendent-apparent in the auditorium of RLMS at 689 Unquowa Road.
The Housatonic River, which snakes its way 149 miles from the Berkshires to Milford, will crest tomorrow in most places, according to the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service of the National Weather Service.
In Falls Village, in the northwest corner of the state, the Housatonic will crest tomorrow afternoon at about a foot above flood stage. Farther downstream, at Gaylordsville, the river will crest early Thursday morning, also at about a foot above flood stage.
And at the Stevenson Dam between Monroe and Oxford, the river will remain about 1.5 feet above flood stage at least through Friday morning.
The Connecticut River at Hartford will crest at nearly 6 feet above flood stage in Hartford tomorrow afternoon, and it will remain at about that level at least through Friday afternoon.
In Middletown, the Connecticut will continue to rise at least through noontime on Friday, when it will reach a level of about 6.5 feet above flood stage.
The National Weather Service says that the rain that’s been falling since Sunday is just about over with. The region will have only light drizzle this morning. Clearing is predicted for this afternoon.
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