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Bridgeport knows how to take advantage of a good Saturday night with plans for this band and DJs to celebrate into the night, raising money for charity.
The event, sponsored one guy coming out of Tiago’s said, by Tiago’s Bar and Grill. He noted he was a little tipsy. But they band is playing in the alley between Tiago’s and the old Polka Dot.
Check ‘em out if you’re in the area, music is supposed to be playing until 2 a.m., but the band might only be on for a few more hours.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, proposed a $2,000 tax credit for turning in assault rifles to police as Congress takes up gun control.
Called, Support Assault Firearm Elimination and Reduction for out Street Act, it would work by providing a federal tax credit for people who turn in weapons related to future local, state or federal programs.
Lawmakers are facing pressure to do something in the wake of the Newtown massacre in which a man took his mother’s guns, killed her and then shot up an elementary school leaving 20 first graders dead along with six staff.
“Let us be clear. Assault weapons are not about hunting or even self-defense and they should be off the streets,” DeLauro said. “There is no reason on Earth, other than to kill as many people as possible in a very short period of time, that anyone needs a gun designed for military purposes. These weapons have been disproportionately used to kill law enforcement officers in the line of duty and were tragically used in Newtown, Aurora, and countless other mass shootings across America.
The SAFER Streets Act creates a $2,000 refundable tax credit ($1,000 for two consecutive years) for an assault weapon owner who turns in their firearm to the state police.
DeLauro said the idea of a tax credit came from a Connecticut veteran.
Here is the key language of the act:
IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual who surrenders a specified assault weapon to the
United States or a State or local government (or political subdivision thereof) as part of a Federal,
State, or local public safety program to reduce the number of privately-owned weapons, on the election
of the taxpayer there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter an amount equal to $2,000.
Houses of worship are opening their doors in this stunned and grieving state to provide prayers and comfort for the heartbroken families in Newtown after clergymen spent the day trying to help families.
As news that a gunman had opened fire at Sandy Hook School, Pastor Robert Weiss and priests from St. Rose of Lima came to the scene to minister to children and families affected. Rabbi Shaul Praver, of Congregation Adath Israel and Rev. Kathie Adams-Shepherd, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church.
Twenty children and six adults were killed at the elementary school Friday.
While the tragedy was occurring, Mark Moore, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church opened his doors to people in the hours after the shooting and the Bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese of Connecticut urged all its churches to do the same.
“We hold the victims, their families, and all who are affected by the shooting in our thoughts and prayers for healing and strength,” the three bishops, Rev. Ian Douglas, Laura Ahrens, and James Curry wrote. “We pray that those who have died will be held in the arms of our loving God whose heart aches for those affected by this tragedy.”
Special vigils are being held at St. Rose at 7 p.m. and at the United Methodist Church in Newtown, which is also close by the school will hold a vigil at 7 a.m. Regular Friday services with prayers for the victims will be held at Adath Israel and a vigil is being planned for Sunday.
Brian Wallace, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, said Saint Rose and other houses of worship are opening to try to do what they can to ease the heartbreak people are feeling. And this will touch many lives in Newtown, he said, and the Saint Rose parish, which has 3,000 members.
He said opening the churches is a way to help.
“In the immediate shock it’s to put an arm around them and pray with them,” he said. “It’s a moment that shakes your faith in life. People are so profoundly disturbed when the most innocent of us meet that fate. It so profoundly shakes people and I think priests are always asked why and if anyone can give an answer, they do in their own way.”
Other churches are also holding vigils.
Nichols United Methodist Church in Trumbull is holding a vigil at 7:30 p.m. and the Methodist Church in New Fairfield is holding a vigil at 7 p.m.
Bridgeport, Shelton, Monroe and Oxford school districts have canceled after school activities following the Newtown tragedy.
A gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday morning and killed 26 people, including 20 children. School districts across the region reacted to the news, some locked down and others reported working with police and counselors. Many decided to cancel after school programs.
“I am writing to inform you that in light of the tragedy in Newtown, all after-school activities including Lighthouse and any athletic events will be cancelled,” Bridgeport Superintendent Paul Vallas wrote on the district’s website. Bridgeport also notified parents via phone calls.
Vallas said the Central and Stamford high school basketball was still tentatively on pending discussions with Stamford.
Shelton also canceled after school events as did Monroe and Oxford.
In Stratford, the school posted an update on its website alerting parents that extra precautions were being taken and that counselors were being made available to those who needed to talk about the tragedy.
There were only 46 states, Halley’s Comet was in the sky and Mark Twain died when at least 930 Connecticut residents were born who were counted in the 2010 census.
The U.S. Census Bureau said Monday Connecticut had the fourth highest percentage of centenarians, with 0.026 percent, in the country in 2010.
South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska all had higher percentages, but Connecticut had the largest population of these states.
California, home to 5,921 people, had the most people who had lived for a century or more, according to the bureau and New York was second with 4,605.
When many of these people were born, the machine gun had not been invented and the world was just entering the age of flight. The first transcontinental flight would not happen in the U.S. until 2012. There was no highway system.
Besides seeing the admittance of New Mexico and Arizona, these are people who would witness two world wars, the birth of the atom bomb, the computer and the moon landing.
States with the lowest number of people reaching 100 were Alaska, with only 40 people, followed by Utah and Nevada, all with less than 0.0076 percent.
With sand, trees, wires and water choking roads some neighborhoods have become islands that will be difficult to get in and out of today and possibly for days to come.
Sandy is reportedly moving deep into Pennsylvania but cleanup efforts appear to be hampered by gusting winds as linemen can’t go up in bucket trucks under these conditions.
Be careful if you’re hitting the roads.
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