Free Republic

The Westport Police Department, located in Connecticut’s hardest-hit county of Fairfield, has abandoned its idea to use high-tech drones that can detect symptoms of coronavirus infection from up to 190 feet away. The backtracking came after people expressed privacy concerns about the program. On Thursday, Police Chief Foti Koskinas and First Selectman Jim Marpe said the drone surveillance plan would not come to fruition because it was “not well-received,” according to Westport News. “In our good faith effort to get ahead of the virus and potential need to manage and safely monitor crowds and social distancing in this environment, our...

A 40th gathering in Connecticut has been dubbed 'party zero' after guests became infected and spread coronavirus across several states and the around the world. About 50 guests reportedly gathered on March 5 at a home in the wealthy suburb of Westport for a lavish buffet and celebration. After the event, roughly half of those at the party became infected with the disease, then transmitted it to other states and the rest of the world. According to the New York Times, guests left that evening for Johannesburg, New York City, other parts of Connecticut and the wider US. One of...

FULL TITLE: EXCLUSIVE: How Lesbian mother who plunged off Pacific Highway admitted she 'let anger get out of control' after six-year-old daughter told teacher she had ‘owies’ on her tummy and her back after her mommy hit her One of the lesbian mothers who were found dead on Monday alongside three of their six adopted children after plunging off a cliff in California was previously arrested for assaulting her six-year-old daughter. Court documents exclusively obtained by the DailyMail.com show that Sarah Hart was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic assault and malicious punishment of a child December 27, 2010, when...

Before he became FBI director, James Comey lived the Gold Coast high-life in Connecticut as a hedge fund high-roller. Now the besieged Comey - under fire for his surprise letters to Congress about Hillary Clinton's controversial emails that have thrown the presidential election into chaos - is about to take another hit, this time on his palatial $3 million-plus home. Comey bought the estate on more than three acres not far from where Martha Stewart used to live in ritzy Westport, Connecticut, for $3,050,000 in August 2010. He's now had to reduce the price four times down to $2.5 million...

"Our confidence is justified both by our past experience and by the knowledge that society will forever need massive investments in both transportation and energy." -- Warren Buffett, 2013 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders According to the company's most recent fact sheet, Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary BNSF Railways ships enough coal every year to power 10% of America's houses, and enough crude oil to fill the gas tanks of nearly 650,000 cars every day. Transporting energy is pretty important to BNSF, and BNSF is pretty important to Berkshire, having generated some $3.8 billion in net income in 2013. At the same...

A popular Connecticut park and its 234 acres of wetlands, woodlands and beach on Long Island Sound will be shut down all day Monday so that President Obama can use the location as a base for fundraising nearby. The Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, Connecticut will have to turn away thousands of bathers so that Obama can get to and from his events, including a $35,800 per head bash at the 9,000-square-foot, $8.3-million waterfront estate of movie mogul Harvey Wienstein, according to The Connecticut Post. Here’s a look at what people will be missing: The Obama incursion is already...

Political sources say President Barack Obama is coming to Connecticut Aug. 6 for two fundraisers in the political cash machine known as Fairfield County, whose residents already have written checks for more than $5 million to presidential candidates in 2012. Movie producer Harvey Weinstein and his wife, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, will host the president at their waterfront home in Westport for the more expensive of the two events. Tickets are $35,800 each or $71,600 per couple. Then it will be off to the Stamford Marriott, where $500 will gain admission to the ballroom and $10,000 will buy a handshake...

PLYMOUTH, MI, May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Westport Innovations Inc. (TSX:WPT / NASDAQ:WPRT), the global leader in natural gas engines, is taking its first natural gas pick-up truck on a road trip across the Eastern USA this week, from May 21 to 24. Driving entirely on compressed natural gas (CNG), a team from Westport Innovations will make the 700 mile drive in the brand new Westport™ WiNG powered bi-fuel Ford F-250 Super Duty truck. During stops in Cleveland, OH; Canton, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; and Pottstown, PA; the public will have the chance to view and drive this low carbon fuel...

Never come between the "Godmother of Soul" and her luggage. That's the lesson a West Point cadet says he learned at Houston airport when he charges Patti LaBelle's security guards roughed him up. Richard King, 23, is suing LaBelle over the incident, captured on surveillance video last March 11 at Bush Intercontinental Airport. King, a Houston resident who is a senior at the military academy, had come home for spring break when he wandered close to LaBelle's limousine. He was talking to his brother on his cellphone when her bodyguards "sprang into action," according to the civil suit he filed...

A Westport lawmaker who voted to hike the state sales and alcohol taxes was spotted brazenly piling booze in his car - adorned with his State House license plate - in the parking lot of a tax-free New Hampshire liquor store, the Herald has learned. Michael J. Rodrigues’ blue Ford Crown Victoria, emblazoned with his “House 29” Massachusetts license plate, was parked outside a Granite State liquor store on Interstate-95 South over the weekend, according to a witness who provided pictures to the Herald. The witness, who requested anonymity, claimed he approached Rodrigues, noted his State House plate, and asked...

Six years after Martha Stewart said she was leaving Westport, Conn., the domestic diva really is bidding farewell to this wealthy seaside town -- if only someone will buy her house. Stewart has been trying for more than two months to sell her early-19th-century federal-style farmhouse for $9 million. Real estate experts say it's not unusual for luxury homes to take at least a few months to sell -- even those with Martha's famous touch. ``It's the most beautiful property I've ever seen,'' said Eileen Hill, president of the Mid Fairfield County Association of Realtors. ``Every blade of grass stands...

(New York-AP, Oct. 31, 2005 2:30 PM) _ Martha Stewart tells Fortune Magazine she plans to sell her famous Turkey Hill Farm in Westport. She says she hardly ever goes there anymore and does not miss it. Stewart now spends most of her time at her home in Katonah, New York, on 153-acre estate in the rolling horse country 40 miles north of midtown Manhattan. She bought the property in 2000 for $16 million . Stewart had been a fixture in Westport since 1971, when she and her former husband, Andrew, purchased the nine-room, 19th-century Colonial house and gated Turkey...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is coming to Connecticut to throw her support behind Fourth Congressional District candidate Diane Farrell. Clinton will attend an Oct. 3 reception in Westport for Farrell. Tickets are going for $125 apiece. The fund-raiser is a part of the campaign's Women for Farrell initiative. Former Texas Governor Ann Richards is scheduled to attend an Oct. 15 reception for Farrell at a private home in Stamford. Farrell is the first selectman of Westport. Her challenge is considered the toughest Republican Christopher Shays has faced in his 17 years in office. National...

Today I went to Westport, CT to freep Hillary. Though I didn't know the exact house number on Bayberry Lane, I knew there would be tell-tale signs that would let me know which house she's holing up in. I arrived at 10:45am and drove along the entire Bayberry Lane with no signs of hillary. I knew it was early, so I went for a cup coffee and would come back later. While driving along Bayberry Lane I noticed that the road would not allow for a freep. It's only a two lane road and there were no sidewalks. I came...

Leftport, Connecticut Why I'm taking flight from the Bush-hating 'burbs. BY ALAN BROMLEY Monday, May 3, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT These weekend invitations to Westport, Conn.--I've started calling it "Leftport"--are becoming burdensome. I find myself surrounded by people who have moved from Manhattan to homogeneous suburban enclaves encircled by white fences, white neighbors and purer-than-thou philosophies. Never mind that they moved there for better public schools and lower tax rates--and to see Paul Newman at the local grocery store. They are now of one mind: to defeat President Bush! They hate his swagger, which I find a bit annoying; they...

<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) --  A gun-wielding man who was shot and killed as St. Patrick's Day festivities were winding down in the city's popular Westport entertainment district was wanted in Nevada for attempted murder, authorities said.</p> <p>Police on Monday identified the man as Kirt J. Morrissey, 46, of Pahrump, Nev. Police said Morrissey's ex-wife has relatives in Kansas City.</p>