Free Republic

NEWINGTON — When Talia Maselli envisioned her perfect prom date, one man immediately sprang to mind: Vice President Joe Biden. “Joe Biden makes me laugh,” the Maselli said. “He just cracks me up.” So she mailed Biden a handwritten note last fall asking him to escort her to the Newington High School prom. “I am inviting you so far in advance because I’m sure many 17-year-old girls send you prom invitations, and I had to beat them to it,” Maselli said in her letter. “I could only tolerate a high school dance if I was to be escorted by the...

Wednesday marked the 69th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima – one of the worst battles of World War II. Across the nation many remembered this day from 69 years ago. In Newington, Connecticut, a memorial was recently built and is the only flag raising memorial built by survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima. The flag flown at the memorial is historically correct with 48 stars. There is also sand from Iwo Jima beaches in the concrete base. The memorial also includes inscriptions of the names of 100 men from Connecticut who died during the battle. The 69th...

A controversial gun sale caused a traffic jam on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington well before 9 a.m. as people stood in line outside Hoffman's Gun Shop hoping to get their hands on a semi-automatic rifle value bundle. Hoffman's Gun Center & Indoor Shooting Range was selling only 100 of the Smith & Wesson M&P15 Sport value packs, and that had people lined up in droves. The gun itself has been the target of a lot of controversy, and many lawmakers are looking to ban it and other semi-automatic rifles. But it's what came in addition to the rifle that...

A Newington woman receives as many as 25 phone calls a day from people looking for information on Infinity Hall. However, the woman does not work for the music hall in Norfolk and the number is to her house. According to Linda Fascelle, her phone number is one number different than Infinity Hall. The prefix for Fascelle's number is 860 and Infinity's is 866. Fascelle's number is also incorrectly listed on Google Places as the number for Infinity Hall, which leads to the influx of daily phone calls for reservations, show times and other information.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy walked a picket line Wednesday with striking nursing-home workers, accusing HealthBridge Management of New Jersey of violating labor laws in its battle with employees at its five facilities in Connecticut. "Let's be honest. What HealthBridge is attempting to do illegally is to break the union. That's what they want to do," Malloy said. "They want to be the new model in the state of Connecticut, and we don't want them to be." Emboldened by a National Labor Relations Board complaint accusing the company of bargaining in bad faith last week, Malloy was unusually harsh in his...

NEWINGTON, Conn. -- Hours after counseling Newington High School students mourning the death of a classmate, Officer Ciara McDermott was shot to death in her home by her ex-boyfriend, a suspended state trooper who then turned the gun on himself. Victor Diaz was found dead on the second floor of McDermott's West Hartford home. He was facing allegations of using a statewide police data base to look up the license plate of a car parked in McDermott's driveway.