We liked this weekTen local churches are uniting to hold a Wallingford-wide food drive for the Master’s Manna food pantry. The churches will collect food Sept 16 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Last year’s drive collected 4,600 pounds of food, and organizers are hoping for the same this time around. “I think we are going to get a lot of food this year,” said Gail Powell, a Master’s Manna board member.
Excitement greeted the start of school, just before the Labor Day weekend. “I’m super excited for first grade,” said Emily Moreau, a teacher at Flanders School in Southington. “I love how they come not all knowing how to read, but then they learn how to read by the end of first grade.” Said Patricia Regan, who dropped off her two nieces on the first day at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School in Wallingford: “It’s been a long summer. I think after a while even the kids get tired of having so much time off, and they are really happy to be going back. They miss their friends.”
An interim agreement brought school bus drivers with New Britain Transportation back to their routes. As the Record-Journal reported, the short-term arrangement can last until Dec. 22 or until a new vendor contract can be reached. Students of the city’s 13 public schools had been forced by the strike to find other ways to get to school at the start of the new school year.
Meriden’s City Council approved a committee recommendation to choose 116 Cook Ave. as the location for a new senior center to replace the center on West Main Street. The Cook Avenue site, a medical office complex vacant for a quarter century, is owned by the city and was chosen over a site on Westfield Road. The central location was a factor, said Bruce Fontanella, a councilor who served as the committee chairman. The project is estimated at $48 million.
A virtual golf entertainment venue, after facing delays because of supply chain issues, is set to open in downtown Southington just before the start of the Apple Harvest Festival. The aim of Happy’s Indoor Golf, say owners, is to make the game more accessible and affordable to casual golfers, according to an R-J story.
We didn’t like this weekHigh temperatures led Gov. Ned Lamont to activate the state’s hot weather protocol, designed to help protect vulnerable residents from the heat. “It’s still early September so it’s normal to have heat waves this time of year,” said Gary Lessor, assistant to the director of meteorological studies at Western Connecticut State University. “While meteorologically it’s fall, astronomically it’s still summer.”