Around Town

Meet Valentina Baldini, Our NCHS ‘SIP’ Intern

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Many readers will recognize the name of our New Canaan High School senior intern, Valentina Baldini, from last summer. 

Our 2025 intern under a summer program generously sponsored by New Canaan’s Karp Associates, Baldini returns for the next month—her final weeks at NCHS—under the school’s hugely popular Senior Internship Program, or “SIP.”

The program starts May 19, when Baldini will attend a Board of Selectmen meeting at Town Hall (look to Wednesday’s newsletter for her coverage). We met with Baldini on Monday afternoon in New Canaan Library’s café to talk about the SIP internship. Here’s a transcription of our conversation. ***

For readers who may have missed our intro last year, please tell us a little about yourself. What are some things you’d like our readers to know about you?

News

New Canaan Teen Charged in Domestic Incident

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Police on Sunday evening arrested an 18-year-old New Canaan man and charged him with disorderly conduct. At about 6:30 p.m. on May 17, officers were dispatched to an Apple Tree Lane home for a dispute between the teen and victim, according to a police report. There, police established probable cause for the misdemeanor charge, the report said. Under state law, people are guilty of disorderly conduct if they “with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk … [e]ngages in … threatening behavior; or … annoys or interferes with another person,” among other reasons. It wasn’t clear what the man did or whether he was related to the victim.

News

Fire Marshal: CO Incidents in New Canaan

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[Paul Payne is the New Canaan fire marshal.]

In the recent weeks there have been multiple carbon monoxide incidents in New Canaan. Here is some general information from our Fire Marshal’s Office concerning carbon monoxide safety for you, your family and friends. Carbon Monoxide or ‘CO’ safety relies on a system involving:  

Ensuring that you have functioning CO detectors on all floors of your residence  
Avoiding running gas-powered equipment inside or near the residence 
Evacuating the residence if the CO Detector activates and then calling 911 for NCFD response.  

Carbon monoxide is a byproduct of incomplete combustion and is dangerous to health when someone is exposed to elevated readings. It is odorless and colorless, and without a carbon monoxide eetector you will not know that you have been exposed to CO until you present with symptoms.  

If you are exposed to high levels of CO it can lead to unconsciousness and even death. The symptoms of CO exposure are:

Headache 
Nausea
Dizziness / Light Headedness 
Fatigue

There are a few things that you can do to protect yourself:

Install CO Detectors on every level of your home 

Read the instructions, as larger homes may require more than one detector per floor.

News

Nicola ‘Pop’ DiFulvio, 89

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Nicola “Pop” DiFulvio beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend passed away May 16, 2026 surrounded by his loving family. 

Born on November 30, 1936 in Fara Filiorum Petri, Italy.  Nicola carried with him the values of hard work, loyalty and devotion to family throughout his life.  He proudly served in the Italian Military from 1959-1961 before immigrating to the United States in March of 1964 in search of a better future for his family and settled in New Canaan, CT. On September 15, 1962 Nicola married the love of his life, Assunta Spadaccini beginning a marriage full of dedication, strength and enduring love.  Together they built a beautiful family and shared many cherished years together.  Nicola was the proud father of five children, Ernest (Kathleen), Mauro, Nicola Jr., Lisa and Luciano (Erica).  He was also a loving grandfather to Ashley, Kenny, Lincoln and Wyatt. 

Nicola worked for the New Canaan Water Company from 1975 – 1996  where he was respected for his strong work ethic.  He was later a self-employed contractor in New Canaan.  He was an avid fisherman, hunter and loved his homemade wine and playing Bocce. Known affectionately as “Pop”, he was cherished for his warmth, sense of humor and deep love for his family. His legacy lives on in the lives of those he loved and guided. 

He was predeceased by his brother Antonio and sister Maria. A mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on May 22, 2026 at 1pm at St.

Homepage Featured

Warrant: New Canaan Woman’s Identity Used in Theft, Fraud

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Police on April 30 arrested a 65-year-old New Jersey woman by warrant after she stole a $112,067 U.S. Treasury check from a local resident and deposited it into a Nashville bank. The suspect opened the account using fraudulent documents that identified her, falsely, as a New Canaan resident—a U.S. passport card, address, Social Security number and driver’s license number, according to the affidavit of New Canaan Police Officer Kelly Coughlin that forms the major part of an arrest warrant application signed April 15 by state Superior Court Judge John Blawie and obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. 

The check had been deposited into an account at Fifth Third Bank in Nashville in November, and local police learned of the fraud in January, when the victim came to NCPD headquarters to report the associated identity theft. The IRS had contacted the victim saying she would receive the large refund, but a check never arrived and the victim “initially thought it was a mistake and did not realize she was actually owed this money,” Coughlin said in the police affidavit. “She did not know where the check may have been intercepted along the chain of being mailed to her residence,” Coughlin said in the affidavit. The victim “contacted the IRS via telephone to advise them she never received the check and that someone had intercepted it,” the arrest warrant application said.