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New Canaan Police See Sharp Rise in Stolen Vehicles, Thefts from Cars

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The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Stolen vehicles in New Canaan are running at nearly twice last year’s pace so far in 2026, Police Chief John DiFederico told members of the Police Commission at their July 8 meeting, citing a pattern that has persisted despite repeated warnings from the department. Year-to-date through June 30, 15 vehicles have been stolen in town, compared to eight over the same period in 2025, according to the department’s monthly statistics. Larcenies from motor vehicles have risen even more sharply over the same stretch, jumping from three year-to-date in 2025 to 15 so far this year. DiFederico said the cause is largely the same as it has been.

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Paul Arthur Stein, 87

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Paul Arthur Stein of New Canaan, CT, died peacefully in his sleep at The Greens in Wilton, CT, on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. He was 87 years old. Born on August 20, 1937, in St. Louis, MO, Paul was the son of Harry Arthur Stein and Julia Sanford Vandivort. He attended public schools in Webster Groves, MO, and cherished visits to his grandfather’s farms in southeast Missouri, where he developed a lifelong love of farming.

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Podcast: Police Chief on Enforcement of New Leaf Blower Ordinance

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In this installment of 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan Police Chief John DiFederico about the department’s plans for enforcing the town’s newly adopted summertime ban on gas-powered leaf blowers (its full text can be read here under “Exhibit A”—scroll down). Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Fausto Mieres

Green & Tonic Faces Extensive Repairs After Flash Flood Ravages Forest Street Café

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The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by the New Canaan Racquet Club

Green & Tonic’s Forest Street location is expected to remain closed through at least August after a flash flood tore through downtown New Canaan, destroying equipment, inventory, and much of the interior of the popular café. CEO Fausto Mieres said the damage from the July 21 storm was far worse than anything the business has experienced since opening the New Canaan location more than five years ago. “It was severe,” Mieres said. “Everything pretty much is done.” The floodwater damaged nearly every part of the business.

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Local Leaders Create ‘Domestic Violence Survivor Support Fund’ for New Canaan Residents

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Nonprofit, municipal, medical and public safety leaders in New Canaan last week announced the creation of a new fund designed to help those impacted by domestic violence—long described as the town’s number-one violent crime. Created by the New Canaan Abuse Prevention Partnership in collaboration with the New Canaan Community Foundation, among other local agencies, the “Domestic Violence Survivor Support Fund” will confidentially provide access safe housing, meet basic needs and cover emergency expenses—including childcare—for survivors. “The thing that we all want to do is break the cycle of violence,” Dede Bartlett, founder of the New Canaan Abuse Prevention Partnership, said Friday during a presentation on the new fund to local leaders held at Town Hall. “We don’t want her kids to become the perpetrators in the future. I look upon this as a very practical investment in helping people move forward so that you do not have to have this conversation 10 years from now.”

Administered by NCCF, the fund “will provide a direct, easy, practical way for people like us, and groups, and organizations to directly support our citizens who are in crisis,” Bartlett said.