The 10 most-read articles of 2022 cover a wide range of local news. This past year saw traffic on New Canaanite hit about 2.4 million views, up 7.4% from 2021.
Here they are, headlines and ledes:
New Canaan’s highest elected official is seeking to retain a Parks & Recreation Commission member on the appointed body following the latter’s second arrest in one year in a domestic incident, records show.
Piccola and Tigger Murphy. Contributed
After losing her beloved cat Mimi at nearly 15 years old last March, Marian Murphy knew her house needed cats. She’d had cats since moving to New Canaan more than 40 years ago, but planned to travel overseas in 2021 and wanted to wait to find her next one.
The town exceeded its budget for legal fees by 32% in the fiscal year that ended June 30, documents show. The total spent in legal fees—$395,947.42 against a budget of $300,000—does not include expenses incurred as part of the town’s purchase of an Elm Street building earlier this year, according to a legal bill approved July 26 by the Board of Selectmen.
L-R: Mena, Lorenzo, Nancy and Serra Collela on Main Street with their mom, Nancy Collela, in the early 1980s. Contributed
The popular owner of one of New Canaan’s most beloved pizzerias is asking locals to be patient as he works through health problems that have forced its temporary closing.
Contrary to what New Canaan’s highest elected official asserted in a public statement that also contains factual errors, the head of the appointed town body that took up an ethics complaint lodged against him led a fair and nonpartisan investigation, its members say.
A red-tailed hawk at Wildlife In Crisis in Weston. Credit: Sarah Maddox
A hawk swooped down from a tree Sunday morning in northwestern New Canaan and used its talons to scrape the top of a man’s head, drawing blood, officials say. The incident unfolded in the area of Lost District Drive and West Road as the man worked in his garden, according to New Canaan Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm.
New Canaan’s application for four years of relief from a widely discussed affordable housing law has been denied, documents show. In a letter to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan dated Oct. 18, Connecticut Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno said that the agency’s staff “has reviewed the application and comments received and determined that the Town of New Canaan’s application does not meet the requirements for the issuance of a Certificate of Affordable Housing Project Completion as submitted.”
The 16-year-old New Canaan boy who died last week had not fallen to the ice prior to sustaining a fatal injury, contrary to widespread reports, according to the head of St. Luke’s School. Teddy Balkind, described by his family as affectionate, kind and loyal, “did not fall and was not lying on the ice” last Thursday at the time he was injured in a hockey game at Brunswick School in Greenwich, according to St. Luke’s Head of School Mark Davis.
Rendering of proposed development at Weed and Elm. Specs by The Eisen Group
A 102-unit residential development is planned for the corner of Weed and Elm Streets, according to an application filed with the town. The development at 751 Weed St. “will consist of 47 one-bedroom units and 55 two-bedroom units, including 8 two-bedroom units with a den,” according to an application filed Jan. 25 on behalf of the project’s developer by attorney Timothy Hollister of Hartford-based Hinckley Allen.
Steve Benko
Steve Benko, a lifelong New Canaan resident known to local families through five decades as head of the town Recreation Department, died overnight, officials said Saturday. A former chief of New Canaan Fire Co.,#1, he died “after a very courageous, but mercifully short, battle with cancer,” the organization’s president, Rob Mallozzi, said in an email to Fire Company members. “His family was by his side.”