The world is factually, safer then when we were kids. But like this irrepressible need to call every marketing fad a lesson in safety, modern parents seem to forget that kids need to learn how to fend for themselves. In the continuing saga of free range kids:

Childhood really has changed since today’s parents were kids, and not just in the United States. Australian children get stared at when they ride the bus alone. Canadian kids stay inside playing video games. After I started a blog called Free Range Kids, I heard from a dad in Ireland who lets his 11-year-old play in the local park, unsupervised, and now a mom down the street won’t let her son go to their house. She thinks the dad is reckless.
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I’m a big fan of taking a look at then and now photos of historic places. My bookshelves are in fact filled with Paris Disparu, Lost Boston, New York and Philadelphia. In working on my tour of Jack The Ripper sites, I was happy to discover that the London Musuem had put out a street museum iPhone app that put historic photos overlayed onto the modern street landscape. That was a very cool look at the evolution of London. This series of photographs puts a poignant context to World War II. Continue Reading

from a press release:

Bank Robbery
08/23/10 @ 11:16 am

Bank of America
644 Main Ave
Norwalk, CT

Officers and Detectives responded to the scene and learned that one suspect had entered the bank and demanded money stating that he had a gun.

No weapon was ever displayed. No injuries.

After receiving an unspecified amount of cash the suspect fled the bank on foot.

Suspect Description:
Black male in his 20′s with a mustache, thin build, wearing a hat, dark long sleeve sweatshirt and jeans carrying a light blue backpack.

The suspect is still at large at this time.

A surveillance photo of the suspect is attached.

This is an on-going investigation.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Norwalk Police:
(Attention: Sergeant Marc Lepore or Detective Kruger)

Norwalk Police Tipline at 203-854-3111

Anonymous Internet tips can be sent to Norwalk Police website at: www.norwalkpd.com

Anonymous text tips can be submitted by typing “NPD” into the text field, followed by the message, and sending it to CRIMES (274637).

from a press release:

Norwalk Police Arrest Joseph Bateman

This afternoon Norwalk Police Detectives served a felony arrest warrant charging Joseph Bateman, age 19, of Norwalk with Weapons in a Motor Vehicle, CGS 29-38.

On Friday, 08/13/2010 at approximately 1:52 p.m. Amos Brown Jr. was shot near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Olean Street. Brown succumbed to those injuries Sunday, 08/15/2010.

During the course of the course of the investigation it was determined that Bateman was at the scene of the homicide operating a vehicle that had bullet holes in it. It is unknown if the bullet holes occurred at the time of this shooting. That is also being investigated.

Detectives gathered probable cause and applied for a search and seizure warrant for the vehicle driven by Bateman.  While searching this vehicle, a handgun was recovered.

Detectives applied for an arrest warrant based upon this handgun.

At this time detectives do not believe the weapon seized from Bateman’s car was used in the homicide, however, it will be sent to the State lab for further testing.

The investigation into Bateman’s activities at the time of the shooting is continuing.

Bateman was advised of the arrest warrant and surrendered himself this afternoon at Norwalk Police Headquarters and is being held on a $50,000 bond.

A court date of 08/27/2010 was issued. If bond is not posted, Bateman is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, 08/18/2010, at the Norwalk Superior Court, 17 Belden Avenue.

ARRESTED

Joseph Bateman

Age 19, D.O.B. 04/11/1991

22 Spruce Street

Norwalk, CT

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Norwalk Police:

Norwalk Police Tipline at 203-854-3111

Anonymous Internet tips can be sent to Norwalk Police website at: www.norwalkpd.com

Anonymous text tips can be submitted by typing “NPD” into the text field, followed by the message, and sending it to CRIMES (274637).

Remember David Stockman? He was the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Regan administration most known for his budget cutting recommendations. He recently wrote an op-ed to the NYT that is worth reading.

If there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing. The nation’s public debt — if honestly reckoned to include municipal bonds and the $7 trillion of new deficits baked into the cake through 2015 — will soon reach $18 trillion. That’s a Greece-scale 120 percent of gross domestic product, and fairly screams out for austerity and sacrifice. It is therefore unseemly for the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, to insist that the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers be spared even a three-percentage-point rate increase.

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For a detailed story on what went down in the murder of Amos “AJ” Brown, read John Nickerson’s report in the Advocate. This is the graf that struck me as significant:

The witness told The Advocate on Monday that Brown, who was driving a black Honda, was being followed as he drove south on Lexington Avenue when the shooting began about 1:50 p.m. Through an interpreter, the witness, who would not give a name for fear of retaliation, said a man in a gold car, which contained a driver and two passengers, began shooting at Brown just as the vehicles passed El Coqui bodega near the corner of Lexington Avenue and Olean Street.

The two cars and a gray Volvo, which had Vermont plates and four men inside, that was ahead of Brown stopped in front of the Faith Lighthouse Church at 50 Lexington Ave., about 100 feet up the street from where the shooting began.

Ambush? Or drug deal that went bad? The real question remains of what AJ Brown was doing on Lexington Avenue in the first place. Meanwhile: Continue Reading

The Hour is reporting that Norwalk’s Amos “AJ” Brown Jr. died tonight after being removed from life support earlier this afternoon. Brown was shot in the head on Friday afternoon. The incident is still under investigation, and no leads have come forward despite witnesses.

But to put in perspective the state of safety in Connecticut, a smattering of weekend headlines:

Meriden Boy, 16, Killed In Bronx Drive-By Shooting

Man Shot To Death Outside New Haven Night Club

Man’s Body Pulled From Yantic River In Norwich

DEP: Body Found In Ashland Pond Is Missing Man

Woman Hit By Box Truck On I-84 Dies

Avon Woman Killed In New Hartford Crash

16-Year-Old Girl Seriously Injured Falling From Cliff

Teen Seriously Injured In Dirt-Biking Accident Along Connecticut River

Unidentified man killed in New Haven crash

Overall a bad weekend to be a resident in Connecticut, regardless of where you live, what you were doing, or where you were going.  But witnesses in New Haven do come forward, resulting in this headline:

Three Hartford Men Arrested In New Haven Fatal Shooting

It’s probably not a good sign when residents report that the New Haven Police Department’s narcotics hot line voicemail box is full.

POLICE NARCOTIC HOTLINE VOICE MAILBOXES FULL

2 people want this fixed
382 Greenwich, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

In New Haven, the See, Click, Fix app lists these are the most recent issues:

The victim of Friday’s shooting is still alive at Norwalk Hospital according to a statement by the Norwalk Police. The investigation continues:

Officers and Detectives have recovered forensic evidence related to this crime.

The investigation is on-going.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Norwalk Police:

Norwalk Police Tipline at 203-854-3111

Anonymous Internet tips can be sent to Norwalk Police website at: www.norwalkpd.com

Anonymous text tips can be submitted by typing “NPD” into the text field, followed by the message, and sending it to CRIMES (274637).

The Stamford Advocate has the details:

A 19-year-old acquitted in the stabbing death of a Bridgeport man in 2008, was shot in the head in South Norwalk Friday afternoon and has been placed on life support, police said.

Amos “A.J.” Brown was in a car in front of the El Coqui bodega on Lexington Avenue when shots rang out and he was critically injured, police said.

Police say Brown was still breathing when he was rushed to Norwalk Hospital, but characterized his injuries as life-threatening.

Lexington Avenue is blocked off and police are investigating the scene. Two cars, a gray Volvo near Snowen Street and a black car next to the El Coqui have bullet holes in them.

A nearby resident said she heard four shots followed by another four to five shots shortly after 2 p.m. Friday.

A jury acquitted Brown of murdering Tykwan Hunt last year, allowing the Norwalk man — who had been jailed for 15 months — to be released.

The jury acquitted Brown, 17, of the original murder charge and lesser offenses of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide.

After denying involvement in Hunt’s death, Brown told police, about a month after Hunt was killed, that Hunt pulled a gun on him and pointed it at his face. Brown said he picked up a knife at his feet and stabbed Hunt.

Low turn out excuses in Connecticut aren’t about vacations, the August 10th date or anything else but how Connecticut voters are essentially disenfranchised by party politics. Let’s take a look at Colorado:

According to the Denver Post’s report on  June 2010 numbers, there are 817,458 Democratic party voters registered in Colorado and 855,667 Republican voters.

• Total Republican votes in the primary Governor race: 387769, or 45% of registered voters.
• Total Republican votes in the Colorado primary Senate race: 407110 or 47% of registered voters.
• Total Democratic votes in Colorado primary Senate race:  338537 or 41% of registered voters

And how did Colorado get these numbers, which for most foreign countries would be considered abysmal? Why, they have mail in voting. We do too, it’s called absentee. And shame on every single campaign that failed to tap into the vast vacationing hoards.