Military museum receives grant from Main Street Foundation for restoration of flight jackets

The Memorial Military Museum received $2,500 grant from the Main Street Community Foundation recently, according to a release from the foundation.

This grant will support the restoration of two WWII leather flight jackets that belonged to Bristol residents. The flight jackets belonged to residents Warren Beach and Raymond Rich, and the preservation of these jackets will help to ensure their memory and honor their service for years to come, the release states.

Flight jackets that will be preserved with the help of a Main Street Foundation grant. | Photo compliments of Main Street Community Foundation

This grant was made possible with distributions from the Bristol Brass General Grant Fund and the Karen and Kim Murphy Family Charitable Fund through the Foundation’s general grant cycle.

The preservation of history is an important and often overlooked aspect of maintaining and improving our vibrant communities. Main Street Community Foundation is proud to support the preservation of these unique pieces of Bristol’s history.

Applications are now open for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) for the 2023-2024

The Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) is now accepting applications through May 31, 2024. CEAP helps Connecticut residents afford to heat their homes. Applications for CEAP typically take 30-45 minutes. Basic benefits towards heating bills range between $180 and $530. Benefits are usually paid directly to the utility company or fuel supplier. Households that heat with deliverable fuels like oil or propane may be eligible for additional free tank fills.

Residents may also qualify for heating shut-off protections, become eligible to sign up for a payment plan to reduce primary utility heating costs, and receive free heating equipment replacement and/or repairs.

The program is administered by Connecticut’s Department of Social Services in partnership with local Community Action Agencies (CAAs) throughout the state.

In Bristol, CEAP applications are available at HRA, 55 South St., (860) 356-2000. Email: energyapp@hranbct.org.

Connecticut residents that meet the following may be eligible: already receive food stamps (SNAP), SSI, TANF or other benefits from the Department of Social Services and have an annual household income falls at or below 60 percent of the state’s median income.

Fall leaf bag collection to begin mid-October

Fall Leaf Bag Collection will begin Monday, Oct. 16, and will run through Friday, Dec. 1., Public Works announced earlier this week.

The release asks residents to bring leaf bags curbside as soon as they are filled and to leave them curbside until collected. Leaf bag collection is available to all city residences eligible for curbside rubbish and recycling services.

Leaves are only collected in brown, recyclable, paper leaf bags that are available at most home and garden stores. There is no maximum limit to leaf bag collection at a residence.

Leaf bags containing dirt, sand, rocks, sod, or materials other than leaves will not be collected.

Leaf bags must be placed curbside and not within the residence’s property for proper collection. Loose leaf piles will not be collected.

Camila Rubino joins Wheeler as senior director of nursing

Camila Rubino, MBA, MSN, BSN, RN, of Southington has joined Wheeler Health as senior director of nursing, overseeing all nursing and medical assistant operations at Wheeler’s five federally qualified health centers, congregate care settings and Northwest Village School, Wheeler Health announced earlier in the month.

Born and raised in Colombia, Rubino holds an MBA from Yale University School of Management, an MSN from Sacred Heart University, and a BSN from Southern Connecticut State University. She has received a Nightingale Award for Nursing Excellence® and is bilingual in Spanish.

City begins inspections of residential properties as part of 2027 revaluation

Tyler Technologies has been chosen to inspect Bristol properties in preparation for the 2027 revaluation, the city announced recently.

The inspections are scheduled to begin on or around Sept. 1 with completion by late spring 2026.

All field personnel shall have visible clip-on identification cards, which shall include an up-to-date photograph. In addition, all field personnel shall carry a “Letter of Introduction” signed by the City’s Assessor Thomas DeNoto.

The list of properties includes approximately 20,600 parcels and data from the inspections will be posted in the city’s 2022 Live Vision 8 revaluation database.

Connecticut law requires assessors to revalue all property at least once every five years and specifies the processes and methods they must follow. The last reevaluation was October 2022.

Affordable internet access through national connectivity program

Earlier this summer, over 300 local and national organizations joined Civic Nation and the U.S. Department of Education to launch Online for All, a campaign that provides internet access, affordability, and equity for students, families, across the country.

To see requirements and apply, go to the Online for All site and follow the screen instructions. Click here. Or go directly to the FFC’S Affordable Connectivity Program website, to find out qualifications for reduced or free high-speed internet. Click here.

An estimated 28 million households in the U.S. do not have high-speed internet at home, and two-thirds of these households are offline because they need help affording an available internet connection, according to the release on the U.S. Dept. of Education website.

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