An artist rendition of a revitalized Freight Street with a Greenway trail on the right.

   United States Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that the City of Waterbury has been selected as a recipient of a $14.4 million TIGER VI (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

                                                           By John Murray

   Ten years after his 31-year-old son vanished from Waterbury, Bill Smolinski Sr. uncorked a raw emotional speech last night during a Missing Persons Vigil held on the Naugatuck Green. When Billy Smolinski disappeared on August 24th, 2004, his family had trouble getting the Waterbury PD to take the report of a missing adult male seriously. Frustrated, the family had little choice but to search for Billy themselves. The results have been nightmarish.

Neil O’Leary, right, and Michael Gugliotti embraced on Election Day 2011 moments after O’Leary knew he’d ended Michael Jarjura’s 10-year reign as mayor of Waterbury. Gugliotti was the police chief at the time, and a close personal friend of O’Leary’s. The FBI is investigating whether the 200 Waterbury police officers that volunteered on Election Day for the O'Leary campaign were compensated, or used city assets. Both O'Leary and Gugliotti clearly state no city assets were used and the police and firemen who volunteered all took vacation days or used personal days.

                      Story and Photographs By John Murray

    For the past 18 months the FBI has been investigating a complaint about the large number of police involved in the 2011 municipal election in Waterbury. The core questions of the investigation are a) whether city employees were paid for working on Neil O’Leary’s victorious campaign, b) did the police use city vehicles or assets in the campaign, and c) were police compensated at a later date for volunteering on Election Day?

   So far lots of questions, and no answers.

   Saint Mary’s Hospital (Saint Mary’s) and Tenet Healthcare Corporation (Tenet) today announced plans for Saint Mary’s to be acquired by a subsidiary of Tenet, a leading healthcare services company which operates 79 acute care hospitals and 189 outpatient centers in 16 states. The transaction, which is subject to the execution of a definitive transaction agreement, state and federal regulatory approvals and other conditions, represents an opportunity to provide continued access to comprehensive healthcare to the Waterbury community by an organization that has been serving the community for over one hundred years.

The first inclusive multi-cultural festival in Waterbury history - The Gathering - was held in 2013, and was so successful, that it will now become an annual event, the next one being tomorrow, May 17th, from 11 am to 8 pm in downtown Waterbury. Pictured above are Brazilian samba dancers marching in the 2013 parade.

                                  Column and Photographs By John Murray

    There was one moment during The Gathering last year that will stick in my memory until my last breath. The moment was wrapped in anticipation, anxiety and exhaustion. A small group of volunteers and city employees had been planning the festival for months; recruiting ethnic groups, plotting parade routes, and dealing with insurance, electricity, and details we didn’t even know existed. When May 18th arrived we were unsure of what we had created. There were more than 40 cultural groups signed up to share their music, food and dance, but were they going to show up?

                                              By John Murray

   Members of the Crosby High School LifeSmarts team won the Connecticut State Championship and will compete this weekend for the national championship in Florida. Waterbury Mayor Neil O'Leary acknowledged the accomplishment by treating the kids to a pizza party inside City Hall, and then asked them to participate in a flag raising ceremony to kick-off "The Gathering", a city-wide celebration of cultural heritage which will be held in downtown Waterbury on May 17th. Waterbury residents have found their way to the city from every corner of the globe, and The Gathering is an opportunity for city residents to share the traditions of music, food and dance from their homelands. Last year 40 ethnic groups participated in the festival, and flags from each country was displayed in front of City Hall.

Waterbury Mayor Neil O'Leary with a portion of the Rose Hill property looming in the background. The property, which O'Leary is interested in having the city purchase, includes several acres overlooking downtown Waterbury, a renovated historic mansion, a school and a gymnasium.

                                              By John Murray

   Waterbury Mayor Neil O'Leary spent the first 10 months in office focused intensely on trying to help facilitate the merger of St. Mary's Hospital and Waterbury Hospital into a new privately funded $500 million new state-of-the-art hospital built in downtown Waterbury. O'Leary, his economic development team, and Governor Dan Malloy, came within a whisker of pulling off the project, which ultimately collapsed over a clash about women's reproductive rights.

                                     Story by Gerry Strauss

    Remember when women’s pro wrestling was nothing but a sideshow? For many fans growing up, the females of the “squared circle” provided nothing but cheap, campy fun, just a step or two above mud pits and bikini contests. Luckily, things have changed. Pro wrestling now presents women as strong, capable athletes, some of whom just happen to be gorgeous.

   Local political leaders convened at the train station in downtown Waterbury this morning with DOT Commissioner James Redeker to celebrate the demolition of the abandoned SNET Building.