Home Care In West Haven, CT

West Haven Mayor-Elect Dorinda Borer has named a transition team and kicked off meetings that will take place over the next two weeks.

WEST HAVEN, CT — In preparation for a Dec. 3 swearing in, West Haven Mayor-Elect Dorinda Borer has convened a transition team and kicked off the first of several meetings that will occur over the next two weeks.

The team she assembled reflects a “deep and wide range of government and professional experience,” according to a news release.

“The transition team assembled represents relationships that I have built at the local and state level and should earn public trust and support based on the impressive breadth and scope of the members’ professional experience,” Borer said. “West Haven is ready to turn the page, and this team will be instrumental in that effort.”

Read more from the news release below:

Members of the transition team, which held its initial meeting on Wednesday at City Hall, include:

Find out what's happening in West Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“My goal in creating this team was to have a diverse range of experience including government, corporate and legal expertise,” Borer said. “I also want this effort to be bipartisan and tapped my colleague Representative Ferraro who I have worked collaboratively with for the past 6 years. Additionally, I requested a MARB member to serve on my team to set the stage for a collaborative partnership.”

The goals of the transition team are to provide a resource to Borer by working with department heads to determine the status of operations including current projects, proposed initiatives on the horizon, short-term and long-term challenges, recommendations, budgets and personnel status. This work will be a springboard and aid Borer in preparation for assuming leadership of West Haven.

In addition to working with department heads, a few members of the team were tapped to plan and create forums for business owners and investors which will occur in the first week of January. Forming roundtable discussions to gather input on how the city can do business better, streamline opportunities for investors and support our local businesses was a campaign platform Borer ran on and is a priority for her administration.

“Our charter dictates a very short window between the election and swearing-in,” Borer said. “The timeline is further complicated by the holiday and City Hall closures. Therefore, I’m very grateful that this team has agreed to work at an escalated pace and is committing so much time and energy towards helping move West Haven forward into our next positive, productive chapter.

“I also want to take the opportunity to thank Mayor Rossi and all of the department heads who have been working to make this transition as seamless as possible for the residents of our city.”

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WEST HAVEN, CT — As throughout the past two years, Connecticut’s wine and spirits industry is distributing funds generated from the state’s “nickel-per-nip” environmental stewardship program to all Connecticut cities and towns where nips are sold.

Under the program, each municipality receives 5 cents for each nip sold within its borders every six months.

The money from this eco fee is intended for locally driven environmental stewardship programs.

Upon the $2.36 million being sent to cities and towns at the end of October, the two-year-old program has now generated $8.9 million for Connecticut municipalities that sell nips, according to officials.

Under the state law, proposed by Three Tiers for Connecticut and passed in 2021, a nickel surcharge is placed on the sale of each nip container at the point of sale.

Three Tiers for Connecticut is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization representing all of the major wine and spirits wholesalers in Connecticut, as well as suppliers and retailers—thereby being representative of all three tiers of the alcohol beverage industry.

Every April and October, each municipality receives 5 cents for each nip sold within its borders during the preceding six months.

From the April 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2023 time frame, 1,021,460 nips were sold in West Haven.

West Haven’s allocation for the current period is $51,073.

Overall, nip sales generated $193,743.50 for West Haven in the first two years of the program.

“In just two years, this groundbreaking program has generated $8.9 million in litter-reduction funding that goes directly to cities and towns that sell nips,” said Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., president and treasurer of Three Tiers for Connecticut and Executive Director of Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut, Inc.

Cafero said studies show that most litter from nips “happens very close to where the containers are purchased. In just two years, this local solution has become a national model.”

“The beauty of this program is in its simplicity and direct-to-town approach, and we’re happy to see what they’re doing,” Cafero said. “Local governments know what they need best, and this program devotes the fees collected in each town stay in that town, with no hidden handling charges or ‘sweeps’ of money into the state budget.”

Connecticut has no shortage of places to eat, and once again, Connecticut Magazine has surveyed a panel of food experts to share their favorite places.

Experts have named restaurants in dozens of categories, from top cuisine (American, Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Middle Eastern, vegetarian, etc.) to outstanding apps and desserts, romantic ambiance, beer and wine selections and the best places to grab a burger or a slice of apizza.

Here, explore the top breakfast restaurants in the state, including spots in New Haven, Higganum, Stonington and Norwalk.

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Looking for something brand new to try? Connecticut Magazine experts also shared their picks for the 27 top new restaurants that have recently opened around the state.

Scroll below to see which breakfast spots were named as the top restaurants by Connecticut Magazine experts.

Bella's Cafe

896 Whalley Ave., New Haven

203-387-7107

Caffe Social

73 N Main St., Norwalk

203-939-9523

The Corner

105 River St., Milford

203-882-1150

Georgie's Diner

427 Elm St., West Haven

203-933-1000

Harborview Market

218 Harborview Ave., Bridgeport

203-367-7336

Hidden Kitchen

2341 Foxon Road, North Branford

203-315-0099

Jack's Country Restaurant

26 Killingworth Road, Higganum

860-345-4446

Kitchen Little

36 Quarry Road, Mystic

860-536-2122

Laurel Diner

544 Main St. S., Southbury

203-264-8218

Mothership on Main

331 Main St., Danbury

203-456-6627

Noah's

113 Water St., Stonington

860-535-3925

Olmo

93 Whitney Ave., New Haven

203-624-3373

Poppys

374 Whitney Ave., New Haven

203-891-7753

Reds

76 S Broad St., Pawcatuck

860-495-2383

The Tasty Yolk

3530 Main St., Stratford, 203-913-8994 (text)

2992 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport, 203-545-9311 (text)

West Egg Cafe

20 Sherman Hill Road, Woodbury

203-586-1456

The company released details this week on which of its pharmacies would close following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

WEST HAVEN, CT — In the immediate aftermath of Rite Aid's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the pharmacy giant announced it will not close its West Haven location.

The only Connecticut store that will close is in Bethel. The remainder of the chain's stores in Connecticut appeared to have dodged a bullet, for the time being at least, including the West Haven store at 70 Elm Street.

Rite Aid has signaled no disruptions, closures or otherwise, for their 26 remaining Connecticut pharmacies located in Ansonia, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Cheshire, Danbury, East Haven, Fairfield, Milford, Monroe, Naugatuck, New Haven, North Branford, Northford, Norwalk, Ridgefield, Stamford, Stratford, Wallingford, Waterbury, West Haven and Wolcott.

Just about 7 percent of Rite Aid's 2,100-plus are being shuttered nationwide. People who work at the stores will also be transferred to other Rite Aid locations where possible, the company said. Another 210 sites went dark between January and the end of September.

Closures are concentrated in the Northeast and California, but can be found throughout the U.S. No exact closing dates have been made available.

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The company said it was making "very effort to ensure customers of impacted stores have access to health services, whether at another Rite Aid or a nearby pharmacy." Prescriptions for customers of the affected stores will be transferred to a nearby Rite Aid or other drug store “so that there is no disruption of service,” the company said in a statement.

On Sunday, Rite Aid said it had received a commitment for $3.45 billion in new financing from certain of its lenders. "This financing is expected to provide sufficient liquidity to support the Company throughout this process," according to the chain's statement. The company also plans to sell off Elixir Solutions, its prescription benefit provider subsidiary.

Rite Aid’s bankruptcy comes amid slumping sales and heavy debt from an opioid lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in March that accuses the company of filling prescriptions for large quantities of opioids “that had obvious, and often multiple, red flags indicating misuse.”

Other drug store chains, including rivals CVS and Walgreens, have settled similar lawsuits, but were better positioned financially. But even they are struggling and closing in a tough environment for national drug store chains as Amazon and big-box retailers like Walmart, Target, Costco and others make it more convenient to have prescriptions filled, CNN reported.

Losses that quarter are expected to be significantly higher than in the previous quarter, the company said. That’s on top of losses of about three quarters of a billion dollars for the year ended March 2023, and losses of $307 million from March to May, CNN reported.

with Patch editors Rich Kirby and RJ Scofield

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WEST HAVEN — Officials with Vertical Church had a dream they've been pursuing for 15 years. On Saturday, that dream will be realized.

Paul Bronson, outreach pastor for Vertical Church, said the nondenominational Christian church has brainstormed for years a way to rebrand the perception that it's "the rich church on the hill" by being good neighbors to those in need. Last summer, the church signed a five-year lease with the Annawon Lodge at 263 Center St. to launch its Dream Center, which houses a food pantry and clothing bank.

Bronson said the center had a soft opening this summer and draws an estimated 100 customers on each of the first four Saturdays of the month — which he said is reflective of 200 to 300 people when including customers' families. This Saturday, the center will have its grand opening.

"We want to restore hopes and dreams," Bronson said.

The ultimate goal of the center, Bronson said, is to treat residents most in need with respect and dignity while giving them the resources they need to become more self-sufficient. In that spirit, the center includes a conference room and a room with several desks for sessions and seminars that provide people with employment assistance and financial coaching and connect them to emergency assistance for things like shelter or addiction.

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"This isn't just about handouts; it's trying to meet basic needs so people can take the next step to becoming independent," he said.

Ron Sells, the Dream Center's director, said the center strives toward its mission statement of providing more hope in the community, directly downtown.

"Without hope, there are no dreams," he said.

From the start, Vertical Church officials said their vision for the Dream Center was to create a marketplace feel wherein those who show up for clothes or sustenance are treated as customers. The center uses a server, and those who show up are provided with digital barcodes that can be scanned on either the first and third or second and fourth Saturday of a month, granting them access to food and clothing. Bronson said the food pantry and clothing closet are open at different times to manage the flow of traffic, but customers are welcome to all the food — donated through a mosaic of Vertical Church members, food banks like Connecticut Food Share and Midwest Food Bank New England and private donors like Pepperidge Farm.

The center also allows customers to take up to 10 items from the clothing closet, which includes donated gently-used and clean clothing. Bronson said that sometimes those who take clothing items from the closet donate items of their own in return.

Much of what the Dream Center offers is donated by the community or local manufacturers, Bronson said. In addition, the center is expecting a reimbursement for $125,000 in operating costs through West Haven's share of American Rescue Plan Act funds, although that approval is pending before the Municipal Accountability Review Board.