John Penney

New London

Reporter at The Day

Reporter for The Day newspaper covering the City of New London. Contact me at 860-857-6965.

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Articles

Enrollment opens for New London Community Recreation Center

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

New London — Six down, 1,394 to go. Enrollment for the incoming $40 million New London Community Recreation Center launched on Tuesday, soon after after the facility’s new director, Steve Drasdis, was hired and three months before the building is scheduled to open.
New London hopes education will end illegal sump pump connections

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

New London — A municipal sewer treatment plant is a finely tuned biological system filled with microscopic bugs that “eat” and break down wastewater components. But that system can get overwhelmed when outflow lines and street mains are inundated by rainwater and basement water diverted from illegal sump pumps.
'It's my future, too'

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

East Lyme — In the corner of the bright and airy dining room inside 16-year-old Emma Frisbie’s home sits an easel with two unfinished paintings. Next to them is a protest sign she plans to hold Saturday at the rally she organized single-handedly. “The bigger painting is of Lady Justice holding a megaphone calling out against tyranny,” Frisbie said Wednesday.
'Having this means we matter'

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

New London — When John Sharon arrived at his Connecticut College dorm in August 1982, he had the distinction of being only the second physically disabled student enrolled in the school’s history. “The first student was here in the late 1960s and I was told she used a walker to get around,” said Sharon, a 61-year-old North Carolina school administrator who was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a rare condition that affects his muscles and bones.
New London mayor's $105M budget plan calls for tax rate decrease

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

New London ― Mayor Michael Passero’s proposed 2025-26 city and school budget of $105.6 million would drop the tax rate by 0.30 mill through a series of austerity measures such as not increasing education spending, re-routing surplus funding and eliminating up to 15 municipal employees. “The goal is to not raid our fund balance and not raise taxes,” Passero said Monday, hours before he unveiled his spending plan to the City Council.
From book-clubbers to protesters; group spearheads New London anti-Trump rallies

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

On a weekday afternoon earlier this month, Waterford resident Bonnie Fenn Sullivan was deep inside the crowd of nearly 200 protesters near the New London Superior Court that her group, the Guardians of Democracy Indivisible, helped organize to rail against President Donald Trump's politics and policies. Sullivan, a 75-year-old former civics teacher, didn't particularly stand out amid chanting sign-wavers calling for Trump's impeachment and imprisonment — until she spoke.
New London waits for environmental test results for former dry cleaner, school

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

New London ― City officials in the coming weeks and months expect to receive environmental assessment reports for two vacant properties ― an abandoned dry cleaners and what was once New London’s oldest school ― that will determine the fate of the parcels.
Third-generation firefighter New London's newest fire marshal

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

New London — Inside a large glass case located a few feet from newly-named Fire Marshal David Heiney Jr.’s office sits burned and twisted objects from dozens of fire scenes. There’s a warped doll, its features melted from a mattress fire. Other shelves hold rocks flushed from a fire main, husks of blackened smart phones and light bulbs whose surfaces bubbled with heat damage.
New London Police Department earns full state accreditation ahead of schedule

1 month ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

New London — The police department this month earned full state accountability accreditation through the Police Officers Standards and Training Council (POST-C), well ahead of a December 2026 deadline. The Tier III designation required the department meet 116 general management standards that covered communication, investigative, operational, personnel and training areas.
UConn welcomes back LGBTQ+ youth conference amid renewed fears

1 month ago | yahoo.com | John Penney |New London

Storrs — An annual LGBTQ+ youth conference returned to the University of Connecticut’s campus this weekend after a four-year hiatus — and not a moment too soon, organizers and attendees said. On Saturday, costumed stilt-walkers brushed past dozens of students and volunteers inside the campus’ Student Union building where a drag performer executed a rapid-fire series of one-liners and observations. Several members of the crowd sported rainbow flag that matched dyed hair, shirts and hats.