Preliminary Connecticut voter turnout pegged at 80.3 percent

With data pending from 11 towns, which have yet to submit their final numbers to state officials, Connecticut’s voter turnout reached about 80 percent on Election Day. Once full numbers have been tabulated, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz ’83 will be able to gauge whether turnout had reached an all-time high, topping the 93 percent turnout in 1960. Though Bysiewicz had predicted a turnout of 90 percent, the preliminary data represent a small increase over the figure from four years ago, 78.6 percent.

—Yale Daily News

Community bank applies for state approval

The First Community Bank of New Haven, which aims to offer loans for housing and nonprofits, applied to form a Bank and Trust Company Oct. 15. Within 20 days of the application’s filing — which carried a $15,000 fee — the banking commissioner ordered an independent feasibility study and a three-year financial forecast at the expense of the organizers. The bank will have to apply for federal approval separately to become FDIC insured. The bank’s funding comes from a $25-million contribution from the New Alliance Foundation through the First City Fund Corporation, both nonprofits.

—Maxwell Kushner-Lenhoff

Restaurant Week kicks off Sunday

This Sunday will mark the beginning of the first-ever New Haven Restaurant Week, a six-day-long event featuring 18 eateries, including Barcelona, Zinc, Thali, Bentara, Miya’s and Caseus, among others. Prix-fixe menu choices cost $16.38 for lunch, to commemorate the year of New Haven’s founding, and $29.00 for dinner. Union League Cafe, a participant, will offer a choice between three dinner entrees: a duck leg confit, squash ravioli with roasted pumpkin seeds or a pan-roasted pike filet. Organized by the city, the event typifies a larger effort to increase tourism by highlighting the Elm City culinary scene.

—Horace Williams

Former Corrections supervisor sentenced for leaking state info

James A. Barone, a former supervisor for the state Department of Correction, was sentenced Thursday for giving private bail bondsmen information from a state computer. Barone, a resident of East Haven, was sentenced to one year of probation, fined $500 and ordered to do 75 hours of community service. He pled guilty to giving three bondsmen pictures of people who did not show up to state court appearances for cash and gifts in return. The bondsmen pled guilty in June to conspiracy to commit bribery and were sentenced to prison time and ordered to pay fines of $10,000 to $24,000.

—Harrison Korn

Late-night robber strikes near Walgreens

A man was robbed at 1:32 a.m. Thursday outside Walgreens on York Street. While walking behind the building, another male approached him and demanded his wallet. The

Walgreens is located two blocks away from Jonathan Edwards College. Yale Police Department Chief James Perrotti did not send an campuswide e-mail. By law, the department must “make timely reports to the campus community on crimes considered to be a threat to other students and employees.” The YPD did not respond to a request for comment.

—Harrison Korn

City teens rewarded for computer proficiency

Seventeen New Haven teenagers were rewarded with laptops Thursday for completing a Microsoft Office training certification program over the summer. Through the combined efforts of Youth@Work, a New Haven youth development agency, and The Knowledge Network, an adult education program, a portion of city teens on the summer employment waiting list were given the chance to participate in over 100 hours of training in a number of Microsoft programs. The laptops, along with Microsoft Office 2007, were given to the certified students as a prize for their dedication to the program.

—Stephannie Furtak