LIGHTNING STARTS SMALL FIRE ON DECK OF WATERFORD HOME ASSESSMENT OF WWII SHIPWRECK OFF LONG ISLAND AGAIN POSTPONED COAST GUARD ACADEMY TO OFFER CYBER SYSTEMS MAJOR
Waterford — A homeowner extinguished a small fire that began when lightning from a pop-up storm struck outside 53 Twin Lakes Drive on Wednesday morning, Cohanzie fire Chief Todd Branche said.
Branche said the 5:15 a.m. blaze began underneath a deck attached to the home. Firefighters ensured the flames hadn’t spread and cleared the scene. No injuries were reported. Records show the split-level home belongs to Sally and Roger Ruggeri.
Hartford (AP) — Police have arrested a Connecticut man who falsely reported a drowning in Hartford only days after a teenager died in a city pool.
Authorities say 34-year-old Jermiah Grant called 911 to report a child drowning Monday afternoon to gauge emergency response times. A witness told police Grant wanted to test if authorities would respond to the city’s “poor black community.”
Grant was charged with falsely reporting an incident, interfering with police and breach of peace. He is represented by the public defender’s office, which did not immediately return a message Wednesday.
Police say Grant made another false call five weeks ago about an armed burglary at his house.
Jaevon Whyte, 16, drowned last week after sneaking into a city pool.
The Coast Guard has again postponed an underwater assessment of a World War II shipwreck site off the coast of Long Island. The assessment now will take place in the spring of 2019.
The early start of the 2018 hurricane season and activity of Hurricane Chris impacted logistics and raised safety concerns for the operation, the Coast Guard said Wednesday in a news release.
The Coast Guard has contracted with the Florida-based salvage company Resolve Marine to assess whether the British tanker Coimbra, sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Long Island during World War II, is leaking oil.
The underwater assessment originally was scheduled to take place June 19-27. It was first postponed to July 15-23 due to logistical concerns.
The 423-foot-long Coimbra is broken into three parts, and is resting on its starboard side about 170 feet below the water roughly 30 miles southeast of Shinnecock, N.Y., off Long Island’s south shore.
New London — For the first time, cadets at the Coast Guard Academy will be able to major in cyber systems, allowing a generation of young leaders to better meet the emerging operational and support needs of the service, the academy said this week in a news release.
“The world of cyber is inherently multidisciplinary,” Dr. Kurt Colella, dean of academics, said in the release. “It incorporates operating systems, policy, law, ethics, information assurance, network defense, big data, software design, cryptography and intelligence, including geospatial systems. All of these fields represent key areas that cadets will explore during their four years at the academy.”
In the fall, the academy will open a new 2,000-squarefoot cyber lab that will house dedicated servers, a working laboratory and a uniquely designed classroom. Additionally, a variety of cyber-related summer internships will be offered.
The academy has a cyber team, which operates like a club sport team, participating in a variety of organized competitions. It is open to cadets with an interest in developing high-level defensive and offensive cyber skills. Cadets receive sports credit for participation.