Features

The life of a student-athlete is a daily grind not for the faint of heart. Three-hour practices, weekly competitions—it’s not uncommon to see players,...

NAUGATUCK — What if church were a verb? That’s the question members of the Naugatuck United Methodist Church youth group have been pondering this...

NAUGATUCK — Respect: It’s not the easiest concept in the world to define. It can mean consideration toward peers, acquiescence to elders, the payment...

BETHLEHEM — Barbara Berner delivered more than mail. "If you were walking up the driveway to the mailbox, she'd be waving and smiling and beeping...

NAUGATUCK — A year after 30-year-old borough native and popular Waterbury school teacher Tim Massa was found dead in a Nassau, Bahamas, harbor, his...

If it’s true that we learn more about ourselves during tough times than in easy ones, 2009 must have been highly educational for many...

She calls almost every day, my “old friend from Oak Terrace.” I can tell by the tenor of her voice, as soon as she greets me, what kind of day she’s having: Sometimes it’s a joyful chirp, quoting scripture and gushing about choir rehearsal; others it’s a smoker’s croak, bitter and depressed and “just about ready to give up.” My friend’s name is Linda Jean Cray. She’s 45, heavyset—though she’s lost a considerable amount of weight recently—with stew-brown hair that flows just over her shoulders. Her smile reveals badly-worn, discolored teeth. A single, front tooth, apparently the survivor of the bunch, remains intact, recalling some cartoonish caricature of a baby.

BEACON FALLS — Year-round, Livia Keith keeps at least one Christmas tree decorated in her Maple Avenue home. In her living room Friday, Keith's tree...