MIDDLETOWN — State veterans officials are working on a small, immediate expansion of the 21-acre State Veterans Cemetery grounds, which is projected to run out of room for buried cremains by July 2027.
Connecticut
Connecticut veterans affairs ID’s plot near Middletown state cemetery for small expansion
The state Department of Veterans Affairs will be adding additional cremains plots at 197 Bow Lane in Middletown, which abuts the State Veterans Cemetery.
Charles Pickett, state commander of the New Haven-based Veterans of Foreign Wars Connecticut division, who runs the Save our Cemetery website, has called the issue an “impending crisis.”
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He has been advocating for a cemetery annex for some time.
The move is expected to extend the cemetery’s capacity for about five years, according to state Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Commissioner John S. Carragher.
The land abutting the columbarium, located at 197 Bow Lane and adjacent to the cemetery, was previously owned by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and is part of the overall cemetery property, Carragher added.
It was “declared excess to their needs in 2020 and subsequently placed under the care and custody of CT DVA,” he continued.
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The flat and grassy plot, formerly used by Connecticut Valley Hospital, is approximately half-an-acre, he said, and includes a circa 1950 Colonial revival structure informally known as Cottage 22.
“We are in the process of surveying the plot to formally move it from the larger CVH plot to the current cemetery plot. We are planning on taking down the cottage to maximize the available space,” Carragher said.
The total acreage of land to be expanded upon is “unknown until the project is fully designed,” Carragher said.
“We have less than an acre on the current cemetery site in Middletown,” he said. “We’re going to have to take down a building if we can get approval to do that. That would provide some additional time.”
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Last year, the DVA had to decline a $4 million federal grant after Middletown officials rejected a request to expand the cemetery.
Common Council members voted unanimously in November 2024 not to sell about 90 acres of open space to the state for a much-needed annex. That property, on Bow Lane and parts of Cedar Lane and Reservoir Road, is among five parcels totaling 256 acres of land near the hospital.
The agency went through a very competitive national process to apply for a limited amount of money through the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Cemetery Grants Program.
DVA Commissioner Ron Welch, who spoke during the office’s September podcast, said finding a larger, permanent expansion continues to be officials’ top priority.
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Cremains spots are four-by-four feet in size, he added.
“We’re looking for 50 to 100 buildable acres, ideally, somewhere in the central part of the state,” he told the program host.
The DVA has been searching across Connecticut, he added, looking at some 15 sites, three of which he expects will undergo feasibility studies.
Although the state hasn’t specified where the sites are, Welch said during the episode one is in the eastern part of the state, and others in the western and south central portions of Connecticut.
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Pickett is hopeful knowing a temporary solution is underway.
“It is heartening to see progress into the expansion of the Middletown cemetery,” he said Friday. “It buys the state more time to find a suitable replacement.”
National trust in the federal government is at some of its lowest levels in nearly seven decades, and many Connecticut residents fall in line with that belief, a survey found.
New data from the Pew Research Center found only 17% of Americans believe that what the government does is right either “just about always” or “most of the time,” hitting one of the lowest points Pew has seen since first asking this question in 1958. And according to a DataHaven survey, Connecticut residents trust the federal government less than state or local institutions.
While these are some of the lowest polling numbers seen in American history, national trust in the federal government has been on the decline for decades. Public trust initially dropped in the 1960s and ’70s during the Vietnam War from a near 80% but began rising again in the 1980s into the early ’90s. Trust peaked again after 9/11 before falling.
The DataHaven survey found that of all Connecticut residents surveyed, only 9% trust the federal government “a great deal” to look out for the best interests of them and their family. About 28% trust the federal government “a fair amount.”
Federal government trust among Connecticut residents was at its highest in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the federal stimulus programs and child tax credit were active.
The DataHaven survey also asked about trust in local and state government. Connecticut residents generally trust these institutions more than they trust the federal government, the survey found.
Trust in the local governments was higher than trust in both state and federal, with 67% of residents surveyed trusting their local government “a great deal” or “a fair amount.”
And when it came to state government, 61% of residents trust the state “a great deal” or “a fair amount.”
However, across the board, white residents are more likely to trust local and state government than are residents of color. Black residents had higher levels of trust in government than Latino and Puerto Rican residents, but less than white residents.
Yes.
As of early 2025, the Connecticut State Police was facing a staffing shortage of roughly 300 troopers compared to the more than 1,200 troopers the department had in its ranks over a decade ago. This is due largely to retirements, resignations and a shrinking applicant pool.
Recent academy classes are helping slowly rebuild staffing, but Gov. Ned Lamont and police leadership say Connecticut still needs substantially more troopers to meet public safety demands. More recently, news outlets reported the department had 938 troopers.
This spring, troopers negotiated a 4.5% wage hike with state officials. Troopers’ base pay is on average about $116,000 per year, but that rises to $175,000 per year once overtime is included.
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Connecticut
CT Weather: Initial Snow Accumulation Estimates Released: Here’s When, How Much To Expect
Meteorologists are predicting the next storm system in Connecticut could bring a couple inches of snow this weekend.
WTNH reports snow will start late Saturday night and continue into Sunday morning.
“There is pretty good agreement with light snow amounts statewide with up to around 2″ expected,” WTNH says.
Find out what’s happening in Across Connecticutfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
WFSB reports long-range models have been “all over the place with the development of a coastal storm.”
According to WFSB, some show the system moving to the south of Connecticut, which would make the impact on weekend plans “minimal.” Another model, however, shows a greater impact on Connecticut, which could mean a “coating to an inch” of snow, WFSB reports.
Find out what’s happening in Across Connecticutfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
WFSB as of Thursday also predicts the timing would be late Saturday night through Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service as of Thursday has increased the odds of snow in this weekend timeframe to 50 percent, up from 30 percent.
In the short term, it is going to be very windy today.
The National Weather Service has advisories for northern and southern parts of Connecticut due to high winds, with possible gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.
Today, Friday and daytime Saturday will be clear and dry, according to the National Weather Service, with high temperatures starting in the low to mid-30s and gradually warming.
“Saturday is the pick of the weekend, as it will be dry and relatively milder,” WFSB reports. “While we could start bright, cloud cover will be on the increase with temps that peak between 35 and 40. Sunday will be colder as temps only reach the upper 20s and lower 30s.”
The National Weather Service indicates the chance for snow begins around midnight Saturday.
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Here are the forecast details for northern Connecticut via the National Weather Service:
Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 31. Breezy, with a west wind 18 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 20. West wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 32. West wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 16. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light southwest in the evening.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 36. Calm wind becoming southwest 5 to 8 mph in the morning.
Saturday Night: A chance of snow, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Sunday: A chance of snow before 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Here are the forecast details for southern Connecticut via the National Weather Service:
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 34. Wind chill values between 20 and 25. West wind 16 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 22. Wind chill values between 10 and 15. West wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 34. Wind chill values between 10 and 20. West wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 22. West wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Light west wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Saturday Night: Snow likely after 1 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 26. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Sunday: A 50 percent chance of snow before 1 p.m. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 33.
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