FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ONLINE DAILY LOCAL NEWS SITE COMING TO CONNECTICUT'S NAUGATUCK VALLEY AS OF JUNE 23, the lower Naugatuck Valley will have another option for local news! It's called The Valley Independent Sentinel (http://www.ValleyIndependentSentinel.org), an online-only, non-profit Web site funded through the Valley Community Foundation by a two-year, $500,000 grant from the Knight Foundation. The site employs two experienced Connecticut reporters -- along with a stable of freelance writers from Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton (our coverage area). LAUNCH EVENT To formally mark the site's launch, we're planning a short presentation and meetand-greet. We hope you find it worthy of coverage. WHEN: 4 p.m., June 23 (Tuesday) WHERE: Ansonia City Hall (253 Main St., Ansonia) WHAT: Local community leaders, including Connecticut Appellate Court Chief Judge Joseph P. Flynn, Ansonia Mayor James T. Della Volpe, and others will make brief remarks. The staff of the new online paper will be on hand and we'll unveil the first "edition" of The Valley Independent Sentinel. WHO DO I CALL? Eugene Driscoll, editor, 203 446 2335 ABOUT THE VALLEY INDEPENDENT SENTINEL The Independent Sentinel will be published by the not-for-profit Online Journalism Project, which also publishes The New Haven Independent (http:// www.NewHavenIndependent.org).
Funding? A grant secured by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven from The Knight Foundation. The name? It's a marriage of the old and new. "Independent" comes from our pioneering sister site, The New Haven Independent. "Sentinel" comes from The Evening Sentinel (aka The Ansonia Sentinel, The Valley Sentinel and The Sentinel), a much-loved daily newspaper that covered the adjoining towns and cities of the lower Naugatuck Valley for more than 100 years until it was purchased from local ownership and closed in December 1992. WHO WORKS THERE? Eugene Driscoll, a Derby resident, is the editor. Jodie Mozdzer, a new Shelton resident, is the reporter. Who are they? Driscoll is a former reporter and editor for The News-Times of Danbury. He was the paper's first online editor and was named News-Times employee of the year in 2006. Mozdzer, a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, covered the Valley for the Republican-American. She also covered education at The Hartford Courant. WHO DO I CALL, AGAIN? Eugene Driscoll, editor, at 203-446-2335.