Bridgeport in brief
Arena pact reached
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers assumed facility management responsibilities for the newly renamed Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard, with Stamford-based Centerplate Inc. remaining the concessions vendor.
The Sound Tigers play in the American Hockey League as an affiliate of the New York Islanders. The team formed a management company called Harbor Yard Sports and Entertainment L.L.C. to manage the facility.
The 10,000-seat arena is a scheduled stop Aug. 25 for the American Idols Live! 2011 concert tour.
Bluefish begin run
The Bridgeport Bluefish opened the 2011 season with more than 150 corporate sponsors, from relative small fry such as A Taste of Seafood restaurant, to leviathans like General Electric Co.
The Bluefish play in the independent Atlantic League and are managed by Willie Upshaw. In six of its first seven games of the season, the Bluefish played the Long Island Ducks to a draw, racking up three wins and three losses against its archrival.
Career Resources lands grant
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $300,000 to Career Resources Inc. in Bridgeport, which plans to use the money on programs to help former convicts in upgrading their job skills.
The Career Resources programs will emphasize job development and will include connections to housing, substance abuse and mental health treatment, vocational training, employment readiness programs, anger management and other needed services.
Partners include the Connecticut Department of Labor, the Business Council of Fairfield County and The Workplace Inc., among others.
Solar panels for city
The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund awarded more than $450,000 to the city of Bridgeport for solar panels at two schools and a housing complex, among the first grants awarded for an on-site renewable distribution program made possible under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The panels are slated for Central High School, Blackham Elementary School and Columbia Towers.
“This is feather in the city”™s cap and recognizes the importance of the BGreen 2020 Sustainability program that I launched in 2008,” Mayor Bill Finch said in a statement. “Sustainability is the link to encouraging economic development in our city. We hope that by having government take the first step to develop projects like this on our own buildings, it will lead to more involvement by the private sector to join us in harnessing the power of the sun.”
Law firm donates $100,000
A Bridgeport-based law firm donated $100,000 to the Connecticut Children”™s Medical Center in Hartford, with the funds to be used to buy ultrasound equipment to screen for sickle cell anemia.
Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, which donated the money, has offices in Bridgeport, Danbury, New Haven and Stamford, focusing on medical malpractice and civil rights violations, among other areas.