Valley Independent Sentinel

About Us

A publication Monday through Friday covering news in the lower Naugatuck Valley — and just the lower Naugatuck Valley.

It’s not an original idea, yet it has been about 17 years since the Valley had a daily news organization to call its own.

“The Christmas Eve massacre,” as it is called here, was the night a newspaper chain shuttered the beloved Evening Sentinel, a daily afternoon paper that had covered the Valley for more than a century.

Now there’s us — the Valley Independent Sentinel — a non-profit, online-only news site dedicated to Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton.

We’re brought to you thanks to the efforts of the Valley Community Foundation and the Online Journalism Project. The two groups joined forces with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to secure a $500,000 grant from the Knight Foundation.

That grant will keep this non-profit site running for two years.

Going forward, the site will look for more grant money — and, we hope, collect tax-deductible contributions from people who want to know what’s happening in the lower Valley.

The Valley Independent Sentinel has two full-time staffers.

Eugene Driscoll, the editor, lives in Derby with his wife, Autumn, a photojournalist.

Between 2003 and 2008, Driscoll received nine reporting awards from the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (CT SPJ) for his work at The News-Times of Danbury.

Driscoll was the first online editor in the history of The News-Times. He was named the paper’s employee of the year in 2006.

In 2008, when he won first place — and honorable mention — for Web-based, breaking news coverage.

Also in 2008, the CT SPJ awarded NewsTimes.com first place for general excellence.

Staff writer Jodie Mozdzer comes to the Valley Independent Sentinel from The Hartford Courant, where she covered education. In 2009, Mozdzer was named one of 22 fellows for the Education Writers Association Research and Statistics Bootcamp, hosted by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and the Harvard Graduation School of Education. In 2008, Mozdzer served on a panel of education reporters that spoke at Harvard’s Urban Superintendents Program.

Mozdzer, a Shelton resident and a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, is the treasurer for the Connecticut Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Mozdzer received the CT SPJ President’s award in 2009 for her work on the board. Mozdzer is also a member of the national Digital Media Committee for SPJ.

Prior to her work at The Hartford Courant, Mozdzer worked for The Waterbury Republican-American, where she covered Seymour.

Staff writer Ethan Fry, a Shelton resident, began his journalism career at The Journal-Inquirer of Manchester, Conn., where he reported on a variety of public safety and legal issues, including the execution of Michael Ross, the first man put to death by the state in more than four decades.

Fry worked more recently at The News-Times of Danbury, Conn., as a reporter and copy editor. There, he led a team of reporters in the production of a package of stories, “The rise and fall of Danbury’s trash czar,” which won a first place award for general reporting in a series from the state chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Fry is a 2004 graduate of Fairfield University, where he edited the independent student newspaper, The Mirror.

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