East Rock

As Clinics Open, Teachers Get 1st Shots

by | Mar 3, 2021 5:25 pm | Comments (1)

Thomas Breen photo

Dr. Lagarde vaccinates Jonathan Hill at Cross clinic Wednesday.

King/Robinson middle school STEM teacher Jonathan Hill breathed a sigh of relief.

Not only will he be returning to the classroom in person for the first time in nearly a year later this week. He’ll also be doing so with a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine already in his arm.

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Pain, Shock, Anger, Love Mix At Memorial Service

by | Feb 13, 2021 7:17 pm | Comments (0)

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A picture of Linda Liu and her late son Kevin Jiang, shared at Jiang’s memorial service Saturday.

Liu (left), with a translator, at Saturday’s service.

Kevin lived full-heartedly, enthusiastically, like a ray of sunlight,” Linda Liu said about her late son, Kevin Jiang, a 26-year-old Yale grad student who was shot to death in the Goatville section of East Rock last week.

He gave so much joy and happiness to me and to the people around us. I could not believe that a life full of so much energy and light could vanish from before my eyes.”

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Vigil Call: “All Lives Are Sacred”

by | Feb 10, 2021 4:55 pm | Comments (1)

Thomas Breen photos

Katz at Tuesday’s vigil. Below: A memorial for Kevin Jiang at Nicoll and Lawrence.

Natalia Katz attended an anti-gun violence rally in Fair Haven Saturday afternoon, and left feeling buoyed by community efforts to stop further bloodshed.

By the time she got home to her East Rock apartment later that same night, she found police cars everywhere and a dead body in the middle of the street — the city’s sixth homicide victim already this year.

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Murder Cut Short Romance Nurtured In Nature

by | Feb 8, 2021 6:52 pm | Comments (27)

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Kevin Jiang and Zion Perry, after getting engaged on Jan. 30, a week before a man shot Jiang to death in New Haven. Jiang and Perry met while she was still an undergraduate at MIT.

On what would be the newly engaged couple’s last day together before a brutal murder, Zion Perry and Kevin Jiang went ice fishing, caught a pickerel, and cooked dinner at her East Rock apartment.

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Heavy Lift Underway To Clear Snow

by , and | Feb 2, 2021 2:21 pm | Comments (16)

Thomas Breen photos

Georgeanne Flanagan takes a quick break from shoveling in Cedar Hill.

Plow truck drivers take a coffee-and-donut break at Middletown Avenue HQ after their 12-hour shifts.

Eighty-one-year-old Georgeanne Flanagan dug her shovel into a foot-tall pile of snow near her car. Determined to make it to her Covid-19 vaccination appointment later this week, she heaved the heavy white stuff onto her lawn.

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East Rock Presses Police On Package Thefts

by | Jan 27, 2021 10:50 am | Comments (2)

Walking down a street, you see someone systematically stealing packages from porches and stoops.

You pull out your phone. You call 911 and report the crime in progress. Because that’s what you’ve been told: report crimes in progress to 911.

The dispatcher thanks you and says you should call the non-violent crime emergency number.

Meanwhile, the guy is filling his duffel bag like some kind of reverse St. Nick.

Twenty minutes later, the crime’s still going on. You call back. Same response.

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Virtual MLK Love March Puts Tumultuous Week In Perspective

by | Jan 15, 2021 4:40 pm | Comments (2)

Zoom

Friday’s virtual Love March.

To Rev. Boise Kimber, last week’s Capitol insurrection inspired by the president is proof that systemic racism is here to stay.”

To U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Thursday night’s $1.9 trillion economic plan proposed by the president-elect is proof that sound public policy can undo the material harms of hate.

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Guitarist Makes A Musical Sanctuary

by | Dec 8, 2020 10:41 am | Comments (1)

Musician Robert Messore sat in front of the camera, surrounded by cozy blankets and colorful Christmas lights. It was already an hour into the latest installment of Live From the Blanket Fort, with Sunday turning into Monday. Eager listeners filled the chat box in his livestream as he did a sweet rendition of Dream A Little Dream of Me,” then a straight-faced, low-register take on “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” After chatting with listeners about everything from the bridge in the Aretha Franklin song to Star Trek to television writer Joss Whedon, he unfurled a delicious version of Jerry Douglas’s and Russ Barenberg’s Hymn of Ordinary Motion.”

As he moved it was as though, for a moment, the internet was actually quiet.

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Pandemic Poll Workers Answer The Call

by | Nov 3, 2020 9:00 pm | Comments (1)

Courtney Luciana Photo

Harriet Welfare is ready for Ward 25 voters.

Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo

Gabriell Matos: Young person’s turn to step up.

Twenty-year-old Gabriell Matos, dressed in full PPE gear, was stationed outside Bishop Woods School Tuesday morning. He held the door open to voters and pumped out hand sanitizer to all.

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Police Renew Appeal For “Neighbor” Surveillance Video

by | Oct 29, 2020 1:48 pm | Comments (8)

Still from security camera video, with cyclist and driver involved in pushing incident.

Someone cut the line at P&M Orange Street Market. A pushing incident ensued.

Across the street, a security camera attached to a neighbor’s house caught the action. The neighbor saw officers investigating the incident. So he approached them and offered them his security footage.

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