by | Oct 18, 2024 11:01 am | Comments (9)
Elsie Chapman in the air.
Elsie Chapman had thought about her 80th birthday celebration for so long that she could hardly believe it was here.
Her toes met the edge of the plane. She heard her guide count down: three… two… one…
And just like that, she was flying.
by | Oct 17, 2024 6:59 pm | Comments (40)
Jabez Choi photo
Police, social workers, and unhoused activists in the final hours of Thursday morning's encampment.
(Updated) As a tent encampment on the Green came down Thursday morning, city homelessness services coordinator Velma George and Lora Weeks soon realized they had met before — at a different New Haven encampment, back in 2016.
George had been an outreach social worker. Weeks had been living outdoors.
Eight years later, they found themselves back in the same positions.
by | Oct 17, 2024 11:55 am | Comments (20)
Thomas Breen file photo
Barnard Principal Stephanie Skiba shows off a Yondr pouch, where the cellphone goes.
All New Haven public elementary and middle school students will have to stow their phones in magnetically sealed “Yondr” pouches starting in January — per a new districtwide policy designed to minimize pocket-buzzing distractions by creating cellphone-free learning environments.
Continue reading ‘K-8 School Cellphone Ban To Start In January’
by | Oct 16, 2024 3:51 pm | Comments (39)
Thomas Breen file photo
Xu (in the background) arguing with Brennan, and shouting at this reporter: "Don't take a picture!"
A fatal-fire-inspired inspection of another one of Jianchao Xu’s potential rooming houses came to an abrupt end when the landlord confronted the city crew on his building’s front porch.
“Why did you come here? Because I’m a colored person? Why did you single me out?” Xu asked, his phone’s camera pointing at Livable City Initiative (LCI) Executive Director Liam Brennan. “This is not a communist country.”
Continue reading ‘Landlord Standoff Stops Short Inspections’
by | Oct 16, 2024 3:08 pm | Comments (7)
Laura Glesby Photo
Students Destiny Lugo and Makayla Kidd with CT Teacher of the Year Julia Miller.
“She lets her guard down with us. She’s human with us,” Metropolitan Business Academy Senior Makayla Kidd told a room full of students, educators, and city leaders.
Kidd was talking about her civics teacher, Julia Miller — who is now Connecticut’s Teacher of the Year.
by | Oct 15, 2024 7:51 pm | Comments (10)
Laura Glesby Photo
Shenae Draughn, right, responding to a room of applause at her appointment.
Shenae Draughn will once again step in as the interim head of the Housing Authority of New Haven and its affiliate organizations, after Karen Dubois-Walton steps down in November.
Continue reading ‘Draughn To Lead Housing Authority, For Now’
by | Oct 15, 2024 5:10 pm | Comments (12)
Dereen Shirnekhi photos
New housing and grocery, among others, to come to former Dixwell Plaza.
On the grave of the now-demolished Dixwell Plaza, work began Tuesday on the 186 housing units, the new 69,000 square-foot headquarters for job training, and the food hall set to rise in its place.
by | Oct 15, 2024 1:07 pm | Comments (14)
The local, state, and federal candidates on New Haveners' ballots for Nov. 5.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris aren’t the only ones on the ballot this election season.
The Independent’s latest annual voter guide is here to help you figure out who’s on your ballot, and where and when to cast your vote.
by | Oct 15, 2024 11:37 am | Comments (19)
Thomas Breen photo
The city's most popular bike share station, at Orange & Linden.
Nearly 500 different people e‑biked more than 4,500 miles across more than 2,700 different trips in the first month of the city’s revived bike share program.
by | Oct 14, 2024 4:10 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen photo
Tom Lamb, resigned as of Oct. 3.
More than four months after being placed on paid administrative leave with no explanation offered by the district, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tom Lamb has resigned.
by | Oct 14, 2024 2:50 pm | Comments (13)
Jabez Choi photos
Brian Wingate and Abby Feldman going door to door: “I believe if we stayed with him a little while longer, we could have converted him.”
New Haveners at AFSCME Local 1303 in New Britain.
Under a clear autumn sky, New Haven Rising organizer Abby Feldman and Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate went door to door — in New Britain — urging fellow union members to vote blue this November, as the traveling New Haveners made a worker-power pitch for Democrats in one of the most hotly contested House of Representatives districts in the country.
Continue reading ‘Blue Collar Pitch Brought To Blue Swing District’
by | Oct 14, 2024 12:05 pm | Comments (18)
State Rep. Elliott: Tax burden is backwards.
Josh Elliott is ready to run for governor to challenge the current governor’s take on taxing the rich — but only if the current governor isn’t on the ballot.
Continue reading ‘Elliott Eyes "Equitable Taxation" Guv Run’
by | Oct 14, 2024 8:54 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio photos
Jasmine Nikole's art ...
... and Redemption, by Linda Mickens, at Amplify the Arts.
A multicolored fabric sculpture created by Kat Wiese seemed to float between the trees that framed one entrance to the Eli Whitney Barn. At the other entrance, visitors were greeted by the vibrant bodies and faces painted in vivid colors by artists Jasmine Nikole on the left and Darnell “Saint” Phifer on the right.
The music of R&B legends, courtesy of DJ Q‑Boogie, could be heard from everywhere, boosting the vibe of each and every artistic creation as Amplify The Arts entered its second year at the storied Hamden location and third year in total, continuing its mission — as reiterated on Sunday by organizer Karimah Mickens — of presenting a space for especially BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and young artists.
by | Oct 11, 2024 3:51 pm | Comments (24)
Thomas Breen photo
A sidewalk memorial to Kenneth Mims, who died in the Oct. 6 fire at 516 Elm St.
X photo
Firefighters on the scene of the fatal fire.
City housing code inspectors hadn’t been back inside 516 Elm St. for more than a year before last Sunday’s fatal fire — but not for lack of trying.
by | Oct 11, 2024 2:36 pm | Comments (2)
Flicker
Are these prairie dogs wondering what makes them prairie dogs?
Laura Glesby Photo
Jeff Cibulas, with Jenny Trujillo at last NHDoc screening: “I’d rather see the truth and know how horrible it is.”
Prairie dogs have a word for “human.” They talk about us in a language with nouns, adjectives, and variable dialects — even though, to most of us, their words sound like unintelligible squeaks.
I learned that delightful fact at the last-ever film screening by NHDocs, from a vegan advocacy film about what it means to be human in a world of other animals.