by | Jul 8, 2022 12:27 pm | Comments (9)
Monica Nichols photos
When I went on my latest rounds monitoring local osprey nests, I was relieved to find the ospreys still here. The mother ospreys were guarding their nests. The fathers were out looking for the fish that make up their entire diet. The heads of some of the recently hatched osprey chicks were starting to become visible above the sides of the nest.
by | Jul 6, 2022 1:50 pm | Comments (4)
Members of Hamden’s Legislative Council went on record as supporting universal national health insurance — with lowered municipal healthcare costs.
Continue reading ‘Medicare For All Resolution Advances In Hamden’
by | Jun 30, 2022 9:32 am | Comments (9)
From newly approved report: Town just over 1 percent shy of state target.
Hamden is aiming to make at least 10 percent of its housing stock affordable by moving seniors and millennials alike into smaller apartments, with the help of zoning changes and tax incentives.
Continue reading ‘Hamden Sets Plan To Boost Affordable Housing’
by | Jun 28, 2022 4:30 pm | Comments (3)
Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz with firefighters at firehouse event.
Rendering of new station
Ceilings crumbling, holes in the wall, and bricks falling. That’s the reality the firefighters at “Station 2” in South Hamden have had to deal with for decades — but a change is now in sight.
Continue reading ‘After 50 Years, New "Station 2" On The Way’
by | Jun 28, 2022 4:27 pm | Comments (2)
Yash Roy Photo
Lamont mixes with seniors at the Whitney Center during Chamber gathering.
At Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce’s first in-person annual breakfast meeting since the beginning of the pandemic, Gov. Ned Lamont touted his administration’s record on the pandemic as well as the net gain in population within the state, a reversal from the 2010s when more people were leaving the state.
Lamont also heard some sharp words on increased state funding for private universities from Quinnipiac University Provost Debra J. Liebowitz.
Continue reading ‘At Biz Gathering, Lamont Pressed On Higher Ed, Child Care’
by | Jun 27, 2022 11:16 pm | Comments (10)
Gary Highsmith, right, with past student and current BOE member Walter Morton — who recalled Highsmith as his early style icon.
Hamden has selected an internal hire with New Haven roots to serve as the town’s next superintendent of schools.
by | Jun 27, 2022 5:18 pm | Comments (9)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Police Commissioner Daniel Dunn: "It's wild."
Hamden has hired a Milford law firm to investigate why cops destroyed public records while a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was pending.
Hamden has hired that same law firm to defend the town against an FOIA complaint based on that same request.
Does that sound kosher?
Continue reading ‘Conflict Charged In Record-Destruction Case’
by | Jun 26, 2022 1:32 pm | Comments (4)
Jamar Crenshaw.
A motor vehicle crash killed a 38-year-old New Haven man named Jamar Crenshaw.
by | Jun 23, 2022 11:05 am | Comments (1)
Nora Grace-Flood Photos
Xavier Rawlings poses for reporter ...
... after taking selfie onstage at Wednesday evening graduation.
Weeks before her class was to graduate from Hamden High, Xavier Rawlings was without a home and struggling to keep up with school work. With the help of teachers, she made it through a credit recovery program during the final days of June — and took a ceremonial selfie, diploma in hand, on a commencement stage with hundreds of cheering supporters behind her.
by | Jun 22, 2022 3:09 pm | Comments (19)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
Vanessa Brown: "It's all worth nothing."
Cracked foundation beneath Brown's condo.
When Vanessa Brown bought her first home, she was proud to have saved money to make a generational investment in her family. Decades later, she is facing foreclosure — and fears that the walls of her condo may come crumbling down before she finds out her court date.
by | Jun 22, 2022 2:17 pm | Comments (2)
Wintergreen School.
Hamden has officially approved the sale of Wintergreen School — and is now tasked with planning exactly how to use the $16 million in proceeds to reinvest in the town while filling some budget holes.
by | Jun 20, 2022 3:18 pm | Comments (5)
Hamden’s next mayor may run for a four-year term rather than two if a town charter change aiming to improve governmental accountability and productivity is approved.
Lengthening the time Hamden’s top leader spends in office is one of the amendments that a reinstated Charter Revision Commission (CRC) is looking to make in the town’s “constitution.”
by | Jun 20, 2022 8:49 am | Comments (1)
Olivia Gross Photo
Hamden Food Truck Fest kicks off summer.
Seven thousand people gathered at Hamden Town Center Park for the annual Hamden Food Truck Festival, with 24 food trucks and tents set up to feed them.
Continue reading ‘From Oxtail To Vegan Crab Cakes, Hamden Food Truck Fest Caters to All’
by | Jun 17, 2022 2:57 pm | Comments (4)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Tom Ariola: "Why kid ourselves and start moving money around? Because we know: We are going to spend this."
Hamden’s Board of Education has passed a $101 million budget to make financial ends meet next school year — while warning of a multimillion-dollar fiscal cliff in their future after being flat-funded by the town council.
Continue reading ‘1-Time Grants Rescue Hamden Schools Budget, For Now’
by | Jun 16, 2022 4:41 pm | Comments (4)
Councilperson Abdul Osmanu: Precedent sought for better communication moving forward.
Hamden is one step away from securing $16 million through a school sale — but some council and community members are asking for better communication from town officials before taking the cash.
by | Jun 15, 2022 2:57 pm | Comments (1)
Accessible, collaborative, communicative, honest, and inclusive.
Those are some of the characteristics Hamdenites said they hope will describe the individual selected to serve as the district’s next superintendent of schools.
Continue reading ‘Wanted: A "Communicator" Superintendent For 5,000+ Children’
by | Jun 14, 2022 4:45 pm | Comments (1)
Abiba Biao Photo
Graduates say goodbye.
Hamden’s graduating eighth graders celebrated their community’s resilience after a complicated school year — and looked forward to their next life chapter of novel joys and challenges.
Continue reading ‘At Graduation, Hamden Middle Schoolers Reflect On Resilience’
by | Jun 14, 2022 10:05 am | Comments (0)
Susan Bysiewicz Photo
Johnny Best was filled with joy at the crowd of people who came to welcome him home Monday night — more than half a century after he returned from Vietnam.
by | Jun 13, 2022 9:36 am | Comments (13)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Seramonte Estates tenants, organizers at union drive launch.
One month after Hamden’s first tenant union took shape, its members are pushing not just to keep their landlord accountable, but to ensure town-wide protection of tenants’ rights.
by | Jun 12, 2022 1:44 pm | Comments (12)
Children with laser guns at Hamden Fest.
The fake guns: Do they look real?
As hundreds turned out for a celebration of Hamden’s local businesses, one was asked to pack up early after handing out simulation guns to children.
Recent mass shootings were too lodged in some attendees’ minds.
Continue reading ‘Fake Guns For Kids Raise Eyebrows At Fest’
by | Jun 10, 2022 4:31 pm | Comments (0)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Outgoing Democratic Registrar of Voters Rose Mentone with Republican Registrar of Voters Tony Esposito.
Lushonda Howard: "It's great to be the first."
A generational changing of the guard is in process at Hamden Government Center, with new blood promising to uphold the belief that every voice and every vote matters.
Continue reading ‘Generational Change Afoot In Hamden Town Registrar's Office’
by | Jun 9, 2022 8:10 pm | Comments (10)
Roshan Butler with police following the crash, after cops pulled guns on her with their body cameras turned off.
An East Haven resident is suing the town of Hamden and one of its cops for alleged negligence — after she crashed her car into a police cruiser that she claims was poorly positioned while attempting to block traffic.
by | Jun 7, 2022 6:26 pm | Comments (3)
Sam Gurwitt photo
Wintergreen School.
The sale of a Hamden school is one step closer to finalization, offering a potentially high-stakes opportunity to right past fiscal wrongs, according to town leadership.
Continue reading ‘Hamden Signs Off On Wintergreen Sale Agreement’
by | Jun 6, 2022 4:30 pm | Comments (17)
Nora Grace Flood photo
Mayor Garrett, Acting Chief of Police Tim Wydra, State Sen. Jorge Cabrera, BOE President Melissa Kaplan, and Detective Sean Dolan on Monday.
Elijah Gomez.
Less than a month after 15-year-old Hamden High freshman Elijah Gomez was shot to death while walking home from school on the Farmington Canal Trail, Hamden police have arrested his alleged murderer.
Continue reading ‘18-Yr-Old Arrested For Elijah Gomez's Murder’
by | Jun 2, 2022 3:03 pm | Comments (13)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Executive Director John Taylor at a press conference last November about the incident, with the school’s attorney and public relations consultant in tow.
Police have arrested a former middle-school teacher at Booker T. Washington Academy who was fired back in November for allegedly having sex with and sexting pre-teen students.
Continue reading ‘Booker T. Washington Teacher Arrested On Sexual Assault Charges’