by | Aug 22, 2018 8:16 am | Comments (27)
Board members Darnell Goldson, Joe Rodriguez at Tuesday’s vote.
Students’ tearful speeches, parents’ proposed alternatives, a union’s last-ditch buyout suggestion: none of it worked. A week after being given hope that their jobs might be saved, two dozen full-time educators were still told they’re out of work after all.
by | Aug 14, 2018 12:12 pm | Comments (17)
Thomas Breen photo
Police Chief Anthony Campbell, CAO Mike Carter, and Fire Chief John Alston on Monday night.
Five weeks into the current fiscal year, the police department’s actual weekly overtime is double what’s in the budget. The fire department’s weekly overtime is one and a half times over budget.
Continue reading ‘Police, Fire Chiefs: Overtime Budgets “Unrealistic”’
by | Aug 14, 2018 7:51 am | Comments (24)
Christopher Peak Photo
Hazel Pappas, among 100 showing up to protest layoffs.
ESUMS’s Jill Kelly, Daniel Hunt, Kirsten Hopes-McFadden.
With the start of the school year just two weeks ago, nearly three-dozen educators have been temporarily spared from layoffs, while cuts might now fall on others — unknown others.
Continue reading ‘School Layoffs Tabled; Uncertainty Reigns’
by | Aug 13, 2018 8:00 am | Comments (8)
Christopher Peak Photo
Superintendent Carol Birks.
Superintendent Carol Birks wants two outside hires to take top positions in her administration.
Continue reading ‘Birks Picks Deputy, Assistant Superintendents’
by | Aug 12, 2018 12:11 pm | Comments (13)
Thomas Breen photo
Local 34 prez Laurie Kennington pumps Lamont at Saturday’s rally.
Ned Lamont lashed out at his opponent at a final get-out-the-vote rally in New Haven — not the opponent he needs to beat in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, but the one he expects to face in November.
by | Aug 10, 2018 8:04 am | Comments (25)
Christopher Peak Photo
Kevin Staton: Please maintain Hillhouse library when I’m gone.
When Kevin Staton first flicked on the lights in the Hillhouse High School library, only five worked; the other 25 stayed unlit. The computers malfunctioned. The chairs wobbled. A brown stain in the ceiling stared back at him.
by | Aug 8, 2018 9:40 pm | Comments (32)
Thomas Breen
Ned Lamont (center) and Shawn Wooden (right) with labor organizer Scott Marks on Wednesday night.
Less than a week before statewide Democratic primaries, two candidates earned New Haven’s most important on-the-ground endorsement: from Yale’s UNITE HERE unions
by | Aug 7, 2018 3:19 pm | Comments (24)
Christopher Peak Photos
Superintendent Birks: Trying to shield classrooms.
A statewide professional association is calling into question a claim that New Haven schools will have enough school counselors after the latest wave of layoffs.
by | Jul 31, 2018 12:11 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photo
Plaintiffs’ attorney Patricia Cofrancesco in court.
A Superior Court judge refused to suspend the Freedom of Information Act in part of New Haven — despite the efforts of a lawyer representing cops who were passed over for promotions.
by | Jul 31, 2018 12:10 pm | Comments (1)
The Amalgamated Transit Union, including CT Transit workers from New Haven, has endorsed Susan Bysiewicz, the party-endorsed candidate for lieutenant governor in an Aug. 14 primary. Bysiewicz submitted the following piece about it.
by | Jul 27, 2018 4:59 pm | Comments (25)
Christopher Peak photo
NHFD’s Keith Kerr treats man who overdosed on heroin.
A city’s stark choices: One in a series.
Cutting four firefighter positions and merging medical and fire response units could save New Haven over $1.7 million each year.
In the view of the fire union, it could also mean fewer firefighters available to respond to the next serious blaze.
by | Jul 27, 2018 4:34 pm | Comments (19)
Cameo Thorne.
(Opinion)This week, Superintendent Carol Birks announced the layoffs of three dozen certified educators, which the Board of Education still needs to approve. Cameo Thorne, a one-time Teacher of the Year who now works to implement restorative practices throughout the district, submitted this opinion piece on the go-to arguments about the trade-offs between higher taxes on our properties and more teachers in our schools.
by | Jul 26, 2018 7:50 am | Comments (10)
Christopher Peak Photo
Patricia Cofrancesco: Don’t release public records to press.
After reading a news article she found “hugely problematic,” a lawyer asked a judge to stop the city from releasing a range of public records about police officers to the press until her case is decided.
Continue reading ‘Lawyer Falsely Accuses City Of Leaking Docs’
by | Jul 25, 2018 3:55 pm | Comments (2)
Allan Appel Photo
Candidates await outcome of the commissioners’ vote.
Four aspiring cops had to convince the Board of Police Commissioners for a second time to OK their applications, and they succeeded.
Continue reading ‘Police Commission Overrides Chief On Cop Applicants’
by | Jul 24, 2018 8:13 am | Comments (2)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Plaintiffs attorneys Tramuta and Minnella outside court.
Lawyers for inmates and former guards at a state prison urged a federal judge in New Haven Monday not to dismiss a class-action lawsuit alleging that Connecticut was “deliberately indifferent” about protecting its inmates from unreasonable exposure to radon.
by | Jul 19, 2018 8:37 am | Comments (16)
Christopher Peak Photos
Birks testifies Wednesday: Undermined & micromanaged?
Never mind, part-timers, you’ll get your jobs back.
For now.
But check your mailboxes again next month.
by | Jul 11, 2018 7:51 am | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen
Michael Gormany and Tom McCarthy testify on the deal.
The city and the local attorneys union have agreed to a new four-year contract that follows a trend in recent city-labor deals by trading modest raises for increased employee healthcare and post-employment benefit contributions.
by | Jul 3, 2018 4:04 pm | Comments (1)
Allan Appel Photo
New deputy chief Watkins with baby and wife Karissa
New Haven’s littlest firefighter has already fought a fight for his life and prevailed — from being a one-pound-six ounce “micro-preemie” to a healthy 15-month old baby boy.
That little guy, James Watkins, Jr., was on hand Tuesday afternoon to lend his voice at a crowded and steamy Career High School auditorium, to cheer on his dad, James Watkins, as he was promoted to deputy chief in the the New Haven Fire Department.
Continue reading ‘NHFD Promotes 4 Deputy Chiefs, 4 Battalion Chiefs, 5 Captains, 11 Lieutenants’
by | Jul 3, 2018 1:31 pm | Comments (44)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Class Of March 2015 at graduation: 10 have already left the force.
Two centuries of experience vanished form the police department as 10 veteran cops retired in June, joining an exodus of both younger and older cops.
by | Jul 3, 2018 8:07 am | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen Photo
Campbell and Alston contracts approved through 2022.
The Board of Alders Monday night approved contract renewals for the city’s police and fire chiefs, giving both men another chance to continue to transform their departments and rein in their overtime budgets.
by | Jun 29, 2018 8:20 am | Comments (16)
Christopher Peak Photo
Patricia Cofranceso in court: Misconduct irrelevant to promotion.
City cops suing over being bypassed for promotions have found their lawsuit stalled in court — because their own union has intervened to make sure their disciplinary histories aren’t revealed.
by | Jun 26, 2018 8:39 am | Comments (42)
Christopher Peak Photo
Public waits 2 hours while board members meet in closed session. A 2-minute explanation followed.
(Updated) Hundreds of educators don’t know where they will work next year — if they’ll have a job in the schools at all.
Confusion has spread throughout the workforce since the school board sent layoff notices this past Friday to 1,100 part-time and special-fund employees.
by | Jun 26, 2018 7:47 am | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen photo
Police Chief Anthony Campbell and Fire Chief John Alston, Jr. come before alders Monday night.
Alders recommended approving four-year contract renewals for the city’s police and fire chiefs, who both pledged to improve their department’s communications with alders and the public.
Continue reading ‘Police, Fire Chief Contract Renewals Recommended’
by | Jun 20, 2018 7:17 am | Comments (0)
Courtesy Ken Oliver
The graduating class with Ken Oliver, instructor Donnal Lillis, Hillhouse Principal Glen Worthy, and retired Fire Capt. Gary Tinney.
Another round of Hillhouse students recently finished the course for emergency medical technicians.
by | Jun 18, 2018 4:59 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photo
Fire Chief John Alston, Jr. (right) with new fire graduate James Hilton.
Soon after moving to New Haven, Fire Chief John Alston went to Best Buy to pick up a new gadget. He liked the young man working in tech support so much that he encouraged him to apply for the fire department.
Over a year after that first retail encounter, Alston pinned a badge on the lapel of James Hilton, that former Best Buy employee, as Hilton formally became a New Haven firefighter.