Jorge Opens A Door
by | Dec 7, 2022 2:58 pm | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
Jorge Astudillo was upgrading the entrances inside an historic New Haven building — while opening a new door in his own journey of opportunity.
Labor
Word On The Street: Bridgette Beats The Sun
by | Dec 5, 2022 3:49 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Bridgette Cunningham started her 24th year working at Yale Monday by rising as usual with her cellphone alarm at 2:20 a.m.
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Word On The Street: "Blessed," & Ready For Busy Barber Season
by | Dec 1, 2022 4:32 pm | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
Two customers were already in the barber chairs with two more waiting not long after Aaron Polanco opened the doors Thursday morning at the male side of Morena Salon and Barber Shop.
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Turcio, City's Building Boom Boss, To Retire
by | Nov 30, 2022 5:08 pm | Comments (9)
Paul Bass Photo
Jim Turcio looked down from 14 stories above New Haven and marveled at a landscape that has been changing before his eyes — with his OK required at every step.
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Voting Begins In Yale Grad Union Election
by and | Nov 30, 2022 3:31 pm | Comments (18)
Thomas Breen photos
Yale Law's Alice Wang and Greg Antill: "Yes" for the union.
One of the few union election signs posted on Yale's downtown campus.
After months of mass public demonstrations in support of a decades-long campus unionization drive, Yale graduate teachers quietly slipped into polling places across downtown to cast their ballots in Local 33’s first election since 2017.
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Summit Focuses On Finding Workers
by | Nov 30, 2022 9:42 am | Comments (17)
Paul Bass Photo
Valerie Tanner, pictured, helped her cousin Quiana Tanner pitch her local "Try This Pie" bean pie business to attendees at Tuesday's economic summit.
Job creation? Or filling jobs already created?
Economic development gatherings have tended to focus on the first question. A statewide confab held in New Haven Tuesday afternoon pivoted to the latter.
Paras "Extra Duty" Pay Bump OK'd
by | Nov 29, 2022 3:40 pm | Comments (12)
Chris Peak file photo
Paras Union President Hyclis Williams: Looking for "a decent wage for a modest living."
Paraprofessionals who help run the public school district’s before and after school programming will receive an “extra duty” pay hike of more than $10 per hour for their work this school year.
The Word On Brownell Street: Call Luciano
by | Nov 29, 2022 12:33 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Luciano Reyes slipped on a Carhartt sweatshirt and a second pair of gloves Tuesday to rescue a paint job on Brownell Street before the temperatures turned colder.
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Word On The Street: Groom Plans Hectic Holiday, Needs Car Back
by | Nov 23, 2022 12:10 pm | Comments (3)
Paul Bass Photo
Groom at work in the Whalley Stop & Shop lot.
Bruce Groom plans to divide his Thanksgiving Day between Stop & Shop and the Veterans Administration hospital.
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New Haven Love Couldn't Keep Teacher Here
by | Nov 23, 2022 12:02 pm | Comments (24)
Melissa Bailey photo
Starting with high hopes: Carina Ruotolo in Clemente art classroom in 2012.
Roberto Clemente art teacher Carina Ruotolo wanted to keep teaching in New Haven’s public schools.
But a lack of support during Covid, rapid turnover at the top ranks of her school, and higher pay elsewhere in the state led her to part ways with the district after a decade on the job — reflecting some of the factors fueling a citywide teacher shortage that has the district scrambling to fill classroom spots and keep kids learning.
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Eucalitto Tapped As State Transportation Chief
by | Nov 23, 2022 12:00 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen file photo
DOT Commissioner-to-be Garrett Eucalitto, on the Green in March 2021.
Gov. Ned Lamont has tapped yet another New Havener from within the ranks of his administration to lead a major state government department during his second term.
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"Human Rights Zone" Grows In Hill Backyard
by | Nov 18, 2022 2:28 pm | Comments (54)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
George Ashline: Preparing to winter-proof his tent on Rosette Street.
Fried onions, crispy potatoes and buttered bagels filled the kitchen of the Hill’s Amistad House — and spread a warm, starchy scent along Rosette Street and into the tents of neighbors camped out in the Catholic Workers community’s backyard.
That was the scene on a residential block of the Hill where a crew of “economic refugees” is currently camping out together on a tenth of an acre of land as a means of both fighting for housing justice and seeking sanctuary from shrinking shelter and increasingly harsh and unpredictable New England weather.
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Dr. J Clears The Way
by | Nov 17, 2022 2:52 pm | Comments (1)
Paul Bass Photo
Jacinto DaGraca overseeing curb and sidewalk work on Winthrop.
The word on Winthrop Avenue Thursday was: sidewalks.
Hundreds Mourn Another Firefighter Lost
by | Nov 15, 2022 3:00 pm | Comments (2)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Outside Tuesday's funeral on Ferry St.
The late city firefighter Thomas Mieles.
Fair Haven families and New Haven public safety professionals filled Ferry Street Tuesday afternoon to mourn the loss of city firefighter Thomas Mieles, whose sudden off-duty passing has only sharpened the pain felt by a community still processing a series of recent deaths.
Butts, Burger King Wrappers Vanish At Wendy’s Drive-Thru
by | Nov 15, 2022 2:41 pm | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photo
Breakfast customers pulled into a clean driveway at Wendy’s for breakfast Tuesday thanks to Patrick Mortley.
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"Life-Changing" Teachers Union Deal OK'd
by | Nov 15, 2022 10:18 am | Comments (40)
Paul Bass file photo
Educators rally outside City Hall for full school funding in March.
The Board of Education unanimously approved a new teachers union contract that local educators described as “life-changing” — thanks in large part to a nearly 15 percent pay hike over the next three years.
Downtown Corner Renamed For City's First Black Resident
by | Nov 11, 2022 9:14 am | Comments (0)
Laura Glesby photo
Steve Winter and Ann Garrett Robinson celebrate Lucretia's Corner renaming Thursday.
Four centuries after New Haven’s first recorded Black resident left her mark as an activist and enslaved domestic worker, the corner of Elm and Orange is slated to bear her name.
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Librarian Rally Slams Sunday Plan
by | Nov 7, 2022 4:40 pm | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen photo
City librarians Samantha Bailey, Diane Brown, and Jennifer Gargiulo: Libraries are "stretched," can't take on Sunday hours at this time.
Over a dozen city librarians rallied at City Hall to send a message to the mayor that they need better pay — and that Sunday hours just won’t do, especially given the city’s current staffing crunch.
Word On The Street: Sprinkler Heads
by | Nov 7, 2022 3:38 pm | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
Licensed pipefitter CJ Timon, in foreground, with apprentice Hunter Murphy preparing to install another sprinkler head Monday as Box 63 becomes "The Place 2 Be."
CJ Timon and his colleagues made sure Monday that New Haven’s new “place 2 be” will be a safe “place 2 be.”
Daycare Workers Walk Out After Firing
by | Nov 2, 2022 4:12 pm | Comments (8)
At Wednesday's protest.
Teachers, parents, and other staffers at the LULAC Head Start daycare center on James Street rallied outside of the school building Wednesday in protest of the recent firing of one of their colleagues.
Breen Named Independent Editor
by | Nov 1, 2022 12:55 pm | Comments (33)
Sarah Fritchey file photo
Tom Breen self-reflecting at a 2019 Artspace exhibition.
New Haven Independent Managing Editor Tom Breen is stepping into the top editor role at the nonprofit online daily news outlet.
Martin Readies 1 Last Bridge To Nature
by | Oct 28, 2022 3:17 pm | Comments (9)
Paul Bass Photo
Before he moves on from his city job next week, Martin Torresquintero is hustling to finish one last bridge to connect New Haveners to an overlooked nature wonderland.
Bonuses Nixed After Teachers' Union Critique
by | Oct 25, 2022 11:30 am | Comments (16)
Thomas Breen file photo
Supt. Tracey: Teachers' union has claimed "unfair labor practice."
The Board of Education voted to rescind its previous approval of $5,000 sign-on bonuses after the teachers’ union criticized the incentive plan as being crafted without the input of local educators.
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Yale Grads File For Union Election
by | Oct 24, 2022 4:57 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen file photo
Local 33: Election cards delivered. Your move, Yale U.
Yale’s aspiring graduate worker union is one step closer to an election — now that it’s submitted “over 3,000” union authorization cards to a federal labor-relations office in Hartford.
Toddlers Take Politicians To School
by | Oct 24, 2022 2:39 pm | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen file photo
DeLauro on Monday: "This is the best part of the day."
In a “Developing Toddlers” classroom on Olive Street, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro got an up-close look at the severity of the child care staffing crisis — and at the joys and benefits of early education work.