26-Year-Old Shot Dead In The Hill
by | Oct 16, 2023 10:58 am | Comments (14)
(Updated) Somebody shot and killed 26-year-old New Havener Tyrese Alexander Blue Jr. at the intersection of Cedar and Cassius Streets in the Hill Saturday night.
Legal Writes
Westville Jogger Attacked
by | Oct 12, 2023 7:40 pm | Comments (8)
Paul Bass Photo
The Yale Avenue cycletrack and edge of the park.
A woman who often jogs in the morning with a group of friends set out alone Thursday — and ended up fending off an attacker.
1 Year Later, Unsolved Stabbing Death's Pain Remains
by | Oct 11, 2023 3:43 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photos
Police have put out a $25K reward for information that leads to the arrest of whoever killed Nico Saraceni (pictured).
Thomas Breen photos
A poetry collage memorial put together by Nico's sister for his funeral.
One year after somebody fatally stabbed Nico Saraceni outside of his Whalley Avenue apartment, city police and the family of the late 29-year-old Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) student are still looking for answers.
About who committed such a tragic act of apparently random violence. About why a young artist who loved the poetry of William Ernest Henley and the films of David Lynch and the pizza of Frank Pepe’s was taken from them so soon and so senselessly.
Continue reading ‘1 Year Later, Unsolved Stabbing Death's Pain Remains’
Ex-Patients Sue Yale Over Fentanyl Diversion At Fertility Clinic
by | Oct 10, 2023 5:03 pm | Comments (0)
Seven former patients at a Yale fertility clinic have launched a new lawsuit against the university — in the latest turn in a high-profile scandal involving fentanyl theft and excruciatingly painful procedures for patients who were told they were getting painkillers, but wound up being operated on sober.
Continue reading ‘Ex-Patients Sue Yale Over Fentanyl Diversion At Fertility Clinic’
30-Year-Old Shot Dead On Hobart St.
by | Oct 9, 2023 11:02 am | Comments (3)
A 30-year-old New Havener named Manuel Miranda was shot and killed on Hobart Street early Saturday morning.
Ex-Yale Chief Tapped As Next State Public Safety Commissioner
by | Oct 4, 2023 2:41 pm | Comments (8)
Newly appointed state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner to-be Ronnell Higgins.
Gov. Ned Lamont has nominated former Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins to serve as the state’s next top public safety official — describing him as the “right man to take on this job” and get to the bottom of a roiling state police ticketing scandal.
Continue reading ‘Ex-Yale Chief Tapped As Next State Public Safety Commissioner’
Opinion: Where Did All The Cops Go?
by and | Oct 3, 2023 12:44 pm | Comments (72)
Christopher Peak file photo
Former Police Chief Anthony Campbell (right) with recruits at the academy in 2018.
Over the past year, the New Haven Police Department has worked in earnest to re-establish community policing, dismantle bias in its policies and practices, and hold itself accountable for mistakes. At the same time, one of the most frequent complaints we receive as Alders is: we called the police and it took forever for them to come.
Arson Suspect Sought
by | Oct 2, 2023 3:25 pm | Comments (4)
NHPD images
City police are trying to talk to this man (pictured above) about two arson incidents that took place at the 3 Judges and New Haven Inn motels in late September.
Awaiting Appeal, Maleek Jones Walks Free
by | Sep 28, 2023 7:31 pm | Comments (7)
Laura Glesby photo
Maleek Jones hugs his mom, Denise Jones, outside federal courthouse.
After nearly three decades behind bars for a now-overturned murder conviction, Maleek Jones found a first taste of freedom in a cheese pizza slice from Modern — a taste “better than any other pizza from the last 30 years,” he said.
He took his first steps out of incarceration on Thursday, as the state appeals a judge’s decision that he was wrongfully imprisoned for all those years.
Sliver Lot Sale To City Clerk Advances
by | Sep 28, 2023 4:54 pm | Comments (39)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Half of the 18 Mill River St. property to be sold by the city to neighboring landlord Michael Smart.
Paul Bass file photo
City Clerk Smart: Just providing parking for tenant, following sliver lot rules.
Should the standard sale of a small plot of unusable city land to adjacent property owners trigger an ethics review — if one of the potential buyers is a citywide elected official?
Members of two city commissions recently raised that question at two separate public meetings, even as both boards ultimately voted in favor of selling a vacant 1,887 square-foot lot on Mill River Street to a holding company controlled by City/Town Clerk Michael Smart without first consulting the Board of Ethics.
After Drive-By Shooting, Police Pursuit Paid Off
by | Sep 27, 2023 3:21 pm | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen photo
Officers Tyler Camp and Justin Julianelle: Suspected drive-by shooters fled. With the right conditions on the road, they pursued.
Nine shots had just been fired on a Wednesday afternoon in Fair Haven, and neighbors who called 911 identified the suspects as two men in masks on a three-wheeled motorcycle.
Which is exactly what and who Officer Justin Julianelle saw as he rushed to Blatchley Avenue and Lombard Street in his cruiser.
As the three-wheeler suspected shooters fled from Fair Haven to Wooster Square to Fair Haven again to the Annex, Julianelle followed — but he didn’t “chase.” That’s an important distinction in New Haven these days.
Continue reading ‘After Drive-By Shooting, Police Pursuit Paid Off’
Bomb Threat Targets Pride Center During Pride Week
by | Sep 23, 2023 4:03 pm | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen photo
New Haven Pride Center's Hope Chávez, Juancarlos Soto, and Laura Boccadoro, after Saturday's bomb threat: "We're not going anywhere."
An emailed bomb threat sent to city police and a New Haven Pride Center employee Saturday afternoon temporarily shuttered a Ninth Square block that was supposed to be hosting a Pride Week-closing celebration — but which had been canceled the day before because of expected inclement weather.
Police searched the LGBTQ+ services nonprofit’s headquarters, found no explosives, and cleared the building, and are now investigating the email threat as a potential hate crime.
Continue reading ‘Bomb Threat Targets Pride Center During Pride Week’
Mom Arrested After Infant's Fatal Overdose
by | Sep 22, 2023 10:09 am | Comments (3)
A 40-year-old New Havener has been arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter after her 10-month-old infant son died from ingesting fentanyl.
Continue reading ‘Mom Arrested After Infant's Fatal Overdose’
Alders Approve $16M Cox Settlement Plan
by | Sep 19, 2023 9:26 am | Comments (23)
Maya McFadden File Photo
Protesters rally for Cox in June 2022.
New Haven will pay Richard “Randy” Cox the largest municipal settlement in a police misconduct case in this country’s history with the help of surplus budget funds — and no new borrowing — after official approval from the Board of Alders for how to cover the uninsured portion of a $45 million agreement.
Pattis Presses Proud Boys' "Patriotic" Case
by | Sep 15, 2023 9:55 am | Comments (36)
Paul Bass photo
Attorney Norm Pattis at WNHH FM: "You couldn’t hang your dog" on the Jan. 6 gallows.
Norm Pattis convinced a judge to cut in half the prison terms the federal government wanted two Proud Boys leaders to serve on seditious conspiracy charges for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. The New Haven criminal defense attorney has now filed an appeal to have them cleared of the charges altogether. Too much is at stake for our democracy, Pattis argued — for the ability of Americans to freely express their views challenging the government.
Continue reading ‘Pattis Presses Proud Boys' "Patriotic" Case’
Ocean Landlord Denied Accelerated Rehab
by | Sep 13, 2023 2:30 pm | Comments (13)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Ocean's Shmuel Aizenberg and attorney Ian Gottlieb in court Tuesday.
A state judge turned down a megalandlord’s request to have a potential criminal record scrubbed clean — after determining that the head of Ocean Management did not qualify for “accelerated rehabilitation” because he is likely to get in trouble again and end up back in housing court.
Loud Speaker Fines Hiked
by | Sep 11, 2023 12:39 pm | Comments (21)
City of New Haven photos
Speakers subject to the ordinance amendment.
Drivers blasting music too loudly from pricey speakers can officially face $1,000 fines — and the confiscation of their audio equipment — now that the Board of Alders has unanimously passed an amendment to the city’s noise ordinance.
Ocean Rescinds Eviction Notices After Union Pushback
by | Sep 8, 2023 3:29 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen file photo
At a recent protest against Ocean's Blake St. eviction filings.
A megalandlord has walked back on threats to evict 16 tenants and agreed to negotiate on lease security, rent stability and living conditions — after members of the city’s first legally recognized tenants union used public and legal pressure to hang on to their homes.
Continue reading ‘Ocean Rescinds Eviction Notices After Union Pushback’
Candidates Differ On Tax-Fairness Challenge
by | Sep 8, 2023 9:59 am | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen photo
A view inside the Church of Scientology-owned 949 Whalley.
A rundown, tax-exempt former department store that has been owned by the Church of Scientology for 20 years crept across ward lines to inspire a debate among Lower Westville Democratic alder candidates about eminent domain, lawsuit “PTSD,” and what on earth the city should do with recalcitrant land-banking property owners.
Continue reading ‘Candidates Differ On Tax-Fairness Challenge’
Alder Fled Crash Scene
by | Sep 7, 2023 5:06 pm | Comments (56)
NextDoor photos of car that got hit.
(Updated with further comments from Alder Sal DeCola) One evening in late February, Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola crashed his car into a neighbor’s parked vehicle on Hervey Street — and then drove away.
Now, less than a week before DeCola faces a political challenger in the Democratic primary, the incident has resurfaced on social media and police are investigating a new anonymous Internal Affairs complaint alleging that the alder received favorable treatment from neighborhood cops at the time.
Man Shot Dead On Winthrop
by | Sep 5, 2023 2:27 pm | Comments (10)
A 29-year-old man died Tuesday morning after a Winthrop Avenue shooting.
It's Official: Elections Will Follow New Ward Lines
by | Sep 1, 2023 1:00 pm | Comments (8)
Board of Alders map
These redistricted ward boundaries will govern the upcoming elections.
The office of the state’s top election official has decided not to challenge New Haven’s plans to conduct the upcoming primary and general elections according to newly-redistricted ward maps — despite maintaining that alders should have put the new maps into effect at least 90 days before the primary.
Continue reading ‘It's Official: Elections Will Follow New Ward Lines’
Alder To State: Don't Let Trump Run
by | Sep 1, 2023 10:50 am | Comments (37)
Laura Glesby photo
Streater, with letter for the Secretary of the State seeking a ruling that "Mr. Trump is ineligible to run for the office of United States President and should not be permitted on any ballot in the State of Connecticut."
A Dixwell/Newhallville alder and a local civil rights lawyer have teamed up to formally ask Connecticut’s top election official to bar Donald Trump from appearing on next year’s presidential primary and general election ballots, given the former president’s role in stoking the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
State Suspends Gotham Citi's Liquor Permit
by | Sep 1, 2023 8:49 am | Comments (4)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Gotham Citi Cafe at 84 Orange St.
A Ninth Square club has been temporarily banned from serving alcohol after cops caught someone who was underaged drinking a Dirty Shirley on scene — and subsequently accused the nightclub’s owners of four counts of selling booze to minors amid months’ worth of other alleged violations.
Continue reading ‘State Suspends Gotham Citi's Liquor Permit’
Judge Throws Out Ballot-Access Case
by | Aug 30, 2023 12:06 pm | Comments (21)
Thomas Breen file photo
Judge Doyle: "With voting already having begun and election day approaching, the Purcell principle is applicable to the present case."
A state judge has dismissed mayoral challenger Shafiq Abdussabur’s lawsuit trying to press his way onto the Sept. 12 Democratic primary ballot — on the grounds that the first absentee ballots have already been cast, the election is therefore underway, and changing which candidates are participating now would run “the risk of voter confusion.”