by | Jun 1, 2021 1:00 pm | Comments (20)
Laura Glesby Photo
Sign prepared by safe-streets advocates listing names of cyclists and pedestrians killed by cars.
Thomas Breen Photo
Roland Lemar at helm of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
New Haven State Rep. Roland Lemar has accomplished a years-long quest of passing legislation to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety — minus speed cameras that topped local advocates’ wish list.
by | May 26, 2021 8:35 am | Comments (6)
Yale Visual Law Project Stills
The bed and window in a Northern Correctional Institution cell.
I am writing to you from inside my cell in MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield. As a victim and witness of the abuse prisoners suffer in this state, I strongly support S. B. 1059, the bill to end long-term solitary confinement.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: End—Don’t Move—Solitary Confinement’
by | May 25, 2021 11:38 am | Comments (7)
Paul Bass Photo
Alder Rodriguez (speaking at an event this month): Hundreds of my constituents and neighbors lost jobs in the pandemic.
(Opinion)—As both a healthcare worker and a member of the New Haven Board of Alders, I have seen the enormous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our communities.
Continue reading ‘Alder To State: Follow New Haven’s Lead On Worker Recall’
by | May 19, 2021 1:44 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
State schools chief Charlene Russell-Tucker in New Haven Tuesday.
Summer camp scholarships. Free student access to museums. Tens of millions of dollars to address learning loss. Hundreds of millions more in direct aid to local education boards — including $79.9 million, not $94 million, for New Haven schools.
A state official came to town to dangle those possibilities.
by | May 18, 2021 6:48 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
Gov. Lamont in New Haven on Tuesday.
Masks can come off — for vaccinated individuals, in most settings statewide — starting Wednesday, according to a new order signed by Gov. Ned Lamont.
And jury trials in Connecticut will resume starting June 1.
Continue reading ‘Lamont Loosens Mask Mandate; Jury Trials Resuming June 1’
by | May 18, 2021 2:53 pm | Comments (6)
Paul Bass File Photo
Legal aid attorney Yonatan Zamir: Landlord’s actions “unconscionable.”
A judge sent a local mega-landlord to mediation with a tenant who owes back rent, after the tenant’s lawyer called “unconscionable” the landlord’s refusal to let the tenant benefit from emergency public aid.
Continue reading ‘Landlord Wary Of Tapping State Program In Eviction Case’
by | May 17, 2021 6:31 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Elicker: city sticking with “status quo” approach to mask guidelines, for now.
Come Wednesday, fully vaccinated people will be able to leave their masks in their pockets — even when going indoors — in most settings across the state.
City Hall, meanwhile, is sticking with a “status quo” approach to local mask-wearing recommendations, as city officials push to get more New Haveners inoculated against Covid-19.
Continue reading ‘State To Remove Mask Mandate In Most Situations; City Staying “Status Quo”’
by | May 14, 2021 8:41 am | Comments (1)
Connecticut Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter helps pick which bills make it to his fellow legislators for a final vote. What he’s looking for in those bills is investment in long-term growth.
Ritter talked about his priorities in an appearance on WNHH FM’s “The Municipal Voice,” hosted by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and WNHH, as the legislative season draws to a close.
Continue reading ‘As Session Nears End, House Speaker Prioritizes Longterm Growth’
by | May 13, 2021 8:45 am | Comments (2)
A lawsuit by New York City against Chipotle alleging unfair labor practices might be the momentum a Connecticut “fair work week” bill needs to finally pass the Connecticut General Assembly.
by | May 5, 2021 4:10 pm | Comments (8)
Markeshia Ricks File Photo
Bottle deposit room at Beverage Boss.
Bottle deposit machines on every corner. Breezes free of incinerated trash particles. No litter in sight.
Climate activist Louis Rosado Burch painted this idyllic picture to Dwight neighbors as the outcome if the Connecticut General Assembly passes a new version of the bottle bill.
by | May 5, 2021 8:55 am | Comments (0)
Despite overall higher income taxes in New York than Connecticut, some families face a higher tax burden in Connecticut.
That math works out because of New York’s child tax credit, something Connecticut Voices for Children proposes the state adopt. The nonprofit’s Research and Policy Director Lauren Ruth and Research and Policy Fellow Patrick O’Brien joined WNHH FM’s “The Municipal Voice” to discuss their support for the tax credit and more.
by | Apr 30, 2021 9:07 am | Comments (5)
John Lugo, Community Organizing Director of Unidad Latina en Accion, and Megan Fountain, Coordinator of Advocacy and Partnerships.
She was pregnant. She had a 2‑year-old child. And she got Covid-19.
Because her employer didn’t have to offer her sick days, she faced a choice: Stay home and let her family go hungry. Or go to work sick and contagious.
Continue reading ‘Essential Workers’ Rally Seeks Expansion Of Paid Sick Leave’
by | Apr 28, 2021 4:48 pm | Comments (14)
Christine Stuart Photo
Anti-vaxxers outside the state Capitol Wednesday.
Beginning this fall, new students in Connecticut schools will not longer be able to avoid getting mandated vaccinations based on religious objections.
Continue reading ‘Guv Signs Repeal Of Religious Exemption For Vaccinations’
by | Apr 28, 2021 12:02 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
The state courthouse at 121 Elm St.: home to New Haven’s housing court.
(Opinion)—Because of its proven effectiveness in reducing evictions and protecting the rights of tenants, the Right to Counsel for Evictions bill currently under consideration by the Connecticut legislature is vitally important to trans and other LGBTQ people.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: Right To Counsel Is An LGBTQ Issue’
by | Apr 26, 2021 8:50 am | Comments (8)
Madison Hahamy Photo
Attendees participating in a “die-in” in front of City Hall.
With singing, dancing, impassioned testimonies, and the support of multiple lawmakers, New Haven’s immigrant and workers’ rights group Semilla Collective hosted a rally supporting a state’s “HUSKY for Immigrants” bill.
Continue reading ‘March, “Die-In” Back Expanding HUSKY To Undocumented Immigrants’
by | Apr 23, 2021 10:30 am | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic file photo
City Plan Chair Radcliffe, Vice-Chair Mattison, and Alder Marchand.
A lawyer for a sexual abuse victim of Rabbi Daniel Greer posed tough questions this week about how Greer’s nonprofits operate and use, or misuse, income meant to strengthen neighborhoods.
Another city agency, meanwhile, rubber-stamped another $900,000 for those same nonprofits without asking a single question.
Continue reading ‘City Plan OKs $900K For Sex Predator’s Companies’
by | Apr 20, 2021 9:19 am | Comments (5)
Emily Hays Photos
DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes: We need nature-based climate change solutions.
More trees planted in the Hill. Less pollution in the West River.
These are some of the ideas for what to do with $1 million now available from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a longtime cap-and-invest program for power plants in the northeast.
Continue reading ‘$1M Available For Tree Planters, Caretakers’
by | Apr 19, 2021 11:47 am | Comments (5)
Madeline Gersch, 7, with mom, Sarah Levine.
Edgewood first-grader Madeline Gersch has to read a word roughly 50 times before she can recognize it on the page. This process takes longer when she guesses words instead of sounding them out.
Madeline has dyslexia. Her mother is a reading specialist in New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) and gets frustrated when she sees her daughter learning reading techniques that slow down her progress.
by | Apr 16, 2021 2:51 pm | Comments (5)
The State Bond Commission voted Friday to fund a $5 million study and design to deepen New Haven Harbor’s navigation channel.
by | Apr 15, 2021 4:51 pm | Comments (9)
Chris Peak file photo
Imprisoned Rabbi Greer: Applying again for housing tax credits.
Thomas Breen photo
Greer company-owned rental properties on Elm Street in Edgewood.
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo
Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen, Jr., who chairs the aldermanic committee that reviews NAA submissions: No comment on whether he will again green-light Greer’s tax credits.
Six nonprofits controlled by Rabbi Daniel Greer have applied yet again for up to $900,000 in government subsidies for declining Edgewood rental properties — while Greer’s sex assault victim accuses him of continued legal maneuvers to avoid paying him a $22 million penalty.
by | Apr 7, 2021 5:21 pm | Comments (15)
Maya McFadden Photo
Secretary of the state Denise Merrill.
Connecticut’s secretary of the state, Denise Merrill, popped into Hamden Wednesday to make a pitch to leave behind Connecticut’s “18th century voting system” and allow more voters to vote before Election Day and expand access to absentee ballots.
Continue reading ‘Merrill Stumps For Early Voting, No-Excuses Mail-In Ballots’
by | Apr 7, 2021 9:15 am | Comments (2)
Don’t raise taxes. Pause the minimum wage increase. Entice remote workers to Connecticut.
These measures will help Connecticut chart a path out of the pandemic-related recession, in the view of Yankee Institute Policy Director Ken Girardin.
Continue reading ‘Yankee Institute Offers Take On Economic Recovery’
by | Apr 5, 2021 7:53 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
The deadly Ella T. Graso-Columbus-Davenport-Orange Avenue intersection.
State DOT
Proposed pedestrian safety upgrades.
The city plans to sell a small portion of publicly-owned land near the Ella T. Grasso-Orange-Columbus-Davenport Avenue intersection to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to help facilitate long-awaited pedestrian safety improvements to New Haven’s deadliest stretch of road for pedestrians.
Continue reading ‘Land Sale Pitched To Make “Death Blvd” Safer’
by | Mar 31, 2021 6:03 pm | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photos
Local climate activists outside City Hall in 2019.
The city plans to spend $60,000 on a new sustainability-focused staffer.
Local climate activists are pushing city government to dedicate $1.1 million to promote reduced emissions, clean energy jobs, and climate education.
And a state legislative committee advanced a regional climate and transportation accord that could see hundreds of millions of dollars spent over the next decade on cleaner public transportation in air-polluted communities like New Haven.
Continue reading ‘Climate Costs Debated As City, State Weigh Actions’
by | Mar 30, 2021 4:31 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photo
Free weekend rides, coming this summer.
Riding the bus will be free on weekends this summer, as part of a new statewide push to restart Connecticut’s economy by encouraging more residents to use public transit.
Continue reading ‘Weekend Bus Service Will Be Free This Summer’