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’
by | Mar 30, 2021 10:55 am | Comments (6)
Courtney Luciana photo
Colin Caplan and Kevin Gagliard display Pepe’s’ trademark clam pizza.
YouTube
Bill baker Dillon at hearing.
Pizza is one pie closer to becoming the official state food, as New Haveners pitched state lawmakers on recognizing the local culinary delicacy’s role in fostering community, uplifting small businesses, and satisfying taste buds.
by | Mar 29, 2021 1:42 pm | Comments (18)
Thomas Breen photo
Diesel buses, be gone? TCI seeks electrifying impact.
New Haven is the 11th most dangerous city in the country when it comes to asthma rates, asthma-induced emergency department visits, and asthma-related fatalities.
A new regional initiative touted by local and state advocates seeks to curb that urban air quality harm by capping greenhouse gas emissions and investing in more sidewalks, bike lanes, and electric buses — a move opponents say will only hurt Connecticut residents in the form of a higher gas tax.
by | Mar 26, 2021 9:36 am | Comments (7)
BEULAH LAND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION / HELP USA RENDERING
The proposed 4-story, 69-unit apartment building at 340 Dixwell.
Four local affordable housing projects will be getting over $5.4 million in state support, thanks to the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority’s (CHFA) annual awarding of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).
Continue reading ‘4 Affordable Housing Projects Get $5.4M State Boost’
by | Mar 26, 2021 9:35 am | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo
Labor Committee Co-Chairs Julie Kushner and Robyn Porter, in support of gig economy study bill.
State lawmakers advanced a bill that would study — but not take any immediate action on — whether or not Uber and Lyft drivers and other gig economy “independent contractors” should be classified instead as employees.
by | Mar 25, 2021 5:29 pm | Comments (10)
Laura Glesby photo
Housekeeper Everlana Allen with fellow workers at a protest outside the Omni in August 2020.
Following in the steps of New Haven’s Board of Alders, state lawmakers advanced a “worker recall law” that would require Connecticut businesses to give recently laid-off former employees first dibs at returning to their old jobs.
by | Mar 24, 2021 5:00 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photo
Rideshare drivers rallying Wednesday outside Union Station.
A state bill to help Uber and Lyft drivers organize unions has made for strange bedfellows: The drivers are lined up with their employers, and against the state AFL-CIO.
Continue reading ‘Uber Bill Splits Labor, Drivers, Big Tech’
by | Mar 24, 2021 9:18 am | Comments (1)
A New Haven-backed state bill designed to protect Black patients from potentially inaccurate blood-oxygen readings advanced out of committee and towards the full state legislature for further debate.
Continue reading ‘Health Equity & Blood Oxygen Bill Advances’
by | Mar 19, 2021 9:54 am | Comments (5)
Jose Flores: It’s been a long wait.
CHK America image
One possible design for new real-time info bus stop signs.
Downtown bus riders should soon have a better sense of when their rides will actually arrive, as the state prepares to roll out new digital signs with real-time information on where a bus is, and when it will get to a stop.
That’s one initiative planned among many in a state Department of Transportation (DOT) push to make New Haven’s beleaguered bus system easier and more enjoyable to use.
by | Mar 18, 2021 5:05 pm | Comments (71)
Prodigal son challenged: Greenwich’s Fiorello, New Haven’s Elicker square off at hearing.
New Haven’s mayor Thursday rejected a demand from outraged Gold Coast Republicans that he apologize for asserting that their zoning laws keep racial minorities out of their wealthy towns.