by | Apr 1, 2020 6:18 pm | Comments (1)
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz Wednesday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.”
You may have seen President Trump and Vice-President Pence next to each other in public delivering pandemic updates.
But Connecticut’s governor and lieutenant governor? They’re under order to stay apart until the spread of Covid-19 passes. And they’re following the order.
by | Apr 1, 2020 6:15 pm | Comments (0)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Lamont, far right, with Francis Evon, second from right, and Steven Choi in white.
After camouflage-clad National Guard troops spent just five hours unloading cots, pillows, curtains, and bed pans, Gov. Ned Lamont wandered between the 250 beds of Connecticut’s newest field hospital Wednesday afternoon.
Continue reading ‘In 5 Hours, Makeshift Hospital Materializes’
by | Mar 23, 2020 5:15 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen File Photo
New Haven Legal Assistance Association’s Shelley White (left) signed the letter to the state alongside three other legal aid organizations.
As low-income workers lose jobs or hours during the coronavirus public health crisis, New Haven legal aid is asking the state to eliminate barriers to those workers getting help, like fears that undocumented family members might get deported after going to the doctor.
by | Mar 19, 2020 7:40 pm | Comments (0)
Connecticut has asked U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for a waiver to let it skip this school year’s standardized tests and accountability measures.
Continue reading ‘Ed Commissioner Asks Permission To Cancel Standardized Tests’
by | Mar 8, 2020 9:02 pm | Comments (2)
#COVID19 UPDATE #NHV pic.twitter.com/IWRDbFDkWS
— Mayor Justin Elicker (@MayorElicker) March 8, 2020
Connecticut’s first resident has tested positive for the coronavirus (aka COVID-19): a “a resident of Wilton who is 40 to 50 years of age.“br>
by | Mar 4, 2020 2:14 pm | Comments (1)
Harry Droz Photo
Ready to March: Jesse Turner & Robert Goodrich at WNHH FM.
Jesse Turner is ready to don his bright green fluorescent sneakers and his beat-up “walking man hat” to march for educational justice in Connecticut — and he’s inviting everyone else who cares about fairness in our schools to join him.
Continue reading ‘School-Justice Advocates Ready “March 4 Equity”’
by | Mar 3, 2020 8:45 am | Comments (14)
Emily Hays Photo
Roland Lemar (center) at Monday’s hearing.
A week after seeing a fellow parent lying injured in the crosswalk near his child’s daycare, State Rep. Roland Lemar returned to Hartford determined to make New Haven’s streets safer.
by | Feb 26, 2020 5:19 pm | Comments (1)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Gov. Ned Lamont.
Gov. Ned Lamont had just finished stating that Connecticut has tens of thousands of jobs it can’t fill.
Herb Kolodny responded with a pitch for how to fill some of them: hire more people with disabilities to fill the state’s labor shortage.
Continue reading ‘Disabilities Advocate Gives Guv Hiring Idea’
by | Feb 25, 2020 5:31 pm | Comments (4)
Christopher Peak Photo
AG William Tong at Hillhouse.
After announcing a multi-state probe into Juul Labs, the electronic cigarette manufacturer that’s been faulted for creating a public-health crisis, Attorney General William Tong sat down with high-schoolers in New Haven Tuesday to hear their take on the “epidemic.”
Their answers weren’t what Tong expected to hear.
by | Feb 20, 2020 1:28 pm | Comments (1)
St. Mary Street, in the neighborhood where remediation took place.
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Walter Morton at WNHH FM.
As Walter Livingston Morton IV was digging around in state bonding ordinances this spring, he found a welcome surprise: $6 million still lying around in an old state-issued bond for remediation of the Newhall Street area in the southern part of Hamden.
by | Feb 20, 2020 9:17 am | Comments (27)
Christopher Peak Photo
Mayor Elicker (at right, with Yesenia Rivera): “Hens are coming home to roost” after years of irresponsible city budgeting.
Almost certain to be flat-funded once again, the city’s public schools are facing another year of drastic budget reductions.
The latest round of cost-cutting could reduce the number of high-school electives, trim the length of the school year and pack school buses — to get only halfway through the budget shortfall the district will likely have to close next school year.
by | Feb 20, 2020 8:48 am | Comments (14)
Amid hours of testimony in Hartford Wednesday about whether to remove religious exemptions for child vaccinations, Carl Baum had a unique perspective to offer: that of a Yale medical school professor who also serves as a pediatric emergency room physician.
Continue reading ‘Emergency Room Doc: Don’t Gamble With Kids’ Lives’
by | Feb 19, 2020 9:03 am | Comments (3)
Christopher Peak Photo
CFO Phil Penn presents the legislative priorities to the board’s Finance Committee.
Recognizing that time is short and money is tight, school district administrators have narrowed their state agenda to just a couple asks.
Continue reading ‘Expectations Pared, Schools Set Legislative Priorities’
by | Feb 17, 2020 8:55 am | Comments (3)
Christopher Peak Photo
Achievement First board discusses misconduct behind closed doors.
Schools may no longer hide evidence of educator misconduct by claiming that they need to protect students’ confidentiality, according to a ruling by the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission.
by | Feb 13, 2020 2:46 pm | Comments (1)
Connecticut has only one shot to capture an accurate count for the 2020 Census.
by | Feb 6, 2020 9:30 pm | Comments (12)
Christopher Peak Photo
Achievement First co-CEO Dacia Toll faces State Board of Ed Thursday.
Three local school districts within the Achievement First charter network are on probation, after repeatedly violating the state’s ground rules for operating a public school.
Continue reading ‘State Places Charter Schools On Probation’
by | Feb 5, 2020 8:54 am | Comments (23)
Christopher Peak Photos
School CFO Penn: New Haven behind by an “awful lot of money.”
Dwight neighbors examine school district’s proposed plan.
Mark Griffin had a front-row seat at opening night of a new neighborhood road show starring local education officials — and left vowing to write to his representatives from New Haven to Hartford to Washington, seeking more money for public schools.
by | Feb 4, 2020 4:19 pm | Comments (13)
Aside from restricted Alliance grants, the state’s funding has been flat for most of the decade.
After back-to-back years of budget slashing, New Haven’s Board of Education concluded it has built up enough trust in its financial management to ask for a $12.5 million increase in funds for next school year — and is taking its case directly to the public.
by | Feb 4, 2020 3:13 pm | Comments (0)
Markeshia Ricks photo
Karen DuBois-Walton: Newly appointed to the state Board of Ed.
The top-decision-maker on public housing in New Haven, Karen DuBois-Walton, will now help make decisions for the state education system as well.
Continue reading ‘Public Housing Chief Tapped For State Ed Board’
by | Feb 3, 2020 3:58 pm | Comments (2)
Aisha K. Staggers Photo
CAGV’s Jeremy Stein addresses Fair Haven gathering.
A small crowd gathered inside the Fair Haven public library branch to plot strategy to tackle a “unique American problem” — gun violence, especially gun violence that afflicts cities like New Haven.
by | Jan 27, 2020 4:00 pm | Comments (10)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
David Yaccarino: Some in GOP would ban solitary confinement.
Christine Stuart Photo
State Sen. Gary Winfield inside solitary cell on exhibit.
When model solitary confinement cells sat on display at the state Capitol and in New Haven’s Ives Memorial Library, David Yaccarino walked into one to see what some inmates in Connecticut prisons experience.
by | Jan 23, 2020 8:59 am | Comments (29)
Thomas Breen photo
City Plan’s Leslie Radcliffe: It will take “one failure to be a tragedy.”
Stantec
Driverless shuttles: Coming soon to a hospital near you?
A plan to test driverless shuttles on New Haven streets advanced Wednesday night — with dissenters raising fears about public safety and the loss of human drivers’ jobs.
by | Jan 22, 2020 7:33 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen photo
Census field manager Emenyonu: Earning $30 an hour.
On his third day working for the U.S. Census, Nnamdi Emenyonu had a message for fellow city residents who feel stymied by the cumbersome job application process: Don’t give up. The jobs are worth it.
And they’re ready for the taking: The New Haven office is less than halfway toward its goal of hiring 2,874 workers.
by | Jan 22, 2020 1:04 pm | Comments (1)
Paul Bass Photo
Ben Florsheim at WNHH FM.
Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim loves living in Connecticut.
The Midwestern millennial isn’t looking to leave the state anytime soon, and he’s trying to use his positive outlook and newly elected top municipal office to promote a similar optimism, and higher quality of life, for his constituents.
by | Jan 21, 2020 8:20 pm | Comments (29)
Thomas Breen photos
Protesters outside police HQ.
With cries of “Justice for Mubi!” and “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot,” hundreds of protesters marched from City Hall to police headquarters on Union Avenue Tuesday in a collective expression of grief on behalf of the African American 19-year-old who was shot to death by a white state trooper last week after a high-speed highway chase.