New Haven Independent

Health

Just Get a Job

by Paul Bass | Sep 30, 2005 10:30 am | Comments (2)

Get a job, or a better-paying job, and a poor family will become less poor. Right? Wrong. Not in New Haven. So reveals a new report called The High Cost of Being Poor in New Haven. It’ll blow your mind. And it offers practical solutions.

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No More Excuses

by Paul Bass | Sep 29, 2005 2:11 pm

Once again, Democrats will have a chance to do what they’ve always pretended they wanted to do: start cleaning up the state’s corrupt political system. Or they can kill it again with sneaky maneuvers and dishonest votes. Noting the indictment of U.S. House Speaker Tom DeLay, Gov. Jodi Rell announced Thursday that she’s calling the state legislature into special session on Oct. 11 to take up campaign finance reform. She’s presenting them with a wide-ranging package of reforms, some championed by Democrats, some by Republicans. The reforms include: banning legislators’ legalized-bribery “ad books” and campaign contributions from lobbyists, contractors and their political action committees (PACs); creating a voluntary public-financing system for legislative elections beginning in 2008 and statewide elections beginning in 2010; restricting the number of legislator PACs; prohibiting local candidates from taking contributions from contractors to whom they give public business (can you spell N-E-W H-A-V-E-N?); allowing cities to adopt local public financing laws (like the one New Haven wants to pass). If the Democrats punt on this again, they never deserve a single progressive vote again. Menawhile, Rell’s likely Democratic challenger next year, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, issued a statement both supporting the plan and taking a shot at the governor: “I’m hopeful that true reform is now possible. It’s unfortunate and regrettable that it has taken this long. If the Governor had made this a priority at the beginning of the last legislative session in January, a special session now probably wouldn’t be necessary. It’s finally time we restore public trust in government.”

“It’s Like Being a Priest”

by Paul Bass | Sep 29, 2005 2:00 pm

Yes, you teach them reading. You also visit their homes. You collect shoes for them. You throw yourselves into the kids’ lives. And you don’t do it for the money. That’s part of how Myrna Montalvo described her job when she was named New Haven’s new teacher of the year at an energetic ceremony Thursday at Truman School.

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Grassroots Groups Polish Drug Companies’ Image

by Sharon Bass | Sep 29, 2005 11:09 am

Groups dedicated to helping the poor and disenfranchised have found themselves—sometimes to their spokesmen’s surprise—participating in a front group for drug companies dedicated to blocking cheaper prescriptions.

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New Walls for a Cage

by Paul Bass | Sep 29, 2005 7:22 am

After years of displaying the nastiest face in the West River neighborhood, the so-called “Cage” — trouble-filled, ramshackle apartments on Sherman Avenue — received new siding this week. It may still be too little, too late for the neighborhood.

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Sleeping Bears Lie

by Paul Bass | Sep 28, 2005 1:55 pm | Comments (3)

The statewide rumor mill is buzzing with reports that Lowell Weicker is considering an independent run for his old U.S. Senate seat next year against Democratic incumbent Joe Lieberman of New Haven (for now). Lieberman deposed former Sen. Weicker in 1988 with the help of his famous sleeping bear commercial—a commercial Weicker could now turn back on his old nemesis.

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We Won’t Say—& We Won’t Say Why

by Paul Bass | Sep 27, 2005 4:28 pm

They said they won’t tell us how they’re spending $625 million of our tax dollars on health care for the poor. That was bad enough. (“The Right to ‘No.’”) They called that information a “trade secret.” Now a bunch of HMOs and their enablers in the Rell administration refuse to tell us why they consider it a trade secret. So on Tuesday legal aid lawyers announced in New Haven that they’ve filed yet another Freedom of Information complaint over the Medicaid/HUSKY program. They want the state at least to describe why it considers this crucial public information too much of a “trade secret” to reveal to the public. Below are the press release and the complaint they filed.

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Serving Two Masters?

by Paul Bass | Sep 27, 2005 11:52 am | Comments (1)

It looks like the new Board of Aldermen will have four members who also work for the mayor-appointed Board of Ed. A fifth is an employee of the mayor-appointed parking authority. Thanks to an ethics loophole, that’s legal. Critics worry that, legal or not, it’s bad news for New Haveners seeking a democratic government with checks and balances.

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SCSU Campus Construction

by Staff | Sep 27, 2005 11:04 am

SCOPING NOTICE

Connecticut Environmental Policy Act

Southern Connecticut State University
2004 Campus Plan Update

PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING

DATE: OCTOBER 6, 2005

TIME: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

PLACE: SCSU —‚ ENGLEMAN HALL, ROOM 121B

DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 PM

The Connecticut State University proposes to construct, renovate and demolish facilities located on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University as recommended in the 2004 Campus Plan Update. The Campus Plan will be implemented in the form of 20 projects ranging from academic, administrative, athletic and residential.

Additional information about the project can be viewed online at: http://www.ct.edu/scsucampusplan

A Hand Across Generations

by Gina Coggio | Sep 27, 2005 6:54 am | Comments (3)

“Hey Cogg,” called a student. He didn’t realize it, but he was taking the Independent’s teacher-by-day, waitress-by-night diarist by the hand on a trip through time. That hand crossed back when a student discovered her mother has cancer.

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