by | Jul 19, 2023 1:38 pm | Comments (17)
Asher Joseph Photo
Liam Brennan (left) and Abby Roth (right) outside the Bradley Street Bicycle Co-op on Tuesday afternoon.
Former Downtown Alder Abby Roth, a former supporter of incumbent Mayor Justin Elicker, switched her allegiances for this year’s campaign and endorsed one of his challengers.
by | Jul 18, 2023 11:54 am | Comments (5)
Mia Cortés Castro Photo
Downer makes her pitch Monday night.
A challenger to an incumbent Board of Education member won a ward committee endorsement Monday night in her quest to win the Democratic nomination.
Making bold strikes, Ward 19’s Democratic Town Committee placed their votes on challenger Andrea Downer, rather than on incumbent Darnell Goldson, for the Board of Education membership race.
Continue reading ‘Downer Wins Ward 19 Board of Ed Endorsement’
by and | Jul 6, 2023 10:09 am | Comments (4)
Asher Joseph photo
Fireworks at the Wilbur Cross display on July 5th.
Mia Cortés Castro photo
Demi out to see fireworks for the first time with her older cousins, Payton and Jessica Smokes.
Excited to give their cousin Demi the same Fourth of July experience they’ve had since childhood, East Rock natives Payton and Jessica Smokes laid out a picnic blanket under the setting sun on Wednesday to watch the rain-delayed fireworks alongside her.
Continue reading ‘Belated Fireworks Still Go Red, White & Boom’
by | Jun 30, 2023 4:25 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed by Jane Kinity
World Refugee Day picnic.
College Woods Park came alive with dance, food, and community last weekend as New Haveners gathered to celebrate World Refugee Day.
by | Jun 26, 2023 9:14 am | Comments (1)
Mia Cortés Castro Photos
At Saturday's "PRIDE"-making party ...
Mia Cortés Castro Photo
... the finished art-project letters, and contributors.
East Rock neighbors decorated rainbow-colored cardstock letters spelling out the word “PRIDE” — and spoke about how that word means love, acceptance, authenticity, and support — at a LGBTQ+ community-celebrating event that doubled as a campaign stop for an aspiring first-time alder.
by | Jun 26, 2023 8:57 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Paxx Headroom performs at the Black Box.
Drag kings, fairy hair, tarot readings, visual art, and a vivacious vibe that pulsed with community: these and more filled the event room, art gallery, and gathering area now known as the Black Box this past Saturday night at Witch Bitch Thrift. The Whitney Avenue thrift store has created a space within its space that can be used for anything from a contemplative sanctuary to a meeting area for clubs, classes, open mics, and more.
Continue reading ‘Witch Bitch Thrift Opens Black Box To Community’
by | Jun 22, 2023 1:06 pm | Comments (90)
Thomas Breen File Photo
The road to the top of East Rock: Let cars roll, again?
Parks commissioners delayed deciding on whether or not to fully reopen the road to the top of East Rock Park to cars — as they weighed the testimony of drivers and those who struggle to walk such a long steep slope alongside that of frequent pedestrians and clean-park proponents.
by | Jun 14, 2023 2:24 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photos
At Wilbur Cross' 102nd commencement ceremony.
Newly minted Cross grads Kayla and Makayla Edwards.
Wilbur Cross cheerleading co-captains and twin sisters Kayla and Makayla Edwards haven’t had a lot to cheer about over the past four years — until, that is, they did.
Continue reading ‘Cross Cheerleading Sisters Walk The Stage’
by | Jun 8, 2023 3:35 pm | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden photos
Magda Colón: "Teach out of love and with love."
Colón with family at Thursday's celebration.
Just like during every other day of the school year, East Rock Spanish teacher Magda Colón came to work on Thursday ready to celebrate the hard work of her students.
This time, she was in for a surprise — when her students and school staff turned that praise around, and presented her with an award recognizing the impact she’s had on their lives.
Continue reading ‘Surprise Award Honors "Life Changing" Teacher’
by | Jun 6, 2023 9:43 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden photo
Lila Kleppner: Not going to eat that? Into the compost it goes!
When Wilbur Cross High School senior Lila Kleppner saw a classmate walking toward the cafeteria trash bin, she leapt into action — with a five-gallon bucket in hand, intent on diverting that student’s food scraps from a landfill-bound pile to a community compost heap instead.
Continue reading ‘Student Composters Canvass Cross Cafeteria’
by | Jun 5, 2023 12:08 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden photos
Cesar and Giovanni Mendez at NHPS "Seal of Biliteracy" ceremony.
Sound School senior Cesar Mendez wore a purple cord to symbolize his bilingual superpower — and so that his younger brother Giovanni can now recognize him as the hero that he is.
by | Jun 1, 2023 1:41 pm | Comments (46)
Laura Glesby file photo
Ice cream aplenty -- and alcohol verboten -- at Elena's on Orange.
A bustling East Rock ice cream shop won’t be offering wine on tap anytime soon — now that a legal agreement has reversed a prior approval permitting the storefront to sell booze in addition to soft serve.
by | May 31, 2023 1:14 pm | Comments (19)
Laura Glesby photos
Neighbors gather at Nicoll-Eagle to process the block's most recent car collision.
A car-dented fence at the corner of Nicoll and Willow.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall: the cars that race down Willow Street and crash into neighbors’ fences.
Continue reading ‘Goatville Seeks Slowdown Help After Fatal Crash’
by | May 26, 2023 3:19 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
The McKoy family wins the day at Celentano school art auction.
Not wanting to get outbid for a third year in a row, Nicole McKoy showed up to a Prospect Hill auction ready to spend big to be extra sure she’d win the drawings made by her two favorite artists — who just so happen to be her daughters.
by | May 26, 2023 2:05 pm | Comments (8)
Contributed photo
At Friday's presser: Alder Herrera, Mayor Elicker, public works union President David Lawlor, public works Superintendent of Streets Steve Mustakos, acting public works Director Bombero, City Engineer Zinn.
Another season of grinding up and repairing roads kicked off on Friday, as the mayor and top public works officials gathered on Edwards Street to celebrate $3 million worth of milling and paving to come.
Continue reading ‘Roads Torn Up, So They Can Be Smoothed Out Again’
by | May 24, 2023 9:01 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
Kindergartner and classroom chef Aylanais learning with the help of local apizza.
After East Rock School kindergartener Aylanais cooked up a freshly illustrated “cheese pizza,” she topped it with broccoli, pineapple, pepperoni, and mushrooms for a tasty and very New Haven-spirited class lesson.
by | May 23, 2023 1:57 pm | Comments (1)
A 35-year-old Hamden man died Tuesday morning after driving his Tesla into nine other vehicles on New Haven’s Nicoll Street, police said.
by | May 22, 2023 11:32 am | Comments (0)
Abiba Biao photo
Albertus Magnus College President Marc Camille (right) at Sunday's commencement.
Dressed in caps and gowns and with new diplomas in hand, 440 Albertus Magnus students graduated from the Prospect Hill Catholic college on Sunday — marking the school’s 100th such ceremony.
Continue reading ‘Albertus Magnus Celebrates 100th Commencement’
by | May 5, 2023 6:53 pm | Comments (31)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Smith signs up with City Clerk staffer Michelle Lee Rodriguez.
As East Rocker Caroline Tanbee Smith filed papers to make official her first aldermanic run, Fair Havener Claudia Hererra readied to hand over the local legislative baton — to a candidate she says will build bridges between those neighborhoods and across the broader city if she’s elected to be Ward 9’s next representative.
by | May 1, 2023 9:02 am | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen photos
Larry and Taylor King, ready to ride, even in the rain.
Staying not-dry-at-all on Valley St.
A cold spring morning downpour couldn’t keep father-son cycling duo Larry and Taylor King from riding for a good cause — to raise money to help keep their home city green, sure, but also to spend some quality family time outdoors and on two wheels, rain or shine.
by | Apr 25, 2023 8:58 am | Comments (4)
Tiger Squad News crew Alae Aboutalib, Shayla Black, and Nima Safdari, with the first issue of their school's reborn newsletter (below).
The ink is dry on the first issue of the recently revived Tiger Squad News — as Celentano School reporters-in-training Nima Safdari, Alae Aboutalib, and Shayla Black return to the beat for a second newsletter that they hope will inform their classmates about just how much work goes into being a student reporter.
by | Apr 24, 2023 10:43 am | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photo
Dr. Nancy Stanwood with U.S. Sen. Blumenthal on Monday: "The reprieve is only temporary."
Connecticut patients seeking an abortion can continue to access — for now — a safe, legal, and decades-old medication that is commonly used across the country to help end a pregnancy in its first trimester.
But the U.S. Supreme Court’s upholding of mifepristone’s federal approval is only temporary. And an ideologically motivated attack on the drug’s legitimacy could still prevail.
Continue reading ‘Caution, Concern Greet Abortion Pill Legal Reprieve’
by | Apr 24, 2023 8:41 am | Comments (2)
Allan Appel photo
Team Popcorn Colonel leader Ariel Unger with designer ball and gifts of floss.
The tension was mounting (well, sort of) late Saturday afternoon at East Rock Park: Team Popcorn Colonel — dressed in matching Orville Redenbacher outfits, complete with red suspenders and bow ties — were busy jumping on a trampoline while trying to sink a beachball-size papier-mâché popcorn kernel into a bucket.
Nearby across a blanket strewn with bike look-alike food (Cheetos and toothpicks in the shape of a two-wheeler?), Team Bicycle were forming themselves into a human velocipede.
Continue reading ‘Who Needs Burning Man? We Have Competitive Picnicking’
by | Apr 20, 2023 3:54 pm | Comments (9)
Paul Bass photo
Schools Supt.-to-be Madeline Negrón greets Lincoln-Bassett students Thursday morning.
New Haven’s first-ever Latina schools superintendent greeted Ecuadorian-born student Bryan Panata with an “Hola,” made a Puerto Rican geography connection with Wilbur Cross junior Lunaa Omar, and remarked on how bilingual education has advanced since her childhood days working to learn English in a basement classroom.
Continue reading ‘History-Making Schools Chief Starts Listening’
by | Apr 18, 2023 7:11 pm | Comments (40)
Laura Glesby Photos
Dave John Cruz-Bustamante: CT schools should look like "palaces."
Teacher-protesters defining vocab.
Connecticut is the wealthiest state in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Wilbur Cross junior Dave John Cruz-Bustamante told a crowd of educators gathered across the street from their school.
“But you wouldn’t know that from looking at our desks.”
