THE INNER-CITY NEWS

Blumenthal Warns WNBA: Interfering With CT Sun Sale Could Violate Antitrust Laws

by Donald Eng

HARTFORD, CT — Attempts by the Women’s National Basketball Association to interfere with negotiations for the sale of the Connecticut Sun basketball team could constitute an antitrust violation, US Sen. Richard Blumenthal told WNBA Commissioner Cathy Englebert. The team is owned by the Mohegan Tribe, which is considering offers to sell the team.

Blumenthal said the league is using its governance powers to block proposals that would keep the team in Connecticut or New England.

The team, which began as the Orlando Miracle in 1999, was bought by the tribe in 2003 and moved to the Mohegan Sun Arena.

In his letter, Blumenthal warns the WNBA that its interference could violate federal antitrust laws.

“Any further attempts by the WNBA to use its considerable governance and mar-

ket power over the Connecticut Sun to limit or dictate negotiations with the state of Connecticut could be an unreasonable restraint of trade and interference with the market that would violate federal antitrust laws,” Blumenthal wrote.

“As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over antitrust matters, I am closely monitoring the WNBA’s actions and will demand investigations and enforcement actions from the appropriate federal authorities if it takes any step to hinder or constrain Connecticut’s negotiations.”

The league did not immediately return a request for comment emailed through its media inquiry contact address.

Blumenthal in his letter said the Sun has been a cornerstone of the state’s sports identity for more than 20 years, “hosting world-class, professional women’s basketball in a state with a long tradition of basketball excellence.”

The team also is among the league’s most commercially successful and has a

loyal fan base, he wrote.

“In a growing league, the Connecticut Sun has stood out among their peers,” he wrote. “And that support is increasing as the Sun has sold out 2025 season tickets — the first time in franchise history.”

But, Blumenthal wrote, with the Mohegan Tribe entertaining offers to sell the team, “the WNBA used its league governance powers to block proposals that would keep the team in New England, instead seeking to move it thousands of miles from its fan base to cities such as Cleveland or Houston.”

The league also offered $250 million to buy the team itself, Blumenthal said. The state also proposed a minority ownership in the team, and a split home arrangement between the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville and Hartford.

“Connecticut’s proposal would value the team at more than the WNBA’s offer and, with the proposal to build a new practice facility and play in PeoplesBank Arena, ensure that the Sun could easily grow

further and achieve an even greater attendance than the 2024 league average,” he wrote.

He concluded that moving the team out of Connecticut, “would leave New England without a WNBA team, and disrupt the stability and growth the Sun have achieved over the years in the state, which has made it the successful franchise that it has become.”

Any further attempts by the WNBA to limit or dictate negotiations with the state “could be an unreasonable restraint of trade and interference with the market that would violate federal antitrust laws. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over antitrust matters, I am closely monitoring the WNBA’s actions and will demand investigations and enforcement actions from the appropriate federal authorities if it takes any step to hinder or constrain Connecticut’s negotiations.”

Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye Retires, Helped Expand Childcare Access In CT

by Staff Report

HARTFORD, CT — Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye is leaving her current role to pursue a new career working with children and families in health care settings.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday that Bye, who has led the department since 2019, is retiring effective Oct. 1.

“Beth Bye is one of the most caring, compassionate, and energetic people that I know, and her passion for the development and wellness of the youngest members of our communities knows no bounds,” Lamont said. “Because of Beth’s advocacy and work in our administration, Connecticut is in the process of adding thousands of new early childhood education slots that will improve lives forever.”

I am so grateful that she has led this agency for these last several years, and I am confident that our early childhood system has made significant improvements because of her work. I am also thankful that Elena Trueworthy has agreed to serve as this agency’s next commissioner. Elena has worked to support early childhood education programs for more than 20 years,

and her intimate knowledge and familiarity with Connecticut’s early childhood system will enable her to hit the job running.”

During her tenure leading OEC, Bye helped develop what is on track to become the largest expansion of early childhood access in Connecticut history, Lamont said. The expanded program is intended to enable thousands of additional children to enroll in these services that would have otherwise been unattainable for their families, he said.

Lamont said he and Bye had also worked with the human service commissioners to launch Universal Nurse Home Visiting in Connecticut.

Bye called Connecticut “the most family friendly state” and said working to expand early education and establishing universal home visiting had been “the honor of my career.”

She said the advancements the state had made were the result of decades of work by advocates, legislators, philanthropy and families.

“This collaborative work is a model for other states and the nation,” she said. To replace Bye, Lamont has named Elena Trueworthy, OEC’s deputy commissioner, to serve as interim commissioner until the 2026 legislative session begins in February. He will then nominate her for the permanent role, he said.

Before accepting her state role, Bye was the director of both the Trinity College Community Child Center and the University of St. Joseph School for Young Children. She has also served as early childhood director at the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC).

Trueworthy has been with OEC since 2019, first as the director of the agency’s Head Start State Collaboration Office, and since 2023 as deputy commissioner. She formerly served as associate director of early childhood investments with the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, as the director of the organization’s Hartford Area Child Care Collaborative and with the Human Resources Agency in New Britain.

United Way Says Nearly Half of Connecticut Families Struggle to Make Ends Meet

by Jamil Ragland

HARTFORD — About four in 10 families in Connecticut are struggling to make ends meet, according to a new report from the Connecticut United Way.

Titled The State of ALICE in Connecticut: 2025 Update on Financial Hardship, the report focuses on families in the state who often earn too much to qualify for federal assistance programs, yet still face financial hardship.

ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed. It is a measure of financial hardship developed by the United Way to describe the challenges that families who earn above the federal poverty line face.

Shawonda Swain, president and CEO of the Middlesex United Way, likened the situation to a financial storm.

“What’s striking is how the storm is spreading,” Swain said. “For decades people think hardship has been restricted to our cities. But today it’s moving to our suburban and rural towns as well. There are sharp increases in places like Chester and Lisbon and Easton and New Milford and Roxbury in the West. No corner of our state is untouched.

The report, which uses federal datasets from 2023, sets the ALICE household survival budget for a single adult at $38,184 annually, while it reaches $116,208 for a family of four with two adults, an infant, and a preschooler. The survival budget in-

cludes costs such as housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and technology, plus taxes and a 10% miscellaneous category.

But 40% of Connecticut’s families earn less than the ALICE household survival budget, which works out to 581,000 households across the state. The number of families below the ALICE threshold increased by 13% from 2010 through 2023, according to the report. The number of families below the federal poverty line increased by 18% during the same time period.

State Rep. Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, called on the legislature to pass a permanent, refundable child tax credit to help struggling families. She said while

five bills were introduced with bipartisan support to institute the child tax credit, it was not ultimately included in any final legislation. She said there had been some progress, such as the additional $250 to residents who will receive the earned income tax credit and have a child.

“Tax relief is a crucial step forward,” she said. “But this amount of funds does not help so many of our families pay these high costs. We know, even with this EITC enhanced credit, that 355,000 families with children, they just earn too much to qualify for the EITC, but they also can’t make ends meet.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal speaks about artificial intelligence in airline ticket pricing on July 28, 2025. Credit: Jamil Ragland / CTNewsJunkie

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye announces her retirement, effective Oct. 1, 2025, during a news conference at Charter Oak International Academy in West Hartford on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Credit: Ronni Newton / We-Ha

Aubree Burnett speaks about her situation during a United Way ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report presentation. Credit: Jamil Ragland / CTNewsJunkie

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Teach, Play, Love: Shubert Announces New Season, $1.2M Education-Focused Gift

Lucy Gellman |

A beloved New Haven arts organization has received a $1.2 million gift to grow its education programming in the city’s public schools over the next three years. Now, the work begins.

That news came to the Shubert Theatre Thursday evening, during a 2025-26 season launch at the organization’s 247 College St. home. Amidst news of a jampacked lineup — from SIX to The Sound Of Music to Dog Man: The Musical — staff also announced the transformative gift, which comes from the Dutch tech giant ASML. ASML, which is based in the Netherlands, has an office with 3,200 employees in Wilton, Conn.

Over the next three years, it will allow the Shubert’s education department to both expand and bring its work more directly to the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS), often to students who have limited or no access to arts education. The theater also plans to partner with students at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), where the school has been growing outreach efforts in both drama and arts administration.

In addition to Kelly Wuzzardo, the Shubert’s longtime director of education and engagement, the theater has welcomed Tracy Stratton on as its new education programs manager.

In their first months building out the program, Stratton and Wuzzardo plan to focus on kindergarten through second grade education at Barack Obama Magnet University School, Bishop Woods Architecture & Design Magnet School, and Hill Central Music Academy. They will expand their reach from there.

“It’s a dream come true to work at an establishment like this,” said Stratton, who grew up coming to the Shubert with her parents, and has for years taught and directed theater at West Haven High School. “When an opportunity like this comes up, you can’t say no.”

“It’s such a critical organization that is really driving education in our community,” added Brian Amero, program manager for society and community engagement at ASML and a board member at the Shubert. “We recognize that not every community has equitable access to arts education,” and this gift is meant in part to bridge that gap.

It’s an investment in the future of arts education that has been years in the making. In 2022—as theaters were still coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic—ASML began its partnership with the Shubert by offering Broadway series tickets to its staff members, who came out to the touring productions in force. Amero, for instance, still remembers a production of Come From Away in 2023 that he was both surprised and delighted by. From there, the company began exploring other ways to support the theater, including in its educational programming. For years, the Shubert has worked to grow its educational footprint, from partnerships with CT State Gateway, NHPS and the Girls Scouts of America to free

workshops it brings into the Mitchell and Stetson Branches of the New Haven Free Public Library. Last year alone, it served 17,000 students across the region.

Violinist Aidan Jordan (center), who is a junior at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. When he plays, he said, "it just feels like you're connecting with the music." His mom, LaKisha Jordan, is the Shubert's outgoing board chair and the director of programs at the NewAlliance Foundation.

But Wuzzardo’s bandwidth as a single human was finite: there was only so much she could do in a department of one. So last year, ASML started asking her how to better serve more students.The best way, Wuzzardo told them, was to meet students where they were: to take more theater directly into the schools.

She loves it when students come to the Shubert, she said—and they will continue to do so this year, with offerings like TheatreWorks USA’s Dog Man The Musical next April. But the logistics that go into a single visit—ticket sales, adapted lesson plans, bus transportation—are often potential barriers to access for students and educators.

“But what if we could collaborate and remove those barriers?” Amero asked aloud Thursday. He nodded to the goals that Executive Director Anthony McDonald has brought to the Shubert during his tenure, which includes exposing every K-12 student in New Haven to the Shubert before they graduate from high school. That, the company decided, had the potential to be transformative.

Over the next three years, ASML’s $1.2 million gift provides the support for exactly that, with visits in classrooms like those the Shubert has been able to offer on a limited basis in the past. Stratton and Wuzzardo plan to begin those visits in late October or early November. Their first workshop will introduce students to the “puzzle pieces” of theater, including what it means to be backstage, onstage, and in the audience.

The timing feels serendipitous. Earlier this year, NHPS Superintendent Madeline Negrón announced a potential 129 student-facing staff cuts, including 29 arts instructors and 25 library and media specialists, for the 2025-26 school year. While that ultimately didn’t come to pass, many students in the district don’t have reliable access to arts programming in their schools, or have part-time teachers who come in for “specials” classes.

For the first time in the Shubert’s 110-year history, ASML is also a series sponsor for all of the Broadway shows coming through the Shubert. Those include SIX, A Beautiful Noise, Mrs. Doubfire, The Sound of Music, Kimberly Akimbo, and Les Misérables, which last played at the theater in 2018. Tickets and more information are available here.

“This is really an exciting moment for arts education,” said McDonald, who is both an arts leader and a doting dad to an almost two-year-old daughter. “ASML has also seen the importance of access to the arts for students … this is the kind of impact that could be felt for

generations to come.”

Thursday also included an announcement of what McDonald called “an amazing season,” studded with not just Broadway performances, but also comedy, poetry and spoken word, music, dance, and intimate theater in the space’s new second-floor cabaret space.

True to McDonald's mission to welcome all New Haveners, the evening also featured local talent, from the groove band Up On The Downbeat to violinist Aidan Jordan, a junior at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School.

“Tonight is a celebration,” McDonald said. “This season of programming brings cultures and art forms from all over the world to our stage, reflecting the vibrancy and diversity of our city.”

In addition to Broadway phenomena like SIX, which has teched two tours at the theater and opens the season on Sept. 25, those include highlights like a visit from hometown hero and comedian Justin Silva (comedians Unc and Neph & Friends and Nate Jackson are also gracing the stage, all for what is slated to be a very funny October), a celebrated return of Ailey II on Oct. 18, appearances from the Grand Kyiv Ballet (Oct. 25), Thee Phantom & The Illharmonic Orchestra (Nov. 22) and Step Afrika! (April 11).

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, McDonald said. In November and December, the Shubert has jeujed up its holiday programming with a holiday trivia night to kick off the season, Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical, and performances from Engelbert Humperdinck (“I grew up hearing that name,” McDonald said to warm laughter when he described how excited his mom is) and Irish tenor Michael Londra, who helms the PBS show Ireland With Michael. This reporter is still waiting on a visit from the holiday armadillo.

For music fans in the audience, there is year-long programming that includes a concert version of the musical RENT (it last graced the theater in 2017, for the show’s 20th anniversary tour), an October 30 celebration of George Michael and return from The Choir of Man in February, The Great American SoulBook in April, and more intimate performances from Okorie “OkCello” Johnson (Jan. 8), the Metta Quintet (March 13), and Nicole Zuraitis (June 21) in the Shubert’s smaller cabaret space upstairs.

“We’re building bridges across generations, across neighborhoods, across lived experiences,” Little read. “That is the power of this place. That is the magic of this theater. So keep showing up. Keep sharing these stories. And let’s keep the heartbeat of our New Haven strong.”

McDonald said the theater is still adding performances to the season, some of which may be announced as soon as next week. For a full calendar of events, click here.

Executive Director Anthony McDonald and board member Karaine (Kay) Smith-Holness.

Attendees Nick Hogan, Thabisa Rich and Dallas Davis.

ASML's Brian Amero, Shubert Director of Education and Engagement Kelly Wuzzardo, ASML's Wilton-based Head of Development & EngineeringMark Schuster and ASML Director of HR Cynthia Houston.

Violinist Aidan Jordan (center), who is a junior at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. When he plays, he said, "it just feels like you're connecting with the music." His mom, LaKisha Jordan, is the Shubert's outgoing board chair and the director of programs at the NewAlliance Foundation.

Arts Council of greater New Haven

Theodore, Hubbard, Moore Win Primaries

by Mona Mahadevan, Laura Glesby, Maggie Grether, Dereen Shirnekhi and Paul Bass

A union-backed candidate decisively lost a Democratic primary for alder in Yale-dominated Ward 1 Tuesday, while a newcomer won a primary election in Morris Cove and an incumbent hung on in the Hill.

The three Democratic primaries took place Tuesday. There were no Republican primaries.

Yale undergraduate Elias Theodore, who grew up in New Haven, defeated fellow undergraduate Norah Laughter 290 to 165 in Ward 1. UNITE HERE and the city teachers union backed Laughter, in a campaign in which both candidates called on the university to do more for New Haven. There is no Republican on the ballot in Ward 1 in the general election.

“I think the fact that this election was contested will be such a positive thing for Yale student engagement with the city moving forward,” Theodore said after the vote count at the polls at the main library branch on Elm Street. “As far as the key issues, we all care about the same things: Yale’s voluntary contribution kept coming up again and again. We need an alder who will fight to increase it.”

Laughter praised the turnout, saying it shows that undergraduates “know now they have to show up.”

Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller, who supported Theodore’s campaign, said Tuesday night: “If we want to see Yale contribute its fair share to New Haven, we need leaders who mobilize and inspire large numbers of Yale students to care about New Haven. Clearly Elias is that leader.”

Incumbent Alder Angel Hubbard defeated challenger Miguel Pittman in a rematch from one year ago in the primary in the Hill’s Ward 3. Hubbard was leading Pittman 200 to 148 based on in-person Tuesday voting and early-voting ballots and most of the absentee ballots. Seven absentee ballots remained to be verified and counted as of 8:49 p.m., which will not affect the outcome.

Hubbard will face Pittman again in the general election because both the Republican and Independent parties have endorsed him. Voters said a main issue in this race involved ill-fated plans for the APT Foundation to move its methadone clinic from Congress Avenue to Long Wharf; Hubbard supported the plan, while Pittman opposed having APT located anywhere in New Haven.

When the results were declared, Hubbard’s supporters whooped and cheered for a full minute. She broke down into tears. Then she said, “With the title or without the title, I’m a servant of the community.”

Hubbard credited victory to her constituent service.

“When my constituents call,” she said, “they know I’ll come.”

“The fight’s not over,” Pittman said at the polls at Career High School on Legion

Avenue, referencing the general election.

He said he believes the APT methadone clinic was the top issue in the race.

In Morris Cove’s Ward 18, Leland Moore was leading Zelema Harris 295 to 54 Tuesday night based on early voting and Tuesday balloting. Three absentee ballots remained to be verified and tabulated as of 8:49 p.m.

Harris turned to Moore after the results were announced to offer congratulations.

Moore replied that the turnout of 333 voters solely for an alder primary is a “testament to both of our campaigns.” The exchange reflected the convivial nature of the primary

“It was a really positive experience,” he reflected after poll workers ushered him, Harris, and their supporters out of the building. He said he thinks voters were motivated to come out to the polls because “people want to be heard.”

Moore enjoyed the support of the Democratic Town Committee, the politically influential UNITE HERE unions and elected officials including Annex Alder Sal Punzo, State Rep. Al Paolillo, and State Sen. Martin Looney.

“I’m not surprised,” Harris said after the candidates and supporters had shuffled out of the building. “When you have cer-

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tain people backing you, it’s a challenge [to beat]. It’s always hard when you are only running as an individual.”

“It’s not all about the winning,” she added. “I think Leland’s a great guy. It’s so much bigger” than just candidate versus candidate, she said. By participating in a civic process and providing voters with a choice, “no matter what, I’m gonna win.”

And anyway, Harris added, she’ll face off against Moore once again plus a Republican opponent, Anthony Acri in November’s general election. She will run on an unaffiliated line.

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Laura Glesby Photo Comity Club: Friendly rivals Harris and Moore at the Ward 18 polls Tuesday night at Nathan Hale School.

Mona Mahadevan Photo Victorious Ward 3 candidate Angel Hubbard, who had the support of party leaders, with Mayor Justin Elicker, City Clerk Michael Smart, and Alder Frank Douglass as results were announced.

Paul Bass Photo Praise, not an insult: Campaign sign reflects candidate's read on Yale student voters.

Teachers Taught To Connect With Students

by Maya McFadden

Truman School bilingual first-grade teacher Maria Teresa Rosario took a break from teaching class Tuesday to instead be taught how best to build bridges with students in her classroom.

Rosario was one of roughly 100 New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) educators to hear that lesson Tuesday morning during a teachers-only day designated for staff professional development.

NHPS elementary staffers met up at Wilbur Cross High School at around 9 a.m. to attend a presentation by Tyrone Howard, a professor of education at The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Howard’s visit was sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), NHPS’ vendor for its phonics-focused literacy programming. His talk aimed to encourage teachers to incorporate relationship-building into the classroom to support their students.

“So much of this work starts with how we view them,” Howard told the room of teachers.

He encouraged educators to not go into the daily hard work of teaching with a “deficit mindset” when it comes to striving to understand students’ cultures and identities. Instead, he pushed for teachers to have a “possibility lens” to establish a strong learning foundation for all youth. Nearly all the educators in Cross’ auditorium Tuesday raised their hand when Howard asked if they have had a student who has experienced abuse of any form, homelessness, or other “adverse childhood experiences.”

“The student that you oftentimes think is difficult is not difficult for no reason at all. Sometimes they’re difficult because they’re living in difficult circumstances … yet they still try to show up every day to school to be a student,” Howard said. He cautioned educators to reconsider as often as possible dismissing students from their classes because “the student [who] doesn’t want to work at all, it’s not because they’re lazy, it’s because they have much bigger things that are on their minds and hearts.”

Howard spoke more broadly to district leaders when stating that educators can only do so much when under-resourced and overworked. “Our higher ups put far too much pressure on educators to fix problems that are not their responsibility. Don’t tell me to raise test scores if you are not putting social workers in my building,” he said.

He said that, instead of reminding educators to practice self care, district leaders should help alleviate their heavy workloads.

Howard concluded with specific suggestions of ways educators can culturally connect with and understand their students to help them become better learners. He suggested having culturally relevant classroom text, daily discussion questions that help students feel valued, and learning how to properly pronounce names.

He also cautioned that being empathetic educators does not mean lowering student expectations.

After Tuesday’s presentation, Rosario, Truman bilingual kindergarten teacher

Ruth Rosa, and Fair Haven School dual-language, third-grade teacher Kathleen Carter agreed that Howard’s presentation felt like a “cheat sheet on how to be a good teacher.”

Other educators said the relatable presentation was long overdue. They agreed that more resources are needed in schools that prioritize supporting students rather than more pressure to only focus on pacing guides.

Carter said the presentation “made me feel confident in my teaching again” and validated to speak with her higher ups about the need for additional student resources so the pressure is not just put on educators.

Rosario said she took pictures of nearly all the slides in Howard’s presentations. In her notebook she crossed out the words “broken home” to remind herself not to use that term, as Howard suggested Tuesday. Howard said labeling students’ circumstances and home lives as “broken” is not effective.

Carter added that the presentation made her feel reinvigorated for the school year with a key reminder that teaching is not about control and that empathy is not a weak emotion. “We are breaking down brick walls and building bridges,” she said.

Rosa said she appreciates the reminder to think twice before addressing hard situations with students and said she plans to do so once returning to her classroom while building stronger relationships with her students. The trio also agreed that they enjoyed learning earlier in the day about the district’s new AI policy.

All-Boys Charter School Opens On Dixwell

by Maya McFadden

The merger of Wexler-Grant and Lincoln-Bassett – plus the appeal of uniforms, smaller class sizes, and a single-sex student body led Tiffany Baines to send her son Royal to New Haven’s newest school this academic year, an all-boys charter school on Dixwell Avenue called Edmonds Cofield Preparatory Academy (ECPA).

Baines, a mother of three boys, and her son Tyrique “Royal” Noyan told the Independent on Wednesday that they’ve been loving the new school so far.

Wednesday marked the school’s third day of classes. ECPA Dean of Student Affairs and Auxiliary Programs Tyree Hughey said that the school has 60 fifth and sixth graders enrolled so far.

While ECPA began its school year on Monday, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) formally kicks off its academic year on Thursday.

The new all-boys charter school was founded by Rev. Boise Kimber, and op-

missals each day of its first week. She told the Independent about how supportive the school’s administration has been so far.

Baines said that one of the main reasons why she decided to enroll Royal at ECPA was because NHPS decided to close his former school, Wexler-Grant School on Foote Street in the Dixwell neighborhood, and merge it with Lincoln-Bassett School on Bassett Street in Newhallville, to create a single PreK 8 school based out of Bassett’s campus.

about attending a new school without his brother, the school’s principal, W. Bilal Muhammed-El Shabazz, arranged a home visit to answer any of Royal’s questions about the school.

“He let my son know that separation from his brother is ok and just made him more comfortable because they have both been close all their life,” she said. When asked how he feels about being apart from his brother now, three days into the 2025 – 26 school year, Royal said, “I don’t care now, it’s ok.”

Baines added that she has always wanted to try out an all-boys school that requires uniforms and “preps them to be gentlemen.”

erates out of rented space at a former school building at 794 Dixwell that is now owned by the children’s mental healthcare nonprofit Clifford Beers. Kimber first won permission from the state Board of Education back in March 2023 for an initial certification for the new charter school, which is named after two late New Haven Black community leaders, the Revs. Edwin Edmonds and Curtis Cofield.

While she didn’t mind Bassett as a school, she said she worried about the neighborhood it’s in. That’s when she started looking into ECPA as an option. She struggled however to convince her son that it would be a good fit. He worried about being separated from his brother, who plans to attend the charter school Booker T Washington Academy this year.

Baines picked up her sixth-grader at around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, as the school is scheduled to have early dis-

Baines said she reached out to ECPA administrators for support. When she told them her son had some hesitancy

She said she is a strong advocate of uniforms for youth. “It helps them focus rather than worrying about Jordan’s or the newest brands.” She added that she loves the small school setting and that the location is “perfect” because it’s five minutes away from some of her family

Maya McFadden Photo Tiffany Baines, with son Royal: Open to a school that preps boys "to be gentlemen."

The New Haven independent

Maya McFadden photo NHPS educators Ruth Rosa, Maria Teresa Rosario, and Kathleen Carter: Reinvigorated to get back in the classroom and build relationships with students.

The New Haven independent

City Salutes Phone-Free High Schools

by Maya McFadden

Metropolitan Business Academy junior Lester McClease lll has been making more friends than ever before now that he and his classmates can’t look at their phones at school, leading them to talk to one another instead.

Lester offered on Monday morning that positive assessment of the city school district’s rollout of Yondr pouches to all public high schools as part of a broader effort to reduce distractions and promote learning in class.

He shared that personal anecdote amidst a press conference at the Water Street high school.

The presser offered an opportunity for city and school leaders, parents, and students to give updates on the use of magnetically sealed phone storage devices in all high schools starting this year.

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) implemented the use of Yondr pouches at all 10 of its high schools at the start of the current academic year a week and a half ago. That followed the rollout of Yondr pouches for 5th-8th graders in all middle schools last spring. New Haven Academy was the first high school to pilot the use of Yondr pouches, in February. District and school leaders have hailed that pilot as a success.

Per the latest rollout, NHPS high schoolers are required to secure their cell phones in locked pouches upon arrival at school and are not allowed to access them until the end of the school day.

A lineup of speakers including Mayor Justin Elicker, Supt. Madeline Negrón, New Haven Federation of Teachers President Leslie Blatteau, and Metro Principal Ann Brillante thanked the alders for their approval of $375,000 in city funds to purchase Yondr pouches for NHPS.

Brillante noted Monday that the implementation of Yondr has cleared the way for better learning conditions for all students so far.

“I feel like this is a gift that I’m giving our children,” Negrón said, which is the chance to disconnect from personal devices and grow their social and communication skills for life.

Nearly every speaker Monday said that hallways and lunch rooms are louder, and classroom discussions are deeper, now that students’ phones are stored away in Yondr pouches during the school day.

Negrón also said that the use of Yondr pouches means that, in the case of an emergency, students have to reach out through a designated safety channel instead of all calling 911 at once.

Negrón said that she plans to gather feedback from staff, students, and parents throughout the year to inform her about how the use of Yondr is going, and about what has worked and what hasn’t.

Elicker said that, when phones are allowed in school, they can facilitate fights when students post photos and videos on social media, triggering angry reactions. He added that teachers had to be

“cell phone police officers” and students weren’t getting the most out of school when not engaging in meaningful conversations with their peers.

Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez said at Monday’s presser that, while change is hard, she supports the implementation of Yondr so parents can return to communicating directly with the school system and for teachers to be able to teach. She emphasized that everyone needs to build

social skills. “We are humans. We have to connect,” she said. “Let’s challenge each other to connect.”

Rodriguez then challenged the community to join her in working to get students off their phones at home, too. She said she now keeps a basket in her kitchen for her family to store their phones away when eating at the dinner table. She told parents, “Let’s all do the same” because the youth “need to hear from you verbally.”

[a] laptop.

“Fully staffed, welcoming, and engaging classrooms and schools, that’s the solution. That’s what our students need to thrive,” Blatteau concluded.

Simmone Lall, the mother of a Metro junior, said Monday that she’s noticed that her daughter has made more friends this year because of the new phone-free policy at school.

“I hear more stories about school from her about her friends, homework, teachers, which she never told me about last year,” Lall said. “I know that she’s OK because I trust the school system and Ms. Brillante, because even though I can’t text my daughter, I have access to the principal.”

Metro senior Genesis Guillen Samaniego said while students don’t love using the Yondr pouches, most understand why its important to. Having a distraction-free space in the classroom has allowed for her and her peers to focus more and helps teachers to no longer have to compete with notifications. She concluded that classroom discussions are now more engaging and “conversations that might not have happened before are happening now.”

Metro social studies teacher Maxwell Comando said the use of Yondr has been “transformative” for his classroom. “Within the first week of school, it’s felt like some of the best teaching and learning that’s happened,” he said. He said in his ninth grade modern world history class his students are now building on each others’ ideas during discussions.

Educator Steve Staysniak noted that the school has intentionally rolled out a stronger literacy initiative this year alongside the use of Yondr pouches in order to encourage students to read more books. After Monday’s press conference, Elicker sat with a dozen Metro students in the school’s cafeteria bean bag chairs to hear their thoughts directly about Yondr. The only phone in sight was that of the mayor’s communications staffer, Ali Oshinskie, who video-recorded students’ thoughts.

Metro juniors Brandon Daley and Lester also took the opportunity Monday to connect with Alder Rodriguez, who invited the duo to present about students’ perspectives and happenings before the Board of Alders Youth Committee.

“We don’t hear from you guys and we need to, so please come,” Rodriguez told them. Brandon took note of the alders’ meeting dates and contacts to present sometime this school year.

Blatteau said with the increase in screen dependency, Yondr is not a solution to all problems. She said the solution is a cultural shift toward prioritizing meaningful communication, engagement, and less unregulated access to social media and the internet. The city and school system have continued work to do to re-engage students with hands on learning, Blatteau said, because “we can’t lock away the phone then have them spend all day on

Brandon concluded that while it is difficult to detach from phones, the shift is “well needed” and refreshing.

Lester added that during the first few days of the school year he’s been able to better understand how his peers are feeling and now feels more comfortable turning to his classmates to ask for help.

“Now that we don’t have access, it’s less of a drama space and more of a family space,” Lester said.

Maya McFadden Photo Metro students have a phone-free conversation about Yondr pouches with Mayor Justin Elicker, as recorded by mayoral comms staffer Ali Oshinskie.

Metro senior Genesis Guillen Samaniego tells the mayor that "it's been so much louder” in school without phones

Lester (left) reconnects with former pre-k teacher Jenny Graves, while Brandon Daley connects with Leslie Blatteau to plan future student/teachers union collabs.

Metro parent Simmone Lall: In full support of Yondr.

Lester and Brandon connect with Alder Rodriguez. Without phones.

Staysniak: "The pouches have provided us a tremendous opportunity to address one of the most limited resources in the 21st century, which is time and attention."

The New Haven independent

Stakes Rise For Retaliatory Landlords

by Laura Glesby

The city will soon be able to revoke the landlord licenses of property owners who retaliate against their tenants for reporting unsafe living conditions.

The Board of Alders unanimously passed that update to the city’s landlord license law on Tuesday night.

The ordinance amendment is now awaiting a final signature from the mayor before officially becoming law.

The update is the final leg of a procedural overhaul within the city’s housing and blight code enforcement agency, the Livable City Initiative (LCI), shepherded by department director Liam Brennan over the past year.

Brennan and Assistant Corporation Counsel Sinclair Williams proposed a series of legislative changes to increase fines against landlords who violate health and safety codes, streamline the process of communicating and enforcing those fines, and revive a system to shut down unsafe hotels and rooming houses. As tenant activism calling out derelict living conditions across the city has surged in recent years, the legislative updates amount to a sweeping effort to heighten the consequences for landlords who violate city codes.

The landlord license update passed on Tuesday followed a yearlong effort to notify all landlords of a pre-existing yet largely unenforced city law requiring them to obtain a residential business license for every apartment building in order to legally rent out housing units. The license enables LCI to conduct annual inspections of the property, regardless of whether a tenant has called in a complaint.

“We often find housing code violations” during those peremptory inspections, Brennan said after Tuesday’s alder meeting, adding that the licensing inspections are a way of protecting tenants in unsafe homes who may not feel comfortable or may not know how to file a complaint with the city.

The landlord license inspections entail checking for safety provisions that can make the difference between life or death. Last October, after landlord Jianchao Xu did not show up for multiple scheduled inspections of 516 Elm St. in order to secure the legally mandated landlord license, the property caught fire a blaze that took the life of 32-year-old tenant Kenneth Mims. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Under the new law passed by alders, the consequences of renting out a building without a license (as Xu did in the case of 516 Elm St.) would increase from a one-time fine of $2,000 per rental unit to a daily accruing fine of $2,000 per rental unit. The law makes it so that “if you operate without [a license], that’s a huge deal” even for landlords who have the funds to write off a one-time fine from the city. The law also empowers LCI to revoke a residential business license from a landlord who is found to have retaliated

against a tenant who has filed a housing complaint with the city.

Specifically, per the ordinance, LCI can revoke a landlord’s license if they file an eviction, deny a lease renewal, raise rent, restrict previously available “services,” or harass a tenant in response to that tenant’s submission of a complaint to LCI or the Fair Rent Commission.

Per the ordinance, if a landlord takes one of those actions within six months of a tenant’s complaint, the burden is placed on the landlord to prove that retaliation was not a factor.

An initial draft of the ordinance amendment left it up to LCI staffers to investigate and determine whether such retaliation had occurred.

The final version of the ordinance, however, would refer retaliation complaints to the Fair Rent Commission a committee of both landlords and tenants that already has the power to look into retaliation complaints. In other words, LCI will be able to revoke landlord licenses if the Fair Rent Commission decides that retaliation has occurred.

Once a license is revoked, said Brennan, “we would have to send a notice” to the landlord who would have an opportunity to appeal the revocation to a hearing officer and potentially escalate their case to court.

According to Brennan, a landlord whose license has been revoked due to

retaliation would face the fine associated with renting sans a license which, as of the ordinance update, will accrue daily until that landlord can provide the city with “good faith evidence” that they have ceased the retaliation.

The ordinance does not directly entail shutting down a rental unit embroiled in a retaliation action, said Brennan. “The consequences are not that the tenant is expelled, evicted, the property is condemned. The consequences are that the landlord accrues fines.”

Asked about critiques that LCI’s landlord licensing and code violation fine overhauls are too harsh on landlords, Brennan responded that the provisions are not meant to punish landlords who are acting in good faith.

“There are plenty of landlords” who cooperate with city regulations, Brennan said, and LCI is willing to cooperate with landlords who are seeking to comply. “If we make mistakes,” Brennan said, “we will undo them.”

With respect to LCI’s new power to revoke licenses from retaliatory landlords, “what we ideally want is to never use this” provision, Brennan said. The ordinance sends a message that “you should not be retaliating against your residents for them availing themselves of their rights.”

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Thomas Breen Photo

From a 2023 protest against retaliatory evictions.

Laura Glesby File Photo LCI Neighborhood Specialist Rosaly Rosario, Assistant Corporation Counsel Sinclair Williams, and Director Liam Brennan at an alder committee hearing about the legislation.

PENFIELD COMMUNITIONS INC

The New Haven independent

APT Approach Divides Hill Candidates

by Laura Glesby

To Wanda Dawson, the APT Foundation’s methadone clinic around the corner from her home in the Hill is simultaneously a hub of disruptive behavior in her neighborhood and a lifeline that led to her own recovery.

She told her alder, Angel Hubbard, on Monday afternoon that she doesn’t necessarily want to see the clinic move just that she wants the organization and its clients to be more cognizant of their neighbors.

The Hill’s Ward 3, which Hubbard represents, is one of three wards in the city with a Democratic primary election on Tuesday. (The other two are Yale/downtown’s Ward 1 and Morris Cove’s Ward 18.)

Hubbard became the ward’s alder one year ago after winning a close special election against Miguel Pittman, who is running against her this year once again. Pittman, a registered Democrat, is challenging Hubbard not only in the Democratic Primary but as the Republican and Independent Party-endorsed candidate in November’s general election.

The APT Foundation’s Congress Avenue location has long been a source of concern for Ward 3 residents, who have for years called out open substance use, public urination, trespassing, and drug sales in the vicinity of the clinic, which is located right across the street from a school.

It’s also been a source of life-saving treatment, including but not limited to medication-based treatment, for people struggling with addiction.

The organization has marked a defining difference between Hubbard and Pittman; while Hubbard has called for APT to relocate to a to-be-built new building on Long Wharf, Pittman has advocated against the organization’s presence in the city entirely.

When Hubbard knocked on supporters’ doors over the course of Monday afternoon, she heard a variety of opinions on the subject from residents.

“I’d like to see that place over there gone,” said Debbie Fisher, who lives around the corner from APT.

“I have no ill will” toward the clients who receive treatment at APT, she said, adding that she offers water and food to the clients when she can. But she’s tired of seeing substance use and drug dealing on a daily basis in her neighborhood.

While APT’s mission is to help people break addiction cycles, both Fisher and Hubbard believe that the organization’s clients are substantial contributors to open substance use in the area.

Dawson, meanwhile, who has lived on Daggett Street for decades, said that she supports the APT Foundation’s presence in the neighborhood, even though she wants the organization to take further action to curb certain public behaviors.

“I love the APT ‘cause I was on the APT,” Dawson said. “I took methadone…

I’m sober 25 years.” After first being a client of APT’s, Dawson said she became a recovery coach helping others find healing and support through their addiction.

Dawson said that she’s stern with both drug users and drug dealers who regularly frequent the area that they cannot bring destructive behavior to her block. She said she wants APT to take a similar approach. “I don’t care if you stay here,” she said, but “there needs to be more consequences for your actions.”

Hubbard said she’s most concerned about the impact of the frequent substance use on the children attending John C. Daniels School across the street from APT.

She said she received a call from a constituent on the second day of school last week about an encampment in the yard behind the school, where kids come out to play.

Hubbard said she went to the school to speak to the people who were camping. She said she woke them up and offered to connect them to aid from nonprofits. “The thing is, I don’t want to tell you ‘you have to go’ and you have nowhere to go,” she said. “They rejected the services but they were very respectful,” she said, and they left the school grounds.

Hubbard said she later joined Hill organizer Howard Boyd and the Yale Needle Exchange in picking up dozens of syringes from the yard behind the school.

Regardless of whether those particular individuals were APT clients, Hubbard argued that the APT Foundation is not currently ensuring that its clients are behaving respectfully in the neighborhood.

“I’m not against APT. I’m totally not against APT,” she said. “My problem is that we need to find a median ground… a

way to work together” to better the neighborhood without taking away addiction services.

“So far, the best solution is to relocate APT off of Congress Avenue,” she declared. She reiterated her support for a plan to build new headquarters for APT within a currently industrial, soon-to-beredesigned portion of Long Wharf.

Mayor Justin Elicker had negotiated that proposal with APT after a prior plan for the organization to open a new location in Newhallville faced extensive neighborhood pushback. APT planned to construct a building specifically designed for addiction services, including an indoor waiting area for clients to spend time in until they are ready to go outside. On Congress Avenue, “they don’t have the space” for clients to linger indoors, Hubbard said.

Now, Long Wharf and Hill South residents joined by Pittman are expressing adamant opposition to APT’s relocation there. After the City Plan Commission denied necessary approvals this summer, the Long Wharf relocation plan hangs in limbo and APT remains on Congress Avenue.

Hubbard said she plans to continue fighting for a solution to neighbors’ concerns about substance use.

She’s also running with support from the local Unite Here unions and New Haven Rising, with a message of advocating for more affordability in the city. “I am a mom of seven,” she noted. “We do need affordable homes, better jobs, more resources for schools.”

In the last year, Hubbard said she’s learned that “this is definitely a demanding, 24/7 job.” It’s not only about imagining substantial change it’s about advocating for every dangerous tree to be cut down and every rickety sidewalk to be repaved. “If your heart is not in it, this is not for you. My constituents, they call me at 2, 3 o’clock in the morning and I do answer.”

Dawson recalled that when she first met Hubbard in the midst of last year’s special election, she felt skeptical at first.

In the year that’s passed since, Dawson said, Hubbard has earned her vote wholeheartedly in large part due to the community gatherings she’s organized.

Hubbard organized a 300-person field trip to Quassy Amusement and Water Park for Juneteenth as well as an Easter Egg hunt that drew a thousand participants. She convened vigils and backpack giveaways.

These events reminded Dawson of a Hill community spirit all “about looking out for other people.”

Growing up in the Hill, Dawson recalled, “We used to do field trips. We had parks. We had teen centers. We protested and we looked after each other.” She felt that spirit of community lagging and believes that Hubbard is “bringing it back.”

Laura Glesby Photo Hill Alder Angel Hubbard with supporter Wanda Dawson,

Debbie Fisher said she’s supporting Hubbard in part because the alder ensured that the city took down a dangerous, about-to-fall tree on a city property next to her home.

Porter Street resident Francis Howard praised Hubbard's advocacy for repaved sidewalks on his block.

Meanwhile, Hubbard calmed Fisher's baby, who'd been crying in resistance of a nap she sorely needed. "I'm not gonna shush you," Hubbard told the baby. "Sometimes it's good to let it out."

The New Haven independent

R&B Star Boosts Local Lemonade

by Lisa Reisman

On the uppermost shelf in a display refrigerator of 3 Brothers Mini Market on the corner of Chapel and Beers Street, there’s the most recent flavor of the Gorilla Lemonade brand: the limited edition Pina Colada.

Its existence, which began Aug. 8 in a collaboration between Grammy award-winning artist Eric Bellinger and the creators of New Haven’s Gorilla Lemonade, owes itself to a combination of sheer thirst, serendipity, a dash of entrepreneurial flair, and a generous helping of mutual interest and affection.

The story begins in the wee morning hours in early February when Bellinger and his team arrived at the Cambria Hotel for a performance at Toad’s Place the next night. The R&B powerhouse was in town as part of his Around the World Tour. Everyone was parched. In the refrigerator of their rooms were bottles of Gorilla Lemonade. Each cost eight dollars.

“Lemonade is my all-time favorite drink no matter what, so went for it, and it was incredible, and we drank one and then another and another and we were like ‘Man, we’re going to have to get more of these,’” Bellinger recalled in his signature velvety smooth voice when reached at his home in Los Angeles.

That night, Syx, a rapper and artist mentored by Bellinger, as well as his tour manager, tagged Gorilla Lemonade on Instagram. Co-founder Kristen Threatt replied, offering to bring over a box. “They came to the hotel the next day, they showed love, and gave me some of their merch,” said the Roc Nation artist, including a letterman jacket.

It was an example of the enterprising chops that’s had Threatt, along with co-founder Brian Burkett-Thompson, building Gorilla Lemonade from a concoction in Burkett-Thompson’s kitchen in February 2022 to a beverage supplier contract with Yale in March 2023 to its promotion by such figures as U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Philadelphia Eagles running

back Saquon Barkley to the popular drink currently being carried by 200 stores across Connecticut and 35 nationwide. It was also, to hear Threatt tell it, “an authentic relationship off the bat. We just clicked.”

Bellinger invited the lemonade founders to his gig at Toad’s Place. “It was dope,” Threatt said. A few weeks later, Bellinger pinged him. We ran out, he said. Send more. For the rest of the tour, “we made sure they kept our refrigerators full,” Bellinger said.

Sometime in the spring, Threatt reached out, challenging Bellinger to come up with his own flavor. Among those he taste-tested: honey lavender mint. Jogue, Inc., the full-service flavor company based in Plymouth, Michigan, that has produced lemon, strawberry, blueberry, pineapple, and watermelon blends for Gorilla Lemonade, sent him a bottle. “It tasted like Robitussin,” he said, laughing. “Nasty,” said Threatt, who then suggested Pina Colada.

“It was fire,” Threatt said. Bellinger’s

take: “a tropical escape in a can that no passport requires.”

Going forward, Bellinger said, there are plans for more collaborations, particularly ones that involve work in the community. Bellinger has placed an emphasis on paying it forward, mentoring the next generation of R&B artists. He’s also been featured in the Father Noir series, which focuses on celebrating Black fatherhood. With a tagline of community over competition, Threatt and Burkett-Thompson’s company likewise has become a model for parlaying its profits into giving back to the neighborhoods that raised them. The company donates 25 cents from every bottle sold to fund Thanksgiving food drives for people experiencing homelessness, support for community members who have fallen on hard times, and Christmas toy drives for families, as well as an annual summer camp to teach kids the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.

“In terms of what we can do, this is just the beginning,” Bellinger said.

Park Here, Go Anywhere.

Kristen Threatt photo Kristen Threatt and Eric Bellinger at the Cambria Hotel in February.

The New Haven independent

Republican Mayoral Candidate Slams Yale

by Adam Walker

Standing near the New Haven Harbor at sunset, Republican mayoral candidate Steve Orosco delivered a fiery rebuke of Yale University’s dominance in the city and urged his party to take the fight directly into Connecticut’s Democratic strongholds.

He put forward that argument Monday night at a fundraiser at the Pequonnock Yacht Club.

The event was attended by roughly 60 people, including Republican gubernatorial candidates Ryan Fazio and Jen Tooker, Orosco’s campaign strategist Jason Bartlett, and Republican Town Committee Chair John Carlson.

Over the course of three hours, Orosco a mixed-martial artist and frequent Republican candidate for office who is challenging three-term incumbent Democrat Justin Elicker in November cast his campaign as a battle against entrenched power, arguing that Republicans must engage more aggressively in cities like New Haven, Hartford, and Waterbury if they hope to compete statewide.

“Until Republicans in Connecticut start fighting in cities and stop worrying about being canceled, the state is never going to change,” Orosco said to applause. “We all agree crime is a problem. We all agree education is a problem. So if we all agree, why aren’t we all fighting for the same thing?”

Much of Orosco’s criticism centered on Yale, which he accused of draining city resources and shrinking the tax base. He argued that the university’s expansion shifts the financial burden onto residents and creates a model that is “not sustainable” for taxpayers funding essential services.

Orosco tied Yale’s footprint to broader failures in city governance, citing shortages of police officers, teachers, and public works staff, as well as neglected waterfront development opportunities. He also underscored what he sees as Yale’s outsized influence on local politics, noting that many Democratic leaders including incumbent Mayor Elicker, former Mayor Toni Harp, and both candidates in

this year’s Ward 1 race were educated at the university.

“The goal is for Yale to control the city,” Orosco said, warning that unless the balance is shifted through economic growth and investment beyond the university.

Yale’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this article. Yale’s spokesperson has previously pointed to how the the university makes the largest voluntary contribution to its home city of any university the country; that it is one of the city’s largest taxpayers; that it is New Haven’s largest employer; and that it has developed community partnerships through programs like New Haven Works and the New Haven Hiring Initiative.

Elicker, meanwhile, has pushed back on Orosco’s critique that he is too close to Yale as “silly,” pointing to his administration’s role in boosting Yale’s voluntary payment to the city from $13 million to $24 million annually as part of a six-year deal approved by the alders in April 2022. Orosco also painted a vision on Monday of what New Haven could be if its assets were better used.

“We are the most important hub of the entire state. We have a growing airport in Tweed. We have Yale, everything is

here but can you name one reason to come besides for pizza?” Orosco said, referring to Connecticut being named the pizza capital of the country. “We are literally the Boston of Massachusetts or the Manhattan of New York. We’re the only city on the entire eastern seaboard that has not built onto the water.”

Guest speakers echoed Orosco’s message. State Sen. Ryan Fazio the front-runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination praised New Haven’s potential while blasting current leadership for rising crime, higher property taxes, and poor educational outcomes. He said the city has “all the attributes for success” but is being held back by failed policies, arguing that Orosco would bring the accountability and reforms needed to make New Haven more affordable and ensure every child receives a quality education. “This city deserves a better class of leadership. It deserves a better mayor, and that mayor is Steve Orosco,” Fazio said, pointing to Orosco’s proposals on literacy, phonics, and ending “social promotion” in schools.

Jen Tooker, the first selectwoman of Westport, also spoke, drawing on her experience running a heavily Democratic community. She described the role of mayor as the “CEO” of a city and stressed that vision “comes from the top.” Tooker said Orosco will need to unite residents behind his goals, build an effective team in City Hall, and act as the city’s “biggest cheerleader.”

As of the time of this article’s publication, Orosco’s team had not announced how much money the fundraiser itself brought in.

Orosco is not participating in the city’s public-financing Democracy Fund program, thereby allowing him to raise campaign contributions worth up to $1,000 apiece. Elicker is participating in the program, and has voluntarily limited individual contributions to no more than $400 apiece in order to qualify for matching funds and a public grant.

As the election season intensifies, Orosco’s waterfront fundraiser offered a glimpse of the message he plans to carry into the final stretch: challenging Yale’s influence and rallying Republicans to compete in urban strongholds.

Rayn Fazio (right): “This city deserves a better class of leadership."

Jason Bartlett (right) with Orosco at Monday fundraiser.

The New Haven independent

State Gives City 85 Voting Machines

by Laura Glesby

Eighty-five new ballot-counting machines are here to stay after the city piloted them for the 2024 presidential election. The Board of Alders voted on Tuesday to accept a gift of those 85 tabulators from the Secretary of the State’s office, one week before the upcoming primary election day for three alder races on Sept. 9. New Haven had been one of nine towns and cities to use the new machines on a trial basis last year for the 2024 general election in November.

“The tabulators we were using were really old. They were chronically having problems, not only in New Haven but across the state,” said Republican Registrar of Voters Lisa Milone.

With new machines last November, “the rollout evidently was smooth,” Milone said. “I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback.”

Nearly all of the new machines are DS300s. One, however, is a coveted DS950 an especially fast machine specifically designated to count absentee ballots after the polls close.

Longtime poll worker Kevin Arnold, who is serving as the head moderator of early voting this primary election, said that the previous tabulators used across

the state would often break down.

“When they worked, they were reliable” and accurate, he said. But the old machines would often stop functioning. The new tabulators, based on his experience in the last election, are “much more reliable, much faster.”

According to Roger Senserrich, a spokesperson for the Office of the Sec-

retary of State, “Previous tabulators were also purchased by the office of the Secretary of the State and transferred to municipalities.”

The city will be responsible for maintenance costs, as in previous years. According to a fiscal impact statement submitted to the Board of Alders, the projected cost of this maintenance is about $32,960 annually.

39-Year-Old Arrested For Double Homicide

by Thomas Breen

City police have arrested a 39-year-old New Havener for allegedly murdering two men on Dickerman Street two weeks ago.

The suspect’s lawyer said that the fatal shooting took place as his client stepped in to defend his own brother.

Police Chief Karl Jacobson and Assistant Police Chief David Zannelli announced the arrest during a Monday afternoon press conference held on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave.

They said that city police have arrested Sergio Thomas for the Aug. 25 double homicide of Daiquan Hyman, a 26-year-old from East Haven, and Ernest Williams, a 32-year-old from New Haven.

The fatal shooting took place at around 2:12 p.m. on a Monday on Dickerman Street. “It appears at first glance that an altercation occurred between a group of men,” which led to an argument and then escalated to a shooting, Zannelli said.

Jacobson said the fight appears to have started on Whalley Avenue and then spilled over onto Dickerman. Police believe that the fight may have been related to a dispute between Hyman and someone he served prison time with. “We believe it was some kind of beef,” and that Thomas was “called to the scene.”

Zannelli credited lead Det. Joseph Galvan for working quickly to identify the alleged shooter, leading to Thomas’ arrest in Waterbury on Friday, Sept. 5, on two counts of murder.

Thomas was arraigned in state court on

Monday, and is currently being held on a $3 million bond.

Jacobson said city police might make further arrests in this case related to the fight and the calling of Thomas to the scene. But, he said, “we believe we have the shooter in custody.”

Zannelli added that Thomas is a valid pistol holder, and that he has two legally registered 9 millimeter guns. Police have seized one of those guns as part of the investigation into this homicide.

Attorney Darnell Crosland, who represented Thomas at Monday’s arraignment,

told the Independent that he plans on arguing the amount of the $3 million bond when his client’s case is transferred to the “Part A” state court later this month.

Crosland said that, according to the warrant that led to his client’s arrest, there were Ring cameras that captured three individuals “trailing” Thomas’ brother, “making comments that they were looking to shoot and hurt” him.

“By the time my client arrived, they were beating him,” Crosland said about Thomas’ brother. He said that one of the fight participants had a knife. Another had a gun.

“My client came to the defense of his brother,” Crosland said. Does that mean he believes that Thomas is the one who shot and killed Hyman and Williams?

Crosland said that it’s not clear yet from the evidence as to who fired the bullets that killed Hyman and Williams. There was at least one other person with a gun at the scene. All he is clear on, Crosland said, is that Thomas “engaged to save his brother.”

Asked at Monday’s police presser about this argument that Thomas was acting to defend his brother, Zannelli noted that police have video evidence of the shooting, and that “video evidence doesn’t lie.”

New Haven has seen 13 homicides so far this year, including five in a roughly two-week period in late August and early September. Jacobson said that city police have made 12 homicide arrests so far this year, including five for the 13 homicides that occurred this year.

Voting in action, in September 2024.

Chief Jacobson, with Asst. Chief Zannelli: "We believe we have the shooter in custody."

The New Haven independent

CTNewsJunkie

A&I 30th Bash Strings Talent Into Next Generation

by Jisu Sheen

As singer Doron Flake belted out the words to Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas’ 30th birthday celebration at Lighthouse Point Park on Sunday, he tried his best to hold back. He had played a wedding the night before. So he had been trying to conserve his energy all weekend by stopping himself from going all out on the mic no easy feat, it seemed, for someone born to be a star.

Behind Doron was his father, Dudley Flake, backing him perfectly on the keyboard. Randy Bost played trumpet; Cedric Herbert was on guitar. Together, the musicians were core members of The Chill Project, a multigenerational jazz, funk, and R&B band with a long history of teaching and playing music in New Haven.

They came together Sunday during the cocktail hour of the celebration, a blacktie affair dubbed the Pearl Gala in honor of the annual summer festival’s 30-year “pearl anniversary.”

The gathering was a celebration of the longevity of the Arts & Ideas Festival and its living founders, Anne Tyler Calabresi and Roslyn Milstein Meyer. The fundraiser aimed to raise $40,000 for future Arts & Ideas programming, with attendees pledging gift amounts in real time. A screen with a thermometer image showed live progress toward the gala’s goal. By the end of dinner, I saw the total climb to over $16,000.

The event reflected a multigenerational legacy of the festival: The enduring vision of the women who started it three decades ago, and the manifold opportunities it offers for talent including local talent like the Monks to reach audiences.

For the last song of The Chill Project’s set, there was no holding back. Herbert hit the introductory guitar lick of Prince’s “Kiss,” and any Prince fan in the crowd knew they were in for some theatrics. Doron leaned back, played with the mic, and did a few classic Prince screams, switching gracefully from super-cool to eccentric and back again. It was the only way to do it.

Doron and his father have been playing music together since he was a kid in church. He joined the band in high school, and he’s been jamming with the crew ever since. Doron is in other bands as well, like the one he played with for the wedding, but The Chill Project remains his favorite.

“We have an understanding,” Doron said. “We get each other.”

The band was a fitting example of the magic that happens when one generation supports another. The gala put this into practice in the dinner portion of its program as well, not just honoring the founders of the festival but showcasing a short performance from working artists of the here and now.

Johnathan Moore, one of the performers for the evening, had been honing his craft for the past 19 years.

That craft was his instrument, the cello. Crossing genres and techniques, Moore is known on a local and national level for bringing the 16th-century invention into the modern era by using things like a loop pedal, a piece of electronic hardware that allows Moore to sample himself in real time.

For the gala, Moore left his loop pedal at home, instead choosing to experiment in a more organic way. When a gala attendee asked what he was going to perform, Moore said his plan was to improvise for four minutes. He said he is “inspired by all different genres,” so the result would be a mixture not easily categorized into a single box.

As the sun prepared to set over the sand and beachy grass outside, Moore made his way to the venue’s stage, a wide dance floor at the center of the building. Moore closed his eyes and brought deep

“Amalgamation”

Unites Caribbean Dance Talent At Shubert

by Adam Wassilchalk

Amalgamation Shubert Theatre Sept. 5

“You will get a taste of everything,” promised Plié For The Arts, the Kingston, Jamaica-based dance company behind Amalgamation, a three-act dance piece that played at the Shubert Theatre on Friday night.

Amalgamation certainly lived up to the hype. The multigenre dance extravaganza brought together dancers from across the Caribbean; including members of NDTC, CDT, the Ashe Company, Dance Theatre Xamayca, Movements Dance Company, and the University of the West Indies Dance Society; and choreographers both local and international, including Jessica Lang, Robert Battle, Andrew Winghart, Shahar Binyamini, Renee McDonald, Steve Cornwall and Orville McFarlane.

The first act opened with a piece called “Memoria” choreographed by Andrew Winghart. In it, a group of two dozen white-clad dancers, all members of what the company calls the “Plié Global Collective,” danced to music, lighting, and projections inspired by the awe-inspiring vastness of the cosmos and the celestial bodies within. Their movements were appropriately expansive, open, and suggestive of circular orbits.

Later in the first act, “The Calling,” choreographed by Jessica Lang, featured a single dancer, Ashley Gordon, wearing a massive stone-white dress that splayed out across the entire stage floor. As she danced gently and delicately to a track featuring a single operatic voice, she continued to twist in a single direction, causing the dress to envelop her in a spiral formation. By the end of the piece, she looked like an elegant marble statue, looking up toward the heavens as the spotlight on her went dark.

melodies to the forefront, stretching tempo, dissonance, and harmony to create a moving improvisational piece. He made the notes vibrate and hum, giving each moment space to breathe and become something new. There was no need for sheet music. Moore was playing not just by heart, but from his heart.

Singers and speakers then joined in, standing throughout the room, to share quotes and revelations on the topic of pearls. At the right moments, Moore plucked single notes and played chords to emphasize the words. He ended with a light, foreboding tremolo followed by a triumphant chordal flourish.

“It feels surreal,” he said of his role in the next generation of musicians, proud to be “one of the innovators of my instrument.”

In the second act, I was most wowed by Robert Battle’s “The Hunt,” a four-dancer piece underscored by intense and frequent drumbeats that felt fiercely and tenderly masculine. The dancers, wearing black and red skirt-like garments with their upper bodies exposed, exuded a volcanic energy with their movements; mainly slow, powerful, and deliberately paced, but simultaneously volatile and moments’ notice away from grand energetic release. There seemed to be many stories to be told in the piece as the dancers held, mirrored, and confronted each other with arm- and hand-heavy gestures. I gasped as the piece concluded with two of the dancers falling prone, defeated by the other two after a dynamic bout of stylized slices, chops, and kicks.

The final act kicked off with the world premiere of Orville McFarlane’s “Paragon,” a piece set against a light blue backdrop, with dancers from the Global Collective clad in dazzling blue leotards, and underscored by foreboding and chimey music that suggested both the wonder and looming danger of icy terrain. The dancers, gliding effortlessly across the stage as individuals and pairs while barefoot, reminded me of figure skaters, helping each other traverse the bitter cold while finding warmth in each other. The whole piece felt like a dance companion to the

artworks in Lorna Simpson’s “Ice Series”, which collage Black figures into vast blue arctic landscapes. The final tableau featured the dancers arranged in such a way to form a glacier or iceberg, including one dancer lifted horizontally, with the curvature of her body forming the jagged edges of the ice. “Paragon” was the coolest piece of the night, pun intended.

The final piece was a tribute to Jamaican Dancehall culture, choreographed by Steve Cornwall. The piece, performed to a medley of vivacious songs, featured some of the most contemporary dance and costuming of the night, and was a definite crowd favorite. Cheers and applause erupted as the booty shorts-clad collective shook ass, made it rain, and brought electric vibes and high-tempo fun to the show closer, getting the audience up on their feet to dance along as the curtain came down.

Prior to the start of the first act, Plié For The Arts’ founder, Marisa Benain, took the stage to offer a few remarks, including a reminder to all that “the universe does not have a budget on greatness.” Amalgamation, with an overflowing pool of talented dance artists shining across genre and style, is proof of that.

Jisu Sheen photos Doron Flake crooning Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are."

Arts & Ideas staff member Clifford Schloss at the ready to help with donations.

Arts & Ideas co-founders and gala honorees Anne Tyler Calabresi (middle) and Roslyn Milstein Meyer (right).

The New Haven independent

Photo by Nir Arieli

PBS Premieres Thurgood Marshall Documentary This September

Courtesy of Shaun White, HBCUNews.com

By Walter Hudson

This September, PBS viewers will have the unprecedented opportunity to hear Thurgood Marshall tell his own story in his own words. “Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect,” premiering Tuesday, September 9, 2025, marks the first documentary to center Marshall’s own voice through a rare eight-hour oral history, offering audiences an intimate conversation with the man whose legal brilliance fundamentally reshaped American society.

The documentary, executive produced by Emmy Award-winning and Oscarnominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson alongside Maryland Public Television’s Travis Mitchell, represents a significant addition to the canon of civil rights documentaries. Under the direction of Alexis Aggrey, who also serves as producer, the film promises to deliver fresh insights into the life of the nation’s first African American Supreme Court Justice, accompanied by music from two-time Grammy Award-winning composer Derrick Hodge.

A Journey from Baltimore to the Supreme Court

Marshall’s story begins in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908, where he was born into a world where racial segregation was not just legal but mandated by law. The documentary traces his educational journey through Historically Black Colleges and Universities, specifically Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law, institutions that would prove instrumental in shaping his legal philosophy and approach to civil rights advocacy.

The film captures Marshall’s transformation from a young law student to the nation’s premier civil rights attor-

ney, earning him the moniker “Mr. Civil Rights.” His legal career was marked by extraordinary success before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he won 29 of the 32 cases he argued. These victories weren’t merely legal triumphs; they were systematic dismantling of the legal foundations of racial segregation in America.

The Brown v. Board Legacy

At the heart of Marshall’s legal legacy stands the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, which invalidated the “separate but equal” doctrine that had justified racial segregation for decades. This case alone transformed American society by ending legal segregation in public schools, but it represented just one victory in Marshall’s broader campaign against institutional racism.

The documentary explores how Marshall’s legal strategy went beyond individual cases to pursue a comprehensive approach to civil rights law. His work at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educa-

tional Fund established precedents that would benefit generations of Americans, creating a legal framework for equality that extended far beyond education into housing, employment, and voting rights.

Historic Supreme Court Appointment

In 1967, Marshall achieved another historic milestone when he became the first African American appointed to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. This appointment represented not just personal achievement but a symbolic breakthrough that demonstrated the progress America had made in recognizing the full citizenship and capabilities of African Americans.

The documentary examines Marshall’s tenure on the Supreme Court, where he continued to champion civil rights and social justice from the nation’s highest judicial bench. His judicial philosophy and opinions during this period reflected the same commitment to equality and justice that had driven his career as a civil rights

lawyer.

What sets “Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect” apart from previous documentaries about Marshall is its unprecedented access to his own words. Director Alexis Aggrey emphasizes that this film represents the first time that audiences will hear Marshall tell his own story through the rare eight-hour oral history that serves as the documentary’s foundation.

This approach transforms the viewing experience from a traditional biographical documentary into what Aggrey describes as “a conversation with a man whose legal mind reshaped the nation and whose legacy still echoes through our justice system today.” The use of Marshall’s own voice adds authenticity and intimacy to the narrative, allowing viewers to understand not just what he accomplished, but how he thought about his work and its significance.

The documentary is enriched by exclusive interviews with family members, leading historians, authors, and legal experts who provide contemporar y analysis of Marshall’s work and its continuing relevance. These p er sp e c t i v e s help contextualize Marshall’s achievement s within the broader sweep of American history and demonstrate how his legal innovations continue to influence civil rights law today.

The film’s scholarly approach reflects the extensive research capabilities of the Aggrey Company, which has established relationships with major historical institutions including the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and various historical societies. This research foundation ensures that the documentary presents Marshall’s story with both historical accuracy and contemporary relevance.

Part of Broader Educational Initiative

“Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect” will serve as the centerpiece of HBCU Week NOW 2025, a public media

partnership celebrating the history, legacy, and cultural heritage of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This connection underscores the documentary’s educational mission and its relevance to contemporary discussions about educational equity and opportunity. The film’s integration into this broader educational initiative reflects Marshall’s own educational journey and his lifelong commitment to expanding educational opportunities for all Americans. By anchoring HBCU Week NOW 2025, the documentary helps illuminate the crucial role these institutions played in developing the leaders who would transform American society.

Continuing Relevance in Modern America

Executive producer Stanley Nelson notes that Marshall’s legacy “continues to expand and endure in these turbulent times,” highlighting the documentary’s contemporary relevance. In an era when civil rights and social justice remain contentious issues, Marshall’s life and work provide both historical perspective and inspiration for ongoing efforts to achieve equality and justice.

The documentary arrives at a moment when America continues to grapple with questions of racial equality, voting rights, and educational opportunity—issues that were central to Marshall’s legal career. By presenting Marshall’s story in his own words, the film offers viewers the opportunity to learn directly from one of America’s most influential legal minds about the principles and strategies that can guide contemporary civil rights efforts.

“Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect” premieres Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at 10:00 p.m. ET on PBS, PBS. org, and the PBS app, making Marshall’s powerful story accessible to audiences across multiple platforms and ensuring that his voice continues to resonate with new generations of Americans.

Joseph McNeil, who helped spark a protest movement at a North Carolina lunch counter, dies at 83

by Shaun White, HBCUNEWS.com

Joseph McNeil, one of four North Carolina college students whose occupation of a racially segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter 65 years ago helped spark nonviolent civil rights sit-in protests across the South, died Thursday, his university said. He was 83.

McNeil, who later became a two-star general, was one of four freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro who sat down at the local “whites only” counter on Feb. 1, 1960.

The young Black men were refused service and declined to give up their seats even as the store manager and police urged them to move on.

Statements from North Carolina A&T and the family did not give his cause of death or where he died. McNeil had been living in New York.

The historically Black university said that McNeil had recent health challenges but still managed to attend the sit-in’s 65th anniversary observance this year in Greensboro.

McNeil’s death means Jibreel Khazan — formerly Ezell Blair Jr. — is now the only surviving member of the four. Franklin McCain died in 2014 and David Richmond in 1990.

“We were quite serious, and the issue that we rallied behind was a very serious issue because it represented years of suffering and disrespect and humiliation,”

McNeil said in a 2010 Associated Press story on the 50th anniversary of the sit-in and the opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum on the site of the old Woolworth’s store. “Segregation was an evil kind of thing that needed attention.”

On the sit-in’s first day, the four young

men stayed until the store closed. More protesters joined the next day and days following, leading to at least 1,000 by the fifth day. Within weeks, sit-ins were launched in more than 50 cities in nine states. The Woolworth’s counter in Greensboro — about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Raleigh — was desegregated within six months.

McNeil and his classmates “inspired a nation with their courageous, peaceful protest, powerfully embodying the idea that young people could change the world. His leadership and the example of the A&T Four continue to inspire our students today,” school Chancellor James Martin said in a news release. A monument to the four men sits on the A&T campus.

The Greensboro sit-in also led to the formation in Raleigh of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,

which became a key part of the student direct-action civil rights movement.

Demonstrations between 1960 and 1965 helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

McNeil and the sit-in participants leave a legacy of non-violent protests that “promote equity and social justice and social change in America and throughout the world,” museum co-founder Earl Jones said Thursday.

The students decided to act when McNeil returned to school on a bus from New York — and the racial atmosphere became more and more oppressive the further south he went, according to the AP’s story in 2010.

The first-day effort was meticulously planned, including the purchase of school supplies and toiletries and keeping the receipts to show the lunch counter was the only portion of the store where racial seg-

regation still prevailed.

Joseph A. McNeil grew up in coastal Wilmington and was an ROTC member at A&T. He retired as a two-star major general from the Air Force Reserves in 2001 and also worked as an investment banker. McNeil is honored in Wilmington with an historical marker on a street segment named for him. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris sat at a section of the lunch counter that remains intact within the museum in 2021. Another portion is at the Smithsonian.

McNeil’s family said a tribute to honor his life will be announced separately. McNeil’s “legacy is a testament to the power of courage and conviction,” his son, Joseph McNeil Jr., said in the family’s statement. “His impact on the civil rights movement and his service to the nation will never be forgotten.”

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MAGA Billboard in Montgomery Sparks Outrage with Racist Imagery

By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Correspondent

A billboard in Montgomery, Alabama, has ignited a storm of backlash after displaying the words “It’s Time to Get the Clowns Out!” alongside images of people in racist blackface, all framed in the branding of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

The display, funded through the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and created by the artist-led group For Freedoms, was intended to spark dialogue ahead of an exhibit marking the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Instead, it set off anger and pain in a city where civil rights history is not a distant memory but a lived experience. Critics say the pairing of MAGA messaging with blackface is more than provocative — it is racist and dangerous. “Timing and context mean everything,” wrote one Montgomery resident in response. Others argued that no amount of artistic intent could justify splashing racist caricatures on a public billboard in

a majority-Black city.

Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed ordered the billboard removed almost immediately after it went up, calling it a politicized distortion of a sacred history.

“We must be extremely mindful of how we use such images of our shared history, especially when they risk being perceived as politically charged,” Reed stated. “Our history deserves to be treated with the utmost respect and care, ensuring it unifies rather than divides us as a community.”

The decision to take down the billboard exposed a deeper conflict between the city and the museum’s leadership. According to members of the museum’s board, the billboard had been erected without their approval, adding to what they describe as a two-year struggle with City Hall over control of the museum’s operations.

The controversy has drawn sharp responses from civil rights and arts advocates. The Southern Poverty Law Center praised the mayor’s decision, saying, “We can never afford to empower or embolden bad actors to cause harm and trample

the rights and freedoms of marginalized groups.” But the National Coalition Against Censorship condemned the move as government overreach, writing in a letter to Reed, “Though you may not agree with the politics or the vision of the artists behind the billboard, your position… does not give you the right to enforce your personal political perspective on the museum’s programming.” For many in Montgomery, the billboard has reopened wounds tied to the ongoing use of MAGA rhetoric. The slogan, tied to Donald Trump’s presidency, has long raised questions: Which America is being called “great,” and when exactly was it great? “This is a country built on slavery, and the legacy of slavery,” one resident stated. “What has been great are the people who fought for freedom. That is what makes America great.” The billboard may be gone, but the questions it raised — about race, history, and who gets to decide how America’s past is remembered — remain on full display.

Magic Sounds the Alarm: The HIV Crisis Isn’t Over for Black Folks

The NBA legend worries young people in the Black community have learned the wrong lesson from his long-term survival.

by Joseph Williams

Having survived HIV/AIDS for more than 30 years, Earvin "Majic"Johnson worries that younger generations no longer believe the virus is serious enough to protedt themselves and others — even though HIV-AIDS disproportionately affects the Black community. Credit: Getty Images

Overview:

Johnson's 1991 diagnosis rocked the sports world and made international headlines, back when infection was a death sentence. But the basketball Hall of Famer now has a viral load that's virtually undetectable. He beat long odds: Black people are infected — and die — at disproportionately high rates, compared with whites.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson wants to spread the word to Black Gen Z’ers — especially those who think HIV/AIDS is no big deal because an NBA legend like him has lived with it for more than three decades. Although it is no longer a death sentence, he says, it’s still killing Black people, and should be taken seriously.

By making it to his 66th birthday, “I was the curse and good for the disease,” said Johnson during his keynote speech Friday at the National Minority AIDS/HIV Conference in Washington, D.C. “They saw me, and then they saw that I had been living this long life. But then they said, ‘Oh, if I get HIV, I’m gonna be good, because Magic is good.’ And we can’t look at it like that.”

LEARN MORE: 40 Years Later, AIDS Still Rages in Black Communities

The data backs up his warning: Black

people represent around 13% of the U.S. population, but account for roughly 39% of all new HIV diagnoses. Four in 10 people currently living with HIV are Black, and 43% of all HIV-related deaths are Black — more than any other racial/ethnic group in the U.S. And with President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts, drugs like the ones that kept Johnson alive could be harder to get for low-income Medicaid patients.

Black people must be careful, Johnson said, because the virus “is out here in a big way in our community.”

‘The Curse and the Good’

In a half-hour talk that was part sermon, part call to action, and part locker-room pep-talk, Johnson recounted his journey from what he himself considered a terminal illness to his longevity (he just celebrated his 66th birthday). Strolling into the audience with his microphone, Johnson discussed the need to fight disinformation in the Black community, how he intends to continue advocating for funding to fight the virus, and keep the public engaged.

An NBA Hall of Famer, five-time world champion, Olympic gold medalist, and wealthy businessman, Johnson is perhaps the highest-profile person living with AIDS since the virus emerged as a public health threat in the 1980s. His diagnosis, however, literally changed the face of the disease, transforming it from a disease that was typically associated with white gay men — and that carried a lot of stigma.

They saw me, and then they saw that I had been living this long life. But then they said, ‘Oh, if I get HIV, I’m gonna be good, because Magic is good.’ And we

can’t look at it like that.

EARVIN

“MAGIC” JOHNSON

Johnson put a famous Black face on a disease that was devastating communities of color, but received relatively little attention. For Black America, the epidemic was already shifting — cases among white gay men were slowing. But infections among Black women and heterosexual Black men, particularly in the South, were climbing fast.

Not a Death Sentence

Three decades later, science has transformed HIV into a chronic condition that can be managed with medication. But for Black communities, the burden remains out of proportion.

Black men are diagnosed with HIV more than seven times as often as white

men, while Black women face rates up to 18 times higher than white women. Public health experts point to systemic barriers — poverty, racism, stigma, and unequal access to consistent care — as key drivers.

There has been progress: between 2018 and 2022, new infections among Black people dropped 18%. Yet Johnson’s reminder is clear. The virus may no longer be the death sentence it once was, but in Black America, HIV remains a mirror of inequality.

“It’s definitely changed. We still have obstacles,” said Johnson, noting that, when he began treatment, there were few Black patients, even fewer doctors or clinicians, and a lot of misinformation in the Black community. But along with improved drugs and growing awareness, “I hadn’t seen this many minorities [fighting

the virus]. What a blessing that is, absolutely.”

Funding Cuts and Obstacles Ahead

Still, Johnson predicts tough times lie ahead — particularly given President Donald Trump’s funding cuts to Medicaid, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hollowing out of the nation’s public-health apparatus, and the Trump administration’s general hostility to science and medical research.

“It’s only going to get harder because [Trump] is trying to cut the funding,” he said. “But we’ve got to stay together, we’ve got to work together. We’ve got to pool our resources together and continue this fight. And we’ve got to keep it at the forefront.”

RELATED: 3 Truths About HIV in the Black Community

Since the discovery of effective treatments, the HIV-AIDS virus “has kind of slipped” from the national agenda, Johnson says. “We’ve got to bring it back up so people talk about it.”

The key, he says, is “education, education, education,” especially among Black men, Johnson said. Early detection, he said, was the key to his longevity, allowing his doctors to “jump on it” and maximize his odds of keeping the disease at bay.

More Black men, he added, should follow his example.

“Black men — make sure you get your physical,” he said. “Make sure you understand your status. Take your meds and do all the right things” to get and stay healthy.

Screenshot from WKRG TV broadcast

Ayo Edeibiri Will Not Be Ignored

by Corynne Corbett, BlackHealthMatters.com

Contrary to popular opinion, Black women are not invisible. Actress Ayo Edebiri had to remind a reporter of that on Sunday at the Toronto Film Festival. Following the screening of their film After the Hunt, she joined Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and her costars for a press conference, and she had to teach a reporter a few things.

The Question That Started It All

According to Deadline, an Italian journalist named Federica Polidoro asked this question: “What was lost during the politically correct era? And what can we expect in Hollywood? Now that the Me Too and the Black Lives Matter Movement are done [according to her] done? Garfield was stunned into silence. Edebiri started absorbing the unexpected macroaggressions. Roberts, the Oscar-winning actress, stepped in and said, “I’m sorry, with your glasses. I’m not sure who you are talking to.”

That’s when Polidoro said “Andrew and Julia,” specifically leaving Ayo out. Then she repeated the entire question…again. The duo looked at one another. Garfield was clearly not touching that question.

I Am Going to Answer Anyway

Before Edebiri replied, she mentioned that she was curious as to why she wasn’t included in the discussion. Was it purposeful? Crickets. She received no response at all from Polidoro, as if she were not sitting there.

But the award-winning actress, primarily known for the Hulu series The Bear, said, “I don’t think it’s done. It’s not done at all. I think maybe hashtags might not be used as much, but I do think that there‘s work being done by activists, by people, every day, that’s beautiful, important work that’s not finished, that’s really, really active for a reason, for a reason, because this world is really charged,” she continued.

“Maybe there’s not mainstream cover-

age in the way that there might have been daily headlines in the way that it might have been eight or so years ago, but I don’t think that means that the work is done. That’s what I would say.”

Garfield and Roberts agreed that although coverage is not as constant on both fronts as it once was, #MeToo, started by Tarana Burke, and #BlackLivesMatter are not over.

Some Journalists (Still) Just Don’t Understand

Reactions on social media to this interview have been swift. Some have gone to Polidoro’s social accounts to leave a few comments of their own. It prompted a statement that doesn’t make things any better for her. She mentions her long journalistic record, but never explains her erasure of Edebiri.

Reminds us of a specific person talking to a qualified reporter recently, as if she didn’t belong.

But Edebiri Will Be Moving On to Her Next Big Thing

Next spring, the 29-year-old Edebiri is coming to Broadway. She will be starring opposite Don Cheadle in a revival of Proof. This is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by David Auburn about struggling with mathematical genius and mental illness. Edebiri will be doing the teeth gnashing after caring with her seriously ill father (Cheadle), who battled an illness related to his psychological well-being.

The title of the play comes from someone discovering some mathematical formula that is “proof” of some theory, and I suspect Edebiri will have her own tour de force every night.

So she can’t get too distracted by this dustup.

And every time someone says a Black woman handles some slight with “grace,” I think about the connection between suppressed rage and autoimmune diseases. It can’t cost us our health. But that’s a story for another day,

From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has relaunched its global news feature series on the history, contemporary realities, and implications of the transatlantic slave trade as today’s leaders try to erase this history. This is Part 7 in the series.

By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Correspondent

“The genius of the current caste system, and what most distinguishes it from its predecessors, is that it appears voluntary. People choose to commit crimes, and that’s why they are locked up or locked out. We are told. This feature makes the politics of responsibility particularly tempting, as it appears the system can be avoided with good behavior. But herein lies the trap. All people make mistakes. All of us are sinners. All of us are criminals. All of us violate the law at some point in our lives. In fact, if the worst thing you have ever done is speed ten miles over the speed limit on the freeway, you have put yourself and others at more risk of harm than someone smoking marijuana in the privacy of his or her living room. Yet there are people in the United States serving life sentences for first-time drug offenses, something virtually unheard of anywhere else in the world.”

― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

“We live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under correctional control today than there were under slavery in 1850.”

― Singer John Legend

The United States has just five percent of the world population yet holds approximately 25 percent of its prisoners. From the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery deprived the captive of legal rights and granted the master complete power. Millions of slaves in America were humiliated, beaten, and killed while black families were torn apart. Slavery was abolished in 1865 with the end of the Civil War and passing of the 13th Amendment, but America found what many see as a disingenuous way of continuing its slave master ways – mass incarceration.

The NAACP recently released statistics that revealed that, in 2014, African Americans constituted 2.3 million, or 34 percent, of the total 6.8 million correctional population. African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites, and the imprisonment rate for African American women is twice that of white women. Nationwide, African American children represent 32 percent of children who are arrested, 42 percent of children who are detained, and 52 percent of children whose cases are judicially waived to criminal court. Though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32 percent of the US population, they comprised 56 percent of all incarcerated people in 2015.

If African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites, Prison and jail populations would de-

cline by almost 40 percent, according to the NAACP. “Five hundred years after the transatlantic slave trade, the strife and hate that remains is largely due to miseducation. To date, there has not been an honest evaluation accepted by the general public about the true relationship between African people in America and the European settlers, typically referred to as just Americans,” said activist and television personality Jay Morrison.

“This is one of the reasons that I wrote my book, ‘The Solution: How Africans in America Achieve Unity, Justice and Repair.’ In it, there is informative dialogue on the true experience of Africans in America during the enslavement era, the post enslavement era, and current-day America, which I refer to as the mass incarceration era. Most Americans choose to live blindly and accept the political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation of Africans in America,” Morrison said.

The longing by blacks for independence often threatens and offends many Americans, and many people don’t believe in African Americans’ right to liberation and cannot fathom their desire to be in their true and original state, often leading to a fight, he said. “I believe there is an opportunity in this millennial-led age to get past the hate if there is true atonement. Until America can take full respon-

sibility for its past and correct what is still purposefully occurring – mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline, unequal school systems, gentrification, police brutality – the tension will continue to exist,” Morrison said.

He continued:

“Until all people can be honest about our history and lack of repair, the hate will be hard to get past. These human rights violations against Africans in America must be treated with the same seriousness as other communities that have experienced similar imprisonment, oppression, exploitation, and genocide. When that playing field is levelled, I imagine a greater peace in America.”

Added Je Hooper, of the American Ethical Union and the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture:

“The black, brown, and beige community continues to seek a remedy for their post-traumatic slave syndrome, particularly in a time of a socio-political climate that is fueled by discriminatory political rhetoric, violent, sensationalized media, and disjointed cultural information. “Our country has lived in fear because of its own nationalist amnesia. I feel we must rise to the occasion for communities of color to unapologetically shine,” Hooper said. In Montgomery, Alabama, attempts to educate Americans and others about

inforced white supremacy, Stevenson said. “The formal abolition of slavery did nothing to overcome the harmful ideas created to defend it, and so slavery did not end; it evolved,” he said. In the decades that followed, these beliefs in racial hierarchy took new expression in convict leasing, lynching, and other forms of racial terrorism that forced the exodus of millions of black Americans to the North and West, where the narrative of racial difference manifested in urban ghettos and generational poverty. Racial subordination was codified and enforced by violence in the era of Jim Crow and segregation, as the nation and its leaders allowed black people to be burdened, beaten, and marginalized throughout the 20th century, according to museum officials.

the transatlantic slave trade and its ties to mass incarceration continue at The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, which has dedicated exhibits detailing the topic.

Opened on April 26, 2018, the 11,000-square-foot museum is built on the site of a former warehouse where enslaved black people were imprisoned and is located midway between a historic slave market and the main river dock and train station where tens of thousands of enslaved people were trafficked during the height of the domestic slave trade. Montgomery’s proximity to the fertile Black Belt region, where slave-owners amassed large, enslaved populations to work the rich soil, elevated Montgomery’s prominence in domestic trafficking, and by 1860, Montgomery was the capital of the domestic slave trade in Alabama, one of the two largest slave-owning states in America. To justify the brutal, dehumanizing institution of slavery in America, its advocates created a narrative of racial difference, according to Bryan Stevenson, the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery.

Stereotypes and false characterizations of black people were disseminated to defend their permanent enslavement as “most necessary to the well-being of the negro” – an act of kindness that re-

Progress towards civil rights for African Americans was made in the 1960s, but the myth of racial inferiority was not eradicated. Black Americans were vulnerable to a new era of racial bias and abuse of power wielded by our contemporary criminal justice system. Museum officials said mass incarceration has had devastating consequences for people of color, including that, at the dawn of the 21st century, one in three black boys was projected to go to jail or prison in his lifetime. “Our nation’s history of racial injustice casts a shadow across the American landscape,” Stevenson said. “This shadow cannot be lifted until we shine the light of truth on the destructive violence that shaped our nation, traumatized people of color, and compromised our commitment to the rule of law and to equal justice.”

The Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society, Stevenson said. “I know the 13th Amendment provides the means for the criminal justice system to continue the practice of institutional slavery in the United States, for it is very clearly stated, ‘Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation,’” said Shawn Halifax, a cultural history interpretation coordinator at the Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission in Charleston, South Carolina.

“There is plenty of evidence, since its passage, that individual states and the United States have chosen to exercise the entirety of this amendment to the Constitution and have manipulated the institution of criminal justice to make it happen,” Halifax said.

Close up of anonymous black man wearing handcuffs sitting at table in police department with hands clasped, copy space

The Violence Trump Claims to Fear Occurs Mostly in Red States

By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Correspondent

Donald Trump continues to attack cities and jurisdictions heavily populated by minorities, often painting them as crime-ridden and unsafe despite evidence showing overall declines in many categories of crime. Nowhere is this tension clearer than in Washington, D.C., where residents face relentless scrutiny from Trump while Red States — many with far less diversity — quietly struggle with some of the highest murder rates in the nation.

The District of Columbia recorded the nation’s highest murder rate in 2023 at 39 per 100,000 residents, with 265 murders. Despite local efforts to address violence, Trump routinely depicts the city as unlivable. To many residents, the greater tragedy is not just the crime itself but the reality that the capital of the United States now looks like an occupied third-world country, with National Guard and feder-

al troops visibly stationed throughout the city. Washingtonians, who have already been denied full congressional representation, have become political pawns in Trump’s rhetoric. What Trump avoids mentioning is that several Republican-led states top the list of the deadliest places. Louisiana had a murder rate of 14.5 per 100,000, recording 663 killings in 2023. New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas — all governed by Republicans in recent years — also posted murder rates higher than 9 per 100,000 residents.

In Missouri, another GOP stronghold, the murder rate stood at 9.1 per 100,000 with 564 murders, disproportionately concentrated in cities like St. Louis and Kansas City. South Carolina, Alaska, and Georgia each ranked high, while Mississippi, often touted by conservatives as a bastion of “traditional values,” has at times led the nation in murder rates. Meanwhile, states with larger minority populations that Trump targets — including Illinois, Penn-

sylvania, and Maryland — often have lower murder rates than many of these Red States. Illinois, home to Chicago, recorded a rate of 6.56 per 100,000, below Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Critics argue this is no accident. Trump’s fixation on minority-heavy jurisdictions is part of a long-standing strategy of scapegoating urban areas with large Black and Latino populations, while sidestepping the systemic problems facing states where his support is strongest. “Murders were far more common in [Mississippi] than they were nationwide,” the World Population Review reported, with Louisiana, Alabama, Missouri, and Arkansas following close behind. The report’s numbers show that while Trump fixates on minority-heavy cities, the deadliest conditions are playing out in Red States that rarely draw his attention. “Murders are disproportionately concentrated in urban areas, especially in New Orleans and Baton Rouge,” the researchers concluded.

The Game: What Black City Gets the National Guard

By April Ryan

“I refuse to pretend that any of this is normal,” said Governor JB Pritzker (D-II) over the weekend, referring to President Trump’s threat to send National Guard Troops to Chicago under what Pritzker called the “fake guise of fighting crime.” Large-scale protests with scores of demonstrators took to the streets in cities like Washington, D.C., and Chicago over the weekend in efforts to push back on Trump's plans for National Guard troops in those cities.

President Trump is playing in an almost game-like fashion as he seems to determine which city deserves National Guard troops. While Baltimore and Chicago were on his lips earlier last week, New Orleans is his latest pick. New Orleans Black Mayor LaToya Cantrell was re-

cently indicted by a Federal grand jury on charges including lying, conspiracy, and wire fraud. The Big Easy is located in the republican state of Louisiana. There have been growing concerns that the president has been racially bullying cities with Black mayors with diverse populations in democratic states.

Los Angeles, California, was the first city to receive a convergence of National Guard troops when the president declared an immigration crisis. A Federal judge ruled that the administration's actions were illegal. Needless to say, Los Angeles is a diverse city with a Black mayor in a blue state. That same judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by using military personnel for domestic law enforcement functions, such as security patrols and crowd control.

Since the demobilization of most National Guard troops in L.A., a small contingent has remained deployed, and California's governor continues to protest. Currently, Washington, DC, has troops, and more states are sending reinforcements as the city cooperates with federal efforts. Just thirty miles north, in a city President Trump calls a “Hellhole,” Baltimore’s former mayor Kurt L. Schmoke told this reporter, “There is not a crime emergency in Baltimore.” Schmoke, the President of the University of Baltimore, situated in the heart of Baltimore City, says that in the 1980s, when crime was worse, he had considered calling in the National Guard. However, the city’s 47th mayor decided against it, considering Baltimore would always carry that negative stigma if he did.

Florida’s Push To Drop School Vaccine Mandates Sparks Health Concerns

Florida officials are pushing to eliminate all school vaccine mandates, sparking concern among health experts, per the Miami Herald.

Earlier this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced their intent to drop school vaccine mandates, arguing that parents should decide which vaccines their children receive. The pair are both long-time opponents of COVID-19 mandates and are now extending that stance to all vaccines.

“Who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body?” Ladapo said during a press conference, comparing mandates to “slavery.”

Florida currently requires students to be vaccinated against diseases including measles, polio, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and chickenpox to attend school. Parents can currently opt out for medical or religious reasons.

The proposed changes would make all vaccinations optional, starting with four not explicitly named in state law: Hepatitis B, chickenpox (varicella), Hib, and pneumococcal disease. State law would need to be amended to remove mandates for others, such as measles and polio.

“I absolutely understand wanting to have ownership over your child’s health,” Jason Salemi, an epidemiology professor at the University of South Florida, said in a statement. “The challenge is that some diseases like measles are so contagious that one family’s decision not to vaccinate

can put many other children at risk.”

Health experts believe decades of progress in preventing deadly disease outbreaks could be reversed. The U.S. has seen over 1,400 measles cases so far this year, the most since 2000.

“Vaccines are still among the safest and most effective ways to protect your child from serious disease,” Salemi said. “Mandates may change, but the science doesn’t.”

Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University warned that “if there are more illnesses, there’ll be more hospitalizations and occasional deaths, and that is as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.”

The Florida Chapter of the American

Academy of Pediatrics said it’s concerned the shift “will put children in Florida public schools at higher risk for getting sick.”

Dr. Aileen Marty of Florida International University noted that without state mandates, some vaccines may no longer be offered for free, potentially limiting access for uninsured families.

Experts are advising parents to speak with pediatricians and continue routine vaccinations regardless of state policy.

“Diseases don’t go away just because the rules change,” Salemi said. “When vaccine rules are loosened, coverage goes down and outbreaks go up.”

The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.

Crime scene barricade covering.

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Photo: Getty Images North America

Certified Police Officer

The Town of Wallingford is currently accepting applications for current Connecticut P.O.S.T.C Certified Police Officers. Applicants must be active P.O.S.T.C Certified Police Officers in good standing with their current department, or have retired in good standing, still having a current certification status with P.O.S.T.C. This Process will consist of Written, Oral, Polygraph, Psychological, Medical Exam, and Background Investigation.

The Town of Wallingford offers a competitive pay rate of $ 80,142.40 - $ 87,672.00 annually. You must register and apply through www.policeapp. com by the registration/application deadline of October 31, 2025. The registration requires a fee of $35.00 directly to policeapps.com on line at time of registration. EOE.

PAYROLL

Payroll Clerk (Board of Education) Performs responsible office work in the processing of all payrolls and maintains all payroll records. The position requires a High School. diploma or G.E.D, plus 5 years of experience in responsible office work involving typing, accounting, bookkeeping, data entry and payroll processing. $26.02 to $35.12 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. The closing date will be September 17, 2025. To apply online, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 2942080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

Listing: Dispatcher

Extremely fast paced petroleum company is looking for a full time (which includes on call and weekend coverage) detail oriented experiencedDispatcher. A strong logistics background and a minimum of one year previous experience is required. Send resume to: HR Manager, P.O. Box 388, Guilford, CT. 06437. Email: HRDEPT@eastriverenergy. com

*An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disabled and Veterans*

The Glendower Group

Request for Bids

ELECTRICAL RENOVATIONS AT McConaughy TERRACE

The Glendower Group, Inc. invites sealed bids from qualified electrical contractors for electrical work associated with two groups of units McConaughy Terrace, Funded under the 4% low-income Housing Tax Credit LIHTC program. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at 3:00PM.

Invitation to Bid:

This is our Project THE HOMES AT AVON PARK 1A & 1B 20 Security Drive Avon, CT 06001

New Construction of One Building, 100 Units, 110,000sf. The project will be all electric. Project documents include but not limited to: Site-work, concrete, masonry, structural steel framing, cold-formed metal framing, misc metals, rough and finish carpentry labor and material, wood trusses, waterproofing, insulation, wall panels, siding, roofing, doors and frames and hardware, storefronts, windows, drywall, acoustical ceilings, flooring, painting, signage, toilet & bath accessories, postal specialties, metal canopies, specialties, residential appliances, playground equipment, horizontal louver blinds, kitchen and bathroom casework, roller shades, elevators, trash chutes, fire protection, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, telecommunications, fire alarm, earthwork, exterior improvement, utilities, final cleaning and sanitary facilities.

This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. Bid Due Date: 9-18-2025 @ 3 pm Email Questions

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

Invitation For BIDS

Agency- wide fencing- repairs and replacement

360 Management Group, Co. Is currently seeking bids for agency wide fencing-repairs and replacement. A complete copy of the requirements maybe obtain from 360 Management Group’s vendor collaboration portal.

https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Monday, August 11, 2025, at 3:00PM.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Proposals due on September 30, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

The work for this project includes, but is not limited to: removal of existing equipment and installation of a new state-of-the-art Parking Access and Revenue Control System, refurbishment of designated booths inclusive of painting, metal repair, roofing and related finishes, installation of new HVAC and lighting with associated ductwork repairs and replacement, design and install integratable security cameras and door control system for all Garage pedestrian entrances, miscellaneous coordination, together with all incidental work thereto and in accordance with the Proposal Documents, as well as preventative maintenance and repair services at the New Haven Parking Authority facilities involving 7 parking garages and 8 surface lots.

The Proposal Documents will be available beginning September 02, 2025 at no cost by downloading from the New Haven Parking Authority / Park New Haven website at https://parknewhaven.com/request-for-bids/ . NHPA is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

PUBLIC WORKS MAINTAINER II

The Town of Wallingford Department of Public Works has openings for Maintainer II. Applicants should possess 2 years’ experience as a laborer in construction work involving the operation and care of trucks and other mechanical equipment, or 2 years training in one of the skilled trades and 1 year of experience in construction operations, or an equivalent combination of experience and training. A valid (CDL) Class B or higher is required. $24.87 - $29.16 hourly plus retirement plan, paid sick and vacation time, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, family medical & dental insurance, and promotional opportunities. To apply online by the closing date of September 12, 2025, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

Crawford Manor Boiler Replacement

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids from qualified firms for Crawford Manor Boiler Replacement. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/ gateway beginning on

Monday, August 25, 2025 at 3:00 PM.

Request for Qualifications – Transportation Planning Studies

The South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) seeks the services of one or more consultants for the following transportation planning studies: Wallingford Route 5 Intersection Study, Guilford Route 1 Corridor Study, and Multitown Pavement Management Study. Disadvantaged Business Enterprise firms are strongly encouraged to respond as prime contractors or to play a significant role within a consultant team. Responses are due by October 1, 2025 (12 noon local time). The full RFQ document can be viewed at the Council’s website: www.scrcog.org or can be made available upon request. Contact James Rode at 203-466-8623 with any questions.

The Glendower Group

Request for Bids

ELECTRICAL RENOVATIONS AT McConaughy TERRACE

The Glendower Group, Inc. invites sealed bids from qualified electrical contractors for electrical work associated with three groups of units McConaughy Terrace, Funded under the 9% low-income Housing Tax Credit LIHTC program. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https:// newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at 3:00PM.

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a GIS Coordinator (Associate Research Analyst)

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/ sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 250819&R2=6856AR&R3=001

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Ducci Electrical Contractors, Inc.

seeks a friendly, organized, and professional Front Desk receptionist. Must be reliable, have strong communication skills, and able to multi-task. Ability to answer multi-line phones system. This is a full-time position. Send resume to Ducci Electrical Contractors, Inc. 74 Scott Swamp Rd. Farmington, CT 06032 or via email athumanresources@duccielectrical.com. An affirmative action equal opportunity employer.

Notice of Public Hearing

The Housing Authority, City of Bristol is amending its 2025-2029 Agency Plan in compliance with the HUD Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998. A Public Hearing will be held on October 7, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at Gaylord Towers Community Hall located at 55 Gaylord Street, Bristol, CT.

Information is available for review and inspection at Housing Authority, City of Bristol, 164 Jerome Ave., Bristol, CT during regular business hours. Please call (860) 582-6313 for an appointment.

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

Invitation For BIDS Emergency and Routine HVAC Services

360 Management Group, Co. Is currently seeking bids for Emergency and Routine HVAC Services. A complete copy of the requirements maybe obtain from 360 Management Group’s vendor collaboration portal. https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, August 25, 2025, at 3:00PM.

CLERK III

The Wallingford Public Schools are looking for candidates to performs a wide variety of clerical duties requiring excellent computer and interpersonal skills. This position requires 1 year of office work experience and a H.S. diploma. Wages: $20.47 to $27.65 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. The closing date will be July 30, 2025, or the date the 50th application is received, whichever occurs first. To apply online, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/ government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

Invitation For BIDS Agency Wide Roofing Repairs/and Inspections

360 Management Group, Co. Is currently seeking bids for agency wide Roofing Repairs/and Inspections. A complete copy of the requirements maybe obtain from 360 Management Group’s vendor collaboration portal. https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 3:00PM.

BUYER

Performs tasks in facilitating the purchase of a wide variety of materials, supplies, equipment and professional services. The position requires an associate’s degree in business administration and 3 years purchasing experience. A bachelor’s degree in business administration may substitute for 2 years of the work experience. $32.08 - $38.98 hourly, (contract currently under negotiations). The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes a pension plan, generous paid sick and vacation time, medical/dental insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and a deferred compensation plan. To apply online by the closing date of August 4, 2025, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

Mental Illness Linked to Higher Heart Disease Risk and Shorter Lives

By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Correspondent

A sweeping review published in The Lancet Regional Health—Europe has drawn a direct line between mental health disorders and cardiovascular disease (CVD), showing that individuals living with psychiatric conditions face not only a higher risk of heart problems but also a shorter life expectancy. The paper, authored by researchers from Emory University, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Leeds, and others, concludes that people with depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety live 10 to 20 years less on average, mainly due to heart disease.

A Bidirectional Threat

The analysis shows that the connection between mental health and cardiovascular disease is not one-directional. The stress of a heart attack or stroke can trigger psychiatric disorders, while psychiatric conditions themselves set the stage for heart disease. The risks are striking as depression raises cardiovascular risk by 72 percent, schizophrenia by 95 percent, bipolar disorder by 57 percent, PTSD by 61 percent, and anxiety disorders by 41 percent. “It is important to understand that stress, anxiety, and depression can affect your heart, just like other physical factors,” the paper noted, offering guid-

ance for how doctors might begin crucial conversations with patients.

A Widespread Burden

One in four people will experience a mental health disorder in their lifetime, yet many go untreated and often receive poor cardiovascular care. “Despite having more interactions with the healthcare system, they undergo fewer physical checkups and screenings and receive fewer diagnoses and treatments for CVD and its risk factors,” the authors reported. According to 2023 U.S. survey data cited in the study, more than half of those who met the criteria for a mental health disorder had not received any treatment, with even lower rates among non-White populations.

Shared Risk Factors

Researchers identified a cluster of overlapping drivers—poverty, trauma, social disadvantage, substance use, and poor access to health care—that amplify the dual risks of mental illness and cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle behaviors such as smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity, and disrupted sleep patterns are also more common among people with psychiatric conditions. The biological picture is equally troubling. Dysregulation of the stress response system, inflammation, and autonomic nervous system dysfunction are all pathways through which psychiatric disorders may accelerate cardiovascu-

Breaking the Cycle

The study calls for a fundamental shift in medical practice. “For the best care, an integrated approach is needed to address the complex needs of this vulnerable population,” the authors wrote. “Such approach should offer enhanced support and interdisciplinary care encompassing mental, cardiovascular, and behavioral health, as well as consideration of the social

needs and barriers to care.” Among the interventions reviewed, exercise emerged as one of the most effective treatments, improving both mood and heart health. Evidence shows that physical activity can deliver improvements on par with or greater than medication or psychotherapy for depression. Mind-body practices like yoga and mindfulness, while requiring more evaluation, also show promise for improving outcomes across both mental and cardiovascular health.

A Call to Integrate Care

The authors stressed that progress depends on healthcare systems breaking down the wall between physical and mental health. For decades, treatment has been siloed, with psychiatrists focusing on the mind and cardiologists on the body. That separation, the study finds, has left millions vulnerable. The authors argue for expanded insurance coverage, investment in housing and employment stability, and the inclusion of psychiatric patients in cardiovascular research. Above all, they call for integrated care models that recognize the tight link between mental and cardiovascular health.

Global Health Priority

The stakes are enormous. The World Health Organization has set a 2025 target to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease. The paper argues that this goal cannot be reached without directly addressing the disparities faced by those with psychiatric disorders.

“Closing the disparity gap for individuals with mental health disorders would be consistent with the World Health Organization 2025 targets of reducing the global burden of CVD,” the researchers concluded. “Reducing these disparities would also uphold the rights of people with mental health disorders to achieve the highest possible level of health and to fully participate in society and the workforce.”

lar decline.

The Lasting Impact of Bedtime Stories

By Niyoka McCoy

One of the joys of parenthood is the peaceful, soothing experience of reading a bedtime story to your child. Your comforting voice can help lull them into a sleepy state as you read aloud melodic nursery rhymes and other enchanting stories. To this day, I can remember some of these moments as my mom read my favorite stories aloud at bedtime. For babies, simply hearing words and language as you read to them is beneficial. And as children grow older, relatable themes and meaningful content in the books you read together lead to those deep, “what’s the meaning of life?” type of questions kids tend to ask as they draw close to slumber. So, as you pick books at the local library or from your home collection to read together, know that these are some of the wonderful benefits your child is experiencing each time you read to them:

Exposure to Words and Language

Did you know simply hearing words is crucial to your child’s language development? Research shows that it is the most important component in developing language pathways in a child’s brain, as it boosts their language and cognitive capacity, expanding their ability to make sense of and use words. In fact, a study from Ohio State University found that young children whose parents read to them at least one book a day will hear around 290,000 more words by age 5

than children who are not read to regularly. And children whose parents read five books each day will hear about 1.4 million more words than children who are never read to.

Boost in Cognitive Development

Reading helps prepare children for school by building a strong foundation of knowledge and a deeper understanding of the world around them. This foundation gives children important context for complex subjects, making it easier for them to grasp new concepts and make sense of their experiences as they grow.

Deepening of Relationships and Bonding Attachment

Simply reading together can help children build secure attachment, an important bond that plays a crucial role in brain development. Research shows that safe and secure communication, like reading together, helps create a foundation on which children will form relationships throughout their lives. It also helps build confidence and resiliency to stress, as well as the ability to manage emotions and maintain meaningful relationships. Plus, they will experience a wide range of positive feelings in the moment, like comfort, safety, attention, and love.

Development of Social-Emotional Skills

Studies show that there is a correlation between reading at a young age and the development of interpersonal and social-emotional skills, particularly empathy. And this is due to the feelings, experiences, and oftentimes, the heroic, kind, or bold actions of characters they read about

in books. Think about “I Am Enough” by Grace Byers, which reminds children to be there for others in kindness and love. As Byers says, “To help each other when it’s tough, to say together: I am enough.” Then there’s “Thank You, Omu,” by Oge Mora, that tells a heartwarming story about sharing and generosity, inspired by the author’s childhood role models. Reading stories about relatable characters can also help children understand and manage their emotions. By seeing how characters cope with similar feelings, children can learn that it’s okay to feel sad, angry, or frustrated at times. They can also learn positive ways to deal with these emotions.

It’s good for us, too

Let’s face it—reading to our kids can be therapeutic for us as parents, too. One day, we’ll miss how excited they were to choose their bedtime story and insist we show them every picture. These small, meaningful moments do more than build language and literacy skills; they deepen your bond and offer your child a sense of comfort and connection. And just like I remember my mom’s voice reading to me, your child may one day remember yours. Reading together is a powerful way to nurture their development, spark a love for reading, and enjoy the time you spend together.

Niyoka McCoy is the Chief Learning Officer at K12. She leads the development and implementation of the company's learning strategy, curriculum, and instruction, with an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and over 16 years of experience in the education sector.

Smithsonian Pushes Back Against Trump’s ‘Divisive Narratives’

By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Correspondent

The Smithsonian Institution has launched an internal review of its programming after President Donald Trump ordered sweeping oversight of its exhibitions, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from scholars, curators, and the Black community. In a new memo to staff, Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III said the institution would respond to White House demands but underscored that “our independence is paramount.” The White House letter directed the Smithsonian to submit information about programming at eight of its 21 museums, with the administration reserving the right to demand content changes within 120 days. Trump has accused the institution of being “out of control,” focusing too heavily on slavery and systemic racism, while not celebrating what he called “success” and “brightness” in American history.

Bunch, the first African American to lead the Smithsonian, told staff the review would be conducted internally and guided by “rigorous scholarship and expertise.” He added, “Our own review of content to ensure our programming is factual and nonpartisan is ongoing, and it is consistent with our authority over our programming and content.” The New York Times reported that his letter to the White House was approved by the Smithsonian’s three-person executive committee, though not voted on by the full Board

of Regents, which includes Vice President J.D. Vance and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Smithsonian’s Future Under Threat

Trump’s March executive order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” specifically cited the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) for what he called “divisive, anti-patriotic content.”

That museum, which opened in 2016, has

long been hailed for unearthing untold stories of Black history. Now, its very mission is under political attack.

In a letter obtained by BlackPressUSA. com earlier this year, Bunch assured staff that the Smithsonian would remain committed to “truth, transparency, and historical scholarship.” He wrote, “We remain steadfast in our mission to bring history, science, education, research, and the arts to all Americans. We will continue to showcase world-class exhibits, collec-

tions, and objects, rooted in expertise and accuracy.”

BlackPressUSA was among the first outlets to report on the dangers of Trump’s order, warning in March that it “casts a long shadow over the Smithsonian” and places the institution’s inclusive storytelling in jeopardy. The article noted that the directive gave Vice President Vance, an ex officio regent, unprecedented involvement in content oversight, sparking alarm among Black historians and curators.

A Battle Over American Memory

The fight over Smithsonian content is the latest flashpoint in what experts call a broader campaign to rewrite or sanitize history. Dr. Jerry W. Washington, an education scholar writing in The Medium, called the executive order part of “the fight over American memory,” linking it to years of attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and the political weaponization of “critical race theory”. Historians argue that the White House push represents an effort to politicize museum content, undermining the Smithsonian’s role as a nonpartisan presenter of American history. “The consequences are real,” Washington warned. “This is about more than exhibits. It’s about erasing the truths that make America whole”.

The Smithsonian, created by Congress in 1846 as a trust, has long balanced autonomy with reliance on federal funding for much of its $1 billion budget. While the White House insists its review seeks only to “replace divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate and constructive descriptions,” critics argue that such directives threaten to erase the painful but essential parts of America’s story. “The Smithsonian is rooted in rigorous scholarship and expertise, nonpartisanship, and accuracy,” Bunch told his staff. Still, with the White House pressing for revisions and funding on the line, the struggle over who gets to define America’s history is intensifying.

Why Black People Should be Concerned About the Jeffrey Epstein Case

The voices of victims in the Jeffrey Epstein case to “end secrecy” are loud outside of Capitol Hill. They’re telling their stories and demanding action from Congress. As the victims are speaking out, Democratic sponsored legislation is moving in the House that would release materials in the Epstein case in 30 days. The effort to determine who’s connected with these abuses also has support from Trump loyalist Margery Taylor Greene (R-GA), a Congresswoman who is using her platform to get answers. In contrast, the majority of House Republicans are pushing for an investigation into the Epstein case instead of the release of the documents. In front of the capital building yesterday, the survivors announced a plan to compile a list by and for survivors of those who allegedly took part in their abuse, along with Jeffrey Epstein.

The Trump White House continues to downplay the president’s involvement with Epstein and the Epstein survivors. Regarding survivors, at least one woman of color has publicly come forward. The perceived traditional mainstream media has been wall-to-wall coverage on this, as other media outlets are more focused on the nuances of this administration’s negative impact on cities and people. This reporter asked Maryland Congressman Mfume, “Why should Black America be concerned in this case?” Mfume, a mem-

ber of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who met with the survivors, said, “Black America should be concerned because this is a classic case of how the rich and powerful are still able to oppress and deny basic justice.”

“This is not only about the horrific actions of Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell, but also about the wider network of individuals who enable, conceal, and turn their heads away in the face of exploitation. If it can happen to them, it can happen to anybody,” emphasized Mfume.

Various House committees are focused on this Epstein issue, a campaign promise of the candidate Donald Trump. Los Angeles, Democratic Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove says, “I sit in the Judiciary….. My committee has jurisdiction over the FBI and the AG, and they have not yet availed themselves to us.” She sarcastically said, “I wonder why?”

Congresswoman Kankakee-Dove emphasizes the same point that Congressman Mfume expressed: “This cover-up only exposes what Black people already know. There are laws but two sets of

rules. There are those who get walked on and those who look for more bodies to abuse.” The California Congresswoman believes that the truth will come to light, adding, “These behaviors are getting some sunlight, and we need to continue to expose and shame these actions and demand real accountability.” A meeting was held by our team on Monday with the client team for the Zephyr project to review the status of the forthcoming Q3 launch campaign. The campaign, originally built as an omnichannel activation across CTV, paid social, and programmatic display,

is now subject to substantial midstream revisions—following newly surfaced client directives. The feedback introduces a material shift in strategic framing under a compressed delivery window. There will be a pivot as Zephyr deprioritizes the performance-tracking narrative in favor of a broader “everyday wellness and inclusivity” story, which will require an immediate reframe of our messaging, architecture, and associated visuals.

To address the revised scope, I’ve assigned immediate follow-up actions across the team. Visual art will lead conversations with post-production around stock content integration. Ad sales will recalibrate the media plan in light of the repositioned messaging and will coordinate with DSPs to avoid penalties related to insertion order delays. Copy desk is to be tasked with stripping all unsubstantiated medical claims from copy, implementing the new CTA, and managing a parallel review with legal. We conduct a daily internal stand-up each morning through the end of the week to identify blockers. The next client check-in is scheduled for July 3rd, where we will preview asset revisions and confirm compliance milestones. Final go/no-go is slated for July 7th at 17:00 PDT. We are proceeding with all mitigations in parallel and escalated any dependency delays as they surface.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Building in Washington DC, USA. A popular visitors and tourists destination in the capital city.

Estate Planning Seen as Survival for Black Families

By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Correspondent

Constance Carter, the founder of California’s largest independent Black-owned real estate firm and bestselling author, put the spotlight on the basics that protect Black wealth: life insurance, wills, and living trusts. “Estate planning isn’t just paperwork. It’s survival. It’s power. And it’s how we make sure that our children inherit more than just debt,” Carter said during an appearance on Black Press USA's Let It Be Known. She spoke about how Black families continue to build assets, yet often leave those assets exposed because planning is delayed or skipped. “We are already behind the eight ball when it comes to building wealth,” Carter said. “Historically, we were shut out of opportunities through redlining, predatory lending, and systemic barriers. Ninety percent of wealth in this country is passed intergenerationally, and 80 percent of that is through real estate. Yet while we are trying to get our piece of the pie, we are not planning to pass it on like other com-

munities.”

Carter explained the difference between a will and a living trust, describing a will as instructions that can be contested in probate court. In contrast, a trust provides binding directives that transfer property clearly and efficiently. “A will is just instructions,” she said. “There’s a saying that a will, will be contested. With a trust, these are the directives. This is your legally binding instrument to pass property generationally.” She called on families at every income level to act. Trusts can cost between $1,500 and $3,000, but the protection, she said, is worth it even if there is only one property. To make planning more accessible, she created a $25 eBook that walks through drafting a living trust, notarization, and state-by-state recording requirements. “I try to make it as simple as possible,” Carter said. “I see problems that Black people face, and I try to find solutions.”

For new families, Carter listed life insurance as the first step. “It is a sin before God for you to be having chicken dinners and GoFundMe accounts to bury

your loved ones,” she said. “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children and his children’s children.” She added that avoiding conversations about death often leaves families divided. “Two things make people act funny: death and money,” Carter said. Without beneficiaries and directives, loved ones are left scrambling for account access and arguing over wishes that were never written down. Carter also described her work with the Net 7 Collective, a nationwide and international community of Black women building seven-figure net worths. “When you teach a man, you teach an individual. This is no diss to men, but when you teach a woman, you teach a nation,” she said. “Black women, you give us something, we are going to multiply it.” She dismissed predictions that Black household wealth could hit zero by 2053 if nothing changes. “They did F around and they gave us the internet. They gave us the internet, AI, and we have each other,” Carter said. “Nobody is coming to save us; we have got to be the ones. And the only way we can do it is together.”

Nation’s Report Card Shows Drop in Reading, Math, and Science Scores

By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Correspondent

The latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveal troubling declines in academic performance among U.S. students, with twelfth-graders posting lower scores in reading and mathematics and eighth-graders showing setbacks in science.In reading, the 2024 national average for twelfth-graders was three points lower than in 2019, and ten points lower than when the assessment was first administered in 1992. Scores fell across nearly all percentiles, with only the highest-performing students at the 90th percentile holding steady. The percentage of students performing at or above the NAEP Proficient level declined to 35 percent in 2024, compared to 37 percent in 2019, while 32 percent of students scored below the NAEP Basic level.

Mathematics results tell a similar story. The average score for twelfth graders in 2024 dropped three points from 2019 and

stood three points lower than in 2005, the year the current trend line began. Scores declined across nearly all percentiles except the 90th. Just 24 percent of twelfth graders scored at or above Proficient in 2024, while 40 percent scored below Basic, up from 37 percent in 2019. Eighthgrade science results also fell sharply. The 2024 average score was four points lower than in 2019, with declines across all five reported percentiles. Thirty-eight percent of eighth graders scored below the Basic level, compared to 33 percent in 2019. Students from nearly every demographic and parental education group saw declines, particularly at the lower percentiles. Confidence in science ability also fell, with fewer students reporting that they “definitely” could perform key science tasks.

Further, African American students remain disproportionately represented among lower performers nationally.

Across reading, mathematics, and science, they continue to score below the overall national average, with larger per-

centages falling below the NAEP Basic level and fewer reaching Proficient or Advanced. Although overall national scores declined in 2024, the long-standing gap between African American students and their White and Asian peers has not narrowed.

The assessments, administered between January and March 2024, covered tens of thousands of students nationwide. Reading and math were given to twelfth graders, while science was assessed at the eighth-grade level. In addition to academic content, students completed questionnaires about learning opportunities, absenteeism, and engagement, data that NAEP officials say may help explain trends. NAEP, often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, is the largest continuing and nationally representative measure of U.S. student achievement. The results are closely watched by educators, policymakers, and researchers as indicators of how students are faring and where learning gaps are widening.

Smiling male student writing in classroom. Teenage boy is concentrating at high school. He is sitting at desk.