THE INNER-CITY NEWS

"I was on the street."

Credit: Dereen Shirnekhi photo

Common Ground Students Get Down To Business

By Claire Armstrong

The weather was brisk last Friday, but students at Common Ground High School felt motivated and energetic when getting down to business.

Setting up around wooden benches, seniors Santino Pizarro and Bronislaw Lasocki made a plan to clean up the litter located near Springside Avenue, in between Wintergreen Brook and nearby Wintergreen Avenue. Splitting into teams, students reached for rubber gloves and trash grabbers, and set out to make a difference. By an hour in, they had come across everything from nip bottles to a discarded bicycle, a soccer ball, trashed thermostat, toy train, and tire. By the end of the day, it would be on its way to the Hamden Recycling Center—all 165 pounds of it.

This effort to tidy up the avenues and river bed came from Pizarro and Lasocki, whose senior projects are focused on litter clean-up along Springside Avenue and the expansion of the Wintergreen Brook Urban Oasis. This Oasis was created by a senior project in 2015 and has been maintained by Common Ground Students and members of the Urban Resources Initiative.

Pizarro explained that the project came, in part, from the desire for a cleaner and more beautiful school community. Wintergreen and Springside Avenues are the main roads that students, staff, and visitors take on their way to Common Ground’s campus. Feeling like those streets are a dumping ground doesn’t just

lower student and staff morale—it also negatively impacts the environment and makes the surrounding community feel disinvested in.

In addition to Santino and Bronislaw’s project, Common Ground students tackled 15 separate projects throughout the community. Students worked with local organizations such as the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK), and Loaves and Fishes. Two groups went out to support King Robinson Interdistrict Magnet School and Elm City Montessori Elemen-

tary School, and one group traveled to Newhallville’s Learning Corridor.

These community partners, and many others, hosted guidance groups from Common Ground for roughly three hours while they worked, and afterwards students returned to Common Ground for dismissal and lunch.

Community Service Day at Common Ground is an event that happens once every semester, right before Thanksgiving and spring break respectively. Two hundred and twenty students in their guid-

ance groups—that’s students' four-year family within the larger Common Ground community—are encouraged to pick a project and participate in helping improve their (our) community.

“It’s a way to help students, help New Haven, build Community, and give our students the opportunity to practice leadership and reflection skills,” said Joel Tolman, Common Ground’s director of community impact and engagement.

Those hours go towards the 15 hours of community service required of all Com-

mon Ground students, as well as the 50 hours needed to earn a New Haven Promise scholarship. But just as importantly, “student community service makes a real difference on campus and in New Haven,” Tolman said.

Kathleen Bergman and Arianna Alamo's guidance groups went to Loaves and Fishes, located at the Church of St. Paul & St. James in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood, to help with preparing food for people who rely on the emergency food provider on Saturday mornings.

As students split up, one group moved food from a large truck into multiple cars that would ferry it to different locations and households across the city. Another group moved food around the pantry, set up tables, and assembled 32 to-go bags of groceries.

The last group moved donated clothes boxes to a storage area, and started prepping the clothes, organizing the shoes and clothing by gender, and separating out items for a children's section. Since everything was going to be given away the supervisor allowed the students to pick out some clothing to take home.

“I participated in this event because it is fun to help the community while working with my classmates,” said Jeremiah Dennie. “I would most definitely recommend this experience to other students!” Claire Armstrong is a senior at Common Ground High School and a graduate of the Arts Council's 2025 Youth Arts Journalism Program.

Bridgeport schools plan to expand Wi-Fi service to students living in public housing

By Jessica Simms, Staff

BRIDGEPORT — Bridgeport Public Schools students who live in the city's public housing may soon be able to use the school district's Wi-Fi while they are at home.

Thanks to a $714,456 grant through the state's Community Wi-Fi Grant Program, the Bridgeport school system is aiming to expand its existing Wi-Fi and internet services infrastructure to be able to reach the city's public housing communities, including at Trumbull Gardens, Charles F. Greene Homes and parts of P.T. Barnum Apartments, according to a statement from the district.

"Reliable Internet access is essential, and it is our hope that this work helps ensure our students can learn and stay connected beyond the classroom," according to the Bridgeport Public Schools statement.

The Community Wi-Fi Grant Program is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act Capital Projects Fund and "it is designed to aid and enhance Internet infrastructure for work, education, health and wellness," according to its website.

The goal of the program is to expand the Connecticut Education Network, the internet service provider the state uses for government, libraries and schools, to

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support "underserved and economically disadvantaged communities."

Bridgeport Public Schools serves more than 19,700 students, and more than 800 of them live in the three Park City Communities that will be supported through the Wi-Fi initiative, according to information from the school district.

At the Bridgeport Board of Education's April 13 meeting, Interim Superintendent Royce Avery said Wi-Fi access for the families who live in these communities will be free. They will have to go to their local community housing authority office to sign up for access, or they can use the eduroam part of the network to log on

(eduoroam is a roaming wireless service that allows students and staff to connect at specific locations using their school credentials).

More information will be provided to the school board about this initiative when a report is ready, Avery said. School board member Andre Woodson

pointed out that not all Bridgeport students have access to computers or tablets once they leave school grounds. Avery said the district's technology department is assessing that.

"We have to have the technology available and accessible for students to take their online assessments as well. ... We're maximizing what we have and then (will) also take an inventory of the things that we're additionally going to be needing," Avery said.

By the end of May, Avery said the district will know what technology is needed.

"We've got to make sure that the financial means of making sure technology is provided ... in a way that's going to be equitable and distributed across the district," he said.

Jessica Simms is an education reporter with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. She attended Quinnipiac University, where she received both her BA and MS in Journalism. Jessica has previously was an investigative reporting fellow with the News21 program at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in the summer of 2021. When she’s not writing, Jess enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, reading fiction and catching up on popular TV.

- Cesar A. Batalla School in 2024. Bridgeport Public Schools is expanding its Wi-Fi to support students in public housing.

Students from Common Ground's "Art House" and Ms Kathleen Bergman’s 10th grade guidance group organize donations of food and clothing at Loaves and Fishes. Lizanne Cox Photo.

Unhoused Activists Protest Warming Center Closures

by Dereen Shirnekhi

Dominique Daniels and his fellow unhoused activists had a resounding message for the city Wednesday morning, as they rallied in the cold rain against the closure of the city’s warming centers for the season: “There’s nowhere to go.”

Daniels was one of around 30 people to rally on the steps of City Hall at a demonstration held by the Unhoused Activist Community Team (U-ACT). The activists had started the day with breakfast at Varick Church on Dixwell Avenue, which closed as a warming center earlier in the day. They then marched downtown to City Hall, and then held a supply drive afterward on the Green.

Funding for the city’s other remaining emergency warming center, the 180 Center on East Street, was extended so that it will remain open through April 30. The city’s warming centers opened in November and peaked at a total of six, according to Mayor Justin Elicker.

“I’m always worried, where am I going to sleep at night?” Daniels told the crowd.

He described people being cruel to him for his sexuality, and for being homeless. “Do you know how embarrassing, how lonely, how incompetent I feel?”

In reality, as a queer and Afro-Latino person, “I just want respect.”

The last time Daniels had his name on an apartment lease, it was about ten years ago, on the west side of town. Daniels has

been organizing with U-ACT for about a year, and said that doing so while being unhoused has shown him “the lack of funds, the lack of compassion.”

The pride center’s closing, Daniels said, was hard, as it was a place for unhoused people to hang out for the day. (Fortunately, the pride center will be opening back up in May.)

Daniels called on the city to do more to support its unhoused residents and provide places for them to go: “Where the bag at?” he asked. “Where is the money?”

Roosevelt Watkins said that as he walked to City Hall from Varick on Wednesday morning, “what I didn’t see is people carrying a lot of hope.”

The unhoused, he said, were worse off

than “the dog you left at home — since it was raining, you brought the dog inside.”

“Imagine if you didn’t know where you would be sleeping,” Watkins said.

U-ACT organizer Strongbow Lone Eagle said that while the city opens warming centers for the cold, that’s not enough.

“What about the heat? People can die from heat exhaustion. Where is some

place you get out of the rain?”

This summer, the libraries, which double as cooling centers, are “going to be bombarded,” he said.

Lone Eagle praised the work of U-ACT, Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, and Fellowship Place. “What is [Mayor Justin] Elicker gonna do now?” he asked. “What has he been doing?”

Alberto Pablo, who has lived in New Haven since he moved from the Philippines in elementary school, has been homeless since 2019. Wednesday’s rally was the third U-ACT event that he has been to — at the encouragement of Jamilia James, who runs a weekly program for the unhoused at Ives Main Library on Thursdays called “90 Days To GOD.” James also performs gospel music under the name 4EVA.

Pablo said he has a disability. “I get lost a lot,” he said, and he can get nervous around people. It makes it hard to get a job, though he’s looking for one.

James, who said she has been supporting the homeless her whole life, said that mental health support is crucial for unhoused people. Even if they’re provided an apartment, she said, “they’re gonna end up homeless again because you didn’t walk with them all the way.”

Emcee Sean Gargamelli-McCreight led the group in singing: The emergency’s tonight

Now we’re fighting for our lives

No one’s free ‘Til everyone’s alright

Alder Lauds Armory Advocacy In Annual Address

by Thomas Breen

When Alder Kim Edwards goes by the Goffe Street Armory, she sees a picture of her son — and a model for what persistent community activism can accomplish.

Edwards pointed to the Armory’s past and future Monday night as she delivered the annual Board of Alders Black & Hispanic Caucus State of the City address in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

Edwards represents Newhallville/Prospect Hill’s Ward 19 on the Board of Alders and serves as the chair of the Black & Hispanic Caucus. She dedicated much of her address to exhorting the values of civic volunteerism at the local level — particularly in a country that is “chaotic, messy, and in disarray.”

“I challenge you all to tell a friend to tell a friend to get involved,” she said to her local legislative colleagues.

Urge your neighbor to join a board or commission. To become math tutor with the New Haven Tutoring Initiative or a literacy tutor with New Haven Reads. To do something to make New Haven that much better of a place to call home.

She pointed to the Armory as a suc-

cess story in-the-making of that type of dedicated community engagement, persistence, and perseverenace.

Built in 1930, the building is a “gem,” Edwards said, having hosted concerts by Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra as well as the state’s Black Expo. The building sits on the National Register of Historic Places and the Connecticut Freedom Trail. It’s located right across the street from Goffe Street Park; it’s a short walk away from Hillhouse High School.

“It’s just a little more personal for me,” she added, because a picture of her late son Ben is on the Armory, installed in January 2019 as part of the city’s iMatter photography project. Ben died of brain cancer in March 2019 at the age of 16.

“For years and years and years,” Edwards said, New Haveners have spoken up about what this building means to them — and to ask, “How can it be saved? How can it be restored? … Why [hasn’t] more been done to repurpose and save this gem?”

If the Armory were located downtown or on Whitney Avenue or Orange Street, Edwards said, “it would have been a different conversation.” This vacant and dilapidated building would have been saved

long ago.

But now, she said, “we have some movement.”

Namely, the city has secured $6.75 million in state funding to help repair the building and begin its conversion into a new community space, affordable housing, and “a much-needed vo-tech school.” Edwards credited the Armory’s neighbors, city and state officials, and New Haven’s state delegation for working to save this long-vacant building. She singled out for praise the Armory Community Advisory Committee, which for years has done “a lot of hard work organizing” and pushing for the building to be saved.

Those same neighbors have also converted the space around the Armory into a community garden. “They beautified a space that was just dilapidated” and getting worse, she said.

When others had given up on the building, Edwards said, these dedicated community advocates did not. “They kept up the pressure,” and their work is now beginning to bear fruit.

Alder Edwards: "I challenge you all to tell a friend to tell a friend to get involved." Credit: Thomas Breen photo

The New Haven independent

Roosevelt Watkins: "Imagine if you didn't know where you would be sleeping." Credit: Dereen Shirnekhi photos

The New Haven independent

Beloved CT restaurant was forced to close. Here’s what longtime customers are doing to save it .

By Sean Krofssik skrofssik@courant.com

Kevin Heyward opened Kevin’s Seafood in New Haven 1976 as a teenager and, after nearly 50 years in the city, he was forced to close the restaurant in 2025 due to multiple health problems.

With former workers and customers offering their support, Heyward’s family has launched a GoFundMe in the hopes to offsetting his growing medical bills since closing the business at 17 Kimberly Ave. in New Haven last November.

Heyward said it was a difficult decision to close.

“I had just so many (medical) bills that had to be paid and things that just needed to be dealt with,” he said. “It just got to the point where I couldn’t pay my help. Prices of the products had gotten crazy, and I just overextended myself to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Heyward had a heart attack a few years ago and recently dealt with a variety of health problems including a long bout with COVID and pneumonia.

“There’s just so many things. I’m working on trying to figure out why I’ve lost so much weight. I’m not quite sure. The doctors are trying to do different tests to see why I’m losing weight. I’ve just been dealing with ongoing health issues,” Heyward said.

Since closing, Heyward has been stopped around New Haven asking if the restaurant is opening again. He said he has been blown away by the outpouring of support from former workers and customers.

“Closing was pretty devastating,” Heyward said. “I get so many people that stop me any place I go asking me

if we are going to reopen. I went to a restaurant about two weeks ago, and a woman approached me and my daughter. She told me that she and her mother had been going to the restaurant since she was little and insisted on paying for my meal. It struck me about the impact we had in the community.

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“I have some health issues that are concerning me and I’m not bringing in any cash. Things get pretty tough and that’s where we are today,” Heyward said.

Courtesy of Heyward family

Kevin's Seafood was a staple in New Haven for almost five decades. Owner Kevin Heyward was forced to close in November 2025 due to health issues and rising medical bills. (Courtesy of Hey-

The GoFundMe campaign started on March 14 and has raised over $4,300 as of Wednesday afternoon.

“This is my life. I will be 70 next month. I put my body through a lot over the years, working all the hours I was working and all. I would love to be able to open up at some point, but right now, most importantly is just being able to survive every day, eat and live,” Heyward said.

Heyward said he was always happy to help sports leagues and church groups with fundraisers over the years running his business. He would also provide fresh meals to people he saw trying to get scraps out of his dumpster. However, he was reluctant to ask for help, because he didn’t want to come across as begging people for something but eventually relented.

“The outpouring has been great,” Heyward said.

“It’s been a challenging time for the family,” said his wife, Cheryl Heyward. “This has been his whole life. This is all he’s ever known. I’m just trying to be supportive to him and if the opportunity presented itself, we would open back up. Since we have closed, it’s been nice to know what this restaurant has meant to people.”

In 2021, Kevin Heyward even received a proclamation from the city of New Haven celebrating 45 years of Kevin’s Seafood and honoring him for his service and support in the community.

“Kevin’s Seafood has been a pillar in the community for so long. We would love to have that open again someday,”

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Jerry Craft / Cartoons / Barbara Fair Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner / Smita Shrestha William Spivey / Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

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The Inner-City Newspaper is published weekly by Penfield Communications, Inc. from offices located at 50 Fitch Street, 2nd Floor, New Haven, CT 06515. 203-3870354 phone; 203-387-2684 fax. Subscriptions:$260 per year (does not include sales tax for the in State subscriptions). Send name, address, zip code with payment. Postmaster, send address changes to 50 Fitch Street, New Haven, CT 06515. Display ad deadline Friday prior to insertion date at 5:00pm Advertisers are responsible for checking ads for error in publication. Penfield Communications, Inc d.b.a., “The Inner-City Newspaper” , shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad or for typographical errors or errors in publication, except to the extent of the cost of the space in which actual error appeared in the first insertion. The Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable for publication. The entire contents of The Inner-City Newspaper are copyright 2012, Penfield Communications, Inc. and no portion may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Kevin Heyward owned Kevin’s Seafood in New Haven for nearly 50 years. (Courtesy of Heyward family)

Bridgeport students, educators advocate for nearly $400M schools budget: 'I am asking for action'

By Jessica Simms,

BRIDGEPORT — From losing school counselors, librarians and support staff to seeing beloved after-school activities disappear, Phillip Soung said he has seen firsthand how a lack of funding is impacting Bridgeport Public Schools.

“Teachers and principals are stretched thin, doing more with less every day. … We, as a whole, are asking for urgency,” Soung, a student at Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Multi-Magnet High School, said at the Tuesday City Council’s Budget & Appropriations public hearing. “Our students cannot wait years for these resources. They need them now.”

Bridgeport educators, parents, Board of Education members, students and more spoke at the Tuesday public hearing, urging the City Council to increase funding for the school district. This comes after Mayor Joseph Ganim pledged a $5-million increase for the city’s school system in his budget proposal for the next fiscal year.

However, the Board of Education approved a 2026-27 operating budget of about $400 million, which is around $106 million more than the current year’s spending plan of $294.4 million. The school board approved this budget with the goal of bringing back staffing and programming that the district has had to cut in previous years.

Just to operate the way that it is now, Bridgeport Public Schools needs a bud-

get of $338.5 million next year, which is $44 million more than this year's budget, according to the budget plan Interim Superintendent Royce Avery initially recommended.

“Tonight, I am not simply asking for understanding,” Avery said at the hearing. “I am asking for a continued partnership with the City of Bridgeport. I am asking for action. Bridgeport Public Schools cannot continue to operate on the margins. We cannot continue to stretch dollars be-

yond what is reasonable or sustainable. We cannot continue to ask our educators to do more with less year after year after year and expect different results.”

While asking for more funding from the City of Bridgeport for the public school

system, some of the speakers brought up the city’s dire need of an increase in funding from the state of Connecticut, specifically when it comes to the Education Cost Sharing grant.

ECS is Connecticut's primary form of funding for K-12 education. It distributes money to towns and cities based on a formula that gives more aid to poorer districts so they can provide equal educational opportunity to their students. However, this grant has been stuck at $11,525 per student since 2013.

“We need to show Hartford that Bridgeport is worth supporting, so we’re asking you to play a part of that role so that we can do it for our children," said school board member Robert Traber. "Because that is really what it’s all about is to do something for our children so that we can move our city forward."

Ernest Newtown, co-chair of the City Council's Budget & Appropriations Committee, ended the public forum by saying "hopefully the state will finally do what it should've done 30 years ago."

"Because I wish Bridgeport had a billion dollar surplus that we were sitting on like Hartford has," he said. "We're going to do our work and we're going to continue to dialogue ... I want to be one of the first to say that this year is probably been the best year that the Board of Ed and the City Council have worked together and have not been at one another's throats in the blame game."

Anjumanara Chowdhury, 18, a student from Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Multi-Magnet High School, addresses members of the City Council, Budget Committee on the Board of Education budget Tuesday evening. April 21, 2026, Bridgeport, Conn.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Royce Avery addresses the City Council, Budget Committee Members on the Board of Education budget Tuesday evening. April 21, 2026, Bridgeport, Conn.

After 10-Month Restoration, Sandy Hook Memorial Comes Home To SCSU

By Lucy Gellman

To the gentle hum and beep of a crane, a heavy ring of Atlantic white cedar wood made its way into the air, gleaming against a smear of blue sky. On the ground below, gravel blanketed a circle of earth, surrounded by contiguous, delta-shaped stones. As it touched down, ropes steadying it from both sides, Bud Argel knelt down to help move it into place. His palms, open and upturned, touched the curved base of the work. For a moment, it looked as if he was praying.

Thursday morning, a memorial sculpture dedicated to educators Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Mary J. Sherlach, and Victoria Leigh Soto—all Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) alumni who were killed during the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School—returned to SCSU’s campus, after nearly a year of careful restoration with a team at Dutch Wharf Boatyard & Marina in Branford. It is a larger part of the SCSU Sandy Hook Alumnae Remembrance Garden, which was first inaugurated in 2018.

The sculpture has been achingly absent from campus since last June, when the university’s facilities team removed it after spotting water damage on its west side. Normally, it sits just beyond Jennings and Morrill Halls on the university’s main campus, overlooking a small hill and placid lake below. On a clear day, a person can see the skyline of downtown New Haven in the distance, including through a wide, perfect circle at the center of the sculpture.

“I’m really happy that it’s back here,”

The sculpture returns to campus. Lucy

said Eric Lessne, associate vice president for capital budgeting and facilities operations at SCSU, as he supervised the reinstallation. “It belongs here. It’s just important—it’s the soul of the university.”

“A Gift That Deserves To Be Present”

The story of the memorial sculpture begins in the horrific aftermath of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 20 children and six teachers and

administrators were murdered by a person who should never have had access to a semiautomatic weapon. In Newtown, four of the educators who died had trained in SCSU’s College of Education, between

the years of 1997 and 2012.

Hochsprung was the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, and had rushed out of a meeting with Sherlach and a parent when she heard gunshots. Murphy, herself a mother of four, died while trying to shield a six-year-old boy from gunfire. Sherlach, whose husband Bill became a founding member of the group Sandy Hook Promise, was a school psychologist. Soto, who was still a graduate student at the time, hid many of her students in a closet to keep them safe. She received her degree posthumously in 2013.

“The Southern campus was reeling, as were people around the world,” said Dan Camenga, who ultimately co-chaired a Reflection Garden Council of 30 people while working as the associate vice president for institutional advancement from 2014 to 2018. At the time of the shooting, Camenga was not yet working at Southern, but he felt the loss acutely, as a dad to two young kids. “Southern recognized its unique proximity to this tragedy through the loss of four of its family members.”

On campus, students and faculty alike searched for a way to grieve and remember together. In 2013, Professor Roslyn Amenta proposed a design competition, in which students could contribute their own visions for a memorial garden that would one day find a home on campus. And somewhere on campus there was a graphic design major named Carlene Barnes, who had been pregnant at the time of the shooting, and who believed in the power of art as a way to honor and to heal.

Lamont Creates Education Funding Panel, Promises ‘Substantial’ Funding Boost

by Donald Eng

HARTFORD, CT — Local school districts could see some relief this year, and more enhancements to come under a plan Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled Thursday. Critics, though, wondered if the plan goes far enough in addressing the school funding needs in the state.

On Thursday, Lamont signed Executive Order 26-3, which establishes a commission to reform the funding streams for Connecticut’s public schools, including the Education Cost Sharing formula.

“Significant increases in investments made in our education system over the past seven years have made Connecticut’s school system one of the best in the country, however there is room to grow to ensure we are maximizing outcomes and support for each student at each school,” Lamont said. “It is about time that we take a bottom-up look at how we fund our schools with a focus on ensuring funding is fair and driving the best results for our students.”

Lamont’s Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Wagner will serve as the commission’s chair and Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker was named vice chair.

“We are establishing this commission with clear-eyed objectives and intent to deliver actionable, substantive changes reflecting input from the spectrum of stakeholders,” Wagner said. “Our guiding

principles are how we can best partner with towns and school districts to ensure that schools have access to the resources they need to deliver high quality educational opportunities, that resources are

being maximized to deliver those opportunities, and that students throughout Connecticut are able to access those opportunities.”

Russell-Tucker said the commission was “an opportunity to engage in a comprehensive, data-informed re-evaluation of our current funding structures, including accountability for ensuring that resources are used effectively to improve the upward trend in academic achievement we are seeing across the state.”

In addition to the commission, Lamont also announced a “substantial” allocation from the state’s $500 million affordability fund, established to offset program cuts at the federal level. He called it a bridge to see local districts through until the commission submits its recommendations next year and later estimated the amount at about $100 million.

Republican reaction to the proposal was guarded, with some concern that the increased funding may not be enough or come soon enough.

“I don’t think it’s anywhere near enough to finish this fiscal year for our towns, but it’s better than zero,” said Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock, who serves on the appropriations and education committees.

“It’s a lot, but it’s a drop in the bucket.”

Gordon also questioned why towns would need to wait for the commission to report back before seeing any meaningful changes in funding.

“We need to be more ambitious,” he said. “We don’t need a blue ribbon panel. We already know what we need to do.” State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, the House minority leader, said his caucus would participate in the commission, but worried it was more for show than any real reform.

“I worry this will be more pageantry than progress,” he said. “My concern is that this panel’s mission is so broad that affordability could get lost behind discussions of ‘outcomes’ and ‘equity,’ turning the whole thing into an academic exercise that makes our school funding system even more complex than the failed ECS formula we have now.”

He added that protecting taxpayers must remain a priority.

“We’re happy to engage in this process, but the people who pay for public education have to be an equal priority, and this commission has to stay focused enough to actually move the ball forward,” he said.

Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker speaks about a proposed education funding commission at the State Capitol in Hartford, CT on April 16, 2026. Credit: Donald Eng / CTNewsJunkie

Gellman Photos.

Arts Council of greater New Haven

Opinion | HB 5485 Will Give People With Disabilities A Voice

by Danielle M. Middlebrooks, The Arc Connecticut

For decades, people with disabilities and older adults in Connecticut have often been excluded from making decisions about their own lives. Many have lost fundamental rights like decisions about where they live, how they spend their money, or what medical care they receive.

It’s not because they were incapable, but because our system failed to offer meaningful alternatives. The Arc Connecticut, and our Supported Decision-Making Coalition partners including, organizations like the Connecticut State Independent Living Council (CTSILC), Disability

Rights Connecticut, The Connecticut Legal Rights Project, The Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities and countless advocates, believe there is a better way.

Under HB 5485, An Act Concerning Supported Decision Making, people with disabilities will be helped to make their own decisions with assistance from trusted supporters, like family members, friends, or professionals. Rather than removing a person’s legal rights, SDM provides the necessary tools and support needed to understand choices, weigh options, and make decisions. It recognizes something we all know to be true, everyone relies on support at different points in their lives.

In many ways, SDM formalizes what families have been doing for years, offering guidance while respecting an individual’s voice. The difference is that SDM preserves autonomy and dignity, instead of court-ordered control.

Guardianship and conservatorship can

be necessary and even lifesaving in certain circumstances, and families should always have access to them when truly needed, but the consequences of relying too heavily on these means are profound. They should not be the first, or more likely the only solution. When used unnecessarily, guardianship and conservatorship strip individuals of rights and limit independence and self-determination.

When people lose decision-making authority, they often lose opportunities for employment, relationships, and community participation. We have heard stories from many individuals and families who want support in decision-making. They want systems that build skills and confidence, not ones that assume they are incapable or have no voice.

Too often, guardianship and conservatorship remain the default response, even when less restrictive options would better serve the person. Not only is this about rights, but it is about quality-of-life.

Research and lived experience consistent-

ly show that people with disabilities do better when they are empowered to make decisions about their own lives. Supported decision-making promotes self-determination, strengthens community living, and aligns with the principles of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the landmark Olmstead decision, which affirm the right to services in the most integrated, least restrictive setting.

That is why more than half of the U.S., including New York, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island have passed laws recognizing SDM as a legitimate alternative to guardianship and conservatorship. These states have acknowledged that people thrive when they are supported, not replaced, in decision-making.

As an organization dedicated to advancing inclusion and protecting the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, The Arc Connecticut strongly supports expanding the use and understanding of Supported Decision-Making across our state. This

includes educating families, judges, attorneys, educators, and service providers; ensuring Supported Decision Making is meaningfully considered before guardianship and conservatorship; and investing in the community supports that make informed decision-making possible. People with disabilities are not problems to be solved. They are individuals with preferences, goals, and the right to shape their own futures. Supported Decision-Making does not eliminate the need for help, rather it ensures that help enhances independence instead of replacing it.

Connecticut has the opportunity to lead by fully embracing Supported Decision-Making and HB 5485. We urge policymakers and the broader community to reaffirm a simple but powerful truth: with the right supports, people with disabilities and older adults can and should direct their own lives.

69-Unit Affordable Dixwell Dev Now Open

by Dereen Shirnekhi

Tenants have almost entirely filled up a long-in-the-works, church-affiliated affordable housing development in Dixwell that opened its doors to new renters late last year.

The 69 total apartments — bound by Dixwell Avenue, Munson Street, and Orchard Street — were first proposed in 2018 by Beulah Land Development Corporation. They have since been built with the help of Spiritos Properties LLC and New York City-based nonprofit HELP USA. Construction began in 2022.

The lot is the former home of a gas station and parking lot where Joe Grate used to set up his popular barbecue stand.

The Dixwell-Munson-Orchard apartments, spanning the addresses of 340 Dixwell, 316 Dixwell, and 783 Orchard, received a Certificate of Use and Occupancy on Dec. 30, 2025, according to city

Building Department records.

“I love leasing out new apartments, especially when it’s a first apartment,” said Property Manager Irma Ross on Thursday. “I get excited too.”

Ross is employed by New Neighborhoods, an affordable housing management company.

Administrative Assistant Takai Dixon, who also works for New Neighborhoods, said that tenants began moving in at the end of last year and nearly filled up the two-building complex in February.

Out of those 69 apartments, Ross said, only two one-bedroom, market-rate units are left — and one woman was going to be coming by later to pick up the keys to one of those apartments.

“We really try to make it a great experience for residents,” Ross said. She said that the complex’s two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments filled up quickly.

The two buildings are made of mass timber — an environmentally friendly construction method that prioritizes using wood, a renewable resource, over concrete and steel. The wood, imported from

Austria, spans the inside of the buildings, even accenting tenants’ apartments.

Ross said she has heard from tenants that “they love the wood because it’s unique and comforting.”

Beulah, a nonprofit affiliated with Dixwell’s Beulah Heights First Pentecostal Church, entered an agreement with the city in 2022 for a 30-year tax break for the project. Headed by CEO Darrell Brooks, the company also received a Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) award of $1,582,761 in tax credits for the project.

Fifty five of the total units are affordable for families making up to 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), or $67,920 for a family of four. The remaining 14 units are rented out at market rates. Beulah has been building affordable rental and owner-occupied housing since the 1997 shooting of 7-month-old baby Danielle Taft devastated the church’s neigh-

borhood on Orchard Street, at a time when the drug trade thrived in rooming houses on the block owned by absentee landlords.

Both of the new affordable-apartment buildings have multipurpose rooms, laundry rooms (only three-bedroom apartments have in-unit laundry machines), and storage rooms. The building at 340 Dixwell has a gym and a patio, and tenants from either building are able to access them.

Dixon said that one multipurpose room is set to be used by a tenant this weekend for her child’s first birthday. New Reach, which also has offices on-site, also uses the space.

“I like the communication with tenants,” he said. He is hoping to organize a movie screening on the outdoor patio some time soon, with the weather warming up, as there are also plenty of kids in the buildings.

Stamford Board of Education to name new superintendent next week

By Ignacio Laguarda,

STAMFORD — In a week, the city's Board of Education is expected to welcome a new Stamford Public Schools superintendent.

The board's tentative plan is to vote on the new district leader at its regular meeting on April 28, said board President Andy George

The appointee will replace current Superintendent Tamu Lucero, who will stay in her role until the end of June. After her term ends, Lucero will become the director of the International School of Kenya, a private school

in Nairobi for students from pre-K to 12th grade.

George said the three finalists for the Stamford position are all acting superintendents. He said the search process, lead by consultant firm Zeal Education Group, has yielded strong candidates. "When we asked them why are you considering Stamford, quite often it is the diversity of the population, it’s the progress we’ve made in the district," George said.

Zeal conducted 74 community meetings that helped build a blueprint for the ideal candidate. The job posting for the position went up in January and

the leadership profile developed by Zeal called for a candidate who will be visible as the new superintendent, as well as “emotionally intelligent” and engaged with the community.

The original candidate pool of 27 — from 11 different states — was whittled down to a list of six semifinalists in March. The group was thinned to three finalists before the final candidate will be presented to the board next week.

The school board conducted in-person interviews with the finalists, who also underwent a vetting process including background checks by Zeal.

Stamford Superintendent of Schools Tamu Lucero, right, is photographed at a Stamford Board of Education meeting in the Stamford Government Center on March 24, 2026.

Property manager Admin Assistant Takai Dixon: Tenants began moving in at the end of last year. Credit: Dereen Shirnekhi photos

The New Haven independent

Protein Bars & Kimchi & Bagels, Oh My

by Lisa Reisman

In the end, there was no clear winner.

Would it be canned milk so fresh and delicious that it would make milk viral again? Award-winning bagels with “double-proofed” seeds that stay on the bagel? A sauce with flavors that ranged from Curry Coolada to Sweet Yak to Beer Nutz?

The occasion: Saturday’s pitch competition at the Big Connecticut Food Event at Yale School of Management’s Evans Hall. Organized by the CT Food Launchpad, the annual one-day event, in its fourth year, brought together over 30 Connecticut-based food and beverage businesses with a mission to strengthen the growth of the state’s food economy and get more local brands on grocery shelves.

Before the competition, there were intensive one-on-one coaching sessions, industry panel discussions, and another competition, one for emerging brands. That part, said chef, food justice activist, and event organizer Tagan Engel, as she stood amid the hubbub of tabling participants earlier Saturday afternoon, “is about connecting innovative food entrepreneurs often toiling in obscurity with people established in Connecticut’s food ecosystem.”

Just then, attendees were summoned to the auditorium for the highly anticipated pitch competition. At stake, to be determined by judges from Bozzuto’s, Whole Foods, and Pip’s Heirloom Snacks, among others: a $10,000 grand prize, with $5,000 going to the second-place winner, $2,500 to the third, and $1,250 to the two runner-ups.

The eventual champion was Arshad Bahl’s Amrita protein bars, which came into being when Bahl’s young son was diagnosed with autism and severe gastrointestinal issues at the age of two. Finding studies that correlated autism and GI issues, Bahl and his wife set out to create a low-inflammation diet for their son.

There was nothing. “So we created our own protein snack,” he told the audience of 90, one that was low in allergens and sugar and plant-based, and naming it for the Sanskrit word for divine nectar of the gods.

Bahl said his son will soon graduate from RPI with a bachelor’s degree. He showed a slide of Jack, among the employees at his manufacturing facility with developmental disabilities. “They are why I do this,” he said. Donovan Evans, founder of Da Last Drip, the second-place winner, recalled himself experimenting with foods while growing up. “We didn’t study the periodic table at my house,” he said. “Instead of learning about uranium, I learned about cayenne pepper, paprika, and raising agents.” He professed his love for wings—and his dismay on searching for a viable sauce at the grocery store. “Highly processed, limited use, zero innovation, same recipes, same boring packaging,” he said, shaking his head.

That’s how Da Last Drip was born in his Hartford kitchen. From there, he and his team tested their products at events, festivals, and expos. “We saw that people wanted bold flavor and better options, so we leaned into exotic flavors,” he said— among them, Sweet and Spicy Peanut Butter, Monkey Blood, and Holy Cacao.

“Our customers built the blueprint for our entire product line.”

Among the reasons third-place winner Olmo Bagels is venturing into wholesale from its Whitney Avenue headquarters just down the road: unlike New York bagels, they’re “not dense and not boiled, with seeds falling everything,” Chief Operating Officer Craig Hutchinson wryly told the crowd. Unlike Montreal ones, they don’t “break your teeth, and they’re not too thin for a sandwich.”

With the fresh-milled grains in its bagels, its “steam, not boil” process, and its

“seed proofing” that keeps the seeds on the bagels, Olmo has consistently won national acclaim, including the grand prize at BagelFest 2023, since its 2018 founding. Now, according to Hutchinson, it’s time to expand. “One investment in bagging and freezing equipment is all that separates Olmo from putting a New Haven-style bagel on the shelves of coffee shops, specialty grocers, and institutions across Connecticut and beyond,” he said. Brie Hyde, head of dairy ventures and sales for Ellington’s Oakridge Farm, issued a challenge for the first-ever farmfresh milk in a can, which tied for fourth place. “Let’s replace our reach for soda, for juice,” she said, reminding the crowd that “milk is the original superfood.”

Designed as a “grab and go” drink to make milk more accessible and appealing, Moozy is available in flavors like regular whole, chocolate, coffee, and horchata. “Let’s make milk a shareable food experience,” she said.

Arguably, the highlight of the event came with the sheer ingenuity of the emerging brands—among them, Aves by Craves cheesecakes-to-go in a jar; Purple Drop, a Peruvian “super drink” made of craft-brewed purple corn; and Aasaaska, a “Black Latina woman-owned, young male-led” local honey-making operation based out of Hartford.

None more so, perhaps, than Black Girl Kimchi, which took home the inaugural Chris Marcocci Emerging Brand Award, named for Marcocci, a champion for food entrepreneurs, who died in 2024. The award came with a $10,000 check.

“We are not trying to change Korean kimchi,” founder Onika Bent said earlier in the day. “We are expanding what kimchi is in the diaspora,” using collard greens, okra, baby bok choy, with jerk flavor. “It’s a love of fermentation and cultures plus the health benefits of probiotics.”

Upon hearing her name, announced by Marcocci’s wife Rita, Bent dropped to her knees and covered her face. “This means everything,” she said.

Finalists and judges at the 2026 Big CT Food Event: from left, Da Last Drip’s Donovan Evans; Arshad Bahl of Amrita; John (judge), Moozy’s Brie Hyde; Kobla Asamoah of Slow Money NYC, judge; Danielle Lutsky of Plantidote; Chaka Wade, managing partner, Fullerfield Capital, judge; Justin Lindemayer of Pip’s Heirloom Snacks, judge; Scott Rowe of Bozzuto’s, judge; Craig Hutchinson, Olmo Bagels.

Local favorite Olmo's Jim Baranowski and Craig Hutchinson tabling their bagels. "Pure joy," said Hutchinson. Credit: Lisa Reisman photos

Onika Bent, founder of Black Girl Kimchi, winning the inaugural Chris Marcocci Emerging Brand Award.

The New Haven independent

Beloved CT restaurant

Cheryl Heyward said.

According to Cheryl Heyward, the money the family receives will go to medical bills.

“It’s been several months now, and he’s got some uncovered medical expenses that have presented themselves and I put in the GoFundMe to get over the hump,” she said. “His health is the No. 1 priority.”

Courtesy of Heyward family

Kevin Heyward prepares fish at Kevin's Seafood. The family is hoping to raise money to help with medical bills through a GoFundMe. (Courtesy of Heyward family)

New Haven native Dennis Jarman said he has known Heyward since he was selling fish as a teenager in the mid1970s at the original Kevin’s Seafood, which was located at 716 Dixwell Ave. for 25 years.

“I moved to Washington, D.C. and Kevin became even bigger and he moved to Kimberly Avenue. When I would come back to town, this was my go-to spot. (He had) seven or eight different kinds of fish. He had the whole belly clams. He had shrimp. And our scallops,” Jarman said.

“Kevin is an institution in the New Haven area similar to Sally’s or Pepe’s,” he added. “When somebody’s looking for fish, Kevin’s Seafood is the place to go.”

Kevin Heyward said the biggest seller in his restaurant was “Kevin’s Filet Sandwiches.”

“People would rave about our sandwiches, our box of fish, shrimp and our onion rings we would make ourselves,” Heyward said. “I would pack the sandwiches so big they would ask if they could buy more bread to make another sandwich.”

Rev. Curtis Antrum, pastor of Abundant Harvest Outreach in New Haven, has known Heyward for 30 years.

“I had fish there all of the time,” Antrum said. “It’s a staple on a Friday or Saturday at least three times a month or more. It’s just how it was.

“Kevin is a community guy,” he added. “He’s bigger than life. He has a certain quality. I know first-hand his fish is quality and there’s a certain taste and he always gave you enough. There’s nothing else in the area that can compete with Kevin for seafood. … There’s no replacing it. When it closed, it felt like something died.”

Antrum said he is happy to see the community rallying around the Heyward family with the hopes the business will open again.

“Knowing Kevin, I believe this is not the last of what we’ve heard from him,” Antrum said.

Cofield Eviction Cases Drag On

by Dereen Shirnekhi

Paul Bryan Jr. made his way to housing court Tuesday with hopes that he won’t have to come back again, as lawyers and tenants of a West River affordable housing complex continue trying to resolve a slate of months-long eviction cases.

The legal aid lawyer for those tenants, meanwhile, expects the landlord to withdraw the last of those remaining eviction cases soon.

Bryan lives at the Curtis Cofield II Estates, a 56-unit, townhouse-style complex bounded by Legion Avenue, Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Tyler Street that opened to tenants in the spring of 2025. The owner of the apartments, an affiliate of the New York-based affordable housing developer the NHP Foundation, filed 22 eviction lawsuits in December for nonpayment of rent.

Some tenants have claimed that their nonpayment of rent was due to miscommunication on the landlord’s part, as well as frequent turnover of property managers. Some said that they fell behind on payments and were working to catch up. Nine of those eviction lawsuits have since been withdrawn; 13 are still working their way through housing court. None of these lawsuits have yet resulted in a tenant actually being removed from the property.

Some Curtis Cofield tenants, like Bryan, receive Project Based Vouchers (PBVs) through the Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) program, formerly known as Section 8. Those vouchers, distributed through the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH), were reserved for formerly homeless tenants who took part in a lottery process. Tenants with vouchers pay a third of their monthly income in rent.

Many of those tenants now facing eviction told the Independent or the court that they were told their rent was $0 when they first signed their leases and weren’t notified their rental amount had changed

until they were served with pre-eviction notices.

“They told me I didn’t have to pay for a full year,” said Bryan on Tuesday, as he waited to talk to his attorney and his landlord’s attorneys at his first court hearing at 121 Elm St.

When he secured his voucher through the housing authority’s lottery and signed his lease for his one-bedroom apartment at Curtis Cofield in April 2025, Bryan said he was told he didn’t have to pay anything in rent for a year. Bryan’s lease, which was included as part of court filings in his eviction case, states that his rent is $2,140. In pen, someone added “To be paid by HA,” likely meaning housing authority.

Bryan said that his rent increased to $250 per month over the summer, but he hadn’t been notified and didn’t realize he

had been missing payments until he received a notice to quit in late October. He likes his apartment, he said — especially the fact that there’s a bus stop right outside.

Before moving into his apartment, Bryan said, “I was on the street.” If he’s evicted, he said he’ll be homeless again. Still, he’s keeping calm. “It is what it is,” he said.

Bryan’s case was continued as he seeks a resolution that will allow him to stay in place, and, hopefully, not have to return to court in person again.

New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA) attorney Shelley White has been representing Curtis Cofield tenants alongside her colleagues since court proceedings began.

White, who spoke with the landlord’s attorneys from the Milford-based Land-

lord Law Firm at court mediation on Tuesday, said afterward that she is “hoping” that the eviction cases will be withdrawn, with PBV recipients not having to pay back rent for the months they claimed not to know their rent had increased. “It’s our position that they shouldn’t owe anything,” she said.

“The mess up was their mess up,” Bryan said about the landlord.

White also said she hopes that the landlord and the non-PBV recipients will settle on a plan for those tenants to catch up on rent they owe and keep their apartments.

Representatives from the Landlord Law Firm did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.

NHP Foundation Assistant Vice President Jonathon Singsen declined to com-

ment on the eviction cases while there are ongoing negotiations and directed the Independent to the HANH for questions regarding the PBV recipients.

“To the extent that we cannot comment on the legal process it is always our intent to work with residents towards positive solutions,” Singsen said over email when asked whether the NHP Foundation intends to continue the eviction cases.

Meanwhile, asked whether the NHP Foundation has made any changes to support tenants struggling to make rental payments, Singsen said, “We collaborate with Operation Pathways as our provider of resident services and Columbus House as our provider of permanent supportive services who each offer resources in the community that residents can engage with when faced with financial challenges.”

Curtis Cofield was formerly managed by Massachusetts-based company HallKeen. In January, a spokesperson for HallKeen told the Independent regarding the eviction cases, “We anticipate that majority of these cases will be resolved before a Writ of Execution, or eviction, is issued.”

As of April 1, according to Singsen, NHP Foundation has hired Winn Residential to manage the apartment complex. “The NHP Foundation has had a long and productive relationship with Hall Keen but a business decision was made to consolidate into a larger regional management team that we have also had a longstanding relationship with and that is Winn,” Singsen said. Feedback from residents, he said, has been positive.

“NHPF is confident in our new management team and their ability to support residents and provide safe and comfortable living conditions at Curtis Cofield,” he continued.

Meanwhile, White, who filed an appearance in Bryan’s eviction case on Wednesday, is hoping that she and her clients won’t have to come back to court to continue negotiating ends to their respective eviction cases.

Hillhouse Students Dazzle In Inaugural Arts Showcase

Lucy Gellman

As the sound of Lil Uzi Vert’s “What You Saying” drifted over the stage, Janeska Marrero stilled her mind, steadied her breathing, and snapped to attention. Around her, dancers posed in perfect contapasto, their hands on their hips. Marrero leaned in, hand-in-hand with freshman Marilyn Robinson, and began to move. As she rose, arms extending to their full wingspan, she could feel her grandmother’s spirit shifting right along with her, and eased into the dance.

Friday, an infectious, often danceable and earwormy joy came to James Hillhouse High School during an encore, all-school performance of its inaugural arts showcase, a collaboration among the visual, dance, music, and theater departments that has been months in the making. The brainchild

of teachers Stefania Munzi, Marta Medina, Millette Nuñez, Lily Echevarria, and Andrea Landsbach, the performance marks the first time that artistic disciplines have come together, with a new focus on collaboration that teachers have started to grow this year. Josh Smith, who conducts the Hillhouse marching band, also came on board, as did Assistant Principal Dr. Daniel Bonet. In roughly 80 minutes, it featured not just dance, music, and theater, but also a fashion show celebrating Latin American culture across a diaspora. It follows an arts-specific fundraiser that Munzi led earlier this year, to raise money for supplies that range from paint to basic set pieces to costumes for the dance team (those are still a dream deferred). She said that ticket sales from an opening reception last Wednesday brought in another $300.

Paul Bryan Jr.: Before getting this Cofield apartment, "I was on the street." Credit: Dereen Shirnekhi photo

Marilyn Robinson and members of the dance team

rock it during their number

The New Haven independent

Black

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Lectureship is made possible through the generous support of Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Dr. Lonnie Bunch III

RJK Jr. Criticized For Claiming Black Kids With ADHD Should Be ‘Reparented’

By Black Information Network

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was called out during a congressional hearing for his past remarks made during his 2024 presidential campaign.

RFK Jr. was challenged by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., during a hearing with the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means on Thursday (April 16), specifically about his past suggestion that Black children taking psychiatric drugs should be “reparented,” according to TheGrio.

“In a 2024 podcast interview, you suggested that Black children on ADHD medication should be reparented,” Sewell said when questioning RFK Jr. “You said, ‘Every Black kid is now just standardly put on Adderall, SSRI, benzos, which are known to induce violence,’ and that those children are going to have to go somewhere to get reparented.”

Upon her asking if RJK Jr. had ever reparented or parented a Black child in the past, the health secretary claimed he did not know what the phrase meant and de-

nied having ever made such a claim in the first place.

“I’m not going to answer something that I didn’t say,” he said.

However, the secretary did indeed make such a claim during a podcast interview with Earn Your Leisure while running for president in 2024, days before suspending his campaign and endorsing then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.

During the podcast, RJK Jr. alluded to the idea of using federal dollars to establish wellness farms and rehabilitation facilities for Americans “dependent on drugs.”

“During slavery, Black children were taken from their parents and sold with no regard for their humanity. And after slavery, Black families continued to face forced separations through Jim Crow laws, discriminatory policing, and child welfare systems that too often assume that Black parents were unfit,” Sewell said in response to the health secretary’s denial of the claim. “For you to suggest that

Black families are not capable of raising their own children is deeply offensive, sir. You are the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the world’s most powerful country, and your words matter.”

This is not the first time RFK Jr. has faced criticism for controversial statements and actions made during his time in office. He, along with President Donald Trump, suggested back in September 2025 that Tylenol causes autism in children without scientific evidence.

Former President Barack Obama later rebuked both RJK Jr. and Trump for these claims, calling them “violence against the truth” that undermined and endangered public health.

The health secretary also ordered the nation’s top vaccine panel to limit the number of vaccines recommended for children earlier this year, which was later blocked by a federal judge.

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.

COMMENTARY: How You Stop a Prescription Medicine is as Important as How You Start

By John Whyte, MD, MPH

Every day, millions of Americans take medications to manage chronic conditions or prevent disease. Prescription drugs are vital tools in modern medicine — but, in some circumstances, they can also lead to serious adverse drug interactions, diminished quality of life, and even life-threatening complications.

This is a complex issue with high stakes for patients. Older adults, in particular, are often prescribed multiple drugs by different doctors for different reasons. The Centers for Disease Control reports that nearly 70% of adults 40-79 years used one or more prescriptions in the past 30 days and over 20% used five or more prescriptions.

Polypharmacy — the term for taking five or more medications — comes with

risk. It disproportionately affects older adults and those with multiple conditions.

For these patients, each additional pill can increase the risk of falls, cognitive decline, and adverse events, contributing to tens of thousands of emergency room visits and hospitalizations each year.

That's why the American Medical Association is urging physicians and patients to embrace a concept gaining momentum in health care: deprescribing.

Deprescribing is the planned, supervised process of reducing or stopping medications that may no longer be beneficial — or may be causing harm. There are many reasons why a medication that was once appropriate may become unnecessary or even risky. A patient's condition may have improved, and the medication is no longer needed. Or newer treatments may offer better outcomes in place of cur-

rent medication.

Deprescribing is not about denying care or cutting costs at the expense of patient health. It's about ensuring that every medication prescribed is truly necessary, evidence-based, and aligned with a patient's current health goals.

But here's the bigger issue: If we truly want to reverse the tide of chronic disease in America, we need to go beyond managing symptoms. We need to rethink the entire approach -- including how many medications a person is on and why. Of course, many conditions require lifelong treatment. But we need to talk more honestly about the role of lifestyle -- nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress, and social connection — as essential components of healing and prevention.

Right now, lifestyle interventions are too often an afterthought. But no amount

of medication can fully counteract the health consequences of poor diet, inactivity, or chronic stress. Rebuilding our nation's health means re-centering our care around what actually restores health, not just what controls disease.

Good medicine means knowing when to say, "Let's take another look." Care teams need to evaluate medications more holistically. And we need to encourage open conversations between doctors and patients about medication goals, side effects, and quality of life.

This cannot happen in isolation. We need insurers to support time for thoughtful medication reviews. We need better coordination across specialties and care settings. We need electronic health record developers to follow government rules and allow users to reconcile a patient's active medication list, correct inaccuracies,

and include non-prescription medicines and dietary supplements.

Deprescribing is not about withholding care — it's about delivering the right care, at the right time, for the right reasons. It's about restoring balance — recognizing when a pill is helping, and when it's just adding to the burden.

At its core, this is about respect: for the science, for the art of medicine, and most importantly, for the lives of patients. If we're serious about improving the health of our nation, then reassessing medications — and refocusing on the foundations of real health and collaboration with our patients — must become a routine part of how we practice medicine.

John Whyte, MD, MPH, is chief executive officer and executive vice president of the American Medical Association.

American College of Physicians Names First Black EVP & CEO, LeRoi Hicks

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - According to a press release from ACP, Hicks’ selection comes after a national search and recommendations for the organization’s Board of Regents. Hicks, known as a clinical system leader for his research on health equity and healthcare disparities, has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work.

By Voice and Viewpoint Newswire

As reported in AfroTech, LeRoi Hicks becomes the first African American physician to hold the title of Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer for the American College of Physicians, the largest medical specialty organization in the states.

According to a press release from ACP, Hicks’ selection comes after a national search and recommendations for the organization’s Board of Regents. Hicks, known as a clinical sys-

tem leader for his research on health equity and healthcare disparities, has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work.

Dr. Hicks graduated from Howard University before receiving his medical degree at Indian University School of Medicine in 1995. After completing his residency at Mount Auburn Hospital, Dr. Hicks completed a fellowship in general medicine and faculty development at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and earned a Master of Public Health Degree from the Harvard

School of Public Health in 2001.

Since 2014, Dr. Hicks has served in a range of roles at ChristianaCare in Delaware, including; Chief Medical Officer of Wilmington Hospital, Campus Executive Director, and currently, president of Wilmington Hospital. Hicks takes on his new role at ACP this July.

In a statement, Hicks shared:

“I am humbled to be selected to lead ACP at a time when internal medicine physicians are navigating profound

challenges and unprecedented opportunities in a rapidly evolving health care environment. My experience in executive leadership, patient care, and academic medicine has prepared me to champion ACP’s mission and strategic imperatives. I look forward to working with ACP’s leadership and staff to deliver programs and services that support internal medicine physicians across every stage of their career and advance equitable access to high–quality care for all.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

LeRoi Hicks

There’s been a drought on their  childhood’s road and two cousins come home dry-eyed and grieving. Sade, on a three-day furlough from prison. Mina, departing a strangely idyllic west coast. As all time ticks towards the correctional officer’s arrival, these two wrestle with all they have never said, with the fallibility of memory itself, and with visions of a future they are bound to create. Winner of the prestigious 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a.k. payne’s Furlough’s Paradise is a lyrical meditation on grief, home, kinship, and a utopia yet to be realized.

Advocates call for Mamdani to commit to abolishing the NYPD gang database

by Tandy Lau

Organizers against the NYPD’s Criminal Group Database fear Mayor Zohran Mamdani may soften his stance on abolishing the policing tool which almost exclusively surveils Black and Brown young men after comments made during a press conference on April 6. This “gang database” can label individuals as gang members without an arrest or conviction. “So, I’ve made my critiques of the database clear, and the NYPD has also implemented a number of reforms as per the recommendation that came through,” said Mamdani during the press conference. “And the implementation of those reforms and the results of that are part of the active discussion that we’re having.”

Those reforms stem from findings by the Office of the Inspector General-NYPD (OIG-NYPD) published over the past year. In 2023, the police oversight agency provided 17 recommendations on how the department should reform the database. Since then, the number of names registered fell by nearly half.

Former Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber, who oversaw the OIG-NYPD last year, told the AmNews that the police department cooperated thoroughly with the probe back in October. But even with the reforms, the racial makeup remains ostensibly the same: overwhelmingly Black and Brown.

The G.A.N.G.S. Coalition, which is composed of several civil rights law firms and pro-privacy groups like the Legal Aid Society and the NAACP Legal Defense

Fund (LDF), maintains that the database cannot be reformed. While the NYPD efforts seem to address the most flagrant concerns, which often involve monitoring minors, the racial disparities seem immutable. And during past hearings, police officials could not provide exact numbers on how many shootings the database prevented during a 2024 city council hearing, while claiming the tool was key for gun violence prevention efforts.

“How do you reform a database that is 99% Black and Hispanic targeted?” said NAACP LDF community organizer Obi Afriyie. “What does reform look like? Taking away one aspect of the many harmful aspects of the database will never do anything to stop those racial disparities. The database policing will always disproportionately affect Black and Brown bodies. The idea of reforming this is nonsensical to me [and] a non-starter

for the coalition.”

Currently, a city council bill sponsored by Councilmember Althea Stevens would abolish the gang database and prevent the NYPD from refashioning it under any other name. Last September, Mamdani openly backed the legislation abolishing the database during a sit-down with Errol Louis at Columbia University.

“I have supported that proposal,” he said during the talk. “It’s one that I’ve

supported because of the vast dragnet has meant the inclusion of New Yorkers on the basis of whether they go out late, photos they put on social media, so much of the facts of life of being a young New Yorker. And yet it then becomes a mark of suspicion.”

Critics of the gang database largely see the city’s Crisis Management System, which deploys credible messengers to leverage their trust and ties to squash feuds and prevent retaliatory shootings, as the alternative solution. Mamdani pledged to bolster the network through his Department of Community Safety proposal, which recently got off the ground after an executive order, drawing praise from groups like the NAACP LDF. But Afriyie says the gang database contradicts these efforts and worries that Mamdani’s potential support of the NYPD practice may erode the trust for his administration in the neighborhoods where credible messengers, many with former gang ties themselves, operate.

“You’re telling people that you want to invest in them, that their lived experiences are not their faults,” said Afriyie. “That we need to have all these things and this is what true safety looks like and then you’re still surveilling and criminalizing them…part of the importance [and success] of having CMS workers and credible messengers is that they are very connected to these communities. Sometimes they are formally gang-impacted themselves. It’s those key members that are the ones criminalized by the NYPD in those ways.”

OP-ED: Black America’ s 2026 Urban Challenges: Mayor Mamdani Case Study

By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.

Today across the United States of America in some of the largest urban cities, Black Americans are having renewed nightmares about being taken for granted, ignored and being erase in history and in the public square.

Ethnic cleansing is an insidious form of systematic racism. In response to the increasing “Browing of America,” concerns are raised about the unfulfillment of prior commitments that were supposed to ensure racial equality in municipal politics, economics, and urban revitalization.

New York City is the nation’s largest city. The presence and contributions of African Americans to the centuries-long development and evolution of the city are rarely highlighted and saluted. The election of Zohran Mamdani would not have been possible without the huge turnout of African American and Latino voters.

Yet the interests of Black America in the nation’s largest metropolis appear to be triage routinely by the Mamdani Administration.

We are the Black Press of America. For the past 199 years, since the first publication of Freedom’s Journal in New York City in 1827, we have had to call out

those who pretended to be our political allies. Accountability from those we help to elect is A fair and just demand.

Voters of color – both Black and Latino New Yorkers - backed Andrew Cuomo heavily in the primary, but then ultimately decided to give Zohran Mamdani a chance: https://manhattan.institute/ article/how-mamdani-flipped-the-blackand-hispanic-vote overcoming their skepticism on housing, transit, and public safety, and reportedly moved by his affordability agenda,

This trust, on the part of Black voters in particular, may have been misplaced. Why? Several troubling early signs that the new mayor is disregarding New Yorkers of color, and treating them like Ralph Ellison’s iconic Invisible Man.

Thus far Mayor Mamdani has appointed no Black deputy mayors. This is a glaring signal to Black voters who voted for Mamdani on the promise of racial equity in the city’s administration. Dose Mamdani value our insights, lived experiences, or our voices in crafting critical policies in City Hall?

Mamdani was forced to apologize to Black New Yorkers for overlooking the historical contributions of enslaved and indigenous people to building the city

when he talked about a city “built by immigrants” in his inauguration speech. https://www.blackenterprise.com/zohranmamdani-apologies-to-black-new-york-

ers/ The Mamdani administration is holding a series of “Rental Ripoff” hearings, spearheaded by Cea Weaver, the direc-

tor of his Office to Protect Tenants, who called homeownership a form of white supremacy. The mayor is reaching out to help private landlords instead of prioritizing fixing public housing (NYCHA) which has a dismal track record of terrible conditions (no heat, year-plus waits for repairs, rampant pests and mold).

90 percent of the more than 511,000 NYCHA residents are Black and Latino, which is part of a larger trend in which 95 percent of Black households in New York State live in highly segregated buildings and/or neighborhoods. NYCHA is the largest landlord in NYC, so the Mamdani administration telling residents to wait even longer for a solution to their long-standing sub-standard living conditions has to be challenged.

The unfolding case study of Mayor Mamdani in New York City reveals that we have to keep voting with record voter turnouts. But after the elections, we must hold mayors and other elected officials accountable. Mamdani still has time to ensure greater equity in NYC. But will he do the right thing at the right time?

Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and can be reached at dr.bchavis@nnpa.org

Activist Kraig Lewis speaks outside City Hall against gang database. Credit: Tandy Lau photo

Zohran Mamdani at the Resist Fascism Rally in Bryant Park on Oct 27th, 2024. Bingjiefu He / Wikimedia Commons.

Jackie Young becomes WNBA’s first million-dollar player

by Dollita Okine, Face2FaceAfrica.com

The Las Vegas Aces have re-signed AllStar guard Jackie Young, as announced by the team’s president and general manager, Nikki Fargas. Young has been a key player for the Aces, winning three WNBA titles in the last four seasons. Ahead of the signing, Reuters reported that the contract is expected to be worth $1.19 million, the maximum amount for a player not eligible for the WNBA’s max contract of $1.4 million.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the Aces organization and our amazing fans for their continued belief in me,” the 27-yearold four-time WNBA All-Star and 2022 WNBA Most Improved Player said. “From the moment I got drafted here, the Aces organization and entire Las Vegas community have made this place feel like home. I’m excited to get back to work and compete again for a championship.”

“Jackie has been a foundational piece of our success here at the Aces,” General Manager Fargas said. “She brings an unmatched competitive drive and will to win that has led to raising three championship banners. She will continue to be a valuable asset to our roster with her re-signing with the Aces.”

According to a statement, since being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019

WNBA Draft out of Notre Dame, Young has evolved into one of the league’s top guards. While her first three years showed steady improvement, the last four years have marked her transformation. During this period, she earned four WNBA All-Star selections and was named to the All-WNBA second team in

both 2023 and 2025.

In 2025, Young had a standout season, averaging 16.5 points and 5.1 assists per game, along with career bests of 4.5 rebounds and an 89.4% free-throw percentage. Her strong performance continued into the playoffs, where she averaged a career-high 20.4 points and 5.5 assists per

Star guard Jackie Young

game, which was pivotal in leading the Aces to the 2025 WNBA championship. That season, Young stood out as one of only seven players in the league to achieve a triple-double. Furthermore, she was one of just three players to record multiple triple-doubles, accomplishing this feat on July 29 and August 27.

The 6-foot guard’s strong performance places her among the franchise’s top ranks across numerous statistical categories. She is No. 3 in games played (243), assists (1,029), steals (271), and steals averaged (1.1 spg).

Young also ranks No. 4 in points scored (3,412), 30-point games (5), and 10-point games (174). Furthermore, she is No. 5 in assists averaged (4.2 apg), field goal percentage (.467), and 20-point games (57). Her ranking extends to No. 6 for scoring average (14.0 ppg) and free throw percentage (.860), and she is No. 8 for rebounds (1,002).

In addition to her championships with the Aces, the 27-year-old Young has accumulated 176 career wins (and counting), the most of any player before their 28th birthday.

Before joining the WNBA, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, who hails from Princeton, Indiana, spent three seasons playing for Notre Dame. During her collegiate career, she helped lead the Fighting Irish to the 2018 NCAA championship.

Her on-court performance earned her several accolades in 2019, including an Associated Press All-America honorable mention, a spot on the All-ACC second team, and the ACC Tournament MVP title. Over her three years in college, she maintained averages of 12.4 points, 3.5 assists, and 6.3 rebounds per game.

WNBA Draft: Here’s how much Azzi Fudd will make as No. 1 pick as League enters historic financial era

by Dollita Okine, Face2FaceAfrica.com

The Dallas Wings made Azzi Fudd the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft on Monday night in New York City, officially confirming the most highly anticipated selection in this year’s class.

Fudd will reportedly earn a rookie salary of $500,000, seven times the $78,831 that Dallas Wings player Paige Bueckers reportedly made as the top pick last year. This substantial increase is due to the league’s new collective bargaining agreement that gives huge pay raises to rookies. The No. 2 and No. 3 picks will get $466,913 and $436,016, respectively.

The draft selection creates a backcourt reunion in Dallas for Fudd and Bueckers, who were close teammates at UConn and won a national championship together in 2025.

Fudd has repeatedly expressed her belief that she is joining the league at the perfect time. Speaking to Essence, she remarked, “This is the best time to be a women’s basketball player, and I can’t really emphasize enough how grateful I am to be a part of it at this time and also how grateful I am for everyone that’s come before and really laid that foundation.”

Fudd concluded her UConn career

with an outstanding final season, earning first-team All-American honors. Averaging 17.3 points per game, her exceptional three-point shooting was a major factor in her selection, as she led the nation with 117 three-pointers made on 262 attempts.

She is currently the seventh UConn player to be drafted first overall, following in the footsteps of players such as Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, and Bueckers.

Despite winning a national championship in 2025 and earning the Most Outstanding Player award at the Final Four, she opted to return to Storrs for another season rather than entering last year’s draft, where she would have likely been a top pick.

“My goal this year was to be super present,” she explained to Essence. “I know how easy it is to get caught up in all the exciting things that are coming up. But I’m also very aware that this is my last time in college.”

The Wings are counting on her to bring that same level of commitment to Dallas when the season starts on May 8, a feeling reinforced by the way she played.

Fudd’s talent was never in doubt. She first arrived at UConn in 2021 as

the nation’s top recruit, a McDonald’s All-American from St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C. Fudd had already made history before joining the campus, having become the first sophomore ever to be named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2019.

Fudd’s college career was, however, severely hampered by a series of injuries, particularly to the foot and knee. The most devastating injury was a torn ACL and meniscus just two games into her junior season in November 2023. This was her second overall ACL tear and kept her off the court for almost the entire year.

Despite these tremendous obstacles, she returned for her senior year, helped UConn secure the championship, and demonstrated her resilience by valuing every moment of her final season.

She told Self, “It’s just surreal to think I really am living out my dreams. And it’s all because of a sport. It’s all because I like to put a ball in a basket.”

She added, “I could have been born in any time frame, in any era. What are the odds I’m here, alive now, playing basketball when women’s sports— women’s basketball, especially—is on the rise and on a trajectory like never seen before?”

Azzi Fudd poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being drafted.

Fela Kuti becomes first African solo artist to be inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

by Mildred Europa Taylor, Face2FaceAfrica.com

Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, becoming the first African solo artist to receive the honor.

The legendary Nigerian musician will be recognised in the “Early Influence” category alongside American rapper Queen Latifah, Cuban legend Celia Cruz, rapper MC Lyte and country rock pioneer Gram Parsons.

The list of honorees was announced during a broadcast of American Idol.

Nigerian-born British singer Sade Adu also honoured in the “Performer” category alongside Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/ New Order, Oasis, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.

More than 1,200 artists, historians, and music industry professionals participated in the voting process, according to organizers.

Established in 1983, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors artists, producers, and industry professionals who have made significant contributions to rock music. Musicians can only become eligible for induction

25 years after they released their first official record.

Fela’s nomination to the prestigious institution was announced back in 2021. Before Fela, Trevor Rabin, a South African, was inducted in 2017 as a member of the progressive rock band “Yes”. Freddie Mercury, a Tanzanian, was also inducted in 2001 as a member of “Queen.”

The 2026 induction ceremony is scheduled to take place on November 14 at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.

Fela’s latest recognition comes after the Nigerian icon made history in January as the first African musician to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, almost 30 years after his death and two years after the Grammys introduced the Best African Performance category.

Known as the pioneer of Afrobeat, Fela enjoyed stunning popularity through his music. He was also a human rights activist and Pan-Africanist who faced many issues with Nigerian politicians and local law enforcement because he was confident in speaking his mind, either through music or random conversations.

Though no more, Fela left a legacy that has lived on and survived for decades, with his songs maintaining their relevance today.

Elon Musk summoned in France as X faces serious allegations over deepfakes and abuse material

by Kofie Oppong Kyekyeku, Face2FaceAfrica.com

French prosecutors have called on Elon Musk to appear in Paris this week as part of a widening investigation into activity on the social platform X, with authorities examining allegations ranging from harmful content distribution to manipulation of digital systems.

According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino have been invited for voluntary questioning, while additional staff are expected to give statements as witnesses over the coming days. It is not yet confirmed whether either executive will attend. Requests for comment sent to X and Yaccarino’s current firm, eMed, went unanswered.

The investigation hinges on accusations that the platform helped spread child sexual abuse material and AI-generated deepfakes. Investigators are also assessing whether controversy linked to Grok, the artificial intelligence system developed by xAI, may have been deliberately amplified to inflate the valuation of Musk-linked ventures ahead of a major stock listing. French authorities have already notified U.S. regulators. Musk, reacting to reports that American officials declined to assist, posted on X, “This needs to stop.”

The summons follows a February search of X’s French offices, tied to an inquiry launched in January 2025 by the cybercrime division of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Both Musk and Yaccarino are being approached in their roles as company leaders during the period under review. Yaccarino led the platform from May 2023 to July 2025.

“These voluntary interviews with the executives are intended to allow them to present their position regarding the facts and, where appropriate, the compliance measures they plan to implement,” prosecutors said. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that platform X complies with French law, insofar as it operates within the national territory.”

Officials added that the inquiry will proceed regardless of whether the two executives appear in person.

The case initially stemmed from a complaint by a French lawmaker who raised concerns that X’s algorithms may have skewed the functioning of automated data systems. It later broadened after Grok produced content accused of Holocaust denial and explicit synthetic imagery, the AP reported.

Among the suspected offences under review are complicity in distributing pornographic material involving minors,

the spread of sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity, and coordinated manipulation of automated processing systems.

Grok, integrated into X, has faced global backlash this year for generating nonconsensual sexualised images upon user prompts. In one widely circulated post, the chatbot suggested that gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau were intended for “disinfection with Zyklon B against ty-

phus,” a claim historically linked to Holocaust denial narratives. The system later retracted the statement, acknowledging the historical record that more than one million people were killed using Zyklon B at the site.

In March, French prosecutors alerted both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, arguing that the controversy surrounding Grok’s outputs may have been

engineered to artificially boost the value of X and xAI. They pointed to the planned June 2026 market debut of a new entity formed through the merger of SpaceX and xAI, at a time when X was reportedly losing traction.

However, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. justice officials declined to support the French probe. In a letter cited by the newspaper, the Justice Department accused French authorities of misusing legal channels to interfere in the operations of an American company, warning that the request risked dragging the U.S. into a politically sensitive case.

French officials have not publicly responded to that development.

The investigation forms part of a broader push by Paris prosecutors to scrutinise major online platforms. Previous cases have targeted sites and messaging services accused of enabling illegal activity, including probes involving Pavel Durov and the encrypted app Telegram.

Separately, the prosecutor’s office has examined TikTok over concerns that its recommendation algorithms may expose vulnerable users to harmful content.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has also filed a fresh complaint against X, arguing that the platform’s policies enable the spread of disinformation.

Pete Hegseth Was Roasted For Quoting Samuel L. Jackson's Fake 'Pulp Fiction' Verse During Pentagon Prayer

by Christopher Rhodes, Blavity.com

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth looks on during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2026. Hegseth said Tuesday that talks on ending the Iran war are making progress even as the more than month-long US-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic republic continued. "They are very real. They are ongoing, they are active, and I think, gaining strength," Hegseth told reporters of the negotiations.

| Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images

No stranger to controversy, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has left many people scratching their heads after comments he made at the Pentagon recently.

While appearing to quote scripture, Hegseth instead mentioned a famous monologue from the movie Pulp Fiction, with listeners unsure whether he made a mistake or was intentionally engaging in a bit of religious trolling.

While appearing to quote scripture, Hegseth instead mentioned a famous monologue from the movie Pulp Fiction, with listeners unsure whether he made a mistake or was intentionally engaging in a bit of religious trolling.

Hegseth roasted for quoting a fake Bible verse from ‘Pulp Fiction’

During a Pentagon prayer breakfast on Wednesday, Hegseth discussed the recent rescue of a downed American pilot in

Iran during the ongoing conflict. Hegseth then recited what he claimed was a prayer that had been said by the leader of the Combat Search and Rescue mission to rescue the pilot. As first reported by the Christian newsletter A Public Witness, Hegseth labeled the “prayer” as “CSAR 25:17” and claimed that it was based off the biblical passage of Ezekiel 25:17. However, the actual words Hegseth re-

cited veer far from the biblical text, more closely matching the misquoted version of Ezekiel 25:17 delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s assassin character in a famous monologue from the movie Pulp Fiction. It’s unclear whether Hegseth realized the quote’s movie origin or how the words of the prayer were relayed to him. Many people online, however, have viewed it as a blunder on the secretary’s part. ‘Wow

this is embarrassing!” social media pundit and podcast host Ed Krassenstein posted on X, formerly Twitter, with videos of Hegseth reading the prayer and a Pulp Fiction clip merged with Hegseth’s reading.

“Who do you think pulled it off better? Hegseth or Samuel L. Jackson?” online political commentator Mario Nawfal asked.

“This would be a two or three week news story in a previous administration, and might even lead to the resignation of the defense secretary,” journalist Medhi Hasan posted. “He literally fabricated a Biblical quote, based off of a movie, while pretending to be a pious Christian. But under Trump, we’ll have moved on by tomorrow.”

Hegseth and Trump use Christianity to promote their right-wing agenda

Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host, has come under scrutiny for his right-wing views and questions about his competence. He survived calls for his resignation after sharing sensitive plans for military operations with members of his family and accidentally with a journalist as well. Before being confirmed as the secretary of defense, Hegseth was grilled over his sparse qualifications and his vocal calls to eliminate “woke DEI s**t” from the armed forces, and his tenure has seen multiple instances

of Black people and women in the military being fired from positions of leadership or passed over for promotions. Hegseth has also been criticized for promoting Christian nationalism, a far-right political ideology that uses Christianity to promote right-wing domestic policies and aggressive foreign policy.

Hegseth’s fake Bible quote comes as the Trump administration has made several questionable and offensive statements relating to Christianity. President Donald Trump has publicly clashed with Pope Leo XIV, criticizing the leader of the Catholic Church over the pope’s criticisms of the president’s immigration policies and foreign wars. The president also created controversy among Christians by posting an image generated by artificial intelligence that seemed to depict Trump as Jesus miraculously healing a man; Trump later deleted the image, bizarrely claiming that he thought it showed him as a doctor. Meanwhile, members of Hegseth’s Department of Defense reportedly had a tense meeting with Vatican officials, with members of the Catholic Church delegation perceiving the Trump administration officials as threatening them.

Now, Hegseth appears to have either purposely referenced a fake Bible quote to make a political point or troll listeners, or he didn’t know the difference between the Pulp Fiction speech and the biblical verse. Either way, the comment is drawing heat online and highlighting the Trump administration’s questionable uses of religion.

Elon Musk -

Pete Hegseth

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR

THE ELM CITY COMMUNITIES, HOUSING AUTHORITY OF NEW HAVEN (ECC/HANH) MOVING TO

WORK (MTW) FY2027 ANNUAL PLAN

Section II and Section VII of the Authority's Moving to Work Agreement {the "Agreement") requires that before the Agency can file its Approved Annual Moving to Work Plan (“Plan”) and Report (“Report”)to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (the "HUD") that it must conduct a public hearing, consider comments from the public on the proposed Plan, obtain approval from the Board of Commissioners, and submit the Plan to HUD.

The thirty (30) days comment period begins on Monday, April 27, 2026, and ends on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.

Copies of the Moving to Work (MTW) FY2027 Plan, will be made available on the agency website www.elmcitycommunities.org or via Facebook www.facebook.com/ ElmCityCommunities.

You are invited to provide written comments addressed to: ECC/HANH, Moving to Work FY2027 Annual Plan Attn: Evelise Ribeiro, 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 or via email to: eribeiro@elmcitycommunities.org.

Pursuant to said Sections II and VII, a public hearing where public comments will be accepted and recorded is scheduled for Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 4:00pm via Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/226459013024616?p=ixECplpMVkoqWitDVX

Meeting ID: 226 459 013 024 616 Passcode: 43Zv7iG7

Dial in by phone

Phone: 1-872-240-4494

Phone conference ID: 874 430 272#

Any individual requiring a Reasonable Accommodation to participate in the hearing may call the Reasonable Accommodation Manager (203) 498-8800, ext. 3170 or at the TDD Number (203) 497-8434.

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids from qualified contractors for drainage system improvements at 398-400 Concord Street, New Haven. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway beginning on

Monday, April 20, 2026 at 3:00 PM.

Custodian:

The Town of East Haven is currently seeking

qualified applicants to participate in the Civil Service Examination for the position of Custodian. Graduation from High School or 1 year employment in building care and cleaning operations is required. The rate of pay is $26.29/hour; 40 hours/week and the town offers an excellent benefit package. Applications to participate in the examination are available online athttps://www.easthaven-ct.gov/jobs.aspx or the Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven CT and must be returned by May 8, 2026. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Rural Health Transformation Policy Development Coordinator

AVISO DE AUDIENCIA PÚBLICA PARA

EL PLAN ANUAL "MOVING TO WORK" (MTW) DEL AÑO FISCAL 2027 DE ELM CITY COMMUNITIES, AUTORIDAD DE VIVIENDA DE NEW HAVEN (ECC/HANH)

Las Secciones II y VII del Acuerdo "Moving to Work" de la Autoridad (el "Acuerdo") estipulan que, antes de que la Agencia pueda presentar su Plan Anual "Moving to Work" Aprobado (el "Plan") y su Informe (el "Informe") ante el Departamento de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano de los EE. UU. (el "HUD"), debe llevar a cabo una audiencia pública, considerar los comentarios del público sobre el Plan propuesto, obtener la aprobación de la Junta de Comisionados y remitir el Plan al HUD.

El período de comentarios de treinta (30) días comienza el lunes 27 de abril de 2026 y termina el martes 26 de mayo de 2026.

Las copias del Plan "Moving to Work" (MTW) del Año Fiscal 2027 estarán disponibles en el sitio web de la agencia: www.elmcitycommunities.org, o a través de Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElmCityCommunities.

Se le invita a enviar sus comentarios por escrito dirigidos a: ECC/HANH, Moving to Work FY2027 Annual Plan, a la atención de: Evelise Ribeiro, 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511; o por correo electrónico a: eribeiro@elmcitycommunities.org.

De conformidad con dichas Secciones II y VII, se ha programado una audiencia pública en la que se aceptarán y registrarán comentarios del público para el jueves 21 de mayo de 2026 a las 4:00 p.m. a través de Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/226459013024616?p=ixECplpMVkoqWitDVX

Meeting ID: 226 459 013 024 616 Passcode: 43Zv7iG7

Dial in by phone

Phone: 1-872-240-4494

Phone conference ID: 874 430 272#

Cualquier persona que requiera una adaptación razonable para participar en la audiencia puede llamar al Gerente de Adaptaciones Razonables al (203) 498-8800, ext. 3170, o al número TDD (203) 497-8434.

UNION CONTRACTOR SEEKS:

Construction Equipment Mechanic

(preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment) We offer factory training on equipment we operate. Job is in Bloomfield, CT.

Contact: Tom Dunay Phone: 860-243-2300 Ext. 122 Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com

Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators

(must have current licensing and a clean driving record; be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY)

Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860-243-2300 Ext. 133 Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com

Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment

(must have a class A CDL license with Tank Endorsement and a clean driving record; be capable of operating heavy equipment and willing to travel throughout the Northeast and NY)

Contact: Brian McKee Phone: 860-558-6189

Email: bmckee@garrityasphalt.com

• We offer Excellent hourly rates and benefits.

• Women and Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply.

• Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer

Custodian:

The Town of East Haven is currently seeking qualified applicants to participate in the Civil Service Examination for the position of Custodian. Graduation from High School or 1 year employment in building care and cleaning operations is required. The rate of pay is $26.29/hour; 40 hours/week and the town offers an excellent benefit package. Applications to participate in the examination are available online athttps://www.easthaven-ct.gov/jobs.aspx or the Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven CT and must be returned by May 8, 2026. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

NOTICE OF INVITATION FOR BID HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF DANBURY

Services

No. B26003 SCOPE:

The Housing Authority of the City of Danbury hereby issues this Invitation for Bid to secure a contract for Electrical Services

BID SUBMITTAL RETURN:

Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Rd, Danbury, CT 06811 Envelope Must be Marked: IFB No. B26003, Electrical Services

SUBMITTAL DEADLINE May 11th, 2026 at 10:30am (EST)

IFB DOCUMENTATION:

Please register here to obtain Bid Package: https://ha.internationaleprocurement.com/requests.html?company_id=49968

[Minority- and/or women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond]

Mechanic III

The Town of Wallingford is accepting applications for Mechanic III. Wages: $35.42 to $43.00 hourly. For additional information and to apply online by the April 28, 2026 closing date 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 is currently seeking bids from qualified contractors to perform Elevator Service . A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Invitation to Bid:

AVON VILLAGE RENOVATION

20 Security Drive Avon, CT One Building, 76 Units

Project Description: Gut Rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of a former office building for use as an affordable housing community consisting of 76 units of housing as well as associated property management and amenity spaces.

Project Documents include but not limited to: sitework, paving, utilities, selective demolition, concrete, masonry, masonry restoration, structural steel, miscellaneous metals, finish carpentry, thermal & moisture protection, storefronts, doors, frames & hardware, windows, drywall, acoustical ceilings, flooring, painting, signage, louvers and vents, toilet & bath accessories, fire extinguishers, cabinets and accessories, postal specialties, miscellaneous specialties, solid waste handling equipment, residential appliances, horizontal louver blinds, kitchen and bathroom casework, roller shades. electric traction elevators, hydraulic passenger elevators, chutes, fire protection, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, communications, electronic safety and security, sanitary facilities and final cleaning. The project is being designed to Energy Star MFNC v1.2 standards.

This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

Project is Taxable. No Wage Rate Project. Anticipated start July 2026.

Bids are due to Haynes: May 1, 2026 @ 3 pm to Taylor Els tels@haynesct.com Email questions to Dave Biega dbiega@haynesct.com Phone # 203-888-8109

Please note: Subcontractors need to include all future tariff costs in bid proposals and hold pricing through 7-1-2026.

State law requires a minimum of twenty-five (25%) percent of the state-funded portion of the contract for award to subcontractors holding current certification from the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services (“DAS”) under the provisions of CONN. GEN. STAT. § 4a-60g. (25% of the work with DAS certified Small and Minority owned businesses and 25% of that work with DAS certified Minority, Women and/or Disabled owned businesses.) The contractor must demonstrate good faith effort to meet the 25% set-aside goals.

Galasso Materials LLC,

a quarry and paving contractor, has positions open for the upcoming construction season. We are seeking candidates for a variety of positions, including: Scalehouse Dispatcher/ Equipment Operators and Laborers. NO PHONE CALLS. Please mail resume and cover letter to “Hiring Manager”, Galasso Materials LLC, PO Box 1776, East Granby CT 06026. Galasso Materials is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Water Treatment Pumping Operator I

The Town of Wallingford is accepting applications for Water Treatment Pumping Operator I. Wages: $30.35 to $36.64 hourly. For additional information and to apply online by the April 20, 2026 closing date please visit:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE ELM CITY COMMUNITIES, HOUSING AUTHORITY OF NEW HAVEN

(ECC/HANH)

MOVING TO WORK (MTW) FY2027 ANNUAL PLAN

Section II and Section VII of the Authority's Moving to Work Agreement {the "Agreement") requires that before the Agency can file its Approved Annual Moving to Work Plan (“Plan”) and Report (“Report”)to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (the "HUD") that it must conduct a public hearing, consider comments from the public on the proposed Plan, obtain approval from the Board of Commissioners, and submit the Plan to HUD. The thirty (30) days comment period begins on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, and ends on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.

Copies of the Moving to Work (MTW) FY2027 Plan, will be made available on the agency website www.elmcitycommunities.org or via Facebook www. facebook.com/ElmCityCommunities.

You are invited to provide written comments addressed to: ECC/HANH, Moving to Work FY2027 Annual Plan Attn: Evelise Ribeiro, 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 or via email to: eribeiro@elmcitycommunities.org.

Pursuant to said Sections II and VII), a public hearing where public comments will be accepted and recorded is scheduled for Monday, May 4, 2026, at 4:00pm via Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/28700621182396?p=4TDLzzbfcPz7OsLEeJ

Meeting ID: 28700621182396

Passcode: r6E8Ke9c

Dial in by phone +1 872-240-4494,160535655# United States, Chicago

Find a local number

Phone conference ID: 160 535 655#

Any individual requiring a Reasonable Accommodation to participate in the hearing may call the Reasonable Accommodation Manager (203) 498-8800, ext. 3170 or at the TDD Number (203) 497-8434.

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Policy Development Coordinator in the Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division. Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/ sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 260316&R2=1581MP&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.

POLICE OFFICER

AVISO

DE AUDIENCIA PÚBLICA PARA

EL PLAN ANUAL "MOVING TO WORK" (MTW) DEL AÑO FISCAL 2027 DE ELM CITY COMMUNITIES, AUTORIDAD DE VIVIENDA DE NEW HAVEN (ECC/HANH)

Las Secciones II y VII del Acuerdo "Moving to Work" de la Autoridad (el "Acuerdo") estipulan que, antes de que la Agencia pueda presentar su Plan Anual "Moving to Work" Aprobado (el "Plan") y su Informe (el "Informe") ante el Departamento de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano de los EE. UU. (el "HUD"), debe llevar a cabo una audiencia pública, considerar los comentarios del público sobre el Plan propuesto, obtener la aprobación de la Junta de Comisionados y remitir el Plan al HUD.

El periodo de treinta (30) días para la recepción de comentarios comienza el martes 7 de abril de 2026 y finaliza el miércoles 6 de mayo de 2026.

Las copias del Plan "Moving to Work" (MTW) del Año Fiscal 2027 estarán disponibles en el sitio web de la agencia: www.elmcitycommunities.org, o a través de Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElmCityCommunities.

Se le invita a enviar sus comentarios por escrito dirigidos a: ECC/HANH, Moving to Work FY2027 Annual Plan, a la atención de: Evelise Ribeiro, 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511; o por correo electrónico a: eribeiro@elmcitycommunities.org. De conformidad con dichas Secciones II y VII, se ha programado una audiencia pública —en la cual se aceptarán y registrarán comentarios del público— para el lunes 4 de mayo de 2026, a las 4:00 p. m., a través de:

Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/28700621182396?p=4TDLzzbfcPz7OsLEeJ

ID de la reunión: 28700621182396

Código de acceso: r6E8Ke9c

Conexión telefónica

+1 872-240-4494,160535655# Estados Unidos, Chicago

Buscar un número local ID de la conferencia telefónica: 160 535 655#

Cualquier persona que requiera una adaptación razonable para participar en la audiencia puede llamar al Gerente de Adaptaciones Razonables al (203) 498-8800, ext. 3170, o al número TDD (203) 497-8434.

Elm City Communites

Invitation for Bids

Window Replacement and Repair

ECC is currently seeking bids from qualified contractors to perform Window Replacement and Repair . A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/ gateway beginning on Monday, April 6, 2026, at 3:00PM.

Estimator/ Design & Installation Fence Sales Pay: $100,000.00 per year

Job description:

$78,813/yr.

Required testing, general info, and apply online: www.bristolct.gov

DEADLINE: 12-07-25

Atlas Companies is looking for an estimator/ design and installation sales person for the residential market place. Premiere northeast regional fence and outdoor structure company is looking for energetic, self-motivated Sales associate. Salary, commission, 401 k match and vehicle allowances for qualified personal. 1 00k plus income to qualified applicants. Previous home improvement design / sales preferred. About Us Our services range from custom fences, gates, guardrail, pergolas,

Why Artemis II was a successful pushback against anti-wokeness

By Courier Newsroom G. Lamont Blackstone

Just when we dearly needed something to counter “make America great again” narratives attacking workplace diversity, the Artemis II crew splashed down in the ocean, completing a spaceflight for the ages. And with crew staff Victor Glover and Christina Koch, the social epidemic of anti-wokeness — with its virulent strains of racism and sexism — was administered in inoculation. Think of it as a temporary vaccine against human resources stupidity.

With a Black man piloting the spacecraft, there was no crashing into the dark side of the moon. That was notwithstanding fears prominently expressed (by a famous MAGA advocate) of flying on commercial flights with Black pilots. Why the anxiety? Because he doubted Black pilots were qualified for their roles. Perhaps he was unaware of the Tuskegee Airmen’s glorious legacy. Also, to all the purported “manly men” populating the dank abyss known as the manosphere, I pose two questions. Could they possibly summon the intestinal fortitude to endure the rigors of space that Christina Koch endured for ten days? And would their manly bravado have equipped them to serve, among other roles, as the flight’s “space plumber” — as she did?

Thus, America should be grateful that NASA is not part of the Department of Defense. For we would likely have seen Secretary Pete Hegseth purging Glover, a former Navy aviator, and Koch from the mission —just as he has repeatedly purged other Black and female talent in his culture war against diversity. So because of Glover and Koch, maybe,

just maybe, one day the diversity, equity and inclusion haters will understand that Black and female excellence is — dare I say? — out of this world. American social epidemics can be enduringly malevolent (e.g., Jim Crow, 20th-century anti-Asian sentiments, and 21st-century antisemitism). Or they can be uplifting. The diversity of the Artemis II mission offers us the latter. But it will be essential to continuously circulate images of all four crew members together. American eyeballs should see them in our schools and in Congress.

But the Artemis II mission offers yet

one additional high note.

Over the past centuries, Black Americans have experienced multiple divides — barriers either created intentionally or by the absence of empathy. There were the racial embargoes of segregation that hindered the pursuit of higher education, decent homes, and many jobs. In the early years of the Internet Age, a digital divide had evolved, characterized by limited access to computing power. That was based on the affordability of the technology or disparities in broadband availability in certain urban and rural communities.

Most recently, we are seeing yet another digital divide regarding access to and proficiency with artificial intelligence (AI). As we march toward the year 2030, many Americans may face the threat of functional obsolescence or competitive disadvantage unless they are AI adept. There is also, however, the risk of a “cosmic divide.” This would involve the absence of Black Americans in future opportunities generated by space exploration. Will the USA, Russia, and China monopolize the contests to exploit the resources and possibilities of lunar exploration and, years later, even

Mars? Might this even echo that voracious scramble at the Berlin Conference of 1884, which carved up Africa among the competing European powers? So, here is the stark political reality. It confronts Black Americans and technical professionals of color — i.e., military officers, scientists, and engineers. NASA’s future objectives include establishing a long-term, continuous presence on and around the Moon. The Artemis II crew’s staffing, inclusive of Glover and Koch, had been established during the Biden Administration. Yet I suspect that any attempt by Donald Trump to change the Artemis II crew would have delayed the recent mission. And that likely would have disrupted the timeline for subsequent lunar missions. But that doesn’t mean that his anti-Biden and anti-diversity instincts won’t attempt to bar a future Black presence in outer space.

There were no Africans or Black Americans at that Berlin Conference of the 19th century. There was, however, a Victor Glover on the 21st century’s Artemis mission. And we should insist that Congress ensures that there are other Victor Glovers and Dr. Mae Jemisons involved in future space exploration and its economic ripple effects.

G. Lamont Blackstone has led talent cultivation and diversity initiatives as a volunteer for organizations such as the Urban Bankers Coalition, African-American Real Estate Professionals of New York, and Project REAP. He is the former chief investment officer of the first national equity investment fund to target inner-city neighborhoods.

Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune

Dr. Erica Schwartz Makes History as the First Black Woman to Lead the CDC.

By BlackNews.com

Dr. Erica Schwartz is President Trump’s pick to lead the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention. The nomination comes as vaccine policy debates intensify following recent congressional hearings involving top health officials. Her selection came shortly after testimony from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who offered mixed remarks on vaccines. According to CNN, he said the measles vaccine is safe and effective for most people and may be safer than getting infected. He also agreed under questioning that vaccination might have prevented a child’s death during a Texas measles outbreak, but he pushed back on claims linking him to declining vaccination rates.

Schwartz has deep experience in public health and government service. She previously served as deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first administration. She also spent 24 years in the US Public Health

Service Commissioned Corps and retired as a rear admiral in the Coast Guard. Her academic background includes a medical degree from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Maryland. Kennedy and his team recommended Schwartz alongside other officials chosen to rebuild CDC leadership. The group includes FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Dr. Sara Brenner, Texas Health Commissioner Dr. Jennifer Shuford, who will serve as CDC deputy director and chief medical officer, and former Walmart and Humana executive Sean Slovenski, who will take on a senior operations role.

Schwartz steps into a CDC that has gone through major internal changes. Kennedy removed CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez after she refused to approve vaccine policy changes, a move that triggered senior resignations across the agency. A 17-member vaccine advisory panel was also dismissed and replaced. Some of these actions have been challenged in court. Earlier workforce reductions

cut staff across multiple divisions, with some roles later restored after legal action. Several CDC web pages were also revised without scientific review, raising concerns among agency staff.

Public health data shows rising infectious disease trends in the US. Measles cases have reached their highest level in decades. Whooping cough and mumps cases have also increased alongside declining vaccination rates. Officials have warned that the country risks losing its measles elimination status if transmission continues.

Schwartz will now go through Senate confirmation hearings before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Leadership at the CDC remains in transition, with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya currently overseeing the agency in an acting capacity while also leading the National Institutes of Health due to limits on acting appointments.

Dr. Erica Schwartz