Perrotti takes up post at Boston College

Just days after James Perrotti retired as Yale Police chief, he took up a new position as interim police chief at Boston College in July. “Retirement will have to wait a couple months!” he wrote in an e-mail to the News at the time. Perrotti spent 37 years with the YPD, the last 12 as chief. In April, former New Haven Police Chief James Lewis took over as interim YPD chief as Yale administrators conduct a national search for the next chief.

—Colin Ross

Suspect in doctor’s murder asks to represent self

Lishan Wang, accused of shooting Yale postdoctoral clinical fellow Vajinder Toor, asked a state judge to dismiss his lawyers so that he can represent himself. New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano requested Wang to undergo a competency evaluation to ensure he could understand court proceedings. Wang, 44, originally from Beijing, has had a Mandarin interpreter present during previous hearings. He has yet to enter a plea and is due back in court Sept. 27.

—Egidio DiBenedetto

Undergraduate struck by Yale police car

A Yale police cruiser struck a student in July, shortly after he stepped off a shuttle bus. The driver, YPD officer Willie Guilford, has returned to work, though the state police’s Accident Reconstruction Unit is investigating the collision. The student, Yonglu Che ’13, will take classes this fall, and in an e-mail to Berkeley College students, Master Marvin Chun said he was in good spirits.

—Colin Ross

New Haven misses federal school funding

For the second time, Connecticut this month did not win a Race to the Top grant, which New Haven officials hoped to receive to help fund a public school reform initiative they announced last October. Nine states and the District of Columbia won grants in the second phase of the program. But Connecticut might get another chance: According to a press release U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said he is “hopeful” there would be a third phrase.

—Esther Zuckerman

Lamont SOM ’80 loses state Dem gov. primary

In what The New York Times called an upset, Ned Lamont SOM ’80 lost to Dan Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, in the state Democratic primary for governor Aug. 10. Malloy will face Tom Foley, former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, in the Nov. 2 general gubernatorial election. In the state representative race for the 96th Assembly District, Ward 9 Alderman Roland Lemar beat his opponent, community activist and psychotherapist Debra Hauser.

—Esther Zuckerman

Aldermen pass revised budget, cut X-mas tree

The Board of Aldermen passed Mayor John DeStefano Jr.’s proposed 2010-’11 fiscal year budget on May 27. The 22–7 vote comes after DeStefano amended his original proposal earlier that month. The amendment cut the tax increase for the average homeowner by approximately half, from an 8.8 percent increase to a 4 percent increase. The $6 million worth of cuts that the amendment added to the original budget do away with the city’s Christmas tree and Fourth of July fireworks as well as slash school and public safety budgets.

—Esther Zuckerman