Author Archives: Jack Mirkinson

As the presidential race heats up, so does the student activity surrounding it on campus. Two days after the launch of Yale Students for Obama, Ben Zweifach ’09 sent a campus-wide e-mail Monday announcing the formation of Yale Students for Hillary, in support of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. “She is truly a »

“The mayor’s that black guy!” the boy said, pointing to the painting of John Daniels, New Haven’s first black mayor, that hangs in City Hall. “That’s not the mayor,” said Minh Tran ’09, as he herded the boy into line. There were many such moments Wednesday, as Tran and a handful of teachers took 50 »

City officials announced a plan on Tuesday to reorganize the beleaguered New Haven Police Department’s narcotics team by collaborating with state police. Speaking at the Fair Haven police substation, Mayor John DeStefano and NHPD Chief Francisco Ortiz described a one-year partnership between the two agencies to stop what Oritz called “sophisticated” drug and gun trafficking »

Members of the Youth Services Committee met with community leaders and other government officials Wednesday to discuss ways to keep New Haven’s youth active and safe. As planned, the committee discussed a New Haven Youth Council retreat, but the focus widened to include strengthening the city’s youth council and new collaborations with community organizations to »

The Board of Aldermen held a contentious meeting Thursday about claims of bias against minority construction workers on city building projects. Three aldermen have proposed a resolution calling for a formal hearing on job security and hiring in city construction projects, and yesterday’s meeting featured impassioned testimony from minority construction workers who said they lack »

A group of men gathered across the street from a towering construction site in Westville on Monday to protest what they say are unfair hiring practices for local residents in the construction trades. The protest took place at the site of the future Wintergreen at Westville, a massive apartment complex that stretches across the entire »

One week after 100 students from local universities gathered to protest the Iraq war, campus activists met this weekend to discuss how to run campaigns on more local issues. The Student Activism Summit drew about 30 students from five different universities to City Hall on Sunday. The all-day meeting featured speeches from Assemblyman Bill Dyson »

Local environmental groups are squaring off against city government over whether a proposed park trail should be allowed to cut through the city’s ports. The pathway would be part of the 10-mile New Haven Harbor Trail and would cut through the Port of New Haven, a major part of the city’s fading industrial economy. To »

A campus political action group is working with local nonprofits to let ex-inmates know that they have a right to vote. As part of its newly conceived New Haven Re-Enfranchisement Project, New Haven Action is training groups to re-register former prisoners, as well as ex-inmates who have never voted, and increase awareness about state laws »

In a new and ambitious approach, city public schools are pairing with the New Haven Police Department to get chronically absent students to come back to school. The New Haven Public Schools Truancy Initiative will involve multiple state and city agencies in its effort to cut down on truancy in the New Haven school district, »

The shops of Dixwell Plaza do not wear their age well. From the rusted blue awning to the cracked sidewalk, the small strip of retail has the air of having seen better days. Plans exist to rehabilitate the Plaza, a mainstay of the Dixwell neighborhood since its construction in 1969. But the proposed renovation to »

Just in time for Yalies looking to make plans for spring break, US Airways confirmed Wednesday that it will dramatically slash its fares on flights to and from New Haven’s Tweed Airport. At a press conference in the airport’s main terminal, Chris Seaver, the director of corporate affairs for US Airways, laid out the details »