Author Archives: Nick Defiesta

Whether or not Occupy New Haven emerges victorious from a court hearing today in the protest’s suit to remain on the Green, the encampment will stay put for at least another 10 days. In a Tuesday afternoon phone conference, U.S. Federal Judge Mark Kravitz told representatives from the protest movement and City Hall that Occupy »

On Wednesday, March 14, members of Occupy New Haven waited anxiously for the New Haven Police Department to march onto the Green and forcibly remove their encampment, the last of its kind in New England. But as the clock struck noon, the deadline set by City Hall for tents to be off the Green, the »

Representatives from nonprofits across the Elm City made their case for a slice of federal money before the Board of Aldermen Thursday night. Nearly 30 groups appeared in front of the Board’s joint community development and human services committee, asking for money in the form of federal Community Development Block Grants to support their organizations. »

New Haven’s political map will likely look different in two months. The Board of Aldermen’s special committee on ward redistricting held its second meeting at City Hall Tuesday night to hear residents’ concerns over the redistricting process currently underway. As the committee redraws the boundaries between the city’s 30 wards, it could potentially split Ward »

With the approval of a key committee in Hartford, Senate Democrats’ “Jobs Plan” is a step closer to passage. Last week, the General Assembly’s Commerce Committee, of which Democrats are a majority, approved the employment plan, first proposed by state Senate leadership in January. The bill will now head back to the full General Assembly, »

Labor unions have deepened their influence on the city’s politics yet again, this time through positions in New Haven’s Democratic Party. Union-backed candidates won six of the seven contested races for seats on the Democratic Town Committee last Tuesday, continuing a trend of organized labor’s growing local political clout in the city that began with »

Mayor John DeStefano Jr. maintained focus on his legislative priorities in the budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 he announced Thursday. At a City Hall press conference Thursday afternoon, DeStefano outlined a proposed budget of $486.8 million, up 2.4 percent from last year’s total. Among his proposals are a $2.7 million increase in police department »

State legislators said it is unlikely that Connecticut will sign onto a system in which it assigns its Electoral College votes based on the national popular vote in time for the 2012 presidential election. The National Popular Vote Compact, which requires its signatories to award their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national »

Amid shrinking federal budgets, city officials have begun the process of allocating funding to community organizations from a reduced pool of funds. Mayor John DeStefano Jr. submitted his recommended allocation budget for the 2012-’13 fiscal year to the Board of Aldermen Tuesday night, appropriating money to organizations that support his legislative priorities. The budget — »

Despite resistance from city and state officials, a controversial immigration enforcement program will begin operation today in Connecticut. Secure Communities, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, will begin checking fingerprints of suspected criminals submitted by local police to the FBI against ICE databases in an effort to deport criminals residing in the country illegally. »

City and state officials gathered at City Hall Monday afternoon to protest Secure Communities, a federal immigration enforcement program they said would hurt community policing efforts in New Haven and damage the city’s social fabric. Mayor John DeStefano Jr., along with members of a Yale Law School clinic, State Rep. Juan Candelaria, members of the »

If City Hall has its way, Occupy New Haven may soon leave its home on the New Haven Green. Two meetings were held at City Hall on Feb. 8 and Feb. 15 to discuss the future of Occupy New Haven, the anti-economic inequality protest that has been encamped on the Green since mid-October. Members of »