Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund receives $910,000 Federal grant
The Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund Inc. has been awarded a $910,000 grant from the United States Department of the Treasury under the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. The community loan fund provides low interest financing projects that enlarge the community’s affordable housing stock, revitalize neighborhoods and foster community development. —Yale Daily News
Two convicted for leaving woman to die at the side of Ella T. Grasso Blvd.
Steven Lewis, 27, and Kevin Powell, 26, received multiyear prison sentences Wednesday for leaving a woman for dead on Ella T. Grasso Blvd. The victim, Crystal Pappacoda, was abandoned on the side of the road after a 2008 motorcycle crash with Lewis. Powell, following in his pickup truck, loaded the damaged bike and drove off, leaving Pappacoda on the ground without calling 911. Lewis and Powell were apprehended by the police minutes later. Both men were apologetic and remorseful in front of the court and Pappacoda’s family. —Yale Daily News
Rell faces criticism
Gov. M. Jodi Rell is facing criticism from state Democrats over allegations that she spent nearly a quarter of a million in taxpayer dollars to obtain policy advice from University of Connecticut Professor Ken Dautrich. Democrats say a focus group organized by Dautrich included discussion of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who at the time was considered a possible candidate to run against Rell for governor. Dautrich insists the subjects of the focus group were not directly questioned about Blumenthal, but there is clear evidence that the attorney general did come up in the conversation. Gov. Rell’s spokesperson insisted in a statement that Dautrich’s questions were policy-based and not politically motivated. —Yale Daily News
New Haven man shot in face and arm
A New Haven man was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital on Monday after being shot in the face and arm and making his way to a nearby store for help. The victim, who is expected to fully recover from his injuries, suffered his wounds in the Kimberly Square area just before 4 p.m. As of Monday evening, the police believed the shooting occurred at another location near DeWitt and Spring streets. The victim is believed to be approximately 27 years old. —Yale Daily News
Man pleads not guilty to traveling abroad to have sex with minors
At a detention hearing Thursday in New Haven, federal prosecutors said former Connecticut resident Douglas Perlitz, 39, who is charged with sexually abusing nine boys in Haiti at a school he founded, poses a “clear and continuing danger” to the community and should not be released from prison. Perlitz established the Project Pierre Toussaint school for poor children in Cap-Haitien. At Thursday’s hearing he pleaded not guilty to charges that he engaged in sexual conduct with minors in foreign places and that he traveled outside the United States to engage in sexual conduct with minors. —Yale Daily News
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary visits Quinnipiac Terrace
On Wednesday, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Ron Sims toured the Quinnipiac Terrace, a public housing project, and re-announced the $22 million federal stimulus funded grant the Housing Authority of New Haven has received. Of the grant, $10 million is for the redevelopment of the William T. Rowe housing project next to Yale-New Haven Hospital. —Yale Daily News