Siesel is running, he said, because of “a specific problem.” Reporting a story last April for the News, he learned about the string of vacancies and low engagement plaguing New Haven’s Civilian Review Board, a body established in 2019 to enforce and expand police accountability in the city. Siesel quit the News and applied to join the CRB, but months went by without a response from its members.

“I tried to find another way to enact change in this arena. And it seems like joining the Board of Alders is a way,” he told the News. “I want to build a justice system that delivers responsible justice to everyone.”

Advocacy for criminal justice reform and transparency, a passion of Siesel’s since his sophomore year of high school, would be his primary focus if elected.

In this, he is influenced by his parents, both public defenders. He was raised in Charlotte, NC, and grew up listening to dinner table stories of his parents fighting “tooth and nail” in court on behalf of people just a few years older than him. Siesel himself is considering a career as a public defender.

His mission, however, may not align with New Haveners’ top priorities, according to Ward 15 Alder Frank Redente Jr.

“If you were ranking issues, police reform is there, but it’s not up there with quality of life and safety. We have some beautiful neighborhoods in New Haven. It’s time to protect them,” Redente said.

Notably, unlike Kiana Flores ’25, the current Ward 1 alder, and the three who served before her, Siesel did not grow up in New Haven.

“I acknowledge that I don’t understand the intricacies of New Haven politics yet, and that in many ways I am an outsider, but in the last two years, New Haven has become my home,” Siesel remarked.

Redente said that he was unconcerned that Siesel is not an Elm City native. He considers Siesel, as a Yale student, a part of the community.

Siesel is running as a Democrat for the all-Democratic Board, but he said that he has long taken pride in engaging with a wide variety of ideologies and perspectives.

“Because I’m an outsider, because I come from distinct Cuban-Jewish heritage, I will engage individuals from across the city and meet my stakeholders, not only within Yale, but all swaths, so that we can develop a platform that works for all,” said Siesel. “There is no meeting I will not take. There is no conversation I will not hear.”

This kind of listening, Siesel said, is what is required “to bridge the schism” between Yale and New Haven.

That tension is centuries old, and the Ward 1 alder — a member of city government whose district is primarily composed of Yale property — effectively straddles the town-gown divide. Indeed, the position has long been dubbed the “Yale Alder,” though Siesel said that he “hates” that characterization.

The responsibility of bridging the divide falls on Yale students, Siesel said. Along with criminal justice reform, helping students along in that undertaking is one of his prospective goals.  

“Because we go to Yale, we see it as a step along the way, and we are somehow exempt from engaging in the community. As Ward 1 alder, I think it’s my job to not only engage with administrators and city officials, but to inspire Yale students to see New Haven as a community that they should engage with on their own independently, and something they should actually try to impact. That, I think, is a goal that some Ward 1 alders have not necessarily embodied fully.”

Speaking to the News, Siesel discussed Yalies’ lack of civic engagement. Ward 1 has long had low voter turnout — in 2023, Flores won the election, in which she ran unopposed, with just 83 votes.

Siesel acknowledged that addressing this issue is “a difficult challenge” but said that he will “not be afraid to talk about the important issues that matter to the folks and ask them the important questions.”

“One person at a time, by sparking these conversations and listening, I think we can really start improving the city. It can be led by Yale students that build a desire to engage in the community,” said Siesel.

He acknowledged that learning to navigate the Board’s complicated, often bureaucratic legislative process can be difficult.

“The vast majority of people who occupy this position only serve for two years, and by the time they finally learn the ropes, they leave,” Siesel said.

Siesel plans to speak with local officials and community leaders from now until election day in November so that he can “hit the ground running on day one.”

Being an alder, Redente said, is no easy job.

“You have to be available all the time. You have to be able to communicate. And you have to have thick skin,” he said.

While Siesel currently serves as co-president of the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project, that role will end in December, the same time he could become the next alder. If elected, Siesel said, he wants the job to occupy “most, if not all” of his attention.

Siesel is likely to face competition in the Ward 1 primary, according to Redente. In both 2019 and 2023, one of the two Ward 1 co-chairs ran for and was elected alder. Currently, Norah Laughter ’26 and Rhea McTiernan Huge ’27 serve in this position, though neither has yet announced that they are running.

In his decision to run, Siesel said, he was influenced by his first year adviser Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr., a senior fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. Thomas said that they discussed the successes and failures of the urban renewal efforts in New Haven by Edward J. Logue ’42 LAW ’47.

“Jake is intelligent, assertive, caring,” Thomas wrote to the News.

Redente, whom Siesel has frequently called for advice, said that Siesel “seems like a pretty smart guy.”

“He cares about the city. Anybody who is willing to step up is fine by me,” Redente said.

According to data from the 2020 Census, Ward 1 has 4,641 residents.

The post Jake Siesel ’27 launches campaign for Ward 1 Alder appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Leaders and advocates representing the city’s food banks and soup kitchens made the request during a Board of Alders budget workshop Wednesday evening in City Hall. The organizations have begun to experience the fallout from reductions in federal food assistance spending.

“There’s a perception that the community will take care of itself when it comes to food assistance, and that’s just not the reality,” Steve Werlin, the executive director of the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, told the News.

The food kitchen has recently received less food than normal from the Connecticut Foodshare, which depends partly on federal money, Werlin said. He expects DESK’s stockpile of food to dwindle “at some point in the next few months” without a new source of funding.

Alycia Santilli — co-chair of the Coordinated Food Assistance Network, or CFAN, the coalition that made the proposal — told the Finance Committee that 27 percent of New Haven residents currently face food insecurity, compared with 18 percent statewide. She added that nearly two-fifths of Elm City residents reported receiving groceries or meals from food assistance providers.

Coalition members developed their “legislative agenda,” totaling $993,000, before the 2024 election, Werlin said. They presented it to New Haven community services officials in the winter as Mayor Justin Elicker was preparing his budget proposal.

Elicker announced his $703.7 million budget proposal for the 2025-26 fiscal year in late February, saying he took a “primarily status quo” approach amid the unpredictability of the Trump administration’s funding for local programs. The proposal did not include CFAN’s proposed spending.

Werlin and Santilli both said they hoped alders would be sympathetic to their requests in the wake of the Trump administration’s cuts. They stressed that the city has not usually provided regular funding for food assistance.

 “I know that a lot of alders really care about this issue,” Santilli said, “and they probably weren’t fully aware that the city doesn’t really spend money in this way.”

Elicker said Thursday in a statement provided by his spokesperson that he has proposed directing almost $150,000 in federal Community Block Development Grant money to food assistance organizations, including $35,000 for DESK.

He also said the city planned to allocate about $890,000 from two federal grants to Haven’s Harvest, a nonprofit focused on reducing food waste — but that the grants are now frozen.

“The cuts by the Trump administration to food banks and meals programs are devastating,” Elicker said in the statement. “We would always like to do more, but we can’t make up the difference from the federal government.”

About a dozen food assistance advocates attended Wednesday’s aldermanic meeting. Four of them testified directly to the alders, and some held signs saying, “FOOD IS A HUMAN RIGHT” or “Hungry for Change!”

Alder Anna Festa of East Rock’s Ward 10 said alders face a difficult balancing act as they refine the mayor’s proposed budget.

“It’s going to be some very difficult decisions, because if we contribute to every little thing, every nonprofit that’s not getting aid, that cuts into the budget, which means higher taxes for the residents, which means for some of those folks, they’ll now have to decide themselves if they need to go to the food pantry or not,” Festa said.

New Haven has over 50 food pantries and soup kitchens, Santilli told the alders.

The post Food aid groups seek city money to plug Trump gaps appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The protest — which called for Trump and Musk to take their “hands off” — was one of more than 1,300 “Hands Off!” rallies that took place across the country on April 5, with over 600,000 people participating nationwide. Before taking to the streets of downtown New Haven, demonstrators called for “hands off” schools, immigrants, Palestine, healthcare, science and more.

“The backstop for our democracy, and for our Constitution, is now the people,” said the Rev. Allie Perry DIV ’80, who helped to organize the protest. “People are pissed off, and they know that unless we rise up, our democracy will be destroyed.”

Few of those present were Yale students. UNITE HERE, New Haven Rising and the Sunrise Movement were among the participating organizations.

Although several Connecticut politicians, including Senator Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysewicz ’83 and Comptroller Sean Scanlon, asked to speak at the protest, Perry said, organizers were not interested — and instead invited them to listen. 

For around 40 minutes, community leaders of all stripes spoke on stage and decried the Trump administration’s recent actions.

“Our students deserve to learn the truth — honest history about this country — and we will not allow Trump and Musk to censor us and take away our First Amendment rights,” Leslie Blatteau ’97 GRD ’07, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, said to the crowd, inciting cheers and applause.

Later, climate activist Sena Wazer ENV ’26 took to the stage to call for “hands off our climate.” While she condemned the Trump administration’s approach to climate change, she also called upon Connecticut officials to do more to protect the state from the effects of warming and pollution.

After Wazer, Tabitha Sookdeo ENV ’27, executive director of Connecticut Students for a Dream and an immigrant from Guyana, denounced Trump’s stance on immigration and the recent slew of deportations.

“We’ve had enough. Immigrants are part of Connecticut’s economic and social fabric. We contribute to the backbone of this country — not billionaires,” Sookdeo said. “We are the working class. We are funding our schools, our healthcare, our infrastructure. We are the backbone of this state, and we will continue to not live in fear.”

While the content of protesters’ speeches and signs varied, demonstrators were united in their opposition to Trump and Musk, the de facto leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, and their concern for American democracy.

Rob Huffnung, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of New Haven, described a “totalitarian takeover,” while Pam Kruh, who had traveled to the green from Old Saybrook, called Trump “a dictator.”

Longtime New Haven Register reporter Randall Beach, meanwhile, said that he was especially concerned about “the denial of civil rights and free speech.” He and his wife Jennifer Kaylin had just returned from Amsterdam, he explained, where they had visited the Anne Frank House.

“The parallels are unbelievably applicable to what we’re going through right now — students are being pulled off the streets like it’s a fascist dictatorship we’re living under,” Beach said. “It stiffened our resolve to resist, to not collaborate, to not participate.”

The entire crowd began their march just before 1 p.m., marching first down Chapel Street, towards the School of Architecture. They turned right on York Street, past several residential colleges, made another right on Elm Street, and returned to the Green.

All the while, two New Haven Police Department patrol cars drove slowly in front of the marchers. NHPD Lt. David Guliuzza, who oversees the Downtown district, described the coordination between the protest organizers and the NHPD as “pretty good,” and added that demonstrators were “very peaceful.”

Eventually, the protesters returned to the Green, where they formed a circle.

Unlike a demonstration on the Green on the day of Trump’s inauguration, Saturday’s protest was relatively homogenous, and leaned older and white.

Perry recalled her involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, as did Jim Edwards, another attendee.

“I said I’d never protest again. Here I am,” Edwards said.

According to Ward 7 Alder Eli Sabin ’22 LAW ’26, Saturday’s protest augured a shift away from the exhaustion and demoralization that have characterized the first few months of the Trump Administration, and toward a spirit of energized resistance. 

Several protesters expressed hope that the protest might galvanize anti-Trump sentiment across the country.

“You show up, you show up, you show up, and you show that we have power, too,” said Fran Shea, a New York City resident and Connecticut State University alum. “This administration’s approach is to exhaust people. And this will show you, we won’t be exhausted.”

At least one anti-Trump rally took place in each of the 50 states on Saturday.

The post Thousands rally in downtown New Haven in national anti-Trump demonstration appeared first on Yale Daily News.

At LW Beecher School, Mayor Justin Elicker spent around 20 minutes reviewing his budget proposal, announced late last month, mostly under the implicit goal of explaining and justifying a proposed 2.3 percent increase in the mill rate.

About two dozen residents had gathered to hear the mayor, who presented a lengthy slideshow of graphs and charts. Elicker laid out his primary goal of maintaining city services in the face of federal uncertainty and acknowledged, among other topics, the decrease in the city’s taxable properties and “a real crisis” in the public school system.

But, by and large, attendees — the majority of whom were affiliated with U-ACT — were not interested in minute fiscal and policy details. Instead, over two-thirds of the meeting was dominated by issues related to homelessness.

Jorell Alford, a New Havener affiliated with U-ACT, decried the lack of public bathrooms in New Haven.

“Unlock the bathrooms in these facilities,” she said. “I can go into a fine restaurant, get free Wi-Fi, AC, heat, a lounge area, but I got to pay to pee. Mayor, I challenge you today: build these bathrooms. I challenge you today Mayor, you cannot use your bathroom in your office. I challenge you to walk across the street and use those same porta potties that you said is clean for us to use.”

In response, Elicker said that portable toilets on the New Haven Green — which Alford referred to as “disgusting” — continue to face challenges, including complaints of prostitution and abandoned needles.

Soon after, Mark Colville — U-ACT’s lead organizer — accused the mayor of stonewalling efforts to build public restrooms on the Green. He said that in raising concerns over “human excrement,” Elicker was “setting up a victim-blaming process” that allows the police “to make people disappear who are poor.” A heated back-and-forth between Elicker and Colville lasted for over five minutes.

Minutes later, a shouting match erupted between several U-ACT members and Joe Fekieta, a longtime Elm City resident and one-time candidate for Ward 4 co-chair, who suggested that homeless residents should be “brought” to nearby psychiatric hospitals.

To be sure, two residents asked questions around the budget itself. Tory Sansing, who recently left her job as a New Haven Public Schools teacher, voiced her concern over paraprofessionals’ low wages. Elicker explained that their contracts operate on a different timeline from the budget process.

Meanwhile, Mark Gimpel, who has a background in financial engineering, asked about the city’s debt — which City Budget Director Shannon McCue said is currently around $700 million — and voiced his concern that the mayor “keeps adding $30 million a year.” Elicker had earlier explained that the city borrows $60 million every two years. 

“We’re kicking the can down the road,” Gimpel told the News after the town hall. 

Despite the contentious nature of much of the meeting, Elicker told the News that he enjoys this style of public participation.

“I actually really like these budget town halls, because you never know what’s going to come up, and it’s an opportunity for us to have a little bit more of an in-depth conversation on different issues,” he said.”

The Board of Alders must approve the city’s budget by June 2.

The post Elicker faces heated debate at budget town hall appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The Board of Alders last Monday passed a pair of measures designed to curb the industry’s growth and protect the health of residents under age 21, officials said. Mayor Justin Elicker signed the legislation on Thursday.

One of the two laws, a zoning change, restricts stores that sell tobacco or vape products from opening within 1,000 feet of schools, houses of worship or parks, or within 3,000 feet of another smoke shop. The result, according to a map made by city officials, is to bar the creation of any new smoke shops except for a barren segment of Water Street near Long Wharf — at least until existing establishments close.

“We have 212 tobacco and nicotine retailers in a city of 139,000,” Elicker said to reporters and television cameras invited for the unusually promoted signing ceremony. “We don’t need any more of these shops.”

Smoke shops that already operate will be required to remove flashy signage and make their products and paraphernalia less conspicuous to passersby.

The second measure in the new regulatory regime requires tobacco and vape sellers, beginning in October, to obtain municipal licenses that will cost $150 each year. Failure to comply may lead to fines of as much as $1,000 per day, for repeated violations.

Joel Coronado, at the counter of Chapel Smoke Shop on Monday afternoon, said he understood the rationale behind the new laws and is happy they do not shut down existing retailers. 

“They’re trying to take it away from the parks, the schools, but at least they’re not messing with the establishments that are already here,” he told the News. “Everybody that’s grandfathered in, they grandfathered in. That’s cool.”

Coronado said that he blames a “backlash” toward smoke shops on the poor behavior of other stores.

Although Coronado had heard of the new laws, he was not aware of the regulations on signage. Chapel Street Smoke’s storefront windows are bordered by flashing LED strips, apparently contrary to the prohibition on “lights that flash, shimmer, glitter.” Coronado said he planned to visit City Hall for clarification.

While several smoke shops still have storefront displays that would be illegal under the new regulations, Mist Tobacco & Convenience, located at 342 Orange St., has already begun to adapt its storefront based on the newly passed ordinance — turning off their LED signs and retracting advertisements for nicotine products.

City Health Director Maritza Bond was alongside Elicker at the signing ceremony. She announced that the New Haven Health Department will make an effort to educate smoke shop owners about the ordinance before it goes into effect. The health department will proceed with compliance checks after Oct. 1 to ensure smoke shops adhere to the new regulations.

“This is about protecting public health and the safety and welfare of our youth,” Bond said, according to the New Haven Independent.

Both laws emerged from a working group of alders and city officials, spearheaded by Alders Richard Furlow of Westville’s Ward 27, Eli Sabin of Ward 7 in East Rock and downtown and Frank Redente of Ward 15 in Fair Haven.

The zoning and licensing components came before the Legislation Committee in January and February, respectively. They were delayed repeatedly for final passage by the board while staff adjusted the legislative text.

“This zoning regulation is long overdue, but we took our time and we worked months to get it right, and I believe we have,” Furlow, the board’s majority leader, told his colleagues before the vote on the zoning ordinance amendment.

The crackdown may have little noticeable effect right away and, by design, will make smoke shops less noticeable in the Elm City. But it allowed local leaders to unite behind a legislative achievement that the city can execute on its own, at a time of struggles over funding from the state and federal governments.

Alder Adam Marchand said the licensing mandate “has at its center the goal of protecting the public health, and to shield our youth and most impressionable residents from the powerful allure of these addictive and harmful products.”

The ordinance comes over a year after Connecticut Attorney General William Tong brought a lawsuit against Anesthesia, a smoke shop on Chapel Street, for the unlawful sale of cannabis.

The post Per new law, nearly no more smoke shops fit in New Haven appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The Board of Education approved the agreement last Friday. The new contract provides for a wage increase of $6 an hour over the course of the next four years, beginning with an increase of $2.50 for the 2024-25 school year. Local 217 UNITE HERE, Connecticut’s primary labor union for hospitality workers, represented cafeteria staff in the negotiations.

“This contract will see the most significant raises that the cafeteria workers in New Haven have achieved in decades,” Joshua Stanley GRD ’18, Local 217’s secretary-treasurer said. “This is a very significant achievement and event.” 

The additional $6 represents a 28 percent wage increase for the lowest-paid classifications of workers, according to Stanley. The contract also provides additional training for lead cooks.

Stanley emphasized that the raises will tangibly improve the lives of cafeteria workers.

“In terms of the jump forward this will bring for our members, this will get them back on their feet,” Stanley said. “Rent, food, bills have gone up so much in the past five years that while this is an historic contract that we’re all extremely proud of, what it will make possible is [for] people to afford the cost of living.”

Betty Alford, a lead cook at Truman School, said she was “so excited” about the new contract.

“They gave us what we wanted, and I’m thankful for it. I’m so grateful for it. I can do more things now, with this raise. I can buy more things now, because, before you’d have to penny pinch everything,” Alford said.

Negotiations between Local 217 and the school system began in June 2024. 

Earlier this year, in freezing January winds, cafeteria workers picketed in front of the Board of Education building to push for an agreement. The protests followed Local 217’s successful advocacy for workers at Omni New Haven Hotel.

Overall, Alford said, the contract negotiation process was “great,” although Stanley declined to describe it on the record. 

“We ought to mark this moment as a great example of negotiation without a great deal of extra clamor,” Edward Joyner, the secretary of the Board of Education, said at the Friday meeting. “I think it’s a template for future negotiations with union staff.”

The new contract will run through the 2027-28 academic year.

The post NHPS cafeteria workers secure pay raise in new contract appeared first on Yale Daily News.

“Education is the pathway to the American dream,” she said at a Tuesday press conference ahead of President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress. “That pathway is now at risk. Our schools are under assault from Elon Musk and the Trump administration.”

Amid a torrent of news from Washington, DeLauro has made protecting funds for education a priority. As the Department of Government Efficiency announced nearly $900 million in cuts to the Department of Education’s research arm and the DOE announced nearly $1.2 billion in cuts to “woke” and “divise” grants and contracts, the congresswoman has responded indignantly.

DeLauro’s chosen guest at Tuesday’s address was Connecticut’s 2025 Teacher of the Year, Julia Miller. A Wilbur Cross alum, Miller now teaches social studies and civics at the Metropolitan Business Academy in Wooster Square. She spoke on Tuesday from Rep. DeLauro’s office at the Capitol about “these senseless threats to our public schools.”

Miller explained that half of New Haven’s public schools are Title I, which means that they receive funding from the federal government. According to Justin Harmon, in the last fiscal year, the entire school district received $24 million in grants from the Department of Education.

“If the Department of Education is dismantled, 26 million vulnerable students [across the country] would lose access to needed services,” Miller said. “This isn’t cutting bloat or excess. This would be taking away resources from children in already underfunded districts like my own across the country.”

Both DeLauro and Miller discussed the foundational role of public education in democracy — long an understanding shared by national leaders. 

“Public education was conceived as a mechanism for strengthening our democracy—by ensuring basic levels of access to the kinds of training necessary for full participation in our society,” Jack Schneider, a director of the UMass Amherst’s Center for Education Policy, wrote to the News. “Attacks on public education, then, should be understood as what they are: attacks on democracy itself.”

Miller told the News that it is “hard to explain” the vilification of education.

DeLauro was similarly unsure.

“I don’t know why one would demonize education,” she told the News. “It seems that teachers are an easy scapegoat.”

In Trump’s speech, education came up only briefly. He said that his administration is “working to protect our children from toxic ideologies in our schools,” mentioning critical race theory and “transgender ideology.”

DeLauro released a video hours after Trump finished speaking. She said she found his address “vengeful,” “revengeful” and not “befitting a great world leader or a great president of the United States.”

According to reporting in the Wall Street Journal, a draft of an upcoming executive order directs Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education, to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department.”

The post DeLauro warns of existential threat to public education amid federal cuts appeared first on Yale Daily News.

On Feb. 16, New Haven Police Department officers recovered the weeks-old seal, who was since named Chappy, after the street on which he was stranded. The seal was transported to the aquarium, where it was treated for dehydration and malnourishment. On Feb. 25, the aquarium posted on its Facebook that Chappy had contracted pneumonia. The aquarium asked its followers to send “good vibes” for Chappy.

According to an Instagram post by the aquarium on Monday morning, Chappy began having “digestive difficulties” when his diet transitioned from nutrient formula to whole fish. A complete necropsy revealed that he died from mesenteric torsion, an intestinal abnormality that cut off blood supply to a large portion of his gastrointestinal tract. 

“The Mystic Aquarium staff are proud that they were able to give Chappy the best chance possible and are devastated by this outcome,” the aquarium wrote. “The reality of working with stranded animals can be tough sometimes, but Chappy was surrounded by love until the very end.”

Chappy’s story made headlines across the country, frequently earning jokes about the proximity of the site from which he was recovered to Wooster Square, a hotspot for New Haven’s famed clam pizza. The national bobblehead museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin decided to produce a bobblehead of the seal and donate 10 percent of its profits to the Mystic Aquarium.

The New Haven Police Department released a statement around 5 p.m. on Monday thanking the aquarium “for their efforts to help our little buddy.”

“We would like to thank everyone who reached out, it was amazing to see how many people this story touched,” the department wrote.

Officer Christian Bruckhart, the NHPD’s communications officer, told the News he had a chance to visit Chappy in the aquarium.

News of the seal’s death quickly reverberated around New Haven. During the points of privilege at Monday’s Board of Alders meeting, Ward 10 Alder Anna Festa acknowledged the seal’s brief but memorable impact on the Elm City. 

“As you all know, we lost our little Chappy the seal today. He became our little mascot. It was just a happy moment in time for all of us,” she said. 

Long Island soundkeeper Bill Lucey, a marine biologist with the nonprofit Save the Sound who is tasked with finding and fixing the estuary’s most pressing issues, told the News that Chappy’s death did not surprise him. Typically, he explained, when marine mammals venture onto land, and especially into urban environments like the one where Chappy was found, they are sick.

“When you see animals acting in that manner, they’re usually in distress,” Lucey said. “Mystic is a really skilled rehab facility, but things are very difficult to do sometimes, especially with something like that.”

Mystic Aquarium also wrote on Instagram that the necropsy revealed small pieces of plastic in Chappy’s stomach, though they determined that these were unrelated to his immediate cause of death.

Still, Lucey found this detail especially concerning. He said that Save the Sound has been researching “plastic interactions with wildlife” with the goal of holding plastic manufacturers liable “for some of the externalities that their plastic that’s coating our planet is causing.”

Until the early 19th century, the Fair Haven neighborhood was called Dragon after the seals, or sea-dragons, that would sun themselves on its shores.

Ethan Wolin contributed reporting.  

The post Viral New Haven seal succumbs to illness appeared first on Yale Daily News.

At a City Hall press conference announcing the budget, Elicker said that the tumult surrounding federal funding — on which New Haven relies heavily — resulted in a budget proposal that is “primarily status quo.” With enormous federal cuts a legitimate possibility, the budget may need to be amended midyear, he added. 

Elicker’s proposed General Fund budget totals $703.7 million, a modest 2.6 percent increase from last year’s approved budget of $679.1 million. His budget proposal also includes a 2.3 percent increase in property taxes, which Elicker touted as “the lowest tax rate … in the past two decades” with the exception of the last two years.

“It’s a time of tremendous uncertainty,” Elicker said. “We’ve all felt that in the last month, there’s been a lot of chaos coming from Washington, D.C. In the city of New Haven, we’re proud to say that we’re charting a different course.”

Emphasizing fiscal caution and promised stability, the mayor explained how he hopes to successfully navigate uncertainty from Washington.

The proposed budget includes $62.6 million in Special Revenue Funds — funding beyond normal revenue, a large portion of which comes from the federal government.

New Haven relies on federal funds that are now in jeopardy to address long-standing challenges, such as the state of the New Haven Public Schools, Elicker said. 

His budget proposal includes $15 million in additional funding for NHPS facilities to help address a maintenance crisis in the school’s buildings. This brings the budget’s total spending on education to $213,263,784, an increase from $208,263,784 in the last fiscal year.

The New Haven Federation of Teachers — the union representing NHPS teachers — recently filed a complaint with Connecticut OSHA over allegedly unsafe conditions in NHPS schools.

“You name it, our buildings are struggling with it,” Elicker admitted after the press conference, mentioning HVAC issues and mold.

But the mayor was adamant that New Haven has “done [its] part,” and Connecticut “must do more.”

Elicker also emphasized his proposal’s increased investment in public safety, including full funding for the new police contract and support for the continued installation of security cameras across the city.

The proposed budget would also create 13 new city positions, including building inspectors to keep pace with “significant economic development activity,” parking enforcement personnel, and a new chief data officer.

These proposed positions are part of a larger initiative to modernize government in New Haven.

The city is eager to “use technology to our advantage,” Shannon McCue, New Haven’s new budget director, told the News.

The budget adoption process at City Hall lasts three months. In this time, the Board of Alders Finance Committee will hold workshops, deliberations and public hearings to amend and approve the mayor’s proposal. During last year’s negotiations, $1.3 million was whittled off Elicker’s proposed budget.

After the press conference, the mayor acknowledged a tension between New Haveners’ perception of the city government’s inefficiency and the reality that, as he put it, “things cost money.”

“Oftentimes, when I talk with residents, they say, ‘You should be doing this more, you should be doing that more.’ But they don’t always connect it with the fact that we have to pay for these things … We’re always trying to thread the needle to make sure that we’re not putting undue burden on residents with taxes, but also delivering on services,” Elicker told the News.

The mayor praised the city for having “five straight years of balanced budget,” improving bond ratings and building up rainy day reserves.

Elicker will hold two town halls on March 18 and 26 to discuss his budget proposal with residents.

The post Elicker proposes cautious budget with “primarily status quo” services appeared first on Yale Daily News.

No, it certainly is not — this is the official TikTok account of the Connecticut Senate Democrats. 

The account, which has been posting videos since August 2022, is a small part of the caucus’ effort to connect with constituents. Amid steep decreases in Americans’ news consumption and in their trust in mainstream media, this account and others like it seem to encapsulate elected officials’ need to adapt to a new information environment — one dominated by scrolling, likes and, apparently, Beyoncé.

Kevin Coughlin, the Senate Democrats communications director, said that the caucus joined the app in 2022 in order to “communicate with people where they are, and there are a lot of people on TikTok.”

“It is always best to utilize a trending meme or sound,” he added.

These accounts provide Connecticut politicians with a direct line of communication with their constituents. They need not contend with questions from reporters; instead, they are at the mercy of the infamous TikTok algorithm.

The Connecticut Senate Democrats account, which has over 5,600 followers, features a combination of produced videos, clips from the Connecticut Network, or CT-N — a C-SPAN analogue that covers state government — and day-in-the-life-style vlogs.

The Senate GOP account, meanwhile, is substantially smaller, with about half as many followers as its counterpart across the digital aisle. It often features footage from press conferences and clips from local TV stations, as well as direct addresses from the Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding. It tends to take a more antagonistic posture toward the Senate Democrats than the Democrats do toward the Republicans on their own account.

“The Democratic Party here in the state is not giving a lot of love to ratepayers throughout the state,” Harding laments in a video published on Valentine’s Day that is focused on an electricity bill reduction plan.

The communications director of the Senate Republican Caucus, Laura Parete, explained that the account gets engagement by spotlighting “the issues that really matter to the people of Connecticut” like the cost of living and inflation.

“We really want to show the people of Connecticut, we’re working for them. We’re listening to them,” Parete said. “They’re getting that one-on-one, direct communication, as opposed to having a media outlet in the middle. I’m not saying anything negative about traditional media — we have a lot of wonderful reporters up here at the Capitol — but I think sometimes it’s great to hear the message directly from the people that are working on the policy.”

The basic tone of the Democratic account, meanwhile, has less to do with specific legislative efforts and more to do with rhetoric. Its most popular video, which has been liked by 70,000 users, features an impassioned speech by State Senator Cathy Osten denouncing immigrant deportations.

The reproductive healthcare video was posted in early 2024; this year, Duff has leaned more into irony. In a video from earlier this month, following clips of President Donald Trump promising to lower grocery prices, Duff appears in a bathrobe preparing “to make breakfast in bed” for his wife. Reaching into a closet filled with office supplies, he pulls out two eggs.

“Looks like we have everything we need, and with the price of eggs these days, you really can’t be too careful,” he quips.

TikTok has had a rocky history in the United States. Because of national security concerns, in early 2023, the platform was banned from all devices managed by the House of Representatives and by federal agencies. By 2024, 39 states had banned the app from government devices, and individual caucuses have acknowledged threats as well — the California Senate Republicans, for instance, deactivated their account in early 2023.

In Connecticut, however, while a bill to ban the app from government devices was approved by the General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee, it died in the State Senate.

At present, following President Donald Trump’s vow to “save” TikTok — which may have been influenced by his own “very good experience” on the platform — its future is uncertain.

“This is social media, so everything is always changing, and I am sure there’ll be another platform to learn, manage, and communicate on soon enough,” Coughlin said.

A recent survey found that over 43 percent of Connecticut residents support a ban on TikTok — the second highest out of any state in the nation.

Correction, Feb. 28: A previous version of the article misspelled Coughlin’s name.

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