INNER-CITY NEWS

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

Schools Plan Post-Pandemic Catch-Up Time

by EMILY HAYS

New Haven I ndependent

A longer, in-person school day could help students who have fallen behind during the Covid-19 pandemic, the city’s assistant schools superintendent said. New Haven needs some help from the state this spring to make that catch-up successful.

Kiesha Redd-Hannans, New Haven Public Schools assistant superintendent, offered that take for the near future at a Board of Education meeting.

She said New Haven is asking the state for more money for extended-day academies, among other asks, as part of its lobbying agenda for January.

“We need more funds for this when we look at the pandemic and the amount of learning that has been lost due to being in a remote setting,” Redd-Hannans said at the meeting, held last Monday night.

“It would not just be for academic purposes but also for the socialization component. Anyone who has participated in any sports or school clubs knows that it builds confidence and builds discipline.”

So far, there’s little information about how much students have fallen behind during the Covid-19 pandemic. Estimates vary. Learning loss is expected to be greater in high-poverty districts like New

Haven, where schools have adopted live, virtual classes more slowly and where students are showing up to class more inconsistently.

Roughly 11 percent of New Haven Public Schools students are missing more than one day of school every week. The most recent count found 697 students had missed every day of school during the week of Veteran’s Day. “For the district, 89 percent [fully present] isn’t that bad. It does vary by school,” said Michele Sherban, who manages student data for the district.

However, the state is tracking the drop in participation between this year and last year for high-needs students like English learners, students with disabilities and students experiencing poverty. The gaps in participation from New Haven’s highneeds students are among the largest in the state, despite intensive efforts from the district to find students and solve the problems keeping them from school.

One-on-one tutoring and extending the school year with “acceleration academies” are two strategies research indicates could help students recover from pandemic slide.

Turning Up The Heat On Hartford More money for extended-day academies

is one piece of a state lobbying package New Haven Public Schools is focusing on this year.

Board of Education member Darnell Goldson has pushed city and school district leadership to ask for more from the state legislature. Superintendent Iline Tracey thanked him for that push on Monday and noted that she did not know much about New Haven’s lobbying efforts when she started her job.

Some of the other asks reflect new pandemic realities. NHPS wants to add health centers at more schools. One of the primary goals with this would be to expand mental health support for students, who have said that they are experiencing more stress and depression during by the pandemic.

The district also wants to ensure every home has internet access.

“We were able to distribute hot spots so internet access is not an issue—but that internet access is for a year. We need free internet access for families across entire city,” Redd-Hannans said.

Other asks draw on the draft education plans of President-Elect Joe Biden, like his promise to expand Title I funding for high-poverty school districts.

Read the draft list here.

CHRISTOPHER PEAK FILE PHOTO Asst. Supt. Redd-Hannans: Extended days on horizon.

Board member Edward Joyner lauded the ing in the district since I was a principal list and said he wants to look for quarterly and a teacher,” Joyner said. “We need to feedback on the effectiveness of these make sure we have evaluation and feedprograms as well. back so can know in timely way whether “Some of these things we have been do- something is working well or not.”

Family, Neighbors Skate Through Pandemic

by LAURA GLESBY

New Haven I ndependent

Before taking off, toddler Gus Rosa glanced over his shoulder with a grin. He was standing on his brother’s skateboard at one end of a newly-constructed half pipe in his backyard. With his dad’s help, he tipped the board upwards and dropped in.

“He’s literally only 2, and he’s great at it,” beamed Lux, his 8-year-old sister.

Sure enough, Gus (spotted by his father, Evan) rolled back and forth across the homemade ramp with expert 2-year-old balance.

He isn’t the only budding skater in the family. Every member of the Rosa family skates — including parents Evan and Lani, 10-year-old Nan, 8-year-old Lux, 5-year-old Ben, and Gus. Evan has spent the fall building the half pipe in their backyard on Alden Avenue in the Westville flats. It has since become a site of risk-taking, imagination, and community for both the Rosa children and neighbors and friends who also love to skate.

“I’ve been dreaming of making the half pipe my whole life,” Evan said. He finally went through with this goal after forging an Edgewood Park friendship this summer that centered around the pandemicfriendly sport.

The Rosas moved to New Haven a year

and a half ago from California, where Evan grew up. In San Diego, he was raised amidst a culture of surfing and skating. He’s been skating since he was 10.

When he moved to New Haven to work in communications at the Yale Divinity School, he was thrilled to find a thriving skateboarding community based in Edgewood Park.

Months after the Rosas arrived in Connecticut, the pandemic hit, making it more difficult to forge new friendships in a new place. Skating took on a new significance as the family adjusted to a new norm of social distancing: It’s a sport and social activity that intrinsically entails staying several feet apart in an outdoor setting.

One day this past August, Evan took Nan and Lux to the skate park in Edgewood Park, where he met another local skater, Francisco Rivera, who had also brought his two daughters. The two families hit it off. “We struck up a skate friendship,” Evan said.

With their combined woodworking skills and skateboarding knowledge, the pair resolved to build the backyard ramp together.

Evan and Rivera went to Home Depot and gathered as much pressure-treated wood as they could. They spent the next three months cutting and fitting the pieces together, bending — and sometimes

The Rosa family, clockwise from left: Gus, Evan, Nan, Lani, Lux, and Ben.

breaking — plywood, layering the Gator Skin material specifically designed for skateboards on top. On weekends and during lunch breaks, Evan would go outside to work on the project.

Often, he was joined by Rivera, or a few other neighbors interested in helping out.

They finished the ramp in mid-November.

The half pipe is 12 feet wide, 24 feet long, and up to three feet tall. It sits in the back of the family’s backyard, right beside a swing set.

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While the Rosas enjoy the skate parks in Edgewood Park and Scantlebury Park, “we just wanted to skate every day,” Evan said. The backyard half pipe makes that possible.

The kids are beginning to outgrow their designated skateboards, so they shared each other’s and their father’s. When Gus he fell down, Lux ran over to give him a hug. Ben and Lux did some rock fakies, which entail a 180-degree turn at the top of the ramp. After her siblings went, Nan

geared up to perform some kick turns.

Lani is new to skating, but she’s learning, too. She and Evan are proud of their kids’ skating skills. They’re also excited that their kids are learning how to stumble and get up again.

Lux said she likes to “go with the flow” when she’s skating. “You go light when you’re going up and go heavy when you’re going down,” she explained.

(Watch Evan and Lux demonstrate their moves below.)

Ben’s favorite trick is a “ninja-kick” — otherwise known as a tail stall. That move entails rolling up to the edge of the ramp and pausing to press one end of the skateboard onto the platform, so that the board kicks up.

“You have to imagine that the board is an extension of your body,” Nan explained.

“That’s good advice, Nan,” Evan said.

In Evan’s view, skating isn’t just about staying active and making friends. It’s about finding new possibilities for how to move and react to the built environment.

“It’s one of the more imaginative things to do in a public space,” he said. “Skaters see potential in a man-made space that even the builders didn’t see.”

It’s also about growing each skater’s sense of what’s possible from themselves, Evan added. “You have to envision yourself doing every trick.”

The Council Chamber Beckoned THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

by SAM GURWITT |

New Haven I ndependent

I was supposed to spend a few months watching elected officials fight every other Monday night. Spring would come, and I would run off to the circus, quite literally.

That was the plan, anyway.

When I started in January of 2019 as the Independent’s first full-time Hamden reporter, I thought it would be a short-term gig. I would stay a couple of months, learn how to do community reporting, then move on to other ambitions in other places.

But first, I had Legislative Council meetings to sit through.

At the end of each one (usually around 11 p.m., sometimes as late as 1 a.m.), Council President Mick McGarry would deliver the same line with a haggard smile when I approached him for a comment: “Sam, I’m telling you, do you really have nothing better to do with your evenings?”

It was a greeting typical of McGarry, for whom pleasantries usually include a healthy sprinkling of dry wit.

“No, no, Mick, this is exactly how I like to spend my evenings,” I would usually reply sarcastically. Sometimes I would add: “You know, you too, Mick, I’m sure there’s nowhere else you’d rather be.”

There were a lot of places I would rather have been than the council chamber. My legs would become numb pressed for hours against the chair on the right-hand side of the room where I always sat, reporter’s notebook on one knee, camera dangling just above my lap. I watched in dismayed silence as meetings devolved into shouting matches. Discussions on minor procedural items could take hours.

We were often there until 11 p.m. Sometimes it was midnight. Sometimes 1 a.m.

It quickly cured me of any inkling I’d ever had that I would want to run for elected office myself.

After my first few months of those meetings, I did leave as planned, in June. I spent the summer in Quebec City performing a clown and juggling street show with a friend. (I am trained as a professional clown.) Every night at around six we would pack our equipment into a hiking backpack and bike up the steep hill to the old city, where we set out our amp and hand-painted sign on a cobblestone street packed with tourists. We would perform four back-to-back shows to the throngs as the drips of ice cream they were too slow to catch dribbled down their fingers.

Maybe McGarry didn’t have street performing in mind when he asked me if I had anything better to do with my evenings, but those nights certainly did fall into the category of “more exciting than a council meeting.” I can’t say I would ever look out at a crowd of laughing faces, and think I would rather be in the legislative council chamber listening to an intermi-

SAM GURWITT PHOTOS Hamden

has been heated: Kerry Ellington and Police Commission Chair Mike Iezzi at a commission meeting that turned into a protest.

nable discussion about bulk trash pickup.

But, a short time later, I was back again.

The council chamber had beckoned. So had the role of journalist.

There was more to those meetings than political impasse, frayed nerves, and numb legs. Amidst the shouting, there were decisions that affected people’s lives, and despite the rancor, there was something inspiring in watching local government in action. There was an exciting role for a reporter, and a whole lot to learn.

Early on, I wrote an article about a financial transfer that took funds allocated for the town’s pension and used them to pay utility bills and fire department overtime.

Afterwards, one of the council members came up to me and told me it was an unfair article. It had always been like this, they said, and this kind of transfer was nothing new, but now everyone was up in arms because I was there making a big deal out of it.

On that particular article, they had a point — it was not well balanced. I came down too hard on the administration and didn’t really get the mayor’s perspective.

But let me be clear: I did make a big deal out of the situation, and I stand by that choice, because financial transfers and town pensions are a big deal.

Debates about the minutiae of town government had a way of consuming me. After those hours of listening to officials and residents wage battle with each other over bar graphs and endless public finance acronyms, I would still get a little thrill replaying the debate in my head. If anyone would listen, I would start to rant about debt payment schedules. It took about 30 seconds for their eyes to glaze over, and I would have to pull myself back to earth, reminding myself that to most people, the fate of the world does not hinge on Hamden’s debt service.

Those debates affect only 60,000 people on 33 square miles sandwiched between West Rock Ridge and the Quinnipiac River. But I found it exhilarating to watch as the future of a town is hammered into being by a high school English teacher, a professor, and a college student whose main similarity is that they care what happens to their neighbors and their streets.

Even when it gets ugly, there is something beautiful in that.

It’s easy, even dangerous, to forget that politics is born out of neighbors disagreeing about how to spend their tax money, and not vice versa. Hyperlocal arguments over town pensions and financial transfers are not just a big deal because they affect tax bills. They’re the kernels around

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which our whole system of participatory democracy forms.

Unless conditions change in the next few weeks (I almost dare not put this in writing because as we know, that’s entirely possible), I will be moving to Germany in January on a Fulbright grant to write about East German mass housing. When I left the first time to clown in Canada, I thought it would just take two more stories and I could tie up loose ends. I was naïve. After two years, there are a thousand stories I would still like to write. I am grateful that I got to tell the ones I told.

The next year will be critical for Hamden. The state may step in and take over the town’s finances. Unless a miracle swoops down from the heavens in the form of a $6 million grant, the council will have to decide how to patch a multimillion-dollar hole in its current budget.

Failure to do so would plunge the town into much deeper financial distress than it is already in. I’m sorry to say it, but your taxes are going to increase. There will be a mayor’s race. In all likelihood, it will be contentious, messy, and possibly nasty.

I hope not the latter. The town will continue its charter revision and bring it to a referendum, which could have major consequences for the future of Hamden

government. Two elementary schools may close. The school district will start to think about redistricting. A new soup kitchen may open in the southern end of town, and the Keefe Center will continue to work wonders with a miniscule budget and a handful of incredible staff. The list goes on.

It’s a great time to be a journalist in Hamden, and it’s harder to leave the Independent now than it ever would have been before. Hamden is reckoning with its identity and with its shifting politics, and that will only continue.

A note to my sources: thank you for trusting me, and thank you for letting me know when I messed up.

In the life of a town, every plot point could be the beginning, middle, or end of a narrative. The stories I followed will spawn others. Some will be happy. Others will not. I only hope that people will be watching.

So, when Mick McGarry, wearing his late-night haggard smile, asks the next person if they really have nothing better to do with their evenings than sit in the council chamber, they will smile back and reply: “No, no, Mick, this is exactly where I want to be.” Despite the veil of sarcasm, they will mean every word.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

People Get Ready Looks To Year Two

by Jayla Anderson, The Arts paper, www.newhavenarts.org

People Get Ready Books started with community gathering at the forefront of its mission. A global pandemic pushed it to go online, find an environmentally friendly way to deliver books, and spread its footprint outside New Haven much sooner than it expected.

That’s how COVID-19 has affected the year-old Whalley Avenue book space, dedicated to books that spotlight social justice, representation, and both authors and readers of color. As it moves into its second year, co-owners Lauren Anderson and Delores Williams are redefining the space’s role in the community.

People Get Ready opened its doors on Indigenous Peoples Day in 2019 with the goal of creating a space where anyone could walk in, whether they purchased a book or not. The month before, Anderson introduced the bookspace at a New Haven Pride Month pop-up, selling books from a table on Center Street with her neighbor and fellow book nerd Honesty Robinson.

“We call it a book space to emphasize that you can come here even if you’re not going to buy something,” Anderson said.

“You can come to the community.”

The global pandemic has made her grateful for her partnership with Williams—and vice versa. The two first met years ago through their advocacy for education. A pandemic wasn’t in their original business plan, but COVID-19 proved that the women have a strong working relationship.

Before owning a business, Anderson worked in education for over a decade.

Earlier this year, she left her job to run People Get Ready full time. She described the transition as an adjustment, but one she doesn’t regret.

“It was really hard to leave a career,” she said. “It took me a long time to do it because it felt like a big change, and it was.

It has been wonderful.”

Prior to opening People Get Ready with Anderson, Williams was a real estate agent in New York; she’s also a mom and a champion of education. She said working in real estate allowed her to invest in her community, but it was hard primarily because of racism that she saw and experienced herself.

“It was really hard to avoid and it is really soul-crushing when you experience it,” she said. “It just feels really good to me, in this capacity, to work cross-culturally with someone who I’ve grown a friendship with.”

Since the pandemic began, she has been hosting Zoom calls for women of color to create a “safe space” for fellow moms.

Both she and Anderson see that as part of People Get Ready’s community building work. Running the book space is laborintensive and not something that can be done as a 50-50 split.

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“Delores and I share labor on some things, but then take the lead on others,” Anderson said. “Like the safe space conversations with moms of color. That’s Delores, and not so much me. And that makes sense.”

“I’m not a woman of color or a mother,” she continued. “That’s not my wheelhouse, but we collaborate and support each other on things like that.”

“But on the other hand, people might come to Lauren more for expertise on teaching,” Williams added.

Both Williams and Anderson called books a way of healing and a therapeutic source of information. Following the murder of George Floyd and calls to racial justice this spring and summer, the two saw an increase in sales of titles such as Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility and Ibram X. Kendi’s How To Be An AntiRacist. That’s just scratching the bookshop’s surface: People Get Ready’s texts span from children’s books on Shirley Chisholm to hard-to-find books of poetry

by Black and Indigenous authors and everything in between.

Earlier this year, the two also piloted a near-daily reading program via Facebook live to give families at least one readaloud story per day during COVID-19 shutdowns. In addition to shipping books around the state and the country, they deliver in New Haven by bike to make their reads as accessible as possible.

“We both believe in books for different reasons, and we use them in our lives for different reasons,” Williams said.

“We both feel like they’re something for people to have. And that should reflect the demographic within that community.”

The two said they are relieved to have each other in a community with such diversity. They said working together is easy because they have such an honest, supportive relationship. Their partnership has allowed them to collaborate with other lovers of books and community, like Elm City Lit Fest creator IfeMichelle Gardin.

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In the lead up to her creation of the festival, which celebrates Black artists and launched this year, Gardin created a book club that primarily serves the Whalley Avenue-Edgewood-Beaver Hills (WEB) section of the city. After it started in a police substation, it migrated to the bookspace. Anderson, who is a member of the book club, said she felt People Get Ready was the perfect place to hold meetings.

COVID has forced the book club to meet virtually, but members still get their books through the partnership with the store.

Gardin said that it has been a pleasure to work beside Anderson and Williams.

“I have been doing a virtual book club and it’s been working,” Gardin said. “Actually, COVID has been a plus because I have been able to reach a broader audience.”

During COVID-19, Wiliams and Anderson have also focused on the health and safety of the community. While state guidelines would allow the Whalley Avenue storefront to reopen with limited capacity, they have kept the physical location closed. They currently offer curbside pickup and delivery options.

“We’re trying to make decisions not based upon our own profit, but making decisions based on safety,” Williams said.

“We don’t want to promote anything and then pull it back,” Anderson added. “I think our hope is that we could have appointment-based browsing. People could sign up to come for half an hour chunks to be in the store. We would love it if it felt safe to do that around say December, but we’re not sure.”

This piece comes to the Arts Paper through the Fall 2020 cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI), a program of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. This year, YAJI has gone virtual.

Read more about the program here or by checking out the “YAJI” tag.

Contributing Writers David Asbery / Tanisha Asbery Jerry Craft / Cartoons / Barbara Fair Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner / Smita Shrestha William Spivey / Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

Contributors At-Large Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com

Paul Bass www.newhavenindependent.org

Memberships National Association of Black Journalist National Newspapers Publishers Association Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Greater New Haven Business & Professional Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. The Inner-City Newspaper is published weekly

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

After a successful combo Food and Toy drive last week, the Hamden CERT team will again be collecting food donations at the weekly Saturday Toy Drive at Hamden Middle School for the next three Saturdays from 10am-2pm (along with Hamden Police and Hamden volunteer ďŹ reďŹ ghters). All food and toy donations from Hamden residents go right back into Hamden communities through the Keefe Center Pantry. Come out with a bag of non-perishable items and a new, unwrapped toy and help make this holiday season merry and bright for our own community members.

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Sandra's Spices Up Thanksgiving THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

by Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper www.newhavenarts.org

Hill restauranteur Sandra Harris-Pittman is selling a new spice mix this holiday season. By now, she knows the ingredients by heart.

A dash of paprika, sweet and a little hot to the tastebuds as soon as it hits. A sprinkle of sea salt and pinch of garlic.

The smell of side dishes, family dinners, Saturday cooking experiments and over three decades of New Haven history.

That’s the recipe for Harris-Pittman’s Mac N’ Cheese seasoning, the first spice mix to come out of her kitchen and into homes as she cooks into the holiday season. Harris-Pittman and her husband Miguel Pittman run Sandra’s Next Generation on Congress Avenue in the city’s Hill neighborhood. This year, the restaurant turned 31 in the midst of a pandemic.

“I just felt that the timing was right,” she said in a phone call Friday. “I wanted to do the idea years ago. The timeliness fits right now. Even though I’m busy, even though I’m teaching cooking classes, people with this pandemic need something.”

For Harris-Pittman, the blend has been decades in the making. The chef grew up as one of six kids in the city’s Dwight neighborhood, where Edgewood Avenue meets the far edge of downtown.

Perched at the front of the Dwight Gardens Co-Op, the Harris home was always filled with the sound of laughter and smell of warm food. At the center of it all was her mom, Mary Harris. Years later, Harris-Pittman’s brother and sister-in-law opened a Whalley Avenue soul food restaurant Mama Mary’s in her honor.

Harris moved to New Haven from Selma, Ala. in 1958. She took the cuisine with her: macaroni and cheese, black eyed peas, collard greens and fried chicken that became legendary. Once a week, residents of the building’s 67 units would flock to her apartment for a hot meal and a greeting from Mary Harris. By the time

she was eight, Harris-Pittman had started to absorb that culinary alchemy by simply watching her mother in the kitchen.

It started with mac and cheese. On Saturdays, she studied her mother’s movements as she heated the cream and mixed in cheese. She watched for spices and scrutinized amounts. She experimented, trying to get a recipe that conjured family dinners at her mother’s table. As a teenager, she started cooking and selling $5 dinners, sometimes making up to $400 a week.

“I think that what makes a dish special is the love and passion that she has for cooking,” she said. “I really do. You want to make it where it reminds people of their mother or their grandmother. for that split second, it reminds them of their loved one.”

She met Miguel—her voice still turns to sweet tea when she refers to him as “the love of my life”—when she was 19. In 1989, the two started their restaurant on Congress Avenue, where it now sits between a foster care agency, a small market and a squat New Haven Police Department substation. She watched as news of her soul food spread across the city and business boomed. She said the spices are only part of her secret: her love of the food is another.

“It was the lion’s den,” she said. “The odds were against me in 1989. But I had faith, and I knew God was with me.”

Three decades and four children later, food has remained very much a family affair. Her mom, who is now 81, still makes the sweet potato pies for the restaurant (together, she and Harris-Pittman have

turned out dozens for Thanksgiving).

Her daughters Shante and Shar’wyn run catering and baking at the restaurant. Her brother Robert and sister-in-law Tanya run Mama Mary’s Soul Food on Whalley Avenue, where they’ve been for the last 12 years.

For years, she said, she has wanted to sell a spice blend to make customers feel like culinary family. But the timing never felt right: she was always whipping up recipes in the kitchen or doting on her family outside of it. When COVID-19 hit, the restaurant did a hard pivot to takeout and streamlined its online options with third-party delivery services. HarrisPittman also started teaching weekly cooking classes and running social media campaigns. And yet, the idea wouldn’t go

away.

“I’m always mixing in the kitchen,” she said. “That’s my comfort. That’s my peace—to put different blends, different herbs together. Nine times out of ten, I get it right the first time. I want everybody to have that experience.”

She started small, assembling just 50 containers. After announcing a limited run on social media, she sold out in under a week. Orders came from not just New Haven but around the state and the country. She plans to roll out another blend in December, this time for an all-purpose Caribbean-style seasoning.

The experience has left her feeling especially thankful “for the small things,” she said. She savors sunsets more often. She delights in seeing her four grandchildren.

She catches up with friends on the phone and thinks about when they will be able to gather in person again. She marvels at how the restaurant has been able to stay afloat. To give back to the community on Thanksgiving day, she and Miguel plan to serve free, warm home cooked meals from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to anyone who stops by the shop.

And, she added, she’s grateful for the symphony of flavors in her life. This year, Harris-Pittman plans host a much smaller Thanksgiving dinner than usual, complete with fried turkey, a honey baked ham, mac and cheese (“of course,” she laughed), green beans, pineapple coconut cake, and sweet potato pie.

She’ll take the evening off. Then she’ll get back in the kitchen and start working on the next seasoning.

“I’m really excited about it,” she said.

“People are coming in, getting the seasoning, and they are really really happy. They get a taste of me in their homes. I can give out my ingredients, but they need to know how much to put in—that’s the secret. Everything I want to do is happening all at one time. I’m pumped up and so excited about what’s taking place.”

Election Turnout Breaks Records As Results Are Certified

by Hugh McQuaid Ct. News Junkie

HARTFORD, CT—Connecticut officials certified the state’s election results Wednesday, validating record-breaking turnout—nearly 80% of registered voters—during a health crisis that could have easily disenfranchised residents.

In a Wednesday press release, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, Treasurer Shawn Wooden and Comptroller Kevin Lembo certified the results of the Nov. 3 election. More than 1.86 million Connecticut voters cast ballots this year. That’s 79.7% of the state’s 2.33 million registered voters and a larger percentage than

2004, the last record-breaking year, when 78.65% of registered voters turned out.

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Gabe Rosenberg, Merrill’s communication director, said this year’s turnout was the highest percentage of registered voters since 1992 when 83.5% of 1.95 million registered voters turned out for the election.

A temporary executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont enabled more than 650,000 voters to cast absentee ballots this year as public health guidelines encouraged residents to observe gathering limitations and social distancing policies aimed at reduc-

ing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Ahead of Election Day, many were concerned that the historic numbers of absentee ballots and an especially contentious presidential race would result in confusion or unrest at the polls. For the most part those fears did not materialize. In a statement, Merrill, the state’s top election official, praised the “smooth, trouble-free election” in Connecticut.

“Despite a once-in-a-century pandemic and a major change to Connecticut’s election administration to allow every voter to vote by absentee ballot if they chose, Connecticut’s local election officials, poll workers, and volunteers came together to

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conduct an election with more votes cast than any election in Connecticut’s history,” Merrill said.

During a Wednesday press conference, Lamont said he believed Connecticut residents appreciated the ability to vote by absentee ballot during the pandemic.

“I think it kept our long lines down to some degree on what would have been a very, very busy Election Day. I think we ought to learn some lessons about that going forward,” he said.

Allowing no-excuse absentee ballot voting in future elections would require amending the Connecticut constitution.

Merrill has signaled she will try to begin

that process during next year’s legislative session.

Among the results certified: the reelection of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, a 97-54 Democratic majority in the state House of Representatives, and a 24-12 Democratic majority in the state Senate.

Officials also certified that Connecticut voters picked Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the presidential election. State electors will cast their votes with the rest of the Electoral College on Dec. 14.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

CCM to Cap Annual Convention With Panel of National Experts On Race Relations Thursday

by CTNewsJunkie

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities will close out its annual convention Thursday with a panel of high-profile experts discussing race relations and racial equity.

The panel, entitled “Achieving Racial Equity: National Experts Discuss Local Opportunities,” will take place Thursday, Dec. 3, 2-4 p.m. via Zoom and Facebook Live.

The panel will be composed of bestselling author Wes Moore; Betsy Hodges, humanitarian and former Mayor of Minneapolis; author/activist Tim Wise; and activist Bree Newsome Bass, with Clarence Anthony, Executive Director of the National League of Cities, serving as moderator.

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The talk is the culmination of this year’s series of talks called CCM CARES that started in mid-October with four regional discussions across Connecticut on the “critical and long-simmering issue of race equity.”

Over 30 community and municipal leaders from four regions of the state gathered online to discuss race-equity issues to related to the presidential and General Assembly elections.

“With 2021 on the horizon, America continues to be confronted by the ugly truth that systemic racism persists throughout our society,” said Joe DeLong, CCM Executive Director and CEO. “The effects of systemic racism have consequences in

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Moderator Clarence Anthony

housing, education, health, public safety, wealth, and nearly every other part of daily life – in fact, race is still the number one predictor of success and well-being in our country. We look forward to continuing to work with every stakeholder and the public on race equity in Connecticut.”

“These forums mark the beginning – not the end – of CCM’s efforts in this critical arena,” noted DeLong.

Thursday’s event is co-sponsored by the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency (CIRMA).

Thursday’s panelists are: • Wes Moore, a decorated US Army Veteran, is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Other Wes Moore,” a Rhodes Scholar, and a fellow to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. He is now the CEO of Robin Hood, one of the

largest anti-poverty organizations in the nation. Moore is also a contributor to various publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The New York Times, and many others. He has also made appearances on Face the Nation, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and Real Time with Bill Maher.

• Betsy Hodges, in addition to being the former mayor of Minneapolis, was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics and Atlantic fellow on Race Equity. She also wrote a widely read op-ed, “As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change,” for The New York Times this summer.

Hodges met with Pope Francis in 2015 to discuss climate change and human trafficking. She was one of eight mayors and leaders from cities from around the world to be invited for the discussion.

• Tim Wise is one of America’s best known anti-racist speakers and authors.

He was named one of Utne Reader’s magazines “25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.” One of his nine books is “White Like Me,” which tackles his experiences with white privilege and was made into a feature-length documentary. He has trained teachers, corporate employees, non-profit organizations, and law enforcement officers in methods for addressing and dismantling racism in their institutions.

• Bree Newsome Bass, is an American activist who drew national attention when she removed the confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol building af-

Clockwise from top left: Wes Moore, Betsy Hodges, Tim Wise, and Bree Newsome Bass

ter the 9 Black parishioners were killed at the AME Zion Church. In recognition of her Civil Rights work she was named to the Root 100 and the Ebony 100, and also won the NAACP Image Award – Chairman’s Award given to individuals who demonstrate exemplary public service and use their platforms as agents of change.

• Moderator Clarence Anthony is CEO and Executive Director of the National League of Cities (NLC). Under his leadership, NLC has advanced policies that expand local control and provide direct funding for local programs related to public safety, infrastructure, transportation, and sustainability.

Lamont Sets $10K Fine For Businesses That Violate COVID Rules the holiday season will likely drive more traffic to gatherings and commercial establishments and increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission in crowds. That’s why he’s using his authority to limit the size of the gatherings and increase fines.

“Particularly as we approach Black Friday and the start of the holiday shopping season, we want to stress the importance of following public health protocols to protect both customers and workers,” Lamont said. “Working together, we can get the spread of COVID-19 under control while mitigating the impact that it is having on our economy.”

Fines for violations can be issued by local health directors or municipal designees, with the support of law enforcement. Other fines that remain in effect for violations of the state’s COVID-19 rules include $500 for organizing an event over capacity limits, $250 for attending events over capacity limits, $100 for failure to wear a face mask or covering when in public, and up to $500 for violations of the state’s travel advisory.

Incoming House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said the $10,000 fine is “a punch in the gut to the state’s business community.”

by Christine Stuart Ct. News Junkie

HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont is increasing the amount businesses can be fined for violating COVID-19 rules, including capacity limits, from $500 to $10,000.

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The 82nd executive order will go into effect at midnight Thursday.

“The sector rules and capacity limits we’ve implemented are intended to mitigate the spread of this disease to the greatest extent possible,” Lamont said. “While the overwhelming majority of businesses in Connecticut have shown an incredible amount of leadership and have been fantastic partners in this front, we have seen a small number of businesses in flagrant violation of these public health rules, and that’s all you need to cause a superspreading event that leads to a large number of cases and hospitalizations.”

Lamont spent some of his press briefing Monday warning people that the limit for Thanksgiving gatherings in private homes is 10.

Lamont said he worries that increases in social and commercial activity during

CTNEWSJUNKIE FILE PHOTO

Gov. Ned Lamont

8

“Scaring employers into compliance with the threat of a big fine isn’t what’s needed, and this path will only erode what little confidence they have in state government’s ability to help them through a period of recovery,” Candelora said.

“What’s been missing all along is clarity from the governor, and a concrete plan to perform some actual enforcement. This decision fails to address those critical issues and, unfortunately, will leave many business owners feeling more vulnerable than ever.”

Candelora owns Taconic Wire, a stitching wire manufacturing business and he operates the Connecticut Sportsplex.

On Monday Lamont suspended all club sports and recreational leagues, which forced Candelora to essentially cancel all events at the Connecticut Sportsplex with little warning.

“All leagues, rentals and reservations have been paused until further notice,” a message on its website states. That’s even though an engineering report on the indoor air quality of the air supported structure found that they have a “minimum of 50 times more outside fresh air,” than a classroom.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

Connecticut’s Halfhearted Battle: Response To Lead Poisoning Epidemic Lacks Urgency

by Jenifer Frank

New Haven I ndependent

It wasn’t until Bridgeport lead inspector Charles Tate stepped outside the house on Wood Avenue that he saw, immediately, where 2-year-old Rocio Valladares was being poisoned.

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The paint around a window at the back of the house was deteriorating. Beneath the window was Rocio’s favorite play area, a sloping basement door that was the perfect ramp for an energetic toddler. Next to the basement door was a patch of dirt where she loved to scratch with sticks.

White chips of paint were visible in the dirt.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says 5 micrograms or higher of lead per deciliter of blood constitutes lead poisoning.

Rocio’s mother, Fanny Quille, said her daughter’s blood tests show a lead count of over 70.

Lead poisoning, a major systemic crisis, damages the health and development of hundreds of thousands of children across the U.S. every year, including thousands in Connecticut.

Although Connecticut has worked hard in its fight against COVID-19, its efforts against the much older plague of lead poisoning have been halfhearted.

“Unfortunately, Americans, in typical style, tend to react to very dramatic things, but they don’t tend to react to the chronic stories,” said Yale pediatrician Carl R. Baum, M.D., director of Yale’s Lead Poisoning And Regional Treatment Center.

“For the most part, lead is an ongoing problem, and some of the lead levels that were seen in [the Flint water crisis of 2014] are nothing compared to what we see in New Haven,” Baum said.

He referred to one young patient the Yale clinic has been treating for over a year whose peak lead level was 118 micrograms. “And we still haven’t gotten it down to an acceptable level.”

The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) has reported 14,000 cases of lead-poisoned children under 6 since 2012.

At least 2,000 children were poisoned every year from 2012 through 2016, DPH numbers show, with fewer cases reported in 2017 (1,665) and 2018 (1,332).

However, testing deficiencies and gaps in reporting by municipalities and medical providers mean the true number of lead-poisoned children in Connecticut is unknowable and almost certainly higher than DPH’s figures.

Then there’s the COVID-19 factor. Connecticut law requires children to be tested for lead twice before 3 years old. But Kaiser Health News recently reported “massive” reductions in lead testing in many parts of the country, including the Northeast. Lead blood tests are usually given at children’s 1- and 2-year-old checkups.

Not only did the virus force many fami-

lies to postpone or skip those visits, but people have also spent more time indoors, where children are most likely to be exposed to degrading leaded paint and lead dust.

One of the most poignant aspects of this crisis is that children are often poisoned by their own homes. The interior and exterior walls of hundreds of thousands of homes have undercoats of leaded paint, which wasn’t banned until 1978. As paint degrades, it chips and creates invisible leaded dust that can be inhaled or ingested by babies and toddlers as they become more active.

Connecticut children are also victims of the state’s weak lead inspection statutes, which reflects an extraordinary lack of urgency and concern for a problem that can cause permanent cognitive damage and neurological issues.

In 2012, in a major shift, the CDC stopped advising investigations into sources of poisoning based on a child’s lead level. Instead, the agency said, preventing any exposure to lead should be the priority because “No safe blood lead level in children has been identified.” It did, however, recommend case management if a child’s lead level was 5 micrograms or higher.

In response, the other New England states toughened their laws and their actions.

In Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island, a 5-microgram lead test result now triggers an active investigation into how and where a child is being exposed. New Hampshire’s 7.5-microgram trigger is slated to drop to 5 in July, while Massachusetts requires investigation at 10 micrograms.

In an emailed statement, Jim Vannoy, an environmental health section chief at DPH, pointed out that Connecticut, in fact, adopted the CDC’s more stringent 5-microgram standard for action in leadpoisoning cases.

But state law doesn’t require active inquiry until a child’s lead blood count is at least three times — 15 micrograms in two tests given three months apart — or four times that level — 20 micrograms in a single test.

If a child shows 5 to 14 micrograms of the neurotoxin in a blood test, the state only requires a local health official to call the family or send them educational material about the dangers of lead.

Racial Inequities Just as COVID-19 has spotlighted racial inequities in housing and health care nationwide, the lack of a concerted campaign against lead poisoning has racial and racist undertones.

Black children are poisoned at more than twice the rate of white children, and Hispanic children at 1½ times the rate, in part because Black and Hispanic families are more likely to live in older, substandard housing.

Despite Connecticut’s mandatory screening laws, and despite DPH efforts to reach

MELANIE STENGEL PHOTO

Fanny Quille with her children Rocio Valladares, 2; Beverly Valladares,7; Angel Valladares, 14; and Anthony Valladares, 7 months, in their Wood Avenue apartment in Bridgeport. Their apartment was inspected after Rocio’s 2-year-old checkup, when she was found to have high levels of lead in her blood. Lead was found in the peeling paint at the exterior of the house, which was built in 1911.

MELANIE STENGEL PHOTO

Investigator Charles Tate prepares to scan a doorway to a second-floor porch on Wood Avenue. The ceiling and railings are also peeling. Tate found high levels of lead in the paint.

Black and Hispanic families, just 13% of all children tested in 2017 were Black, its latest available breakdown of race and ethnicity numbers show. Twenty-six percent were Hispanic, and 61% were white.

Jennifer Haile, M.D., pediatrician at the Hartford Regional Lead Clinic, run by Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, said, “Just because we have [state] screening mandates doesn’t mean the pediatricians are actually doing it. The numbers are getting better, but they’re not great.”

David Rosner, professor at Columbia University and coauthor of “Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of American Children,” said, “Lead is a major indicator of a much larger problem we have in our culture and the racism that pervades it.”

He added in an email, “Do you think we’d allow this outrage to continue if it were suburban white children who were

9

its primary victims?”

— David Rosner

An Insidious Enemy For most of the 20th century, lead was added to paint to increase water-resistance and durability.

When ingested, lead’s damage can be irreversible. It’s especially harmful to babies and young children, who are at their peak period of brain development.

“Even low-level lead exposure can negatively impact a wide range of cognitive functions, such as attention, language, memory, cognitive flexibility, and visualmotor integration,” says a study on the website of the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.

In June, social scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio published the results of their 20-year study into the “downstream” effects of lead exposure.

After following more than 10,000 Cleve-

land children from birth through early adulthood, the scientists concluded, “[C] hildren with elevated lead levels in early childhood have significantly worse outcomes on markers of school success, and higher rates of adverse events in adolescence and early adulthood, compared to their non-exposed peers.”

Exposed babies and toddlers are lead sponges.

“Kids who are younger absorb lead at [many] times the rate adults will absorb it,” said Dr. Hilda Slivak, founder and former director of the Hartford Regional Lead Clinic.

They’re closer to the ground, and their breathing rates are higher than that of adults. Because they learn by crawling, touching and tasting, a floor with leaded paint chips and leaded dust is hazardous terrain.

One City Does It Right Residents in poorer cities are particularly at risk. Indeed, New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford consistently have some of the state’s highest numbers of reported cases.

Hartford’s streets are lined with older, poorly maintained homes, quintessential sources of lead poisoning. From 2012 through 2018, the DPH reported nearly 1,150 lead-poisoned children in the Capital City.

Yet because investigations are required only when children’s lead blood levels hit 15 or 20 micrograms, Hartford’s lead program looked into less than 12% of those cases, its own numbers show. In 2018, when DPH reported 109 children with lead poisoning, the program conducted 7 investigations.

New Haven invariably has the highest number of cases, with 2,266 children reported lead-poisoned from 2012 through 2018.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

COVID Testing Priorities Get Tested

by Lisa Backus

New Haven I ndependent

Jeffrey Kobylarz lost his 89-year-old father Henry, affectionately known as “Hank,” to COVID-19 on Nov. 17.

Just days later, the Portland resident and his family spent a tense 48 hours waiting for COVID-19 test results for his 28-yearold son, Andrew, who has cystic fibrosis.

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Andrew Kobylarz was brought to Middlesex Hospital Thursday with symptoms two days after his grandfather had passed away. But he didn’t find out conclusively that he was negative until Saturday afternoon, his father said.

“There’s no priority for testing healthcare workers, first responders and hospital patients,” said Jeffrey Kobylarz, a former firefighter. “The system is getting clogged with people who are wondering if it will be okay to go to so-and-so’s house for Thanksgiving. There should be some type of prioritization.”

As the number of tests and positive COVID-19 cases escalates in Connecticut, there is no statewide guidance on how quickly hospital patients, particularly those who are high-risk, healthcare workers and first responders should get their results back, officials confirmed.

Hartford HealthCare, which oversees thousands of employees and patients at hospitals and facilities throughout the state, won’t be unveiling a plan to get

symptomatic staff tested and the results back as quickly as possible until this week.

One employee said she called out sick on Nov. 16 because she felt like she had a cold. By Tuesday morning, her symptoms had worsened so she called the Hartford HealthCare hotline to line up testing but never received a call back.

“By 7 a.m. the next morning I was calling them again,” said the woman, who declined to be identified out of concerns for her job. “They said they had been busy but would call back.”

Three hours later, she was notified where to go for a test, she said. She then waited in line for 3 hours and 45 minutes to have the sample collected. After another four days, the employee was still waiting for her test results, she said.

“There needs to be separate testing for high-exposure people,” she said.

Union members working at Backus Hospital in Norwich usually get their tests back in 24 to 48 hours, said Sherri Dayton, president of the Backus Federation of Nurses, Local 5149.

“That is something we fought for,” Dayton said of access to testing with quick turnaround times. Other locations within Hartford HealthCare such as Hartford Hospital are not unionized and nurses don’t have the same protections, she said.

Union members also get pandemic pay while waiting for test results, whether or not they test positive, Dayton said. The same is not true for non-union members

ZSTOCK VIA SHUTTERSTOCK

who must use their own vacation or sick time unless they test positive, she added.

Officials including Gov. Ned Lamont’s chief operating officer, Josh Geballe, declined to comment on whether the state had issued guidelines to hospitals on prioritizing testing and test results for patients and employees.

But Geballe said Connecticut is consistently in the top 10 states per capita in

testing and the high volume is leading to some lag time in getting results back.

“The turnaround time for lab results continues to be solid overall, with the statewide median at 48 hours and more than 75 percent of tests coming back in less than three days. This is up slightly in the last week but the main challenge we are experiencing is at point of sample collection,” Geballe said.

The state is averaging more than 30,000 tests per day in the past few weeks, Geballe said.

Middlesex Health, which runs Middlesex Hospital, is seeing test results for patients and those who are scheduled for surgery come back in two, or more often, three days, said Carol Beatman, laboraCon’t on page 13

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

Amid a Pandemic and Revitalization Attempts, a New Haven Institution Shutters OP-ED |

by Jonathan L. Wharton A couple of weeks ago, the family owners of Ferraro’s Market announced they are closing their New Haven Grand Avenue flagship store on New Year’s Eve. I imagine few, especially outside the New Haven area, know the Italian-American grocery store that has been around for decades. But Ferraro’s has been a mainstay for generations in an ever-changing city.

For those who do not understand how local and significant Ferraro’s is to the New Haven community, it’s equivalent to my West Hartford hometown’s Crown Market, where shoppers find myriad Kosher foods especially after their recent renovation. I grew up near Crown and my father shopped there frequently for fresh breads, pickles, and deli meats. When I first moved to New Haven, I was surprised by the variety of Italian items and fresh cut meats at Ferraro’s. It was as local as one could get and many Wooster Square, Fair Haven, and downtown residents shopped there.

Considering New Haven’s few grocery store choices, having a specialty store like Ferraro’s is a rarity in a Connecticut city.

Suburbanites often take for granted something as simple as grocery shopping since few stores are in urban areas. Technically, Connecticut’s cities and rural areas have been classified as “food deserts” where grocery stores and fresh produce options are over a mile away from shoppers’ residences. This has been a tri-state area policy concern for generations, but some cities have been doing a better job at addressing food deserts than others.

I actually wrote about food deserts in my first book when I lived in Newark. ThenMayor Cory Booker advocated for a downtown grocery store. Living in downtown Newark, I often had to get rides to another town in a nearby county for grocery shopping. Several years later, a Whole Foods was built, partly because of city and state policy incentives and a newly constructed Prudential Insurance tower across the street.

Similarly, some Connecticut cities have tried to lure supermarkets to their downtowns. Stamford tried with Fairway Market, but they closed recently. And Hartford

has been struggling for years to attract a grocery store near Dunkin Donuts stadium, which was part of the original Downtown North plans.

Yet New Haven already had a longstanding grocery store near downtown and within walking distance of two significant neighborhoods. As a former City Plan commissioner, I proudly supported the Commercial Gateway District rezoning changes so more development could revitalize blocks surrounding Ferraro’s. Sadly, the measure failed to pass the Board of Alders and Grand Avenue remains underutilized. Even worse, crime has increased and suburban shoppers are not frequenting the store as often. Add the pandemic, and Ferraro’s owners’ had few options.

Interestingly, North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda wanted a Ferraro’s Market in his town. After all, nearby Madison has a store location on Route 1. I know Freda’s passion for the shopping experience as we bumped into each other at Milford’s Whole Foods last year and we spoke for nearly a half-hour about grocery shopping. Anyone who knows Freda recognizes that his town’s commercial development incentives have led to significant growth, especially with a proposed train station. The timing seems to be ripe then for Ferraro’s owners to relocate to the Universal Drive shopping district located conveniently off I-91.

Ferraro’s leaving for the suburbs is an unfortunate loss for New Haven. But it is also a reminder for city and Connecticut officials that food deserts are an ongoing issue.

Unfortunately, I am not expecting New Haven to reconsider commercial corridor zoning along Grand Street anytime soon, as it was politicized as a gentrification initiative.

But I hope officials would find pathways to have a grocery store on Grand Avenue including the possibility of a Meat King Market to replace Ferraro’s.

More importantly, I would hope that state officials recognize the real need to address food deserts in communities like Wooster Square and downtown Hartford.

Jonathan L. Wharton, Ph.D. is associate professor of political science and urban affairs and the School of Graduate and Professional Studies Interim Associate Dean at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. Wharton is a former chairman of the New Haven Republican Town Committee and Connecticut Republican State Central Committee member.

The views, opinions, positions, or strategies expressed by the author are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or positions of CTNewsJunkie.com.

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Victoria Ferraro with staffer Aniello Furino outside the market on Nov. 16

The Bonds may be offered for sale only by means of an Official Statement of the University of Connecticut, which may be obtained as stated in this announcement. In no event shall there be an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Bonds, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities law of such jurisdiction. The Bonds are general obligations of the University of Connecticut and are payable only as and from the sources described in the Official Statement.

11

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

COVID-19 Spikes In Prisons As Monitors’ Report Lags

by Lisa Backus

Ct. News Junkie

The monitors tasked by a federal judge with reviewing how the state Department of Correction is dealing with COVID-19 have yet to issue their first report as the number of cases at the prisons jumped sixfold in the span of a week.

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As of Monday, there were 98 symptomatic inmates and 198 asymptomatic inmates system-wide, according to the DOC. Just a week ago, there were 44 asymptomatic inmates when the agency touted its low positivity rate based on the third round of mass testing completed Nov. 13.

The formation of a panel to monitor compliance was one of several stipulations agreed upon to settle a federal lawsuit brought by inmates and the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut against former DOC Commissioner Rollin Cook over the handling of COVID-19 in the prisons.

Under the terms of the settlement, the DOC is required to identify medically fragile inmates for release, provide more soap and cleaning supplies, and find ways to socially distance inmates to prevent the spread of the disease which has killed 5,020 state residents since March.

As part of the settlement approved by a federal judge in July, a five-person panel is required to perform site visits to determine if the DOC is meeting measures to keep inmates safe from COVID-19 and to issue at least three monthly reports. The site visits to four prisons were conducted on Oct. 30 and Nov. 13, the DOC said.

The panel is expected to release its first report later this week, DOC officials said.

The CT ACLU sent the attorney general’s office a complaint letter in late October alleging that the DOC is violating several

CTNEWSJUNKIE FILE PHOTO

terms of the settlement by not regularly providing soap to inmates and by inconsistent cleaning measures at several prisons. The letter was forwarded to the panel, said Attorney General William Tong’s office, which is representing Cook and the state in the lawsuit.

“The panel has not completed its first report,” according to Elizabeth Benton, a spokesperson for Tong’s office. “We are not sure what the panel has done with the ACLU letter and will not know until they issue their report. The parties have not yet decided whether to extend the agreement.”

The settlement agreement is scheduled to end on Dec. 31.

When it is issued, the report is not likely to address the outbreak at Cheshire Correctional Institution, which occurred just days after the DOC released its most recent COVID-19 test results.

Family members of incarcerated men at the prison say their loved ones have been on modified lockdown for days and were only allowed to call home on Thanksgiving. As of Monday, the phone calls had restarted thanks to the efforts of the warden who listened to family concerns, said Deb Martinez, whose brother Isschar Howard is incarcerated at Cheshire.

But Martinez said that her brother, who is in the specialized T.R.U.E unit, hasn’t received his test results in eight days.

“There is no way to stop the spread if it’s taking seven to 10 days to get results,” Martinez said.

Cheshire had five inmates test positive during the most recent round of mass testing. As of Monday there were 91 asymptomatic and nine inmates with symptoms at the facility, the DOC said.

The outbreak at Cheshire “may” have been caused by increased testing, DOC

officials said. “We initiated a new protocol utilizing a rapid test during specific scenarios, like when an offender displays COVID-19 related symptoms,” said Andrius Banevicius, a spokesman for the agency. “This process allows us to quickly identify cases that would have otherwise been missed between rounds of mass testing.”

From March 15, when the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in the state’s prisons to June 26, 1,240 male inmates, or about 13% of the incarcerated population, tested positive. Sixty-two inmates were admitted to the hospital, 20 to intensive care, and seven inmates died, according to a letter in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, co-authored by Dr. Byron Kennedy, the DOC medical director.

The letter released the findings of a study on Connecticut’s prison system that found inmates in dormitory settings were more likely to contract COVID-19 than those in one or two-person cells.

The statistics the agency released last week indicated that 80 inmates had tested positive during mass testing of 8,647 inmates at 14 DOC facilities from Oct. 6 to Nov. 13 for a positivity rate of just under 1%.

DOC officials attributed the decrease in positive tests on Nov. 23 to staff “adhering” to protocols to mitigate the spread of the virus including mask-wearing by employees and inmates.

The rate jumped to 3% in less than a week.

Since the start of the pandemic in Connecticut, as of Friday, 1,749 inmates have tested positive with eight inmates dying from complications of COVID-19 including a 45-year-old man who passed away in mid-November while serving time for a burglary conviction.

State Sending $1.34M In Emergency Pandemic Relief To City Arts Nonprofits

by STAFF

New Haven I ndependent

Long Wharf Theatre is receiving $551,400 in emergency support from the state to help survive the Covid-19 pandemic.

That was one of grants to 154 Connecticut arts organizations announced Monday by Gov. Ned Lamont. The state Department of Economic Development is distributing the money through the Covid Relief Fund for the Arts. The total of $9 million goes to arts nonprofits that need to money to stay in business or rehire people; or “have had limited ability to reopen due to pandemic restrictions or have had to pivot their service delivery due to pandemic restrictions.”

Eleven New Haven-based groups in all are among the 154 recipients, in line to receive more than $1.34 million in total.

RABHYA MEHROTA PHOTO Local theater managers gather with U.S. Sen. Dick Blumenthal outside Long Wharf Theatre in September to issue joint pandemic-relief appeal.

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Con’t from page 10

It reported investigating 24% of properties linked to children with elevated lead levels in that period. New Haven’s lead program has been mired in controversy over the past few years, and has been sued for inadequate inspection and enforcement of lead laws. The longtime program director and the city’s public health director have resigned.

Typically, investigations and lead abatement actions in Connecticut are triggered only by reports of a poisoned child.

Except in Bridgeport.

“We don’t have to wait till kids hit 15 or 20 [micrograms],” said Audrey Gaines, who, as Bridgeport’s code enforcement officer, manages environmental health, housing code and lead prevention.

“If it’s not supposed to be there, why are you waiting for it to get higher before you help them?” Gaines said.

DPH reported 2,000 cases of lead-poisoned children in the state’s largest city from 2012 through 2018.

But after 2013, numbers dropped annually, and dramatically. In 2013, the city reported a high of 402 cases. In 2018, the city reported 137, a 66% decrease.

This accomplishment so surprised TsuiMin Hung, the longtime epidemiologist of the DPH lead program, that she called Gaines to ask what her secret was.

Rather than relying on a child’s blood test to point inspectors toward a contaminated home, inspectors focus on “what the actual problem is, and that is the housing stock,” Gaines said.

The city reported inspecting nearly 1,900 buildings from 2012 through 2018.

“If our housing code inspectors find something that is in violation, and if there are children in those houses, they report it to my lead inspectors,” Gaines said. “It’s not rocket science. It’s just simply working cohesively together.”

Gaines also uses Connecticut’s Uniform Relocation Assistance Act to move families when necessary.

“If … a landlord is not capable or not willing or cooperative enough to want to make the repairs in that unit, to make that unit lead-safe, then we start sending him to court,” she said. “And, according to that Relocation Assistance Act, that family can be moved.

“You’ve got to go beyond state [lead] law,” Gaines said. “It’s not going to create the culture to be progressive, to get what you want done.”

She said the city is working to enroll the owner of Rocio’s Wood Avenue home into a federal housing program that will cover the cost of lead abatement or removal. “Once the enrollment process is completed, all work will be completed within a week,” she said.

Angel Valladares, Rocio’s 14-year-old brother, says his sister, who will be 3 in February, “knows a few random words, but is not really speaking.”

Their mother worries, he said, because Rocio cries a lot. “She’s always crying,” Angel said.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

Con’t from page 10

COVID

tory director.

For all others, test results are coming back in four to five days, with most coming in closer to five days, Beatman said.

“I think it’s going to get worse,” she said.

All Middlesex tests go to Quest Laboratories for processing, she said. It’s the lab that determines that hospitalized patients and patients waiting for surgery are the top priorities, Beatman said.

“Quest is making those decisions,” Beatman said. “Those are the priorities along with nursing home patients which are also considered priority one.”

Employees of Middlesex Health are not prioritized or fast-tracked, she said. Early on, healthcare workers had been a priority three, she said. But that designation has been dropped, Beatman said.

“There aren’t enough resources to meet the needs,” she said. “We are seeing this across the country.”

Hartford HealthCare was not separating or prioritizing symptomatic employees because it wasn’t an issue, said Dr. Mitchell McClure, clinical executive leader for COVID testing for Hartford HealthCare.

“We haven’t needed a separate process until recently,” McClure said. “Right now we’re creating a separate workflow to create easier access for employees. We are caught in a huge demand for testing but there wasn’t any wait time up until this month.”

Hartford HealthCare has been conducting 3,000 to 5,000 tests a day at nine drive-through sites and at various mobile testing events at homeless shelters and in other underserved areas, McClure said.

Some of the tests are processed at the Hartford HealthCare lab while others are sent out.

McClure maintains that the vast majority of tests are returned in three days.

“What we see every time there is a spike in demand is that the turnaround times get longer,” he said. “But thus far they have been keeping up pretty well.”

Jeffrey Kobylarz was concerned by Saturday morning when his son’s test hadn’t come back yet. The funeral for his father was approaching on Monday. He didn’t know if he and his wife should get tested in advance of the funeral since he didn’t know whether his son was going to test positive. “How were we going to find out quickly?” he said.

Andrew was scared, he said. He had been on the Facebook call with the rest of the family to say goodbye to his grandfather, Jeffrey Kobylarz said. The hospital wasn’t allowing visitors, so Jeffrey hadn’t seen his son since Thursday when he dropped him off at the Emergency Department.

“There should be some type of prioritization,” Kobylarz said. “It should be a matter of importance.”

If Your Disinfectant Says this, Throw it Away

the Journal of Medical Virology, tested various household products to see if they could have any effect on “deactivating” the coronavirus, including a neti pot, peroxide sore-mouth cleansers, mouthwashes, and a 1% solution of baby shampoo.

While the neti pot and peroxide proved to be no match for COVID, the results showed that the baby shampoo solution— which is often used by head and neck doctors to rinse out sinuses—killed 99.9 percent of coronaviruses within two minutes of contact time, while mouthwash did the same in just 30 seconds.

In addition to the cleansers on the list we published during the summer of 2020, we also share these disinfectants below that have been proven to help: Isopropanol or Ethanol (Alcohol) are effective disinfectants when used at a high enough concentration. Most cleaning products that contain alcohol have at least a 70% solution, and hand sanitizers should contain at least 60% alcohol to be effective.

by Gemma Greene, BDO Staff Writer

While the coronavirus took most of us by storm during 2020, we have learned a number of things to slow it down and even stop it in its tracks: Of course, wearing a mask and practicing social and keeping your hands clean by using hand sanitizer or washing your hands.

While washing your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds can remove 97% of germs, household cleaners have proven better disinfectants for surfaces.

That’s because for soap to be effective, it has to be rubbed and worked into a lather, while disinfectants kill germs on contact, says Mary Schmidt, MD, an infectious disease specialist in Virginia.

Here’s a breakdown of the different active ingredients in household cleaners and what to look for to make sure you’re using an effective disinfectant.

According to Melissa Homer, chief cleaning officer at home-cleaning franchise MaidPro, sanitizing removes 99.9% of germs and disinfecting kills more than 99.999%, if done correctly.

An antibacterial product means it contains ingredients that can help kill or slow the growth of bacteria, though be careful of these, as antibacterial soap is no better than regular soap.

“If you want to kill COVID-19, you need a true disinfectant, not a sanitizer or something antibacterial,” Homer says.

So what makes a “true” disinfectant?

Well, thanks to the CDC, we know what’s not true.

Consumers are being warned that certain locally sold sanitizers and disinfectants may also not work against COVID as advertised. The main issue? How much residual protection these products claim

to offer.

The new warning comes from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF), which is responsible for the regulatory oversight of all disinfectants and sanitizers (other than hand sanitizer and wipes) in the state.

Since the start of the pandemic, with increasing numbers of people using these products, UDAF inspectors have been monitoring the claims made by brands about the efficacy of their products.

In a statement, the department detailed how they “have found numerous improperly labeled or repackaged sanitizers, the improper use of sanitizers, and a number of fraudulent claims.”

The department advises that in most cases, a product will require a “wet time”

of up to 10 minutes after application, and will not be effective if wiped away sooner. “The fact is, painfully few disinfectants will last beyond the time they’re wet,” UDAF Pesticide Program Manager Henry Nahalewski said in a statement.

The safest advice is to ignore any claims made on packaging or advertising and to instead check whether or not a product has been EPA-certified by looking for an EPA Registration Number.

This is usually found on the back of a product’s label close to the manufacturer’s address. You can then check that number against the EPA’s “List N,” which includes all products certified as being effective against coronavirus.

New research from the Penn State College of Medicine, which was published in

They become less effective over time because the alcohol will evaporate.

Quaternary Ammonium Compounds are widely used as surface disinfectants and can be found in many household cleaners including disinfectant wipes and sprays.

Research has shown quaternary ammonium compounds to effectively kill most bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Sodium Hypochlorite (Bleach). The active ingredient in bleach is sodium hypochlorite, which can kill viruses, bacteria, and fungi.

Bleach can be used on frequently touched surfaces like doorknobs and countertops but it must air dry for at least 10 minutes before wiping to effectively kill pathogens. Because bleach can irritate the skin, you should wear gloves when using it.

New York City’s First and Only Black Mayor Has Died at Age 93

By BlackNews.com

New York, NY — David Dinkins, who made history in 1990 when he became the first and to date, still the only Black mayor of New York City, has died at the age of 93.

The NYPD reportedly received a call from Dinkins’ residence in Manhattan about an unconscious person having difficulty breathing. Current NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed Dinkins’ death the next day.

“Chirlane and I are mourning a truly great man. David Dinkins simply set this city on a better path,” de Blasio took to Twitter, with their photo. “He was my mentor, he was my friend, and his steadfast commitment to fight for that ‘gorgeous mosaic’ inspires me every single day. We’ll keep up his fight.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday also shared a photo of himself with Dinkins on Twitter, writing “NY lost a remarkable civic leader.”

Dinkins started his political career in the New York State Assembly in 1966. For a decade, he was a city clerk before becoming President of the Borough of Manhattan in 1986. He was elected as a mayor in 1990.

During his tenure, murders and other crimes were high. Yet he was the one responsible for the major expansion in NYPD that is credited as one of the major factors in decreasing crime. He also improved Times Square and the housing in Harlem, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.

In 1993, Dinkins lost in the mayoral race to his political rival, Rudy Guiliani. He went on to teach at Columbia University and serve on the boards of civic and chari-

13

table organizations that mostly focus on children and race.

Dinkins died six weeks following the

death of his wife, Joyce Dinkins, at the age of 89. He is survived by their two children and two grandchildren.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

Health Insurance Enrollment Deadline Is Approaching

by Christine Stuart Ct. News Junkie

HARTFORD, CT — With the economy still struggling, the need to purchase health insurance is increasing as the Dec. 15 deadline to purchase a plan through Access Health CT looms.

Support authentic, locally owned and operated public service journalism!

An estimated 5,632 Connecticut residents, who previously haven’t purchased plans through the exchange, signed up for plans through the Access Health CT, which opened on Nov. 1. As of Nov. 16, more than 12,000 of the approximately 100,000 customers with plans in 2020 have renewed their plans for 2021.

That leaves more than 80,000 customers needing to renew or shop for a new plan

by Dec. 15.

Access Health CEO James Michel said they are seeing a modest increase in enrollment based on last year’s numbers at this time.

“This year is like any other year, so it’s hard to predict how things are going to end up,” Michel said Monday during a Zoom press conference with Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz.

He said some employers have furloughed

or laid off employees but have given them the option to stay on the employer-sponsored insurance plan through the end of the year.

“We have no idea what impact that’s going to have,” Michel said.

Losing a job would be considered a quali-

fying event that would allow a person to purchase health insurance on the exchange outside of the typical enrollment period.

Victoria Veltri, a member of the Access Health CT board and the head of the Office of Health Strategy, said Monday that “coverage is really critical to be able to ac-

cess care. It’s almost a prerequisite in most cases to getting good, solid health care.”

But for the past two years there has been no penalty for people who decide to go without health insurance.

In 2017, after attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which al-

lows states like Connecticut to set up their own insurance exchange, Congress reduced the individual mandate penalty to $0 effective in 2019 as part of tax reform legislation.

However, even though there is no penalty, Veltri said anyone can face an unexpected health care need even those who are young.

Veltri said the state is experiencing an “unprecedented crisis” and now is the time to take advantage of the enrollment period, which ends Dec. 15 for plans that will cover you in 2021.

“Having coverage offers people peace of mind so that you don’t face unnecessary medical bills when you do need access to health care,” Veltri said.

There are federal subsidies and about 75% of the people who enroll with one of two private carriers on the exchange will receive financial help. And the overall increase to plans is less than in previous years so 50% of returning customers are expected to have no increase or lower monthly net premium in 2021.

An estimated 55% of customers are purchasing silver plans.

There are several ways to purchase a plan.

Either through the website, the call center, a broker, or through an appointment at one of the six in-person enrollment locations.

Breaking News: Long-Acting Drug Protects Women From HIV-Infection

by Dr. Keith Crawford, BlackDoctor.org

Currently in the US, there are two drugs approved for prevention of HIV or PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis).

Truvada (a combination of tenofovir and FTC) is approved for women and men and Descovy (a combination of tenofovir alafenamide and FTC) is approved for men.

In most parts of the world, only Truvada is available which is a pill taken daily. It works very well in preventing HIV when it is taken as prescribed!

When people don’t take the drug properly, there may not be enough drug present in the blood to prevent an HIV infection.

Since many people don’t like taking medicines, especially when they don’t have a disease, it would be great if there was an option that didn’t require daily dosing.

In a post on June 1, 2020 in the HIV/AIDS section on this site, I reported the very encouraging results of a treatment, longacting cabotegravir injectable in preventing HIV in men (Long-acting medication for HIV Treatment and Prevention).

I mentioned at the time that there was a companion study that was ongoing at that time being conducted in women.

In the recent study, a double-placebo study design was used where women subjects received either the real Truvada pill and a “fake” injection or a real injection of cabotegravir and “fake” Truvada pills.

The study subjects did not know which treatment they were actually getting. 3,223 sexually-active women who were confirmed HIV-negative were recruited across

several eastern and southern African countries.

The pills were taken daily whereas the injection was given once every two months.

In the study, there were 38 women who got infected. First, the good news.

For the group taking the daily Truvada, there were 34 infections, or an incidence rate of 1.79%. If we compare this result to studies where there are some subjects that get no treatment, the infection rate averages 4.5 – 5.0% in that group.

This means that Truvada could potentially reduce the risk to HIV infection as much as 2.5 – 3.0 -fold, probably higher if the subjects were all taking the medicine. But there is even better news.

For the group who received an injection of cabotegravir every two months, there were four infections, or an incidence rate of 0.21%. This is superior protection with the cabotegravir injection compared to the daily-oral Truvada.

This study is extremely important for a number of reasons. Young African women are among the groups at highest risk for HIV infection in the world. In many settings, it is difficult for women to negotiate safe sex practices (i.e. use of condoms) with their male partners.

There are also unacceptable rates of sexual violence against women by their partners.

Further, in impoverished communities, sex work is used as a source of income.

Women struggling to make ends meet may have to choose between requiring their clients to use condoms or accepting clients who will pay many times more not to use

them.

So the need for PrEP is urgent, but the use of oral PrEP (i.e. Truvada), can be stigmatizing. People often do not understand that the person taking HIV meds doesn’t have HIV but is actually protecting themselves from getting it.

An injection with cabotegravir that is taken every two months appears to provide unparalleled protection and circumvent other problems common with PrEP. So now, we have shown that injectable cabotegravir can effectively protect against HIV infection in men and women with a

14

single injection every two months.

This medicine could be a real gamechanger in preventing HIV infection worldwide. Now, the biggest hurdle will be the cost of the medicine. While it is more effective than Truvada, it almost certainly will cost more.

Who will cover the costs in Africa, Asia and Latin American countries? Will insurances in the US cover the cost? Time will tell. Stay tuned!

Dr. Crawford received a B.S degree in Biology from Cornell University and a B.S. in Pharmacy from Temple University. He

completed a residency in clinical pharmacy at the National Institutes of Health. He earned a doctorate in Pharmacology from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, studying microbial biochemistry and genetics.

He is currently with the Division of AIDS at the National Institutes of Health. He has over 25 years of experience in HIV treatment and clinical research. This article reflects his personal views and opinions.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

How Entrepreneurs in the Black Community are Bridging the Gap with Fewer Economic Resources

By BlackNews.com

Nationwide — As more people in America move away from working for corporations and launching their own businesses, black Americans face some pretty unique challenges. Even as it can be more challenging to be an entrepreneur if you are black, every day, story upon story comes out detailing another example of how someone beat the odds. The path may not be a straight line, and there may be many potholes, but entrepreneurs in the black community are bridging that gap successfully.

Looking for Deals Everywhere A budding entrepreneur or business owner needs some very basic yet necessary equipment to be able to get started.

A desk, computer, cellphone, and access to the web are required for almost every company. Unfortunately, members of the African-American community are less likely to qualify for business loans, or have access to start-up funds. At GoodShop.com, discounts on computer desks and chairs, headsets and external hard drives, and more can be found and applied to your online orders. Getting a deal on internet, phone service, and even commercial rent are also methods that black

Americans use to get their ideas and businesses off the ground.

By Building Partnerships Within Their Communities All business owners are urged to first tap into their local communities for support,

resources, and most importantly, customers. Black Americans have just about mastered the art of creating community networks and ties that serve businesses of all sizes. What is even more impressive is that these communities don’t even have to be local to you. If you have a business selling t-shirts, you can go to a bazaar or flea market, create a website to sell them

online, or even out of the trunk of your car to start. If you have a local community to network within, then you will find customers.

Via Social Media Social media can be harnessed even

when you have no budget for marketing, no background in promotions, and even no access to a computer. Of course, your mileage may vary, but being able to communicate and promote businesses and ideas through social media has really opened a lot of doors for black entrepreneurs. Social media is another form of community networking that is yielding huge results. Learning about how engagement, ads, and even hashtags work is something that black entrepreneurs are doing quite well. As social media gets bigger, and more people come to use their mobile devices as their primary means of communication, black entrepreneurs will find a way to use that information as well.

Being involved in major businesses, partnerships, and collaborations requires much more than luck. Access to resources, knowledge, and having support is the driving force behind successful entrepreneurs in this country. It can and will probably continue to be harder for black Americans and other minorities to completely catch up. With continued efforts to support entrepreneurs in the black community through community effort, past successes lead to future successes as well.

As everyone involved pushes forward, more headway will be made and there will be fewer psychological barriers to

Coronavirus Vaccine Coming Soon! Can You Get One?

by Charlene Rhinehart, BlackDoctor.org

Have you been waiting patiently for a vaccine to put an end to your Coronavirus worries? Good news: your answer may be right around the corner! Well…maybe.

Federal government officials have announced that some coronavirus vaccines may be available before Christmas. The optimism is spreading as many states are preparing to start the vaccination process in December.

Unfortunately, everyone may not be eligible to receive vaccination as soon as it hits the market. It all depends on the availability and approval of vaccines, the speed at which it is produced and disseminated, and who is given access first.

Healthcare workers may be first in line to get immunized against the virus, but the general population may still have to wait a few months into 2021 before taking action – especially those healthy children and adults who are not a member of the elderly population.

What Happens in December?

There’s a chance that those most vulnerable to the ill effects of the pandemic, healthcare workers and nursing home residents, may be eligible for vaccination in December.

The big day for these decisions is Tuesday, December 1. That’s when the US

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices gather to vote on who should get access to the vaccination first.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a meeting on the calendar for December 10 and December 17 to authorize a vaccine.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, an independent group of experts, plan to discuss emergency use authorization for the Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna vaccines.

The FDA will use these discussions and recommendations to guide their decision on the vaccines.

There’s another option on the table. The FDA could provide emergency use authorization as soon as the second week of December for Pfizer’s vaccine.

Then, the Operation Warp Speed partnership initiated by the government can come in and start delivering vaccinations within 24 hours after that. Moderna may potentially be next on the list if that happens.

Pfizer and Moderna could have 40 million doses available for the US market by the end of December, providing the potential to fully vaccinate 20 million people.

If all does not go as planned in December, you can expect the conversations to accelerate in January as more vaccines become available to a wider range of

people.

What Are the Costs Involved?

You need to know, there is no need to come out of pocket to foot the bill for a Coronavirus vaccine. It may all be free thanks to the money the federal government has given to companies who have the ability to develop coronavirus vaccines.

Pfizer, Novavax, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are all pharmaceutical and biotech companies that received over $7 billion to solve the problem.

Where can you get the vaccine?

Hospitals, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities are already setup to deliver vaccines. Workers and residents at these locations will have access to the vaccine through their workplaces.

If you’re the average person, you’ll be able to access the vaccine at places where flu shots are normally given. Check out your grocery store pharmacy and physician’s office for more details.

What You Should Know Now? As more details about vaccines start to unfold, you should be aware of the possibilities and limitations ahead. As of now, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may be the popular choices because of their immunization innovation known as mRNA vac-

15

cine.

They are considered safe and provides 95% protection against symptomatic disease. But no one knows if the vaccinations will stop the spread of the disease to others and how long the protection will last.

Before getting vaccinated, be sure to look at the safety data and understand the genetic material that is being used.

While Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccination safety levels are based on the fact that they only use a piece of genetic material instead of a whole virus, AstraZeneca’s and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine uses

a replicate deficient virus to distribute a piece of genetic material from the coronavirus.

Safety information is not available for those vaccines to date.

While you wait on the coronavirus vaccination solution, make sure you do whatever it takes to build your immune system. This can impact the vaccination you receive and when you are able to receive it.

Use this time to strengthen your immune system with a healthy diet, adequate sleep, and frequent exercise to put you in the best position going forward.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Listing: Commercial Driver

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Full time Class A driver for petroleum deliveries for nights Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory and weekends. Previous experience required. Competitive training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits wage, 401(k) and benefits. Send resume to: HR Manager, VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE Contact: Tom Dunay P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437.

APARTMENTS FOR RENT

NOTICE

Phone: 243-2300 HOME INC, on behalf of860Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, ********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer********** is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this develEmail: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com opment& located at 108 Frank Street, Haven. Maximum Women Minority Applicants are New encouraged to apply income limitations apply.Affi Pre-applications willEqual be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y State of Connecticut rmative Action/ Opportunity Employer 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have Office of Policy been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed pre- and Management Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Incoffices seeks: applications must be returned to HOME INC’s at 171 Orange Street, Third Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the NorthThe State of Connecticut, Office of east & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits

NOTICIA

Policy and Management is recruiting for a Leadership Associate (target class Budget Analyst).

Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300 VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES Email: rick.tou-

242 Fairmont Avenue, New Haven Spacious 2 bedroom townhouse $1,225.00. Tenant pays all utilities including gas for heat, hot water, elec.stove, balcony and private entrance, off street parking. Close proximity to restaurants, shopping centers and on bus line. Section 8 welcome. Security Deposit varies. Call Christine 860-985-8258.

APARTMENTS FOR RENT 241 Quinnipiac Avenue, New Haven

Spacious 2 bedroom townhouses with hardwood floors. 1.5 baths. Select with basements and washer/dryer hookups. On-site laundry facility. Off street parking. Close proximity to restaurants, shopping centers and on bus line. No pets. Security deposit varies. $1,425-$1,450 includes heat, hot water and cooking gas. Section 8 welcome.

Call Christine 860-985-8258.

Further information regarding the duties, signant@garrityasphalt.com eligibility HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, estárequirements and application Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply instructions for this position is available aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer at: ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos

Union Company seeks:

máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 https://www.jobapscloud.com/ julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= en lasTrailer oficinasDriver de HOME INC. & Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas Tractor for Heavy Highway Construction Equip- por correo a petición 201015&R2=5989VR&R3=001 llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse ment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of . a las oficinas de equipment; HOME INCbe enwilling 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, 06510State operating heavy to travel throughout theNew Haven , CTThe of Connecticut is an equal Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com with disabilities.

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

CITY OF MILFORD

242-258 Fairmont Ave Townhouse, 3BR, 1vacancies level , 1BA Seeking2BR qualifi ed condidates 1.5 to fillBA, numerous to include,

All Health new apartments, new appliances, carpet, I-91informa& I-95 Public Nurse, Mechanic Sewernew Line and close more.toFor nearinstructions, bus stop & shopping center tion and detailedhighways, application visit www.ci.milford.ct.us Pet under 40lbon allowed.

Interested parties MariaTITLE. @ 860-985-8258 Click SERVICES, JOBScontact and JOB

Real Estate Controller

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. Fusco Management is seeking a Real Controller.

Candidate should have (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, Estate D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

leadership, communication and supervisory skills. Controller should have 6+ St. New Haven, CT year’s hands on accounting experience and have a BS in Accounting.

Duties and Responsibilities:

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Oversee the activities of the Accounting Department for the accurate and timely dissemination nancial by management reports including andSeymour external Sealed bids of arefiinvited the Housing Authority of theinternal Town of monthly financial statements, and annual budgets. until 3:00 pm on Tuesday,annual Augustaudits 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street,

Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Desired Skills and Experience Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

Qualifications: • • • •

Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Timberline and Timberscan, BNA, TValue.

A pre-bid conference willand be good held communication at the Housing skills.

Authority Office 28 Smith Discretion, good judgment Street general Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, 20, 2016.

Strong ledger, accounts payable and accountsJuly receivable.

Real Estate experience a plus.

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority OfEducation and Experience Required: fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance. CPA certification a plus. Must have 6+years of hands-on accounting managerial experience. Fusco Management ofThe Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to fers a competitive benefit package. Fusco is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opreduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any portunity Employer

informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the Housing Authority.

Invitation for Bids

Phase 2 – Group 4 – Lead Abatement at Essex Townhouses The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking Bids for Phase 2 – Group 4 – Lead Abatement at Essex Townhouses. A complete copy of the requirements may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Monday, October 26, 2020 at 3:00PM

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

NEW HAVEN

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation to Bid: nd Notice

Town of Bloomfield2

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES Request for Proposals

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE of Single-Family Homeownership Housing Development

Lead Building Maintainer - Facilities

Old Saybrook, CT Full Time - Benefited (4 17 Units) $31.26 hourly Buildings,The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is

Taxdrug Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage seeking Rate Project Pre-employment testing. currently Proposals for Development of Single-Family Homeownership For more details, visit our website – Housing. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City www.bloomfiWood eldct.org New Construction, Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Cast- Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobbleCommunities’ VendorSite-work, Collaboration

beginning on in-place Concrete, Asphaltstonesystems.com/gateway Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Monday, August 10, 2020 at 3:00PM. Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

Seeking qualified condidates to fill This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. Office Position. FT-Exp required.

Construction Administrative numerous vacancies to include, Email- Hherbert@ gwfabrication.com Benefits & Pension Coordinator Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 and more. For information and Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 detailed application instructions, Project documents available via ftp link below:ELM CITY COMMUNITIES visit www.ci.milford.ct.us http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Click on SERVICES, JOBS and Invitation for Bids JOB TITLE. Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com

CITY OF MILFORD

QSR

Plumbing Services Agency-wide

HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 STEELHaynes CORPORATION AA/EEO EMPLOYER The Housing Authority

APPLY NOW!

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

16

of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking Bids for plumbing services agency-wide.

A complete copy of the requirements

may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Monday, October 26, 2020 at 3:00PM

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 022016 , 2020 - December 08, 2020 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, - August 02, 2016

EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN (EMT)

NOTICE

The Town of Wallingford is accepting applications for EMT. Must possess a H.S. diploma or G.E.D., plus one (1) year of recent experience as an EMT. Must be 18 years old and be a Connecticut or National Certifi ed APPLICATIONS EMT with CPR Certifi cation and VALENTINA MACRI RENTALRegistry HOUSING PREAVAILABLE a valid State of Connecticut motor vehicle operator’s license. Starting wage $620.16 (weekly), plus an benefi t package.

Apply: Department of Human ReHOME INC, on excellent behalf of fringe Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, sources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492.

Phone is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this devel(203) 294-2080. closing date will be theHaven. date ofMaximum the 50th application or resume opment locatedThe at 108 Frank Street, New income limitations ap-is received or December 14, 2020, whichever occurs fi rst. ply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y

25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preMAINTAINER II –beOperates in the performance of road and applications must returnedmotorized to HOME equipment INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third grounds Requires 2 years’ experience in construction work involvFloor, maintenance New Haven, work.

CT 06510.

CDL DRIVER - PUBLIC WORKS

ing the operation and care of trucks and other mechanical equipment OR 2 years training in one of the skilled trades and 1 year of experience in construction operations, OR an equivalent combination of experience and training. Must possess and maintain a valid CDL Class B to operate equipment. (Provide a copy of your CDL license with your VALENTINA application)MACRI wages:VIVIENDAS $22.42 - $26.27 Hourly. PRE-SOLICITUDES Applications can beDISPONIBLES printed from the DE ALQUILER Department of Human Resources’ Webpage. Once completed please mail or fax your application or resume to:deDepartment Human 45Housing S. MainAuthority, Street, Room HOME INC, en nombre la Columbusof House y deResources, la New Haven está 301, Wallingford, CT 06492; (203)-294-2084; (203)-294-2080.

The closaceptando pre-solicitudes paraFax: estudios y apartamentosPhone: de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ingubicado date will date 30th Street, application resume received or December 2, 2020, enbe la the calle 109theFrank New or Haven.

Se isaplican limitaciones de ingresos whichever occurs first. EOE

NOTICIA

máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición State of Connecticut llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse Office and Management a las oficinas de HOME INC enof 171 Policy Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510 .

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for an Associate Accounts Examiner and a Staff Attorney 2 position.

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at:

NEW HAVEN

https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= 201112&R2=0946AR&R3=001

242-258 Fairmont Ave and 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=

All new apartments,201117&R2=0088AR&R3=001 new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways,isnear bus stop & shopping center The State of Connecticut an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and Pet under 40lb allowed. persons Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258 with disabilities.

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

Maintenance Shop Manager

Norwalk Transit District is hiring for a Maintenance Shop Manager New Haven, CT inSt.Norwalk.

For more information and to apply, please go to:www. norwalktransit.com/employment

SEYMOUR HOUSING MechanicAUTHORITY

Sealed bids are invited by isthehiring Housing the Town in of Norwalk.

Seymour Norwalk Transit District forAuthority a Diesel of Mechanic until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, For more information and to apply, please go to:www.norwalktransit.

Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the com/employment Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

of atBloomfi A pre-bid conferenceTown will be held the Housing eld Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT atField 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

Operations Manager - PW Full Time - Benefited

Bidding documents $75,909 are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Ofto $117,166 fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 888-4579.

Pre-employment drug(203) testing.

For more details, visit our website – www.bloomfieldct.org

The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any

DELIVERY PERSON

NEEDED

Part Time Delivery Needed One/Two Day a Week,

Must Have your Own Vehicle If Interested call

(203) 387-0354

POLICE OFFICER City of Bristol

$67,170 - $81,648

Required testing, registration info & apply at www.bristolct.gov DEADLINE: 12-13-20 EOE

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

APPLY NOW!

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids Robert T. Wolfe Building Upgrade Phase II The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking Bids for Robert T. Wolfe Building Upgrade Phase II. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/ gateway beginning on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 at 3:00PM.

Construction

Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V Drug Free Workforce

Town of Bloomfield Assistant Building Official Full Time - Benefited $38.03 hourly

Pre-employment drug testing.

For more details, visit our website – www.bloomfieldct.org

Invitation to Bid: Construction Administrative Office Position. FT-Exp 2nd Notice

HELP WANTED: Hherbert@ gwfabrication.com SAYEBROOKE required.EmailVILLAGE

Large CT guardrail company looking for Saybrook, CT Laborer/Driver with valid CT CDLOld Class A license and able to get a medical card.

(4 Buildings, 17 Units) Must be able to passTax a drug test and physiExempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project cal. Compensation based on experience.

Email resume to dmastracchio@atlasoutNew Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castdoor.com AA/EOE M-F

in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Invitation to Bid LEGAL NOTICE of10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Flooring, Painting, Division The Riverfront Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

TOWN OFMechanical, PORTLAND, CT Franklin Street Town of Portland has amended its Citizen ParticiThis contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

Torrington, CT pation Plan for the purpose of informing the public about its intent to apply for CDBG, Covid-19 funding. For a copy of the amended Plan go to www. portlandct.org.

New Construction of One (1) Passive House Four-story Building, Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 60 Units, Approximately 71,600 sf. Taxable project. No wage rates.

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 Project documents available viaExtended ftp link below: Bid Date / Due: Friday, December 11, 2020 @ 5pm http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Link to access plans & specifications:

DELIVERY PERSON

NEEDED

http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=riverfrontrecapturetorrington This contract is subject to state requirements: Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com CHRO Subcontracting HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE &CT Section 3 Certified Businesses Requirements = 25% SBE and 6.25% MBE All questions and bids Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT must 06483be submitted in written form and directed to the appropriate estimator: Eric Facchini efacchini@haynesct.com for Site, Concrete, Masonry & MEP trades.

AA/EEO EMPLOYER

Part Time Delivery Needed One/Two Day a Week,

Must Have your Own Vehicle If Interested call

(203) 387-0354 17

John Simmons jsimmons@haynesct.com for all trades in Divisions 6 through 14.

HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

102-Year Old WWII Veteran Checks Skydiving Off Her Bucket List

was about to jump. She even thought of doing it without the skydive instructor’s help.

The joyous moment was witnessed by Bailey’s close family and friends, as well as other officials and residents. They consider Bailey as an inspiration.

“It was wonderful, a real thrill!” Millie said. “I was scared for one minute, it felt like I was tumbling and then I thought, somebody is holding onto me.”

During her younger years, Bailey joined the Army and quickly climbed up the ranks until she retired in 1946. For years, she did not stop trying to serve the community by sending out care packages for soldiers deployed overseas.

“I estimate she has sent over 14 tons of care packages for soldiers overseas,” said her nephew, Martin Johnson. “Two weeks ago, I took six boxes that were shipped to Afghanistan which were donated from Aunt Millie.”

BlackNews.com

Nationwide — At the age of 102, Vivian “Millie” Bailey, a World War II veteran from Maryland has finally achieved her dream of skydiving, making her one of the oldest people in the world to do so.

Bailey took on the challenge as part of an episode for the series Honor Flight Heroes that features her life story. In the episode that will be aired on Veterans’ Day on American Heroes Channel, she was asked about that one thing she wants to do but wasn’t able to do yet.

“You are not going to believe it,” she said, according to WJLA. “The thing I’d like to do is do a parachute jump like President Bush did.”

When Bailey said that she will do it if someone takes her skydiving for free, the production team offered to pick up the tab and have it featured on the episode. The excitement was evident on Bailey as she

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” Continues to Reach New Milestones

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Thirty-eight years ago, Michael Jackson released his groundbreaking “Thriller” album, and the music world has never been the same.

Jackson himself would never be the same either.

The album, which featured such iconic hits as “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and a duet with Paul McCartney on, “The Girl is Mine,” has sold an estimated 66 million copies worldwide and has traded places regularly with the Greatest Hits of the Eagles as the best-selling U.S. album of all-time.

“The King of Pop” would go on to capture the imagination of an entire genera-

tion, winning eight Grammy Awards for Thriller, including Record and Album of the Year, and Producer of the Year.

A year later, he released the Thriller video, which broke barriers and instantly became the most-watched music video ever.

Jackson’s 1983 performance of “Billie Jean,” during the celebration of Motown’s 25th Anniversary, earned him an Emmy nomination and a telephone call from Fred Astaire.

“It was the most extraordinary thing, a most special moment,” Jackson said at the time.

Today, artists young and old are still trying to copy Jackson’s blueprint for success, and most still revere him. Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50.

This week, Rolling Stone paid homage to Jackson with “12 Thrilling Facts About Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Video.”

“In adolescence, youngsters begin to grow hair in unexpected places, and parts of their anatomy swell and grow,” director John Landis explained, regarding the role of the werewolf metaphor in cinematic history. “Everyone experiences these physical transformations in their bodies and new, unfamiliar, sexual thoughts in their minds. No wonder we readily accept the concept of a literal metamorphosis.”

Further, the largest number of people doing the “Thriller” zombie-dance routine, according to the Guinness Book of World Records: “13,597 participants in an event organized by the Instituto de la Juventud del Gobierno del Distrito Federal at the Monumento a la Revolucion, Mexico City, Mexico, on 29 Aug 2009.”

Singer Michael Jackson live in Lisbon, Portugal on September 26, 1992 as part of his international tour.

(Photo: Constru-centro/Wikimedia Commons)

Sisters’ Journey December Survivor of the Month - Ingrid Arokium-Stephen I am a three-year breast cancer survivor!

June 2017 remains indelible in my memory, but I have gotten over the days of “why me” and have accepted my journey. My name is Ingrid Arokium-Stephen. I am 69 years old, married, but my husband lives in a nursing home. This is my story: During a routine breast exam a suspicious mass was seen, so I was asked to go for an ultrasound – déjà vu. I was not concerned because I had heard that diagnosis several times before. I did the ultrasound, but then came the order to have a biopsy, which was new!!! Bi who? Bi what? At my own pace, I had the biopsy done and was told the results would be sent to my doctor.

My country of birth is British Guiana,

tried to calm me but my tears flowed. He told me I could remain in the room until I felt better. The nurses checked on me from time to time. Finally I regained my composure enough to drive home. Then I locked up the house and the tears flowed again. I felt helpless. I blamed myself for what happened to me. I live alone so there was no available support system.

After a few weeks I found the courage to finally tell one of my brothers and felt better inside. I then told a neighbor who has since taken me under her wing and remained with me every step of the way. I was introduced to my social worker who has been patient with me all throughout the crying and sniveling. Preparation for surgery began and I decided to let a few

South America, now known as Guyana.

I migrated to the U.S. in 1994 and am now settled in New Haven, Connecticut.

Growing up I always heard cancer has to be in your family. There is no history in my family so I was confident that all was well with me. One day after getting home from work, I received a message that my doctor wanted to see me. My antennae went up. Why does he want to see me?

Why couldn’t the message be: “your results were negative.” I felt uneasy.

I still recall vividly my doctor looking me in the eye and words coming from his mouth, but all I heard was “yes” and a range of emotions took hold of me – fear, anger, foreboding. I wanted to die.

I started to cry uncontrollably. My doctor

18

other people know about my diagnosis, which made me feel better inside. I underwent chemo and radiation and now am on hormone treatment. My doctors and nurses at Smilow were all personable and made me feel welcomed whenever I had to be there. A heartfelt “Thank You” to them all for caring enough to help us.

I heard of Sisters’ Journey through my neighbor and have met other ladies with whom I could bond and share stories. I am thankful for that. Divine order, God is in charge. I have learned to accept my life as it is. I am at peace with myself now. I go forward believing that the Almighty has a purpose for my life. My motto is: live today to the fullest, worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

Have a new reason to think about health insurance?

We can help.

Visit AccessHealthCT.com to compare plans and see if you qualify for financial help, or are eligible for low-cost or free coverage.

Open Enrollment ends December 15.

Connecting you to quality health insurance plans.

AHCT-38032 Inner City News 925x105_f.indd 1

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 02, 2020 - December 08, 2020

This Black Friday, Internet & Mobile meet awesome savings.

During the Xfinity Black Friday Sales Event, you can get $200 back when you get Xfinity Internet and add Xfinity Mobile. That’s huge savings on fast, reliable Internet and Mobile with nationwide 5G included on the most reliable network. And that means more of the family-calling, video-gaming, binge-watching, viral-videoing awesome you love. Now that’s how you do Black Friday right.

The Xfinity Black Friday Sales Event ends December 7.

Go to xfinity.com, call 1-800-XFINITY, or visit an Xfinity Store today!

Xfinity Internet

39

$

99 /mo. for 12 months

Paperless billing and autopay required

Ask how to add

Xfinity Mobile and save even more

Equip., taxes, and other charges extra and subj. to change. See details below.

when you add Xfinity Mobile with new line activation and transfer of phone number within 90 days of Internet purchase

Internet offer requires enrollment in both automatic payments and paperless billing. Must enroll within 30 days of placing order for advertised offer. Without enrollment, service charge automatically increases by $10/mo. 12-month automatic payment and paperless billing discount appears on bill within 30 days of enrolling. If either automatic payments or paperless billing are canceled during the 12-month period, or if service is downgraded to Limited Basic only, the $10/mo. discount will be discontinued. Restrictions apply. Not available in all areas. Limited to new residential Performance 100 Mbps Internet customers only. Equipment, installation, taxes and fees, and subject to change during and after promo. After promo, regular rates apply. Comcast’s service charge for Performance Internet is $77.95/mo. (subj. to change). Service limited to a single outlet. May not be combined with other offers. Internet: Actual speeds vary and are not guaranteed. For factors affecting speed, visit www.xfinity.com/networkmanagement. Mobile: Xfinity Mobile requires residential post-pay Xfinity Internet. Line limitations may vary. For Xfinity Mobile Broadband Disclosures, visit www.xfinity.com/mobile/ policies/broadband-disclosures. Xfinity Mobile utilizes the highest ranked network from RootMetrics® 1H 2020 US report. WiFi networks not tested. Results may vary. Award is not endorsement. Individual programs and marks are property of their respective owners. Prepaid card offer: Must remain an Xfinity Mobile customer and maintain the Xfinity Internet service required for the offer for 90 days with account in good standing. Prepaid Card mailed to Comcast account holder within 18 weeks of activation of all required services and expires in 180 days. The Xfinity Mobile logo and “o” marks are trademark of Comcast. Call for restrictions and complete details. © 2020 Comcast. All rights reserved. NPA233814-0010 NED Q4 AABF V7

139118_NPA233814-0010 Black Friday NED Perf 9.25x10.5 V7.indd 1

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