Local Politics

As Connecticut tenants face skyrocketing rent prices and an uptick in no-fault evictions, some renters in large apartment complexes are unionizing in hopes of demanding change. And now tenant unions in New Haven could be some of the first in Connecticut to be recognized by their local government.

Connecticut’s Municipal Accountability Review Board, or MARB, recently voted to increase its control over West Haven’s finances following an audit that determined the city misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal relief funds.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin says the city will no longer send its garbage to a major state-owned processing plant.

One of the first things the new first selectman of the town of Colchester did after winning the office this month was to reverse his predecessor’s deeming of racism as a public health crisis.

Yale announced Wednesday that it plans to nearly double its current yearly payments to the city of New Haven over the next five years. Combined with money the university already promised, Yale will contribute $135 million in lieu of property taxes.

With the delta variant spreading quickly in the state, officials are pushing for teens and 20-somethings to slow it down by getting vaccinated.

The state’s bond commission approved $2 million for the former site of Ansonia Copper and Brass on Friday, part of an overall $1.1 billion package the governor said was made possible by low interest rates.

Former Republican State Senator George Logan announced his candidacy for Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District in Waterbury Wednesday. He’ll be challenging two-time incumbent and Democrat Jahana Hayes.

Workers with the childcare nonprofit TEAM, Inc. in the lower Naugatuck Valley have won a new contract.

Cities and towns around Connecticut are seeing record levels of funding from federal COVID relief funds and the state budget this year. But lawmakers in the Naugatuck River Valley worry what happens when the sugar high of federal dollars wears off.