Free Republic

One person is dead and two are wounded in three shootings police investigated today. It’s too early to tell if the shootings were related, police said. Andre Kelly, the city’s 30th homicide victim of the year, was found dead of a gunshot wound by a friend on the first floor of a multi-story building at 536 Whalley Avenue. No further information was available about Kelly, whose body was found at about 7:20 p.m. Police officer David Hartman, spokesman for the department, said the apartment that Kelly was found in is located at the rear of a building that includes a...

A 34-year-old genetic researcher with ties to Yale University will appear Monday in a Dryden courtroom, charged with the first-degree rape of a Town of Ithaca woman. Navneet K. Tyagi of New Haven, Conn. is charged with forcible sex. According to the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office, Tyagi drove from Connecticut to the victim’s home, where he allegedly “held her captive for several hours, forcing her to engage in sexual intercourse.” He was arraigned before Judge Clauson in the Town of Dryden Court and sent to Tompkins County Jail in lieu of $500,000 cash bail. Cornell Public Safety and the New...

A New Haven man was fatally shot early Wednesday evening on Hurlburt Street in New Haven. The male victim, who neighbors tell Eyewitness News is in his 20's, was shot in middle of the street in broad daylight. Police sources tell Eyewitness News that a suspect is in custody at this time. This followed a chase that saw the suspect crash his car on Sylvan Avenue. Police apprehended him after a brief foot chase. A large crowd of the victims family and friends gathered outside of Yale-New Haven Hospital. Many were visually crying and many were very angry.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- New Haven's school board will decide Monday who should run one of the city's lowest-performing schools. The board is considering hiring a New Jersey-based for-profit group to manage the Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy. . The request comes as part of a reform initiative. The private company would focus on raising standardized test scores, cutting the drop out rate and helping ensure all students in the district can go to college. Some parents want to see more responsibility at home. If the board approves hiring the firm, it would cost the city about $430,000 a year. At...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton is in New Haven, leading a rally and march in support of New Haven public service workers. In February, Mayor John DeStefano laid off dozens of city workers, including 16 police officers. Betsy Rosario, who has worked for New Haven's Board of Education for years as a security officer, said she's not sure if she will have a job. Of the 80 workers DeStefano's administration has laid off, five of them were in her union. "We don't have a contact. We haven't had one and haven't had a raise...

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano says he will pursue legal action against the police union for the union's Thursday protest outside City Hall. About 200 officers marched from Police Headquarters to City Hall to protest the mayor's decision to lay off 16 officers as part of a plan to deal with the city's budget crisis. The officers blocked Church Street and demanded to speak to DeStefano about his decision. A spokesperson for the mayor says the city is aware that many of the officers who participated in the protest were on duty -- something that is not permitted.

DEVELOPING: Authorities have found what appear to be "improvised explosives" and materials to make homemade bombs at a home in Connecticut. [Snip] Police and FBI agents are at the scene Thursday and authorities are waiting for a judge to sign a search warrant application.

Steven Hayes was sentenced to death by a Connecticut jury today for his role in the deadly 2007 home invasion that killed Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters. The verdict came halfway through day four of deliberation for the jury that spend the whole weekend holed up in a New Haven courtroom discussing the fate of Hayes, 47. Hayes is convicted of raping and choking Hawke-Petit to death, while accused accomplice Joshua Komisarjevsky is accused of sexually assaulting 11-year-old Michaela Petit. Michaela and her older sister Hayley, 17, died after they were tied to their beds and the house was...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Connecticut police say they arrested a man at a management company after he mentioned the shooting rampage across the state that killed nine people and said he understood the killer's mindset. Fifty-eight-year-old Francis Laskowski of Derby was charged with breach of peace Wednesday after making the comments while working at Fusco Management Co. in New Haven.

Illegal immigrants fleeing Arizona because of SB 1070 will find the welcome mat set out for them in New Haven, Connecticut. The city appears ready to pick up the cost of their medical care, schooling and other services that will take the financial burden off the backs of Arizona taxpayers.

NEW HAVEN, CT (WPIX) - A journalism professor at Southern Connecticut State University is accused of standing naked in front of his window and exposing himself to his neighbor. Jerry Dunklee, a well-known radio personality in New Haven, was taken into police custody last week after police said they observed him naked in front of a window of his home. His neighbor alerted police, after seeing Dunklee dancing naked at the window overlooking her yard. She reportedly told police she saw Dunklee last Thursday fondling himself and waving at her. Dunklee told police that what he did inside his...

NEW HAVEN — Attorneys for a group of black city firefighters Monday filed a motion asking a federal court to halt the promotion of 10 other firefighters (including four minorities) who scored well enough on 2003 exams to be promoted. The 10 firefighters’ advancements were approved Friday by the Board of Fire Commissioners, just three days after the board ratified the promotions of 14 other firefighters (all but one of them white) mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DeStefano. The 10 in question scored high enough on the test to be promoted, but weren’t plaintiffs with...

A New Haven man is under arrest after police found pipe bombs and a weapon in his vehicle late Saturday,  Marlon Reddick, 44 was stopped by West Haven Police last night around 11:00 p.m. in the area of Elm Street and Kimberly Avenue for equipment violations. During the motor vehicle stop, officers observed a clear plastic bag containing pills in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. After Reddick claimed no knowledge of the pills, the officers asked him to exit the vehicle as they continued their investigation, according to a police report. As officers searched the vehicle, they discovered a duffle bag behind the front seat. ...

SNIPPET: "NEW HAVEN — A 38-year-old man arrested after police discovered a pipe bomb, shotguns, gas masks and other items inside his Mercedes late Tuesday was arrested earlier this year on bombmaking charges in East Haven. John Iannucci was held at New Haven police headquarters for most of the day on a host of weapons and explosives charges. The arrest could likely complicate the situation on his current court case. He is due to appear in court on Oct. 22 on the East Haven charges of illegal possession of explosives and illegal bomb manufacturing. He was free on $25,000 bail...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Police have identified a suspect in the killing of a person whose body was found stuffed behind a wall in a high-security laboratory building at Yale University, law enforcement sources told NBC News on Monday. The suspect, a student, has defensive wounds, and failed a polygraph test, the sources said. The body found Sunday in the Yale Medical School building is believed to be that of Annie Le, a 24-year-old native of Placerville, Calif. She was last seen in the building on Tuesday and Sunday was to have been her wedding day. An autopsy was being...

Investigators are trying to determine whether a San Diego sailor passed Navy secrets about security weaknesses and warship movements to a British man accused of having terrorist links, according to court documents unsealed yesterday. E-mail messages from the unnamed sailor, sent in late 2000 and 2001 before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, were found in December in computer files belonging to Babar Ahmad, who was detained Wednesday in London, according to the 31-page arrest affidavit. The computer files contained details about security arrangements and movements of the San Diego-based Constellation carrier battle group, which included the destroyer Benfold, on which...

Legislation: Still believe in post-racial politics? Read the health care bill. It's affirmative action on steroids, deciding everything from who becomes a doctor to who gets treatment on the basis of skin color. President Obama is on the record as being officially opposed to reparations for slavery. But as with other issues, you have to sift through his eloquent rhetoric and go beyond the teleprompter to get at what he really means.

Legislation: Still believe in post-racial politics? Read the health care bill. It's affirmative action on steroids, deciding everything from who becomes a doctor to who gets treatment on the basis of skin color.President Obama is on the record as being officially opposed to reparations for slavery. But as with other issues, you have to sift through his eloquent rhetoric and go beyond the teleprompter to get at what he really means. His opposition to reparations is based on the fact they don't go far enough. In a 2004 questionnaire, he told the NAACP, "I fear that reparations would be an...

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's backers are reportedly urging reporters to probe what one called the "troubled and litigious work history" of New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci.

NEW HAVEN — The two dozen firefighters who packed into Humphrey’s East Restaurant were celebrating a coming marriage, drinking and jawboning in the boisterous style of large men with risky jobs, but Lt. Ben Vargas spent the evening trying to escape the tension surrounding his presence. During a trip to the bathroom, he found himself facing another man. Without warning, the first punch landed. When Lieutenant Vargas awoke, bloodied and splayed on the grimy floor, he was taken to the hospital. Lieutenant Vargas believes the attack, five years ago, was orchestrated by a black firefighter in retaliation for his having...