Op-Ed: Council Democrats Address Stormwater, Audit and Shelter For Unhoused Issues
Hearing From Citizens Will Be Essential During City Budget Process Two months into a new term the new Democratic majority on the Common Council is working on key issues raised in last year’s municipal election and in responding to public concerns on housing and shelter for the unhoused, stormwater infrastructure and the status of the […]
Black Ministers Mark Anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation On New Year’s Day
By John McNamara The first day of 2024 marked the anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation 161 years ago by President Lincoln. The Proclamation signed at the start of 1863 freed more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Southern states during the bloodiest year of the Civil War. New Britain’s […]
Two Poems By Ray Marafino
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA for Heather Hyer Tell us that the Confederate flag | does merely stand for heritage | when waved alongside the Nazi. And tell us that this is free speech | while being exercised as the swing | of a fist striking. Do tell us how the President lies | by dog-whistling […]
11-22-63: That Day Frozen In Time
by John McNamara It is a November 22nd when many Baby Boomers are going to tell you where they were 60 years ago. At age 13, I was in Mrs. Sonigan’s 7th grade speech class when the class abruptly ended at Pickering Junior High near Wyoma Square in Lynn, Massachusetts. This was just one year […]
City Marks 30th Anniversary Of MLK Park
Staff Reports NEW BRITAIN – Officials and residents marked the 30th Anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park on October 14th, rededicating the monument for the slain civil rights leader with more than 90 new commemorative bricks donated by individuals and organizations. The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities organized the observance […]
New Britain’s Union Organizing History Is Worth Retelling On Labor Day 2023
1991 Saturday Night Club Paper Recounts City’s Labor Movement Past By John McNamara Labor Day is not a time to be nostalgic about the struggles of the last century to organize factory floors that turned New Britain into a “union town” with its many thousands of factory jobs, most of which have been long lost […]
NBPD Publishes Arrest Log Online After FOI Controversy
A July controversy over the City’s and New Britain Police’s denying access to arrest logs to the New Britain Herald without formal Freedom of Information requests has led to the New Britain Police Department (NBPD) posting a weekly arrest log online at https://pd.newbritainct.gov/safety-prevention/police-blotter. The link shows arrests made in the city for one week — […]
Monsignor Plocharczyk Is Honored At 40th Dozynki Festival
Staff Reports NEW BRITAIN – Monsignor Daniel Plocharczyk, the longtime pastor of Sacred Heart Church on Broad Street, received a special recognition award August 19th at the 40th holding of the Dozynki Festival, the city’s celebration of Polish culture and traditions that began in 1980. The Festival Committee also recognized the Polonia Paderewski Choir and […]
Lowell Weicker’s Victories Dashed The Hopes of Liberal Democrats Throughout His Career
Reflecting on the Politics of Connecticut’s Three-Term Senator and One-Term Governor By John McNamara The first time I and many viewers (outside CT) saw and heard Lowell P. Weicker was watching the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee hearings in 1973. I was paying attention every day from my perch in the newsroom of the Lynn Sunday Post where […]
“Bleibol!” Exhibit Features New Britain’s Springer Family At Museum for Culture and History
¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues Opens Aug. 12 and Runs Though November 5 By John McNamara The Connecticut Museum for History and Culture’s exhibition “¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues / En los barrios y las grandes ligas“ that opens on Saturday, August 12 celebrates baseball through the experiences of […]