By Christine Woodside Melanie Stengel Photo. Sandy Flores of City Seed puts away a bag of $1 tokens at the close of the Wooster Farmers Market. Snap recipients can scan their EBT cards and receive…
By Lisa Backus Ruben Ortiz admitted he was concerned the first time he picked up takeout from the New Haven restaurant where he worked until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the state in mid-March. “I…
By Sujata Srinivasan Johanna Vasquez, 19, and her 4-month-old baby ended up at Malta House in Norwalk as a result of an abusive relationship. Vasquez’s boyfriend hit her, she said, because he was home without…
By Kate Farrish Melanie Stengel Photo. Susana Encarnacion of New London holds an iPad that the city supplied for her son, Jeremiah. Jeremiah is holding the family’s rooster, “Old Man.” The Encarnacions have no Wi-Fi…
By Peggy McCarthy Contributed Family Photo. Donna Chapman gives her son, Sergeant William Davidson a kiss. Davidson struggled with mental health disorders after his deployment in Afghanistan and killed himself in 2017. Sergeant William Davidson…
By Colleen Shaddox Colleen Shaddox Photo. Janet Rice’s home is filled with photos and memories of her son Shane Oliver who was fatally shot in 2012. Janet Rice’s home is filled with pictures of her…
By Bonnie Phillips Over the past several months, the state Board of Examiners for Nursing has disciplined the following nurses for improper patient care, drug abuse and falsifying license paperwork, among other violations. • The…
By Lisa Backus The state Medical Examining Board voted Tuesday to discipline two physicians including issuing a $4,000 fine and one-year probation to a Bolton doctor who prescribed opioids to at least two patients but…
By Christine Woodside Melanie Stengel Photo. As the summer’s heat sets in, tailpipe emissions are rising with more vehicles on our highways. For the 29% of Connecticut adults who live with obesity, summer brings a…
By Steve Hamm Steve Hamm Photo. Dr. Joseph Tagliarini is operating his dental office at nearly full staff and hopes that a new generation COVID test will be developed that will give results on the…
By Cara Rosner In states where Medicaid was expanded under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), women are more likely to receive breast cancer diagnoses at an early stage, compared with women in other states, new…
By Elizabeth Heubeck Earlier this year, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) examination of death certificates in the U.S. showed a sharp rise in alcohol-related deaths between 1999 and 2017. Connecticut mirrored those numbers, and…
By Susan Jaffe Melanie Stengel Photo. Jay Katz, administrator, Leeway nursing facility in New Haven. The coronavirus has decimated many of the nation’s nursing homes, where elderly, chronically ill residents account for 64% of Connecticut’s…
By Sujata Srinivasan Tameeka Coleman and six of her children lived on the streets before moving into a shelter in Fairfield. “We were together, so it was bearable,” said Coleman, 38. The hardest part was…
By Kate Farrish Vape manufacturers have long been accused of marketing to teens with flavors like mango and cotton candy. Now vaping opponents say vape manufacturers are exploiting the coronavirus with face mask and hand…
By Cara Rosner Families with loved ones in nursing homes–unable to visit while getting frustratingly sparse information about them–have found a champion in Mairead Painter. Painter, the state’s long term care ombudsman, who works for…
By Bonnie Phillips Nursing homes inspected for infection-control practices during the pandemic revealed deficiencies, including failure to separate COVID-positive residents from residents who do not have the virus, improper use or no use of personal…
By Peggy McCarthy Melanie Stengel Photo. Weeks into the pandemic, people wait outside the 164 Wilson Food Pantry to receive food. The pantry is part of the Wilson Memorial Church of God in Christ, Stamford….
By Cara Rosner The state has fined six nursing homes for violations that jeopardized residents’ safety, including an incident in which resident with Alzheimer’s was found dead outside a facility in Wallingford. The facilities were…
By Carol Leonetti Dannhauser Stamford Hospital is treating most of its critically ill coronavirus patients with blood plasma from people who have recovered, after stunning turnarounds in several patients who were gravely ill. “We started…