The very meta story of how my family and I — @ctpublic.bsky.social’s Puerto Rican Communities Reporter in collaboration with @elnuevodia.bsky.social — visited the island this Christmas season ❤️💚

Who makes the coquito in your family? Or if you’re not Puerto Rican, the more accurate question nowadays is: Who are you buying from? @elnuevodia.bsky.social’s Itzel Rivera spoke to one Boricua here in Connecticut who’s making hundreds of bottles based on her abuela’s recipe.

Over 40 years after the Águila Blanca heist, a filmmaker in Puerto Rico has a new exhibit in Hartford reflecting on the robbery of a Connecticut Wells Fargo depot. It was the largest in U.S. history at the time, equating to nearly $23 million in 2025 money.

I spoke with the Peabody Museum and the tribal chief of Taíno community AraYeke Yukayek ahead of the new exhibit at @yale.edu (and right before I myself headed to Taíno land: Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic).

For stateside Puerto Ricans, it never quite feels like Christmas without the island’s parrandas. That’s why local organization @realartwaysct.bsky.social is trying to foster that culture here in Hartford.

The real wrapped that matters is here: @beliapp.bsky.social’s Plated 🍽️ I’m feeling especially braggadocious about the fact that I’ve achieved top diner status in New Haven after moving to Connecticut from Nashville only six months ago. Lol at the New York and San Juan rep here too ofc 🇵🇷

I know that’s right! 🇵🇷

Further context before you see our receipts: The median household income in Puerto Rico is $25,621. Here in Connecticut, it's $91,665.

What does it take to make a Puerto Rican holiday dinner here in Connecticut compared to on the island? That’s what Itzel Rivera for @elnuevodia.bsky.social and I for @ctpublic.bsky.social hoped to find in the grocery aisles in Connecticut and Puerto Rico.

who decided to call it Secret Santa when Nondisclosure Claus was right there

For the first time in 12 years, U.S. Catholic bishops (@usccbofficial.bsky.social) addressed immigration and immigrant rights in a joint statement last week. I sat down with Hartford’s archbishop to discuss what these beliefs look like in practice in Connecticut. www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-11...

"Many people see this [course] as a fundamentally unserious endeavor when, in reality, the work is so important precisely because it reflects the realities in Puerto Rico,” said Bad Bunny course student Hector Miranda Plaza. The senior, studying politics at Yale, is originally from the island.

The more than 360,000 SNAP recipients in Connecticut can take a breath today. Gov. Ned Lamont has announced that the state will be footing the $72 million monthly bill to keep SNAP fully funded. The money should be back on EBT cards within 4 days.

There’s been a lot of great reporting about resources in Connecticut (largely from @chrispolansky.bsky.social for @ctpublic.bsky.social) after the cut off of SNAP, but I kept thinking of the person clicking around these guides who was looking for a hot meal for their family right NOW. A list:

@npr.org reports at least 20 people have died in ICE custody so far this year — the most since 2005. A Día de Los Muertos parade in New Haven is honoring those dead.

Unintentional yet ideal uniform while taking care of my tropical plants in the frosty weather #HappyHalloweek

Ahead of the No Kings rallies, I spoke to State Rep. Vincent Candelora for @ctpublic.bsky.social. The Republican Minority Leader told me he’s mostly focused on getting both sides to sit down at the same table on immigration.

Annette Roman is Puerto Rican, but she’s still thinking about ICE’s presence in Connecticut: “They're going to pick up anybody that they feel looks like somebody they should be picking up, right?” She brought an “abuelas para libertad” sign to Hartford’s No Kings rally.

Connecticut State Capitol Police tell my colleague @racheliacovone.bsky.social they estimate today's Hartford No Kings rally size at 12,000 people. They estimated the No Kings rally in June at 7,000.

Connecticut is the first state in the U.S. to formally recognize the contributions of native Caribbeans, according to the Higuayagua Taíno of the Caribbean tribe. Now, the lawmakers who backed the resolution say it won’t be the last.

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat. Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

ON AIR: Mi gente Latina, it’s time to give to @ctpublic.bsky.social during our Fall Pledge Drive! When you do, you support reporting like mine on the Puerto Rican communities here in Connecticut, plus our many other beats, daily shows, digital folks, and more. ctpublic.org/give

“This is an aspect of Latino life and culture that too often gets overlooked or caricatured,” photographer David González said of his exhibit “Urban Devotions.” It’s on view at Trinity College in Hartford through Oct. 24.

Such an honor! My podcast for @wpln.bsky.social, “The Country in Our Hearts,” has been awarded “Best Audio Storytelling.” Thank you to @nashvillescene.com and, as always, to all the people who shared their time and stories with me ❤️ www.nashvillescene.com/bon/2025/med...

Since Trump’s firing of the majority of Puerto Rico’s financial oversight board, it’s been a waiting game to see who gets a say in the board’s next, and biggest, project yet: restructuring the billions of dollars in debt owed to the island’s electric power authority.

Connecticut Public's @racheliacovone.bsky.social and El Nuevo Dia’s Itzel Rivera introduce themselves, and share more about their collaborative effort to cover Puerto Rican communities in Connecticut. www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-10...

The 20th annual Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival brought out several icons of the food world to close out the last weekend of summer. www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-09...

A popular New England food festival took over the Newport Mansions this weekend, and the featured chef agrees: Our region has a pretty great, and underrated, food scene.

Personality pic courtesy of the 61st annual Greater Hartford Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival 🇵🇷

If you’ve been feeling the No Me Quiero Ir De Aqui FOMO all summer, fret not: Benito is streaming his (new) last show tomorrow night, and here’s where the Bad Bunny watch parties are happening in Connecticut.

In case you needed more validation for your patience in the Sift Bake Shop line, the beloved Connecticut bakery is the featured dessert option at the 20th annual Newport Mansions’ Wine & Food Festival, which begins today in Rhode Island.

Puerto Ricans are famously proud of our red, white and blue flag. You see it hanging from our rearview mirrors, flying on our lawns, embellishing our caps and tees — or unfurling outside the Connecticut State Capitol ahead of Hartford’s 61st annual parade.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Whether you’re a Puerto Rican born and raised in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood or a non-Hispanic transplant who just wants to enjoy some great food and music this month, here’s how and where to celebrate in Connecticut.

New Haven officially holds the world record for the largest pizza party! Here’s Guinness World Book of Records adjudicator Thomas Bradford making the announcement alongside organizer Colin Caplan, the founder of Taste of New Haven, moments ago.

New Haven says, “Mangia!” The city could break the world record for the largest pizza party tomorrow. 3,358+ diners just need to eat two slices… while watched. Creepy? Sure. But a “trust me, bro” isn’t going to cut it for Guinness World Book of Records.

Connecticut is lowering flags to half-staff for Charlie Kirk.

As students return to classrooms, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainments continue across Connecticut. Despite fears, one of the most diverse districts is telling parents to send their kids to school — because it might be the safest place. www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-09...

Despite student and parent fears about ICE, one of Connecticut’s most diverse districts is telling parents to send their kids to school — because it might be the safest place.

The Connecticut high school student in ICE custody since July returned to his New Haven home tonight in a big win for deportation cases like his — and for his teachers and classmates who have spent the last several weeks rallying for his return.

A New Haven high schooler is heading home after several weeks in ICE detention. As his lawyer addressed supporters today, she choked up: “To be a lawyer in this era … the swiftness with which people are moved, the aggression of it all, it takes a toll.”

While walking into her former middle school, Hartford’s now-former superintendent was stopped by the assistant principal who tearily thanked her for creating a pathway to leadership for a “little Black girl, born and raised in the hood.” It said more than I could ever write.

Maria Reina de la Paz Parish in Hartford has been elevated to Archdiocesan shrine. Archbishop Christopher Coyne hopes it’ll become a site for Catholics to pray for peace, including for “Latino communities that are facing round-ups and arrests and worries.”

While famous Puerto Ricans, like Bad Bunny, have recently spoken out against ICE on the national level, everyday Puerto Ricans in Connecticut are also increasingly standing with their fellow Latinos against the immigration crackdown.

A small town in rural Tennessee will soon be the site of a privately-run ICE detention center. Local officials in Mason, Tennessee narrowly approved the contract at a contentious townhall. wpln.org/post/a-regio...

As ICE detainments ramp up, Connecticut Puerto Ricans — though U.S. citizens — fear racial profiling. ICE tells @ctpublic.bsky.social that the idea it’s targeting Puerto Rican neighborhoods is “not only ludicrous and dangerous, but completely false.” It’s already detained Puerto Ricans elsewhere.

Breaking news: The White House will launch an aggressive review of Smithsonian exhibitions, collections and operations ahead of America’s 250th birthday celebrations next year.

I know I keep saying my job is all my abuelos dreamed of for me, but I think that peaked tonight being on stage for El Gran Combo’s Charlie Aponte performing at the Puerto Rican Festival of New Haven 🇵🇷

This Saturday is Puerto Ricans United’s ninth annual festival in New Haven, but there’s no parade, and the vendors are not just selling flags and T-shirts; it's a job fair. www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-08...

Ever attend a job fair with El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico’s Charlie Aponte as your motivational music? Well, now you can — at the Festival Puertorriqueño de New Haven 2025. www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-08...

When I was a kid, I’d come back to Florida from summer trips to the Northeast buzzing to share all I got up to in New York and Jersey — pizza, hot dogs and bagels mostly — with my best friend, Laurie. Getting to go with her, now a NYC resident, to Coney Island for her first time as adults: priceless