Steady Habits: A CT Mirror Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Connecticut Mirror
Welcome to Steady Habits: A CT Mirror Podcast, hosted by John Dankosky. Our goal is to foster meaningful conversations with newsmakers and the journalists who cover them. We're planning to dig into Connecticut's biggest stories in policy and politics. Let's get started.
CT Mirror State Policy Editor Erica E. Phillips sat down with Bill Shufelt and John Walker of Milford’s Athletic Brewing Company on March 19, 2025 at Stamford’s Ferguson Library.
Driven by a mission to make non-alcoholic beer mainstream, Bill and John first began test-brewing in a garage in Connecticut. One hundred home-brewed batches later, they had perfected their process and refined their flavors. Then they built an entire business around it; within a few short years it’s become the world’s largest dedicated non-alcoholic brewery.
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Join CT Mirror Policy Editor Erica E. Phillips as she sits down with Connecticut’s most successful entrepreneurs to explore their origin stories, how they turned their first dollar, and why Connecticut was the place to make it happen.
UConn graduate and serial entrepreneur André Swanston achieved a historic nine-figure exit with the sale of his data company, Tru Optik, to TransUnion—making him one of the few Black Americans to reach such a milestone. Now, he’s channeling that success into groundbreaking ventures that transform the way content creators, brands, distributors, and consumers engage across advertising and entertainment.
This show was recorded live at Stamford's Ferguson Library on Jan 14, 2025.
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In The Room is an in-person, monthly interview series with Connecticut’s top elected officials and political experts. Host John Dankosky brings a new approach to political interviews, exploring the policy and the people behind the policy.
In this episode Dankosky interviews former Supreme Court Reporter Linda Greenhouse.
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In The Room is an in-person, monthly interview series with Connecticut’s top elected officials. Host John Dankosky brings a new approach to political interviews, exploring the policy and the people behind the policy.
In the fourth event of the series, Dankosky interviews State Treasurer Erick Russell at the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
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In The Room is an in-person, monthly interview series with Connecticut’s top elected officials. Host John Dankosky brings a new approach to political interviews, exploring the policy and the people behind the policy.
In the third event of the series, Dankosky interviews Attorney General William Tong, at UConn Stamford.
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In The Room is a new, in-person, monthly interview series with Connecticut’s top elected officials. Host John Dankosky brings a new approach to political interviews, exploring the policy and the people behind the policy.
In the second event of the series, Dankosky interviews Gov. Ned Lamont at Mohegan Sun.
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In The Room is a monthly, in-person interview series with top elected officials at locations throughout the state. In this series, host John Dankosky bring a new approach to political interviews — exploring both the policy and the people behind the policy.
This episode, Senator Chris Murphy spoke with John at the Mark Twain House & Museum.
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Community Editorial Board Editor Mercy Quaye hosts an in-depth conversation on probation, parole and commutations with State Sen. Heather Somers, Community Editorial Board member Marisol Garcia and victims advocate Audrey Carlson.
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Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Linda Greenhouse joins CT Mirror’s John Dankosky to discuss the end of another consequential U.S. Supreme Court term.
Greenhouse, who has covered the Court for nearly three decades at The New York Times, offers her unique perspective on what the court’s recent major decisions mean, their impact across the country, and their impact on the court itself.
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CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas sits down with Steady Habits host John Dankosky to review the Connecticut General Assembly’s 2023 legislative session and answer audience questions.
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Gov. Ned Lamont sits down with CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas to talk about the current budget process and his vision for his second term. Lamont won a convincing reelection last year as a defender of the fiscal guardrails that have capped spending and pushed the state to use its historic run of budget surpluses to fill the rainy day fund and begin paying down Connecticut’s considerable pension debt.
Is that what the governor sees as his mandate and mission for the next four years, imposing fiscal discipline on a state that has the second-highest per-capita debt in the U.S. and has struggled through much of the past three decades to grow jobs and the economy?
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Break down Gov. Ned Lamont's proposed biennial budget with CT Mirror's budget guru Keith Phaneuf, and look ahead to how those priorities might inform the ongoing 2023 legislative session.
Hosted by John Dankosky.
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As the 2023 Connecticut legislative session gets underway, John Dankosky sits down with a group of CT Mirror reporters to talk about potential bills to look out for this year.
Guests on this episode:
- Jaden Edison, CT Mirror Justice Reporter
- Ginny Monk, CT Mirror Housing & Children’s Issues Reporter
- Erica Phillips, CT Mirror Economic Development Reporter
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What can we expect from the upcoming Connecticut legislative session and Gov. Ned Lamont’s second term? CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas joins host John Dankosky to break it down.
This special event was recorded live at the University of Hartford's Wilde Auditorium. It's the first of a three-part series discussing the legislative session now underway.
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Business leaders, policy-makers and research organizations are exploring innovative economic development strategies rooted in Connecticut’s strength in science and technology.
Hear an outstanding panel of thinkers debate how the state should move forward in the post-pandemic economy.
Guests in this episode:
Margaret Keane, Synchrony, Co-Chair, Advance CT
Jim Smith, JCSmithAdvisors, former Co-Chair, CT Econ Growth Commission
Jeff Sonnenfeld, Yale, Co-Chair, Advance CT
Glendowlyn Thames, former Dep. Commissioner, DECD
Moderated by John Dankosky
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There are 95,000 housekeepers working in hospitals across the country -- greater than the number of doctors. Housekeepers are among the health care workers who spend the most time with patients and their families, often talking to and forming relationships with people as they clean.
Despite the crucial role they played, housekeepers reported feeling unseen and undervalued throughout the pandemic. Investigative reporter Katy Golvala tells host Ebong Udoma housekeepers feel they're being left out of essential worker benefits. You can read her story here.
Katy's story is also the first in a new initiative by the CT Mirror to be published in simultaneously in Spanish.
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There are 95,000 housekeepers working in hospitals across the country -- greater than the number of doctors. Housekeepers are among the health care workers who spend the most time with patients and their families, often talking to and forming relationships with people as they clean.
Despite the crucial role they played, housekeepers reported feeling unseen and undervalued throughout the pandemic. Investigative reporter Katy Golvala tells host Ebong Udoma housekeepers feel they're being left out of essential worker benefits. You can read her story here.
Katy's story is also the first in a new initiative by the CT Mirror to be published in simultaneously in Spanish.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Connecticut is home to tens of thousands of three-unit dwellings, many of which are three-story homes in cities. The state mandates they be inspected for fire safety each year, but chronic understaffing at fire marshals' offices means some of the oldest and potentially most dangerous houses are not getting timely inspections.
Two fatal blazes in Waterbury this year highlighted the problem. CT Mirror's investigative reporter Dave Altimari joined host Ebong Udoma to explain what he found when he examined inspection records. You can read his story, written with Andrew Brown and Katy Golvala, here.
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Connecticut is home to tens of thousands of three-unit dwellings, many of which are three-story homes in cities. The state mandates they be inspected for fire safety each year, but chronic understaffing at fire marshals' offices means some of the oldest and potentially most dangerous houses are not getting timely inspections.
Two fatal blazes in Waterbury this year highlighted the problem. CT Mirror's investigative reporter Dave Altimari joined host Ebong Udoma to explain what he found when he examined inspection records. You can read his story, written with Andrew Brown and Katy Golvala, here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Despite rising rents, skyrocketing home prices and pleas from the Biden administration, Connecticut towns have budgeted just $15 million in federal ARPA funds for housing-related projects.
That represents only around 1% of the $1.5 billion in federal stimulus funding they've received over the past year to help people recover from the pandemic and to allow local leaders to make transformational investments in their communities.
Investigative reporter Andrew Brown joins host Ebong Udoma to explain why housing is so low on the spending list. You can read his story, co-reported with Ginny Monk, here.
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Despite rising rents, skyrocketing home prices and pleas from the Biden administration, Connecticut towns have budgeted just $15 million in federal ARPA funds for housing-related projects.
That represents only around 1% of the $1.5 billion in federal stimulus funding they've received over the past year to help people recover from the pandemic and to allow local leaders to make transformational investments in their communities.
Investigative reporter Andrew Brown joins host Ebong Udoma to explain why housing is so low on the spending list. You can read his story, co-reported with Ginny Monk, here.
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Connecticut's Republican primary voters heeded former President Donald Trump’s call to nominate Leora Levy to run for U.S. Senate, and rejected their party’s convention-endorsed candidate, former house minority leader Themis Klarides. In the aftermath of that vote, CT GOP Chairman Ben Proto’s response to questions about Trump’s influence on the GOP’s identity was to ignore them, repeatedly.
Proto declined to acknowledge even the slightest complication of a win that puts Levy on the same ticket with a gubernatorial nominee, Bob Stefanowski, who has labored to avoid any discussion of the former president.
CT MIrror's capitol bureau chief Mark Pazniokas spoke to host Ebong Udoma about what Levy's win means for her party. You can read his story here.
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Connecticut's Republican primary voters heeded former President Donald Trump’s call to nominate Leora Levy to run for U.S. Senate, and rejected their party’s convention-endorsed candidate, former house minority leader Themis Klarides. In the aftermath of that vote, CT GOP Chairman Ben Proto’s response to questions about Trump’s influence on the GOP’s identity was to ignore them, repeatedly.
Proto declined to acknowledge even the slightest complication of a win that puts Levy on the same ticket with a gubernatorial nominee, Bob Stefanowski, who has labored to avoid any discussion of the former president.
CT MIrror's capitol bureau chief Mark Pazniokas spoke to host Ebong Udoma about what Levy's win means for her party. You can read his story here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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One of the states that has scrapped cash bail is New Jersey. The legislature, with the backing of then-Republican Gov. Chris Christie, passed a bill in 2014 that largely eliminated the state’s money bail system. The result: thousands fewer people are held in jail who otherwise might not have been able to purchase their freedom.
Connecticut has been touted as a leader in criminal justice reform, but unlike in New Jersey and several other states, Connecticut has not eliminated its cash bail system — and key members of the criminal justice community are not in favor of uprooting it.
Reporter Kelan Lyons joins host Ebong Udoma to discuss the second in his series of stories on Connecticut's cash bail system.
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One of the states that has scrapped cash bail is New Jersey. The legislature, with the backing of then-Republican Gov. Chris Christie, passed a bill in 2014 that largely eliminated the state’s money bail system. The result: thousands fewer people are held in jail who otherwise might not have been able to purchase their freedom.
Connecticut has been touted as a leader in criminal justice reform, but unlike in New Jersey and several other states, Connecticut has not eliminated its cash bail system — and key members of the criminal justice community are not in favor of uprooting it.
Reporter Kelan Lyons joins host Ebong Udoma to discuss the second in his series of stories on Connecticut's cash bail system.
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According to a CT Mirror analysis, people who are accused but not yet convicted made up about a quarter of those behind bars in June 2013. In January 2022, they made up 42% of those locked up. Many are only awaiting trial in prison because they couldn't afford bail.
Research suggests being jailed pretrial makes people more likely to be convicted and receive harsher sentences than those who remain free until their case is resolved in court.
Reporter Kelan Lyons joins host Ebong Udoma to describe the case of one man left in prison for two months awaiting trial, and how that affected his life. You can read the first of Kelan's three-part series on cash bail here.
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According to a CT Mirror analysis, people who are accused but not yet convicted made up about a quarter of those behind bars in June 2013. In January 2022, they made up 42% of those locked up. Many are only awaiting trial in prison because they couldn't afford bail.
Research suggests being jailed pretrial makes people more likely to be convicted and receive harsher sentences than those who remain free until their case is resolved in court.
Reporter Kelan Lyons joins host Ebong Udoma to describe the case of one man left in prison for two months awaiting trial, and how that affected his life. You can read the first of Kelan's three-part series on cash bail here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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A televised debate Tuesday night will provide the first and only opportunity for a broad audience to see Themis Klarides, the CT GOP’s socially moderate convention choice, engage two Trump loyalists, Leora Levy and Peter Lumaj.
But Republicans say they see little evidence their voters are closely following the mid-summer fight for a spot on the November ballot opposing Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat seeking a third term. The primary is Aug. 9.
Capitol Bureau Chief and CT Mirror co-founder Mark Pazniokas gave host Ebong Udoma the run down on the race so far. You can read his story here.
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A televised debate Tuesday night will provide the first and only opportunity for a broad audience to see Themis Klarides, the CT GOP’s socially moderate convention choice, engage two Trump loyalists, Leora Levy and Peter Lumaj.
But Republicans say they see little evidence their voters are closely following the mid-summer fight for a spot on the November ballot opposing Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat seeking a third term. The primary is Aug. 9.
Capitol Bureau Chief and CT Mirror co-founder Mark Pazniokas gave host Ebong Udoma the run down on the race so far. You can read his story here.
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In April, when Connecticut's free fare program began, bus ridership was back to 70-75% of pre-COVID levels in Hartford, New Haven and Stamford. By the end of May, weekday ridership in the three cities reached nearly 90% of pre-COVID levels, with weekend numbers even higher, in part due to additional weekend service.
CT Transit officials hope that means more people are now leaving their cars at home, as reporter Tom Condon tells host Ebong Udoma. You can read Tom's story here.
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In April, when Connecticut's free fare program began, bus ridership was back to 70-75% of pre-COVID levels in Hartford, New Haven and Stamford. By the end of May, weekday ridership in the three cities reached nearly 90% of pre-COVID levels, with weekend numbers even higher, in part due to additional weekend service.
CT Transit officials hope that means more people are now leaving their cars at home, as reporter Tom Condon tells host Ebong Udoma. You can read Tom's story here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Join Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Linda Greenhouse in conversation with CT Mirror's John Dankosky as they review an historic and consequential U.S. Supreme Court term. Greenhouse, who covered the Court for nearly three decades at The New York Times, weighs in on the ramifications of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, as well as cases on gun rights and the environment.
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CT Mirror has a new podcast! If you're a fan of Steady Habits, we'd love for you to check out John's new project which he's co-hosting with Mercy Quaye, CT Mirror's Sightlines op ed columnist. So as a bonus for our Steady Habits subscribers, here's the first episode of Untold. Like what you hear? You can subscribe to get all four episodes of the first season of Untold here.
Or find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.
We hope you enjoy!
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CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas joins host John Dankosky to recap a busy, election-year legislative session and preview what’s ahead between now and November.
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With Russia waging war in Ukraine, statewide political campaigns heating up, and Congressional mid-term elections soon to follow, there is a lot of news to consume. But who do we trust to tell it the way it is? And how is the news business faring in today's resource-starved journalism landscape?
CT Mirror Executive Editor Elizabeth Hamilton, former Hartford Courant Political Reporter Daniela Altimari, and UConn Assistant Journalism Professor Amanda Crawford join John Dankosky to tackle these and other questions about The Future of News.
Presented by the University of Hartford and CT Mirror.
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In the first of a series sponsored by CTrides, we look at the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, their employees, and Connecticut's roadways and transit systems.
Are Connecticut employees returning to the workplace in person? How can our transportation infrastructure accommodate and facilitate that process?
John is joined by Chris DiPentima of the CBIA, Orlena Cowan-Bailey of the Connecticut SHRM state council, and Rich Andreski of the CT DOT, to explore the latest developments as the state tries to achieve a new normal.
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John Dankosky sits down with Southern Connecticut State University professor Jonathan Wharton, CT News Junkie columnist Susan Bigelow and Hearst Connecticut associate editor Dan Haar to discuss the legislative session, and this year's big races.
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CT Mirror State Budget Reporter Keith Phaneuf joins host John Dankosky to discuss the budget battles expected during the 2022 legislative session.
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CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas joins host John Dankosky to discuss the upcoming legislative session and statewide elections in November.
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Many of the biggest questions surrounding this year’s Supreme Court term don’t have to do with the cases they decided. They’re more about the people who are deciding them.
What’s the dynamic on the 6-3 majority conservative court? What role does Chief Justice John Roberts play? And what will happen with liberal justice Stephen Breyer, who turns 83 in August? Many progressive voices are calling on him to step down now so that President Biden can get a replacement through a majority Democratic Senate.
Supreme Court reporter and columnist Linda Greenhouse says those calls may have backfired, with Breyer not wanting to make a “political” decision. But Greenhouse, who has covered the Court for decades for the New York Times, says the Court’s days of being above politics are largely over.
In part two of our conversation, Greenhouse considers whether a smaller, even-numbered future Court might help build more consensus, and gives us some of her ideas about the possibility of changing the size of the Supreme Court.
She also looks ahead to the next Court term, which is shaping up to be momentous.
Linda Greenhouse has a new book coming out this fall, titled: Justice on the Brink: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months That Transformed the Supreme Court.
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The Supreme Court term is over, and although it didn’t have some of the high-profile cases we’ve come to expect the Court to decide, it did have its own drama, with Amy Coney Barrett joining the court as a last-minute replacement for the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Former President Trump solidified his mark on the Court, and left it with a 6-3 conservative majority. But votes didn’t always follow partisan lines, leading some observers to remark on a surprisingly moderate Court term. Not so fast, says Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Linda Greenhouse.
The long-time Court reporter and columnist for the New York Times saw the justices expanding their role in religious issues, and further damaging the Voting Rights Act. As she did last year at this time, Greenhouse joined me for a live, special Zoom event, where we took questions from the audience. In part one of our conversation, we talked about that major elections case, and what she made of the new court - she has a new book coming out this fall, titled: Justice on the Brink: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months That Transformed the Supreme Court.
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The Connecticut legislative session has concluded, and it seems that in some ways, this "Land of Steady Habits" has emerged as a changed place.
Yesterday, Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill legalizing marijuana, a deal that took many years, and almost fell apart at the end.
Lawmakers and the Governor also agreed on a budget deal that didn’t raise taxes, but certainly put the issue of tax fairness front and center - shining a light on divides within the Democratic party.
And, the biggest piece of environmental legislation in years, the Transportation and Climate Initiative, failed, but the state did tackle climate and waste issues in a substantial way.
Last night, I talked about these issues and more with CT Mirror reporters Mark Pazniokas, Keith Phaneuf and Jan Ellen Spiegel in our 2021 legislative wrap-up event on Zoom. We were joined by many viewers who asked questions about what did and didn’t get done.
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The 2020 Census gives Americans a chance to redraw their district lines, fundamentally shifting the map of Democracy. But we often wonder - is our system set up to provide the kind of change necessary? How can Connecticut use this opportunity to create an electoral system that serves its people? And what can we learn from experts outside our state about how to do things better?
My guest is Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program
His work focuses on redistricting, voting rights, and elections. He was the author of a widely cited blog on redistricting and election law issues that the New York Times called “indispensable.”
This conversation was recorded earlier this Spring as part of a virtual conversation, before Connecticut's passage of a bill outlawing prison gerrymandering.
This podcast is presented in partnership with the League of Women Voters, Connecticut and Everyday Democracy.
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This last year, spent in a pandemic, has changed the lives of so many. But those changes might be felt most acutely by children. Their routines of family life, social life, and learning, were upended. We’ve heard about a “lost school year,” for kids, but what about just a “lost year?”
The problems weren’t just felt by those children with the most acute mental health disorders, but we know that for those children who are most at risk, supports weren’t always in place - before Covid.
So, what are the solutions? This past Tuesday night, The Connecticut Mirror, the Gannett Newspapers of New England and the Solutions Journalism Network collaborated on an event called “Coping With Covid: Mental Health Solutions For Kids”
We talked about the challenges - and the solutions for this big problem. And we started with a story from the Mirror’s Adria Watson. She spent weeks following the story of families struggling to find mental health services for their children, and in some cases winding up waiting in the emergency room for days on end, unable to get appropriate care.
We also had experts to answer questions from our audience.
Randi Silverman is the executive director of the Youth Mental Health Project, a Connecticut-based charity that has branches in five states. The project’s goal is “to change the conversation and raise awareness that kids can struggle with mental health” through its Parent Support Network.
Michelle Doucette Cunningham is executive director of Connecticut After School Network, an organization that is devoted to developing the “whole child.” The Network is also home to the Social Emotional Learning Alliance For Connecticut.
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Nursing home workers and Connecticut are still at an impasse over a new contract. The state’s largest health care union has said it will strike as soon as Friday at 26 homes, with other strikes possible in the following weeks.
Workers are asking for a pay raise, to $20 an hour, a hike of as much as 33%. The union said that could cost the state more than $200 million per year.
And nursing home operators say they need more than $300 million just to cover losses and cost increases from the pandemic.
The Lamont administration has made what it calls its “last and best offer” to the union. The Governor’s proposal includes $280 million additional funding over two years: $150 million over the next two fiscal years that would primarily fund 4.5% raises for all nursing home workers in Connecticut — not just those threatening to strike. $20 million for a one-time enhancement to workers’ retirement benefits. $12.5 million to fund hazardous pay bonuses; $13.5 million for enhanced training and staff development; And a temporary, 10% increase in facilities’ Medicaid rates worth $86 million between this July and March 2022. These funds would go largely to mitigate lost revenues and added expenses homes have faced.
The Lamont administration pointed out that their package is about four times the increase that nursing homes normally get.
But Keith Phaneuf, who covers the state budget for The Connecticut Mirror, said those numbers are deceiving. “Over the last 14 years, nursing homes have probably gotten a 1% increase on average,” he said. “So it's not that hard to beat that, fourfold.”
Phaneuf said workers have cited difficult and dangerous working conditions, and not enough staffing during the pandemic, which hit state nursing homes hard.
He said some Democratic lawmakers are pushing the administration to acknowledge that the mostly Black and Latino workers have been hailed as “heroes” over the last year.
“Senator Gary Winfield, the Democrat from New Haven really kind of summed it up well, he said, you know, you can give folks all these accolades, but there's no equity without revenue,” Phaneuf said.
“Meaning unless the state puts its dollars behind these types of statements like Black Lives Matter and nursing home workers are heroes. They're empty statements,” he said.
4,000 employees could go out on strike over the next few weeks. You can read more from the Connecticut Mirror at ctmirror.org.
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Everyone has had their lives upended by the pandemic. But the problem has been felt most acutely by women, with more than 2 million leaving the workforce nationwide.
And parents’ lives have been disrupted, as they juggle jobs with at-home or blended learning for their school-age children, and limited child care options.
Put those together, and you can see the problem for single working mothers. Job insecurity, housing insecurity, and food insecurity are all realities, on top of the stress of living through a pandemic while raising children.
Corie Tracy tells me, “self-care has not been a priority” as she goes through life as the working mother of two. Kara O'Dwyer sees the impact of stress in her life as she juggles three jobs and an eighth-grader at home.
They’re two of the women profiled in a series of stories published today in the CT Mirror. A look at how the pandemic has affected the lives of single mothers in the state. This episode, we meet them, find out how they’re coping, and brainstorm some strategies to make their lives just a bit better.
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This week, we continue our conversation with Doug Suisman, the architect and urban planner, who is leading an ambitious planning project for the Greater Hartford region, called Hartford 400. Last time, we talked about the plan’s vision to re-route highways that cut off, and in many cases, destroyed neighborhoods.
Today, we talk about the three major “places” that the project would create: a linear park called The Hartline, that’s based on successful walk/bike paths like Atlanta’s BeltLine; a brand-new urban district in East Hartford, called Midtown, created from the removal of the “mixmaster” of highway overpasses that clog the city; and River Road, the main thoroughfare that reconnects Hartford to the Connecticut River, built over an underground section of I-91. We also discuss the possibility of Hartford becoming a hub of high-speed rail.
Suisman says these plans work as a unit, but don’t rely on each other to achieve success, making a more manageable transformation than the $17 billion price tag might suggest. And, he tells me, it imagines a Connecticut economy built on creating a place people want to live.
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This week, we take a look into the future of Connecticut’s capital city. And not a science fiction look, 100 years out, but something a bit more manageable. It’s a plan to re-route highways that have cut off parts of the city from each other, and from the river that gives Connecticut its name. It’s a plan to knit together smaller projects with big, national efforts, like an expansion of high-speed rail in the Northeast, with a hope of attracting more people to the region, and making life better for those who live here.
The project is called Hartford 400 - named for the city’s upcoming 400th birthday in 2035, a date that marks the European settlement of the region, which has a much longer history of Native American settlement.
The plan builds on community work that’s been trying to solve the problem of what to do with the failing, I-84 raised highway; ideas of how to fix the failing river walls that keep the Connecticut from flooding the city, while reclaiming access to its banks; tunnel concepts floated by U.S. Rep. John B. Larson; and questions about how to capitalize on the $2 trillion infrastructure plan put out by the Biden administration.
The cost? It’s big: $17 billion over 15 years. But my guest, Doug Suisman, says this confluence of events gives the city, and the state, a chance to do something that might never happen again: remake Hartford with a new vision.
Suisman is an architect and urban designer, based in Los Angeles. But he’s a native of Hartford, and he led the city’s iQuilt project, a precursor to Hartford 400.
In the first of two conversations, we talk about the big ideas - and what it will mean for the roadways which have caused such dislocation and congestion for decades.
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If you talk with Scott Lewis, you hear a lot of things that sound like this: “When you go through a lot of challenges in life, you learn how to make the best out of the days that you’re given to live life.” And Lewis has been through some challenges.
At the age of 29, he was sentenced to 120 years in prison for a high-profile murder in New Haven that he didn’t commit. An FBI investigation found that Lewis and a co-defendant had been set up by a police officer who was involved in selling cocaine.
Despite this, it took Lewis years of legal research while behind bars, and help from teams of law students to help him gain his release in 2014. His story is the subject of a documentary, 120 Years.
But he lost 19 years of his life, years with his family he says he can’t get back, and can’t get “too emotional” about. In 2017, he settled a lawsuit with the city of New Haven for $9.5 million.
He’s now 55, and running his own real estate firm - the profession he’d been pursuing before his arrest. He wrote recently for the CT Mirror’s Viewpoints section about his support for a bill that would, in his words, provide “second chances by reducing barriers to professional licensing for people with convictions.”
Lewis knows about the barriers people leaving prison face, and he says that while some of those barriers are necessary, they need to be coupled with compassion for those starting to seek a new life.
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As we mark the one year anniversary of the pandemic impacting Connecticut, we’ve been asking what we’ve learned and what we’ve lost. Restaurant workers, health care workers, educators and students all have different stories to tell about how lockdowns, shutdowns, and the reality of the disease has changed their lives. As part of this look back, we’re talking with the co-founder of a project that’s been asking people for their stories - their feelings, thoughts and fears - since the start.
The Pandemic Journaling Project was founded by anthropologists Sarah Willen of The University of Connecticut and Katherine Mason at Brown University. The online, anonymous portal collects journal entries in written words, spoken words and photos, in English and Spanish. And so far, it’s reached more than 1,300 people in more than 40 countries. It’s being used in college and high school classrooms, and by people who just want to tell their stories. I talked with Sarah Willen about what she and her team of researchers are learning about the pandemic from the more than 10,000 journal entries they’ve received so far.
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In a state that’s been almost entirely run by Democrats for years, Connecticut’s moderate Gov. Ned Lamont is getting a hard push from the left. Rep. Robyn Porter of New Haven is co-chair of the legislature’s labor committee, and she’s been a vocal opponent of what she calls Lamont’s “austerity budget.” She wants more investment in state programs to help vulnerable residents through the economic damage of the pandemic, and to do that, she wants to raise taxes on wealthy residents, an idea Lamont has rejected.
Porter has also been critical of a vaccine rollout strategy that has given advantages to white, suburban residents. She says it’s simple, just do it by zip code, and target the neediest residents - a strategy the state is starting to adopt. In our conversation, we also talk about something she and Lamont do agree on, the legalization of marijuana, and the overwhelming passage of the Crown Act - a multi-state effort to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles, a bill Porter strongly supported.
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Essential workers, racial equity advocates, and those with pre-existing medical conditions were all angered by the state’s decision to change the vaccine rollout to a strictly age-based system. But state officials are sticking by their decision, and they say this new plan will be the best way to protect the most people the fastest and, in the process, save lives.
Josh Geballe, the chief operating officer for Connecticut, has been spearheading this vaccine effort. He joins me to talk about the reasons for the state’s shift in plans, how Connecticut is addressing the questions of vaccine equity, the rollout for educators in an effort to open all schools, and how the state plans to administer new “one-shot” vaccines now being made available.
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State residents were surprised by Gov. Ned Lamont’s announcement this week that Connecticut was changing course on its vaccine distribution plans. Instead of essential workers and those with underlying health conditions going next in line, the state will move to a strictly age-based vaccine rollout.
Some essential workers, such as grocery store employees, have told The Mirror that they’re “disgusted” by their removal from the front of the line. And Ron Petronella, of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 371 in Westport told WSHU, “It’s upsetting to us that the stores are busier now than ever, and the infection can spread more easily there, I think, than in the classroom.”
That’s in reference to the only exception being made to the age-based rollout, for school teachers and childcare workers, who’ll be able to get vaccines at clinics set up specially for them.
Lamont said this plan keeps it simple. “Look, we are not blazing a new trail. We looked over at Europe and we've seen a great deal of success there. The healthcare professionals gave me a great deal of confidence that we are still prioritizing those most at risk so I think it’s the right way to go,” Lamont said.
The change, as we have documented, means fewer people of color and those at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 will be eligible for shots in the next round. Equity advocates, like Tekisha Everette, executive director of Health Equity Solutions, and a member of the state vaccine allocation subcommittee, tells us she’s “wary” of the age-based approach, and disappointed that her recommendations weren’t heeded. She also said she didn’t even learn of the change until moments before it became public.
Another group that was upset by the change is the disability rights community. Many states have prioritized people with underlying health conditions
This episode, we also talk with Kathy Flaherty, executive director of Connecticut Legal Rights Project. She told The Mirror that the new plan was “heartbreaking” for people who “have been left behind.”
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House minority leader Vincent Candelora says this legislative session has been a real “change of pace” for him and his Republican caucus. Usually quick to defend Connecticut towns’ “home rule,” he’s calling for the state to take a “more active role” in education policy.
And, where he’d usually ask state government to “leave commerce alone and let capitalism work,” he’s now calling on more state involvement to “prop up capitalism” with additional programs to help businesses.
This turnabout comes during Candelora’s first session in this role, having taken the place of his high-profile Republican predecessor, Themis Klarides. And, it comes at a time when he finds himself basically aligned with Connecticut’s Democratic Governor, Ned Lamont, on tax policy.
Both are pushing back against progressive calls for more progressive taxation. We talked about his legislative priorities and how he feels the state is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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It’s budget day at the state capitol - and all signs point to a lean budget proposal from Gov. Ned Lamont. That’s even though he’s talked about having “the wind at our back” in an economic sense, with the state having benefited from higher than expected tax revenues, coming from high income earners doing well on Wall St.
State Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney sees it a bit differently. The state’s second most powerful Democrat sees a disconnect between the stock market and the reality of most peoples’ lives in Connecticut, and he wants to raise taxes on the wealthy to help struggling cities, towns, and residents.
How much in taxes, and who pays? Those are the questions I asked Looney in our budget preview conversation earlier this week. We also discuss Lamont’s hard line against tax increases, as well as a few ways lawmakers might look to raise revenue this year - legal marijuana and sports betting.
And, we address something that came up in Mark Pazniokas’ Mirror story about the relationship between Lamont and legislators - how a Governor who hasn’t had to deal with dealmaking for the better part of year will work with the General Assembly.
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Gov. Ned Lamont unveils his two year budget proposal a week from today, and despite the economic damage of the pandemic, and the state’s crippling long-term obligations, he’s doing it from a relative position of strength. Connecticut has been the beneficiary of higher-than-expected tax revenues, which have wiped out the short term budget deficit, and the state still has $3.1 billion socked away in the “rainy day fund.”
But many advocates and progressive Democrats want to spend down reserves to help state residents struggling through the pandemic, and provide tax relief for poor and middle class residents. And long-term debt and other obligations mean the state’s short-term rosy picture is just a little bit cloudier.
CT Mirror budget reporter Keith Phaneuf breaks down the status of the state budget in a conversation taped as part of our series of legislative preview events. We talk about some Democrats’ plans to tax wealthy residents, and Lamont’s rejection of that idea. And Keith explains just how deep a hole the state is facing - down the road.
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Connecticut continues to be among the leading states in getting its residents Covid vaccine shots. The most recent CDC data show that only two states have administered first doses to a higher percentage of its population. Gov. Ned Lamont says the state is in a race. "We are racing to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as we can, ahead of what could be this super contagious strain," he said in his COVID briefing last week.
Most of the state’s healthcare personnel, first responders, and many in long-term facilities have gotten the shot, and those 75 and older - not already in that group - are getting theirs now (although, as the Mirror reported this week, that’s proven to be more difficult than many seniors would like).
But as Connecticut moves toward its next phase of vaccinations, those 65 and older, there’s a big issue looming: residents in that age group are overwhelmingly white, which means younger Black and Latino residents - including those working in jobs considered essential - will have to wait.
And data show the threat to those younger workers of color is roughly equal to that of older white residents who are slated to get the next doses. The Mirror’s analysis shows that the COVID mortality rate for a 65-year-old white person is comparable to that of a 55-year-old Black person and a 60-year-old Hispanic person.
That equity issue is what CT Mirror reporters Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Kasturi Pananjady and Jenna Carlesso uncover in their story today. While the state’s age-based plan makes efficiency a priority, it raises the question: Is Connecticut’s vaccine rollout leaving behind Black and Latino residents?
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As Joe Biden takes office, the question is, who’s happier about it, Republicans or Democrats?
I sat down with two of Connecticut’s leading partisan political minds, each of whom has been sharply critical of their parties. Liz Kurantowicz is a Republican strategist and fundraiser, Bill Curry is a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and advisor to President Bill Clinton.
Both of them feel their parties are in better shape with Donald Trump out of office - but what happens next?
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Yale Epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves doesn’t mince words about the US response to Covid, either on Twitter, or in person. He’s been calling for a wholesale overhaul of the nation’s public health infrastructure - which has been failed during the pandemic. In a new piece in The Nation, he calls on President-elect Joe Biden to create a “New Deal” for public health.
But for now, we’re stuck with the system we have, and Gonsalves says it’s falling woefully short in terms of vaccinating the public. Despite Connecticut’s strong national ranking in vaccine distribution, the state has still only vaccinated under 5% of its population.
Gonsalves also takes on local health systems, like the one he works for at Yale, for primary care that’s “shunted off to the periphery of our city” and away from the people who need it the most.
And, he continued his criticism of the Lamont administration for what he calls “abominable” policies regarding COVID in prisons. Gonsalves and other activists have called for more widespread decarceration of inmates to slow the spread of disease. A spokesman for the governor says the state has issued more “discretionary releases” than at any time in a decade, and that the spread of COVID has been nothing like in many other states’ prisons.
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The last legislative session in Connecticut was cut short by COVID-19. And this one is starting outside the state capitol, and will continue on Zoom. So what will this mean for lawmakers and their legislative priorities? What about advocates, lobbyists and citizens who want to be heard?
In the first of a series of conversations previewing the session, John Dankosky talks with Mark Pazniokas, the CT Mirror's capitol bureau chief, health care reporter Jenna Carlesso, and data journalist Kasturi Pananjady.
We talk about how COVID will impact the session, and about issues that could be tackled, including legalized marijuana, vaccine mandates, sports betting, nursing homes, and a public option.
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Miguel Cardona, Connecticut's education commissioner, is on a short list of candidates to become education secretary in the Biden administration. Politico reported Saturday that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has given its “enthusiastic endorsement” to Cardona in a letter to the President-elect.
As The Mirror’s Jacqueline Rabe Thomas reported today, if he got the job, Cardona would be in charge of getting the majority of the nation's students back into schools - something Biden has promised in his first 100 days.
It’s an effort Cardona was focused on in Connecticut this year, with mixed results. The state saw a shutdown of schools in the spring, followed by a reopening that left many students, parents and teachers confused. Each district devising its own plan to reopen in-person classes or provide virtual or “blended” learning.
I talked to Cardona twice this year on the podcast, and as he’s considered for this important national job, we wanted to look back at what he said to us about Connecticut schools, and what it might signal if he’s tapped to go to Washington.
In early August, right in the middle of the pandemic, he made the case that COVID showed how important getting back to school is, especially for children in struggling districts.
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With the FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Connecticut is set for what Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday called a “new spring” - but before we get there, we have a lot of work to do. Neighboring New York has said they’ll shut down indoor dining on Monday in an attempt to slow the rapid spread of the disease, which has spiked positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths across the country. Lamont has resisted calls by many doctors to do the same.
In Connecticut, one in 700 residents has died already from COVID, and hundreds of businesses have been forced to close, probably for good. Physicians are concerned about the hospital system becoming overwhelmed. So, what does our road ahead look like? We gathered three experts last Wednesday on Zoom to take questions from our Mirror audience.
They have wide expertise in the medical, logistical and economic challenges we face. Howard Forman, director of the health care management program at Yale School of Public Health and mentor to some of the nation’s leading health care experts and leaders Tekisha Everette, executive director of Health Equity Solutions, public health professor at Yale University, member of the governor’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group Matthew Spiegel, finance professor at Yale University and co-author of a recent Yale study on which COVID restrictions have proven most effective
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Last Wednesday night, I interviewed Gov. Ned Lamont as part of a special Connecticut Mirror Conversation. You can hear part one of this conversation on our last episode. We talked about where the state stands with pandemic response, vaccine distribution plans, and aid to businesses and individuals who are struggling through the economic downturn.
In this episode, I ask the governor about how the state might provide the aid that residents are looking for, and whether he would consider raising taxes on wealthy Connecticut residents.
“Now is the time to think about raising taxes on the richest individuals in the country. I think it’s really dumb to do it just by the state,” he said. “The wealthy and corporations are going to have to do more.” But, Lamont said he doesn’t want to put the state at a competitive tax disadvantage with neighboring states.
We also looked ahead at the rest of a school year that will depend on that pandemic response. We talked on the day Lamont’s administration announced it would provide access to laptops and high-speed internet for all students.
And, we addressed some of the governor’s legislative priorities, including transportation funding. I asked him about expanding health care in the state, including the possibility of a public option, his response to racial inequities raised by the killing of George Floyd, and about his promise to provide middle-income tax relief.
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Governor Ned Lamont is in a tough spot. This week, he had a group of medical professionals send him a letter saying the way to stop the spike in hospital admissions due to Covid-19 is to close businesses like indoor restaurants and gyms. Meanwhile, the business owners who run those restaurants and gyms are asking for looser restrictions so they can stay afloat during an economic collapse.
He has parents calling him because their kids can’t go to school to learn or play sports, and teachers calling because they’re teaching in classroom conditions they feel are unsafe.
Everyone wants to be at the front of the line when vaccines start to roll into the state by the end of the year, and aside from CDC guidance, he’s getting little help from Washington, where lawmakers continue to dicker over an aid package.
That was the backdrop for our conversation with Gov. Lamont this week. In part one, we talked about the alarming rise in Connecticut's infection and hospitalization rates, plans to help businesses through the pandemic, and who should be first in line to get vaccines.
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We’ve talked about it on the show before — a potential positive of the pandemic for CT is the newfound attractiveness of living outside of major cities like New York and Boston. Last month, Gov. Ned Lamont stood in the rain next to a U-Haul truck to tout the buying boom in the state.
"More people are coming to Connecticut than ever before," Lamont said. "Tens of thousands of people have moved or changed their address to the state of Connecticut in the last few months. They’re buying. They’re renting, and they’re building."
But in a state where housing prices are already high, and stock of affordable housing is already too low, bidding wars with fleeing New Yorkers have been driving up the price of single-family homes, making it even harder for many Connecticut residents to buy.
Among the many wide gaps between rich and poor, and between racial groups that Connecticut is known for, the gap in homeownership is one of the biggest. Jacqueline Rabe Thomas of the CT Mirror dug into this issue for our series “A Better Deal: Exploring Inclusive Economic Recovery” and joins us this week to discuss.
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More than a week after the 2020 election, it’s fair to ask, “what just happened?” The results point to deep divisions within both parties, and in many states, including Connecticut. We saw historic voter turnout, aided by special “pandemic rules” that made mail-in voting a reality for the first time here. But we still saw long lines at polling sites, and in some states new restrictions on the number of polling places. We’ve heard calls for “unity,” both across the political divide, and within political parties, while others continued pointing fingers of blame for unexpected losses. And, we’ve seen shifts on Connecticut’s political map, with former Republican strongholds turning blue, and pockets of red creating new challenges for Democrats.
In this post-election special called “what just happened?” recorded this last Tuesday, I talked about all of these issues with Leah Wright-Rigueur, the Harry Truman Professor of History at Brandeis University, and Susan Bigelow, award-winning columnist for CTNewsJunkie.com.
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The blue wave that swept through the state wasn’t as big as some had predicted, but anger over Donald Trump at the top of the Republican ticket helped Democrats gain seats in the state’s General Assembly, giving Governor Ned Lamont an even bigger majority to work with. Among the seats that flipped from red to blue was the 114th house district where Mary Welander became the first Democrat in 22 years to grab the seat. That’s because Republican House minority leader Themis Klarides decided not to run for reelection.
Klarides has been a part of Republican leadership at the capitol for years, and has clashed with both Democrats and Republicans who she says paid more attention to Trumpian talking points than Connecticut residents. She’s formed a political action committee that she says is meant to end one party rule in the state - and she seems to be a likely frontrunner for the party’s nomination for Governor in 2022. We talked last Friday while votes were still being counted in the presidential election, and as she was assessing how Republican fared in this year’s elections in the state.
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Donald Trump's unpopularity in Connecticut helped state Democrats pick up even more seats in the General Assembly. It looks likely that Democrats will hold a 24-12 edge in the Senate and a whopping 98-53 margin in the House.
And that will make Matt Ritter's job interesting. Ritter is the House majority leader, and incoming speaker of the House.
Matt Ritter spoke to John Dankosky about some of the issues he’ll have to grapple with; the possibility of a public option bill, marijuana legalization, zoning reform and a big one after this election...early voting. And he also talked about the Trump factor and the divide over police accountability measures passed last session.
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Masks and MAGA hats are in. Candidate buttons and “poll watching” are out. You’ll see more, and younger, poll workers, and have more ways to vote. The results? Who knows when you’ll see them.
These are just a few of the realities of voting in Connecticut during the pandemic year of 2020. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill says she thinks that half of the votes cast this election could be by absentee ballot, a first for a state that’s traditionally made it hard to vote any other way than showing up on the first Tuesday in November.
On this episode of Steady Habits she explains to host John Dankosky that safety will be a priority (masks at the polls are a must), and that you can track your registration and the status of your absentee ballot online. And, she tells me, it will be a long day for election officials dealing with both big turnouts and lots of mailed-in ballots to count.
We also hear from writer Colleen Shaddox, who is joining a vigil to make sure that every vote is counted.
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CT’s economic recovery is going to be slow, but the question looms: How slow? According to the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at UConn, it could take a decade or more to undo the pandemic's economic damage. Every sector of the economy is hurting, but damage to the restaurant industry might be the longest-lasting. The leisure and hospitality industry account for the largest number of those laid off this year, and thousands remain unemployed or underemployed as restaurants struggle to figure out how to serve a skittish customer base.
A recent move by the state to open up to 75% indoor capacity doesn’t mean much to small restaurants that don’t have enough room to socially distance, and the outdoor dining boom that we saw this summer is facing the reality that winter is coming.
On this episode of "Steady Habits," John is joined by Leeanne Griffin of the Hartford Courant, and chef Tyler Anderson, to explore how state restaurants have stayed alive - and how they are planning for an uncertain future.
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This close to election day, it's easy for all conversation about politics to be about the horse race. But as this year has shown us, there are some enduring issues surrounding this election: voting rights, systemic racism, the impact of the pandemic on our political life, and the health of our democracy.
In this Steady Habits special election edition, John Dankosky was joined by Quinnipiac University political science professor Khalilah Brown Dean, veteran Republican strategist Liz Kurantowicz and CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas.
At the center of the conversation was the question: "Will bipartisan cooperation and civility ever come back to American politics?"
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COVID-19 has sent a shock wave through multiple industries over the past seven months, but of all of industries barely hanging on through the pandemic - the performing arts might be taking the biggest blow.
Many theaters, playhouses, music clubs and art museums already existed on thin margins, but what happens when you take away the crowds for a year, maybe more? There are still many lingering questions about when these theaters can reopen, and when they do, will people want to come back?
Broadway theaters in New York are shut down through May of next year. Meanwhile, Connecticut has its own performing arts crisis to contend with: six prestigious regional theaters, known as The Connecticut Flagship Producing Theaters, that have no clear pathway to reopening their doors. The six theaters banded together to ask the state for $12 million in CARES act funding, but this week, they learned that state grants would only total $9 million for the whole sector.
Today on "Steady Habits," John is joined by his podcast producer Jessica Freedman, whose article, "COVID leaves Connecticut's theater scene seeking a way forward," is up on the CT Mirror now. On this episode, they dive into the collapse of one theater in particular: Goodspeed Musicals of East Haddam.
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It’s no secret the pandemic has hit Connecticut’s economy hard. It’s also no secret that the Covid shutdown has hit the state’s black and latino communities the hardest.
Pre-Covid, there were some more signs of life in Connecticut’s cities, especially in downtown areas. But those gains weren’t always felt in the neighborhoods. City residents have been saying this to political leaders for decades, and still, little was being done.
The CT Mirror’s Tom Condon, a veteran reporter, has been exploring the different ways the state could make recovery more “inclusive.” This means everything from transportation and infrastructure improvements, to finding ways to get private investment into neighborhoods.
The idea is called “inclusive growth,” and Tom has charted how it’s helped cities like Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Oakland. In a new series, launching today in The CT Mirror, he considers how these ideas could be put to work in Connecticut.
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Anyone who follows Connecticut politics and the news media was shocked when they heard that anchor Dennis House and WFSB were parting ways. After over 28 years on-air, House had become the face of the station, and one of the most prominent TV journalists in Connecticut.
He hosted the Sunday morning political show, Face the State, which regularly broke news and highlighted some of the best political reporting in Connecticut.
In his conversation with John, he reflects on the ever-changing world of broadcast journalism, shares what he’s learned about moderating debates, and answers whether or not he would ever consider going into politics himself.
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Stanley Greenberg has been in the middle of Democratic Party politics for decades. His work as a pollster for Bill Clinton in 1992 helped reshape the party following years of losing ground to Republicans among working-class white voters.
This year, Greenberg has been doing Zoom focus groups with some of these same types of voters - and he’s hearing about health care as the issue that’s most on people’s minds once again.
In his wide-ranging conversation with John, he talks about what Democrats have learned over the years about populism; about how he’s surprised what a big issue climate change is for voters; and he tells John that he was pushing for Joe Biden to pick a different running mate.
On this episode, Greenberg predicts that in November we will see "the biggest turnout in the history of presidential elections."
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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong’s lawsuit against Exxon Mobil charges the company with lying about climate change. He says decades of research by the company showed that their products were increasing global temperatures, and that they actively tried to hide this fact, and kept pushing people to burn more oil. The suit has been likened to the big tobacco lawsuits filed by states, including Connecticut, which resulted in billions of dollars in settlements. More than a dozen cities and states have filed similar suits against big oil, but Tong says Connecticut’s “Unfair Trade Practices Act” gives it the strongest case.
On this episode, he tells John about a coalition he’s joined to try and overturn a court ruling that blocks states’ ability to regulate price gouging during the pandemic.
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A series of big power outages in the middle of a pandemic has Connecticut residents mad at electric utilities again. They're asking lawmakers to get them refunds and to hold Eversource and United Illuminating responsible for not getting the lights on quickly enough.
But Jan Ellen Spiegel, who covers energy and the environment for The CT Mirror says our focus on pointing fingers, and anger over electric rates, has taken our eyes off the real problem - an ancient electric grid that's not only set up for major failures, but is also keeping us from becoming more energy efficient and less reliant on fossil fuels.
As she tells me, when it comes to keeping the lights on, you've either gotta pay now, or pay later.
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Four years after quarterback Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the national anthem, and three months after the killing of George Floyd, sports are at the forefront of the national conversation about racism and police brutality, and athletes at all levels are using their voices to try and affect change.
But even after decades of activism in sports, many athletes are told to “stick to the game,” and stay out of politics. Doug Glanville, knows that’s not possible. And he thinks sports - at their best - can provide a kind of blueprint for what better politics might look like.
Glanville is a former Major League Baseball player, and has been an analyst for a variety of networks and publications. He’s the author of a book, “The Game From Where I Stand” and teaches at UConn. He’s also a member of the Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council, and has been active in police reform efforts in the state after a widely-publicized incident where he was racially profiled in his own driveway.
He joined John this week for a special live Zoom event for the Connecticut Mirror called “Race, Politics and Sports.”
For a full transcript of this interview, go to steadyhabits.org.
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We've been hearing for years that young people are leaving Connecticut. Why? Well, our cities aren’t interesting enough, and our suburbs aren’t built for the lives they want to live. It’s too expensive, there’s not enough public transportation, and there aren’t enough other other young people around.
But, at least in Fairfield County, that trend may be turning around, and we have a pandemic to thank.
Cities like Boston and New York, with their trendy neighborhoods, available public transit, and high density of bars and restaurants have been attracting young people who grew up in Connecticut for decades. But a lot of those bars and restaurants are closed, public transit can be a scary place these days, and the idea of living with four roommates in a small apartment has lost some of its luster in the age of social distancing.
Jessica Freedman writes for the Mirror’s Viewpoints section. And this week - her Millennial Pulse piece is titled: New York is losing its young people: Is Connecticut gaining them?
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The Republican convention starts today, and it’ll be interesting to see if it’s anywhere near as weird as the Democratic convention last week. With no live audience because of Covid-19, the convention played even more like a scripted TV show than these events had already become.
And with no big, live event to go to, Connecticut’s Democratic delegates didn’t gather with their colleagues from around the country - they socially distanced in an otherwise empty Dunkin' Donuts Park in Hartford.
This episode - we’ll talk with CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas, CTNewsJunkie Contributor, Susan Bigelow, and Southern Connecticut State University Political Science Professor Jonathan Wharton about the politics of the moment.
We'll recap the Democratic Convention, preview the Republican one, talk about some drama in the state GOP that’s putting pressure on the party Chairman JR Romano, and talk about one of my favorite subjects - why can’t Connecticut do early voting and mail-in voting like so many other states?
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This week’s Connecticut primary doesn’t feature any big statewide races or a contested race for a presidential nomination. But it’s actually a lot more interesting than it’s ever been, because it’s a test run for a new, expanded absentee ballot system in the state, meant to keep people safe from Covid-19.
Letters went out weeks ago from the Secretary of State’s office, asking registered voters if they wanted an absentee ballot for the primary. They got hundreds of thousands of requests back.
But some of those requests came back as undeliverable, some were returned to the sender because of issues with printing, and then, when it came time to get out the ballots, reports from town clerks came back that tens of thousands of requested ballots weren’t sent.
All of these complications are compounded by Connecticut’s notorious home rule, which makes sure that every town is going to handle elections differently, and our history of being very restrictive with mail-in voting, which hasn’t exactly gotten us used to this way of doing things... Neither of these are new.
But what is new is the turmoil at the US Postal service, which is currently in chaos because of changes being forced upon it by the Trump administration.
So, how did this new, temporary mail-in ballot system work? And what can it tell us about the BIG election in November?
Lawmakers have approved a no-excuse mail-in voting system for the general election, but not beyond...will this be the moment where Connecticut actually breaks one of its most confounding steady habits?
I talked with the state’s top election official, Secretary of the state Denise Merrill last week to find out. She’s been pushing for reforms for years, and I asked her what we can expect to learn from this unprecedented primary.
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The start of the school year is now less than a month away, and nobody really knows what it’ll look like. Governor Ned Lamont had been saying that the plan was for Connecticut schools to return to in-person classes in the fall, but early last week, he reversed course, saying that it would be up to individual districts to make that determination.
That’s caused confusion among many parents - but the problems presented by remote learning are especially acute for low-income parents and students, who are significantly less likely to have broadband access. Our education reporter Jacqueline Rabe Thomas has been detailing these realities. During what’s being called the “lost school year” that ended earlier this summer, some districts saw a massive drop-off in attendance when Covid forced classes online.
Last Tuesday - just after the state had announced that towns can determine their own plans - I hosted a “Coffee Conversation” on this issue with Jacqui and Miguel Cardona, Education Commissioner of the state of Connecticut, and Ryan Brown, a Middle School Teacher from Bridgeport.
Over the course of our conversation, you’ll hear some questions that came from our online audience, as we talk about the digital divide, what’s expected of teachers and parents in this new world, and how teaching might change forever.
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Now that August is here, and reopening plans for colleges and universities seem less abstract, the reality is starting to really set in about what campuses will actually be like in the fall. Expect restrictions on social contact - one of the big draws for many students living on, or near, campus.
In the CT Mirror’s “Viewpoints” section today, in the latest installment of the “Millennial Pulse” series, our Steady Habits producer Jessica Freedman asks, “Will Social Distancing on Campuses Become the New Peer Pressure?” She writes about schools’ plans for “family pods” - a kind of predetermined social circle for each student, as a way to cut down on close contact.
Neither Jess, nor the students she talked to, are so sure this plan will work.
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The State Senate takes up a controversial police reform bill this week, after what many saw as a raw and emotional overnight debate on the floor of the House. The bill, pushed by progressive Democrats following the death of George Floyd, passed along party lines, and was the subject of demonstrations in support of both Black Lives Matter and police outside the capitol.
This week on Steady Habits, The Connecticut Mirror’s criminal justice reporter Kelan Lyons joins us, along with Ndidi Moses, past president of the Connecticut Bar Association and an assistant U.S. Attorney. She’s leading efforts to bring sides together to talk. “To change, you have to get out of your comfort zone,” Moses says.
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Affordable housing is already out of reach for many residents. But the Covid-19 shutdown has made that problem much worse.
Despite an eviction moratorium that’s been extended to the end of August, housing advocates are worried that thousands will be forced out of their homes because they can’t afford to pay their current rent or the back rent they owe.
And that’s just one deadline looming. The other is the end of this month, when the federal unemployment insurance that’s paying people who’ve lost their jobs an extra $600 per week goes away.
Federal lawmakers are working on an extension of those benefits - but it’s likely that the next round won’t be so generous. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is among those who was calling for those benefits to end, saying it “discourages work,” by paying people more to be unemployed than their jobs were paying them. Last week, Lamont walked that opposition back a bit, saying he was talking about the “specific amount.”
But his Housing Commissioner, Seila Mosquero-Bruno sees how that insurance has helped people. She tells me that we as a state, “sometimes don’t appreciate” how hard it is for people, especially working minimum wage jobs, to make their rent during a crisis.
Her department rolled out a rental relief program last week that requires tenants to apply for assistance that will ultimately go to their landlords.
Housing advocates say that’s putting too much strain on already stressed tenants - and that the amount of money Connecticut is allocating, $10 million dollars, only about $4000 per household, is far short of what’s needed.
In this episode, we talk to the Housing Commissioner, and with Ashley Blount of the Cancel Rent Coalition.
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This is a big week for the US Supreme Court. A very long term comes to an end. It was conducted under unusual circumstances because of coronavirus, it tackled some of the most important cultural and workplace issues of our times, and it featured a court that has President Donald Trump’s imprint all over it.
Now, depending on when you’re listening to this podcast, it may have already wrapped up, with the final decisions coming down on Thursday morning.
Earlier this week, we talked with one of the most knowledgeable court watchers around — Linda Greenhouse, the long-time NY Times reporter, and current Supreme Court columnist. She joined us for a “Steady Habits” special event on Tuesday night with a few hundred Mirror readers listening in on Zoom, and asking their own questions.
Our conversation came one day before a pair of 7-2 decisions, expanding the rights of religious organizations to limit contraception coverage and other workplace protections to workers.
Both of these cases — and others we talk about are part of what she calls the “project” of the John Roberts-led court. An opening up of both the public square and public dollars to religion.
But despite those victories for conservatives, Linda Greenhouse has been watching closely how The Chief Justice sided with liberals on the court in three major decisions about LGBT rights, immigration and abortion.
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English language learners make up a large and growing piece of our education system. The achievement gaps between them and other students are huge. And, like much of the state, the system for teaching them is fractured.
CT Mirror's Jacqueline Rabe Thomas has been investigating this achievement gap - and how the state approaches teaching English language learners. Her reporting started before the pandemic - and as she tells us, the disrupted school year and distance learning only made it more difficult for these students.
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This week, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont used an executive order to call for greater accountability in the state police. The Connecticut Chiefs of Police Association issued a 90-day moratorium on law enforcement authorities accepting more military equipment. And the Police Accountability and Transparency Task Force outlined a series of priorities to reform policing in Connecticut. Among these recommendations is an examination of police officers’ interactions with individuals with a mental, intellectual or physical disability.
The role of police in responding to calls of people in a mental health crisis has been one of the issues raised by those calling for a defunding of police departments - a reallocation of dollars toward a different kind of response.
Kelan’s story “Should police be social workers?” digs into this issue - the many hats police are expected to wear, the training they get in dealing with mental health issues, and the value of that training. His examination of this system is in the context of this nationwide reckoning about police and racism in America.
Note: This podcast contains police body camera footage of a shooting. Some listeners may find it disturbing.
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State Sen. Gary Winfield has been at the forefront of police accountability efforts in the General Assembly for years, but he says there is now unprecedented urgency for legislative action. He tells John Dankosky that the General Assembly — in special session — must work swiftly to craft legislation that addresses the demands of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has mobilized thousands of protesters around the state and many more across the country.
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State Treasurer Shawn Wooden was born and raised in Hartford. He's seen firsthand how systemic racism limits access to housing, education and opportunity in Connecticut's cities. Police shootings of unarmed men and high rates of police stops of people of color in the suburbs aren't just news reports or statistics for him. "This is the America I know," he tells John Dankosky on "Steady Habits" this week. "And this America continues to scare me." He's advocating for corporate America to take on racism, and he's using his position as an investor of state money to do so.
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In this special edition of "Steady Habits," Gov. Ned Lamont joins us at the end of the first day of reopening in Connecticut to give us his read on Day 1 and outline what to expect in the second and third phases of reopening. Later, he and host John Dankosky discuss the dissolution of the public-private education partnership with hedge fund mogul Ray Dalio's foundation.
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Today, Connecticut begins the long, winding process of reopening. We're kicking off a new series to explore some of the most challenging questions as it plays out. This week, we ask the most pressing question on our minds as the first wave of workers returns to the workplace — is it too soon? Dean Sten Vermund of the Yale School of Public Health and Dr. Tom Tsai of the Harvard Global Health Institute join John Dankosky to discuss.
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The Connecticut Mirror's Mark Pazniokas and Jenna Carlesso join host John Dankosky to talk about why Gov. Ned Lamont fired Department of Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell amid a global health crisis, and what it means for the state's response to COVID-19.
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This week, John Dankosky sits down (well, Zooms) with Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and Mark Pazniokas of the Connecticut Mirror for an update on how the state is dealing with COVID-19. They talk about the governor's advisory group, and the plan to get the state back to work; about the impact on education and child care; about the sorry state of nursing homes; and about how this might change (eventually) the way we vote.
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Congressman Jim Himes has spent some time in recent days debating whether to give himself a buzz cut. Mostly, though, he's been thinking about what can be learned from the coronavirus pandemic to mitigate a crisis of this magnitude in the future. He's come up with three lessons, and he shares them with host John Dankosky. Later, the congressman offers his thoughts on voting amid the pandemic, and what threat foreign interference might pose as the United States adapts its election systems to the crisis.
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Congressman John Larson, an 11-term Democrat from East Hartford, has agreed to join President Donald Trump's bipartisan congressional task force to reopen the American economy. He shares with "Steady Habits" host John Dankosky the recommendations he will make to the president to avoid an "uneven recovery." Later, Larson discusses the need for more testing, the "Stimulus 3.5" and "Stimulus 4.0" bills in Congress and the changes he wants to see to reshape America's economy on the other side of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz says the coronavirus pandemic has presented Connecticut with challenges "of the magnitude" of a "new Depression era." Bysiewicz talks with host John Dankosky about witnessing "today's equivalent of bread lines," grappling with the U.S. Census Bureau's request to delay the 2020 count – which she is overseeing in the state – and ensuring the safety of the state's elections through executive action before the June 2 presidential primary.
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Paul Turner thinks viruses are cool. That's not the common opinion, of course, at least not right now. But his work at Yale is about finding ways to put viruses to work for us using phage therapy, an alternative to traditional antibiotic treatment. He sits down with host John Dankosky to share what he knows about the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
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Connecticut is two weeks away from a projected peak in the coronavirus pandemic, but Dr. David Katz tells host John Dankosky the U.S. needs to start sending younger, healthier people back to work in "waves." Katz, former director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, believes this could lead to "herd immunity" before a vaccine is developed, but says it may be too late. The theory is disputed by many experts — including our last guest, Dr. Howard Forman — but is at the heart of a national debate.
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As the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate all aspects of public life, a new debate has emerged: Should government direct resources toward the elderly and let the rest of the population get back to work? Two Yale health experts — Dr. Howard Forman and Dr. David Katz — are on opposite sides of the issue. Dr. Forman, who is an expert in radiology, public health and management, tells host John Dankosky on this week's episode the answer is no. We have invited Dr. Katz to offer his perspective next week.
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In this special edition of "Steady Habits," Sen. Murphy says Congress is spending too much time debating elements of the trillion-dollar stimulus package instead of focusing on what he says is the more pressing issue – stopping the spread of the coronavirus. He also talks with host John Dankosky about the controversial proposed bailout of the airline industry and offers insights on what members of Congress knew behind the scenes before the pandemic dramatically halted public life in the United States.
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Amid the coronavirus crisis, Comptroller Kevin Lembo has renewed his push for a public health insurance option in Connecticut — an expansion of the plan he runs for state employees. It died last year under pressure from state insurers, but Lembo tells host John Dankosky the need is clear now. He provides a detailed explanation of how it would work, how we'd pay for it, what it might cost, and whether he sees it as a "half-step" toward a Medicare expansion, or Bernie Sanders-style Medicare for All.
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In the middle of the coronavirus outbreak that's forced a state of emergency in Connecticut, Hartford's Mayor Luke Bronin tells host John Dankosky how the city is responding. He also makes a plea to lawmakers and surrounding towns about ways they can help the city and state prosper.
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State Child Advocate Sarah Eagan's office wrote a scathing report about the conditions youth offenders in Connecticut were living under last year. She's seen a lot of changes since then, including the involvement of the federal Department of Justice. But, as she tells host John Dankosky, there's more to be done.
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One of Connecticut's unhealthy "steady habits" is the achievement gap between wealthy, suburban schools and their counterparts in the cities. It's among the worst in the nation, but the governor and legislature remain at odds on major structural changes to address the challenge externally. State Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona tells host John Dankosky he hopes to break that habit from the inside — and get more students ready to fill the jobs that companies in the state are creating.
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Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas tells host John Dankosky what happened to kill one of the most controversial legislative proposals in years — a bill that would have tolled tractor-trailers to help pay for transportation improvements.
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After taking a no-talk-about-tolls pledge last week, host John Dankosky spends most of this episode talking about the issue with Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas, who says it has provided us with both comic relief and, now, something unprecedented at the state Capitol. Later, Washington reporter Ana Radelat tells us about what she sees as Connecticut's role in the Democratic primary season, now that Iowa and New Hampshire have cleared up… well, just about nothing.
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This week, we're going to give you a break and NOT talk — at all — about highway tolls in Connecticut. Nope. Not a bit.
Instead, host John Dankosky invites in three CT Mirror reporters to talk about big issues they're watching as the state legislative session gets underway.
Jacqueline Rabe Thomas breaks down Gov. Lamont's u-turn on affordable housing; Keith Phaneuf uses nightmarish analogies to explain the spending cap; and Jenna Carlesso tells us a "public option" for health care probably won't happen.
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His first year as Connecticut's governor could've taken a toll (pun intended), but Ned Lamont says he's "energized" and "getting younger." He sits down with host John Dankosky to talk about his priorities for the state in a wide-ranging, one-on-one conversation.
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A teaser for the upcoming first episode of Steady Habits: A Connecticut Mirror podcast, where Gov. Ned Lamont sits down with host John Dankosky for a wide-ranging conversation. Here's a glimpse at what to expect.
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