Steady Habits: A CT Mirror Podcast

As state after state issued lockdown orders, roads across the country emptied. Major highways were eerily deserted, and traffic fell to new lows. But something else started to happen, too. Even though there were fewer cars on the road, more people were dying in car crashes. In 2020, 301 people died in car crashes in Connecticut, according to data tracked by the DOT, a 21% increase over the pr...

New research over the last few years has helped reduce racial disparities in traffic stops in several communities in Connecticut -- while also improving police effectiveness. That has been accomplished by encouraging police to focus almost entirely on roadway safety and not use traffic stops as a pretext to address other issues. In addition to reducing racial disparities, the system now could...

Enlisting the help of contractors and his former boss at the state Department of Administrative Services, Konstantinos Diamantis mounted a fast and furious defense in the summer of 2020 against an accusatory memo produced by the building trade unions ahead of a meeting with Gov. Ned Lamont. The unsigned memo accused Diamantis of using “fear mongering and threats” to engineer an emergen...

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CT Mirror State Budget Reporter Keith Phaneuf joins host John Dankosky to discuss the budget battles expected during the 2022 legislative session. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas joins host John Dankosky to discuss the upcoming legislative session and statewide elections in November. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 progressiv...

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’...

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...

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...

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 he...

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 nurs...

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 w...

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 proje...

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 a...

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....

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-f...

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 vu...

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...

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 the...

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...

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 se...

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 s...

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...

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 th...