Where We Live

Where do our clothes come from? According to the Textile Exchange,  52% of our clothes are made from polyester. Fast fashion is  an enormous industry,  allowing us to purchase low cost clothing quickly and efficiently. But the  toll these companies take on the environment is significant, and the workplace conditions for the factories  that create these products are questionable at best. Building s...

Willie Mae Brown is the author of a new book My Selma: True Stories of a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement . The book, written for young adults, reflects on her time growing up in Alabama and how the civil rights era shaped her coming of age. Today, we’ll hear her message for the next generation of activists. Brown lived in Selma, Alabama until she was 17, when she move...

Anticoagulant rodenticide, a quick fix for controlling the rat and mice population, is now having an effect on birds of prey. Today, we talk to A Place Called Hope, a local raptor rehabilitator here in Connecticut, about how it’s impacting birds across our state. After ingesting this poison, there is little that can be done to save the life of these birds. We’ll hear about legislation to limit the...

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, acclaimed scientist and Connecticut native Dr. Peter J. Hotez has helped translate what we know about the virus and vaccines, taking countless live "news hits" from his office at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. Behind-the-scenes, he helped develop a COVID-19 vaccine, which earned him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Now, he’s working on a new book, his third a...

23% of the adult U.S. population cannot read above a third-grade level.  Literacy isn’t limited to reading and writing, it can also refer to basic math, comprehension and critical thinking skills. According to  ProLiteracy, bringing reading levels up “would generate an additional $2.2 trillion in annual income.  Today, we get a deeper understanding of adult literacy in our country and across our s...

Nearly 92% of American households reported owning at least one vehicle in  a recent five-year 2021 Census report . Connecticut falls just below that national average. A recent Forbes study  found the average annual cost of full-coverage car insurance in Connecticut is $1,730. Plus, the report ranks Connecticut as the most expensive state for car repairs, averaging around $400 for check engine ligh...

The recent congressional hearings  with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew  showed a continued disconnect between lawmakers and social media companies, and their users. With lawmakers pushing for tougher restrictions on TikTok and in some cases an outright ban, many are asking,  what are the real solutions to protecting our privacy online? Today, we explore ways to  regulate social media.  Is a TikTok ban th...

Conley Monk Jr. came home to Hamden in 1970 after serving in the Vietnam War. His discharge was prompted by a PTSD-induced altercation in Okinawa, and categorized within the military as "other-than-honorable." Mr. Monk spent decades trying to access basic benefits like disability coverage, until  his appeal in 2015  ultimately changed how these kinds of cases are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals...

While contestants with Connecticut ties have appeared on the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race in the past, the Season 15 premiere on MTV marks the first time more than one Connecticut drag queen has been represented. Robin Fierce from Hartford, Loosey LaDuca from Ansonia, Amethyst from West Hartford and Jax from the Bronx, raised in Connecticut, comprised this season's Connecticut con...

How are museums where we live faring in returning sacred Indigenous objects and human remains, more than thirty years after a federal law mandated "repatriation"? The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, was passed by Congress in 1990. It called for federal agencies and federally-funded museums to repatriate Native American cultural items, including sacred objects and...

Today on Where We Live, Governor Ned Lamont joins us for an in-depth conversation on the 2023 legislative session and what’s happening around our state. We hear about his priorities for his second term in office. We’ll talk about housing, road safety, healthcare, and all the issues that are impacting us where we live. And we want to give you the opportunity to ask our state’s top official your que...

A new docuseries called  Stepping Into the Shade  is in the works, digging into Connecticut's history of shade tobacco farming. A team at Eastern Connecticut State University, along with host and producer June Archer, tell a kind of oral history of the influence of the seasonal workers on these farms, and their influence on diversity where we live as well as the Civil Rights Movement. This hour, w...

Connecticut author and lawyer Anne Howard  is known for her work writing true crime, but her recent book is a departure from her prior work. Today, we talk about her new book that she worked to translate, entitled  Escape from Mariupol: A Survivor's True Story.   Anne first met Adoriana Marik through mutual friends. They exchanged letters, and Adoriana sent her hand-drawn cards and other artwork o...

The American Library Association released their  annual tally for book challenges in 2022  on Thursday. There were more than 1200 demands to censor library books and resources last year. That’s the highest number they've reported since they began reporting more than 20 years ago, and nearly double the tally in 2021, when the ALA told us those numbers were  "unprecedented." Librarians where we live...

The Peace Corps has evolved over years,  faced controversy  and has made an international impact on poverty. Today, we talk to one of the  architects of the Peace Corps living in Connecticut . After hearing President John F. Kennedy speak about the Peace Corps, Dan Sharp was inspired to join. He became instrumental in establishing diplomatic relations between other countries and making the Peace C...

Connecticut’s waste management crisis is already a top-ticket item for lawmakers. Before the latest legislative session began, newly-appointed Environmental Committee Chair State Sen. Rick Lopes told the CT Examiner he was focused on finding solutions. The State Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has been sounding the alarm since 2020 , when Commissioner Katie Dykes said the dwind...

In one episode of the docu-series Reciprocity Project , Connecticut-based educator and member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe Chris Newell teaches acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma a pow-wow song. Together, they play at sunrise, "singing up the sun" in the tradition of the Wabanaki or People of the Dawnland, a confederation of four tribes in Maine including Passamaquoddy. This hour, we hear about this film se...

Willard Correctional Institution in Enfield will be the third prison in Connecticut to close in two years. Connecticut Mirror's Jaden Edison  reports  that prison admissions have decreased by more than 11,600 people since 2013. "The most recent increase came in the last fiscal year, when admissions rose by more than 4,300 people," Edison says, "though the numbers are far below pre-pandemic levels....

Connecticut is in the midst of a housing crisis. About 34 percent of residents are paying more than a third of their income to housing costs. That’s according to the Connecticut Mirror. From subsidizing construction to studying rent stabilization, lawmakers are currently figuring out how to best address the state’s housing crisis. Rent caps were one of the many housing-related policies being debat...

Where do our clothes come from? According to the Textile Exchange,  52% of our clothes are made from polyester. Fast fashion is  an enormous industry,  allowing us to purchase low cost clothing quickly and efficiently. But the  toll these companies take on the environment is significant, and the workplace conditions for the factories  that create these products are questionable at best. Building s...

Some 2,500 local newspapers have closed in the United States since 2005, 55 of which were in Connecticut. Researchers at the Northwestern Medill Local News Initiative have  mapped out gaps in local coverage , marking "news deserts" across the country, including our own Tolland County, Connecticut's "quiet corner." Still, there are 20 online news organizations, 13 ethnic media outlets, and five pub...

After collecting oral histories from generations of women in her family in "My Little Red Book," Rachel Kauder Nalebuff created  Our Red Book , an extended project reflecting the experience of people of all races, ages and genders around the world. But there’s so much stigma and misinformation around periods. This hour, three Connecticut-based contributors featured in her book join us, breaking do...

When you’re searching for personal care products, whether a bar of soap or a bottle of lotion, are you reading the ingredients label? What harmful ingredients should be avoided? A  recent study from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute  found potential links between the regular use of hair straightening products like relaxers that contained "formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemical...

After losing the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump made false claims about voter fraud, reigniting efforts from Republicans to restrict voting access across the country. States like Florida, Texas, and Georgia all have passed sweeping voting restrictions. But here in Connecticut, the opposite has been true. There's been a push to   expand voting access, after residents voted overwhelmingly...

Eric Jacobsen is completing his  final season with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony.  Today on Where We Live, we talk to Eric about his work as a conductor and we’ll also hear about the search for the  next Greater Bridgeport Symphony conductor. The performing art took a huge financial hit during the pandemic, but the Greater Bridgeport Symphony  found a way to gather and perform during this time....