WICC The Voice of Connecticut

The Stamford Board of Education unanimously chose Dr. Adrian Talley to take on the role as the new superintendent July first. Outgoing superintendent, Dr. Tamu Lucero, announced last summer she accepted an education role in Africa and is set to leave at the end of this school year in June. We asked John Corcoran, President of the Stamford Education Association, about this transition in power and h...

The Connecticut House passed a bill to have a fairer termination process for teachers across the state. We spoke with Kate Dias, President of the Connecticut Education Association, about HB 5003: An Act Concerning Workforce Development and Working Conditions in the State. To read the bill: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABillStatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=HB5003

Host Paul Pacelli opened Tuesday's "Connecticut Today" with his thoughts on an overwhelming state House vote that ok'd a statewide "bell-to-bell" school cell phone ban, despite some criticism from Republicans (00:38). Connecticut Inside Investigator reporter Marc Fitch talked about the current controversy surrounding a Bridgeport special education teacher (15:07). Yankee Institute blogger Meghan P...

The state House is passing a bill to ban cellphones in public schools. It now moves on to the state Senate for a vote. Current law implements some limitations on cell phone use in schools but stops short of a bell-to-bell ban. Joslyn DeLancey, Connecticut Education Association Vice President. The CEA is the largest teachers’ union in the state. To read the full bill: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGA...

Affordability is the theme of this year’s session but how do we create more affordability; that’s the debate. Let’s look at the impact of a child tax credit in our state. Amy Casavina Hall is the Senior Vice President of Partnerships, Development and Communications for United Way of Connecticut. We spoke with her about new research from The Center on Poverty & Social Policy at Columbia Univers...

Host Paul Pacelli jump-started a new week on "Connecticut Today" saying - in his opinion - that the third apparent assassination attempt aimed at President Trump is a signal for Trump opponents to perhaps ease back on some of their rhetoric (00:34). University of New Haven criminal justice lecturer and former Supervisory Secret Service Agent Bobby McDonald dropped by to address security issues fol...

House Bill 5468 impacting homeschooling families in Connecticut passed the House and is now headed to the Senate for a vote. Despite some changes to the bill, many still feel this is a direct attack on homeschooling families and a pass for DCF overhaul. We spoke with Senator Jason Perillo, ranking senator for the Committee on Children, about the bill. Image Credit: Dee Ortiz

For the first time, Connecticut is implementing a citizen’s assembly to the state this summer. What is it and how will it impact our property taxes in the future? We asked Joe DeLong, executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. For more information: https://ct-citizens-assembly.org/

We are following the shooting that took place during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and a connection to Connecticut. We spoke with former FBI Agent and UNH professor, Ken Gray.

House bill 5001 is waiting for approval from the Senate after passing the House last week. This is the universal absentee ballot bill championed by state Representative Matt Blumenthal. We spoke with Rep. Matt Blumenthal, who is also the House Chair for the Government Administration & Elections Committee.

11-year-old twins, Leonie and Lissette Kalra, created an app that uses everyday objects to spread kindness and spark connections. It’s called Westport Smiles utilizing programs, such as Streamlit and Open AI. We got a better understanding of how this unique tool works and what inspired the sisters to do this. For more information: https://westportsmiles.streamlit.app/ Image Credit: Eric Urbanowicz

What's at the heart of a healthy relationship? Think about it...who in your life determined or showed you what a healthy relationship looks like? We dive into that question and the connection to domestic violence. 

Host Paul Pacelli welcomed Connecticut Conference of Municipalities head Joe DeLong to Friday's "Connecticut Today" to chat about a new upcoming "Citizens' Assembly" slated to look at local property tax issues around the state and possible solutions (00:38). Sixteenth District GOP State Sen. Rob Sampson dropped by to update pending bills at the State Capitol (09:13). Paul also talked about some su...

77% of Americans report experiencing stress that affects their physical health, while 73% of adults say stress negatively impacts their mental health. Additionally, 43% of Americans struggle with stress-related sleep disorders. During National Stress Awareness Month, we spoke with Dr. Rashma Jhunja at Stamford Health about the impacts of stress and how to better manage it. Dr. Jhunja is a board-ce...

There is a group of bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. Senate calls for hot rotisserie chicken to be covered under the government food assistance program known as SNAP. Why does this matter for people needing SNAP? We asked Jason Jakubowski, President & CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, the official Feeding America food bank serving the entire state of Connecticut. For more information: https://www....

A recent investigative report from WFSB questions what exactly Terrence Cheng is doing. He is the former Connecticut State Colleges and Universities chancellor but is now a special advisor to the Board of Regents. No one is quite sure what that role entails but it does earn him $442,000. We talked about this investigative report and questions that follow with Senate Minority Leader, Steve Harding....

We discussed Connecticut House Bill 5283: “An Act Authorizing Municipalities To Prohibit the Sale of Dogs, Cats and Rabbits in Pet Shops. Right now, the bill is being discussed in Hartford with a section of the bill grandfathering current shops already selling puppies, kittens and rabbits. We discussed all of this with Annie Hornish, Connecticut State Director of Humane World for Animals. To read...

A recent article highlighted the millions of dollars our towns and cities are losing on property taxes because people are registering their cars out of state. How is this being policed and why are some towns more aggressive than others in stopping these scofflaws? Jim Cameron who writes the "Talking Transportation" column for CTMirror tackled this story. Jim’s article: Opinion: License plate fraud...

This week, New Canaan was the latest Connecticut town impacted by a hoax threat online. Police found recent posts on TikTok targeting New Canaan High School were not credible. But the situation led to a conversation surrounding swatting calls and hoax online posts. We spoke to Evan Allard, Director of the Connecticut Intelligence Center.

Experts say new studies show the abuse of animals increases the likelihood of child abuse in the same household, and crimes against animals are showing a direct correlation to people. We spoke with Our Companions CEO Susan Linker about the importance of cross-reporting.

The Connecticut House is passing a bill requiring vaccinations for public school students.  Right now, the state Department of Public Health must consider guidance from the CDC when setting vaccine recommendations, but this bill would allow DPH to take recommendations from different medical associations. We spoke with State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, the leading Democratic representative on the...

Host Paul Pacelli got Thursday's "Connecticut Today" underway with an update on a proposed state gun regulation targeting a certain make and model of handgun (00:31). Former state Senate GOP Leader John McKinney stopped by for his weekly update on a couple of major bills in Hartford targeting homeschooling and future, statewide absentee ballot use (15:00)

Today marks the 39th anniversary of the L’Ambiance Plaza collapse in Bridgeport. It involved a 16-story apartment building that was still under construction. The structure used an experimental technique called lift-slab construction, which failed, causing the structure to crumble. We lost 28 construction workers that day, and it remains one of the deadliest construction accidents in US history. We...

The American Lung Association released its 27th annual “State of the Air” report, which finds that nearly half of the children in the U.S. are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution, including more than 700,000 kids in Connecticut. We spoke with Ruth Canovy, Director of Advocacy of the American Lung Association, about the specific findings in our state and learned why Fairfield County is stil...