WICC The Voice of Connecticut

There is a lot of talk about House Bill 5001: AN ACT CONCERNING ABSENTEE VOTING FOR ALL AND VARIOUS OTHER REFORMS TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF ELECTIONS. The bill would remove most restrictions on who can vote absentee and make several technical and procedural changes to how elections are run in the state. But some worry we will just see more election fraud issues like what we’ve seen in Bridgeport. W...

The legislature will hold a public hearing today on a bill that would put a 2¢ per ounce tax on sugary drinks. House Bill 5537: AN ACT IMPOSING A TAX ON CERTAIN SWEETENED BEVERAGES, SYRUPS AND POWDERS AND DEDICATING THE REVENUE GENERATED TO A UNIVERSAL FREE SCHOOL MEALS PROGRAM. We talked to Senate Minority Leader Steve Harding about this proposal and potential gaps in the bill. For the full bill:...

A nursing home in Windsor Locks is shutting down soon after the death of a 93-year-old resident. The state has now ordered the closure of Bickford Health Care Center in Windsor Locks and requiring patients to be transferred to other facilities by April 10. We talked to Senator Jeff Gordon, an acting member of the Public Health Committee, about the questions surrounding this facility, the workers a...

The digital world and our real world are more connected than we may think. Recently, a 15-year-old boy in New York who went missing nearly two months ago was found dead. He left his home in January claiming he was meeting up with someone he met on Roblox. We talked about this with one of our law enforcement experts, Gary MacNamara.

One of the largest public hearing turnouts happened this week for House Bill 5468: An Act Concerning the Provision of Equivalent Instruction. We did a deeper dive into it with State Representative Jen Leeper, Chair of the Education Committee. For the full bill: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2026/TOB/H/PDF/2026HB-05468-R00-HB.PDF

The clock is ticking! PURA is set to make a final decision on Eversource’s proposed sale of Aquarion Water Company by March 25th. Recently, PURA tentatively approved it, mostly because it was out of their jurisdiction to reject it. That’s based on a sneaky state law that passed in 2024. Now, Senator Ryan Fazio is putting forward a proposal as a last-ditch effort to block this deal. We learned more...

Thursday's "Connecticut Today" with host Paul Pacelli wondered what the next few years could bring for the embattled Trumbull Mall, whose owner recently failed to keep up with payments on a $152-million loan used to purchase the mall in 2022 (00:59). Connecticut Citizen's Defense League President Holly Sullivan explained the latest gun bill being debated in Hartford (12:21). Former Bridgeport Demo...

Ever wished it was easier to get around without a car? City planner and author Jeff Speck has some ideas on how to make Bridgeport easier more walkable!

We did a deeper dive into House Bill 5044: “Establishing Connecticut Vaccine Standards.” Does it actually enact mandated vaccines like covid or flu? And does it give too much power to Connecticut to make major vaccine decisions for kids and adults? We spoke with Dr. Manisha Juthani, Commissioner of the Department of Public Health.

We’re seeing the gas prices go up and the governor is now entertaining the idea of a gas tax holiday for a month. It was a good time to check in with Chris Herb, head of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association, to talk about this proposal and what we can expect with gas prices in Connecticut.

The US Department of Justice announced this week that they’d reached a settlement in their antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, in a case that alleged an illegal monopoly over live events in America. But Attorney General William Tong says the state is not giving up the case. We spoke more about it with him.

Wednesday's mid-week "Connecticut Today" welcomed Hearst Connecticut Media's Dan Haar to recap a busy, high-pressure day with plenty of public testimony at the State Capitol on some controversial bills (00:37). Columnist and blogger Chris Powell dropped by to discuss Connecticut education and school funding (09:37). Paul offered a few thoughts on a push to further regulate homeschooling in Connect...

Milford Public Schools made a huge announcement regarding its long-range facilities plan. The district hired a consultant to look at the condition of the 14 district schools and available property to potentially build. After the recommendations, the Board of Education voted to keep both high schools and update them. However, it also voted to consolidate to two middle schools and eventually elimina...

There are a few bills being discussed in front of the Judiciary Committee today including House Bill 5043, proposed by Governor Lamont. It’s addressing lego-sized glock switches that can turn a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic firearm. We got more details from State Representative Steve Stafstrom, who also serves as House Chair of the Judiciary Committee. To read the full bill: https:...

There are several public hearings in Hartford on very controversial pieces of legislation. We did a deeper dive into House Bill 5468 to understand people’s concerns around equivalent instruction. We spoke with House Ranking Member of the Education Committee, Representative Lezlye Zupkus, about the bill and the cut off for public comment. To read the full bill: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2026/TOB/H/PDF...

The Fairfield Board of Selectpersons just approved the proposed $403 million dollar budget which came with a $1.5 million dollar cut to education funding. We talked about the 2026-27 school budget with superintendent Michael Testani.

Host Paul Pacelli spent some time on Tuesday's "Connecticut Today" talking about a controversial bill at the Capitol that would impose new state-level rules on the use of supermarket self-checkout stations (00:40). CT State Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto dropped by to talk about a controversial State Democratic Party social media post criticizing a top GOP gubernatorial candidate (15:15). Yan...

Ahead of a public hearing in front of the Planning and Development Committee, we spoke with Kathryn Braun, a member of CT169Strong, an attorney and member of the Fairfield TPZ. The hearing will cover several bills, including H.B. No. 5502 ("An Act Concerning Housing Development on Certain Lots Zoned for Industrial or Previously Zoned for Residential Use"), and HB 5507 (An Act Concerning Accessory...

This week, there is a public hearing in front of the Environment Committee to cover more than a dozen pieces of legislation, including SB 457, An Act Concerning the State’s Bottle Bill. But apparently, it’s different from the bottle bill that passed in the emergency certified omnibus bill earlier this session. We got a breakdown from State Representative Joe Gresko, former House Environment Commit...

This week, the Judiciary Committee looked at several bills including ones focused on privacy protections. We did a deeper dive into House Bill 5449, An Act Concerning Automatic License Plate Reader Systems with Chelsea-Infinity Gonzalez, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the ACLU-CT. To read the full legislation: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2026/TOB/H/PDF/2026HB-05449-R00-HB.PDF

All of the sudden, Connecticut had a real winter and now students have a bit of a problem…being in school later in the year than we expected. Westport schools immediately jumped on finding a solution and not cutting into summertime. We got the details from superintendent of Westport schools, Tom Scarice.

Host Paul Pacelli started a new week on "Connecticut Today" by warning listeners about what many see as a dangerous proposal connected to legal marijuana use (00:43). Wallingford/Middlefield GOP State Rep. Craig Fishbein filled us in on this week's upcoming public hearings at the State Capitol (15:19). Connecticut-based Gasoline and Automotive Service Dealers of America head Mike Fox talked about...

The debate surrounding armed officers in schools across Connecticut continues at the local level. For example, in Milford, hiring retired officers to man all the elementary schools are included in the proposed school budget for next year. A lot of districts are having these conversations. But a new bill is taking things one step further for schools looking to hire retired officers. It looks to cla...

Reversing course: PURA made a tentative approval for the proposed merger between the Aquarion Water Co. and the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority. The ruling said, in part, that some of the concerns from opponents of the sale, fall outside the jurisdiction of PURA. We spoke about this with with Senate Minority Leader Steve Harding. Image Courtesy Of The Senate Republicans And Stev...