Y CT Matters

The goals of the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP) were to free candidates from the influence of lobbyists and big money, and also enable candidates from more diverse backgrounds to run for office. However, the program is plagued with imperfections — and even notorious kickback schemes. Connecticut Inside Investigator’s Katherine Revello explores the abuses and shortcomings of CEP in a multiple-par...

Marc Fitch — Connecticut Inside Investigator’s senior investigative reporter — is the new master of horror and suspense with the release of his latest novel, “Dead Ends.” He explains his creative process and gives insights into the chilling tale of four lives being thrown into chaos. “Deads Ends” is out August 15 and available wherever books are sold. Pre-order it here . 

What makes a city or town livable? And how are lawmakers addressing housing and transportation concerns to the improvement or detriment of Connecticut’s municipalities? Dr. Jonathan Wharton — associate professor of political science and urban affairs at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) — discusses these critical issues with YI President Carol Platt Liebau, and explains how lawmakers ca...

Thinking about leaving the union or know someone who is considering it? Well, they only have the month of August to decide! Mike Costanza — a public school teacher in North Stonington and founder of the Facebook group “Constitution State Educators" — returns to the show to discuss how teachers can opt out of their union, and debunks the myths perpetuated by the unions if a teacher decides to...

Sometimes good people can do a bad thing. This was a lesson John Santa — former CEO of Santa Energy — learned when a friend went to prison for embezzlement. After visiting his incarcerated friend, John was inspired to found the Malta Justice Initiative (a former Catholic ministry) to educate and bring the sacraments to prisoners, which proved challenging. He soon discovered that the best way to he...

It has been five years since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME , where the Court held it violated the First Amendment for unions to compel government workers to subsidize them. But what led to the case? What were its consequences? What was it like to argue before the Justices? Bill Messenger — vice president and legal director for National Right to Work and one of the nation’s f...

How did major crises like the Great Depression and World War II — and government interventionism through the New Deal — shape the economy of the 20th century? And how did corporations come to dominate this period? Richard Langlois, a professor at UConn, offers a nuanced reframing and reassessment of the economic, institutional and intellectual history of what’s been called the “managerial century”...

Roger Sherman was more than “just a simple cobbler from Connecticut,” as sung in the musical, “1776.” He was a true statesman, earning the distinction of being the only Founding Father to sign all four great documents of the United States: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution. Connecticut’s Founding Father did more th...

Frank Ricci, Yankee Institute’s Labor Fellow, has had a storied career not only as a New Haven firefighter — retiring as Battalion Chief — and serving as the union president, but also being lead plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano (2009). He is also an accomplished writer, authoring the new book Command Presence: Increase Your Influence , offering readers lessons o...

So what happened in the 2023 Legislative Session? Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-36th) provides an analysis of the biennial budget that cut income taxes, fair share housing, the benefits of the 2017 fiscal guardrails, pushing back on other ‘bad’ bills, and the importance of localism and civic engagement. Learn more about Sen. Fazio here . 

Connecticut Inside Investigator found a group of divorcees who claim the state’s family court system is not only ignoring abuse allegations in ongoing child custody battles, but enabling them. YI President Carol Platt Liebau discusses the claims with Lisa Fontes, a psychotherapist, author and activist who lectures on topics ranging from the sexual abuse of children to intimate partner violence. Le...

During an April Appropriations Committee meeting, Rep. Rachel Chaleski (R-138th) noticed that only three out of four charter schools were funded in the proposed state budget. The one left out was a school planned for Danbury, which had already been approved by the State Board of Education in 2018. To rectify the situation, Rep. Chaleski introduced an amendment to fund the school, unaware she was u...

Did you get free Covid-19 test kits from the U.S. Postal Service? If so, you may have been one of 68 million citizens whose private information was given to labor unions. This breach in sensitive data was discovered by Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT) — a nonprofit organization that educates public employees about their rights in a unionized workplace and connects these employees with all avail...

With session winding down and the budget taking shape, Reps. Holly Cheeseman (R-37) and Tammy Nuccio (R-53) discuss the importance of the 2017 bipartisan budget’s fiscal guardrails on the current proceedings, and ways to improve the overall process so Connecticut can avoid economic hardships. Learn more about Rep. Cheeseman here ; and more about Rep. Nuccio here .

More than 700 bills that made it out of committee now await for a vote by the General Assembly. Bryce Chinault — Yankee Institute's director of external affairs — breaks down the good bills that expand free market principles and individual liberties, and the bad bills that restrict those rights. To help Connecticut voters know what bills are good and bad, Chinault developed a ‘Bill Tracker’ p...

Why is the vast regulatory state dangerous? Todd Gaziano, chief of legal policy and strategic research at the Pacific Legal Foundation, explains how Congress’ delegation of legislative authority to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats has undermined the “separation of powers” enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, what led us here and how to reverse the trend. Learn more about how PLF is defending li...

Matt Guarnieri believes in unionization; however, when he failed to receive support from his local union, and witnessed the over-politicization of school policies from the national union, he left. He now belongs to Christian Educators and became a member of Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT).

As Connecticut Inside Investigator celebrates the first anniversary of its launch, Conner Drigotas (managing editor) and Marc Fitch (senior investigative reporter) provide a retrospective on the challenges and rewards starting a news outlet has presented. They also dive into the investigations and stories that have made a real impact on the lives of state residents. If you want hard-hitting storie...

David Flemming has joined Yankee Institute as its new policy director. A lifelong Vermonter and former energy policy analyst at the Ethan Allen Institute, he discusses the policy opportunities in Connecticut, his passion for research, political ‘awakening’ and education at Hillsdale College. David recalls his experience briefly interning for Sen. Bernie Sanders — and how he may even have accidenta...

The UConn Men’s Basketball Team has just won a national championship, the program’s 5th since 1999, which now ties Duke and Indiana for the number of titles all time. Joe D’Ambrosio — a sportscaster known as the “Voice of the Huskies” — joins Y CT Matters to discuss how UConn’s coach Dan Hurley built a team to win it all and what the championship means for the state. D’Ambrosio is currently the br...

The TCI gas tax may be back and worse than before! Chris Herb of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association (CEMA) explains how the General Assembly is abdicating its legislative authority to an unelected bureaucrat who could lock the state into economically regressive emissions programs similar to TCI. Read the full bill (S.B. 1145) here . Learn more about CEMA here . 

A few years ago, Susan Zabohonski noticed the size of government was growing too large, impacting her small business and local community. Despite not being involved politically prior, she felt compelled to speak up against government overreach. She has since testified at the state Capitol on multiple occasions — most recently against rent caps, even though she is a renter — and became involved wit...

Maria Weingarten and Alexis Harrison of ‘CT 169 Strong’ — a grassroots organization fighting for local zoning control — dive into the housing issues currently being debated at the state Capitol, including overdevelopment, the impact of 8-30, and ‘fair share’ zoning, which would require the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to determine the need for affordable housing units: meaning appointed b...

In early 1860, Abraham Lincoln was neither a congressman from Illinois nor President of the United States; however, as a powerful orator on slavery, he was invited to speak in Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Meriden and Norwich — which turned out to be one of the few times he ever visited Connecticut. Former Sen. Joe Markley of Southington offers insights into Lincoln’s speeches and trip to the C...

Since the November elections, Gov. Ned Lamont and lawmakers have proposed revisiting the way Connecticut residents vote, offering ranked choice voting as an alternative. But what is ranked choice voting and how does it work? Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project, breaks down how a ranked choice system not only misleads voters, but also makes voting less democratic and reflect...