Although we think of this spring flowering shrub as quintessential New England, it hales from Eastern Europe and Asia. It's fragrant, beautiful and a sure sign of spring. It's the lilac.

President Trump fired FBI director James Comey on Tuesday in the midst of the FBI investigation into whether Russia influenced the 2016 election. The story from the White House is that the firing has little to do with Russia, and more to do with Comey's handling of Hillary Clinton's emails. One must ask: why now?

The health care reform bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week promises sweeping changes to the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. While a lot of attention has focused on things like pre-existing conditions, one of the less considered issues is what may happen to the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse.

On Tuesday night, President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. The reason given? Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal. Comey's job was praised by then-candidate Trump, and widely credited with helping to tip the election Trump's way.

We've been feeling like maybe all the serious politics coverage we've been doing has crowded out some of the nonsense sports coverage we like to do. So this hour: sports nonsense and nothing else.

Connecticut’s Sheff magnet system is back in the spotlight -- this time, for reports of questionable admissions practices. This hour: hand-picked or luck of the draw? We find out how some Hartford-area schools have been skirting around the state’s lottery process .

The Most Beautiful Room in New York is a new play by The New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik. It's about home and food and family, and is influenced by Gopnik's five years as a Paris correspondent discovering the meaning of food in his own life.

State auditors found that a Hartford magnet school has been cherry-picking its students, bypassing the random lottery process that's supposed to determine who goes there.

Connecticut’s prison population is getting older, upping the demand for healthcare including hospice programs that serve inmates and ex-offenders. This hour, we find out what it means to die with dignity behind bars.

Turn back the clock just a couple of centuries, and to our ancestors, the alchemy of electricity would seem like magic: with the single flip of a switch, our rooms are bathed in light.