Connecticut Public Radio

Conservative politicians love to cut funding for the arts: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Newt Gingrich, and now, Donald Trump. The arts can't do anything tangible, like build a wall, or cure cancer. Too often, they fail the conservative litmus test for decency. Yet the arts are essential to our humanity, our hopes, and often, our healing.

We couldn’t let March come to a close without recognizing that it’s Women’s History Month . This hour, we honor the occasion with tributes to the inspiring twentieth-century women -- the so-called " motor girls " and " Kalamazoo gals " -- who helped shape American history and American industry.

As our society moves further away from paper currency, we pause to look back at the once predominant form of payment. Its look, its feel and its smell all hold a place in the collective consciousness of our nation's history.

Hartford residents gathered Thursday at a city school to talk about a report that found the school district failed to protect students from abuse and neglect for the last decade. District leaders have a plan in place to address this longstanding problem.

James "Logan" Howlett -- Wolverine -- is maybe the only X-Men character to appear in every adaptation of the franchise to date, including now nine feature films. Logan , though, is different from the eight movies that precede it in certain ways. It's R-rated. It contains many utterances of certain four-letter words. It's incredibly, and graphically, violent. It's maybe more of a neo-western set in the future than it's a comic book movie.

In their new documentary, Kim Snyder and Maria Cuomo Cole provide an eye-opening narrative of life after Sandy Hook -- the deadly mass shooting that thrust Connecticut and gun reform into the national spotlight. This hour, we sit down with the filmmakers and learn about the multi-year journey that brought " Newtown " to the screen.

Those of us living inland tend to only think about the ocean in summer. But for those 23 million people living within a few miles of Long Island Sound in Connecticut and Long Island, the sea is a daily companion.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, seanchaís were traveling storytellers who were welcomed into Irish villages to entertain and bring local news in return for food and a place to sleep.

One of the federal agencies that would disappear under any implementation of the Trump budget proposal is the National Endowment for the Arts. Federal funding of the arts can be controversial, but in Connecticut, its beneficiaries argue that it’s misunderstood.

Twenty years ago, a lot of Icelandic teens were drinking too much. But an innovative program changed that . This hour, we talk with the American researcher who helped combat the problem by tapping into natural highs — like sports. If the program has worked, why aren’t other countries following suit? We find out.