The Storyline

Stephanie Johnson, diversity trainer for OneDigital Learning, provided The Day with six months of thought-provoking lessons on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. On the last day of training, she spoke with us about some of the fun activities she uses to foster teamwork and about the ongoing work needed at The Day, and every workplace.

As we begin a year-long investigation into the housing market in New London County, we speak with The Day journalists who will be working on the initial reporting: Staff Writers Elizabeth Regan and Johana Vazquez, photographer Sarah Gordon and Production Manager Scott Ritter.

To learn more about the Housing Solutions Lab or to make a tax-deductible donation to support the project, visit www.theday.com/housingsolutionslab.

The Day's Vickie Fulkerson is in Minneapolis to cover the UConn women's basketball team in their record 14th straight Final Four. After the Huskies' wild double-overtime win over NC State, Vickie barely had time to catch her breath before catching a flight to Minnesota, where she spoke with Rebecca Lobo about her experiences in the 1995 Final Four.

Hear what Day sportswriters Vickie Fulkerson, who covers UConn women’s basketball, and Gavin Keefe, who covers the UConn men, had to say the morning after the NCAA brackets were published. Keefe is headed to Buffalo to cover Thursday’s game against the New Mexico State Aggies. Fulkerson will be covering the UConn women when they play against Mercer Saturday in Bridgeport.

During one weekend in mid-February 2022, six people died from fatal overdoses in New London County and 26 others suffered from non-fatal overdoses. Jennifer Muggeo, deputy director of the Ledge Light Health District, stopped in to bring us up to date on the evidence-based treatments for those suffering from opioid use disorder and of the available harm reduction tools, including naloxone kits, fentanyl test strips, and syringe exchanges. Muggeo told us about a new animal tranquilizer turning up in overdose cases involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

At any given time, panels of citizens are called to serve 18-month stints on grand juries at Connecticut’s federal courthouses in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford. The public hears little about their work, which is largely performed in secrecy but is, says attorney Chris Mattei, “an extraordinarily important instrument” of our justice system.

As a federal grand jury investigates Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis’ tenure heading up state oversight of the Connecticut Port Authority’s project at State Pier in New London and major school construction projects in New London and statewide, we asked Mattei to tell us what he knows about grand juries. He also weighed in on the "deeply troubling" connection to Connecticut's top prosecutor Richard Colangelo.

Mattei, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney now in private practice with Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder law firm, served as Chief of the Financial Fraud & Public Corruption unit with the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Connecticut. He oversaw the prosecution of former Gov. John G. Rowland and others on campaign fiancé and obstruction of justice charges and supervised a ground-breaking investigation and prosecution of fraud in the residential mortgage-backed securities market following the financial crisis of 2008.

Mattei currently serves as the lead attorney on behalf of Sandy Hook families and first responders against Alex Jones and the corporate entities involved in promoting a lie that the school shooting was a hoax.

As Harold Wolfe, 95 years old and dying, prepared to enter a hospice facility in Mystic in early January, his wife and children invited The Day reporter Elizabeth Regan and photojournalist Sarah Gordon to spend time with them and document an event made more poignant by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The resulting story and photos were incredibly touching. We spoke with Regan and Gordon about reporting the story and with Community Editor Lee Howard, who connected The Day staff with the Wolfe family. After recording the interviews for the podcasts, we received the update that Harold Wolfe died at 6:00 p.m., Monday, January 17 with his wife Sherry by his side.

Lonnie Braxton II of New London is a busy man, and that won’t change upon his retirement at the end of the year from his job as a state prosecutor. He spoke with us about his remarkable life, which began in the segregated south, and his hope for the future.

Cathy Zall, executive director of the Homeless Hospitality Center in New London, helps set the stage as The Day begins an investigation of housing availability in our region. Zall tells us what’s working to get people housed in southeastern Connecticut and what she thinks is needed.

Stephanie Johnson of OneDigital, an employee benefits consultant, traveled from Atlanta to conduct training for The Day staff on unconscious bias. She spoke with us about her work between training sessions. She said after the social unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, she looked at the diversity training that was available and found it lacking. Johnson designed her own program, then worked with The Day’s diversity committee to create a custom six-month training program for the company that began on Nov. 9 and includes in-person and self-paced coursework.