Where We Live

This hour, we discuss Baby Bonds. The program promises to make $50-million per year available for accounts for children born in poor families. The $3,200 deposits grow until the child becomes an adult.

Also, we review the next steps in the recreational cannabis program, and the governor's recent veto of a bill putting limits on solitary confinement.

Guests:

Connecticut State Representative Bobby Gibson -- General Assembly Black and Puerto Rican Caucus Co-chair, General Law Committee Vice-chair
Hugh McQuaid -- CT News Junkie Reporter
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In 1884, a young Hartford woman named Ada Brown was murdered in her home.  It made national news, but Ada’s story faded into obscurity. This hour, we learn why a history class at University of Saint Joseph spent the past semester digging into her story, 136 years later.

And we learn what it meant to one of Ada’s descendants.

GUESTS:

• Jennifer Cote - Associate Professor of History at University of Saint Joseph
• Lily Stilson - 2021 graduate of University of Saint Joseph, where she majored in history
• Eileen Newman - descendent of Ada Brown

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We’re reaching the middle of the summer here in Connecticut. Although many of our favorite summer activities aren’t feasible this year, there are lots of ways to get outside.

Connecticut has plenty of public gardens to explore. This hour, we talk with New England gardeners about places to explore here in our home state, and ways to make your backyard an oasis. 

How is your backyard looking this summer? Are you working on your victory garden? What questions do you have about making the most of your backyard landscape? 

We want to hear from you.

GUESTS:

• Jana Milbocker, garden designer and author of The Garden Tourist's New England: A Guide to 140 Outstanding Gardens and Nurseries

• Bill Noble - garden designer and author of Spirit of Place: The Making of a New England Garden

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More than two thirds of Connecticut residents have received at least one shot of the covid vaccine.
At the same time, a new and fast-spreading “delta variant” of covid has spread around the globe and has become an ever-growing portion of new covid cases in the United States.
This hour, we wade into all of this with public health experts.
Will the delta variant impact our behaviors this summer?

GUESTS:

• Saad Omer -  Director, Yale Institute for Global Health, and Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases
• Tekisha Dwan Everette - Executive director of Health Equity Solutions
• John Brownstein - Epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital; also a professor at Harvard Medical School

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The recreational use of marijuana becomes legal in Connecticut tomorrow, July 1. But much work is left to be done surrounding legal pot, including the creation of regulations for cannabis sale and production, and filling in the details of racial and social equity provisions.  

Plus, the governor has signed dozens of bills so far, but the fate of other proposals remain unresolved. Will the governor sign a measure setting new limits on solitary confinement in Connecticut prisons?

Guest:

• Ned Lamont -- Governor of the State of Connecticut

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For years, Alzheimer’s patients and their loved ones have hoped for new medical treatments for an incurable disease.

This hour, we talk about the FDA’s approval of a new drug aducanumab to treat Alzheimer’s Disease, and we learn why some in the scientific and medical community have concerns.

We want to hear from you. Does Alzheimer’s disease affect your family?

GUESTS:

• Nicole Leonard - Health Reporter for Connecticut Public Radio
• Dr. Yazeed Maghaydah -  Co-Director of the James E.C. Walker M.D. Memory Assessment Program at the UConn Center on Aging, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at UConn Health
• Dr. Joseph Ross - Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Yale School of Medicine
• Christy Kovel - Director of Public Policy for the Alzheimer’s Association Connecticut Chapter

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After more than a year of restrictions, Connecticut – now 59 percent fully vaccinated –is moving toward a post-pandemic society. Beaches are filling up, restaurants are getting booked, and students have signed off Zoom school.

But one group has been left behind – COVID long-haulers. This hour, we talk with physicians about new treatment and therapies at COVID recovery clinics. We also learn about the promise of repurposed drugs; and the urgent need for funding clinical trials for drug repurposing, as the virus continues to mutate around the world.

GUESTS:

• Diana Berrent - recovering long-COVID patient, and founder, Survivor Corps
• Dr. Sharagim Kemp - Director of the Nuvance Health COVID Recovery Program in Western Connecticut and New York
• Dr. Naftali Kaminski - Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine; set up Yale's Long COVID Clinic in 2020
• Jeffrey Aeschlimann - Associate Professor, UConn School of Pharmacy

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What does live theater look like for the rest of the 2021 season and going forward? Today, we talk with people making theater in our state. How have the last 15 months changed the way they engage with art and their audiences? Live theater is coming back, but what does back mean?  

If you’ve seen a live show recently — or you’re counting the minutes until you can, we want to hear from you.

GUESTS:
Taneisha Duggan - Artistic Producer, TheaterWorks Hartford, Connecticut (@TWHartford)
Jacqui Hubbard - Executive artistic director, Ivoryton Playhouse (@IvorytonPlayhou)
Pamme Jones -  Executive director at Ridgefield Theater Barn (@TheaterBarn)

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This hour, Governor Ned Lamont has signed a bill allowing recreational use of cannabis.

We speak with Connecticut State Representative Robyn Porter about her role in the debate over the pot bill.

She pushed the Lamont administration to accept more provisions she said would help communities harmed by the war on drugs, but some of her efforts resulted in special session drama during the vote on the proposal.

Guests:

• Connnecticut State Representative Robyn Porter -- Co-chair of the General Assembly Labor Committee
• Kevin Rennie -- Hartford Courant columnis, and blogger at dailyructions.com

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They are giants who live their whole lives underwater. In many ways, a whale’s life is completely alien to the human experience. Yet these ocean giants share some surprising similarities with us.

This hour, we talk with National Geographic underwater photographer Brian Skerry. His newest cover story for the magazine looks at the growing body of research on whale culture. 

And later, reporter Eve Zuckoff joins us to talk about efforts to save endangered North Atlantic right whales in our region, and the conflicts these efforts have created with New England’s lobster fishing industry.

GUESTS:

• Brian Skerry - National Geographic photographer and producer, specializing in ocean wildlife. His newest book is Secrets of The Whales; he is also the photojournalist for the National Geographic cover story and Disney+ series of the same name.
• Eve Zuckoff - Environment reporter at WCAI--Cape Cod’s NPR station

The May issue of National Geographic magazine is a companion to The Disney+ original series, Secrets of the Whales, premiering on Earth Day. The three-year project will also be featured in the new National Geographic book, Secrets of the Whales, and is also the marquee event of National Geographic's newest initiative, Planet Possible. Learn moreatnatgeo.com/planetpossible.

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