Where We Live

Connecticut’s waste management crisis is already a top-ticket item for lawmakers. Before the latest legislative session began, newly-appointed Environmental Committee Chair State Sen. Rick Lopes told the CT Examiner he was focused on finding solutions.

The State Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has been sounding the alarm since 2020, when Commissioner Katie Dykes said the dwindling options for waste disposal posed a “silent crisis.”

In July, one of five of the state’s waste-to-energy plants ground to a halt, offloading up to one-third of Connecticut's waste out-of-state.

In recent years, DEEP has offered grants to support pay-as-you-throw programs and food collection services to help towns and cities stem the tide of trash. Food scrap collection is already offered in Middletown, Meriden and West Haven.

This hour, we hear from Waste Dive editor Cole Rosengren, and the recycling director for the nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, where citywide food waste collection is now a mainstay. Plus, Alaina Wood is a climate communicator who goes by The Garbage Queen. She takes your questions.

GUESTS:

• Cole Rosengren: Lead Editor, Waste Dive
• Mike Orr: Recycling Director, Dept. of Public Works for Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Alaina Wood: Climate Communicator AKA The Garbage Queen

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Retailers can start selling adult-use cannabis on January 10th.

Today, we breakdown what dispensaries might look like in our state and hear what retailers are doing to prepare opening up to the public.

We hear from Skyler Frazer of the Hartford Business Journal who has been covering all things cannabis in our state.

Have you seen any dispensaries pop up in your town?

GUESTS:

• Jeffrey Marrero: Marrero Consulting LLC based in Stamford, Connecticut 
• Skyler Frazer: Staff Writer at Hartford Business Journal
• Benjamin Zachs: COO of Fine Fettle
• Commissioner Michelle Seagull: Department of Consumer Protection of Connecticut
• Jim Haddadin: Data Reporter for The Accountability Project at Connecticut Public

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Emily Wicks with UConn's Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry noticed the pandemic-era disruptions to kids' social-emotional learning and development, and reached out to Sandy Chafouleas at the university's Neag School of Education.

Together they developed Feel Your Best Self, a puppet-centered program aimed at helping "strengthen the emotional well-being of elementary-aged children."

This hour, we hear from Wicks and Chafouleas about their hopes for the toolkit's application where we live.

Through a series of videos, kid puppets CJ, Nico and Mena help children acknowledge that they have complex emotions, modeling how to express and process them.

The Feel Your Best Self team is working with the state’s Family Engagement Resource Center to help bridge the divide between the home and classroom.

Veronica Marion, the Center’s Manager of Connecticut Family-School Partnerships, says the program is a "win-win" at a pivotal moment. "We see the numbers currently in regards to social-emotional learning, it’s off the charts. Students are really in the need of something."

With puppets in the room, Marion says, "children will talk more, they will open up more, just the fact that there’s a distraction, just the fact that there’s something else that they’re focusing on."

Plus, we hear from Ximena Marin, a teacher at Natchaug Elementary School in Windham who piloted the program in her bilingual classroom.

GUESTS:

• Emily Wicks: Co-founder, Feel Your Best Self Collaborative Project; Manager of Operations and Collections, University of Connecticut's Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry
• Sandy Chafouleas: Co-founder, Feel Your Best Self Collaborative Project; Neag Endowed Professor, Department of Educational Psychology at UConn's Neag School of Education; Co-Director, UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health
• Ximena Marin: Third-grade Teacher, Natchaug Elementary School
• Veronica Marion: Manager, Connecticut Family-School Partnerships, through the state's Family Engagement Center

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The WNBA kicks off on May 19th.

Today, on Where We Live, we’re talking about all things women’s basketball including and hear about what players to watch in 2023.

We’ll also discuss how Brittney Griner’s imprisonment and subsequent release has impacted interest in the game and spurred more activism in the league.

And later, we talk about the pay gap between men and women’s sports, and what can be done to fix it.

Will you be watching the WNBA this year?

GUESTS:

• Morgan Tuck - Director of Franchise Development and Assistant General Manager, she played for the Connecticut Sun for four seasons and Seattle Storm for one season
• Lyndsey D'Arcangelo - writes about the WNBA for the Athletic and Just Women’s Sports
• Natalie Heavren - contributing writer for the Next, a women’s basketball newsroom covering women’s basketball past present and future, 24/7, 365.
• Lindsey Gibbs - author and founder of Power Plays Newsletter, a newsletter about women’s sports

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With spiking health insurance premiums, energy costs and general "inflation" top-of-mind for many Connecticut residents, what are the top priorities for state lawmakers at the start of this legislative session? And what's most likely to be met with consensus? We'll discuss with a roundtable of experts.

Plus, we hear from ACLU of Connecticut about their plan to renew a push for the Connecticut Voting Rights Act. The bill, which only made it through the Government Administration and Elections Committee last session, would codify parts of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

GUESTS:

• Jonathan Wharton: Professor of Political Science, Southern Connecticut State University; Associate Dean, SCSU School of Graduate and Professional Studies
• Colin McEnroe: Host, The Colin McEnroe Show
• Christine Stuart: Editor-in-Chief, CT News Junkie
• Claudine Constant: Public Policy and Advocacy Director, ACLU of Connecticut

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What are some issues with homestay services like Airbnb? And what’s being done to address them?

This hour, we hear from travelers about their experiences with short-term rentals.

We'll hear from an attorney representing clients with complaints about Airbnb.

And later, we learn how these short-term rentals impact the housing and rental markets in our state.

What questions do you have about the safety and ethics of homestay services?

GUESTS:

• Andrea Sachs - Washington Post Travel Writer and Journalist
• Christina Conte - Food and Travel Writer at https://www.christinascucina.com/
• Jesse Danoff  - Attorney at the Mitchell and Danoff law firm in Hollister, California 
• Jocelyn Ayer -Director of the Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity

Anya Grondalski and Mira Raju contributed to this program.Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Cat Pastor contributed to this show which originally aired July 28, 2022.

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Alexandra Horowitz is a dog cognition researcher, professor and the head scientist at Barnard College's Dog Cognition Lab. Her latest book, The Year of the Puppy, follows her first experience raising a puppy.

"Instead of following an instruction manual for a puppy, I wanted to follow the puppy," she writes. "By slowing down to observe the changes in our new charge from week to week, I hoped to make new sense of the dog’s behavior in a way that is missed in a focus only on training. I wanted to keep a lens firmly on the puppy’s point of view—how they begin to see and smell the world, make meaning of it, and become themselves."

This hour, Horowitz reflects on her year with Quid, and she answers your questions.

GUESTS:

• Alexandra Horowitz: Professor, Barnard College; Head Scientist, Dog Cognition Lab; Author, Year of the Puppy

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Cat Pastor contributed to this show which originally aired October 28, 2022.

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There are several protections for trans and nonbinary people in our state, including insurance coverage for health care services and, as part of Connecticut's new "safe harbor" law, legal protections for those seeking gender-affirming care from out of state.

Still, an increase in anti-trans rhetoric has led to a troubling trend of legislation and litigation nationally. How does this affect trans and nonbinary people where we live?

One Connecticut teenager and his mom are sharing their story in the hopes of encouraging understanding. This hour, we hear from Oakley about his experience coming out as trans, and about the importance of allyship and advocacy. Jess shares a parent's perspective.

Oakley and Jess are using pseudonyms due to broader concerns about their safety, and in order to speak openly. You can hear more from them in a profile from Health Care Advocates International.

We're also joined by The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ young people. Its annual survey found that 45% of young LGBTQ people have seriously considered suicide in the last year, and nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary youth have attempted suicide.

Plus, we examine how harmful anti-trans narratives contribute to this crisis with Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog.

GUESTS:

• Oakley and Jess: Connecticut teenager and his mom
• Troy Stevenson: Senior Advocacy Campaign Manager, The Trevor Project
• Ari Drennen: LGBTQ Director, Media Matters for America

Cat Pastor contributed to this report which originally aired November 17, 2022.

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In his new book, The Storm is Here: An American Crucible, longtime war correspondent Luke Mogelson explores the rise of right wing extremism in the U.S.

Today, Mogelson joins us to talk about the events leading up to the Jan 6 insurrection and what he saw firsthand at the U.S Capitol that day.

The Oath Keepers have been accused of having a large role in the Capitol riots, and are one of the far right extremist groups Mogelson has followed.

A recent report by the Anti-Defamation League shows 476 state residents are part of the Oath Keepers membership database, reports Hearst CT.

What does their influence look like today, a year and a half after the riots? How influential will these groups become after the midterm elections?

GUESTS:

• Luke Mogelson - author of The Storm is Here: An American Crucible
• Alex Friedfeld - Investigative Researcher with the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism

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Dr. Randall Horton is a Professor of English at the University of New Haven. His new memoir, Dead Weight details the time he was incarcerated more than two decades ago.

Today, we talk about his time on the inside, what led him to write, and the challenges he faced establishing a career in academia. 

Horton says the “weight of felony convictions never dissipates.” 

We want to hear from you. Have you or someone you know been formerly incarcerated? 

GUEST:

Randall Horton - Ph.D., Professor of English at University of New Haven.

Read an excerpt of Dead Weight on the Boston Review.

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