WICC The Voice of Connecticut

Friday's "Connecticut Today" wrapped up the week with Darien/Norwalk GOP State Rep. Tracy Marra regarding a bill that would repeal part of a law that allowed last year's sale of the Bridgeport-based Aquarion Water Company to a new affiliate of the reformed South Central Regional Water Authority (00:32). CBS News legal analyst Thane Rosenbaum talked about the Trump White House push to stop "Birthright Citizenship" (09:58), a topic that Paul opened the show with (18:09)

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The CT Tenant's Union and other renter's advocacy groups are pushing for imcreased protections from evictions. Jon Kamal has the full story!

There’s a push to invest much more money into our Connecticut tourism budget. According to the Office of Tourism, the tourism budget was cut and in the budget address this week, I didn’t hear anything about new state dollars going to tourism. That means the tourism budget could be cut even more, even though tourism efforts have been a big driver in bringing people to Connecticut over the last few years. Dan O’Keefe, Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development gave us more concrete numbers to support getting more dollars from the state for tourism.

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In the governor’s budget address, he said the state will continue a $400 million investment per year in housing. But are the housing priorities that were presented enough to create more workforce, affordable housing? We asked our housing expert, Renee Dobos, CEO of CT Housing Partners.

IMAGE CREDIT: Melissa Sheketoff

There’s a proposed bill in Hartford that addresses unsportsmanlike behavior toward referees in youth sports. According to reports, many referees in Connecticut leave due to aggressive and over involved parents. Glenn Lungarini, executive director of the CIAC, talked about the bill and why it’s necessary to pass.

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There’s a renewed push in Hartford to lower Connecticut’s legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limit in this year’s legislative session. The bigger push for it comes following an increase in highway fatalities, including wrong way crashes done at the hands of impaired drivers. But does lowering the BAC do more harm than good for our state? Scott Dolch, President of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, explains why lowering the BAC is another challenge for local restaurants and bars instead of making a big difference in stopping bad driver behavior.

IMAGE CREDIT: Melissa Sheketoff

Host Paul Pacelli welcomed "Only In Bridgeport" blogger Lennie Grimaldi to Thursday's show to chat about some possible charter revisions for Bridgeport (00:40). Columnist and blogger Chris Powell commented on the latest Connecticut news and the state's stubborn pockets of poverty and school under-achievement (15:42). CBS News Justice Department correspondent Scott MacFarlane joined us from Washington, D.C. to talk about the FBI staff firing situation and its implications (25:33). Also, Paul had some thoughts on state teacher and municipal officials' reactions to Gov. Ned Lamont's budget address earlier in the week (29:50)

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Last month, we saw the measures being taken to clean up the issues facing the Bridgeport school district. Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker of the CT Dept. of Education shared more detail about the actions taking place, including a technical assistance team and training for the local school board.

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Cases of Tuberculosis seem to be on the rise in parts of the US, including North Carolina and Kansas. What’s happening with these outbreaks and how is Connecticut protecting residents from the infectious disease? We spoke in depth with Dr. Fred Browne of Griffin Health.

Image Courtesy of Dr. Fred Browne 

Following the governor’s budget address, his call to loosen the fiscal guardrails slightly for childcare was a big sticking point for lawmakers. We spoke about it with Comptroller Sean Scanlon, our state fiscal watchdog and someone who has pushed to never touch the guardrails.

IMAGE CREDIT: Melissa Sheketoff