WICC The Voice of Connecticut

A UConn professor spent 45 days experiencing life on Mars. Jason Lee shared his experience living in NASA's HERA habitat at Johnson Space Center, participating in a simulated journey to Mars.

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We spoke with Major Michael Wilcoxson and Col. Ben Neumon with Connecticut National Guard. Find out how the guard gets deployed to national and statewide disasters as well as the training involved to become a member.

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Host Paul Pacelli opened a new week on "Connecting Today" wondering if the millions of so-called "nip" miniature alcohol bottles are promoting irresponsible drinking (00:41). CBS News correspondent Jake Rosen joined us from the presidential campaign trail and the previous night's Trump rally at Madison Square Garden (07:17). Sacred Heart University Political Science Professor and Scholar in Residence Dr. Gary Rose talked about a young voter forum coming up later in the week (16:03), while CT NewsJunkie columnist and Substack.com blogger Terry Cowgill talked about that Sunday Trump rally as well (26:20)

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Host Brigitte Quinn got a brand-new week of “Newsline” started with the President and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, Chris DiPentima, who talked to Brigitte about a new report out saying the state is falling behind in a number of economic metrics (00:00). Westport blogger Dan Woog, whose blog is titled “06880 – Where Westport Meets the World,” dropped by to talk about a really neat story in which a group of scouts went to a local cemetery and decorated the graves of any and all veterans buried there (18:42). Finally, in another episode of Campaign 2024, Brigitte welcomed Kami Evans to the program – she is the Republican state senate candidate challenging Democratic incumbent Ceci Maher for the 26th District state senate seat, which serves Darien, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Stamford, Weston, Westport, and Wilton (27:33)

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An alarming report shows a lack of confidence in the Superintendent of Schools in Bridgeport. The CEA did a survey involving nearly 600 teachers and we spoke with CEA President Kate Dias about the findings and recommendations for the district.

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An armed carjacking took place in downtown Fairfield and for the latest on the situation, we spoke with Sgt. Mike Stahl with the Fairfield Police Department (0:00). Then, we spoke with crime prevention expert, Jim Perez, about how to protect ourselves from a carjacking situation (5:33).

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It was a gruesome scene inside of a Stamford hotel room. A 59-year-old man was found duct-taped to a chair. He had been beaten and the medical examiner ruled he was fatally shot in the chest. There are now concerns the crime is tied to the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua. Ken Gray from the University of New Haven talked about the likelihood of a gang connection in this case and whether more could happen in our state.

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A new temporary boiler is now on site of Success Village, and it showed up ahead of schedule! We spoke with Attorney Barry Knott, the receiver for the 924-unit complex, housing more than two-thousand people, between Bridgeport and Stratford.

IMAGE CREDIT: Richard Matos / Success Village resident

Host Brigitte Quinn began a Friday edition of “Newsline” by talking about college application essays. How do you prepare a good college application essay? Preparation, the writing of—all those questions were answered by Priyanka Shingala, founder of “Let’s Talk College.” (00:00). The residents of a senior living community across the water in Port Washington, Long Island, are in danger of losing their home and life savings due to the community facing a bankruptcy issue. The son-in-law of two of the affected residents, Dan Schreiber, joined the show to update Brigitte on the situation and how the residents are handling it—and what can be done to help (17:58). Finally, theater and movie reviewer Ed Katz dropped by to offer analysis on the classic movie “The Sixth Sense,” as well as his thoughts on the series “Monsieur Spade,” on Netflix, and the new Netflix film “Woman of the Hour,” starring and directed by Anna Kendrick in her directorial debut (27:27)

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Host Paul Pacelli got Thursday's "Connecticut Today" up and running wondering - in the heat of the present White House campaign - if Vice-President Kamala Harris went a bit too far in her latest characterization of former President Donald Trump (00:32). CBS News climate correspondent David Schechter updated us on the release of a major new world climate change report (06:56). "Only In Bridgeport" blogger Lennie Grimaldi dropped by in the 5 p.m. hour to updated the hottest Bridgeport stories (12:15)

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