WICC The Voice of Connecticut

From car detailing to garage door repair, homeowners can find supposed contractors offering up many services in their community Facebook groups on a regular basis. But, are these posts legit? In many cases, they aren’t. In fact, fraudsters have become so good at hijacking neighborhood Facebook groups, that moderators are having a hard time keeping up. Kristen Johnson with Better Business Bureau shared recent scams in several Connecticut town groups and how to detect a fraudulent ad before it's too late. 

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Since the clocks moved forward for Daylight Saving Time, the risk for drowsy driving crashes jumped up. AAA research has found that crashes tend to increase in the days following the springtime change as drivers get behind the wheel while sleep-deprived and with their circadian rhythms out of whack. We spoke to Alec Slatky with AAA about the new findings, what it means for tired drivers and tips to reduce your chances of ending up in a drowsy driving crash.

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Monday's "Connecticut Today" with host Paul Pacelli looked at a continued controversy over the use of license plate readers by many municipal police departments and whether or not fears from some civil libertarians are genuine or overblown (00:37). Connecticut Inside Investigator reporter Marc Fitch stopped by to talk about his feature story on Connecticut's so-called "Green Bank," aimed at clean energy projects (13:27). We also had our weekly news and pop culture check-in from CTNewsJunkie columnist and Substack.com blogger Terry Cowgill (23:30)

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Fairfield University’s Center for Social Impact, Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership (RYASAP), and PT Partners have received a 3-year, $1 million grant from the Tow Foundation for a research project on gun violence prevention. Although the number of gun homicides in Bridgeport are significantly lower today than they were in the 1980’s and 90’s, rates have plateaued, indicative of the intractable nature of gun violence in Connecticut’s cities, and cities across the U.S. Marc Donald, CEO and President of RYASAP shared the details behind project "Amplifying Resident Voices” and how Bridgeport residents can get in on future focus groups to find solutions.

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We are gaining more light during the day and more people are out. While that sounds great overall, there’s a huge problem plaguing homeowners: becoming a victim of property crime. We spoke with crime prevention expert, Jim Perez, about simple changes to consider for your home and behavior to fly under the radar and avoid attracting criminals to your property.

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For the last several years, national studies have continuously reported public rudeness is on the rise in America. The statistics are based on the average person. For those who have a disability, the issue is even worse. We spoke with Kim from The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities about the do’s and don’t’s of interacting with people in public who have a disability.

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Earlier this month, Dartmouth College’s Men’s Basketball team voted overwhelmingly to unionize. So, what does this mean for other powerhouse sports colleges like UConn and Quinnipiac here in Connecticut? We spoke with employment attorney and Quinnipiac law professor, Gary Phelan, about whether college athletes should be seen as employees and what factors play a role in teams voting to unionize.

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We wrapped up a very busy week on "Connecticut Today" with host Paul Pacelli talking about two members of the state's Congressional delegation voting in favor of a new immigration law bill (00:48). Former Time Magazine reporter Alain Sanders (13:52) and State Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto (23:36) both discussed President Biden's State of the Union address. Former Bridgeport State Rep. Chris Caruso discussed alls for the city's Democratic Party to "modernize" itself (35:56). Finally, local author and promoter Charles F. Rosenay!!! stopped by to chat about, "Not Just Happy Together: The Turtles from A-Z (AM Radio to Zappa)" (48:01)

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March is colon cancer awareness month and right now, colon cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the United States. And what’s even more concerning is that younger and younger patients are being diagnosed in recent years. According to The American Cancer Society in 2023, approximately 153,020 individuals will be diagnosed with CRC and 52,550 will die from the disease, including 19,550 cases and 3750 deaths in individuals younger than 50 years. We spoke with Dr. Jeremy Kortmansky, colorectal cancer expert and clinical director of the GI Medical Oncology division at Yale Cancer Center.

One of the goals for Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture is to attract more residents the farming industry. In particular, officials are hoping to bring a younger demographic to the industry. Today, we met a couple, Kaitlyn Kimball and Lawrence Passeck, founders and operators of Sunset Farm in Naugatuck. Find out what attracted them to farming and some of the challenges they face, especially because of their age and experience.

For more information: www.sunsetfarmct.com

Picture Courtesy of Kaitlyn Kimball of Sunset Farm