WICC The Voice of Connecticut

This week (Feb 26-Mar 3) is Eating Disorder Awareness Week and about nine percent of the US population struggles with an eating disorder in their lifetime. But what is the long term effect of an eating disorder on your body? Are there treatments that can help break the habits? Can your body ever revert back to the way it was before the disorder took over? We tackled all of those questions with Dr. Fred Browne of Griffin Health.

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Age discrimination in the workplace continues to be a national discussion, especially ahead of this upcoming presidential election involving President Biden and former President Trump. But this month, the controversy emerged again here in Connecticut, specifically surrounding a local hospital. According to court documents, a former Waterbury Hospital executive filed a lawsuit against her ex-employer alleging she was fired for her age. We talked about the case and gave listeners insight on how to handle age discrimination in the workplace from Attorney Gary Phelan. He is an employment attorney at Mitchell and Sheahan and law professor at Quinnipiac University.

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In an effort to help homeless veterans and their families find permanent housing, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded $14 million in HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers to 66 Public Housing Agencies across the country. In Connecticut, three agencies were awarded $500,213 for a total of 44 vouchers. We had the distinct honor of talking about the program to Richard Minnocchio, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of The US Department of Housing and Urban Development Public and Indian Housing.

Wednesday's "Connecticut Today" featured audio highlights of Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim's fourth win over challenger John Gomes (00:30) and a chat with the mayor about his win (10:07). Only in Bridgeport" blogger Lennie Grimaldi broke down the Bridgeport mayoral election (16:36), while Hearst Connecticut Media columnist and editor Dan Haar dropped by with his weekly update (29:14)

 Find out about The Housatonic Museum of Art and a new exhibit opening in March that will excite anyone who loves sports and photography! We spoke with Jennifer Kay-Reynolds, Director of the museum. 

This week, Stratford is hosting its annual Restaurant Week with an offer no other CT municipality offers. We asked BRBC President, Dan Onofrio, about the free childcare option added to Stratford’s event and if more places could adopt this. Also, we talked about a bill being debated in Hartford looking at wages for restaurant workers and a pilot program one fast food chain is rolling out next year that’s raising eyebrows.

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This month, a horrific wrong-way crash on I-95, claimed four young lives in an instant. It also puts our deadly wrong way crash data ahead of where we were in 2023, which is not where we want to be. How is Connecticut attacking this problem? We spoke with Josh Morgan of the CT Department of Transportation to hear how new pilot programs are going, what new technologies are in effect and what new plans are being researched right now.

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The Hometown Foundation, Inc. is a national, non-profit charitable organization committed to raising money to support a broad range of programs that meet community needs, including emergency response personnel. This year, we found an entry very close to home at the top of the list for the foundation’s K9 grant. We met Easton police officer Tamra French and K9 TJ to learn why they applied for the money and the importance of supporting K9 officers.

Here's the link to vote: https://k9.hometownfoundation.org/submission/view/103

Tuesday's "Connecticut Today" with Paul Pacelli opened with Paul talking about what must happen next after the four-round Bridgeport election fiasco (00:25). Columnist Chris Powell touched on a bill that could curtail the rights of Connecticut landlords (14:07), while Yankee Institute blogger Meghan Portfolio stopped by with the latest from Hartford (26:43)

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Jury deliberations are set to begin today in the trial of Michelle Troconis. The trial has been going on for weeks and it looks at Troconis who has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering the prosecution in connection to the disappearance and death of Jennifer Farber Dulos back in May 2019. What will the jury decide? And what happens next in the case? We got perspective from our legal expert, Attorney Bill Bloss. (NOTE: Atty Bloss is NOT involved in the Troconis case and the Dulos case) (0:00)

Happening today in the state capital: a public hearing regarding health insurance costs. As you are probably experiencing, affording health care coverage continues to be a real challenge. Senate Republicans believe they have a commonsense bill to provide a lot of relief to Connecticut residents. Ranking Senator on the Insurance Committee, Tony Hwang, explains the bill and why we are in this situation in Connecticut. (16:54)

Julie on the Job: A new report highlights that employers overwhelmingly care most about YOUR skill set. But how do we communicate our skills in the best way during an interview? Julie Bauke gave us advice. (33:38)

This is the time of year that more and more Americans struggle with the feeling of failure. Why does that happen and how do we cope with those intrusive thoughts? Counselor, Julius Dudics shared insight and mechanisms to overcome the fear of failing. (46:23)

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