In 2026, the United States will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the country. Despite the significance of this anniversary, there are questions about whether our state is investing enough energy and money into marking this milestone. We spoke with Cyndi Tolosa, the Deputy Director of Advancement at Connecticut Humanities and the project manager of America 250 CT chapter.

For more information: https://ct250.org/

A local salon was destroyed by fire and it’s a good reminder to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The Black Swan Nail and Spa Salon is temporarily closed due to fire damage. But what’s more concerning is what volunteer firefighters detected inside -- potentially lethal levels of carbon monoxide. We spoke with Bridgeport Fire Chief Lance Edwards about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning and how to check that all detectors are functioning.

Minnesota is under fire for large-scale alleged Medicaid fraud, with over $350 million proven in fraudulent claims out of $18 billion spent on high-risk programs since 2018. It begs the question whether this could be an issue in our state. Here in Connecticut, lawmakers requested an audit in our state about 3 months ago. Did anything come of it? Joining us back on the show is doctor and state Senator, Jeff Gordon, who serves on the Appropriations Committee and is on the lookout for fraud and government misspending in Medicaid and general health care.

As we get ready to close the 2025 chapter and welcome 2026, let’s take a look back at the top five transportation-related news stories in our state. Jim Cameron, author of the "Talking Transportation" column runs in CTMirror, recently highlighted these stories and broke them down for us on the show.

For the full article: https://ctmirror.org/2025/12/28/talking-transportation-2025/

It’s any parent’s nightmare: waiting for your kid to return home but they never do. Thank God for modern technology and the ability to track your children. Recently, a father in Texas rescued his daughter all thanks to tracking her cell phone. What can we take away from this story? We invited law enforcement expert, Gary MacNamara, back to the show.

Trumbull Police are still looking for the teens involved in a shooting that happened at the Trumbull Mall. For the latest on the investigation we spoke to Lt. Brian Falkenstein with Trumbull Police Department.

That “out-of-the-office” reply may be doing more than letting people know you’re away. Could auto-messages quietly share more information than people realize? We spoke with Dr. Vahid Behzadon, cybersecurity and AI expert on the show, as well as Associate Professor at the University of New Haven. 

There are a lot of nonprofits in Connecticut that rely on government funding to survive. But with tax dollars supporting some of these groups, do we do a good enough job checking financial reports and knowing where the dollars are actually going?

New Opportunities Incorporated has been suspended by the state as a vendor administering the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) because it used federal energy assistance money to cover operating expenses. To talk more about this story and generally about financial oversight for non-profits utilizing government funding, we spoke with State Representative Jay Case, House Ranking Member of the Human Services Committee.

Connecticut has a real problem with impaired driving. A new report was released by The Connecticut Forensic Lab and shows many drivers tested for drinking and driving earlier this year, also had drugs detected in those tests. We spoke with Dr. Jessica Gleba, Director of forensic laboratory operations with the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection’s Division of Scientific Services, about the latest statistics.

Governor Lamont recently announced using money to help offset the costs of health insurance if you are someone not getting your subsidies once they expire December 31st. While there was a lot of bi-partisan support around some of the state spending, there was a hard stop when it came to the millions being given to Planned Parenthood. Some of the loudest opponents to this includes Catholics. We talked about this with Chris Healy, Executive Director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference.