Lucy Nalpathanchil

Before extremists stormed the US Capitol, groups had been organizing and inciting violence on our most common social media apps. 

This hour, how much of a role did social media play in that riot? Extremists had a home on the web long before the existence of Parler, an alternative social media network.

Venture Smith was enslaved when he was just a boy. He was eventually able to buy his freedom and the freedom of his family. His iconic story of will, perseverance and strength, is central to Connecticut’s history.

This hour, we dive into to the biography of Venture Smith and the history of slavery here in Connecticut.  

When you want to learn about an obscure topic, where do you turn? For many, it’s a free, online encyclopedia which now contains more than 55 million user-created articles. This hour, we talk about 20 years of Wikipedia.

The General Assembly session is getting interesting, as lawmakers trot out their proposals. But this year does not resemble a normal session.  COVID-19 rules keep lawmakers at arms length from each other, and from lobbyists and the public. 

Today we talk to House Speaker Matt Ritter about how much lawmakers will be able to get done.  Are they doing the right thing by extending the governor’s emergency powers?  And is now the time to start phasing out a religious exemption to school vaccination requirements?

Recovering from addiction is difficult in normal times, but managing recovery during a pandemic can be incredibly challenging. This hour, we talk about the challenges of navigating recovery during the pandemic. 

Dr. Miguel Cardona’s journey as an educator started in an elementary school classroom in Meriden, Connecticut. Now, Connecticut’s education commissioner is heading to Washington D.C. as President Biden’s pick for nation’s Secretary of Education.  This hour, we sit down down with Dr. Cardona.

If confirmed by the Senate, Cardona will take the helm of the U.S. Department of Education during a pandemic that has profoundly disrupted the country’s education system.  As Education Commissioner, Cardona advocated strongly for an in-person return to the classroom in Connecticut. How will he navigate education during COVID-19 at a national scale?

During this pandemic, most of the day our eyes are glued to our screens as we continue to work from home. This hour, we challenge you to look outside as we talk about bird watching in our state! 

Sales of bird feeders and bird seed have skyrocketed this year. If you are one of the many people that have picked up birding, look out for cardinals and woodpeckers!

It was a plague that came every summer and left thousands of American children paralyzed -- or dead -- in its wake. This hour we take a look at the legacy of polio.

How did the development of the polio vaccine change the course of history?

Hosted by Lucy Nalpathanchil and John Henry Smith

Today Joe Biden became the forty-sixth president of the United States.  Will America heed President  Biden’s calls to end an 'uncivil war' in political debate that spilled over into violence at the capitol two weeks ago?

A vice presidential swearing-in also makes history. 

Now that Donald Trump has left Washington and been kicked off Twitter, what has changed and what remains the same?  

And how will Connecticut’s political parties be impacted by the change at the White House?

Inauguration Day is here. This hour, Connecticut’s 3rd District Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro joins us to talk about what this Inauguration Day is looking like, and how it has looked in years past. 

Bridgeport has lost its top health official as the state battles COVID-19’s second wave. This hour, we talk with Connecticut Post reporter Brian Lockhart about the vacancy in the health department of the state’s largest city.

And later, some Connecticut residents over the age of 75 will receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this week. Does Connecticut have the right tools in place to reach seniors?

We talk with Department of Public Health Acting Commissioner Deidre Gifford, and we hear from AARP Connecticut.

We’re one semester into the 2020-2021 academic year. This hour, how are faculty at our Connecticut colleges and universities holding up? 

Coming up, we'll talk about faculty burnout, the impending end of tenure, and what universities will invest in, in the future. 

President Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives again, making him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. With just days before President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, what happens next?

We check in with impeachment legal expert Ross Garber.

We also talk with The New York Times Interpreter columnist Amanda Taub. What lessons can we take from attacks on democracies globally to better understand our current moment?

After President Trump egged on a crowd of supporters who later smashed their way into the US Capitol, Democrats are once again on the verge of impeaching the president. This time, they may have some Republican support.  To be successful, any such effort would have to pass both the House and the Senate. 

On the Wednesday politics episode of Where We Live, we speak with Connecticut US Senator Chris Murphy about whether the president should be removed, the upcoming new administration, and what needs to be done to protect the US Capitol from further violence during the inauguration and beyond?

While still just a law student, Brittany K. Barnett met Sharanda Jones, a single mother, business owner and a woman serving a life sentence without parole for a first time drug offense.

This hour, Brittany K. Barnett, author of A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom joins us to discuss her fight for Sharanda’s freedom and our country’s continued struggle with a racially challenged criminal justice system.

Coming up, we talk about the War on Drugs and the policies that resulted in the disproportionate mass incarceration of people of color.

So far, tens of thousands of Connecticut residents have already received the COVID-19 vaccine. Yet nationally, vaccine rollout has been going slower than experts had hoped.

This hour, we hear from reporters about how policies have shaped vaccine availability. And we get answers from a doctor about the science behind the shot.

What questions do you have about the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine?

Astronaut Kayla Barron was one of the first women commissioned as a submarine warfare officer in the US Navy. Now, she’s part of another groundbreaking group, NASA’s Artemis Team.

This hour, we talk with Barron about her training for the next set of missions to return to the moon.  The Artemis Program aims to put the first woman on the moon in coming years.

Connecticut 4th district Congressman Jim Himes joins us to talk about what happened at the U.S Capitol and how the country moves forward from here. 

Last January, an estimated 2,500 young people experienced homelessness in Connecticut, according to the Connecticut Coalition To End Homelessness annual Youth Count. And that was before the pandemic that overturned so many lives.

Connecticut had made a goal to end youth homelessness by 2020. So what gaps remain? We hear from advocates, providers, and a young person about how the state can help youth at risk of housing insecurity and homelessness.

Have you or someone you know experienced housing insecurity or homelessness?

With the ongoing pandemic, what do municipalities need to do to stay afloat?  This hour, we look at neighborhoods and towns in Connecticut working to keep their residents connected and businesses thriving during this pandemic. We hear from residents in Westville, a small thriving community in New Haven. We also hear from New London - a city looking to revitalize and create more resiliency. 

What has your year looked like? What are you grateful for? In the last days of 2020 we reflect on our most memorable shows of the year. It’s been a hard one for so many and that’s why we took some time to ask you--what you’re thankful for this year. Despite this difficult, hard year, it’s important to stay grateful for what we have.

GUESTS:

On May 1, 1970, the eyes of the nation were on the Elm City. Students and others from around the country had gathered to protest the murder trial of Black Panther Party leaders Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins.

At the start of this year, Jericho Brown addressed the graduates of the Bennington Writing Seminars Class of January 2020. 

He said, “If you can’t imagine these last few days without trees, I know you can’t imagine life without poetry. Literature fills needs we did not know we had. Poems and stories plant seeds for things we did not know we needed.”

What a year! The Where We Live team has been working remotely since March but we haven't stopped bringing you live conversations.

2020 is finally almost over, and it’s time for a break. But if your holiday plans are looking different than normal, we’ve got you!  This hour, we talk with NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans, who gives us his recommendations on what to binge watch over the holidays.

We also check in with Vox book critic Constance Grady about her recommendations from the best books of 2020.

And later: are you among the 67% of Americans who play videogames? We talk with Washington Post videogame reporter Gene Park about his favorite games of the year. If you’re not a gamer yet never fear—we talk about how to get started exploring the world of gaming.

If you’ve ever been to a dietician to lose weight, or just to get healthier, you’ve probably heard the same advice and been told to eat the same kind of food. But American dietitians often leave out room to eat diverse cuisines and food groups, largely leaving out a lot ethnic food. 

There’s not a lot that rhymes with pandemic. 

This hour, Margaret Gibson, Connecticut’s poet laureate joins us for a conversation on poetry writing during the coronavirus. It’s our Pandemic Book Club - poetry hour! 

COVID has changed the way we live, work, even move. This hour, we talk about the future of public transportation in Connecticut, with commuter advocate Jim Cameron. We also hear from the State Department of Transportation (DOT) public transit bureau chief.

Ridership has plummeted on rains and buses as many residents continue to work from home. This, even as Connecticut’s often-overlooked bus systems have been critical for many of the state’s essential workers to get to their jobs.

Will Connecticut’s mass transit system be able to recover from the economic toll of COVID?

If you own or rent a home that is older than 1978, you have to assume there is some lead in it. Lead is not be used in paint anymore, but the lead that exists in older homes can still be dangerous.

This hour, we talk about lead poisoning and the risks it poses to children. Coming up, we hear what homeowners and renters need to know about lead in their homes.

For years, Connecticut sent large portions of waste to the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA) trash-to-energy plant in Hartford. This, in spite of protests by Hartford residents, who say pollution from the plant has caused health problems. Now, the plant will close in 2022.

Today, we talk with Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Katie Dykes about the state's garbage.

The commissioner has said the state is facing a “waste crisis” in coming years. So what’s the solution?