The Wheelhouse

In an effort to avoid talking about tolls yet again, The Wheelhouse flees to the icebound hell of New Haven. But there is no escape. Also we have discussion of gentrification and a glance at presidential endorsements in Connecticut.

The House Intelligence Committee has released its report. The House Judiciary Committee is about to hold its first hearing on the matter. This hour, we focus on the ongoing impeachment hearings. What legal strategies are at play? We compare this impeachment with earlier proceedings.

This week we continue our discussion on tolls! There's a new proposal for trucks-only tolls that some democrats are supporting. And what's the future of the Democratic Party in Connecticut?  We also talk about the sudden acendence of Jim Himes, and persistant political myths - like the "temporary" income tax. 

This hour, we talk through Governor Lamont's transportation plan - he wants to use $320 million in toll revenue to restore the state's infrastructure, improve commutes on state highways and Metro North, and stabilize the Special Transportation Fund.  

Are there any lessons we can learn from last night? Probably not. The predicted trends, like “The Trump Effect” didn’t really emerge. The state was split between Republican and Democratic victories.

A battle over campaign lawn signs? Dueling opinion pieces about how great or terrible our state is? Big questions about how we’ll keep our population or lose it to those states down south? It sounds like your typical Wednesday in Connecticut. 

The language of politics--of America, really--has gotten quite a bit uglier over the last few years. And the last few weeks in Connecticut are a case in point. Female political leaders from both major parties faced online insults and threats, and prompted a call from the governor and others for a more civil tone.

Last night’s 12-person Democratic presidential debate proved a few things:

1. That’s too many people on stage.
2. Elizabeth Warren has become both the front-runner and the target of most of her colleagues.
3. Warren is proving to be a bit harder to attack than former front-runner, Joe Biden.

The House of Representatives is conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Trump for his call for an investigation of Joe Biden’s son by the Ukranian government; Trump now says he and his White House won’t cooperate with what it’s calling an illegitimate effort “to overturn the results of the 2016 election” - an obstruction that the House might use to consider another article of impeachment. 

As impeachment news consumes Washington, more and more Americans seem to think that the House inquiry is a good idea. 

House speaker Nancy Pelosi took a long time to warm up to the idea of impeachment proceedings against President Trump. But the latest saga involving a whistleblower complaint about a call with Ukraine’s president, seemingly pressuring him to investigate Trump’s main political rival Joe Biden has gotten the impeachment train rolling, and all members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation are now on board. 

This hour we assess what our state politicians are saying about this week’s pivotal Washington news.

That whole debate about tolls was getting so old.

Now, we get to talk about the new debate at the capitol - over rotisserie chicken! Yes, a plan to tax more prepared food - which already faced opposition - was rolled out by the Lamont administration in a way that he’s already walking back. Way more food items faced a higher tax than anyone expected.

Primaries in Connecticut’s municipal elections could’ve been a dull affair, but that was certainly not the case last night. 

Governor Lamont is back from his Maine vacation and seemingly rarin’ to go. In just the last week or so, he overruled his health commissioner and will release school-by-school data on vaccinations, rolled out a big transportation plan, and committed to a no-carbon electric grid by 2040. 

U.S. Representative Jahanna Hayes (D-5th District) issued a press release Sunday accusing the news media of “clickbait journalism” in response to two recent stories she claims made “reckless assumptions” about her comments.

Connecticut’s three biggest cities have mayoral elections this year that could determine what’s next for New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford.

This week, we have a special program, talking with experts watching these races closely. We give you the latest on city politics, and why they matter to you, even if you don’t live there. 

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is among the state's public officials vowing to fight the Trump administration's latest anti-immigrantion measure. It's one that would broaden the definition of "public charge" and could be used to block green cards or legal citizenship to those deemed impoverished enough to require government assistance.

Including this weekend's carnage in Texas and Ohio, there were 253 incidents in which four or more victims were shot in the first 217 days of this year, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

But is Congress ever going to take Connecticut's lead and address any of them?

From the moment they took the stage Tuesday night, progressive and moderate Democrats running for president clashed over who could win back the Rust Belt working-class districts that President Trump took in 2016.

But what about urban districts? Can Republican candidates counter Trump's continued disparagement--Baltimore being the latest victim--of American cities?

Connecticut's five U.S. Representatives stood with their Democratic colleagues and four Republicans Tuesday in rebuking President Donald Trump for his Twitter attacks against a group of minority congresswomen who have become known as "The Squad."

Now what?

Gov. Ned Lamont is in search of a new look for his State Capitol office, and we're not just talking about the grasscloth wallpaper and new carpeting he wants to install.

Staff changes also are in the works, including a new spokesman, NBC Connecticut political reporter Max Reiss.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced Tuesday his support for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The news arrived amid reports that the former vice president’s polling lead is shrinking, as California U.S. Senator Kamala Harris' numbers rise. 

Despite the many GOP losses in Connecticut races last election, state Republican insiders Tuesday night granted J.R. Romano a two-year extension as party chairman. In the end, only one challenger stepped up to oppose him. The vote wasn't even close.

If large corporations, like United Technologies, are increasingly eyeing urban hubs for future growth, what are we doing to put our cities at the cusp of that trend? Or more likely, what aren't we doing as a state?

This week, we take stock of what cities such as Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport have to offer CEOs looking to relocate their companies, and where they fall short. 

Last fall, after United Technologies Corp. announced it would spin off its Otis Elevator and Carrier divisions, then Governor-elect Ned Lamont vowed he would watch the Farmington-based conglomerate "like a hawk" to retain its workforce in Connecticut.

But this weekend's news that UTC would merge with Raytheon Co., and move its headquarters to Waltham, MA., came with little advanced notice to the Lamont administration.

With more than 24 hours to spare, the legislature's Democratic majorities on Tuesday evening delivered a two-year state budget to Gov. Ned Lamont. It doesn't raise income taxes on the rich, or deplete Connecticut's rainy day fund.

So then, just how does the $43.4 billion plan add up? And how were enough lawmakers brought on board to get it across the finish line?

It's been a half-century since the torture and eventual murder of wrongly suspected FBI informant Alex Rackney by members of the Black Panther Party. The racial tensions in New Haven that followed when party leaders were put on trial for Rackney's death led to the National Guard patrolling its streets.

In some ways, the city has changed a lot since then. But many of the social problems that provoked New Haven's angst during that period--injustices by police, substandard housing, gentrificaton, and racial disparity--remain unsolved.

Governor Ned Lamont on Tuesday grudgingly accepted the increasingly irrefutable reality that highway toll legislation won't pass before the regular session wraps up on June 5.

Instead, he said he's devoting his next two weeks to what may be an even bigger challenge: working out a compromise with progressive Democrats over the state budget.

State Attorney General William Tong says his office has diagnosed an aggressive cancer eating away at America's healthcare system.

According to Tong, it's triggered by scheming executives at many of the largest pharmaceutical companies illegally working together to artificially inflate the cost of generic drugs. Forty-three other states are joining the effort spearheaded by Connecticut's AG to litigate drugmakers into a court-ordered treatment plan.

The regular session of the Connecticut General Assembly adjourns at the stroke of midnight four weeks from tonight.

So far, none of the biggest policy goals identified early on by majority Democrats have made their way to the governor's desk for his consideration.

Not electronic highway tolls. Not legalizing recreational marijuana. Not sports betting. Not paid family and medical leave.