Voice of CT

Melissa in the Morning: Age Discrimination in the Workplace

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.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Melissa in the Morning: Permanent Housing for Local Veterans

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.

Image Courtesy Of Richard Minnocchio

CT Today With Paul Pacelli – Mayor Joe Gamin Wins Again

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)

The Lisa Wexler Show – Norwalk Students Invent Amazing Streetlight

The Ponus Ridge Middle School Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM team joins Lisa Wexler to discuss their street lamp project for the national competition. After becoming 1 of 10 National Finalists, winning $12,000, they could win $100,000 and hope Norwalk puts their award-winning street lamps, that will harness both solar energy and storm runoff water for power, into practical use around their city.

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Melissa in the Morning: The Housatonic Museum of Art

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.

Melissa in the Morning: Food for (Business) Thought

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.

Image Credit: Getty Image

Melissa in the Morning: Combatting Wrong Way Driving

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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Melissa in the Morning: Vote for Officer French and K9 TJ

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

CT Humane Society Pet of the Week

Today’s our pet of the week is going to be Alice! She’s a 7-year-old spayed female rabbit.

Alice is an indoor only senior rabbit looking for her fur-ever home to enjoy her golden years
She is a lionhead rabbit, which is a small, longer haired rabbit breed
In her previous home, Alice had a whole room all to hersself where she could hop about and explore, and she also had plenty of supervised playtime throughout the rest of the house
Though she was greatly loved in her previous home, her owners were no longer able to care for her due to a health problem, so now she’s looking for her next loving home
She has long beautiful fur and will need routine brushing to keep her fur from matting
While Alice is not overly fond of being held, she will gladly hop over to you to spend time by your side
Alice’s favorite snack is arugula!
She will do best in a home with people who have prior rabbit experience
Rabbits make wonderfully social family pets! However, be sure to familiarize yourself with their care and enrichment needs before adopting. Although relatively easy to care for once you know how, rabbits do require more attention than most people typically think. Rabbits may be able to live in pairs. When bonded, they will groom each other and snuggle together for companionship. Solo rabbits will need more human social time than pairs. Curious and social, rabbits do benefit from a lot of time out of their cage and can be litter box trained so they can roam freely in a safe environment. While rabbits vary a great deal in size, the average rabbit may weigh approximately 5 pounds and can live 6-12 years with proper care.

CT Today With Paul Pacelli – The Real Work Must Now Begin

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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