A mix of breaking news, hard news, features and audio postcards from the Connecticut public newsroom. A Connecticut jury orders Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion for Sandy Hook lies; a mother talks about her son’s last note -- “Nurturing, healing, love” -- before he was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School; BIPOC farmers talk about farming in Connecticut; two visually-impaired skaters talk about playing ice hockey; the emotional work that goes into translating a poem that a young Chinese boy, studying in the U.S., wrote to his family in the late 1800s; a Connecticut healthcare system promised raises for home health aides, but workers were still making close to minimum wage and being docked for meals they never received – and, after the story aired, the health care provider reimbursed the caregivers for the charges; Dartmouth returned papers of a Native American who helped establish the college; a look at a cultural pageant for girls in Hartford; and we take you into a Connecticut river on a hunt for alewives and blueback herring.

Connecticut Public Overall Excellence entry

December 14, 2022, marked 10 years since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed, including 20 children. The newsroom featured family members, survivors, teachers and lawmakers discussing what has and hasn’t changed over the past decade. We also examined the promises made and what changes we’ve seen in schools since the shooting. We also featured reflections from people in Newtown, including Monsignor Robert Weiss. He was a spiritual first responder at Sandy Hook and officiated the funerals of eight of the 20 children. “We need to keep moving forward, but we cannot forget,” he said.

Sandy Hook: 10 Years Later -- coverage from Connecticut Public

Rents are rising across Connecticut. As some tenants face poor housing conditions, they’re saying: Enough. They’re forming tenants’ unions. As Connecticut Public Radio’s Camila Vallejo reports, the unions may not be a new concept, but they’re resurging.

Connecticut Public

Fighting Back: How some Connecticut tenants are organizing to improve their housing

Breaking news coverage from the first 24 hours of a story that generated national headlines. A Connecticut jury ruled that Alex Jones will owe families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting $965 million for promoting the lie that the massacre was a hoax.

Alex Jones Verdict Breaking News Coverage

When people think of slavery in the United States, many think of the South. But slavery happened in the North — and throughout New England, including Connecticut. Thousands of people were enslaved in our state and region. Connecticut was the last New England state to formally end slavery — just 13 years before the Civil War began.    It’s history many of us didn’t learn in school. Explore this hidden history in a five-part radio and digital audio series from Connecticut Public. It's "Unforgotten: Connecticut's Hidden History of Slavery." There's also a podcast. Learn more at ctpublic.org/unforgotten

Unforgotten: Connecticut's Hidden History of Slavery; radio and digital audio series from CT Public

Eric Aasen

Related tracks