Y CT Matters

With 14 years of legislative experience in CT, Terrie Wood joins the first episode of 2023, providing color commentary and insights into Gov. Ned Lamont’s inauguration. She also gives perspective of what being a legislator is like, building relationships with other lawmakers, developing policy, as well as what to expect in the long legislative session — with a particular focus on housing and education issues.  

What’s in store for the legislative session beginning on Jan. 4? Andy Markowski — Yankee Institute’s advisor on government affairs — previews how Democrat and Republican leadership will react legislatively in the House and Senate following the 2022 elections. He also predicts that lawmakers will propose more than 3,000 bills focusing on energy, healthcare, law & order, as well as the bi-annual budget. 

Tis the season of giving, so what better than to learn from an expert about ‘giving.’ In this episode, Lukas Dwelly — philanthropic advisor at DonorsTrust — discusses how donating (or not donating) to charitable causes, churches, colleges, or other institutions is an expression of free speech; and how government overreach has impacted philanthropy to go against peoples’ values and principles.Learn more about DonorsTrust here. 

Meghan Portfolio — Yankee Institute’s manager of research and analysis — has developed a mild obsession with exposing government’s transgressions since joining YI in 2019! She broke the story of Sen. Richard Blumenthal attending a communist dinner; Jane Fonda saying COVID was “God’s gift to the Left”; and lawmakers nearly allowing senators and representatives accessing anyone’s tax returns. She reads EVERY bill, and has a watchful eye on CT-N — the state’s government TV channel.If you want to be in ‘the know’ about what’s happening in Hartford, sign up for her newsletter, the Hartford Portfolio, here.

Marc Fitch — senior investigative reporter at Connecticut Inside Investigator — reflects on the news outlet’s inaugural year, being a government watchdog, and telling the stories no one else will cover. 

In the latest episode of Y CT Matters, Dr. Scott Nicol — superintendent of the Ellington Public Schools — discusses re-establishing trust between parents, teachers and the education system with an aim at transparency. He also shares how the school district’s math and reading test scores actually improved during the pandemic, and approaching education through an unbiased lens.  Follow him on Twitter, here. 

In the latest episode of Yankee Institute’s podcast Y CT Matters, political columnist Don Pesci discusses Election Day 2022 results and its repercussions on state policies toward unions, inner cities, education and more. Pesci is a political columnist of long standing, about 40 years, who has written for various state newspapers, among them The Journal Inquirer, the Waterbury Republican American, the New London Day, the Litchfield County Times, the Torrington Register Citizen and other Register Citizen papers. He maintains a blog, “Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes From A Blue State,” which first launched in 2004. He also appears once a week Wednesdays on 1080 WTIC Newstalk radio with Will Marotti. Read his blog here. 

So what happened on election day? Themis Klarides — former House Minority Leader in the General Assembly — joins the latest episode of Y CT Matters to discuss the state and national election results. Klarides served in the 114th district for more than 20 years, and was the first woman to lead Republican members in the CT General Assembly.

In the latest episode of Yankee Institute’s podcast Y CT Matters, Daniel Di Martino — an a Columbia PhD. student, activist and economist — shares insights into life in Venezuela under socialism took hold, and the destruction it its brought to his homeland.  To learn more about DiMartino, click here. 

In this episode, Dan Miressi — a state senate candidate for the 25th district — discusses Connecticut politics, his motivation to run for office, as well as how government in the past 20 years has not provided enough economic opportunities for his generation to achieve the American dream. (His opponent, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, has also been invited to appear on the podcast.) To learn more about Miressi’s candidacy, click here.