After All Things

Keeping it local

There’s still plenty of summer left to plan some fun stay-cations! Results are mostly in from yesterday’s primary elections in Connecticut. Long Island lawmakers call for a study of ground contamination near Bethpage Community Park. And Connecticut residents will see another increase in their electric bills.

Duration:: 14m
Broadcast on:: 14 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

I'm Tom Coosier, local host of Morning Edition on WSHU. My first car was a 65 Pontiac Tempest. I was counting the seconds to when I could get my license. Was blinding white with a big V8 and a transmission we called a two-speed slushbox. That's how well it works. You can turn your vehicle into the programs you love by donating it to WSHU at WSHU.org. ♪♪ You're listening to After All Things, WSHU's daily news and culture update from the Long Island Sound region. Coming up, the results are mostly in from yesterday's primary elections in Connecticut. Long Island lawmakers call for a study of ground contamination near Bethpage Community Park. Connecticut residents will see another increase in their electric bills. Plus, there's still plenty of summer left to plan some fun staycations. Those stories and more are ahead. I'm Sabrina Grown. ♪♪ Two incumbents and one newcomer won their primaries in Bridgeport last night. WSHU's Molly Ingram has more on who's been chosen to represent their party in the November general election. State Senator Herron Gaston won more than 70 percent of the vote against former state Senator Ernie Newton in the 23rd Senate District. Quinnipiac constitutional law professor Sujada Gadkar Wilcox defeated three other candidates, including former Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch in the 22nd Senate District that represents Bridgeport Munro in Trumbull. Current Senator Marilyn Moore did not run for re-election. Molly Ingram, WSHU News. State Representative Andre Baker from Bridgeport declared victory over challenger Enita Martinez in the East End District, though the extremely close race has not yet been declared. The Stanford House member who made anti-Semitic remarks about her opponent in the Democratic primary has lost the primary race. WSHU's Janice Roman has more. Jonathan Jacobson is now the Democratic candidate to run for the 148th State House District seat. Jacobson won over incumbent Annabel Figueroa. Official results reported Jacobson with 600 votes and Figueroa with 358. A video of Figueroa making anti-Semitic comments about her opponent circulated online. Figueroa released a statement apologizing for the comment saying she, quote, misspoke. The Stanford Democratic City Committee called for Figueroa to resign. Figueroa initially gained the State House seat in a special election last year. She was the first Latina to represent the 148th District. Janice Roman, WSHU News. Long Island lawmakers want the state to investigate how ground contamination in Beth Page is affecting residents' health. 22 chemical drums were discovered underneath Beth Page Community Park this year. WSHU's Desiree Diorio reports. Officials say they're concerned about the health dangers from contaminated soil and groundwater at the site where military contractor Northrop Grumman dumped chemical waste. Oyster Bay town supervisor Joe Saladino and state Senator Steve Rhodes wrote a letter to the state health department. They say the community needs to know long-term health effects and whether cleanup efforts have worked. The department says their request is under review and a cancer evaluation was completed in 2013. But Saladino told News 12 Long Island that it's time for an updated study. Desiree Diorio, WSHU News. (upbeat music) - Got plans for the rest of the summer? I spoke with an expert on local food and fun that conversation is ahead. First, a message from our supporter. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Local support comes from Hartford HealthCare, the only health system in the Northeast, with all its hospitals receiving A grades for safety from the LeapFrog group, the nation's leading independent safety watchdog group, HartfordHealthCare.org. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, is coming to Southampton tomorrow for a fundraiser. This will be his first solo campaign event since joining the Democratic ticket for the White House. Former President Donald Trump was also in the Hamptons for a fundraiser earlier this month. EverSource and United Illuminating Customers will see their energy bills go up again in September. This follows a steep increase in July electric bills for many. Connecticut's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority approved rate adjustments this morning. The extra cash will be used to support the electric vehicle charging grid. Long Island Baimans say they're not happy with the town of Oyster Bay's proposal to pause shell fishing on 1400 underwater acres. A six-month moratorium is set to begin in October. Town officials say they need time to assess the health of the bay and plan for its future. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut has just returned from a brief visit to Ukraine. He says he's impressed by the country's counter-offensive into Russia, which he says is progressing very well. WSHU's Ebang Udama has more. - Blumenthal says the Ukrainian incursion into Russia is bold and brilliant. These kinds of operations will strengthen Ukraine's position, not only on the battlefield, but also at the negotiating table if there are at some point talks about a successful conclusion for Ukraine in repelling Russia. - In the meantime, Blumenthal says Ukraine needs more U.S. assistance. He says he'll introduce a bipartisan standby Ukraine act that he hopes Congress will act on before the end of the year. He also says Ukraine should be given NATO membership and the Biden administration should lift restrictions on U.S. weapons to Ukraine. Blumenthal traveled with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zilinski and Kyiv on Monday. Ebang Udama, WSHU News. - Many locals think Connecticut has a lot to offer, but sometimes the Nutmeg state gets a bad rap as a long highway between New York City and Boston. But one content creator wants to change that narrative. I spoke with a New Haven woman who goes by C.T. Food Bay on Instagram. Her short videos on food and fun around the state rack up thousands of views. I think that you are a great person to follow on Instagram, especially for newer Connecticut residents like myself. What inspired you to start making content like this? And I'm assuming you're from Connecticut originally? - Yeah, so I actually moved to Connecticut from Massachusetts three years ago. And so I love taking pictures of food and like going out to eat and exploring the surrounding areas. So I started the Instagram just because I wanted to explore what Connecticut had to offer coming from out of the state. - And that's funny you say from Massachusetts. A lot of people say Connecticut's just like a big highway between New York and Boston. Do you think the state gets a bad rap for being boring? - Yeah, definitely. As someone from Massachusetts, I also thought that Connecticut was like a drive-to state. But since living in Connecticut, I've actually enjoyed all the towns. They're also unique and have different things that they offer. And there's so many state parks in Connecticut to explore. And there's always all these new restaurants opening festivals happening. So I really enjoyed living in Connecticut. - What do you think makes Connecticut a great place not only to live, but if you're coming from other New England states, let's just say to travel and explore. - Yeah, so I love doing day trips around Connecticut. Some of my favorite towns are Mystic, Connecticut. I also recently went to Graham B in the winter. And I just did Richfield, Connecticut. And every town has its own unique flavor and things to do. For example, if I want to go check out wineries, I would go to Graham B and then I would also walk at Enders Falls. Litchfield County also has a lot of things to do, especially with the fall coming up. So there's the Litchfield Distillery, that there's all the Arathuza ice cream farm. And then next door, there's the Hogan Cider Mill, which I love visiting in the fall. And then Mystic has the Aquarium and it has a really cute downtown and shopping. So all these towns have a different flavor and are great places to visit. - Could you tell me a little bit more about being a content creator? Like, is this your full time gig? Is this something that you're doing on the side? - I do it on the side. So I call it my hobby. So doing a content creator, it's been interesting. It's been a learning curve over the last three years. I started just starting to share my experiences online. I didn't expect it to get so big through the past three years, which I've been very grateful for. But it's been nice like working with local restaurants in towns just to explore the cultures of Connecticut and then all the local people that I wouldn't be just working at my job. - Okay, so is that how that works? Like places will reach out to you and say, "Hey, come check out what we have to offer here." And you kind of base your video on that surrounding area. How does that work? - Yeah, so restaurants will reach out or like the town tourism boards will reach out. And on the other side, I also like finding my own things to do. So I like a mix of working with restaurants as well as exploring on my own to get a good variety of what I like and also what the local people like as well. And it's very nice being able to try new things that I wouldn't know of if they didn't reach out to me. So I definitely am not a homebody. I like going out and doing things all the time. So it's a perfect hobby. - That's awesome. - Okay, so I wanna ask you like some quick questions. I would say they're rapid fire, but feel free to like expand on any of these as you'd like. What do you think is your favorite city in Connecticut to spend time in? - That's really hard. I actually, this would probably be controversial, but I do love studying time in New Haven a lot. There's a lot of museums to visit. The streets are very walkable. There's a lot of restaurants. There's always new restaurants opening. So I do like spending time in New Haven, but if I wanna get out of New Haven, my other favorite town would be Niantic. They have the book barn, which is I think the largest used bookstore in Connecticut. And then they also have like the fake shop. They have a beach. They have a really cute walkable downtown. And it's also very close to, well, it is like close to the water. So there's a lot of things to do and I like exploring there. - Okay, and speaking of water views, what is your favorite spot in Connecticut to get out in nature somewhere where you maybe forget what state you're in? - Harkness Memorial State Park is very beautiful. It's like really big in its free admission for Connecticut licensed plates. - A lot of people have strong opinions about this one. What is your favorite spot for pizza in the state? - Oh yeah, that's controversial, I don't know. - Yeah, I might get you in trouble here, I'm sorry. - I do love bar and salads are my two favorites. And then if I want like a unique pizza, the likeness has taught me pizza, that's really good. - And I wanna mention too, you do content that expands outside of Connecticut. What are some of your favorite places to go? I know you stop in New York sometimes or throughout New England. What's like a great quick day trip outside of Connecticut that you'd recommend for people? - I think Newport, Rhode Island is very close and there's a lot to do there. There's all the mansions, there's food, it's really cute. And there's a lot of water, sea food. And then in the fall, I love going to a Terry town in the Hudson Valley in maybe like an hour and a half. And it's a really great place to get out of Connecticut as well. - I was speaking there with the CT Food Bay for more staycation inspiration followed at CT Food Bay on Instagram. For the latest news from Long Island and Connecticut, you can listen on the radio, stream online@wshu.org or download the WSHU app after all things is supported by Hartford HealthCare. And whether it's news, classical music, or podcasts like this one, they're all made possible with support from our listeners. So as always, thank you so much for listening and please do share this podcast with your family and friends. I'm Sabrina Garone, enjoy the rest of your day. I'll talk to you tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]