Connecticut’s public pension funds have one of the worst investment track records of any state in the nation with long-term, chronic investment underperformance, according to a report released by Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI). With their research team, Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian investigated why Connecticut’s underperformance has cost the state billions — while offering solutions on how to reverse course. Read the full report here.

Historian Kevin Gutzman, a professor and former chairman in the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University, chronicles three titans of early American history: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. These close political allies implemented the foreign policy, domestic and constitutional agenda of the opposition “Republican” Party, founded to enact what they viewed as the American Revolution’s guiding principles. His latest book The Jeffersonians is available now. Learn more at kevingutzman.com.

Connecticut has a deep-rooted history, and YI’s Andy Fowler is exploring it in a new series called, “Hidden in the Oak.” The goal: to fill readers with a sense of pride about the state we call home and make the past relevant to today. So far, the series has explored how Nutmeggers impacted the Battle of Gettysburg; the prominent baseball leagues and icons of the sport; a haunted island; CT scientists and the Manhattan Project; the possible first saint from Connecticut; and the Marquis de Lafayette’s tour of the state in the early 1800s. Subscribe to the newsletter, here. Or if you have a factoid you think Andy Fowler should explore, email him at andrew@yankeeinstitute.org.

Before COVID, Connecticut ranked low in openness and access in healthcare, but the pandemic provided an unprecedented experiment in expanding those areas. Dr. Robert Graboyes — president of RFG Counterpoint, LLC — examined Connecticut’s healthcare system, and offers seven innovative, constructive, bipartisan solutions in Yankee Institute’s latest policy report to relax prior restrictions on the provision of care. Read the full report here. 

Public sector employees enjoy “release time” provisions — which enable employees to engage in union-related activities full- or part-time during their working hours. This means taxpayers are paying these employees to not do their job, while possibly supporting political activities with which they disagree. Ben Weingarten, editor-at-large for RealClear Investigations, dives into the costs of “release time” in his piece “To Unions, Organizing Time Is Fine When It’s on the Taxpayers’ Dime.” He also writes extensively on First Amendment rights. Follow him at Twitter @bhweingarten or his website, here. 

The goals of the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP) were to free candidates from the influence of lobbyists and big money, and also enable candidates from more diverse backgrounds to run for office. However, the program is plagued with imperfections — and even notorious kickback schemes. Connecticut Inside Investigator’s Katherine Revello explores the abuses and shortcomings of CEP in a multiple-part investigation “Examining Connecticut’s Clean Election Program.” Read part one here. 

Marc Fitch — Connecticut Inside Investigator’s senior investigative reporter — is the new master of horror and suspense with the release of his latest novel, “Dead Ends.” He explains his creative process and gives insights into the chilling tale of four lives being thrown into chaos. “Deads Ends” is out August 15 and available wherever books are sold. Pre-order it here. 

What makes a city or town livable? And how are lawmakers addressing housing and transportation concerns to the improvement or detriment of Connecticut’s municipalities? Dr. Jonathan Wharton — associate professor of political science and urban affairs at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) — discusses these critical issues with YI President Carol Platt Liebau, and explains how lawmakers can incentivize Nutmeggers from leaving the state during their prime earning years. Learn more about him here and follow his writings at CT News Junkie and Hearst Media.  

Thinking about leaving the union or know someone who is considering it? Well, they only have the month of August to decide! Mike Costanza — a public school teacher in North Stonington and founder of the Facebook group “Constitution State Educators" — returns to the show to discuss how teachers can opt out of their union, and debunks the myths perpetuated by the unions if a teacher decides to leave. To learn more about Constitution State Educators, visit here.

Sometimes good people can do a bad thing. This was a lesson John Santa — former CEO of Santa Energy — learned when a friend went to prison for embezzlement. After visiting his incarcerated friend, John was inspired to found the Malta Justice Initiative (a former Catholic ministry) to educate and bring the sacraments to prisoners, which proved challenging. He soon discovered that the best way to help prisoners re-enter society was a job. Since then, he has advocated both for criminal justice reform, as well as for providing education for prisoners in order to prevent recidivism. Currently, John is the vice president of the Sentencing Commission of Connecticut and board chairman of H.J. Baker & Bros. He also co-authored a book called “The Justice Imperative: How Hyper-Incarceration has Hijacked the American Dream.” Find it here.

It has been five years since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME, where the Court held it violated the First Amendment for unions to compel government workers to subsidize them. But what led to the case? What were its consequences? What was it like to argue before the Justices? Bill Messenger — vice president and legal director for National Right to Work and one of the nation’s foremost labor advocates — represented plaintiff Mark Janus. He shares his insights and his thoughts about the “next frontier” in the fight to protect free speech against politicized unions. Learn more about National Right to Work here.   

How did major crises like the Great Depression and World War II — and government interventionism through the New Deal — shape the economy of the 20th century? And how did corporations come to dominate this period? Richard Langlois, a professor at UConn, offers a nuanced reframing and reassessment of the economic, institutional and intellectual history of what’s been called the “managerial century” in his new book, The Corporation and the Twentieth Century. Learn more here. 

Roger Sherman was more than “just a simple cobbler from Connecticut,” as sung in the musical, “1776.” He was a true statesman, earning the distinction of being the only Founding Father to sign all four great documents of the United States: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution. Connecticut’s Founding Father did more than sign those papers, however,  shaping the very fabric of the republic, says Prof. Mark David Hall — author of “Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic.” Hall explains Sherman’s impact on the founding and his legacy today. Learn more about our guest here. 

Frank Ricci, Yankee Institute’s Labor Fellow, has had a storied career not only as a New Haven firefighter — retiring as Battalion Chief — and serving as the union president, but also being lead plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano (2009). He is also an accomplished writer, authoring the new book Command Presence: Increase Your Influence, offering readers lessons on how to lead when everyone is watching, strengthen your negotiating tactics, and develop a media presence. This ‘three books in one’ is out now wherever books are sold. Find it here. 

So what happened in the 2023 Legislative Session? Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-36th) provides an analysis of the biennial budget that cut income taxes, fair share housing, the benefits of the 2017 fiscal guardrails, pushing back on other ‘bad’ bills, and the importance of localism and civic engagement. Learn more about Sen. Fazio here. 

Connecticut Inside Investigator found a group of divorcees who claim the state’s family court system is not only ignoring abuse allegations in ongoing child custody battles, but enabling them. YI President Carol Platt Liebau discusses the claims with Lisa Fontes, a psychotherapist, author and activist who lectures on topics ranging from the sexual abuse of children to intimate partner violence. Learn more about her here.  

During an April Appropriations Committee meeting, Rep. Rachel Chaleski (R-138th) noticed that only three out of four charter schools were funded in the proposed state budget. The one left out was a school planned for Danbury, which had already been approved by the State Board of Education in 2018. To rectify the situation, Rep. Chaleski introduced an amendment to fund the school, unaware she was upsetting the procedural applecart! The move caused an uproar at the Capitol. Although the amendment eventually failed, Rep. Chaleski is fighting on to give every student the chance to receive a good education. Learn more about her here.

Did you get free Covid-19 test kits from the U.S. Postal Service? If so, you may have been one of 68 million citizens whose private information was given to labor unions. This breach in sensitive data was discovered by Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT) — a nonprofit organization that educates public employees about their rights in a unionized workplace and connects these employees with all available resources to defend those rights. Elisabeth Kines Messenger (CEO of AFFT and former executive vice president at Yankee Institute) explains how AFFT is holding the U.S. Postal Service accountable and discussed how Connecticut is a testing ground for labor policies across the country. Learn more about AFFT here.

With session winding down and the budget taking shape, Reps. Holly Cheeseman (R-37) and Tammy Nuccio (R-53) discuss the importance of the 2017 bipartisan budget’s fiscal guardrails on the current proceedings, and ways to improve the overall process so Connecticut can avoid economic hardships. Learn more about Rep. Cheeseman here; and more about Rep. Nuccio here.

More than 700 bills that made it out of committee now await for a vote by the General Assembly. Bryce Chinault — Yankee Institute's director of external affairs — breaks down the good bills that expand free market principles and individual liberties, and the bad bills that restrict those rights. To help Connecticut voters know what bills are good and bad, Chinault developed a ‘Bill Tracker’ providing analysis on high priority pieces of legislation as well as an easy-to-use ‘Take Action’ tool to contact your representative. Learn more, and Take Action here.

Why is the vast regulatory state dangerous? Todd Gaziano, chief of legal policy and strategic research at the Pacific Legal Foundation, explains how Congress’ delegation of legislative authority to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats has undermined the “separation of powers” enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, what led us here and how to reverse the trend. Learn more about how PLF is defending liberty and justice for all here.

Matt Guarnieri believes in unionization; however, when he failed to receive support from his local union, and witnessed the over-politicization of school policies from the national union, he left. He now belongs to Christian Educators and became a member of Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT).

As Connecticut Inside Investigator celebrates the first anniversary of its launch, Conner Drigotas (managing editor) and Marc Fitch (senior investigative reporter) provide a retrospective on the challenges and rewards starting a news outlet has presented. They also dive into the investigations and stories that have made a real impact on the lives of state residents. If you want hard-hitting stories and original investigations that no other news outlet will touch, subscribe to CII’s free newsletter today! Follow here. 

David Flemming has joined Yankee Institute as its new policy director. A lifelong Vermonter and former energy policy analyst at the Ethan Allen Institute, he discusses the policy opportunities in Connecticut, his passion for research, political ‘awakening’ and education at Hillsdale College. David recalls his experience briefly interning for Sen. Bernie Sanders — and how he may even have accidentally hit him while riding a bike in Burlington. 

The UConn Men’s Basketball Team has just won a national championship, the program’s 5th since 1999, which now ties Duke and Indiana for the number of titles all time. Joe D’Ambrosio — a sportscaster known as the “Voice of the Huskies” — joins Y CT Matters to discuss how UConn’s coach Dan Hurley built a team to win it all and what the championship means for the state. D’Ambrosio is currently the broadcaster for UConn Hockey and UConn baseball, filling in on WJMJ-FM. Follow him here.