Power & Politics: A guide to the state Legislature races

Power & Politics: How the mayor’s indictment is affecting New York City; McGuinness Boulevard redesign plan

Power & Politics: Sprinting toward Election Day; 1:1 with congressional candidate Sue Altman

Vote 2024: Thousands of absentee ballots start going out in Connecticut

What happens if NYC Mayor Eric Adams steps down or is removed from office?

Some residents vow to make Edgemont an incorporated village following recent petition's denial

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News 12 Staff

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I'm Mark Sudha. Welcome back to power and politics with election day. Just over a month away, we heard more this week from the two vying to be vice President Tuesday night, Senator JD Vance and Minnesota. Governor Tim Wall squared off in their first and only debate. But what's fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter. It's clear and the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago, a nearly 80 year old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment. You yourself just said Iran is as close to a nuclear weapon today as they have ever been. And Governor Waltz, you blame Donald Trump who has been the vice president for the last 3.5 years. And the answer is your running mate, not mine. Now, the vice presidential candidates could get the last word as of right now. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have not agreed to another debate. Well, state Senator Bob Duff joins us. Now, we're gonna talk about something other than the presidential and vice presidential races right now and keep it close to home. Thanks so much for being with us. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Uh So let's talk about some of these new Connecticut state laws that went into effect this week. One of them being concerning kids with safety online and this is something that you support. Absolutely. And just, I just have to make this one connection to the VP debate, the fact that just the fact that in Connecticut we have uh one of the biggest drop offs in the entire country, ballot drop offs, people, bullet vote for president. And then they leave. We're talking about new state laws today because the state legislature passed these things. And so it's really important for people to remember about their state legislature and the things that impacts them. So that commercial is over. Let me talk about, let me talk about uh this right now, data privacy, Connecticut because we have worked so hard on these issues. And because of the fact that I've pushed this along with Senator Moroni uh from Milford has pushed this, we have the strongest data privacy laws in the entire country for Children. We have some of the strongest data privacy laws in the country in general, but for Children, uh we rank number one and we have done that over the last few years, uh building and building and building on the laws that we have so, so, so much so that we wanna make sure that kids um have permission from their parents before they get online. Uh that uh companies can't sell data of Children and that uh parents have the tools that they need uh that we are helping them provide the tools and get the tools that they need to make sure that their kids data is private. That, that data isn't, isn't um going to follow them for, for the rest of their lives, you know, uh based on what they're doing at 12 or 13 or 14 years old, you know, most kids are on social media. My kids are your kids are uh everybody is. So uh it's really incumbent upon us state by state because of the fact that Congress is failing us by not putting forward data, privacy laws by not putting forward good uh children's laws on online uh that we have to do this in the States. And what ages for kids are we talking about? Well, we're talking about uh kids who get online as young as like nine years old, uh all the way up to 18 and, you know, 18, obviously they can make their own choices. But, you know, but before uh 18 years old, uh companies should not be selling their data and social media companies have failed uh our Children, they have failed our culture and failed our country. Um You know, Europe has a lot stronger rules than we do. In fact, we're the only country uh around in the, in the world that is uh that doesn't have a strong data privacy laws nationally. Uh which is why states like Connecticut have to go out this and do this on, on our own. And, you know, we've looked at some of the proposals that Congress is, is, is um proposing and a lot of them have state exemptions, which is really bad because any national law would weaken it. We want a good, strong national law that would meet or exceed Connecticut standards. Now, another new law that went into effect on Tuesday, home Health Aids would not have added personal security. Talk about that. Yeah, absolutely. You know, sometimes, uh, you know, you see these terrible things, uh, terrible tragedies and we saw a home health aid worker who was uh killed, yeah, killed in Eastern Connecticut. Uh So we had to change the law. We had to say that look, uh, the folks, maybe some patients need assessments and maybe some of the home, home health workers need uh protection when they go. If somebody is deemed to be a risk, nobody should go. And a lot of these folks are, a lot of the home health workers are female. Um, they, they need uh, somebody at times if they don't have uh the ability the wherewithal to secure themselves, uh to make sure that they have somebody who can, who can be with them and escort them. At the same time, we wanna make sure people are healthy but we also don't want to put people to workers risk. So we made that actually Senate Bill one, this past legislative session, meaning it was the top priority for the Senate Democratic caucus. And so making sure that workers can do their job, uh, that, uh, patients aren't putting workers at risk and that they're getting the health care that they need. That's all we want to do in the end of two minutes we have left. Let's switch gears now to Mana uh which has been an eyesore as you know, in Norwalk. Now we're gonna get a park over there, huh? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like I said, at the announcement, uh this is gonna be uh it, it's from one of Nors most colossal mistakes to one of Norwalks greatest achievements. 50 years ago, we were fighting with Stanford about who got the power plant and Manes Island was this beautiful, beautiful old monastery. Uh I'm not sure where it would have gone to Stanford. Uh But we lost that battle. Now we won because we're gonna get this beautiful, beautiful park. Uh The mccord's have just provide this uh really beautiful gift to us. Uh They're gonna reuse this power plant. It's gonna be something wonderful for the community. I predict, I predict people will move to Norwalk because of this new park. Uh because of the fact that it's gonna be so awesome, it's gonna have so many different things. It's gonna be so great. And I think that uh people are gonna be very proud of it. The, the, the feedback so far uh from people has just been tremendous. And again, Alison and Austin mccord uh have our eternal thanks for doing this. And when might we see this? It's gonna be wild. I would think it's gonna be wild. Uh Speaking to Austin, he, he obviously is an impatient person. He wants it sooner rather than later as do I, I'm like, why aren't we done yet? It's been three days, you know. Uh, but, uh, but I think it's gonna be a few years you're gonna have, it's gonna be remediated. There's lots of things there, but they're gonna work smart. They've got a foundation set up. So it's in perpetuity that this thing can get done and it's gonna be there for generations and generations of families. Uh, and people are just gonna love it. Bob Duff. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. All right. Well, experts are debating the future of plastic here in Connecticut.

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Well, if you think hurricanes are getting worse, climatologists say you're right. And part of the reason is all the plastic we produce. Now, experts are looking for solutions news 12, Connecticut's John Craven shows us how they could impact you here in Connecticut. Plastic straws are pretty much a thing of the past these days. You're going to find paper straws at most restaurants but are more restrictions coming. Love it or hate it. A trip to the drive through probably means a paper straw. I don't like the paper straws. I know they're good for the environment but I do not like the way it makes beverages taste, it just makes everything taste different. It just the feeling on your lips. It just, it's not the same. This week, dozens of national experts are pondering plastics in New Haven. Attorney general, William Tong calls it a brainstorming session. We're trying to get our arms around it as attorneys general to try to figure out what we can do together. Connecticut has already banned plastic bags. The state is also looking at extended producer responsibility which would force retail giants like Amazon to recycle their shipping materials. But that's only a small fraction of what's out there. There's plastic everywhere. There's a million cars are full of plastic and everything is full of plastic. The private sector is coming up with solutions, red dishes, cups and containers look like plastic, but they're not. And they are reusable that are washed in our facilities tracked and sanitized and then brought back to the institution. But kicking the plastic addiction won't be easy. What do you think we should replace plastic with? I have no idea. State lawmakers have tried and failed to pass some of those extended producer responsibility laws in the past. They're likely to try again next year. In New Haven, John Craven News 12 Connecticut at the State Capitol. The Connecticut Supreme Court has a new chief justice Raheem Mullins was overwhelmingly approved by the legislature's judiciary committee. Mullins is co is promising an ambitious all digital court system including adding Wi Fi to every courthouse in the state. For trials. Each juror would have their own tablet or ipad where lawyers can upload evidence, making the experience smoother and more efficient. Mullins is already on the State Supreme Court. He will serve as interim Chief justice until the full General Assembly votes to approve him early next year. Well, that's all our time. I'm Mark Sudal. Thanks for watching.

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Mark Sudol spoke with the candidates in the 36th State Senate District and state Sen. Bob Duff about new state laws that went into effect this week.  

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Mark Sudol spoke with the candidates in the 36th State Senate District and state Sen. Bob Duff about new state laws that went into effect this week.

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