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My Work

Below you can find a variety of my work, from data reporting to feature writing to trending stories. Click to see each story in full.

CTInsider •

Fall foliage report: The colors around Connecticut

Click the checkbox in the map legend to discover state parks to visit when the leaves are at their peak.

What will the foliage colors look like in CT this year?

As Connecticut's warm and rainy summer heads into fall, some New England-based experts are taking their guesses on what this means for the state's fall foliage.

What factors are affecting fall foliage in CT this year?

Both reports noted that the drought conditions from last year brought about stress to the trees. The DEEP report said
CT Insider •

CT-based novel ‘The Last Mrs. Parrish’ shines in #BookTok trend

LEFT: Lynne Constantine (left) and Valerie Constantine (right), the two sisters who make up the author duo Liv Constantine. RIGHT: The cover for "The Last Mrs. Parrish" Contributed / Bill Mines, Lynne Constantine

LEFT: Lynne Constantine (left) and Valerie Constantine (right), the two sisters who make up the author duo Liv Constantine. RIGHT: The cover for "The Last Mrs. Parrish" Contributed / Bill Mines, Lynne Constantine

While the world of TikTok has pulled many people into their screens, one
Connecticut Post •

As student loan repayment looms, 'I’ll always be thinking about the $90K'

Interest on federal student loan payments is expected to begin accruing again on Sept. 1 after three years of forbearance due to the COVID-19 pandemic while payments will be due starting in October.

According to a report from the Office of Legislative Research, Connecticut has the fifth-highest average amount of debt per undergraduate with $35,853 for the class of 2020. Approximately 15 percent of Connecticut residents have some form of student debt.

For the past three years, interest rates sa
CTInsider •

Maps show how CT’s population shifted during COVID pandemic

Over the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increased outflow of migration from large, congested cities across the country. The same is true for Connecticut’s largest counties — Fairfield, New Haven, and Hartford — which saw more people leave then enter through 2020 and 2021, according to tax return data from the Internal Revenue Service. All other Connecticut counties saw a net positive migration.

Hartford County saw the biggest number of residents leave, with 1,811 more people le
CT Insider •

Here's why no part of CT's coast is considered open ocean

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Most Nutmeggers know that the Connecticut coast runs along the Long Island Sound, and that it is the body of water that most residents swim, boat and play in when on the shoreline. However, when the Southeastern tip of the state extends beyond the Long Island peninsula in places like Mystic and Stonington, what body of water is that?

According to experts from UConn’s Connecticut Sea Grant Program and Connecticut Institute for Resili
CT Insider •

This private island for rent in CT was once home to a Boy Scout camp

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In the middle of Lake Pocotopaug, an old Boy Scout camp sits on an island. While the camp has been non-operational since 1944, because of owner Jack Solomon and his daughter Susie Adams, it has new life.

Laurel Island is a privately owned island that sits in the middle of the lake in East Hampton and is named after Connecticut's state flower, the mountain laurel, which is native to the island. The lake itself is 1.5 miles long and h
CTInsider •

What will Taylor Swift play at her MetLife Stadium concert? Data reveals her most (and least) played songs

Taylor Swift fans (or Swifties) are prepared to say welcome to New York as the superstar will soon embark on the east coast leg of her highly anticipated Eras tour. The stadium tour comes after a nationwide Ticketmaster debacle that left many fans with the reality that attending the tour was only possible in their wildest dreams.

The setlists are pretty much established as Swift takes fans through her various eras, from her debut record to her 2022 release, “Midnights”. However, Swift leaves a
CTInsider •

How CT’s 25 largest cities and towns rank on livability metrics

“I would really err on the side of more quantity and less perfect and quality, because we have been resource-lacking for so long,” DiPentima said. “That's resource lacking whether its number of restaurants, culture and art opportunities, investments in education, housing, healthcare and non profits — these are critical things that we just fight over making it a perfect solution in an urban area when we just need to have a good solution and then we can always make it better.”
CT Insider •

Bear entered CT bakery, destroyed cupcakes, charged at employee

L) stock image of a bear. (R) Cupcakes from Taste by Spellbound on the ground after being eaten by a bear. Courtesy of Dreamstime/TNS and Taste by Spellbound.

L) stock image of a bear. (R) Cupcakes from Taste by Spellbound on the ground after being eaten by a bear. Courtesy of Dreamstime/TNS and Taste by Spellbound.

On Wednesday, a bear with a sweet tooth entered a bakery in Avon and ate dozens of cupcakes.

An employee was loading baked goods into a delivery vehicle at Taste by Spellbound in
CT Insider •

How CT farms and artisans are shaping the cheese-making scene

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Liz Steeves recently started a new job at Mystic Cheese Company in Groton as its director of retail sales; the business is preparing to reopen its cheese shop post-pandemic. But a piece of her heart is in a cheese cave 30 miles away.

Steeves, who started her career in the specialty foods department of Whole Foods, quickly fell in love with the world of cheesemaking. She spent seven years working at Colchester’s Cato Corner Farm, lea
CTInsider •

CT flight fares: See prices at area airports as budget airlines expand

The effect of budget airlines in the region

In the last three years, both Bradley and Tweed Airports have expanded their routes, and done so mostly by growing the presence of their attached budget airline. Bradley services 40 destinations, with Breeze operating 18 flights, and at Tweed, Avelo services 17 routes. These changes have already created a visible impact. In New Haven, the arrival of budget airline Avelo to Tweed brought the average ticket price down over 56% from four years prior.

Fo
CT Insider •

4 CT counties receive failing scores on new air quality report

The American Lung Association's (ALA) newly released "State of the Air Report" gave 50% of Connecticut's counties a failing score for high ozone days.

Fairfield, Middlesex, New Haven and New London counties all received an "F" for average annual number of high ozone days. According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), ozone alone contributes to the majority of unhealthy air quality days in the state. Ozone is harmful to both the environment and human heal
CT Insider •

Realtors as influencers? CT agents use TikTok, Instagram to sell a lifestyle

The social account I Love Greenwich is about romanticizing the lifestyle of living in Greenwich rather than simply posting active real estate listings, said broker Christian Perry. He throws in what he calls "shock and awe" to help boost posts by jumping into clients' swimming pools in a full suit, running around a golf course or busting a move in a local taqueria.

In the world of real estate, platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become powerful mechanisms to essentially turn realtors into
The Hour •

Overton's in Norwalk opens for its 75th season of lobster rolls, fried clams and ice cream

On opening day at Overton’s in Norwalk, co-owner Mike Gavrielidis hauled up a bucket of clams and cracked it open.

“You see this? All fresh.” he said.

More fresh seafood sat behind an oversized refrigerator door, bread buns were stacked tall overhead on storage carts and ice cream in a dozen flavors sat in a humming cooler. Employees manned their stations and a few customers waited in line at the order window for their seafood lunch. As orders came in, Mike took to the grill, placing huge clum
StamfordAdvocate •

Only one CT county has really grown since 2010. Here's why.

Connecticut’s notoriously stagnated population has made headlines over the past few years, with political leaders focusing on economic and housing initiatives to attract new and young Nutmeggers. In fact, only one county has been consistently feeding new residents into the state.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Fairfield County is the only county that has grown significantly since 2010, having brought in over 50,000 new residents from then until 2021.

Both Hartford and New Haven co
CT Insider •

How Larry 'Mr. Hot Wheels' Wood found his love for cars in CT

In the 1950s, Larry Wood’s father brought home a contraband magazine from one of his Wesleyan students. The publication, Hot Rod Magazine, would go on to inspire Wood to become the designer for one of the best-selling toys of all time.

“When I opened up that magazine, it was the beginning of a new life. I realized that you could take cars and modify them and put your personal touch on them,” Wood said. “That was the beginning for me. Boy, I went into the garage and I started working on cars rig
CT Insider •

Why CT’s real estate market is still hot

By the time the open house at 33 Hollow Tree Ridge Road in Darien began on Saturday, Feb. 11, it had been saved over 300 times on Zillow. As the clock struck noon, cars with first-time home buyers, families with small children and curious neighbors alike began rolling up to the 1963 colonial home listed at $1.19 million in the Noroton area.

“I wonder where they are all going to park,” laughed Berkshire Hathaway listing agent Maria Reciuga.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home brought a mix of
CTInsider •

See where the most walkable areas in Connecticut are based on EPA data.

In a “walkable” neighborhood, people can go about daily tasks on their own two feet — from getting to school and work to accessing retail stores and restaurants. But how is the “walkability” of certain areas determined?

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA)’s walkability index ranks every U.S. census block group — neighborhoods that generally contain between 600 and 3,000 people — by four measures:

Intersection density: The number of pedestrian-friendly street crossings per square mile.

Pro
CT Insider •

A black bear is hibernating under a CT family’s deck

A family in Plainville recently discovered a black bear hibernating under their deck. Now, the bear has a name and his own social media accounts.

In December 2022, Vincent Dashukewich and his girlfriend were playing with his dog, Callie, in his family home’s backyard. When Callie began growling, the couple became confused at her behavior.

“My dog, she’s a pitbull. She’s a sweetheart; she never growls or barks at anything," Dashukewich said. “She’s the biggest baby, so she started growling, my
CT Insider •

Musk briefly suspends Twitter account of WaPo reporter from CT

On Saturday, Dec. 17, Washington Post technology columnist Taylor Lorenz was writing an article and reached out to Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk, for comment. Less than an hour later, she was banned from the platform.

Lorenz, who has been a reporter for The Washington Post since early 2022, is a Connecticut native who grew up in Old Greenwich and attended Greenwich High School. Now, she covers technology and online culture, a beat that has thrust her into the world of reporting on platforms like Twi
CT Insider •

What is the most ‘CT’ county in the state?

Which county in Connecticut best represents the Nutmeg State's overall demographic makeup?

According to a Hearst Connecticut analysis of 2020 U.S. Census data (the most recent available), it's New Haven County. Hearst Connecticut compared five demographic characteristics (share of adults, white, Black, Asian and Hispanic residents) to the overall makeup of the state to see which county best represented Connecticut as a whole. The analysis revealed that New Haven County's share of adults, white,
CT Insider •

How holiday lights could affect CT residents’ electricity bills

Amid new reports of electricity price rate hikes throughout Connecticut and greater New England, holiday lights could play a large part for residents trying to manage their electric bills this winter.

During the holiday season, holiday lights are a large part of winter festivities. In fact, so many cities and residents participate in turning on holiday lights that NASA has reported the additional brightness can be seen from space — and towns throughout Connecticut are no different. However, the
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