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Melissa in the Morning is hosted by Melissa Sheketoff who gathers top news headlines locally and nationally to keep WICC listeners in the know, delivering the information that matters most to you.
Every week, enjoy live interviews from state leaders, business owners and local experts. Melissa has frequent talks with Governor Ned Lamont, Attorney General William Tong, Comptroller Sean Scanlon and other state department leaders. She also has consistent check-in’s with leaders in Washington, including U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Congressman Jim Himes. At the hyper local level, Melissa also talks to local leaders, including state senators, representative, mayors and first selectmen.
Outside of politics, local experts featured on the show weekly include infectious disease expert, Dr. Fred Browne of Griffin Health, career strategist, Julie Bauke, and law enforcement officials including crime prevention expert, Jim Perez.
And as a news reporter, Melissa does investigative reporting on local stories. In 2024, Melissa was the first and only Connecticut reporter for weeks to tackle a hot water and heating issue at Success Village in Bridgeport and Stratford, impacting thousands of residents. She also exposed severe issues with Bridgeport’s education system, including issues with the Board of Education and superintendent. She also answered dozens of calls from Fairfield residents about a childcare center abruptly set to shut down and her work led to a delay in that decision helping dozens of families find care.
Plus, traffic every ten minutes and weather from our Chief Meteorologist Paul Piorek.
Recent posts
Melissa in the Morning: Broken Ankle Bracelets
A recent article highlighted new data surrounding GPS ankle monitors for suspects out on bond or on probation. After collecting two years of data (2021-23), the I-Team reported that Connecticut received around 990 tamper alerts. While a lot of those alerts could be accidental, dozens were because bracelets were broken on purpose. Senator Paul Cicarella…… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: Supporting Local Arts
Fairfield County’s Community Foundation is launching a new grants program to support arts organizations throughout the Greater Bridgeport area. We got a snapshot of how much local artists have financially struggled since 2020 and how the Arts in the Service of Equity program can help by offering three-year grants focused on arts innovation to collaborative programs. Julian…… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: Advocating for Babies
According to reports, 90% of parents in America are fearful of potential Congressional cuts to vital safeguards like child care, special education programs, affordable housing, and even children’s healthcare. That’s why the non-profit Zero to Three created the Thinking Babies initiative, meant to press policymakers to prioritize the needs of infants, toddlers, and their families…… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: Warming Up a Cold Case
Monroe Police are feeling hopeful they can finally give closure to the family of Renee Freer. The 8-year-old girl was murdered back in June 1977 and 47 years later, a Facebook group has given new life to the case. Erik Hanson is a Monroe native and an author who is pursuing the story for his…… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: Swatting Incidents
In the last month, there were two major swatting incidents in our listening area: Danbury Mall and Notre Dame of Fairfield High School. What are swatting incidents? What’s the point of them? Where are the prank calls coming from? How can we better handle the situation without draining all resources and spending a lot of…… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: Coping with Loss
According to national statistics, about 6-million US children will experience the death of a parent or sibling by the time they are 18 (experiencecamps.org). The average adult is never ready to say goodbye to a loved one, so how can we expect our children to handle loss in a healthy way? We got advice from…… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: The Irony of Passover 2024
We are in the midst of the Passover this week but it feels a lot different this year with all the unrest across the country. We spoke with Fairfield Rabbi Shlame Landa about the significance of the chaos erupting on college campuses during this holy time for Jews. IMAGE CREDIT: iStock / Getty Images Plus… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: State Representative Kara Rochelle
We met Rep. Kara Rochelle for the 104th District representing Ansonia and Derby. She is in her third term and up for reelection in November. Find out what she’s tackled during her time in office and her goals moving forward. IMAGE CREDIT: Melissa Sheketoff… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: CT Hurricanes
More and more, musical programs are losing funding in schools across Connecticut. But there is an option for students starting in high school to get more engaged in the marching band world, thanks to CT Hurricanes. We learned all about it from Danny Staffieri and AJ Rittenhouse. For more information: http://cthurricanes.org/ Photo Credit: Melissa Sheketoff… Continue Reading
Melissa in the Morning: Updates from Fairfield
Several major news headlines are coming out of Fairfield. We checked in with First Selectman, Bill Gerber, to talk about the upcoming Clam Jam event this weekend, the latest on Penfield Pavilion construction and an upcoming hearing about the controversial proposed UI Monopole plans. Image Credit: Getty Images… Continue Reading