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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. State rep Jennifer Leeper joins us now. Welcome. Thanks so much for having me, Mark. Well, we know about, uh, Bill Gerber. We lost Bill Gerber, uh, the first selectman of Fairfield recently, and, uh, the funeral is, is this week. What did he mean to the town of Fairfield? You know, the loss of Bill is truly heartbreaking and devastating for so many of us. It's not just that he was our town leader. He was a friend for a very long time and truly the Gerber family is the fabric of our Fairfield community. They've been so involved, um. And so caring for for literally decades um I think we're all reeling it was so shocking and it's so sudden and it just leaves a huge hole um in our hearts and in our community. He had such a nice way about him. How do you think he'd like to be remembered? I think Bill would like to be remembered um as joyful, having funny jokes. He always was quick with a joke and a movie quote for every situation, um, and just being endlessly. Curious and tackling every problem that came his way sometimes too many were like we got to just do it at a time, but he was so passionate about improving people's lives. Yeah, now I think according to the town charter, the board of selection had to vote in a new first select one and uh. It has to be from the same party, of course. Christine Vitale is acting for selectman. It seems like she's going to be taking over the role. I think Fairfield would be so lucky to have, to have Christine take over that role. She has also just been a steadfast and tested leader. She was the chairwoman of the Board of Education which. Under the best of circumstances it is a very difficult job and she did that through the pandemic and she is exceedingly calm and rational and great at listening to everyone's perspective and I just think we would be really well suited to have her leading Fairfield through this difficult transition. Now the town, and I think uh several communities in Fairfield County certainly had some education achievements if you'd like to talk about that a little bit. Well, I would say from a state perspective we, in my opinion, passed the most meaningful legislation we've achieved since I've been in the state legislature with the creation of the early childcare and Education Endowment we've really created a system where we now are providing for. Every child in Connecticut to have access to affordable child care for their family and we'll achieve universal pre-K by 2032 and we are leading the nation and thinking of children's development not only starting in kindergarten but starting at birth and how we can make it affordable for families to support their kids help parents get back into the workplace it's good for our economy, it's good for child development. Um, and you know there's really decades of research that this is the best bang for your buck when you invest in children early. Definitely pays off in the long run, that's for sure. Uh, now we're seeing a lot of these federal cuts coming from Washington across the board. Uh, what are some of the impacts here felt locally? Yeah, so I've always said that cutting what we refer to as the federal education titled programs would be the worst case scenario and unfortunately that's where we're at. So we did just see a release of the funds for the after school programs and the summer programs, which is really important, making sure we have. Uh, opportunities for children to be with trusted adults doing meaningful activities, um, keeping them busy and positive, uh, uh, experiences is really important, but what we have yet to receive funds for our our teacher development, uh, funds which. It's really a shame as we want to make sure all of our teachers are prepared for today's needs and tomorrow's needs for our kids and similarly for our early um our English learners and the funds to get those multilingual educators with those students and those are not yet restored and we're hopeful. Now the UI mono polls, I mean this thing has gone on and on and on and infringing on people's property. Uh, do you have an update now from the siding council? So we were successful in the straw poll vote, which was a huge victory for the community. I think the utilities were stunned and uh as I've said many times, this has been a real David versus Goliath. Uh, fight, and I feel so proud of our community and the way Bridgeport and Fairfield have come together to fight the utilities on this and so now we are, um, working with the governor's office to make sure they fill that ecologists position on the siding council so that we can get a hopefully speedy success before the siding council. Oh, that'd be great. Uh, any other issues facing the town of Fairfield right now? Um, I just hope our town is, um, feeling supported as we move through this difficult transition and knowing that there are a lot of people who care about filling bills very big shoes and, um. Also finding a renewed joy uh because nothing in life is is a given and. We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful community, and the summer is a particularly wonderful time in Fairfield, so I hope folks are taking advantage of that. Oh yeah, beaches are great, phenomenal. Uh, was there anything from this last legislative session that didn't pass you wanted to see? I'm sure, yeah, so it was heartbreaking to see on the final day of session. Our big education omnibus bill that included things from a civic seal of education and engagement to both incentivize our high schoolers and reward them for being more engaged in civics opportunities and education, something I think most people agree is really important, um, reforms to the ways we conduct school safety and crisis drills that was in 3 years in the making, um. That work all was killed unfortunately on the final day of session. Um there were no real policy reasons given, um, but the Senate Republicans said this was a no go for us, and I feel hopeful that we'll get a call in special session. All right, Jen Leaper, thank you so much. Thank you. Well, next, two new laws that could make having a baby easier.

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If you're planning on having a baby soon this week, Governor Lamont signed two new laws that could make it a lot easier. One of them aims to open more birthing centers across the state. That's a big deal in rural areas like Sharon, where the region's only maternity ward almost closed. News 12 Connecticut's John Craven shows us how severe the need is. Lydia Moore gave birth to her third child, she only had minutes to get to the hospital. My water broke in the car on the way to the hospital, and our daughter was born 40 minutes after we arrived. Luckily, Sharon Hospital was just a few minutes away. But the maternity ward was nearly shut down because this corner of Litchfield County is so remote. I live 1 hour from Danbury Hospital and 50 minutes from Basset Brothers in Poughkeepsie. Across the state, maternity units are disappearing, especially in rural areas. But now, thanks to a new law, Connecticut will craft a strategy for opening new ones. What can we do to bring more birth centers into the state? What can we do to help prepare an expectant mom. Two years ago, Connecticut began allowing freestanding birthing centers, an alternative to full-scale hospitals, and this mobile maternity unit can now come to you. We wanted to ensure that women did not have to travel a ridiculous amount of time to get to where they need to get to. Back in Sharon, Lydia Moore wonders what could have happened. If she had to drive an hour away, what if my wonderful but untrained husband had to pull over on the side of the road in the dark no less to deliver my baby, our baby? Well, thanks to a deal with Sharon Hospital's new owner, Northwell Health, the birthing unit will stay open for at least 4 more years, John Craven, News 12, Connecticut. And that's all our time. I'm Mark Suddall. Thanks for watching.

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Harry Rilling and Jennifer Leeper join the show this week. 

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