Investigative journalism is at the heart of the Connecticut Mirror’s work. The investigative team of Andrew Brown, Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso focus their efforts on longer-term accountability stories, but every journalist in the newsroom shares the instinct to shine a light into the shadows. As our mission statement says, we hold government accountable.
Throughout 2025, “investigation” was a component of hundreds of CT Mirror stories, from our continuing coverage of the Kosta Diamantis saga to Bridgeport election fallout. But some efforts stood out for having a special impact on Connecticut laws and public policy. Here are some of our favorites.
Gone in 15 days: How the Connecticut DMV allows tow companies to sell people’s cars
For the last year and a half, journalists at CT Mirror and ProPublica have been working together to investigate Connecticut’s towing laws. Our stories have shown that towing companies could sell unclaimed cars just 15 days after they were towed, one of the shortest windows in the nation, often without clear notice to owners, disproportionately hurting low-income drivers who lost jobs and transportation as a result.
The DMV also lacked basic oversight and recordkeeping, couldn’t tell the public how many cars had been sold and had never enforced a long-standing law requiring towing companies to hold and turn over proceeds from such sales for owners to claim. Internal problems were highlighted by a DMV employee who used his position to buy discounted towed cars from a towing company — a matter that initially drew little attention and was only addressed after our story ran.
These stories showed how outdated statutes, lax enforcement and internal abuses created a system that favored towing companies over vehicle owners. In response, Connecticut lawmakers overhauled the century-old towing laws this spring to increase protections for drivers.
Here are other stories in the series:
- How many cars have Connecticut towing companies sold? The DMV can’t tell us.
- How a Connecticut DMV employee made thousands by selling towed cars
- Connecticut DMV never set up system to enforce a century-old towing law
- CT towing companies frequently value cars low, allowing them to sell vehicles quickly
A Buried Threat: Thousands in CT might still be drinking water from lead pipes
This summer, reporters from our newsroom embarked on an ambitious project: to show how thousands of homes, schools and other properties in Connecticut are still being supplied by aging lead service lines. These pipes connect buildings to water mains and can leach toxic lead into drinking water.
New state data suggests that up to about 8,000 such lines remain in public systems statewide, including in cities like Bridgeport, Waterbury, Willimantic and New London, even though lead plumbing was banned decades ago and lead exposure can harm children’s development and health.
To help residents understand their risk and take action, CT Mirror published an interactive address lookup tool that lets people see if their water service line is listed as a suspected lead line. We also held community events around Connecticut to explain the project and wrote an explainer detailing why identifying and replacing these pipes matters under new federal lead pipe regulations aimed at eliminating them within the next decade — highlighting public health threats, gaps in communication from utilities and the importance of transparency and infrastructure investment for safe drinking water.
Finally, with financial support from the Pulitzer Center for our work on this project, we are testing the water in residents’ homes in the affected areas we identified through our reporting.
Here are other stories in the series:
- Does your CT address have lead pipes? Check our database
- What is a lead service line? Where they’re located and why they’re unsafe
Priced Out: CT long-term care insurance costs are skyrocketing, strangling consumers
In early 2025, CT Mirror published a project more than a year in the making about the long-term care insurance industry. Our reporting, which went on to win regional and national awards, uncovered a legacy of exorbitant rate increases on insurance plans, questionable business practices by insurance executives, a lack of political will at the state legislature to enact change and a flurry of complaints filed with state agencies.
At the center of these stories are the Connecticut residents who bought policies decades ago to protect themselves from the high cost of nursing homes, assisted living and in-home care only now to be grappling with premiums that have become increasingly unaffordable.
Our stories revealed that premiums have soared, with many policyholders facing annual increases of 50% or more — and in some cases well over 100% — leaving older adults on fixed incomes struggling to keep coverage they counted on for retirement and health security.
The stories explain the growing crisis in the financing of long-term care, an issue that has broader implications for aging policy, consumer protection and financial regulation.
Here are other stories in this series:
- Genworth ties executive pay to rate increases for long-term care insurance
- How CT Mirror investigated the long-term care insurance industry
Feds probe legislator’s relationship with recipient of state money
Since news broke in August that federal investigators are scrutinizing state Sen. Doug McCrory’s ties to nonprofits and businesses that received millions in state economic development funding — as well as his relationship with Sonserae Cicero-Hamlin, who is the director of several of the organizations — CT Mirror has been on the story.
Our reporting has shown that state officials were warned as far back as 2023 about a potential conflict of interest but failed to alert ethics authorities. Additional stories have documented McCrory’s efforts to steer a proposed HVAC training program toward close associates, building a detailed picture of how influence was exercised behind the scenes.
Our reporting has exposed gaps in oversight, forcing public scrutiny of how taxpayer dollars are awarded and monitored. By bringing internal warnings, subpoenaed records and agency decisions into the open, CT Mirror has raised broader questions about ethics in government, the effectiveness of conflict-of-interest safeguards and whether our state government is equipped to catch and deter the misuse of political power.
Here are other stories on the topic: