Jeff Cohen
Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director.
In addition to covering state and Hartford city politics, Jeff covered the December 2012 Newtown shootings and the stories that followed. In 2012, Jeff was selected by NPR and Kaiser Health News for their jointHealth Care In The Statesproject. Much of his reporting has aired nationally on NPR. As news director, Jeff beganThe Island Next Door -- Puerto Rico and Connecticut After Hurricane Maria,which has won several awards, including one national and two regional Edward R. Murrow awards.
Jeff began as a reporter forThe Record-Journalin Meriden, Conn. before moving toThe Hartford Courant, where he won a National Headliner Award for a story about the ostracized widow of the state's first casualty in Iraq; wrote about his post-Katrina home in New Orleans; and was part of a team that broke stories of alleged corruption at Hartford City Hall that led to the arrest of the city’s mayor. His work has also appeared inThe New York Times.
Jeff lives with his wife andtwo daughters, whose haircutting incident brought the family more notoriety than journalism ever will.He's written two children's books, and he likes hiking, whitewater kayaking, napping outside, and making bread and wine.
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The intersection of law enforcement and mental health has been an issue in Connecticut since the Newtown shootings. One city is training its officers to better decipher delicate situations. -
Connecticut opened retail stores to market its health insurance exchange. Some customers are getting insurance for the first time and others are hoping to lower their premiums. -
Problems with online insurance marketplaces have hampered the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in many states. Connecticut, a success story, is trying to turn its expertise into a business. -
States have spent big on setting up their health insurance exchanges. But figuring out where the money is going can be difficult because some states don't release the information. The contractor running Connecticut's marketplace call center hasn't had to reveal pricing. -
Shortly after 9:00 a.m., the state's insurance website was live. In almost no time there had been more than 100,000 visits, and someone had already enrolled by 9:30. But throughout the morning, it was tough to get the website to load. -
Outreach workers are going from concerts to oyster festivals to urge uninsured people to sign up for coverage. The state received $15 million in federal money to spend on marketing a health insurance exchange that opens Oct. 1. -
Serious mental illness can take a toll — not only on the person experiencing the symptoms but on family members, too. The Bell family still struggles with the loss of Homer, their son and brother, who recently killed himself after living with schizophrenia for 30 years.