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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.

  • Do you have questions about the bronze plan?
    Call Centers Got Big Deals Under Health Law, But How Big?
    Jeff Cohen
    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.
  • The online health exchange in Connecticut got off to a bumpy start Tuesday.
    Connecticut's Insurance Website Struggles At Opening
    Jeff Cohen
    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 worker Emanuela Cebert (right) talks to Papilon Ferreiras about health insurance outside a rap concert.
    Connecticut Takes Obamacare To The People
    Jeff Cohen
    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.
  • Homer Bell's family: sister Laura Bell (from left), sister Regina Bell, mother Rosalind Scott and stepfather Jack Wilcox.
    How A Family Copes With Schizophrenia And Suicide
    Jeff Cohen
    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.
  • Conn. Lawmakers Propose Strict Gun Laws After Newtown Shooting
    Jeff Cohen
    When Adam Lanza shot his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 26 people, he used a military-style weapon. He also had 10, 30-round magazines full of a total of 300 bullets. Now, Connecticut lawmakers say they want to ban the sale of those gun magazines, hoping that magazines that hold fewer bullets will mean fewer deaths. Some in the gun industry say that move will cost the state jobs.
  • Report: Adam Lanza's Home Was Stocked With Weapons, Ammunition
    Jeff Cohen
    There's new information about the man who shot and killed 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school. Warrants issued in the aftermath of the shooting were made public on Thursday. Jeff Cohen tells Audie Cornish that they fill in additional details about Adam Lanza's life with his mother Nancy. Investigators found a cache of weapons and ammunition, a National Rifle Association certificate for Adam Lanza, and books on mental health and shooting skills. They also found information about other mass shootings.
  • The three selectmen for the town of Weston, Conn., David Muller (left), Gayle Weinstein and Dennis Tracey, hold a town meeting in which they discuss a proposed gun-control ordinance.
    Without Broader Action, Conn. Town Writes Its Own Gun Laws
    Jeff Cohen
    While both President Obama and Connecticut's governor have called for stricter gun laws, one small town isn't holding its breath. Weston is considering a proposal to restrict assault weapons after the school shootings 20 miles away in Newtown.
  • The Coltsville factory's blue dome has long been a landmark in Hartford, Conn. The Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company began building factories in the area in 1855.
    Connecticut Left To Reconcile Tragedy With Its Proud Gun History
    Jeff Cohen
    Connecticut has suddenly become the epicenter of America's gun control debate, in a way no one there could have foreseen. In the wake of the Newtown massacre, the state that once led the world in making modern weaponry is now the backdrop for arguments over the U.S. gun industry.
  • Norman Bloom takes his boat out to meet his son, Jimmy, whose boat is idling over the company's oyster beds, about a mile offshore from Norwalk. They worry that the waves and the turbulence may have suffocated the oysters under silt. They could have been banged around, which would break them. And they may have just cracked open and died, Jimmy fears.
    Sandy's Damage Under The Sea, Through The Eyes Of Oyster Farmers
    Jeff Cohen
    The Bloom family has been raising oysters for three generations now on 2,000 underwater acres of oysters in Long Island Sound. On Wednesday, two days after the storm, the Blooms were finally able to get out on the water to assess the damage, and they found a lot of it.