Whose collar is that? That belongs to former House Speaker Chris Donovan, captured in a hidden camera video and presented by federal prosecutors at a trial this week. It’s not Donovan’s trial, but rather the trial of his former campaign finance director Robert Braddock. In fact, Donovan is not charged with anything.

This week on Face the State we will talk about the trial that has the State Capitol buzzing. It involves cash, wire taps, tobacco a refrigerator and much more. The names being mentioned at trial are familiar ones.

It’s a complicated story, but we’ll get it explained in detail with Connecticut Mirror reporter Mark Pazniokas, who will also talk about the political fallout. Tune in this Sunday at 11 on WFSB Channel 3.

It’s no secret I’ve been disappointed at Connecticut’s fading impact on presidential politics. The 2012 presidential primary was a low attended affair, by the candidates and the voters. By the time the primary came around in April, Mitt Romney had the nomination wrapped up so there was no need to campaign here. As a solid blue state, Romney and President Obama chose not to woo voters for the general election, and instead they spent days meeting voters in Ohio, New Hampshire and other battleground states. They only came here to raise money, and there were no campaign events or rallies.

Can anything be done to get Connecticut voters the same treatment as voters in Iowa, South Carolina or Nevada? We’ll discuss that this Sunday on Face the State. Think it’s too early to talk about this? Nonsense. Potential candidates are already visiting states with early primaries. The first debates will be held in two years.

We are joined by the Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, political analyst and Face the State moderator emeritus Duby McDowell, and the Yankee Institute’s Fergus Cullen, former New Hampshire Republican party chairman. McDowell suggested moving Connecticut’s primary to a Saturday, Merrill called for a regional primary, and Cullen talked about how the Constitution State can learn from the Granite State. He agreed with a recommendation by former Secretary of the State Pauline Kezer that Republicans open their primary to independent voters.

You can watch the entire discussion, this Sunday at 11AM on Face the State, only on Channel 3 and right here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8897417

Read more about this topic right here: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/obama-and-romney-take-a-pass-on-connecticut-voters-and-media/

One of Connecticut’s most revered reporters is retiring later this spring. Dan Kain, who’s been a fixture on Channel 3 for a quarter century, is hanging up his journalist’s cap after filing hundreds and hundreds of stories from all corners of our great state.

For much of the 1990s, Dan’s unforgettable stories appeared in a segment of our news called “Kain’s World,” that aired every day at the end of Eyewitness News at 5:30. This Sunday in our Face the State flashback, you’ll see two editions of “Kain’s World that aired in the summer of 1996, introduced by Gayle King and yours truly.

The first was on a move by the West Hartford town council to ban chores on holidays. Seriously. Dan was amused by this, and put together a comical story on the subject. We also will show you a report Dan did on cicadas, which will return this summer.

You can watch both “Kain’s World” reports that aired Sunday at 11AM on Face the State, only on WFSB Channel 3 right here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8897434

Watch Dan Kain reporting on the G. Fox Department Store: https://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/face-the-state-flashback-the-g-fox-era-comes-to-an-end/

We like to think of Connecticut as a place where slavery didn’t happen, that instead it was an ugly part of American life that only took place in the deep south. The fact is, our Constitution State forefathers did own slaves, and they did it for a long time.

This Sunday on Face the State, we were joined by a dean at Yale who is here to talk about her new book, “For Adam’s Sake, a History of a Colonial New England Family.” While researching the book, Allegra di Bonaventura discovered some fascinating details about how slaves lived in the land of steady habits. It’s pretty eyeopening.

Watch the segment right here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8871479

We hear the encouraging news from Governor Malloy, that our state is “open for business,” and that things are improving. Then, another report comes out saying Connecticut is at the bottom of the list in some business survey.

Just this week a new study by CEO Magazine ripped Connecticut, ranking it 45th out 50 in terms of which states were bad for business. The magazine blamed unions and said the state had poor leadership.

This week on Face the State, we got an interpretation of all the claims from CBIA, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, a non-profit based in Hartford. President and CEO John Rathgeber weighed in on the state of our state. Among the things he had to say: “Connecticut state government is too big.”

UPDATE: Watch the segment right here http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8871471

I was reminded recently that 25 years have passed since I got my first job in television news. It’s hard to say: 25 years. Yikes. It was late winter 1988 when I was hired at WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire to work on the assignment desk. My ultimate goal was to become a reporter, and this was my path to getting there.

For those not in the business, the assignment desk is the nerve center of a newsroom. The stories are assigned there and information is gathered there and passed on to the reporters and producers. The desk is a great training ground. Within a few weeks of being at WMUR, the assignment manager went on to work for then New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, and suddenly I was getting a promotion.

Even though I had new responsibilities, a fancy business card and a pay raise that had me pulling down just shy of $16,000 a year, I still wanted to be a reporter. After my shift was over, I would go out in the field with reporters and put together a demo tape, to send to news directors looking for inexperienced newbies who might have a mullet. I also came in on Saturdays and Sundays and went out in the field and did some practicing in the studio. That demo tape has never been on television until now.

In this past Sunday’s Face the State flashback, we aired the first report I ever put together, and it was political in nature. A hotel that had played host to presidents was being sold. In the link below, you’ll also see some clips of some pretty terrible anchoring, complete with some odd facial expressions and over-annunciations, telltale signs of a rookie.

That job at Channel 9 came after an internship at WPRI-TV, now the CBS affiliate in Providence, although it was ABC when I was there. When I got that unpaid job at Channel 12, I was beyond thrilled. Coincidentally, my wife Kara Sundlun was also an intern at WPRI years later.

That internship was an intense learning experience that remains a foundation of my career to this day. I learned everything from how to write for tv news to how to go out and get the news. Most importantly, I learned how the business worked.

You learn from everyone you encounter in life, and WPRI was no exception. I was helped by dozens of people, but I’ll always be grateful to two WPRI anchors at the time, Walter Cryan and Ted Wayman. Walter was a senior statesman-like newscaster, who gave me an avuncular “don’t worry about it,” after I messed up the teleprompter one night.

Ted was particularly helpful, and told me if I really wanted to learn something, I should intern on the weekends, when the station had a considerably smaller staff. Ted was the weekend anchor, and probably felt an extra body on Saturdays and Sundays would be a big help. Changing my schedule to the days most people want off, was the best move I could have ever made. I went out out to stories with a photographer, and we covered everything from fires to senators to college rallies. Ted was a great writer and story teller, and was very influential in the style of reporter and anchor I would become. A few years later when I sent my mother a tape of my first anchor job in Rockford, Illinois, and she said “you sound like Ted Wayman,” I knew I was doing something right. I’ve also tried to return the favor by mentoring WFSB interns over the years.

I also have to give a shout-out to my news director at WMUR, Miles Resnick, who later authored a book about the tv news business. He coached me in the studio, and I’ll never forget his paternal yelling “don’t move your head so much!” He also told me to get a haircut.

Watch and laugh right here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8871508

Also watch Denise D’Ascenzo’s piece on my 20th anniversary at WFSB: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/marking-20-years-at-wfsb/

There is little privacy when you are elected official. Your salary is public knowledge, and if you get a raise, everybody knows about it. If you want a raise, you really can’t talk about it..especially in an election year.

In this week’s Face the State flashback, we take you back 15 years to 1998 when Governor John Rowland was being challenged for re-election by Congresswoman Barbara Kennelly. One of the issues being talked about was pay raises for the governor and some other elected leaders.

The report from our archives you’ll see Sunday was filed by Jeff Cole, a former moderator of Face the State.

Tune in for Face the State this Sunday at 11 only on WFSB Channel 3.

This Sunday on Face the State we are joined by 4th District Congressman Jim Himes, and during our taping we talked about the sequester, immigration, guns, even Linda McMahon. Yes, Linda McMahon.

I asked the congressman his thoughts on the former senate candidate as a potential challenger in CT-4. He told me he wondered if she would spend less money because it is only one fifth of the state.

We also talked about the Boston Marathon bombings and whether the FBI could have prevented the Tsarnaev brothers from carrying out their deadly attack. Himes sits on the House intelligence committee and has access to information about what the FBI knew about the two natives of Chechnya. He also told me Congress will likely have hearings on the marathon bombings.

You can watch the entire interview with Congressman Himes right here: http://www.wfsb.com/global/category.asp?c=208507&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8846323

Here are previews of the other Face the State segments:

Gun control: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/law-prof-lawmakers-did-not-abide-by-statute-for-gun-bill/

Flashbacks: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/face-the-state-flashback-the-pay-raise-debate-of-1998/

and http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/my-interview-with-oprah/

I’ve been blessed with a career that has given me the opportunity to interview people from all walks of life. I’ve been able to talk with politicians, athletes, doctors, criminals, victims, celebrities, even Oprah.

In 1998, WFSB flew me to Chicago to interview the queen of talk about her new film, “Beloved.” I conducted the interview in the Harpo Studios, and you’ll see it this Sunday in our Face the State Flashback. At the time, I had met Oprah before, thanks to my then co-anchor Gayle King, but I was still a little nervous asking her questions. Oprah quickly put me at ease, and the interview became more of a chat.

Watch it right here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8846474

You can read about the other times I met Oprah right here: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/oprahs-visit-to-hartford-and-other-o-moments/