The soon-to-be Hartford Yard Goats unveiled their new logo today and it's a billy goat chewing on a broken baseball bat.

The team logo pays homage to the former New York/New Haven Railroad Company. The colors for the minor league baseball team, known now as the New Britain Rock Cats, will be blue and green. 

The Yard Goats also showed off the new baseball hats on Wednesday.

“This is an extremely exciting day for our franchise as we unveil our new identity,” Yard Goats General Manager Tim Restall said in a statement. “Yard Goats Baseball is all about family entertainment and having fun at Dunkin’ Donuts Park and we feel that this logo represents just that.”

The team will adopt its new name and mascot upon moving to Hartford in 2016. The team will play at a brand-new stadium in the city’s Downtown North development.

The Yard Goats selected their name as part of an online contest. Although a "yard goat" is actually a locomotive, many expect the team's new mascot to depict the animal of the same name. Two live goats were present when the name was announced in March.

Emergency crews searched the waters behind 1017 Riverside Drive in Thompson after receiving reports of canoe or kayak overturning, but learned that no one was in the boat when it drifted into the water.

"Scene under control (no one was in the water) Dive Team is returning," Bungay Fire in West Woodstock tweeted.

Two boys were out fishing at dusk on Tuesday. The boat started taking on water as the boys were unloading it, the boat drifted into the water and the boys did not notify authorities, according to officials at the scene.

Someone noticed the boat around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Community Fire Co. of North Grosvenordale, the Quinebaug Fire Department and Woodstock Dive Team began searching the water and land. 

After searching for around 90 minutes, a resident told search teams about boys who had been fishing, so the boys then talked to authorities, who were then confiident that no one was in the boat when it floated away. 

The scene is now clear.

Route 145 in Westbrook has reopened after a rollover crash.

A pole was knocked down in the crash and the road was closed at Kenrose Terrase, just south of Resurrection Cemetery.

There's no word on injuries.

More information will be provided when it becomes available.

A naked New Mexico man stole a sheriff's deputy's car on July 4 and drove himself to the hospital after claiming he was poisoned.

Police first responded after motorists notified them of a nude man attempting to flag down cars alongside a road in Northeastern New Mexico, according to KOB, an NBC-affiliate in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The footage of the incident, recorded by the deputy's body cam, shows the deputy attempting to coax the man, identified as 37-year-old Jesus Tarango, off the road. Tarango is seen sitting on the ground at one point. But as the officer motions cars to pass, the naked man stands and tells the officer he's been poisoned. He then gets in the squad car and takes off. 

The deputy, now stranded, hears Tarango over the radio. “I need help, this officer didn’t want to help me,” Tarango said. “I’m poisoned, that’s why I got the car.”

Police said Tarango drove himself to a hospital and was apprehended in the parking lot, KOB reported. Tarango was charged with resisting an officer, aggravated fleeing, stealing a motor vehicle, and concealing identity 

Police have located a 19-year-old who ran away after an argument with his foster parent in Naugatuck.

Police spent Wednesday searching for Anthony Marrero, 19, who had last been seen around 5 p.m. on Tuesday. They have since found him "safe and unharmed," police said.

He is under state Department of Children and Families care and lives in foster care.

Marrero was diagnosed with an emotional disorder and left home on Monday, returned on Tuesday but then left again around 5 p.m. after becoming involved in an argument with his foster parent, according to a news release.

Baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. will join Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra is in Connecticut this morning for the official opening of three new athletic fields in the city.

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation creates athletic fields for at-risk youth in distressed communities. It has opened six fields in Connecticut, along with several other fields and parks throughout America.

The Foundation looks to help young people build character and teach leadership skills, strong work ethic, and responsibility through their baseball and softball themed programs.

“An active community is a healthy community. And our children deserve the same kind of athletic spaces they see in neighboring towns,” Segarra said in 2013, as he announced partnership with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to create the first of many athletic fields.

Within two years, the foundation is back in Connecticut to expand its success.
Cal Ripken, Jr. is a well-known baseball great.

After 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Ripken retired in 2001 with several awards and accolades. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 and is baseball’s all-time Iron Man. In 2001, Ripken Jr. and his brother established the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation in memory of their father. More recently, Ripken works as the owner and operator of Ripken Baseball, as well as the foundation.

Ripken is at the Global Communications Academy in Hartford this morning.

The community will come together Wednesday at a vigil to mourn a 7-month-old baby boy found dead in the Connecticut River.

Authorities pulled 7-month-old Aaden Moreno's body from the Connecticut River in East Haddam Tuesday after searching nearly 48 hours for him. Police said father Tony Moreno had Aaden with him when he jumped off the Arrigoni Bridge into the river in Middletown in a suicide attempt late Sunday night. Aaden is believed to have disappeared into the water that night.

Search crews found him about 15 miles from where police rescued his father, who has been upgraded from critical to stable condition at the hospital where he now remains.

The City of Middletown will host a vigil Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. at the South Green in honor of Aaden, according to Middletown Mayor Daniel Drew.

The community has put together a makeshift memorial with candles near the gazebo on the green to remember Aaden.

A GoFundMe page, "Help Lay Baby Aaden Moreno To Rest", has also been set up by friends of Aaden's mother to help her pay for the baby's funeral expenses. As of Wednesday morning, the page had raised over $1,000.

Police said they retrieved the body near the East Haddam Swing Bridge around 8 p.m. Tuesday.

First responders rescued Moreno Sunday but failed to find the child.

"Our thoughts are with Aaden and his family at this time of sorrow," Middletown police said in a statement Tuesday night.

Aaden's mother had feared for the child's safety and wrote in a court statement that Moreno had told her he could make her or her child disappear at any time. She filed a restraining order against Moreno that would have prohibited him from coming within 100 yards of her and their baby, but a judge denied the request on June 29. Six days later, Moreno jumped off the bridge and Aaden disappeared. It's unclear why the restraining order was denied.

Moreno has not been arrested but police said they plan to file charges and could do so as early as Wednesday. It's not clear if Moreno has an attorney.

United Airlines flights are starting to take off from Bradley Airport after planes were grounded nationwide due to computer problems, but the domino effect of delays remains.

"United Airlines experienced a computer issue earlier this morning which led to the grounding of flights nationwide," Alisa D. Sisic, marketing and communications coordinator and public information officer for the Connecticut Airport Authority at Bradley International Airport. "This included flights scheduled at Bradley International Airport. At this time, the ground stops."

Passengers with electronic boarding passes on their phones had to wait in line to get handwritten ones Wednesday morning after a major network issue on United Airlines. The issue caused the FAA to ground United Planes across the country.

Passengers were reporting they couldn't check in, people couldn't board the planes and crews couldn't rebook anyone because their computers were down.

United Airlines said it was an automation issue and that they're looking into how the technical difficulty happened.

The problem left passengers frustrated on roughly 2,500 flights, including ones leaving from Bradley.

"I have to get to Indiana for college and there seems to be a system malfunction so we can’t get on our flights because we don’t really know when they’re going to take off," Tom Barone, of Marlborough said.

Josh Hunter, of Houston, Texas, is in the U.S. Navy and was trying to fly home to see his wife and kids. He said "this is pretty much what we're dealing with here and it's making everything very difficult.

"I'm gonna be patient because I’m used to doing that in the military," Hunter said.

If you have a flight on United Wednesday, prepare to be patient as well and leave extra time at this busy summer travel time.

Even though things are back up and running, it's expected to take awhile for flights to get back on track.

The latest change to Facebook's look may have gone unnoticed to many, but it's meant to make a major statement. 

A change to the small "friends" icon on the upper right hand corner of the page is about more than aesthetics — it's about equality, according to one employee. 

Caitlin Winner, a design manager at Facebook, initially noticed something was off about the icon featuring silhouettes of two users. When she looked at the female icon alone, she noticed a "chip" in the lady's shoulder, "positioned exactly where the man icon would be placed in front of her" on the site's page. 

“I assumed no ill intentions, just a lack of consideration,” she  wrote in a Medium post. “But as a lady with two robust shoulders, the chip offended me.”

Winner decided to take action. 

"The lady icon needed a shoulder, so I drew it in — and so began my many month descent into the rabbit hole of icon design," she wrote. 

While she originally set out to simply fix the shoulder, Winner soon found herself updating the hairstyles of both sexes, the man icon's shoulder and the positioning of the pair, which she flipped to put the woman in front. 

"As a woman, educated at a women’s college, it was hard not to read into the symbolism of the current icon; the woman was quite literally in the shadow of the man, she was not in a position to lean in," she wrote. 

Eventually she took a look at the site's "group" icon, which also had a man featured in front with a man and woman behind him. She switched the icons there, too, placing the woman in front.

Winner said this small personal project, which was soon incorporated into the site design, has changed her perspective on symbolism with other icons.

"I try to question all icons, especially those that feel the most familiar," she said. "For example, is the briefcase the best symbol for ‘work’? Which population carried briefcases and in which era? What are other ways that ‘work’ could be symbolized and what would those icons evoke for the majority of people on Earth?"

Two young Connecticut children found dead in their East Haven home in June died after being poisoned with antihistamines used to treat sneezing and runny noses, according to police.

Their deaths have been ruled homicides and their mother has been charged with murder.

Police found Aleisha Moore, 6, and Daaron Moore, 8, in their home on Strong Street in June after receiving a 911 call from their mother’s friend, who said LeRoya Moore, the children’s 36-year-old-mother, was planning on committing suicide.

The home was filled with natural gas when first responders arrived and LeRoya Moore admitted that she opened a gas line in the home and said, "I stabbed them, I released them," according to police.

She has been charged with murder and reckless endangerment and court documents say she wrote in a note that she was sending her children to heaven.

Inside the home, police found 46 bottles and boxes of medication, some of which were near the children. They  said they believed the chidlren's death was the result of poisoning.

On Tuesday, the office of the chief medical examiner confirmed that the children were killed and said Aleisha and Daaron died of acute intoxication of diphenhydramine. Their deaths have been ruled homicides, police said in a news release on Wednesday.

Authorities also found a typed document on the floor of the home near the children's feet.

"I don't know the reason why, but we were meant to die today," the letter, apparently signed by Moore, said, "they should not be left to burden anyone because I am the only one who could love them like a mother. Not an institution or a social woker."

Police said they will not release any additional information about the medical examiner’s report.

Moore was not immediately available for comment and her attorney is unknown.

A U.S. District Court judge has ruled in favor of five Native American people who want to cancel the Washington Redskins' trademark.

The Native American plaintiffs had argued that the trademark was derogatory, and therefore was ineligible for trademark protection under federal law. In a decision issued Wednesday, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee agreed, according to the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.

The team had argued that removing trademark protection would violate their First Amendment right to free speech.

Wednesday, team president Bruce Allen released a brief statement: "I am surprised by the judge's decision to prevent us from presenting our evidence in an open trial. We look forward to winning on appeal after a fair and impartial review of the case.

"We are convinced that we will win because the facts and the law are on the side of our franchise that has proudly used the name Redskins for more than 80 years.”

• READ the Opinion and Order
• READ the Final Judgment

The team can appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if they choose to do so. And they have practice at fighting this legal battle: The first legal action to void the team's trademark began in 1992.

At stake in the case is hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing revenue. Without trademark protection, anyone could legally use the team's name -- including in protest merchandise. 

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had canceled the team’s trademark registration last June in a case brought by Amanda Blackhorse, Marcus Briggs-Cloud, Phillip Gover, Jillian Pappan and Courtney Tsotigh.

The Redskins sued in federal court, leading to Wednesday's decision.

The 29-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a woman on a running and bike trail in Avon last week was also accused of sexually assaulting a child in Massachusetts in 2013, but was never charged.

Luis Ortiz-Morales was arrested in Chicopee, Massachusetts, on Monday after showing up at the police station to ask why officers were at his house, according to police.

Court records released on Wednesday said police in Holyoke, Massachusetts, investigated Ortiz-Morales in 2013 when a 4-year-old girl said he inappropriately touched her.

The girl's mother told police she found her daughter in the little girl's bedroom with her pants down and Ortiz was pulling up his pants. However, police never arrested him because the child's statements were not specific and they did not have any additional evidence, court documents state.

In the Avon case, police said DNA and a victim who was aware of her surroundings before her attack are two of the reasons that they were able to identify the suspect in this case.

Avon police traveled to Chicopee and brought Ortiz-Morales back to Connecticut on Tuesday to answer to first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault charges.

He's accused of grabbing a woman, dragging her off the Rails to Trails path – also known as the Farmington Canal Trail – hitting her in the head and face and sexually assaulting her the afternoon of Thursday, June 25 near Scoville Road in Avon.

That's not far from Pine Grove Elementary School, which is located on that road. The community also uses the trail for its annual Avon Road Race, which starts at the school.

During Avon Police Department's Investigation, witnesses and the victim provided police with information about a man seen the in area and a portable toilet pump truck where the woman was attacked.

It turns out Ortiz-Morales drives one of those trucks and was pulled over after driving one for United Sites Services, a portable toilet company.

Ortiz-Morales was working on the trail for the company the day of the attack, according to Avon Town Manager Brandon Robertson and his work assignments were to have taken him from Avon to Farmington.

The company responded to the allegations against with the following statement Monday night and a representative for United Sites Services said Ortiz-Morales' "termination from the company is in process."

"First and foremost, our thoughts are with the victim of this violent crime. Like the rest of the community, we are appalled by this reprehensible act and we have been actively assisting local authorities with their investigation and will continue to assist them in any way we can," the company's statement says.

Ortiz has a criminal record that includes drug possession charges in 2005 and motor vehicle charges in 2010.

He is due back in court on Aug. 3.

Naugatuck police have arrested a 28-year-old Waterbury man who is accused of hitting a police officer with his car after Naugatuck's fireworks show on Thursday.

Anthony Corbo, 28, was going south on Church Street in Naugatuck, ignored a police officer who signaled for him to stop around 9:45 p.m., went through the intersection with Maple Street and almost hit pedestrians crossing the street as well as that officer, police said.

When his vehicle got stuck in traffic on the eastbound side of Maple Street near the Maple Street Bridge by Nardelli's, three more police officers confronted Corbo and commanded him to stop, but he wouldn't obey police orders, police said.

Instead Corbo "aggressively maneuvered the car back and forward several times and jumped the sidewalk located on the bridge," police said.

When the car went onto the sidewalk, the vehicle hit a police officer in the leg. Corbo then sped east on Maple Street in the direction of May Street, police said.

Police interviewed Corbo when he was in custody on other charges over the weekend and he confessed to driving the vehicle that hit the officer, police said.

He has been charged with first-degree reckless endangerment with intended intimidation, risk of injury to a child, third-degree assault that caused minor injury or intended to cause injury, evading responsibility in an incident involving a motor vehicle, assault to public safety/emergency personnel involving a dangerous instrument or severe injury, reckless driving at the speed of 85 miles an hour or less, illegally striking a traffic officer with a motor vehicle, disobeying an officer's signal in a motor vehicle, failing to yield to pedestrians and improper passing/safe distance/cutting in.

The Naugatuck police officer, whose name hasn't been released, was treated at the hospital for minor leg and ankle injuries and released from the hospital. He wasn't seriously injured.

New Haven police have released surveillance images and hope they will generate tips on the name of the gun-wielding robber who held up a deli in May.

A man robbed B & C Deli, at 177 Ferry Street, in New Haven on May 17 and stole cash and lottery tickets, according to police.

The store owner said the robber was around 6-feet-tall and between 30 and 35 years old. He was wearing sunglasses during the robbery.

Police have released surveillance from the store’s cameras, which show the man arriving as a passenger in a dark four-door sedan with dark tinted windows.

Police have released surveillance clips and still images with the hope that someone can identify the man.

If you can help police identify him, call detectives at 203-946-6304. You can leave tips anonymously.
 

The Bridgeport Police Department announced it will be opening a police substation at Trumbull Gardens in Bridgeport, an area where 10 people have been shot in the past couple months.

“Safety is first and foremost in our minds. We have initiated new foot patrols in all of our public housing complexes. We are working to enhance safety not just through increased police presence but also through an integrated system of security cameras,” Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. said in a statement. “We have been working with Park City Communities for several months to construct a comprehensive security plan.”

The police substation will be part of an ongoing $1.2 million project to upgrade security to Bridgeport's public housing complexes, according to a news release from the city of Bridgeport.

The Bridgeport Housing Authority is putting $170,000 into equipment at Trumbull Gardens to enhance safety that came about after a security assessment for Park City Communities that took months, the release said.

Park City Communities and the city are getting ready to start demolition and construction at Marina Village to make way for new housing that is affordable to residents and the security upgrades to Trumbull Gardens come simultaneously, the news release said.

Gaudett and Bridgeport Housing Authority Director Lee Byers are scheduled to announce the plans at 2 p.m. at Trumbull Gardens in Building 10 at 505 Trumbull Avenue.

Multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation into the slaying of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle told NBC News on Wednesday that the weapon used in murder belonged to an agent with the Bureau of Land Management. They did not immediately identify the agent.

BLM spokesperson Dan Wilson said the service weapon was issued to a ranger and stolen from the agent's car while he was in San Francisco on business. Originally, sources had said the gun was a personal weapon.

Sources also could not immediately say how Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a felon and five-time deportee, obtained the weapon, which was described as a .40-caliber handgun.

The federal agency falls under the Department of Interior which oversees about 250 acres of federal public land.

It was not immediately how soon the gun was taken before the Steinle killing.

Sanchez entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday and his bail was set at $5 million. His public defender, Matt Gonzalez, said it was "very likely" the shooting was accidental. 

The shooting, which police have said was random, has sparked a national debate on immigration, as Sanchez had the Immigration and Customs Enforcement ageny had put a "detainer" on his status, first reported by NBC Bay Area. However, the San Francisco County jail did not alert ICE that Sanchez had been released on April 15, because the city and county give refuge to undocumented immigrants.

Steinle's parents have purposely remained out of the political firestorm, and instead, are trying to focus on honoring the memory of their daughter.

Hamden police have arrested a New Haven man on child pornography charges after finding more than 100 photos and movies containing child pornography, police said.

Police investigating sharing of child pornography files in February 2014 traced the images to a computer in a Hamden residence. Rodolfo Hernandez lived there are the time, police said.

When they checked Hernandez’s computer, they found 123 still and movie image files suspected of containing child pornography, police said.

Police obtained a warrant charging Hernandez with possession of child pornography in the first degree. Authorities arrested him in Branford on Tuesday and he is scheduled to appear in court in Meriden on July 21.

The death of 7-month-old Aaden Moreno has affected a community far beyond the circle of people who met him, and a fund set up to pay his funeral expenses has raised $16,000, surpassing its goal.

Police said Aaden was with his father, Tony Moreno, when the 21-year-old jumped from Middletown's Arrigoni Bridge into the Connecticut River in a suicide attempt Sunday night.

Emergency crews rescued Moreno, but there was no sign of the baby until nearly two days later, when a canoeist found his body near the East Haddam Swing Bridge Tuesday night.

Moreno has been charged with murder in connection with his son's death.

As the family prepares to lay Aaden to rest, friends of his mother are raising money through a GoFundMe page entitled "Help Lay Baby Aaden Moreno To Rest" to help cover the baby's funeral expenses.

As of Wednesday evening, the fund has collected nearly $16,000 in donations, exceeding its goal of $15,000.

A dog that went missing during a hike in San Diego over a week ago has found her way home after traveling more than 35 miles.

Dog owner Kris Anderson says she’s not an emotional person and says neither is her dog, Georgia May, whom she rescued from a shelter seven years ago.

“She’s very reserved,” Anderson said, describing her pooch.

The pair recently shared an emotional moment, however, after Georgia May went missing — and somehow managed to find her way home to Carlsbad after a long, long trek.

On June 27, Anderson says she took her dog on a hike at the Penasquitos Canyon Preserve in San Diego. She admits she ignored a posted sign saying dogs must be leashed at all times, which she said was probably her better judgment, in hindsight.

“I want to say [Georgia May] is half-wild. She’s run off a couple times,” Anderson explained.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, it happened again.

But this time, Georgia didn't come back, and Anderson says she and a park ranger searched the trail until dark.

“And he said to me, ‘You know, I’m really sorry to say this, but dogs don’t make it through the night [at the Preserve]. It’s too brutal,’” she recounted.

The Penasquitos Canyon Preserve is an area known for coyotes.

Still, Anderson says she went back every day in search of Georgia May, holding out hope for eight days before giving up.

“And in the end, I just thought, ‘A week and a couple days – no one can make it out there,’” she said.

But then, came day nine.

“And I work up and thought, ‘Am I dreaming. Wait,’” said Anderson.

Thirty-five miles from that trail, coming from her kitchen, Anderson heard the doggy door open and close.

“And she jumped up on my bed, just like that. [I said] ‘Georgia! Georgia!’” she added.

Anderson says her beloved canine companion has been lying on the couch, resting, pretty much ever since. She says a veterinarian checked out Georgia May, and said her health is fine.

“She was quite skinny, but she’s gained some weight,” said Anderson.

How Georgia found her way home, we'll probably never know.

“I don't know,” said Anderson. “I would give anything to know the story.”

Well, she says, not quite anything.

“It sounds corny, I know, she's a dog – but to me she's my baby," Anderson told NBC 7. “I never thought I’d see her again, and she’s special to me.”

Republicans in Connecticut say the announced closure of Hallmark's longtime distribution center in Enfield is a sign of things to come since Democrats approved a $40 billion two year spending plan last week.

“I wasn’t surprised and I think we’re going to see more of these" said Sen. Len Fasano, (R - North Haven), the top Republican in the Connecticut State Senate.

Hallmark executives announced Tuesday that they would shutter the the doors of its 570 employee distribution facility by June 2016. The decision was motivated by a corporate mission to simplify and consolidate distribution efforts, according to a company statement. Some of the jobs will be offered at the company's Liberty, MO facility and current employees in Enfield could apply for them with some relocation assistance from the company.

The company's corporate headquarters is in the Kansas City, MO area, just minutes from Liberty.

Executives with Hallmark did not cite recent state budget decisions for the move and even was complimentary of the company's working relationship with state and local governments.

That's a fact that Gov. Dannel Malloy says is key.

He argued Tuesday that the decision had more to do with Hallmark and its business model more than it had to do with Connecticut as a place for doing business.

"They decided to consolidate their facilities back in their home state as opposed to having this large facility" Malloy said. "And quite frankly the card business isn’t what it used to be either so there are lots of things that enter into decisions.”

Fasano disagrees and predicts that other companies will make similar decisions in the not-too-distant future.

"They’re not going to consolidate in Connecticut" Fasano said.

"They’re going to consolidate in another state that cares about businesses, respects businesses, and shows an affinity that says we’re going to work with businesses to keep them here.”