Two people were seriously hurt after the motorcycle they were riding hit a guardrail and a tree in New Hartford Saturday afternoon.

State police say the crash occurred on Route 219 near the intersection of Dings Road around 3:40 p.m. The driver John Macbeth, 42, of Unionville, lost control of the bike as they were traveling south on Route 219, crashing into a wire rope guardrail post and a tree. Both Macbeth and his passenger Barbara Ashline, 45, of Wallingford, were thrown from the vehicle.

Both were transported by LifeStar to Hartford Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. State police are investigating the crash.

George's Garage towed the motorcycle from the scene.

State police, New Hartford fire, Nepaug Volunteer fire, and South End volunteer fire all responded to the crash. Route 219 was shut down for about two hours.

State police are still investigating.
 

A man is facing charges after police received a report that a male pointed a gun at a woman on Davis Drive in Bristol.

Bristol police responded at 3:06 a.m.to 69 Davis Drive to investigate the gun complaint. Police located the suspect after getting a description of him.

Joseph C. Johnson Jr., 34, was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a firearm, possession of a dangerous weapon, carrying a pistol without a permit, criminal use of a firearm, first-degree threatening, second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree breach of peace and interfering with a police officer.

He faces further charges of failure to comply with fingerprinting after refusing to comply with booking procedures when he was being processed at the police station.

The woman involved in the incident was not injured.

Bristol police held Johnson on a $100,000 bond pending his appearance in Bristol Superior Court Monday.

A 26-year-old male motorcyclist was killed in a motor vehicle crash on the Berlin Turnpike in Berlin just after midnight on Sunday.

Berlin police received numerous 911 calls around 12:17 a.m. reporting that a motorcycle heading southbound crashed into the side of a car while making a U-turn early Sunday morning, police said. The crash happened near the Overhill Road intersection.

An ambulance transported the motorcyclist and passenger on the motorcycle to Midstate Medical Center in Meriden. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.

The 29-year-old woman driving the car struck was taken in an ambulance to Hartford Hospital and had to undergo surgery. She is listed in "guarded condition," police said.

The names of the people involved in the crash have not been released pending notification of their families.

Berlin police ask anyone who witnessed the crash to call the department at 860-828-7080.

The Berlin Turnpike was closed for several hours, but has since reopened.

The U.S. Coast Guard says a boat belonging to two missing 14-year-old fishermen from Jupiter, Florida, has been found off the Atlantic coast.

NBC affiliate WPTV reports the family of Austin Stephanos confirmed the boat had been found Sunday afternoon. Stephanos and his friend, Perry Cohen, went missing around 1:30 p.m. Friday.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Lehmann said the capsized boat was found 67 miles east of the Ponce de Leon Inlet near Daytona Beach. The boys initially went missing from the Jupiter area, more than 180 miles south of where the boat was found.

Lehmann said neither boy was found in or around the boat.

The boat will be anchored in place as search-and-rescue efforts continue. Lehmann said the Coast Guard is now re-calculating its search plans based on the boat's location.

NFL legend Joe Namath joined the families of the boys at a press conference Sunday, where they appealed to the public for help. Namath is the neighbor of Cohen, one of the missing boaters.

The families are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to their safe return.

The Somali militant Islamist group al Shabaab attacked a Mogadishu hotel on Sunday, driving a car packed with explosives through the hotel gate and killing at least 13 people, a first responder and the rebel group said.

A Reuters witness said blood and pieces of flesh were spattered around the site of the blast targeting the Jazeera hotel. Nearby was the wreckage of four cars.

"We have carried 13 dead people and 21 others who were injured, some seriously," an ambulance worker Abdikadir Abdirahman told Reuters.

Calling hours are Sunday for those who would like to pay respects to a U.S. Marine from Springfield, Massachusetts who was shot and killed along with four other serviceman in Chattanooga, Tennessee a couple weeks ago.

Flags line the sidewalk at the funeral home where the wake for Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan will be held in Springfield. The city has been a state of mourning since learning he was one of five military officers killed in a July 16 attack in Tennessee.

His body received a patriotic escort home on Friday through the streets of Connecticut and Massachusetts. He served three tours of duty during military service.

Sullivan joined the Marine Corps after graduating high school. He served two tours of duty in Iraq and earned the Purple Heart.

But it was working on U.S. soil as a military recruiter that Sully, as his friends call him, paid the ultimate sacrifice. A fellow Marine said he laid his life on the line to help his comrades.

Visiting hours are Sunday from 1-5 p.m. at T.P. Sampson Chapel in Springfield. The funeral service on Monday in Springfield is closed to the public. Sullivan will be buried in the Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Agawam, Massachusetts.

Hundreds lined the streets of northern Connecticut on Friday to pay their respects to a Marine slain in Chattanooga.

Police are responding to the area of Staples Street in Bridgeport.

There is no information at this time on the nature of the incident.

Further details will be provided when it becomes available.

Some state parks have reached full capacity on Sunday, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Parking lots at Indian Wells State Park in Shelton and Squantz Pond State Park in New Fairfield have reached full capacity, DEEP tweeted.

You can follow updates on park closings on DEEP's outdoor recreation Twitter account, @CTDEPoutdoorrec.

A 560-pound man with a blog called "Fat Guy Across America," hopes his 3,200 mile bike ride from Massachusetts to California will help him win his wife back. 

Eric Hites, 40, was inspired to make the trip while listening to his favorite song, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)," by The Proclaimers.

I didn't think I could walk 500 miles," Hites told NBC News on Sunday. "But I could ride it."

Hites started pedaling mid-June from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and hopes to make it to Orange County by the end of the yea. 

The blogger said he and his wife's relationship is on the mend but he is having fun.

"I get to lose weight and have fun doing it," Hites said. "It's all about the journey."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed claims that his government is using chlorine gas and barrel bombs on Syrian citizens as "propaganda."

"We cannot win the heart and minds of the Syrians while we are killing Syrians. We cannot sustain four years in that position as a government," Assaid said in an interview that aired on CBS News' "60 Minutes" Sunday night.

Syria's civil war entered it's fifth year earlier this month with more than 200,000 people dying as a result, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Norwalk firefighters quickly put out a fire that broke out in the wall behind a stacked washer and dryer unit in a city condominium while residents were at home.

Twenty-five firefighters responded to a structure fire at the Ledgebrook Condominium Complex at 186 Gillie's Lane at 1:52 p.m. on Sunday. Three adults were home at the time but made it outside safely before firefighters arrived.

After extinguishing the fire behind the washer-dryer unit on the second floor, firefighters checked to make sure that the fire didn't spread to any common ares or other units.

No one was injured.

Firefighters cleared the scene by 3:30 p.m.

A driver is under arrest after fleeing a two-car head-on crash on foot, leaving his injured girlfriend behind his vehicle in Willimantic, police said.

The crash between a Honda Accord and an Escalade happened at about 2:45 p.m. on Jackson Street near the Milk Street intersection on Sunday.

Police found the driver's girlfriend injured in the passenger seat of one car. Two female occupants in the other car weren't injured.

Willimantic police called its K-9 unit to the scene but canceled the request after patrol officers found the driver, Albert Hawley, 53, of Willimantic, hiding in an apartment complex nearby, police said.

"The roadway was re opened at around 3:45pm. The driver, who purposely left his injured girlfriend within their car, is now in custody at Willimantic Police Headquarters," Cpl. Stanley Parizo Jr., Willimantic Police Department's public information officer, said.

Police took him into custody and he cooperated with officers. A Willimantic fire and rescue ambulance transported his girlfriend to Windham Hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Police are not releasing her name at this time. Her condition is unknown.

Police charged Hawley with failure to drive right, operating without a license and evading responsibility. Willimantic police are holding him in custody. He was at fault for the crash, according to police.

The road was shut down for about an hour and has since reopened.

A restaurant patron in Bridgeport was shot and killed Saturday night.

Police said Derrick Hill, 33, of Bridgeport had just finished eating at Rootsman Kitchen when a gunman confronted him as he was leaving the restaurant.

Hill ran back into the restaurant and the shooter fired multiple shots inside, striking him and a restaurant employee named Dennis Hines, 50. Hill died at the scene.

Hines suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks and was transported to Saint Vincent's Medical Center. Police said his injuries weren't life-threatening.

The shooting remains under investigation.

One person had to be rescued after a pickup truck crashed into an apartment building in Elkridge, Maryland, on Sunday morning.

Capt. Stephen Hardesty, with the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, said crews responded to the 6800 block of Old Waterloo Road to find the truck in a ground floor apartment around 9:30 a.m. A woman inside the apartment was trapped by the crash.

The victim, Marilyn Schmeits, 40, was stabilized and rescued by firefighters and paramedics. She was air lifted to Shock Trauma, in Baltimore, and is in stable condition.

The driver of the pickup truck, Mynor Jehovani Monterroso, 40, of Silver Spring, was not injured. Markings on the truck identified it as belonging to W&D Contractor Services, in Montgomery Village, Maryland.

Monterroso was arrested and charged with driving without a licence, negligent driving, and failure to control a vehicle in order to avoid a collision.

Special operations crews worked to secure the apartment building to prevent further damage and collapse. After an inspection, residents were allowed to return to their apartments.

Two people are injured and at least 32 displaced after a fire tore through a building on Vine Street Sunday afternoon.

Firefighters responded to 56 Vine Street around 1:20 p.m., Hartford Fire Capt. Helene Lynch said in a press release. Upon arriving, crews found heavy fire in a 3-story brick apartment building with multiple residents trapped inside.

Firefighters struck a second alarm, conducted rescues, and knocked down the fire. Two occupants had to be transported to the hospital for evaluation. No firefighters were injured.

The building is considered uninhabitable and the residents were relocated by the Hartford Fire Department Special Services Unit, American Red Cross and City of Hartford Health and Human Services Department. The fire marshal’s office investigated and declared the cause of the fire to be a candle that was left unattended.
 

What one Pennsylvania family believed was a tragedy turned out to be a miracle after two dogs were found alive following a devastating house fire.

A fire started at a home on Bridle Path Lane in East Fallowfield, Pennsylvania Saturday around 5 p.m. While the family inside the house escaped unharmed their pets were nowhere to be found leading to fears that they perished in the blaze.

The next day, as Modena Fire Company Chief Frank Dowlin was finishing paper work on the fire, he received a call from the East Fallowfield Police Department saying, “they’re alive.” An officer told Dowlin the dogs were found inside a second floor bedroom and they needed a ladder to get them.

When firefighters arrived at the home they saw the two dogs standing at the back of the house looking through a large hole. A firefighter tied to a rope entered the unstable structure and grabbed the dogs one by one. After being reunited with their owners they were cleaned up and given water and food by neighbors.

“The event was truly a miracle to witness,” Chief Dowlin said.  “Our crews were glad to bring a little happiness to the family.”

Investigators say the fire was caused by smoking and it was ruled accidental.
 

Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of late Grammy-winning pop star Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown, has died at age 22.

"Bobbi Kristina Brown passed away July, 26 2015, surrounded by her family. She is finally at peace in the arms of God.  We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months," a spokesperson for the Houston family told NBC News.  Brown died Sunday at Peachtree Christian Hospice in Duluth, Georgia

The aspiring actress and singer was the only child of Houston and the fourth child of Bobby Brown. 

Brown was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub in a suburban Atlanta townhome on January 31. Brown's long term partner Nick Gordon, who she referred to as her husband, along with a friend found her. CPR was performed at the scene and Brown was placed on a respirator when admitted to North Fulton Hospital the same day.

It remains unclear why Brown was unconscious. An investigation into the incident remains open, according to Roswell's chief of police. The investigative file was handed over to the Fulton County District Attorney who will determine whether any charges will be filed, authorities said in late June.

Brown was moved from North Fulton to Emory University Hospital in Georgia, and then to a rehabilitation facility on March 20. Throughout, her father remained optimistic about his daughter's recovery, even going so far as to tell a Texas concert audience in April that "Bobbi is awake. She's watching me."

Only days later Cissy Houston, the grandmother of Bobbi Kristina, issued a statement saying her granddaughter remained in an unresponsive state and "while she is no longer in a medically induced coma she has a tracheotomy and according to the doctors she has global and irreversible brain damage." Brown was moved to hospice care on June 24.

As the news of her death spread across social media, many celebrities tweeted condolences.

"My heart is truly heavy. May u rest in peace with your mommy #BobbiKristina sending prayers 2 the Brown/Houston family," Missy Elliot tweeted. Oprah Winfrey tweeted, "Peace at Last!"

Brown's tragic passing comes little more than three years after her mother was found unresponsive in bathtub in a Beverly Hills, California hotel. She later died. Authorities concluded Houston, 48, drowned. Heart disease and cocaine use were listed as contributing factors in her death. Houston, who sold more than 50 million records in the United States and was awarded six Grammys, had struggled with addiction for many years.

A child star by default, Bobbi Kristina Brown grew up in the glare of the media spotlight due to her parents success and much publicized accounts of their combustible 14 year marriage. Houston and Brown divorced in 2007 with Houston retaining sole custody of their daughter.

Of her mother, Brown told "Access Hollywood" in 2011 that Houston "supports me, she loves me, she gives me good mommy hugs." Brown was in the hotel the day her mother was pronounced dead. The same evening the then 18-year-old was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where she was treated for stress and anxiety.

Houston's mother Cissy spoke with People in 2013 about how her daughter's death continued to adversely affect her granddaughter. "Of course I worry about her," Cissy said. "It doesn't mean that she is going to follow her [mother's] same path. She could but anybody could. I don't want to jinx her. I'm trying to make sure she doesn't."

Though her fame never matched the stratospheric heights of her mother's, Brown was familiar to audiences through appearances on reality television, such as the the 2012 Lifetime series "The Houstons: On Our Own," which followed Houston's family after her death. While still attending elementary school Brown featured on the 2005 Bravo docu-drama series, "Being Bobby Brown," in which she was often seen accompanying one of her parents on tour.

Prolific on Twitter, Brown wrote about moving her career to the next level only two days prior to her hospitalization in January. "Let's start this career up&&moving OUT to TO YOU ALLLL quick shall we !?!???!" she tweeted. Her Twitter feed was peppered with motivational quotes, images and mentions of Gordon and her late mother. On Instagram she shared images of herself and Gordon.

In the wake of her mother's death Brown made headlines for yet another reason, her relationship and subsequent reported marriage to Gordon, 25. The couple attracted much scrutiny due to Gordon's past association with Brown's family.

Houston opened her home to 12-year-old Gordon when his birth mother could no longer care for him, according to reports. Never legally adopted, Gordon was raised alongside Houston's daughter. Brown and Gordon went public with their relationship two months after Houston's death in 2012. The couple continued to court controversy when in 2013 they were evicted from their Atlanta apartment after multiple noise complaints from a neighbor.

The union drew criticism from both fans and family, including Pat Houston, Brown's aunt. "It just didn't sit right with me," Pat said during a 2014 episode of "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" "I always looked at them as being the brother-and-sister type. I just did not see the relationship moving in that direction." 

Brown publicly insisted her late mother would have approved of the relationship.

"I'm tired of hearing people say, 'Eww you're engaged to your brother or if Whitney was still alive would we be together or would she approve of this.' Let me clear up something. We aren't even real brother and sister, nor is he my adoptive brother," she posted on Facebook ahead of announcing she had married Gordon in January 2014.

But according to her father, the pair never officially tied the knot. Bobby Brown issued the following statement four days after her hospitalization in January: "To correct earlier reports, Bobbi Kristina is not and has never been married to Nick Gordon."

Reports of an ongoing feud between Gordon and Bobbi Kristina's father surfaced after she was hospitalized. Bobby Brown refused Gordon access to his daughter, asking her boyfriend to reveal details of exactly what happened on the day Bobbi Kristina was found unresponsive at home.

In March Gordon was featured on an episode of "Dr. Phil" alongside his birth mother. After appearing on the show–which host Phil McGraw described as an "intervention"–Gordon checked into a rehab facility.

Brown’s court-appointed conservator filed a lawsuit June 24 against Gordon in Fulton County Superior Court, alleging that Gordon had physically abused Bobbi Kristina, and that Gordon had taken more than $11,000 from her bank account.

In March 2014 Bobbi Kristina came under scrutiny for her rapidly diminishing physique, which she proudly showed off on social media platforms. "I am my mothers child! Have you ever heard of a #fastmetabolism ?" she tweeted in response to questions and comments about her size.

Rumors and reports surfaced that like her parents, Brown was facing addiction issues. In July of last year a photo was reportedly posted to her Instagram account showing her allegedly smoking marijuana out of a bong. She denied the photo was hers.

Brown was back in the headlines again in late 2014 when she went public with her anger toward director Angela Bassett, who chose not to feature the budding actress in the Houston biopic "Whitney," which aired January 17 on Lifetime. Bassett told Entertainment Weekly there were "a number of reasons" why she did not consider Brown for the title role. "One being that she’s not an actress," Bassett said. Brown later apologized for a Twitter rant aimed at the director. Though approached, Houston's family chose not to participate in any aspect of the Lifetime movie. 

A resolute Cissy Houston discussed her granddaughter's ongoing medical condition during a March radio interview with New York's WBLS. She encouraged fans to continue to pray for Bobby Kristina, adding she would be thankful if God worked a miracle, but if it "happens the other way, I'm all right."

Bobbi Kristina Brown died Sunday at the age of 22, nearly six months after she was found face-down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her suburban Atlanta townhome.

As news spread of her death, celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell, Missy Elliott, Taraji P. Henson, and more mourned the loss on social media.

A small plane crashed in a California neighborhood on Sunday, exploding in flames within feet of homes and killing the pilot, officials said.

There were no injuries on the ground or damage to nearby homes, Riverside police said.

"The pilot of a single-engine Beechcraft BE35 reported a loss of engine power before crashing in a residential neighborhood about a half-mile east of Riverside Municipal Airport," Federal Aviation Administration officials told NBC4.

The pilot, who was the only person on board, had made a request to land at the airport, but in another transmission said he was not going to make it, police said.

The aircraft crash landed in the 400 block of Adams Street, hit the curb, crashed into a home's chain-link fence and burst into flames, police said.

"(There was) a boom - it actually, literally shook the ground," said witness Christina Barrientos.

Butch Romero, another witness, says he swerved his car to miss the plane as it came down.

"When I jerked it, the plane landed like that and bounced into those people's yard," he said.

Images from the scene show bystanders attempting to put out the flames with a garden hose.

"You just see this big billow of black smoke and just flames," said neighbor Jessica Aviles. "That man (the pilot) had the good intentions at the very final moments. He knew something was wrong and he tried to divert it as much as he could without any other life except his own."

An Instagram user posted video of the fiery plane crash that came within feet of a home.
 

 

Dam saw this happen on the way to go eat, it's sad to know a guy passed in the plane crash but it was a miracle the he didn't go into the house. #planecrash#sadmoment#seenitgodown#crazy#loudnoise

A video posted by La_bestia (@1slowram_iest) on Jul 26, 2015 at 5:19pm PDT

The pilot's name was not released.

The FAA and NTSB was investigating the crash.

NBC4's John Cádiz Klemack contributed to this report.

Police have arrested a man accused of killing one victim and wounding another after a suspected roommate altercation. 

Calvin Glass Jr., 18, was arrested Sunday evening and charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder after he allegedly shot and killed one man and shot and wounded another.

The incident happened at approximately 2:10 p.m on the 3600 block of Barnard Drive in Oceanside, north of San Diego, where police said they responded to reports of shots fired and victims on the ground, Oceanside Police Lieutenant Matt Cole said.

When officers arrived, they found one man dead with at least one fatal wound and another suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound. The victim was later taken to a nearby trauma center, police said. Both victims were adult men over the age of 18, police said. 

Police said a witness on scene helped them find suspect Glass, who was taken into custody by Escondido Police officers at the Escondido Transit Center. 

Glass confessed to shooting both victims, Cole said, following his arrest. The victims' names are being withheld pending notification of the family. 

Oceanside Police Department's Crimes of Violence unit will continue the investigation. 

There was no further information immediately available. 

Check back for updates on this breaking news story.