Iraq is searching for potentially deadly radioactive material that was stolen late last year, officials said.

The material was contained in an industrial radiography device that vanished in November, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told NBC News on Wednesday.

The IAEA said the missing "Ir-192 radioactive source in a shielding container" was classified as a Category 2 radioactive substance that, if not managed properly, could be fatal to someone exposed for a period of hours to days.

Its disappearance has raised fears the material could fall into the hands of ISIS fighters who control parts of the country.

Police have identified the person found Tuesday on the sidewalk in the area of Heminway Park Road and Main Street in Watertown as Susan Zambiella, 52, of Oakville.

There were no immediate signs of traumatic injuries or foul play, police said, and the medical examiner has ruled the cause of Zambiella's death as natural circumstances.

Less than two weeks after Marilyn Hartman was granted freedom to transfer out of a high-security locked psychiatric facility, the so-called "serial stowaway" was ordered held on $200,000 bond following another airport arrest.

Hartman was arrested on trespassing charges around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when her electronic monitoring bracelet alerted authorities she had violated one of the restrictions placed on her new living guidelines. She had been ordered to stay away from Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, Union Station and the Greyhound Bus stops.

The 64-year-old was found at O'Hare's bus shuttle center and placed in custody. She appeared in bond court at 9 a.m. Thursday, where she was formally charged with felony probation violation and misdemeanor criminal trespass.

"As soon as she is given freedom of movement, she goes back," assistant state's attorney Jeff Allen said Thursday. "Her history is, once she's released she goes back."

Following a series of bizarre episodes at O’Hare and Midway airports last year, Hartman spent at least 145 days at Cook County Jail. She was later sentenced to mental health probation with a caveat that she must stay away from so-called "exclusion zones."

At a Feb. 4 hearing, Cook County Judge William Raines agreed to relax restrictions on Hartman’s mental health confinement, allowing her transfer from the locked mental health nursing facility on Chicago's West Side, where she had been living since December, to another facility where she would be allowed to come and go as she pleased. Raines hoped it would help Hartman to get to a place where she could begin a migration back into the community.

In granting her conditional release, Raines warned Hartman that "a lot of time and energy" had been spent on making sure she got the help she needed, and he advised her to follow the court's instructions, otherwised they would be forced to send her to jail.

“Clients who are in treatment they have relapses," said Parle Roe-Taylor, Hartman's attorney. "And we have to make sure they are getting the right treatment along the way.”

Taylor noted that Hartman's arrest has been difficult, but that officials believe she is making progress.

"This is a difficult time for her, especially having no family available who comes, who's here for her,” he said. 

Hartman has tried to get past security at Chicago's O'Hare Airport numerous times, most recently in July of last year.

Hartman also has had several run-ins at San Francisco International Airport and Mineta San Jose International Airport, where she once successfully slipped past security and boarded a Southwest Airlines flight to Los Angeles in 2014. San Mateo County authorities ordered Hartman, who was homeless, to a residential mental health program instead of jail in order to afford her a place to live and a way to access services, but she left there within a week. Her illegal airport escapades have also occurred in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Florida.

Last month in Chicago, Hartman told NBC5 Investigates that she wanted nothing more than to stop the transient life she has led for the last decade. Hartman said at the time she hoped to use her newfound freedom to make frequent use of a nearby library, or perhaps take computer training courses at Truman College.

"I prefer never to see you again," Raines told Hartman in last month's hearing. "People are trying to help you ... I’m not trying to be your dad. I’m doing everything in my power to keep you out of jail."

Now, it appears that warning was prophetic. She could face up to a year in jail.

State police arrested a woman while investigating a synthetic marijuana operation in Putnam and took a man they found in her home into custody after realizing there were warrants for his arrest.

Police went to 22 Pearl Ave. at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday with warrants after learning that Tisha-Lynette Hirst, 26, was suspected of using her home to store, process and sell synthetic marijuana.

They seized several bags of synthetic marijuana packaged for sale during the search and took Hirst into custody.

She was charged with possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics w/intent to sell.

Bond was set at $25,000 non-surety and she was released. She is due in Danielson Superior Court on March 3.

Police also found Tad Elie, 24, in the home and said there was an active warrant for his arrest, so police took him into custody.

He has been charged with second-degree strangulation, unlawful restraint and risk of injury. Bond was set at $75,000 and he is due in Danielson Superior Court today.

Chuckles VIII, a groundhog, is off the hook for predicting an early spring just days before Connecticut was hit with a snowstorm.

As drivers dealt with slippery roads after snow, Suffield police took to Facebook on Feb. 6 with a post that had people chuckling. It said Chuckles could do jail time for her  false prediction. 

Now, she has been pardoned. 

Suffield police turned their joke into a way of raising money for the Lutz Children's Museum in Manchester, where Chuckles made her prediction, and they asked people to help raise her $10,000 bond through their #FREECHUCKLES campaign. 

The pardoning ceremony was held this afternoon.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the campaign raised around $400 and you can donate to the Lutz Children's Museum by clicking here. 

Two veteran Los Angeles police officers pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of sexually assaulting four women, mostly while on duty.

James Christopher Nichols, 44, and Luis Gustavo Valenzuela, 43, who worked as partners in the LAPD's Hollywood Division, are due back in court March 16, when a date will be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for them to stand trial.

Nichols, a 15-year LAPD veteran, is charged with five counts each of forcible rape and rape by threat to arrest or deport and one count each of forcible oral copulation, oral copulation under color of authority, attempted forcible oral copulation, attempted oral copulation under color of authority and sexual battery.

He was arrested about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday by detectives from the department's Robbery Homicide division and was being held in lieu of $3.835 million in bail, according to L.A. County jail records.

Valenzuela, who has been with the department for 18 years, is charged with three counts each of forcible rape and rape by threat to arrest or deport and one count each of forcible oral copulation, oral copulation under color of authority, attempted forcible oral copulation, attempted oral copulation under color of authority, assault with a firearm and sexual battery.

He was arrested at 5:50 a.m. Wednesday, also by Robbery Homicide detectives, and was being held in lieu of $3.765 million in bail. The charges stem from a series of alleged attacks on four women between 19 and 34 years old beginning in December 2008, after the two officers became partners, and continuing through March 2011 at various locations, including in their police vehicle, according to prosecutors.

All four of the women were arrested at various times by the officers in connection with narcotics-related offenses, and most of the alleged assaults occurred while the officers were on duty, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Nichols and Valenzuela could face up to life in state prison if convicted of the charges. According to the LAPD, both officers have been "relieved from duty" without pay but are still with the department.

"I will say again, any officer that abuses the public's trust is not welcome in the LAPD and we will continue vigorously investigating officers accused of alleged crimes and cooperate fully with the District Attorney's Office," Chief Charlie Beck said.

Beck, speaking to reporters at a late-afternoon news conference on Wednesday, said the officers "disrespected themselves, their badges" and their oath of office.

Four people were killed during a special-forces raid at a charity-run hospital in Afghanistan on Wednesday night, according to government and army officials.

An Afghan special forces source told NBC News that fighters opened fire on troops during a raid targeting a Taliban commander who was receiving treatment at the clinic in the Day Mirdad district of Wardak province. The target was later arrested.

The Swedish Committee of Afghanistan — the non-governmental aid group which runs the medical center — said special forces troops searched the facility and arrested two injured patients as well as a caretaker for the patients, and took them out and shot them." The group said it was aware of a fourth death nearby.

The Swedish Committee declined to say whether those killed in the operation were Taliban fighters and condemned the raid in the "strongest terms".
 

Several families were forced out of their homes on Wednesday night after a kitchen fire in Westport.

Firefighters were called to a multifamily residence on Post Road East around 10:30 p.m. and a sprinkler head in the kitchen had already been activated by the time crews arrived, helping to contain the flames to just the kitchen.

The rest of the building sustained smoke and water damage.

No injuries were reported and the families living inside were assisted by both the Westport Housing Authority and Red Cross.

The Westport Fire Department's fire marshal's office investigated the incident.

Information on the exact cause of the fire was not released.

A San Diego man who posed as a modeling agent to take compromising photos of women and to extort sex acts from them will spend 11 years and four months in prison, according to prosecutors.

Maverick Mendez Rosales, 24, received his sentence Wednesday after he pleaded guilty in January to felony charges of oral copulation, sexual battery and human trafficking of a minor.

Prosecutors said Rosales ran a fictitious modeling agency for years.

"He used social media and created a fake modeling company and pretended to be different people over text messages and computers. They believe that this was a much larger company, and because of that, a lot of them feel comfortable meeting Mr. Rosales," said Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle of the victims.

Rosales solicited the women using sites such as Craigslist and Facebook, Doyle said.

He had at least three young women pose for nude photos and later threatened to release the photos on the Internet or to the women’s families if they didn’t perform sex acts or pay him money, according to prosecutors. One of the women was extorted because of her nude photos for two years.

“They were all very much traumatized by it,” said Doyle. “It’s a violent crime under the penal code, and because of that, Mr. Rosales will have to do most of the 11 years, four months before he’s released.”

Doyle praised San Diego Police and the human trafficking task force for their work. He said the victims are satisfied with the sentence.

While none attended the sentencing, one of the women submitted a letter requesting he pay her back $2,000.

Rosales was initially charged with extortion, two counts of oral copulation by duress, one count of rape by duress and sexual battery, to which he pleaded not guilty. However, some of those charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea in the plea deal.
 

Investors are combing over a wildlife refuge in Oregon, which was recently occupied by protestors until Feb. 11, and has turned up human waste, rotting food, firearms and explosives, prompting federal prosecutors to express concern over the land that could contain Native American artifacts, NBC News reported.

Trenches were also dug at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that is considered "a particularly sensitive cultural site," according to U.S. Assistant Attorneys Ethan Knight and Geoffrey Barrow. The FBI is concerned that some of the buildings or vehicles may be booby-trapped, prosectors said in court documents.

Ammon Bundy — a rancher who led the armed occupation of the refuge on Jan. 2. — in statement released by his attorneys Wednesday claimed that, when he was there, the occupiers cleaned up some buildings.
 

Max Downtown in Hartford has been closed since Sunday night, when a pipe burst during Valentine's Day dinner, but it will reopen for lunch on Thursday.

"After the great flood of Valentine's Day 2016, we are happy to announce that Max Downtown will re-open today, beginning with lunch service," a post on the restaurant;s Facebook page says. "Our team is working very hard right now getting everything ready for you, so please join us. No need to bring a life vest...."

Scott Smith, vice president and chief operating officer for Max, said the restauraunt, located on Asylum Street, was forced to evacuate on Sunday night after a pipe burst above them on the mezzanine level of City Place.

Federal agents on Thursday morning served a search warrant at a Corona, California, home connected to the brother of Syed Farook, a shooter in the San Bernardino massacre.

FBI officials would not discuss the nature of the search, only saying federal agents were there seeking "evidence in an ongoing investigation." They collected a computer tower, envelopes and folders.

A Toyota SUV and a Lexus sedan belonging to Farook's brother and mother were also searched in the driveway.

No arrests were made, according to Laura Eimiller of the FBI.

"In this case there might have been a piece of evidence that came up in the investigation or a tip that said go back to this location, there's a critical piece of evidence that you need to look at," said Brian Levin, a professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Cal State University San Bernardino.

Neighbors said agents began knocking on doors between 5 and 6 a.m..

"They asked us a few questions about them, if we knew them and what was going on with them," said Brittani Adams, adding that the home had been visited by agents at least three times since the terrorist attack.

Neighbor Stacy Mozer said Farook's brother, Raheel, is a decorated U.S. military member who has a wife and young son.

"He's a very nice gentleman, very nice family, wonderful kid," Mozer said. "I just know that, hopefully that if they know something they can pass it on because there's no reason that they should have to suffer what someone else did in the family that was wrong."

Messages to the Farook family seeking comment were not returned.

A federal judge earlier this week ordered Apple to give investigators access to encrypted data on the iPhone used by Farook, but the tech giant is pushing back.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Wednesday the company will resist the order. Cook asserted such a move would undermine encryption by creating a backdoor that could potentially be used on future devices.

The ruling comes after 10 failed password attempts caused the device to automatically erase all of the phone's contents, which the FBI said were critical. The iPhone found in the couple’s car belonged to Farook and was given to him by his former employer.

Fourteen people were killed and 22 others were wounded when Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire at a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino last December.

Nyree Arabian contributed to this report.

Several police departments are working together to identify the source of heroin after incidents in Derby and Shelton over a 24-hour span.

Derby police said on Wednesday that they responded to two sudden deaths from suspected heroin overdoses, while Shelton police responded to two medical emergencies suspected to be heroin-related in the same timeframe.

Police in Derby, Shelton and other law enforcement agencies are working together to identify the sources of the heroin in the hopes that it will proactively prevent any future incidents.

Anyone with any information should call Derby Police at 203 735-7811 or Shelton Police at 203 924-1544.

Hartford police responded to two overdoses in a 15-minute span earlier this week. One was believed to be a reaction to “wet.” The other was from several bags of heroin in EMS revived the person with Narcan.

An online fundraiser set up to help a Fairfield mom and her three children who were stabbed during what police called a violent domestic dispute on Tuesday morning in Fairfield has raised more than $120,000. 

More than 1,000 people have donated to a GoFundMe page set up to the help 50-year-old Kathleen Andrews and her three children with medical expenses, as well as other expenses that arise as they recover.

Police found them when they responded to 22 Mountain Laurel Road around 6 a.m. on Tuesday to investigate reports of an assault.

When officers arrived, 51-year-old Christopher Andrews, came out of the house with a weapon, confronted police and refused orders to drop the weapon, police said.

Fairfield police officer Sean Fenton, a veteran with more than 20 years on the force, opened fire, shooting and killing Andrews, police said. It's not clear what kind of weapon Andrews' had.

When police rushed into the house. they found Kathleen and the couple's three children, ages 12, 13 and 15, suffering from cuts and blunt force injuries.

LifeStar airlifted one of the children to Yale-New Haven Hospital. The other two were taken to Saint Vincent’s Medical Center in Fairfield.

Kathleen and Christopher were brought to Bridgeport Hospital, where Christopher Andrews was pronounced dead.

Fenton has been temporarily reassigned from his patrol activities, but police said he prevented further tragedy.

"Officer Fenton’s quick action in responding to this incident prevented further serious injury to family members," a statement from Fairfield police said. "Per policy he has been temporarily reassigned from his patrol activities."

You can make a donation to help the Andrew's family on GoFundMe.

 Marco Rubio’s campaign is firing back at Ted Cruz over a new website that includes a Photoshopped image of the Florida senator appearing to shake the hand of President Obama, NBC News reported.

"This is not Marco Rubio. This person — we don't know who that is — but they photoshopped Marco's face onto somebody else. This is how phony and how deceitful the Cruz campaign has become," Todd Harris, messaging strategist for Rubio, told a gaggle of reporters Thursday.

The website, TheRealRubioRecord.com, says it is "Paid for by Cruz for President," and it depicts Rubio's record on immigration, the Environmental Protection Agency, sugar subsidies and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It also labels Rubio "The Republican Obama."

Nearly four months after it was first detected, officials announced Thursday a leak of natural gas from a Southern California Gas Co. storage well in Porter Ranch has been permanently capped.

The utility temporarily stopped the leak last week by building a relief well more than 8,600 feet long and was injecting cement into the faulty well at the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility for a permanent cap.

Local, state and utility officials made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday.

"We have good news," said Jason Marshall, chief deputy director of the California Department of Conservation Division of Oil, Gas and GeoThermal Resources. "The leak in Aliso Canyon storage field is permanently sealed."

Final tests on the integrity of the cement cap were completed late Wednesday and air quality in the area has returned to normal levels, said Marshall, noting the California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality Management District had also confirmed the flow of gas had stopped.

Thousands of families who relocated to temporary housing to get away from the noxious smell will have eight days to move back. People living in temporary housing with extended leases will have until those leases run out to return home.

"While the leak has been stopped and the well permanently sealed, we have much work to do, partnering with state and local agencies to help the local community and impacted residents return to normal," said Dennis V. Arriola, chairman, president and CEO of SoCalGas.

Arriola added that the utility started inspection of the other wells at Aliso Canyon to verify those could be operated safely in the future and that operations will shift to determining the cause of the leak.

The blowout at the largest natural gas-storage facility in the West was first detected on Oct. 23, and has spewed more than 2 million tons of climate-changing methane.

Residents have complained of headaches, nausea, nosebleeds and other symptoms. Public health officials blame the woes on an odorant added to the gas and said there shouldn't be long-term health problems.

Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency because of the leak, and SoCalGas is facing nearly a dozen lawsuits from regulators, residents and the city.

On Wednesday, SoCalGas pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges involving reporting of the leak to authorities and discharging contaminants into the air.

The company is charged with three counts of failing to report the release of hazardous materials from Oct. 23 to Oct. 26, and one count of discharging air contaminants, beginning Oct. 23 and continuing for the duration of the leak.

"We do not believe a criminal prosecution is warranted here," said SoCalGas spokesman Mike Mizrahi. "We will look forward to presenting our evidence to the district attorney through the legal proceedings."

Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city's Emergency Management Department will open an office in the Porter Ranch area to offer residents such information as potential refunds for city services, updates from the county assessor about possible impacts on tax bills, disaster relief for businesses and access to mental health services.

"Stopping the leak is only the first stage of recovery,'' Garcetti said. "Thousands of lives were upended by this disaster -- and the city of Los Angeles is here to help people return to their homes, start doing business again and get back to normal as quickly as possible.''

As of last week,  4,645 households were living in temporary housing at Gas Co. expense. Another 1,726 households have already returned home, according to the utility. The Gas Co. said it also has installed 5,467 air scrubbers at Porter Ranch-area homes and performed "weatherization'' work on 5,410 homes.

LA County health officials said testing and air monitoring will continue in the area.

Residents can get updates on the Aliso Canyon leak, including  the return home process, at SoCalGas' website here.

The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.

When Beyoncé kicks off her 2016 Formation World Tour in Miami later this spring, members of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police don't plan to be there.

In an announcement released Wednesday evening, Miami FOP president Javier Ortiz said the union is urging all law enforcement labor organizations to boycott not just Beyonce's Miami performance, but all her concerts.

The planned boycott is in reaction to the singer's politically-charged music video for her latest single and her equally controversial Super Bowl performance of the song.

The "Formation" music video, dropped the night before Super Bowl 50, features provocative imagery referencing Hurricane Katrina and the Black Lives Matter movement, and lyrics that celebrate natural hair and black pride.

Included among the controversial visuals are images of a young black boy wearing a hoodie and dancing in front of police in riot gear who then surrender with their hands up.

The video also cuts to a brick wall spray painted with the words "stop shooting us" and ends with the singer sinking underneath flood waters while on top of a submerged police car.

The Super Bowl performance drew even more controversy, as it featured beret-clad back-up dancers in an homage to the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther movement.

Both the video and performance were attacked as "outrageous" by conservatives like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

A Tennessee sheriff recently suggested that Beyoncé's performance and music video may be directly related to an alleged rise in violence against police officers.

An anonymous online petition also called for a Beyoncé protest outside of NFL headquarters in New York City, which was reportedly sparsely attended.

Others, meanwhile, have celebrated both the singer and the performance. In an interview with NPR, filmmaker and writer dream hampton called it "an homage to the black South," adding "It's about a black future (where) we are imagining ourselves having power and magic, and I think it's beautiful."

The New York Times described the video as being "among the most politically direct work she’s done in her career," and posed the question pf whether Beyoncé should be considered a singer, an activist, or a combination of both.

"Saturday Night Live" even parodied the reaction to the video in the form of a panic-filled trailer for a horror movie entitled "The Day Beyoncé Turned Black."

For Ortiz, the video and the controversy are no laughing matter. In his statement, he accuses the pop star of spreading an anti-police message and lacking support for law enforcement.

"While Beyoncé physically saluted the 50th anniversary of the Black Panthers movement at the Super Bowl, I salute NYPD Officer Richard Rainey, who succumbed to his injuries on February 16, 2016 from being shot by two Black Panthers who he had pulled over in a traffic stop. I also salute the dozens of law enforcement officers that have been assassinated by members of the Black Panthers," he wrote.

He also referenced the report written by the Department of Justice on the 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri - which inspired the "hands up, don't shoot" mantra. Ortiz claims the report suggests that the hands up, don't shoot accounts of witnesses are "inaccurate because they are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence."

In the letter, Ortiz said he did not watch the halftime show "out of respect for our profession" but "mistakenly" watched the controversial music video.

Ortiz concludes the letter with a call for law enforcement labor organizations nationwide to join the boycott.

Beyoncé, meanwhile, has not commented publicly on the controversy.

The tour will kick off April 27 at Miami Marlins Stadium and will include shows in North America and Europe. The tour wraps on July 31 in Brussels.

Some Middletown schools were placed in lockdown as a precaution after a man robbed a gas station on South Main Street.

A man with a gun robbed the Gulf Station on South Main Street and police said three schools were placed on lockdown, but it was being lifted.

The robber was wearing a black coat and jeans.

Look up early this evening to see the International Space Station (ISS) flying through the night sky!

Starting at 6:06 p.m. this evening, the station will be visible over Connecticut. It will appear 10 degrees above the horizon in the northwest sky, and reach 61 degrees at its peak height in the sky.

Unlike many astronomical events, the human eye can actually pick out the space station. It will look like a bright star or airplane moving through the sky.

The viewing window lasts for six minutes, ending at 6:12 p.m. when the ISS disappears 10 degrees above the east-southeast horizon.

Another very short viewing window will occur at 7:45 p.m. in the west-southwest sky, but that window only lasts less than a minute!

The ISS can be visible several times a week, like this week, or as infrequent as once a month, according to NASA.

Light from the sun reflects off the station just like it reflects off the moon, but the station is relatively small. That means the ISS must be moving overhead while it's dark, not to mention with clear skies, in order to see it.

Those with DSLR cameras should have an ideal long-exposure photo opportunity tonight since the sky will be mostly clear and the weather very bearable for this time of year, with temperatures in the 20s.

According to NASA, the ISS goes around the earth once every hour and a half at 17,500 mph.

The space station will be visible for the next four nights, with each viewing opportunity occuring early in the evening.

Milford police have charged a local man accused of committing a sexual assault in January.

Police said they received a complaint on Feb. 10 and have charged Joshua Bailey, 26, of Milford, with two counts of disorderly conduct, sexual assault, second-degree strangulation, two counts of third-degree assault and unlawful restraint.

Bailey was held on a $75,000 cash only bond and was arraigned in Milford Court on Tuesday.