A 5-year-old boy is being called a hero after helping prevent a fire from completely engulfing his neighbor's home in Newington. 

On Tuesday, Matthew Cook told his mom he saw smoke coming from his neighbor's house, Newington Police said. 

Emergency crews responded to the home after getting a 911 call.

Police said the resident was in the shower when the smoke was spotted. Had Cook "not been so quick to let an adult know", the house would've been taken over by flames, according to police. 

Cook was invited to have lunch with Newington Officer Dean Corriveau and Chief Chris Schroeder as a reward for his effots. The boy got to spend time at the station and see how law enforcement works.

Back in January, Facebook moved to ban private gun sales on its platforms, but its enforcement of the policy has been lax at best.

A reporter from BuzzFeed News decided to test the social network's policy last week and was able to pick up an AR-15 variant, a weapon similar to the ones used in recent mass shootings in Connecticut, Colorado and San Bernardino, according to his report Wednesday.

The reporter, Alex Kantrowitz, said he found the gun, negotiated a purchase price and agreed to buy the weapon, all through Facebook.

Kantrowitz reported that he found the seller through Facebook Groups, where there are hundreds of buy/sell/trade groups, including several gun enthusiast groups. In one of these groups, the seller had posted a photo of the AR-15, with all the specs, and Kantrowitz messaged him directly. The seller replied the next morning using Facebook Messenger.

Facebook released the following statement in response to the BuzzFeed report:

"The purchase, sale or trade of firearms between private individuals is not allowed on Facebook. When we become aware of any content that violates our community standards, we remove it immediately. We have teams around the globe, speaking more than 40 languages, that work 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week to ensure continuous review of more than a million pieces of content reported each day for violating our standards."

In January, Facebook said it would rely on its users to report any violations of the new rules and would remove any post that violated the policy, according to a New York Times report. Beyond that, the company said it could ban users or severely limit the ways they post on Facebook, depending on the type and severity of violations, the Times report said.

Kohei Uchimura produced the performance of his life on the high bar to come back and just barely beat Oleg Verniaiev to defend his Olympic all-around gymnastics title by a tenth of a point.

Verniaiev led Uchimura going in to the last rotation and appeared ready to close it out. But the man known as King Kohei produced a sterling 15.8 on the high bar that wound up being just enough. Verniaiev followed Uchimura and hopped on his landing, leaving the door open for the judges.

The 22-year-old Verniaiev turned in a 16.1 on parallel bars that appeared good enough for gold, but the six-time world champion showed why he's still the best, even if just barely — the final margin was 92.365-92.266.

Britain’s Max Whitlock won bronze with 90.641. Uchimura, who hasn't lost since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is the first man since Sawao Kato in 1968 and 1972 to win two consecutive all-around Olympic titles.

Americans Sam Mikulak and Chris Brooks finished well off the podium. Mikulak, who finished fifth on the vault in 2012, was seventh. Brooks was 14th.

The National Weather Service confirms it was an EF0 tornado touched down in the Montowese section of North Haven on Wednesday afternoon.

Dramatic images show debris getting sucked up into a rotation and downed trees left in the wake of the storm.

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The storm came through around a three-block area, including Governors Drive, where trees are down and appear to have been splintered by the storm. The tornado touched down around 1:30 p.m.

Residents who witnessed the storm report seeing clouds spinning and videos sent in show rotating clouds and strong winds.

Doppler radar detected debris in the clouds, possible leaves or twigs pulled into the clouds, and there was also a possible waterspout over Long Island Sound, south of New Haven. 

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There have been no reports of injuries or significant property damage.  

"Earlier this afternoon it is believed a microburst or small tornado struck the Montowese section of North Haven. There are trees and power lines down, and several homes have been damaged due to the weather. We anticipate extended power outages as the United Illuminating Company Is working to safely restore service," the Facebook post from North Haven Police says.

United Illuminating, however, is not reporting power outages.  

"The North Haven Police Department will continue with high visibility patrols in the affected area. Although it is tempting to explore the affected neighborhoods, we ask that residents remain home for their safety, and the safety of emergency crews," police posted on Facebook.

Crews from the Red Cross are sending a team to North Haven to assess damage and the National Weather Service has contacted town officials. 

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Viewer videos show a tornado in North Haven on Wednesday afternoon.

C.J. Flinter, a towtruck operator, said he was on the phone with his dispatcher when he saw debris flying in the sky.

"I look out the window and I just see something flying across the parking lot and, was like 'holy cow'", Flinter told NBC Connecticut. "I said, (to my dispatcher) 'I go to go. There's a tornado going on!'"

Flinter said seconds before shooting the video, he saw trees being blow in the lot near Universal Drive. 

"It was much darker, it was a lot more stronger. There were a couple trees blowing across where the train cars are," Flinter said.

"It was powerful."

The small tornado touched down in the Montowese section of North Haven around 1:30 p.m. 

Caridad Damiani said she was driving south on I-91 near the North Haven exit when she saw a "massive dark cloud off in the distance."

"I wasn't even sure, really, what it was at first," Damiani told NBC Connecticut. "Until I could see gusts of wind throwing around signs."

Damiani said she reached for her phone to start recording the "terrifying" scene. She said within seconds tornado was on top of her while she drove through it.

"It's amazing how quickly they move," Damiani said. "The force of the wind was so strong it did shove me around on the highway."

She said after the tornado touched down, she was trembling but it looked like nothing had happened.

"The trees, as a whole, were up right," Damiani said. "But (the tornado) had torn away branches, leaves and just tossed them like rags."

More than an hour into a three-hour cease-fire proposed by Russia to allow humanitarian convoys into the ravaged Syrian city of Allepo, fighting continued Thursday, according to rebel groups.

"Since the morning there has been a [government] attempt to advance in the Ramousah area. There has been a big escalation by Russian warplanes," said Mohammed Rasheed, spokesman for the rebel Jaish al-Nasr group.

Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad and his government, earlier said daily ceasefires would last from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time daily to facilitate the delivery of aid supplies.

It came after at least four people died and many suffered breathing difficulties in what was alleged to have been a chlorine gas attack on a neighborhood in Aleppo on Wednesday, a hospital and a civil defense group told Reuters.

The Huffington Post is going to be without a Huffington.

Arianna Huffington, a one-time conservative commentator, oversaw the explosive growth of the liberal online blog and news site she co-founded in 2005, which went on to win a Pulitzer in less than a decade.

Huffington, who has been the site's editor-in-chief, will now head a new health, wellness and productivity startup.

"I thought HuffPost would be my last act," Huffington said in a tweet . "But I've decided to step down as HuffPost's editor-in-chief to run my new venture, Thrive Global."

The Huffington Post is now owned by Verizon Communications Inc., and her departure comes several weeks after Verizon said it was buying the media properties of Yahoo Inc. for about $4.8 billion.

The site is known for its celebrity and newsmaker blogs and for cobbling together articles using information from different newspapers and other sources. In 2012, the site won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on its series of stories about wounded veterans.

Carmelo Anthony overtook LeBron James to become the leading scorer in U.S. Olympic basketball history, Diana Taurasi broke one of her own hoops records, and cyclist Kristin Armstrong won another gold. In case you missed them, here are some of the best moments of Day 5 at the Rio Games.

Leaving LeBron James Behind
Carmelo Anthony is the leading scorer in U.S. men's Olympic basketball history, passing LeBron James during Wednesday's game against Australia.

Anthony scored 31 points Wednesday for a total of 293 points, to 273 for James.

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James skipped the Rio Games, which would have been his fourth Olympics. He competed in the Athens, Beijing and London Games.

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David Robinson is third on the scoring list with 270 points, followed by Michael Jordan with 256 and Charles Barkley with 231.

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The powerhouse that's the U.S. women's basketball team vanquished its third opponent on Wednesday, besting Serbia 110-85 as Diana Taurasi broke her own U.S. Olympic record.

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The Phoenix Mercury guard and third-leading scorer in WNBA history had six 3-pointers, with five in the first half. Taurasi had already tied her own record of five on Sunday in the U.S. win over Senegal.

The U.S. women are going for their sixth straight gold medal.

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On Sunday, the team broke its own record for the most points scored in the Olympics with the 121-56 victory over Senegal.

The U.S. women play Canada next, on Sunday.

Ledecky Wins Gold Again
U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky won her third gold medal of this Olympics on Wednesday as the anchor for the U.S. women's team in the 4 by 200 freestyle race.

Ledecky started the final leg with the United States almost a second behind Australia. She passed Tamsin Cook in the second 50-meter stretch and pulled away from there. The U.S. won by 1.84 seconds.

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The U.S. has won this event in five out of the six times it has been swum in the Summer Games.

Algae Flourishes in Diving Pool
The green-tinged water that first appeared in the Olympic diving pool has spread.

Now the men's water polo tournament is having to deal with murky green water too.

The black lines on the bottom of the water polo pool were still visible, but if the water gets darker the referees could have a tough time.

Water tanks ran out of some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process and algae was also an issue, officials said.

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Rio spokesman Mario Andrada told The Associated Press that the bloom was caused by heat and a lack of wind at the outdoor Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre. FINA, the world governing body for swimming and diving, said the pool's tanks ran out of some of the chemicals needed to treat the water.

"As a result, the pH level of the water was outside the usual range, causing the discoloration," it said in a statement. "The FINA Sport Medicine Committee conducted tests on the water quality and concluded that there was no risk to the health and safety of the athletes, and no reason for the competition to be affected."

Andrada promised that the water would be blue going forward.

The U.S. women's water polo team, the reigning Olympic champions, had a decisive win over Spain on Tuesday. The team continues play against China on Thursday. It is trying to become the first women's water polo team in Olympic history to win back-to-back gold medals

Independent Athlete Takes a Gold
Marksman Fehaid Al-Deehani, competing for the Independent Olympic Athletes, won gold Wednesday at the double trap shooting event, becoming the first ever IOC athlete to take home a gold medal. The win was also the first medal for the IOC team since the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Al-Deehani, 49, is a decorated marksman from Kuwait, having already won trap shooting bronze medals for his country at the 2000 Sydney Games and 2012 London Games. He holds the only Olympic medals ever won by Kuwait.

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He was unable to represent his home country this year because of sanctions that bar the country from competing in the games. Kuwait was suspended last fall from both the IOC and FIFA, the international football governing body, because of accusations of governmental interference in the autonomy of sport bodies in the country.

As a result of Kuwait's suspension, Al-Deehani is competing under the International Olympic Committee's neutral team flag. Though he was asked to carry the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony's Parade of Nations, the Kuwait army officer refused.

"I am a military man and I will only carry the Kuwait flag," Al-Deehani said.

A Well-Deserved Rest
Cyclist Kristin Armstrong won her third-straight gold medal in the women's individual time trial — one day before her 43rd birthday.

After learning she had beaten Russian silver medalist Olga Zabelinskaya by 6 seconds, the exhausted Olympian got off her bike and laid down in the street, as if to take a nap.

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In addition to her three Olympic golds, Armstrong holds four World Championship medals: two gold, a silver and a bronze.

A Bronze in Boxing - at Least
U.S. boxer Nico Hernandez is assured of at least a bronze medal after beating Ecuador’s Carlos Pilataxi on Wednesday, though he could still be in contention for the gold.

That's because a boxer who makes the semi-finals automatically gets a medal. There is no third-place match.

And if Hernandez wins against Uzbekistan's Hasanboy Dusmatov on Friday, he would reach the finals.

The U.S. has not won any medal in Hernandez's weight class since the 1988 Seoul Games. It has not won a gold medal in the weight class since the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

Weightlifting Agony
Armenian weightlifter Andranik Karapetyan's Olympic dreams came to a heartbreaking end Wednesday evening when his left elbow hyperextended while attempting to lift 195kg (429.9 lbs).

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The 20-year-old had been a favorite for the 77kg (169.8 lbs) competition, having won bronze for the event at the 2015 World Championships and gold at the 2016 European Championships.

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Karapetyan had hoped to win his country's first gold medal of the Rio Games, until he suffered the painful injury while attempting the clean and jerk during his second attempt at the 195kg.

Kazakhstan's Nijat Rahimov won the gold.

U.S. Beach Volleyball Team Advances
U.S. beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings and her partner April Ross lost a set to a Swiss team on Wednesday before winning their match.

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It was only the second set that Walsh Jennings has ever lost at the Olympics. She won three gold medals with her former partner, Misty May-Treanor, sweeping Athens and Beijing before losing a single set in London.

The collaboration between Walsh Jennings and Ross goes beyond the Copacabana beach volleyball venue. The women teamed up to design their Olympic uniforms, too.

Ben Federico is 78-years-old and he is a fighter. He has had a heart attack, septic shock, MRSA and pneumonia three times.

But his new battle is against Yale-New Haven Hospital for an extra cost he was blindsided by when he got a semi-annual check-up on his heart.

The charge is labeled as a co-pay on the bill, but Federico's regular co-pay is only $40. The $124 charge is actually a facility fee.

"I don't understand a facility fee, is it paying the rent? What is a facility fee?" Federico asked, staring at the unexpected charge.

The doctor who performed his EKG is a Yale-New Haven Health Systems affiliated physician, which means the hospital is able to attach facility fees to Federico’s bill, even though he sees his doctor at an office in Branford.

"We know it's frustrating for consumers. It's very difficult to understand," said Vincent Petrini, the senior vice president of public affairs at Yale-New Haven Health System.

Petrini explained that if a hospital owns a practice, facility fees can be applied.

"Yale-New Haven Health System now pays over $180 million dollars in taxes in the state of Connecticut," Petrini said. "We now get paid 28 cents on the dollar due to Medicaid cuts across the state."

Petrini also said the hospital gives away "$130 million in free and discounted care."

In a 2014 report by the Connecticut Attorney General’s office, experts said:

"Hospitals contend that facility fees are used to cover their overhead costs for things like imaging equipment, electronic health records, and care for the uninsured."

However, critics contend that "facility fees are a means to enable hospitals to earn more revenue for a simple office visit, which flows right to the hospital’s bottom line."

Although facility fees have been around for years, this particular facility fee only became a concern in recent years.

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen explained that in 2009, a law passed in Connecticut that allows hospitals to acquire previously independent physician groups. As they do, complaints from patients pour in.

"The service is the same. It's at the same location, and all that has changed is there is a little affiliation on the door with a particular hospital system and all of a sudden they are hit with a sometimes exorbitant facility fee for exactly the same service," Jepsen said.

He warned that as hospitals continue to form affiliations with independent physicians and other hospitals, people will end up paying more.

"That gives the hospitals a lot more bargaining power than before to extract the kinds of payments that they are demanding from insurance companies," Jepsen said.

Yale-New Haven Health System is affiliated with Bridgeport and Greenwich hospitals, an official with Yale-New Haven Health System said Bridgeport Hospital does not charge this type of facility fee. However, at Greenwich Hospital, there is "one off-site Oncology practice where we do facility fee billing."

Petrini added Yale-New Haven Hospital only charges the facility fee Federico got hit with to Medicare patients.

"We do not apply them in commercial patients because we're able to waive those," Petrini explained. "But, under Medicare guidelines, we do charge those patients that are Medicare insured."

Federico thinks that’s unfair.

"We're the one that are on fixed incomes. We're retired, we're elderly. I think it's terrible," Federico said.

We asked Petrini if that policy might be driving away Medicare patients.

"That's why we will work with patients directly," Petrini said. "We don't want cost to be a barrier to care in anything we do."

However, the $124 facility fee is a barrier for Federico. After we visited him, he was hit with a second facility fee from Yale-New Haven Hospital for another routine visit.

"I asked for my records and I had them transferred to my primary care doctor, who is not affiliated with Yale," Federico said.

He added that the decision to leave his doctor of nearly 20 years was a hard one.

"I did like my doctor that was affiliated with Yale very much so, but I can’t afford that $124.39," he said.

"It's anti-consumer is the bottom line," Jepsen said.

He explained that hospitals are required by law to inform patients that they could charge a facility fee.

Federico said that didn't happen in his case. Although he signed a form from Yale-New Haven Health System agreeing to pay for any costs his insurance did not cover, the form did not mention a facility fee.

"I don't see facility," Federico said, looking at the form. "Where is a facility fee?"

When the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters notified Yale-New Haven Hospital officials of Federico’s experience, they reversed both facility fee charges.

"The Department of Health said they couldn't help me, The Attorney General said they were looking into it, but you were the main one, you're the one that helped me out," Federico said, thanking the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters.

There are many different kinds of facility fees and people need to check with their medical provider to see if they will get charged any other facility fee.

Starting in 2017, a law goes into effect that will eliminate facility fees for doctor office visits entirely. If anyone wants to dispute a facility fee, they can send in the form provided to the Connecticut Attorney General.

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Police have responded to a serious crash on Interstate 95 North in Greenwich.

Five cars and a tractor-trailer are involved in the crash, which happened near exit 2.

Injuries are reported and lanes are blocked

No additional information was immediately available.

A pedestrian was struck on Boston Post Road in West Haven and minor injuries are reported, according to police.

The pedestrian was hit near Front Avenue and police said the road is open.

No additional information was available.

Macy's announced Thursday plans close approximately 100 of its department stores, the latest effort to adapt to shifting consumer shopping patterns and more online competition, CNBC reported.

The 100 store closures are only the latest round of closures Macy's has done in recent years to cast off locations where profitability has waned. Macy's hasn't announced which locations will close. It currently operates 728 stores, including 675 of its traditional full-price locations.

Most of the 100 stores the company plans to close will be shuttered in early 2017, with the remainder shutting down as leases and other obligations expire or are waived. The locations of these stores will be released at a later date.

A woman is facing animal cruelty charges after police said she abandoned five animals in a house in Milford.

Someone called police on July 27 to report the animals had been abandoned in the home at 92 Mayflower Place.

Officers found the animals, including two dogs who had to be euthanized because they were in such poor health.

The investigation led to the arrest of Temisa Fossett, 45, of Naugatuck. Fossett faces five counts of cruelty to animals. She was released on a promise to appear in court on September 6.

A month after police arrested a 25-year-old Hartford man suspected in an armed robbery at the Wal-Mart in Milford, police have arrested an employee they said is connected to the burglary as well.

Twenty-one year-old Kayla Marzano, of West Haven, has been arrested in connection with the robbery at the store on Boston Post Road around 7:40 a.m. on June 16.

Marzano was charged with second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery and third-degree conspiracy to commit robbery.

Last month, police arrested Robert Covington, 25, of New Haven.

Police said he went to the service desk, implied he had a gun in his waistband, demanded money and left before police arrived.

Covington has been charged with second-degree robbery, third-degree larceny, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery and third-degree conspiracy to commit larceny. 

He remains in custody and is due back in court on Sept. 9.

A hot, oppressively humid air mass will have a grip on Connecticut for days to come.

Dew points are well into the 70s, and that means the air is soupy.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected through Sunday.

High temperatures will be in the middle 90s Friday, then in the lower 90s this weekend.

A stubborn front likely slips south by early next week, but it will still be in the area.

So while it won't be as hot or humid, an isolated storm is still in the forecast on Tuesday.

Temperatures will rise into the middle and upper 80s early next week.

Donald Trump is coming to Connecticut on Saturday night for a campaign event in Fairfield.

The Republican nominee for president will be at the William H. Pitt Center at the Campus of Sacred Heart University at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to his campaign’s website.

The doors open at 4:30 p.m. and people can register online for up to two tickets per cell phone number per event.

This is Trump's third trip to Connecticut since April.

In April, he held a campaign rally in Hartford and returned later and made an appearance at Crosby High School in Waterbury, then at Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is scheduled to attend a public event and a fundraiser on Saturday in New Hampshire.

Shelton police have arrested a 23-year-old woman who authorities said was driving under the influence and using a cell phone during a crash that killed a 69-year-old woman in May.

Samantha Monaco, 23, of Shelton, turned herself in to police on Thursday. 

She is accused of crossing into the southbound lane and hitting Rosemarie Dwyer on River Road around 1:30 p.m. on May 6 in front of the Sports Center of Connecticut, police said.

Dwyer was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police.

Monaco was also taken to the hospital, but with non-life threatening injuries.

She has been charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle.

Monaco was released on a $25,000 bond and is due in court in Derby on Aug. 25.

The driver that was trapped under a street sweeper in New Haven on Thursday died at the hospital, police said. 

A street sweeper rolled over on Willow Street, trapping the driver, Christopher M. Ruiz, underneath it, and seriously injuring the driver before 1 p.m.

Emergency crews quickly went to work to free the driver from under he vehicle, which took around 25 minutes.

Police said Ruiz was driving on the I-91 southbound ramp at exit 6 when he lost control of the street sweeper.

State police have closed the exit 6 ramps of Interstate 91 North and South.

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The annual Perseid Meteor shower peaks Thursday night and lasts through Friday morning. If you want to take in the show, you'll want to stay up late or wake up extra early.

In perfect conditions stargazers can see 60 to 90 "shooting stars" per hour. However, this year European countries may be able to see up to 200 meteors per hour.

And you can thank the planet Jupiter. Every twelve years Jupiter passes through the comet's orbit. This crossing occurred in 2014. The giant planet's gravity moved the particles toward the Earth and on Thursday night, those particles will arrive in Europe. But because it will be daytime in the United States, the West Coast will miss out on this enhanced activity. The East Coast of the U.S. will get a little better show than in past years. 

The particles, or meteors, are about the size, shape and color of Grape Nuts cereal flakes. These tiny pieces of debris, known as Perseids, enter Earth's atmosphere at 37 miles per second, creating a hot streak of superheated air that is visible from the ground as a streak of light. They burn up, never reaching the surface of the Earth.

The Perseids get their name because the meteor showers "radiant," the perspective point of origin, is the constellation Perseus.

Though some may mistakenly call them "shooting stars," they are actually bits of rubble that were shed in 1479 by the Comet Swift-Tuttle. This stream of Perseids orbit the sun and every August the Earth passes through the stream.

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Any kind of light will hinder viewing of the meteor shower, including light from the moon. No special equipment is required to see the shower. Simply go outside with an open view and away from as many city lights as possible, including street lights and house lights.

The first-quarter phase moon will set around 12:30 a.m. PST Friday, making for peak viewing between 1 and 5:30 a.m. Friday. Begin by gazing northeast and as the night goes on, if the skies are clear, you won't miss a thing by looking straight up. Lying down on a blanket or a lawn chair is a good idea too. If you are in a big city with a lot of lights you can still see the show by clicking this site: Bareket Observatory in Israel. Astronomers invite you to join them Aug. 11 beginning at 19:00 UT (12 p.m. PST).