A construction crew hit a gas line in Bethel and a couple businesses have been evacuated as a precaution.
Bethel Police said the crew hit the gas line near Berkshire Corporate Park, at Duracell and Research drives, and Yankee Gas is at the scene, where they are repairing the line.
The line should be fixed soon and no injuries are reported.
On Facebook and Twitter, on the phone and on the job, from living rooms to hair salons, Donald Trump's "Grab 'em by the p****" comment has unleashed a tsunami of stories from women sharing painful memories of sexual assaults.
Many of these women were grabbed by the genitals — exactly as Trump described doing — by men who fled or melted into a crowd. Some women were molested as children on a playground or school bus. Others were groped on a train or dance floor. They've told of attacks getting out of taxicabs, harassment in the workplace and rapes on college campuses. Many shared their experiences for the first time in the days since the video of Trump's comments aired, while others have been exorcising their demons for a long time on blogs or in therapy.
Whatever the forum, whatever their experience, one thing is for sure: A presidential candidate's boastful description of manhandling women's bodies has become a national conversation about sexual assault. Thousands of women have stood up to say, publicly and firsthand, "This happened to me!"
Jennifer McGraw, 35, of Cleveland, wrote a blog post Sunday about being molested as a child called "My Disposable Body" that began with these words: "It all started with a grab of the p****."
McGraw, who is also a rape survivor, said social media conversations about sex assaults "have blown up" because Trump's comments about groping made speaking out more urgent than ever.
"This is somebody who could be our president," she told The Associated Press. "I can't not talk about it at this point. There's too much at stake. I feel strong enough at this point in my life to share my story and share my truth. That's the only way people will heal."
From presidential candidate Gary Hart's sexual relationship with Donna Rice in the 1980s and Bill Clinton's affairs a decade later to Anthony Weiner's more recent sexting scandal, the sex lives of politicians have been in headlines. But never before has a U.S. candidate for president made comments boasting of sexually accosting women, characterized by Trump as "locker room talk." When asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper during Sunday's debate if he'd sexually assaulted women, Trump said he had not.
The national conversation about sexual assault is "a powerful thing," said Delilah Rumburg, CEO of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
"We saw this in the last year with campus sexual assaults when many young women started coming forward and speaking their truths. This is a way for them to feel like they have some power back when they can tell those stories, to hold not only those who commit these crimes accountable but the systems as well. I know those survivors' voices can do much more than I ever could as an advocate."
Edith Bluhm, 48, of Nashville, Tennessee, says her friends' Facebook threads have been filled with harrowing stories of everything from date-rape to child molestation.
"I have had the experience of going into a crowd and someone has their hand inside my shirt," she said. "Or you're on a dance floor and some guy is grinding against you. Or I'm on a train and felt a hand up my skirt. It's not just about rape. There's all these things that women have endured, these violations of our bodies, that Trump says you can get away with.
"Somehow it's dismissed because it's fleeting," Bluhm added. "It's a hand and then it's gone. ...If I say, angrily, 'Some guy over there was just rubbing up against me, you might say, 'Oh gross,' and move on. But later why do I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin? ...It's completely wrong."
Alicia McCauley, 30, blogged about her experiences with sexual assault, from being grabbed between the legs as a child to being raped. Just recently, a New York City cab driver pinned and groped her as she got out of his taxi. She filed a complaint against him and discovered four other women had filed similar reports against the same driver.
"Hearing Trump say you can do anything you want, you can grab them by the p**** — I hate using the word 'triggering' but it felt very reminiscent of all the traumas I have experienced," she said. McCauley said she told relatives that "if they voted for Trump, I would see it as personal, saying it's OK to do these things to women. They are agreeing with rape culture and agreeing with male entitlement."
McCauley said "the stories have always been there," but they're "pouring out now" because the outrage over Trump's comments "has created a space where people are finally agreeing with assault survivors."
Kimberly McDermott, 42, of Alexandria, Virginia, shared stories on Facebook and Twitter of being groped at a concert and sexually harassed by teachers and a boss. "I had no idea other friends had gone through so many similar experiences and had also been too embarrassed to speak up," McDermott said. "That was the case in almost every instance, and these were smart, outspoken women. We cannot go back to this behavior!"
Writer Kelly Oxford unleashed thousands of sex assault stories from women over the weekend by asking women to tweet her their assaults: "they aren't just stats. I'll go first: Old man on city bus grabs my 'p****' and smiles at me, I'm 12." Many responses were posted with the hashtag #NotOkay.
Among those who tweeted stories back to Oxford were friends of Spring Weaver, 33. "I felt really sad for my friends who were being triggered by the statements of a presidential candidate," said Weaver, who also recounted sitting in a hair salon in Chicago on Saturday where the sole topic of conversation among every stylist and customer was Trump's comments.
Then, Sunday night, watching the debate, Weaver said, "I found myself crying, tearing up. I was just so upset that there were no repercussions for him."
Mainly dry weather will continue this week, exasperating the drought across the state.
High pressure will sponsor mostly sunny skies through Tuesday. A few more clouds will be in the mix come Wednesday.
Seasonable high temperatures in the middle 60s are expected.
Noticably warmer air surges in by Thursday ahead of a cold front, when temperatures surge towards 70 degrees.
A shower is possible late Thursday as the front moves through.
An early look at Friday and the weekend shows dry weather coupled with seasonable high temperatures, in the lower and middle 60s.
Another frost is possible Saturday morning as a large high pressure center moves overhead.
Hartford-based insurance company Aetna is working to cuts costs and said it includes a voluntary early retirement program.
“We are constantly looking for ways to reduce operating costs, which includes reviewing how our resources are deployed. This is typical of any responsible company, large or small,” Aetna said in a statement.
“Recently we informed employees of several planned actions to help position Aetna for continued growth in 2017 and beyond, including a voluntary early retirement program. We are also making changes to our telework policy, with the goal of increasing collaboration and driving innovation,” the statement says.
The death toll from Hurricane Matthew in the U.S. has risen, with three more people killed by floodwaters sweeping North Carolina, authorities said Tuesday, NBC News reported.
At least 33 people had been killed by Hurricane Matthew across five Southeastern states, including 14 in North Carolina. At least three others were missing in that state, said Gov. Pat McCrory.
One person was killed in a confrontation with a state trooper in Lumberton, North Carolina, where emergency crews spent Monday rescuing residents stranded by floodwaters.
More than 2,000 people had to be rescued during and after the storm as water filled their homes and washed over streets, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.
Maine's governor says he's standing by embattled Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump after a series of controversies.
On WVOM radio Tuesday morning, Gov. Paul LePage said he would like to see Trump "show some authoritarian power" as president.
"Sometimes I wonder that our Constitution is not only broken, but we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law because we've had eight years of a president, he's an autocrat, he just does it on his own, he ignores Congress and every single day, we're slipping into anarchy," LePage said.
The Republican governor also weighed in on the 2005 audio tape leaked late last week, in which Trump bragged on an "Access Hollywood" bus about grabbing women "by the p****."
"He is not my ideal guy I'd want my daughter going after," he said, but later added, "It's one thing to be in a locker room and talk, and it's another to be in the White House and do it."
The governor, who is no stranger to his own controversies, ended the interview by calling Trump a "breath of fresh air."
State police arrested three people accused of driving more than 100 miles per hour on Interstate 84 in Vernon in two days, including one driver who’s accused of going more than double the speed limit and another who’s accused of going pretty close to that.
The state trooper made the first arrest around 8:18 p.m. Sunday after pulling over a 2013 BWM 3-series clocked at 123 miles per hour, state police said. The driver, Samuel Gerard Leclerc, 26, of Boston, was charged with reckless driving and bond was set at $500.
The speed limit on I-84 is 65 miles per hour.
Two hours later, a state trooper stopped a Nissan Altima going 108 miles per hour, police said. When police spoke with the driver, 31-year-old Nelson Viera, 31, of East Hartford, they suspected he was under the influence. After conducting field sobriety tests, police charged Viera with driving under the influence, reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. Bond was set at $1,500.
Just before 10:30 p.m. on Monday, police stopped an Audi S4 that was going 136 miles per hour in a 65-mile-per-hour zone and charged 43-year-old Jeremy Clayton, of Tolland, with reckless driving, police said. Bond was set at $500.
The Canton Department of Public Works is warning customers about a water issue after construction caused an issue with a water pipe on Simonds Avenue this afternoon.
Because of it, some homes have no water, while others have dirty water.
Public Works crews are working with the Connecticut Water Company to fix the problem.
A bicyclist who was hit on Route 37, or North Street, in Danbury on Tuesday morning and pinned under a pickup is in serious condition, according to a police.
The man was crossing North Street at Madison Avenue on a bike when he was struck and he was rush to the hospital, police said.
The road was closed, but has since reopened.
The South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, which serves about 430,000 people in Greater New Haven, is asking customers to cut water usage by 10 percent because of drought conditions in the region.
“While our supplies in our reservoirs, overall, are adequate, and we have a number of sources and operational flexibility to meet our customers’ needs, given the pattern of diminished precipitation and indications this weather pattern will continue, we felt it was prudent to ask our residential and business customers to voluntarily conserve water,” Ted Norris, vice president of asset management for the Regional Water Authority, said in a statement.
Citing the National Weather Service and the U.S. Drought Monitor, officials from the water authority said the drought is expected to last at least through the end of the year.
“Water is essential to life. Having an adequate supply for drinking, public health, fire protection and the environment is the RWA’s top priority. We are asking our customers to help by eliminating unnecessary water use and taking steps to avoid wasting water. This will reduce the demands on our water supplies, reduce stress on local water resources and on the environment, and ensure sufficient water is available,” Norris said in a statement.
RWA served all or portions of Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Hamden, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Seymour, West Haven and Woodbridge. We own land in Beacon Falls, Guilford, Killingworth, Madison and Prospect.
RWA is asking customers to:
Check for any dripping faucets or running toilets. A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water per year. The average leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water per day. That’s over 6,000 gallons of water a month.
A bath typically uses up to 70 gallons of water, whereas a five-minute shower will use only 10 to 25 gallons depending on the efficiency of your showerhead. So shower to save water.
Turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth can save as much as four gallons of water. If you brush your teeth in the morning and at night, that adds up to saving 200 gallons of water a month. The same is true when you wash your hands.
When cleaning dishes, scrape your dirty dishes into the trash, and then put them into the dishwasher. The average dishwasher uses six gallons of water per cycle; more efficient dishwashers use four gallons per cycle. A running faucet uses about two gallons per minute.
Wash only full loads of clothes. Older top-loading machines use 40 gallons of water to wash a full load. Today's newer standard models use 27 gallons, and more efficient Energy Star washers use 14 gallons per wash.
Use a broom instead of a hose to clean patios, sidewalks and driveways. Water flows from a hose at about six gallons of water a minute. If it takes 30 minutes to clean a patio or deck, using a broom saves 500 gallons of water.
Wash your car at a car wash. Washing your car at home can use between 40 and 140 gallons of water. Washing your car at a car wash where water is cleaned and recycled uses about 15 gallons of fresh water for each wash.
Use only non-potable water to water your lawn and gardens. Use a bucket to catch extra water when you run the water before a shower. If you take a bath, use the bath water to water trees, shrubs and non-edible plants (not your vegetable or herb gardens).
RWA has more suggestions on how to save water online. Customers without internet access can call 203-562-4020.
Mars Petcare US is recalling its Cesar Classics Filet Mignon Flavor products due to a potential choking hazard from hard, white pieces of plastic that entered the wet dog food during production.
The recall extends to products with "best before" dates of Aug. 4, 2018 and Aug. 5, 2018, the company announced. They were distributed to retail customers throughout the United States.
The affected treats can be purchased individually and in flavor variety multipacks. The lot codes under the recall are 632D14JC, 633B24JC, 634A14JC, 634A24JC, 634B14JC, 634B24JC, 634E14JC, 635A24JC, 635B14JC, 636D24JC, 636E14JC.
A small number of consumers have reported finding the plastic pieces, but the company said it hasn't received any reports of injury or illness associated with the affected product.
Pet owner should discard the recalled food or return it to the retailer for a refund or to exchange it. They can contact the company by calling 800-421-6456 or visit https://www.cesar.com/notice.
Donald Trump's debate performance seems to have shored up his campaign somewhat, improving by two points but still trailing Hillary Clinton by nine points in the latest NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll.
Trump appeared to be in freefall after a 2005 recording was released Friday in which Trump is heard making sexually aggressive comments. That day, Trump chalked up the comments to "locker room banter" in an apology, but a poll conducted over the weekend had him down 11 points, NBC News reported.
The new poll was conducted after Sunday night's debate, and gives Clinton a 46-37 percent lead over Trump, with Johnson at eight percent and Jill Stein at two percent.
The data showed Trump's support among Republicans recovering after the debate, with the 74 percent saying they backed him in the latest data up from 67 in polling before the debate.
The American cities with the healthiest, happiest residents are Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C., according to a new survey that scored communities on important health measures, NBC News reported.
While they may not shriek "healthy living," they all have lots of sidewalks, parks and good public transportation, a report from Gallup and Healthways found. The four key components the group identified are walkability, easy biking, parks and public transit.
"Residents in these top five communities have, on average, significantly lower rates of smoking, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression compared with those in the five lowest-ranked active living communities," the groups said in a statement, adding to a large body of research that's found that access to green spaces, lowered stress and other factors translate into lower rates of disease and longer lives.
Two people have died after the batteries in implanted heart defibrillators made by St. Jude Medical failed early, and the company has issued warnings about 400,000 of the devices.
While the company doesn't recommend that doctors remove the devices from patients, it says doctors need to get in touch with users and check them out, NBC News reported.
The problem is the batteries die almost without warning, the Food and Drug Administration says. The device is supposed to give a warning called an Elective Replacement Indicator (ERI) alert three months before the battery is fully depleted.
The affected devices are St. Jude Medical Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator (CRT-D) device.
UPDATE: Police in Wisconsin now say a disturbing YouTube video investigated in the 2009 disappearance of a teenage girl is "100% fake." Read the latest here.
Seven years after a nightmarish video was first posted to YouTube, officials are investigating whether its disturbing footage contains clues into the disappearance of a missing Wisconsin teen.
The video, titled “Hi Walter! I got a new gf today!” was posted in 2009 and had gone relatively unnoticed until recently. Before being taken down by YouTube Tuesday, it went viral, capturing the attention of the Antigo Police Department.
Police say some believe the footage is connected to a missing person case from that same year, when 15-year-old Kayla Berg vanished after being dropped off at her boyfriend’s house in Wausau, Wisconsin. The footage was posted two months to the day after Berg went missing.
In the bizarre video, a man is seen talking to the camera, addressing someone named Walter.
“Hi Walter, I was at the mall today and guess what happened? I met the most wonderful girl,” the man starts off saying.
After that, he describes shopping with the girl before saying, “and then we got kind of tired at the mall and I brought her back to my place.”
“I know she hates cameras, Walter, but I’m going to show you her anyways. You ready?” he says.
The footage then cuts to a scene in what appears to be a basement. The man opens a door to a bathroom where a young woman is seen tied up, crying and screaming.
Antigo police say they are “actively investigating the origin of this video.”
"It's got some similarities and that's enoughf or us that we need to at least investigate it thoroughly," Chief Eric Roller said.
The video, titled “Hi Walter! It’s me Patrick!” was the only one posted to the YouTube account, hiwalter.
The caption in the profile reads, “My videos to Walter. My friend which can not seem to find me.”
While there are some who say the video is fake or has been debunked, few have offered proof.
Berg’s mother, Hope Sprenger, told a local TV station she believes the girl in the video is her daughter, saying “[it] sounded like her, looked like her, it gave me chills.”
Sprenger said the clothing also looked like what she believes her daughter was wearing when she disappeared, according to WAOW TV.
“If anyone has particular information as to the origin of the video or the identity of the individuals in the video please contact the Antigo Police Department,” the department wrote on Facebook.
The FBI is offering $20,000 for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Editor's Note: Because of the highly disturbing nature of the footage, NBC Chicago and its sister stations have chosen not to embed the video or link to it.
The Pentagon vowed to track down and deliver payback to whoever's responsible for firing two missiles at a Navy destroyer off the coast of Yemen Sunday, according to NBC News.
"We are going to find out who did it and take action accordingly," said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman. "Anybody who puts U.S. Navy ships at risk does so at their own peril."
Davis did not say who is suspected or how they planned to retaliate for the attack, which missed the USS Mason Sunday evening near the strait of Bab el-Mandeb, which separates the country from Africa.
The attack came as thousands of Yemenis marched outside United Nations headquarters in the capital to protest a Saudi-led coalition strike on Saturday that killed at least 140 people.
Hillary Clinton aide Brian Fallon was in touch with the Department of Justice during litigation involving Clinton emails to be released to the public, according to emails released by WikiLeaks purportedly from her campaign chairman John Podesta's Gmail account.
"DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning," Fallon emailed a group of staffers in May 2015, NBC News reported.
It is unclear how much contact Fallon had with Justice Department officials. The hearing he refers to was a public court hearing, the details of which are publicly available through the court.
The email, released Tuesday, renews allegations from Republicans that the Department of Justice investigation was inappropriate and unusually cozy with the subject of the investigation: Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state.
Clinton's opponent, Republican Donald Trump, retweeted a copy of the email on Tuesday.
A mother was getting food with her three daughters when a small plane came crashing down in East Hartford on Tuesday, only feet away from them.
"It was like a movie scene," Keishla Rivera said. "Who would have thought that would have happened?"
Keishla and her sister, Kimberly Rivera, were in their mother's minivan after picking up their other sister, 5-year-old Karina Vera, when they first saw the plane crash onto Main Street.
"I looked up and that's when my mom was like 'Oh my God, oh my God' and she tried to reverse," Kimberly said.
But the van didn't move because the mother was in panic. The girls said the family was frozen while watching the plane crash, but the sound of the impact was so startling, it snapped them out of it.
"All I heard was the 'boom' and a lot of fire and we just ran out as soon as we could," Keishla said.
Keishla said she was able to get out the car and open the door to help get her 5-year-old sister unbuckle the seatbelt and out of the car.
Even Karina knew something was going on.
"It almost like ... crashed our car in pieces," the 5-year-old told NBC Connecticut.
The girls' mother started experiencing chest pains and was transported to the hospital.
Police said there were two people in the plane during the crash. One was dead at the scene while the pilot was transported to St. Francis Hospital, then to the Bridgeport Burn Unit, and is expected to survive.
When responding to a fire, seconds could be the difference between life and death.
“Our opinion is with the technology we have today,” West Haven Fire Marshal Keith Flood said, “why are we still killing people in house fires when there’s no need to?”
At West Haven High School, firefighters demonstrated the difference a sprinkler system makes in minimizing a fire’s destruction.
Thanks to a $1,500 grant from the Home Fire Sprinkler Coaltion, 10th through 12th grade students in a construction class built two wooden structures for the simulation.
“We learned that the sprinklers are definitely a big help when it comes to the houses being on fire,” student James Simmons said.
In the first fire, without a sprinkler in place, “within a minute and a half, we went to fully involved,” Flood said.
Next came the controlled burn of the structure with a working sprinkler.
“And within 32 seconds the sprinkler goes off,” Flood said, “and you saw the damage for yourself, there’s minimal damage in that room.”
West Haven State Representative Stephen Dargan said he will continue fighting in Hartford to require builders to install sprinkler systems in new family homes.
“For the amount of money that people put into a new home,” he said, “the percentage of a sprinkler system is so small when you look at the safety of some loved one.”
Until state lawmakers act, Flood is urging people buying new homes to ask builders to install fire sprinklers.
