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Life-Threatening Injuries Reported in Durham Crash

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Life-threatening injuries are reported in a single-vehicle crash on Brick Lane in Durham on Friday morning.

The crash was reported at 8:17 a.m.

No additional information was immediately available. 



Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com

Car Belonging to Meriden Homicide Victim Found in Hartford

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The missing car belonging to a man who was found dead and decomposing in an apartment in Meriden Wednesday night has been found in Hartford, according to Meriden Police.

Police said Thursday that they were searching for a 2014 four-door Nissan Sentra with Connecticut license plate 642-YVE that was missing from the homicide victim's home. On Friday morning, police said on Facebnook that the car they were looking for was found in Hartford overnight. It was not occupied and police will be processing it today.

Police were looking for it in connection with the homicide investigation.

Authorities have not released the name of the victim, but said they believe he was dead for a few weeks when officers responded to an apartment at 657 East Main St. at 6:30 p.m. after tenants began to smell the body and reported a foul odor seeping through an apartment door and filling the hallway.

It's not clear whether the man lived in the home where his body was found. 

"Whatever happened did not happen recently from the state of the body," Detective Lt. Mark Walerysiak, of Meriden Police, said.

Police found the Nissan Sentra on Clark Street, near Jusdon, and residents said the car had been in the same spot for around a month and they never saw any use it.

Police do not know how the man died and they are waiting on an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Police will release the man's name after the medical examiner confirms who he is and authorities notify his family.



Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com

Second Coast Guard Cadet Found Guilty on Sexual Assault Charges

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The second of two Coast Guard cadets accused of sexual assault has been found guilty and has been dismissed from service and sentenced to a year in prison. 

Cadet Anthony Livingston was charged in December, accused of sex assault, extortion and conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentlemen and was suspended from the Corps of Cadets soon after he was charged.

Livingston was found guilty on Thursday.

Cadet Michael Shermot was found guilty in September.



Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Ex-NH Gov. Slammed for Clinton Sex Remark at Trump Event

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Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu is drawing criticism for a remark he made about Hillary Clinton while warming up a New Hampshire crowd for Donald Trump on Friday.

"Do you think Bill was referring to Hillary when he said, 'I did not have sex with that woman?" Sununu said, a reference to Bill Clinton's 1998 denial that he engaged in sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The line drew laughs from many of those at the Atkinson Country Club, and came on the heels of another joke about how men always leave the toilet seat up. He then chuckled and said, "Bob Smith made me do it," a reference to the former U.S. Senator who preceded him at the podium. Smith had just spent several minutes doing a Bill Clinton impersonation.

Sununu, 77, served as governor from 1983 to 1989, and as chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991. His son John E. Sununu served as a U.S. Senator from 2003 to 2009, and his other son, Chris Sununu, is currently running for New Hampshire governor.

Less than an hour after Trump's event concluded, Chris Sununu's opponent in the governor's race issued a statement saying he should apologize for his father's "crude and anti-women jokes about Hillary Clinton's sex life."

"This is beneath the office of Governor of New Hampshire, and Chris Sununu should put common decency ahead of his own political interests by condemning these comments and tell Governor Sununu to apologize immediately," said Matt Trojan, communications director for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Colin Van Ostern.

Van Ostern's campaign also held a conference call Friday to demand that Chris Sununu apologize and disavow his father's comments. On that call, former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan called John H. Sununu's comments "sexist and chauvinist" and said they have "no place in the Granite State."

Shoplifter ‘Slammed’ Hamden Home Depot Worker to Ground: Police

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A Hamden man accused of trying to steal flooring from Home Depot is also accused of choking a store security staff member and slamming the person’s head on the concrete floor. 

Police responded to the Home Depot at 1873 Dixwell Ave. around 3:30 p.m. Thursday to investigate a shoplifting and assault on a staff member and learned that 30-year-old Thyshawn Wellesley allegedly assaulted the employee while trying to leave the store with $1,158.28 worth of stolen flooring materials. 

Police said Wellesley choked the loss prevention officer, then “slammed” him to the ground and the store staff member hit his head on the concrete floor, police said. 

The loss prevention officer was able to detain Wellesley until of Hamden Police arrived. 

The Hamden Fire Department treated the loss prevention officer, who sustained a head, neck and chest injury. 

Wellesley was charged with third-degree robbery, strangulation in the third degree, fourth-degree larceny and second-degree breach of peace. 

Wellesley was held on a $25,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in Meriden on Nov. 10. 



Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com

Two Stabbed at Rutgers, Suspect in Custody

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Two people were stabbed at Rutgers University's business school on the Livingston College campus in Piscataway, the college says.

The school tweeted out an alert shortly before 3 p.m. Friday saying there had been a stabbing at the business school on the campus and urging students and faculty to avoid the area and take shelter. 

Students on campus say it happened on the fifth floor of the business building, near a lounge where students were studying.

"I just hear yelling, and like sort of a struggle go down, then people started getting up looking frantic," said Stephen Mourad of Edison. 

Sophomore Nathan Gabriel said he saw a woman in a chair, and a lot of blood.

"I saw professors bring her towels to put on the wound, to apply pressure," he said. 

A current student and a professor were stabbed, the prosecutor's office says. Rutgers said the man with a knife was a former student, and witnesses said he may have been trying to hurt himself. 

The two stabbed victims, along with the man with the knife, were all taken to Robert Wood Johnson University School in New Brunswick to be treated for their injuries, authorities said. 

A lockdown on campus was lifted a short time later.

There are more than 40,000 students enrolled at the New Brunswick campus, the largest of the state university's three locations. 



Photo Credit: @Plebianth0ughts/Twitter

NHPD Help Man Missing for 22 Years Reunite With Family

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New Haven police officers were able to help a man who had been missing for more than two decades reunite with his family. 

A man wearing a button down shirt and tweed overcoat walked into the New Haven Police Station on Saturday morning to turn himself in for an outstanding warrant.

When officers ran the man's name, John, a "strange hit" came up from North Carolina with instructions to call a phone number but no other details, police said.

After calling the number, that was now out of service, police made several inquiries to North Carolina law enforcement agencies, but results as to why the man thought he had a warrant were futile. 

Officers told John he was good to go and gave him information to homeless shelters in the area. 

"It was strange," Lt. Brendan Housey said. "Most people who turn themselves in only to find they're not wanted walk away elated. This was different. He was trying to convince me he was a wanted man."

While John was trying to convince officers in New Haven that they had made a mistake, an officer more than 50 miles away in Putnam County, New York, noticed the New Haven officer's query.

The officer at the Kent Police Department knew the man's name and his family, who he knew had been looking for their lost relative for 22 years. He immediately called John's mother in Carmel, New York,  to tell her that her son may have been found. 

On Monday, John's mother called New Haven police looking for her son. Police realized the undecipherable hit from North Carolina was John's missing person notification or an unconfirmed warrant. Police staked out local shelters, looking for John after his mother's phone call. 

The next day, John's mother, his two sisters, his brother and cousin piled into an SUV to New Haven. Upon arriving, his mother described her son as a Grateful Dead fan, or a "Deadhead", spending years following the jam band from concert to concert. The family thought John's alleged involvement with a marijuana grow operation in North Carolina was why he went into hiding in 1994.

After giving police the most recent photo the family had of John, the group decided to head back to Hudson Highlands without the reunion they had hoped for. John's brother had asked police if he could have a still image printed from the detention center's surveillance camera before they left. 

A short time after, police searching for John finally found the man walking on the sidewalk near the Grand Avenue Emmanuel Baptist Shelter.

"Am I in trouble?" John asked, raising his hands, when the officers drove up alongside of him.

On of the detectives gave John the photo they had gotten from his mother earlier. John took the photo, looked at it before folding the photo and holding it tightly against his chest. 

Police drove John back to the station and the lieuntant called the family who had only been on the road for about 20 minutes. The family turned around immediately and headed back to the New Haven police station. 

In what cops said was no time at all, the white SUV pulled up across the street and police stopped traffic on Union Avenue to let John's elderly mother walk across the street to see her son for the first time in decades. 

"You look like my mom," John said to his oldest sister, Liz, before turning to his mother. "You look like my grandmother," he said

John had a lot of questions to ask his family, including an inquiry about his father. 

"He passed," his mother said. 

After chatting for some time, John said he needed to get back to the shelter before 4 p.m. or he would have no place to sleep. His family refused, and instead, insisted he come home with them.

New Haven officers watched with tears in their eyes as the SUV drove off. 



Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com

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An NYPD sergeant was killed in a shootout with a home invasion suspect in the Bronx, and a second sergeant was wounded, police officials say. 

An NYPD officer has died in a shooting in the Bronx, and a second officer is wounded, sources tell NBC 4 New York.
The suspect was killed in the shootout with police, sources said.
Police sources earlier said that one of the officers was shot in the head and the other was shot in the leg. One official says that at least one of the wounded officers is a sergeant. 
The officers were taken to Jacobi Hospital. 
A senior police official says a preliminary investigation shows police first responded to a home invasion along Noble Avenue. Police followed the suspect as he fled the scene, and exchanged gunfire with him a short distance away in front of a storage warehouse, the official said. The suspect died after being shot. 
Chopper 4 over the scene near Noble Avenue shows a heavy police presence in front of the warehouse, and it appears investigators were focusing on a crashed vehicle on the sidewalkAn NYPD officer has died in a shooting in the Bronx, and a second officer is wounded, sources tell NBC 4 New York.

The suspect was also killed in the shootout with police, officials said. 

"The city is in mourning and the family of the NYPD is in mourning, particularly all the men and the women of the 43rd Precinct, who lost a good man, a man who committed his life to protecting all of us," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news briefing Friday evening. 

The slain sergeant, 41-year-old Paul Tuozzolo, was a 19-year veteran of the NYPD and a father of two young children, de Blasio said. 

Tuozzolo and the other shot sergeant, 30-year-old Emmanuel Kwo, had been responding to a report of a home invasion at an apartment on Beach Avenue in the Van Nest neighborhood Friday afternoon.

That's where an armed man, identified as 35-year-old Manuel Rosales, broke into a home, violating an order of protection filed by his estranged 29-year-old wife, NYPD Commissioner Jimmy O'Neill said at the briefing. Also inside the home was the 3-year-old son of Rosales and his estranged wife, along with another 13-year-old child and a 50-year-old woman. 

After holding the family hostage for hours, Rosales left the home, and the 50-year-old woman in the house called police and gave police a description of his vehicle, according to officials.  

Responding police officers spotted the suspect's red Jeep about a half-mile away, in front of a storage warehouse on Bronx River Avenue, O'Neill said. The officers went to grab Rosales from the vehicle and that's when he fired his 45-caliber, semi-automatic handgun, shooting the two uniformed sergeants.

Police returned fire, killing Rosales. 

Both the wounded sergeants were taken to Jacobi Hospital, where Tuozzolo, who had been shot in the head, died.

Kwo, who was grazed in the leg, is in stable condition. He is a nine-year veteran on the force. 

O'Neill said Rosales has been arrested 17 times in Suffolk County, where he was believed to be living, and had served time in state prison for possession of stolen property. 

A court issued an order in January 2015 telling him to stay away from his wife. In July, he was arrested in Bay Shore and was accused of violating that order by grabbing her hair and yanking her head back and forth, records show.

He was scheduled to appear in court on Long Island on Nov. 16 on a charge of violating a protective order. A lawyer who previously represented Rosales told the Associated Press he wasn't violent but declined to comment further.

Law enforcement sources told NBC 4 Rosales went to the same Bronx apartment Thursday night and a 911 call was placed for a domestic incident there, but Rosales was gone before officers arrived. 

"I always talk about what a great job this is, but there's nothing worse than a day like today," O'Neill said. 

De Blasio and O'Neill broke the news of Tuozzolo's death to his wife and his parents and told them the city and the NYPD "would be them for as long as they needed help for years and years to come," de Blasio said. 

Tuozzolo lived in Huntington, Long Island, with his wife and two young sons. The NYPD sergeants' union said the boys are just 3 and 4 years old.

"I don't think there's any words any one of us can say that's going to bring comfort to the family," said SBA president Ed Mullins, who knew Tuozzolo personally. 

"He was just an unbelievably nice guy," said Mullins. "I'm proud to say he was a great friend and a great cop." 

De Blasio has ordered all flags on city buildings to fly at half-staff until Tuozzolo is buried.

Tuozzolo is the fifth NYPD officer to be fatally shot in the line of duty in the last two years.



Photo Credit: NBC 4 NY/NYPD
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Don't Forget to Vote: Data Shows Voting Reminders Work

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American University sophomore Bex Warner wanted to vote but almost missed the chance. The 19-year-old college student in Washington, D.C., was registered back home in Illinois but nearly forgot to request an absentee ballot in time.

The voting reminder tool VotePlz and Facebook posts from friends prevented the student from standing out this crucial election.

"I probably wouldn't have voted if I hadn't seen reminders," Warner said.

More organizations, companies and candidates than ever seem to be sending voting reminder text messages, and data suggests they increase voter turnout.

Text message voting reminders increased turnout by 3 percent, D.C. political consultant Dr. Aaron Strauss found in a nationwide study of 2006 election results. He specializes in experiments that measure the impact of voter outreach techniques. 

"The idea is that this can take the probability of voting from 50 percent to 53 percent," Strauss said.

With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump locked in a tight race, a 3 percent boost in voter turnout would be huge. In the 2012 national election, under 54 percent of the voting-age population cast a ballot, according to the Pew Research Center.

Research conducted on a California election in 2009 also suggested that voter turnout increased by 3 percent after residents received a text message the day before the election reminding them to vote.

Facebook reminders to register to vote also had an impact, data suggests. The Center for Election Innovation & Research found that online voter registration activity increased by as much as sixteen-fold as Facebook reminded users that deadlines were approaching.

People who receive repeated reminders to vote and think through when they will do so boost their chances of following through, Rock the Vote civic technology director Jen Tolentino said.

"When you make a plan, you're a lot more likely to vote," she said.

Voting reminder text messages help eliminate "process issues" that occur when people want to vote but don't know how or where, Brandon Naylor said. He's a spokesman for Democracy Works, a nonprofit that sends TurboVote reminders.

"Those are problems we can eliminate through technology," he said.

Here are four voting reminder systems you can sign up for:

Rock the Vote: The nonpartisan nonprofit sends voting reminder text messages and emails to more than 5 million users. Rock the Vote is helping users make specific plans for when and where they will vote. Users can use the Rock the Vote systems to email themselves their plans.

To signs up, visit RocktheVote.com.

TurboVote: TurboVote reminders sent by text message and email are telling users when and where they can vote, when early voting begins and ends, and more. The reminders being sent to more than 556,000 users by text message and more than 601,000 by email are designed to take the guesswork out of voting, Naylor said.

To sign up, visit TurboVote.org.

VotePlz: This service tells users when and where they can vote on Election Day, how they can vote early and what rights they have at polling locations. VotePlz also helps users think through how they will get to the polls, showing how long each mode of transportation will take.

To sign up, visit VotePlz.org.

Purple: The text message service Purple sends users voting reminders and interactive election updates. The messages are designed to "feel conversational and fun, while also remaining accurate and non-partisan," the Nieman Journalism Lab reported earlier this year.

To sign up, visit getpurple.io.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Bridgeport Man Wanted After Not Showing up for Manslaughter Trial

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A Bridgeport man who was expected to appear in court for a manslaughter trial never showed up, police said. 

Cesar David Martinez is wanted by Connecticut State Police after failing to appear in court in Fairfield County on Nov. 1. 

A re-arrest warrant for Martinez said he is wanted for first-degree manslaughter and unlawful restraint with a $750,000 bond. 

Martinez is described as 5'5", 140 pounds with a vertical scr from his left scalp to his jawline. He was last operating a 1993 Acura Integra bearing CT registration 889ZGH. 

Any agencies with information are asked to contact Connecticut State Police Troop G at (203) 696-2538 or anonymously text “TIP711 + the info you have” to 274637.



Photo Credit: Connecticut State Police

2 Lanes on I-91 North in Wallingford Closed

Intersection in Hartford Reopened After Double Water Main Break

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An intersection in Hartford has reopened after a water main broke on Friday afternoon, police said. 

The area near Garden Street and Westland Street was covered in water after a water main break. 

MDC confirmed a 12-inch water main broke on Garden Street. The main was installed in 1942 and shut down around 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Though the break caused flooding, water service was not affected by the shutdown, the water company said.

Police asked drivers to avoid the area. Repairs were completed around 2 a.m.



Photo Credit: Hartford Police
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Solar Company Surrenders Home Improvement Registrations

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A Madison solar company has surrendered its home improvement contractor’s registration in an agreement with the Department of Consumer Protection. 

This week BeFree Solar signed off on an agreement that effectively puts it out of business for a month at a minimum and maybe longer.

BeFree Solar got on the state’s radar after customers complained about the company’s business practices. NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters profiled a Killingworth man that eventually got BeFree to take the panels off his roof because of a conflict over what he ordered versus what was installed. BeFree did the removal even though it insisted it never did anything wrong.

The Department of Consumer Protection pursued several other cases against BeFree, principally centered on a failure to have sales people licensed before completing transactions with customers. BeFree reached an agreement with the DCP without admitting it did anything wrong, surrendering its home improvement contractors registration and volunteering to make a $10,000 payment to the state.

DCP investigator Rob Pero told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters, “The penalty was severe enough to send a message to the industry that the department takes it seriously that, there was just more than paperwork here. And so that’s why I think you see the amount, and why you see the surrender.”

We reached out to BeFree and its attorney and have not heard back. The company can apply for a new home improvement contractors registration in December, but the DCP could object and lengthen the time before they get a new one and are back in business. The DCP adds be-free cannot even work on any of its existing projects until it gets a new registration.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

Cracking Down on Prostitution in New Haven

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New Haven Police are hoping a recent prostitution sting discourages women from continuing the illegal and risky practice, while some residents are raising concerns about how this crime should be addressed.

"To those that think this is victimless, you’re all crazy and to those that think enforcement isn’t necessary, I’d say the same thing,” NHPD spokesperson Officer David Hartman said.

Following numerous quality of life complaints, police arrested 14 women – 13 for prostitution – during a late October undercover operation targeting the Fair Haven and Dwight-Kensington neighborhoods.

"The illegal sex trade brings other crimes into neighborhoods," Hartman said, offering examples of drug dealing, robberies and carjackings.

Hartman pointed out the sex workers often become victims of abuse and assault.

"For their own safety, for their own preservation, they need to stop doing what they’re doing," he said.

Beatrice Coddiani and several New Haven residents have formed a group which believes arresting prostitutes only further stigmatizes women who turn to sex work to make ends meet.

Coddiani told NBC Connecticut she'd rather see the city start an outreach effort to offer the women the help they need.

"If you need housing, if you need food, diapers for your children, you know, do it like that," she said. "Because you can’t arrest away prostitution just like you can’t arrest away drug addiction."

Coddiani said a demonstration is planned in support of the arrested women when the first one appears in court on Nov. 14.

Police are hopeful the arrested women will get out of this illegal line of work, Hartman said.

"The way things are made up through the judicial system, sometimes an arrest is what opens those doors, is what avails someone of the treatment programs that they need," he said.

Police are now putting johns on notice because they plan to go after them next, Hartman said.



Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com

CT Department of Veterans Affairs Honors Unclaimed Members

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With the backdrop of stars and stripes hanging from a Middletown fire truck ladder, veterans, supporters of veterans and state dignitaries paid their respects Friday afternoon for two men who defended this country’s freedom.

"An airman and a sailor who served during the Korean War era and peacetime," Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Sean Connolly said of the two unclaimed service members being honored at an interment ceremony at the State Veterans Cemetery.

During the 1950s, Jack Lunich served in the U.S. Navy and George Duefield served in the U.S. Air Force. Both men are posthumously receiving Connecticut Wartime Service Medals.

"We don’t need to know their race religion or even where they were born, what we know about them is they were patriots," Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.

Commissioner Connolly said this interment ceremony was made possible by the Department of Veteran Affairs working with the National Missing in America Project and the Green Funeral Home in Danbury that identified the remains of the two veterans.

"We are their family, they may not have had blood relatives here with them today," Connolly said. "But we're their family, fellow veterans, fellow veteran supporters, our state leaders and we want to give them the proper burial they earned and deserved."

The commissioner said he hopes to hold a similar interment ceremony for other unclaimed service members from Connecticut in the early spring.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

Griswold Student Gets Chance to Take the Field

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Evan Anderson has waited patiently on the sideline as the Griswold Wolverines team manager for almost two years for his time on the football field.

"I was like 'alright boys, we gotta stay on task, drive it right through coverages, and just tear the defense apart,'" said Anderson.

But coach decided it was time to put the 15-year-old, who has autism, into home game on Monday. 

"We told him on Saturday and he came to Griswold High School on Sunday and practiced all day by himself," said Assistant Coach Phil Anctil.

Anderson, known as E-Dawg by his teammates, said before practicing his kicks all day on Sunday, he had make a quick stop.

"I went right to church actually, and thanked the good Lord for the opportunity and the guidance of the coaches," said Anderson.

And prayers were answered, for both Anderson and his mom.

"He was classified as autistic. He was non-verbal for several years of his life," said the teen's mother, Julie Anderson.

When Monday's game came, Anderson said he was nervous. 

"I had a little stomach butterflies," said Anderson.

Anderson kicked the field goal straight through the uprights, scoring for the team.

After the game, Anderson wrote a hand-written article to ESPN sharing his story of his big night.

"Drilled it right down the pipes and never looked back," said Anderson quoting his article. 

The kick gave Anderson's team the extra point. 

"I started to make more friends around Griswold High School," smiled Anderson. 

"I think it gave him a sense of belonging, he always wanted to be one of the kids and just be a normal kid," said Julie Anderson. 

If good things come to those who wait, E-Dawg said, he doesn't mind waiting at all. 

"I am always ready when my number on my jersey is called," said Anderson.

Coach said Anderson has a few more years of play with the team and Anderson said this is has been a memorable sophomore year.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

US Ready to Strike Back if Russian Hackers Disrupt Election

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U.S. military hackers have penetrated Russia's electric grid, telecommunications networks and the Kremlin's command systems, making them vulnerable to attack by secret American cyber weapons should the U.S. deem it necessary, according to a senior intelligence official and top-secret documents reviewed by NBC News.

American officials have long said publicly that Russia, China and other nations have probed and left hidden malware on parts of U.S critical infrastructure, "preparing the battlefield," in military parlance, for cyber attacks that could turn out the lights or turn off the internet across major cities.

It's been widely assumed that the U.S. has done the same thing to its adversaries. The documents reviewed by NBC News — along with remarks by a senior U.S. intelligence official — confirm that, in the case of Russia.

U.S. officials continue to express concern that Russia will use its cyber capabilities to try to disrupt next week's presidential election. U.S. intelligence officials do not expect Russia to attack critical infrastructure — which many believe would be an act of war — but they do anticipate so-called cyber mischief, including the possible release of fake documents and the proliferation of bogus social media accounts designed to spread misinformation. 



Photo Credit: Fairfax Media via Getty Images

Some CT Voters Can Change Their Ballots

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A little known section of Connecticut elections law allows a small subset of voters to change their ballots before election day.

For voters who have already submitted absentee ballots, they can have their ballot withdrawn that they’ve already delivered to their local registrar and submit a new ballot in person.

“They must withdraw it before Election Day and then they must vote in person,” said Melissa Russell, the President of the Registrars of Voters Association of Connecticut and the Republican Registrar for the town of Bethlehem.

Russell said it’s meant for people to be able to cast their ballot in person, which is one of the main intentions of Connecticut election law. She also said there is paperwork involved.

“What you need to do is sign off and swear that you’re not going to be in town or that you have religious reasons that you are not going to vote in person.”

The issue of vote changing has been brought up on the campaign trail by Donald Trump, urging voters who may have “buyer’s remorse,” to change their ballots from Hillary Clinton to him. Several states have wider provisions and reasons for allowing people to change their votes like in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

Deputy Secretary of the State James Spallone explains that in Connecticut the law is extremely narrow when it comes to allowing a vote change.

"The way the statute is written, if a person votes by absentee ballot and they realize that they will be able to vote in person the law is written to encourage people to vote in person."

Even if someone’s intent is to change their vote rather than the realization that they will be able to vote in person, Spallone said that doesn’t matter.

"How they vote is secret and the law is designed to allow them to vote in person instead of by absentee if they're available."



Photo Credit: AP

Cromwell Police Search for Bank Robbing Suspect

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Cromwell Police are asking for the public's assistance in locating a man they say robbed a Liberty Bank on Friday night. 

Police were dispatched to 72 Berlin Road around 5:40 p.m. after they received a 911 call about a bank robbery. 

Police said Gregory Dearborn presented a bank teller with a note demanding money and implied he had a gun, however, no weapon was shown, police said. 

Dearborn was seen leaving the bank, with an undetermined amount of money, in a green 1981 Ford pick-up truck. 

Police said the truck was reported stolen out of Durham earlier Friday afternoon.

According to authorities, Dearborn has connections to Meriden and is wanted by Meriden police for larceny. 

Anyone knowing Dearborn's location is asked to call Cromwell Police at 860-635-2256.



Photo Credit: Cromwell Police Department

111-Year-Old Waterbury Church to Hold Final Service Sunday

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The 111 year old Bunker Hill Congregational Church is closing due to dwindling membership and financial resources.

Bunker Hill Congregational Church United Church of Christ will hold it's final worship service Sunday, Oct. 6 at 10 a.m. at the church on Bunker Hill Avenue.

The decision to close the church has not been an easy one, according to church leaders.

In the 1980s, about 100 people would worship there on a Sunday, but in the last decade membership and financial resources have dwindled. Now, that number has declined to about 20 people on a Sunday. So the church and its members have decided they can no longer stay open.

“We hoped that this building would always be a church and always be a beacon on the hill. And God brought us in touch with Walnut Hill Community Church -- and the members have voted to gift the property to Walnut Hill,” said church moderator, David Simpson.

The church has a rich history. In 1905, the Bunker HIll Congregational Church was officially organized with 68 charter members. In 1924, the church completed much of the present Bunker Hill Avenue church, which including the gymnasium, church school, parlor and other community activity rooms. The sanctuary was completed in 1941.

NBC Connecticut toured the church with Simpson, who told us giving the gift of the church was bitter-sweet for him because for many, like him, this church has been a part of his family for years.

“Baptized in this church, my family was very active in this church. I was confirmed, married in this church, my two girls have been married in this church,” said Simpson.

Now, only few things that belonged to Bunker Hill remain in the church -- a room filled with photo albums dating back to the early days of the church and bibles and hymnals on pew -- just enough for Sunday's final goodbye.

“One of the things that I hope is that God is looking down at the people of Bunker Hill and saying well done well done servants of God.”

The last worship will be followed by fellowship, then a dinner for all of its members.

Walnut Hill Community Church’s pastor said they are thankful for such a wonderful gift from Bunker Hill.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut
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