Connecticut has deployed 22 more National Guardsman from the state to help with the Hurricane Irma relief efforts.

Fourteen Connecticut Army National Guard soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 169th General Support Aviation Battalion left Sunday with two CH-47RF Chinook helicopters, according to Gov. Dannel Malloy.

The National Guardsman include rotary wing pilots, helicopter crew members and maintenance personnel and will stage just north of Florida to provide a quick response, Malloy said.

A crew of eight Airmen in a C-130 Hercules was sent to Joint Base Andrews where it will stand by for upcoming support missions, according to Malloy.

"Connecticut stands ready to assist our friends and neighbors in the Sunshine State in the days, weeks and months to come," Malloy said in a statement.

In all, the state has 31 Connecticut National Guardsman supporting hurricane relief efforts, including a crew of eight deployed to Puerto Rico on Saturday.

Multiple fighter jets were spotted over various locations in Fairfield County on Sunday afternoon, causing concern and questions on social media.

According to a tweet from the New York City Office of Emergency Management, five planes are preparing for a scheduled flyover of the U.S. Open.

Many people initially thought the planes might have been headed to a football game, except both New York teams are playing out of the area today.

Tweets came to us from viewers in Fairfield, Stamford, Wilton, and Norwalk, all spotting the fighter jets.  Many saw the fighter jets do multiple passes.

The men's final of the U.S. Open was scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start in Flushing, N.Y.

Chief Gary MacNamara of the Fairfield Police Dept. confirmed on Twitter that the "In case anyone asks. The jets over fairfield are part of a Flyover for the US Open in Flushing Queens."

One teen was shot by a South Florida deputy and another is in custody after they burglarized a home during Hurricane Irma Sunday morning, while looters have been spotted in Miami-Dade and Broward, authorities said.

The deputy-involved shooting happened around 3 a.m. at a home in the 2500 block of Monterey Court, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said.

Officials said deputies responded to the house after the homeowners, who were out of town, reported that their surveillance system captured the burglars inside their home.

At least one deputy opened fire on the 17-year-old suspect outside the home. He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, while his accomplice was taken into custody without incident, officials said.

The special weapons and tactics team also responded and cleared the property, officials said. The deputy wasn't injured and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were investigating the shooting.

In Miami, an NBC 6 reporter saw an organized group of at least a dozen looters at a store in Midtown loading up boxes of shoes and clothing into cars.

Police showed up about an hour after the looting started and took at least two people into custody.

Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale police officials said nine people were arrested while looting a CashAmerica Pawn and a Simon's shop on W. Sunrise Boulevard.

"Going to prison over a pair of sneakers is a fairly bad life choice," Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione said in a statement. "Stay home and look after your loved ones and be thankful they are all safe."

Pembroke Pines police also said they were on alert for looters trying to take advantage of the storm.

Hurricane Irma, made landfall in the Florida Keys at 9:10 a.m. Sunday as a Category 5 storm and remained an "extremely dangerous" Category 2 storm into the afternoon while marching up the coast. 

A Chester company that makes lights and sirens for emergency response vehicles is holding a donation drive today and tomorrow to help victims impacted by Hurricane Irma. 

Whelen Engineering hopes to fill a tractor-trailer with supplies for victims of Irma and is taking donations Monday, Sept. 11 and Tuesday, Sept. 12. 

They are collecting non-perishable food items, can openers, toiletries, baby supplies, pet supplies, blankets, first aid kits, batteries, flashlights, water, shoes and clothes. They ask that people not donate any glass containers. 

Donations are accepted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow at Whelen Engineering, 51 Winthrop Road in Chester. 

After the drive here, the truck will go to its New Hampshire plant to pick up supplies there.

After getting in touch with Florida utility providers, Whelen is keeping a five-person engineering crew on standby to fly down and help.

Police are investigating a shooting on Spring Street in Hartford Monday morning. 

A male was shot and sustained a minor injury. 

No additional information was available.

A tutor is accused of sexually assaulting a student in Westport and taking nude photos of the victim.

The juvenile went to police in late August and reported being sexually assaulted by a tutor over a period of time.

Police identified the tutor as 40-year-old Juan Torres Jr., of Waterbury, and said Torres is also accused of taking nude photos of the victim.

On Sept. 9, Westport detectives executed a search warrant on Torres’ Waterbury home and police said they found evidence to corroborate the victim’s claims.

Torres was taken into custody and transported to the Westport Police Department, where he was processed and charged with 12 counts of risk of injury to a child, 10 counts of second-degree sexual assault and fourth-degree sexual assault.

He was released after posting $75,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Norwalk Superior Court on Sept. 18.

Several Connecticut towns and cities are holding ceremonies today in remembrance of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and to honor those who died and those who risked their lives that day. 

Avon 

8 a.m. at Avon Volunteer Fire Department Company 1, 25 Darling Drive in Avon. 

Danbury 

10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit in the front parking lot of The Danbury Fair Mall. 

Derby 

6:30 p.m., on the Derby Green. 

Greenwich 

5 p.m., Cos Cob Park. For more information, visit sept11memorialgreenwich.org.

Middletown 

8:30 a.m., Trees of Honor Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park on Walnut Grove Road. 

New London 

8:30 a.m., at the Historic Ship Nautilus and Submarine Force Museum. 

Southington 

8:46 a.m. at the 9/11 Memorial in the Plantsville section of Southington, on the corner of Summer and Main streets. 

South Windsor 

7 p.m. at South Windsor Fire Headquarters, 1175 Ellington Road. 

West Haven 

6:30 p.m. at the Bradley Point Park flagpole, followed by a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. at the Richard S. Gabrielle Sept. 11 Memorial on the beach walk next to the Savin Rock Conference Center, 6 Rock St. 

There are 161 victims with ties to Connecticut who were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. The State of Connecticut’s memorial to the victims is on a peninsula at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, where people gathered on that day. The site was also used in the following days and weeks as a staging area for Connecticut’s relief efforts to New York City.

As authorities begin the slow, painful process of assessing the damage from Hurricane Irma, many across the country are asking what they can do to help victims of the catastrophe.

The answer is simple. The hurricane survivors don't need your contributions of food or clothing. They need money.

"Financial contributions allow professional relief organizations to purchase exactly what is most urgently needed by disaster survivors, when it is needed," according to The Center for International Disaster Information. "Cash donations allow relief supplies to be purchased near the disaster site, avoiding delays, and steep transportation and logistical costs that can encumber material donations." 

The organization recommends people do not donate perishable items such as food, which can be purchased locally. Or even clothing because of other logistical concerns. 

"Many Americans respond to disasters by collecting food, clothing and household items for people in need. It is not unusual for community and civic groups to collect thousands of pounds of material. These donations require transportation — which is expensive and logistically complicated," the group says on its website.

You can begin by donating to charitable organizations like The Red Cross, which depends on financial donations to be able to provide disaster relief immediately. You can help those affected by visiting redcross.org, or calling 1-800-REDCROSS to make a donation.

Other charitable organizations, including the Salvation Army, and UNICEF are also appealing for donations in wake of the disaster, while some companies, such as Apple, are making it easy for customers to donate to hurricane relief efforts. Apple customers can donate directly through iTunes and the App Store. 

Not sure about which charity you'd like to donate to? You can visit GuideStar.org or CharityNavigator.org to check the legitimacy of charitable organizations. Charity Navigator has compiled a list of trusted groups for Hurricane Irma relief.

In addition to money, other organizations are looking for volunteers to donate an almost equally valuable resource: their time.

Volunteer Florida is looking for help at the state's shelters and other disaster relief organizations. You can register and find out more here. Gov. Rick Scott also said people can text "DISASTER" to 20222.

A week after a man was shot outside a New Haven restaurant, police responded to the restaurant again after gunshots were reported.

Officers responded to Viva Zapata Restaurant, at 161 Park St., at 10:32 p.m. Saturday and restaurant staff who spoke with police claimed there was no gunfire, but officers found a shell casing outside on the pavement, police said.

A witness told police patrons were fighting outside and he heard a gunshot after he walked inside, then he saw two men ran in opposite directions.

It does not appear anyone was shot and detectives collected the casing and will have it tested.

A week earlier, police responded to a 27-year-old New Haven man was hit in the forehead by a bullet fragment and taken to the hospital by private car. Police said he was also shot in the abdomen. He was released from the hospital an hour later.

The victim told police he saw a fight outside Viva Zapata Restaurant just after midnight on Sunday, Sept. 4, heard a gunshot and realized he’d been hit. He could not provide a description of the shooter.

Three people were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries after a police chase ended in a crash in West Hartford. 

State police said they tried to pull over a vehicle, but it took off, leading to a pursuit until the vehicle crashed into a building near Park Street and Arnoldale Road in West Hartford. 

Three people were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries. Police said they expect to make one arrest. 

Damage to the building that was struck was minor.

Turkey Hill Elementary School in Orange was placed on lockdown for about 20 minutes Monday morning as police dealt with a distraught juvenile who they said had a gun outside of a home.

Police said they received a 911 call at 8:20 a.m. and the juvenile was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated.

No students or staff members at the elementary school were in danger, police said.

Officers are investigating.

A man who was found unresponsive in a Hartford police holding cell has died and authorities said the death appears to be from medical issues, but they will hold an internal investigation. 

The police booking staff initially thought the 49-year-old man was sleeping, but they realized when they went to wake him at 6:30 a.m. Sunday that he was unresponsive. 

An ambulance then took him to St. Francis Hospital and he was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m. 

The victim had been in the Hartford Police booking facility since 2 p.m. Friday on several burglary-related charges, according to police. 

Authorities said he had been taken to the hospital twice because of pre-existing medical issues and was released back to Hartford Police custody both times. 

According to police, there were no immediate signs of suicide or foul play. 

They said this is considered an “in-custody death” and police immediately notified the state’s attorney’s office and also notified the internal affairs division and major crimes division.

Police said the death appears to be a natural, medical-related death but there will be a complete internal investigation.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and the findings were "pending further studies" but nothing suspicious was discovered, according to police, and more lab tests are needed to determine the exact cause of death.

The future for thousands of children brought to the United States illegally by their parents is still uncertain following last week’s decision by President Trump to rescind the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.

Congress has six months to come up with a legislative fix for those immigrant children known as Dreamers or they could be deported.

On Monday morning, Senator Richard Blumenthal held a hearing at a New Haven church that is at the center of the immigration debate in Connecticut.

Tuesday will mark five weeks since Marco Reyes defied a deportation order by seeking sanctuary at the First and Summerfield United Methodist Church across from the New Haven Green.

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) considers him a fugitive, attorneys are still fighting to keep Reyes in the country with his family.

Reyes said he's isn't sure how long he is prepared to stay in the church. 

“Exactly, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe a month, two months.”

Marco and his wife Fanny Reyes have a new concern: what will happen to their 23-year-old daughter Evelyn and 21-year-old son Anthony if Congress cannot pass legislation in the next six months to protect Dreamers.

“It’s very hard because listen I am here but my kids are having protection right now,” Marco Reyes said.

As DACA recipients, Fanny Reyes said her two oldest children have been able to find jobs.

“They feel safer that way,” she said. “But now they are afraid too, they will be in the same situation as they were when they were little but they didn’t realize at the time.”

Blumenthal listened to testimony from Evelyn Reyes, other Dreamers and families impacted by Trump’s decision to end DACA.

"Deporting dreamers would betray American values," Blumenthal said. "I think DACA is fully constitutional. What is unconstitutional is making a promise to the DACA recipients, having them come forward and then present information and then breaking that promise."

Like the senator, the Reyes family is holding on to hope that Congress can work together to reform the immigration system and pass the Dream Act.

"Not just for my kids," Marco Reyes said. "For all 800,000 Dreamers."

Blumenthal said he plans to share the stories he heard from Dreamers at the church with his colleagues on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Erin O’Neil-Baker, an attorney representing Reyes, said she has asked the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen his prior deportation order from 2009. If Reyes doesn’t get a positive outcome, she said they will take the case to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

"A federal immigration judge’s orders cannot be ignored," ICE Spokesperson Shawn Neudauer has previously told NBC Connecticut. "ICE and the courts can delay acting on an order to ensure all applicable legal processes and possible benefits are followed and/or reviewed, which occurred in this case. However, after these legal options are exhausted, ICE must still carry out the judge’s order in the absence of any other mitigating factors."

Blumenthal said he plans to share the stories he heard from Dreamers at the New Haven church with his colleagues on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Three families are displaced after a kitchen fire in a third-floor apartment on Hungerford Street in Hartford spread, according to fire officials.

The fire spread to the roof rafters, so firefighters had to cut holes in the roof to ventilate it and get to the fire, officials said.

No one was injured.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The Town of Clinton opened a brand new high school just over a year ago. But neighbors and parents said it’s dangerous without any sidewalks leading there, especially since the school sits on a very busy road.

“I’m waiting for something to happen and then maybe they’ll do something,” said Shirley Mikulski, who lives on Killingworth Turnpike, across the street from The Morgan School, Clinton’s high school.

She holds her breath every day when she look across the street and sees students walking without a sidewalk.

“I would think that would be one of the first things they would’ve done because you do see kids walking along here and traffic goes by quite fast,” Mikulski said.

Many neighbors said most drivers ignore the speed limit.

One high school parent who did not want to go on camera said at the old high school, down the road, her kids were able to walk to the library. She won’t let them anymore.

First Selectman Bruce Farmer said he’s heard several safety concerns, even before the school opened. But because of logistics with the state, the sidewalk could not be part of the original school project.

So the town voted for an infrastructure bond package in May. It includes putting up sidewalks from the old high school to the new one.

That will give students the ability to safely walk to the library, the Clinton Crossing outlets – where students work – and the center of town, said Public Works Director Peter Neff.

The town is now working on permitting through the Department of Transportation since Killingworth Turnpike, also known as Route 81, is a state road. The engineering and design work has already been done, Neff said. 

Valentina DaCosta, who also lives on Killingworth Turnpike and runs her business, Captain Kitt’s Cat Boarding, from there said over the years there been three accidents outside her home. 

“The fence, the whole panel had to be replaced once because a car hit it,” DaCosta said.

She voted for the sidewalk. She doesn’t feel safe walking her dog on the street and guarantees students feel the same way. 

“There needs to be a safe space where kids can walk and feel comfortable without worrying about being hit by a car,” DaCosta said. 

Neff said the town is hoping to have the project out to bid in late fall and start construction in early spring. Since the sidewalk will be in front of people’s homes, they are discussing the possibility of helping with privacy fencing or shrubbery. 

For residents impacted by the sidewalk project, there will be a meeting with Public Works and the engineering company that designed the project on Wednesday in the Town Hall auditorium at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend. 

With the federal government on the verge of cutting nearly all spending for outreach and marketing, healthcare sign ups in Connecticut could be in jeopardy.

Even though the state handles its own outreach through Access Health Connecticut and doesn’t depend on federal money for marketing, Jim Wadleigh, the marketplace’s CEO, said there is a trickle-down effect.

"We think that it will have an impact on the messaging that is being received on a national level, contributing to confusion taking place within our messaging," Wadleigh said. "It helps to get the word out across the country and Connecticut is a benefactor of that."

Another major factor that could lead to higher premiums is the possibility that federal subsidies meant to offset the cost of coverage could be cut. If that happens, then premiums could skyrocket for some people who were dependent on the subsidies.

Roughly forty percent of Access Health sign ups depend on the cost-sharing with Washington, and overall more than $50 million is sent to Connecticut residents each year to help pay for health insurance.

Sen. Chris Murphy also said the president is actively working to ensure the law doesn’t succeed, as he said it is failing day after day.

"Every time President Trump goes on TV or on to his twitter feed and claims the Affordable Care Act is dead, people believe him,” Sen. Murphy said. “Here in Connecticut, people hearing the Affordable Care Act is dead and they don’t bother going online to sign up," Murphy said. 

In addition to the funding and outreach issues, Connecticut’s two insurance carriers that offer plans on Access Health will decide by the end of the week whether they will offer plans for the 2018 coverage year.

Anthem and Connecticare are the remaining health insurance companies. Both have already provided rate proposals that increase from last year. Increases are also dependent on whether Washington provides funding for cost sharing for individuals who may need help paying for coverage.

More moves to help homeowners suffering through our crumbling concrete crisis.

Just days after Governor Dannel Malloy floated the idea of issuing bonds to help research the problem and assist homeowners, Congressmen Joe Courtney and John Larson report they met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss relief for people in north central and eastern Connecticut on Monday.

The group discussed the possibility that homeowners could deduct the cost of replacing their concrete foundations on their federal income taxes.

Hundreds of homeowners have filed complaints with the state saying their foundations are failing underneath their homes, and the cost of replacing them can often be upwards of $200,000.

There are legal issues the federal government would have to sort through on this, since there is relief for people suffering a sudden casualty loss, but not longer-term damage.

The Congressmen emphasize they have said from the start there will not be one silver bullet to help homeowners, but this could be part of the solution.

A video showing University of California police ticketing an unlicensed street vendor and seizing money from his wallet at UC Berkeley went viral on social media this weekend, drawing criticism from those who claim the officer went too far by confiscating the man’s money.

Now, a GoFundMe to support the street vendor has collected more than $52,600, as of Tuesday morning. A petition to fire the police officer who issued the citation has collected more than 28,000 signatures. 

As the video continued to rack up views late into Monday afternoon, UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy issued a statement reiterating the school's commitment to creating a "climate of tolerance, inclusion, and diversity."

"While I cannot comment on the specifics of this particular case, our practice is to issue warnings before giving a citation," Biddy said. "In a case such as this, it is typical to collect any suspected illegal funds and enter them into evidence."

UCPD officials said that three other people were warned about vending without a permit, but the vendor in the video was the only person who was given a ticket.

The UC police have been instructed to open a complaint investigation into the incident, Biddy said.

The officer who issued the citation will continue working while the investigation plays out, according to UCPD.

The street vendor, who has asked to be identified only as "Beto," was selling hot dogs near Memorial Stadium, where a large crowd of people assembled for the university's first home football game of the season.

Martin Flores, who wrote on social media that he had attended the game with his children, captured footage of UC police officer Sean Aranas approaching the vendor and writing him a citation for selling food without a proper permit, a violation of Berkeley’s municipal code.

Aranas then went into the man’s wallet and took money from it. 

The video was originally posted to Flores’ Facebook, and it was re-posted by other accounts on Twitter. As of Monday morning, one re-post garnered more than 90,000 likes and 82,000 retweets. 

"You’re going to take his money? That’s not right," Flores can be heard saying in the video. 

"We’re going to take it to the judge, and the judge can decide if it’s right,"
Aranas said. "This is law and order in action."

In an interview with NBC Bay Area’s sister station Telemundo, the street vendor said he holds down a regular job in construction. He was selling hot dogs to earn a little extra money, he said. 

"People saw I wasn’t doing anything wrong," he said of the response to the video. "I wasn’t stealing or drinking. I was just working to sustain my family."

Many social media users opined that the ticket may have been fair, but taking the vendor’s money as "evidence" went too far.

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin responded to the video after it was posted on his Facebook page, calling it "outrageous" and vowing to reach out to UC Berkeley officials.

A small plane crashed in a parking lot near the Roberston Field Airport in Plainville, Connecticut, on Monday morning, and the pilot managed to walk away from the incident, which was caught on camera.

Police said officers discovered a 1981 Cessna 172 had crashed behind a business, Carling Switch, that is adjacent to the airport at 11:24 a.m.

The pilot, Manfred Forst, 79, was taken to the Hospital of Central Connecticut with minor injuries, Plainville police said. 

Forst, who is originally from Germany, told NBC Connecticut he was going to breakfast when the plane crashed.

"I was very fortunate I got out of it without any real injuries," Forst told NBC Connecticut. "I'm just so thankful."

Forst said he gave his wife a big kiss when he got home after the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration responded and is investigating the crash. 

There was a minor fuel leak.

Pizza-hungry New Yorkers and other customers are fuming after shelling out as much as $75 for tickets to a pizza festival where attendees claimed they only got slivers of cold pizza slices at a "shady" Brooklyn parking lot -- and now state prosecutors are launching an investigation into the event. 

The New York City Pizza Festival, which took place in a parking lot in Bushwick Saturday, was promoted as a "day long celebration of the dough, cheese, tasty sauces and delicious toppings," according to Gothamist, but people instead got "cold and awful" pizza that were "smaller than a sample size," as one person complained on Facebook. 

"It was like the people from Fyre Festival decided to throw a pizza party," attendee Connell Burke told Gothamist, referring to the heavily promoted, disastrous music festival that landed its promoter in jail in New York earlier this summer.  

Video from the event shows lines around the block of a near-empty parking lot. An attendee said on Facebook there were just three tents serving up slices of pizza "smaller than my palm."  

"This is bull----!" The fact that my friend and I spent 55 dollars each for such a s----- event like this is unbelievable!" one woman complained on the event's Facebook page. "All we got was warm red wine that tasted like a--." 

The Pizza Festival event page posted during the event: "Hi guys, we've been hit by an incredible amount of delays in pizza delivery. Fresh, diverse and delicious pizza was supposed to be delivered every 30 minutes. A make-up tasting will be announced shortly. Sincere apologies. Please do not come for the rest of the night's tastings."

The apology didn't appease attendees. 

"Make-up tasting? Shut the ---- up. Give us our money back, how's that for a make up?" one woman retorted. 

Furious customers quickly coalesced on Facebook, creating their own group, "Pizza Festival Scam Victims." 

"This was a rotten scam, they promoted this as a pizza festival and a hamburger festival," one person said in a post. "People who arrived early said there were about 5 pies cut into micro slices of really bad pizza. There were no hamburgers! Clearly this is a scam and the organizers should be held accountable." 

The complaints got the attention of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office, which opened an investigation into the even on Monday.

A spokesman for the office said they were "concerned about the online complaints" they saw following the event and are asking attendees to submit complaints on the Attorney General's Office's website. 

The festival organizer, Ishmael Osekre, didn't respond to Gothamist's requests for comment. On the Facebook event page, however, he blamed event producer Hangry Garden for delaying the start of the event. 

But Hangry Garden co-founder Jeremy Asgari told Gothamist his own company had been misled by Osekre. He said Hangry Garden had been hired to provide furniture and games at the pizza festival, but red flags started popping up in the weeks leading up to the event. On the day of the event, festival organizers still hadn't paid Hangry Garden -- and that's when the event producers had to pull out. 

"We couldn't be part of it, of course, because we're not going to do an event for free. We started getting the feeling that this wasn't the type of event they promised," Asgari told Gothamist. "We showed up and they didn't have the food vendors, they didn't have anything. I asked them where the vendors were and he said, 'We had trouble finding them so we're ordering pizza to the venue.' I was like are you kidding me? They were supposed to have 30 plus vendors, this is a nightmare."

Osekre was also behind a food festival last year that was widely panned as a scam, according to Gothamist.

Some attendees who bought their tickets to the event through Eventbrite said on Facebook they were told by the ticket broker that the refund policy is entirely up to the festival organizer. Another ticket seller, Goldstar, told customers they were "fully investigating this for our members."