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Teen Charged in Violent Home Invasion in Groton

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A 16-year-old boy has been charged in a brutal home invasion in Groton.

Police said two intruders hit a woman who lives in the Buddington Road several times with a baseball bat, held three other residents at gunpoint and stole gaming systems, cash and cell phones.

According to police, the two men were wearing masks and dark clothing went they invaded the house shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday.

The female victim was taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and officials said her injuries are not life-threatening.

A next-door neighbor said the woman ran to his home, said she was attacked and asked to use the phone to call for help.

The 16-year-old boy was taken into custody at 4:54 p.m. Thursday and he has been charged with home invasion, first-degree robbery, second-degree assault and second-degree larceny. He is due to appear in juvenile court.

Police have said there is no threat to the public.

"The potential may exist that the suspects had a reason to go to that particular house," Groton Police Chief L.J. Fusaro said.

Anyone with information on the crime or who saw something suspicious in the area around that time should contact the Groton Town Police Detective Division at (860) 441-6712.





Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

First Alert Issued for Remnants of Tropical Storm Nate

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The NBC Connecticut meteorologists have issued a First Alert for Monday because of the impact remnants of Tropical Storm Nate will have on Connecticut.

No wind issues are expected, but the storm is expected to bring heavy rain here. 

The National Hurricane Center has issued storm surge, hurricane and tropical storm advisories for parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast as the storm approaches. 

As of 5 a.m. Friday, Nate had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. 

Nate could bring heavy rain to Connecticut Monday into Monday night and Tuesday. 

Check back for updates at the NBC Connecticut meteorologists track the storm.





Photo Credit: National Hurricane Center

Police 'Confident' No One Else in Vegas Room Before Attack

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Investigators are "confident" that no one else entered the Las Vegas hotel suite before a gunman opened fire on a crowd of thousands of concertgoers, killing 58 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said Friday in an interview that police don’t believe anyone entered the room at Mandalay Bay prior to the shooting carried out by Stephen Paddock Sunday night.

Earlier, senior law enforcement sources said investigators were puzzled by a charger that did not appear to match any of Paddock’s cellphones. Police have now been able to match all of the cell phone chargers found in the room with multiple cell phones that Paddock had with him.

A motive in the shooting remains elusive. "This agency wants to give answers. We owe it to the victims and the victims' families," McMahill said. "It's really a frustrating piece of this investigation."



Photo Credit: John Locher/AP

Amazon Deciding Whether to Sell Drugs on Website: Sources

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Amazon is in the final stages of figuring out its strategy to get into the multibillion dollar prescription drug market.

The company will decide before Thanksgiving whether to move into selling prescription drugs online, according to an email from Amazon viewed by CNBC and a source familiar with the situation. If it decides to make that move, it will start expanding its senior team with drug supply chain experts.

Amazon typically spends years researching opportunities before it telegraphs its intentions. The opportunity to sell drugs online is alluring given its market size -- analysts have estimated the U.S. prescription drug market at $560 billion per year. Amazon is well aware of the complexities, say sources familiar with the company's thinking.

Amazon has declined to comment on CNBC's report.



Photo Credit: AP

Company Comes to Rescue of Group Collecting Donations for Puerto Rico

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After three weeks of collecting, labeling and stacking supplies, the Puerto Rican Society of New Britain and the Boriqueneers Motorcycle Club have more than 40 pallets of donations to deliver to Brooklyn, New York and they now have a way to get them there for the National Guard to pick up. 

As soon as the story about the groups not having a way to get the supplies to New York aired on NBC Connecticut, Meriden-based Tradebe Environmental Services decided to donate tractor-trailers and provide drivers, to get the donations to New York. 

Sarah Kowalckyk, of Tradebe, picked up the phone immediately to put the mission in motion. 

“I reached out to our DOT person and said, ‘Is there anything that we can do?’ He immediately got back in touch with me and we got it coordinated. It’s the way the community needs to work together to make this happen, and we were able to help,” she said. 

Maggie DeJesus, president of the Puerto Rican Society of New Britain, said the gesture means the world to the community and their families stuck on the island. 

“To me, it was a sense of relief,” DeJesus said. “Just to be able to do something like this, for her to reach out to us, it’s an amazing thing.” 

Hundreds of bottles of water and canned goods later, two tractor-trailers were on their way. 

Maggie said she’s received calls from other companies offering to help and she’s recommended those resources to state legislator Minnie Gonzalez, who is also heading donation collections. 

“I’m just hoping and praying that our people would get to get this stuff,” DeJesus said. “That they don’t wait forever to get these meals, the food and the water. I’m very grateful and I’m very lucky. I don’t like to use the ‘lucky’ word, but I think we have been very blessed.” 



Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com

Man Arrested in Connection With Discovery of Baby's Body

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State police have charged a Bristol man in connection with the discovery of a baby’s body in a bag at a reservoir in March

Workers at the Bristol Reservoir #4 found the remains of a newborn baby boy in a bag along Route 72 and Route 4 on March 21. Days later, the baby’s mother came forward.

Police have arrested Benjamin Edgerly, 21, of Bristol, and charged him with illegal disposal of a dead body and conspiracy to commit/concealment of delivery of a newborn baby.

Bond was set at $100,000.





Photo Credit: Connecticut State Police

Man Charged With Waging Cyberstalking War Against Roommate

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A Massachusetts man is accused of operating a "chilling" cyberstalking campaign against his former roommate, her friends and family, which included making a series of bomb threats to a local school district.

Ryan S. Lin, 24, of Newton, was arrested Thursday night and charged with one count of cyberstalking for his actions against the 24-year-old female victim, according to acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb.

Federal investigators said Lin began living with the victim and her roommates in the spring of 2016, after answering a Craigslist ad for a vacant room in their Watertown house.

Almost immediately, authorities said Lin launched a campaign against the woman after hacking into her online accounts and devices, stealing private photographs, personally identifiable information, and private diary entries that contained highly sensitive details about her medical, psychological and sexual history.

Lin then allegedly shared the private photographs and diary entries with hundreds of others, including her co-workers and 13-year-old sister.

He also allegedly created fake online profiles in her name with her personal address that solicited men to come to her home to fulfill rape fantasies. Men showed up at her home in response to the profiles.

Prosecutors allege Lin sent threatening messages to the victim, her family, friends and other associates, encouraging the victim to kill herself and threatening to rape and/or kill her and her friends. One time, he allegedly "pounded on her bedroom door at 3 a.m., then went to her bedroom, where she was sleeping, screaming at her."

Lin is accused of also harassing a client for whom the victim was pet sitting, claiming to be her and that she had killed the pet, which had panicked the pet owner and led to the pet owner calling police, who confronted the victim.

Authorities also allege that Lin was behind dozens of threats to bomb or shoot up schools and daycare centers in Waltham and Chelmsford. And he pinned those crimes on the woman he was cyberstalking using fake social media profiles.

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"Mr. Lin allegedly carried out a relentless cyber stalking campaign against a young woman in a chilling effort to violate her privacy and threaten those around her," Weinreb said. "While using anonymizing services and other online tools to avoid attribution, Mr. Lin harassed the victim, her family, friends, co-workers and roommates, and then targeted local schools and institutions in her community. Mr. Lin will now face the consequences of his crimes."

The investigation was carried out by Waltham detectives and FBI investigators in cooperation with the Waltham School District.

"Those who think they can use the Internet to terrorize people and hide behind the anonymity of the net and outwit law enforcement should think again," said acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. "The Department of Justice will be relentless in its efforts to identify, arrest, prosecute, and punish the perpetrators of these horrendous acts and seek justice on behalf of their victims."

Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Boston Field Division, said this kind of behavior is disruptive and causes an unnecessary drain on police resources.

"This kind of behavior is not a prank, and it isn't harmless," Shaw said. "He allegedly scared innocent people, and disrupted their daily lives because he was blinded by his obsession. No one should feel unsafe in their own home, school, or workplace, and the FBI and our law enforcement partners hope today's arrest will deter others from engaging in similar criminal conduct."

In a joint statement, Waltham's mayor, public schools' superintendent and police chief thanked the various agencies involved in the investigation and the community "for their patience and understanding during this difficult time."

In court Friday, the prosecution argued there was reason to hold Lin because of concerns Lin could make more online threats. The prosecution also said he posed a flight risk, as he holds a Chinese passport.

Lin is being held without bail pending a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

He faces up to five years in prison and three years of supervised release.

Asked how Lin is holding up, his lawyer Francis Doran, said, "About as well as a young man can in these circumstances.'

Warning: Testimony contained in the affidavit below may be too graphic for some readers.

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Photo Credit: Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Google Search for 'Gun Control' Spikes After Vegas Shooting

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A day after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders deflected reporters' questions about gun control by saying "there will certainly be a time for that policy discussion to take place, but that’s not the place that we’re in at this moment."

Yet the topic was by then already top of mind across the country, according to an analysis of Americans' online searches. Within hours of gunman Stephen Paddock opening fire on a crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, search interest in "gun control" spiked across the country, according to data compiled by Google Trends.

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At 3 a.m. ET Monday, about three hours after Paddock began spraying the crowd with a barrage of bullets from the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel, search interest in "gun control" surpassed search interest in "gun shop." It was the first time that has happened in nearly a year. 

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Since Sunday night’s attack that left 58 people dead and scores more wounded, search interest for "gun control" has maintained its dominance over "gun shop" in nearly every state accept Kentucky. Queries for gun stores has regained popularity there. Search interest in "gun rights" has plateaued over the last decade and remained unchanged in the last six days.

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It is not clear if the shift in search term interest reflects a shift in attitudes toward gun ownership. Google Trends makes no speculation as to whether the searches for "gun control" during this time were for, against or just seeking information on the topic following the shooting. The trend also appears to be common after such attacks. Spikes in searches for "gun control" following the San Bernardino, California, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook massacres also occurred while "gun shops" has maintained popularity among Americans over the long term.

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A recent national survey by the Pew Research Center found that 81 percent of Americans support expanding background checks, 76 percent support laws that would prevent the mentally ill from buying guns, and 71 percent are for barring people on the “no-fly” list from purchasing guns. About half support bans on assault-style weapons — 52 percent — and high-capacity ammunition clips. The poll, conducted in August, showed a partisan divide on banning assault weapons. Fewer Republicans, 35 percent, favor an assault weapons ban compared to 67 percent of Democrats.

Yet gun control measures have been essentially off the table in Congress since a bipartisan deal to expand background checks — forged in the wake of the killing of 26 people, including 20 elementary school children, in Newtown, Connecticut — failed in 2013.

In a rare concession for the National Rifle Association, the nation’s largest gun lobby embraced regulations on “bump stocks,” the device found on several of the Las Vegas shooter’s guns. Paddock appeared to have used bump stocks to covert semi-automatic weapons into fully automated ones.

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The NRA, which famously opposes virtually any hint of new restrictions, said in a statement: "The National Rifle Association is calling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law. The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations."

President Donald Trump, who has declared himself an ardent backer of gun rights and has moved to roll back some of the executive actions President Barack Obama took to tighten access, agreed.

House Speaker Paul Ryan added his support, as have other top Republicans.

"Obviously we need to look at how we can tighten up the compliance with this law so that fully automatic weapons are banned," the Wisconsin Republican told reporters at an event in Chestertown, Maryland.

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, introduced a bill Wednesday to ban bump stocks and other devices that can enable a rifle to fire as many as 400 to 800 rounds per minute. More than 20 Democratic have signed on as co-sponsors. U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, said he introduced a similar bill Wednesday in the House of Representatives.

The Republican-controlled Congress has not taken up new gun restrictions in light of recent mass killings. And before Sunday's shooting, House GOP leaders had been moving forward with bills to ease regulations on gun silencers and allow people with concealed-carry permits to take their weapons to other states. A vote on the bill has been delayed.

Meanwhile, gun control advocates have shifted much of their campaign for tighter firearms laws to the states — and they've chalked up some modest, unexpected successes.

Republican governors in Nevada, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and New Jersey all have signed bills this year tightening access to guns. At the same time, efforts to loosen restrictions have failed in several states where Republicans are in control.

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The gains expose revealing limits to what some had felt was the virtually unlimited influence of the gun lobby. Some GOP state officials have shown a willingness to break ranks — largely on incremental steps — tacking closer to overall public opinion about a need for some curbs on gun purchases, broader background checks and limits on where guns can be carried.

Hoping it's at least a mini-trend, gun control advocates say they plan to exploit newly fertile ground in the wake of the Las Vegas shootings.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.


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Cause of Death For Chicago Teen Found in Hotel Freezer Released

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The death of a 19-year-old girl whose body was found in a freezer at a hotel last month has been ruled an accident, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said Friday.

Kenneka Jenkins died from hypothermia due to cold exposure in a walk-in freezer and alcohol and topiramate intoxication were “significant contributing factors,” the medical examiner said. No sign of any date rape drugs were found after toxicology tests, the office said.

Jenkins’ death has drawn national attention since she was found in a freezer at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont on Sept. 10. Protesters gathered outside the hotel on multiple occasions following her death to demand more transparency in the investigation and to call on a federal investigation.

Rosemont police said the hotel, which offered to pay for Jenkins’ funeral expenses, has been forthcoming and helpful during the investigation.

Surveillance footage captured Jenkins’ final moments, which took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont. The footage shows Jenkins walking through the hotel, but does not show how she ended up in a freezer, where her body was discovered the next day.

Rosemont police have released nine video clips showing Jenkins walking through the hotel in the hours before her death. She can be seen walking unsteadily through the hotel’s kitchen before disappearing around a corner, but none of the released footage shows her entering the freezer.

Jenkins left her home near the United Center at 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 8 to go to a party in a room of the Crowne Plaza, police said. Jenkins’ sister last heard from her via text message about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

She was last seen by her friends at a party on the ninth floor of the hotel in the early hours of Sept. 9. Jenkins was reported missing that afternoon, and authorities found her in the freezer shortly after midnight.

Jenkins was buried Saturday.



Photo Credit: Rosemont Police

Sandy Hook Parents Join Lawmakers to Call for Gun Control

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Outside the New Haven Police Department on Friday morning, there was a renewed push for Congress to pass new gun control measures following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on the Las Vegas strip.

Dozens of activists and parents who have lost children to gun violence, including at Sandy Hook Elementary School, listened to members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation lay out steps they think can reduce gun violence, save lives and prevent the next mass shooting.

"Of course it triggers and brings me right back to the day that I lost my little Daniel at Sandy Hook Elementary School," said Mark Barden, who brought a picture of his son with him to the news conference.

For Barden and Nicole Hockley, this week’s mass shooting at the country music concert across from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino brings back difficult memories from nearly five years ago.

"I remember this first week so well," Hockley told NBC Connecticut. "I just wish I could wrap my arms around all of them. I wish I could help them through this in any way shape or form."

While the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced it supports new rules on bump stocks, the accessory that enabled the Vegas shooter to fire more rapidly, Senator Richard Blumenthal said that is not enough.

"There must be a ban on bump stocks," he said. "People in Las Vegas might well be alive today."

Connecticut’s U.S. senators and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro from New Haven said they will fight for universal background checks, including fixing the loophole that allowed the Charleston church shooter to purchase guns.

"The NRA’s argument that laws don’t save lives is a total fiction," Senator Chris Murphy said. "I mean there you have it right on that placard, Connecticut has the second strongest gun laws in the nation and we have the fifth lowest rate of gun deaths."

Blumenthal has introduced legislation to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun manufacturers from liability in court cases like the Sandy Hook families’ negligent entrustment lawsuit.

"The Sandy Hook families are in court today with a lawsuit," Blumenthal said. "But have been denied justice because of that statute."

"I just want to make people aware that the gun industry enjoys this unique immunity to a civil liability at the same time they are manufacturing the single most deadly consumer product known to man," Barden told NBC Connecticut.

While Police Chief Anthony Campbell credits targeted enforcement for lowering the number of shootings in New Haven, he shared with NBC Connecticut one of his biggest concerns.

"We constantly whether on raids or just everyday arrests encounter people who have significant firepower," Campbell said.

Part of the backdrop to the news conference was a banner with messages of love that the Newtown Action Alliance is sending to Las Vegas.

"I don’t think it’s any surprise to anyone that the style of gun that the shooter used in Las Vegas was very similar to the sort of gun we are fighting against in terms of how do you sell these things, how do your market these things," Hockley said.

Hockley added any effort to regulate or ban bump stocks is "a very small band-aid on what’s a significantly bigger problem."

Unlike the NRA, the lobby group Gun Owners of America is taking a strong stand against new bump stock rules, saying criminals will ignore them.

Senators Blumenthal and Murphy told the dozens gathered at NHPD that public pressure is starting to break the grip the NRA and the gun lobby has on Congress.

"We do not suffer from a deficit of compassion in this country," Murphy said. "We suffer from a deficit of action and you by continuing to organize will demand that action."



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

Tractor Trailer, Bus Collide on I-84 East in Middlebury

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A tractor-trailer and bus collided in Middlebury on Friday.

Police said the crash happened on I-84 eastbound near exit 17.

Minor injuries were reported and fuel spilled but the details are not clear at this time. 

The exit 17 off-ramp was closed on Friday afternoon. 

No other details were immediately available. 




Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

FDA: Drug Shortages Possible Due to Puerto Rico Power Outage

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The Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned that U.S. drug shortages are possible because power outages in Puerto Rico have stopped or limited production at many medicine factories there.

Nearly 10 percent of the medicines used by Americans, plus numerous medical devices, are made in Puerto Rico, which lost most electricity when it was hit hard by Hurricane Maria about two weeks ago.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement that the agency is working to prevent shortages of about 40 crucial medicines. He has declined to identify those medicines but said Friday that the FDA would disclose any shortages if they occur; drug shortages are routinely listed on the FDA's website.

"We're keeping a close watch on the most critical medical products," Gottlieb said.

The FDA is working with drugmakers and device manufacturers, who are trying to restore partial operations with backup generators, according to the statement. In the most urgent cases, the FDA is helping companies get fuel to keep their generators running and ship finished products.

At a news conference Thursday, Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossello said power has been restored to 9 percent of customers. The government hopes to have the power back on for a quarter of the island within a month, and for the entire territory of 3.4 million people by March.

Gottlieb said the power disruptions could cause new medicine shortages and exacerbate shortages that existed before Hurricane Maria, and Irma before that, slammed the island.

At least for now, drugmakers say they should be able to prevent shortages by moving around inventory and, in some cases, increasing production at factories in other locations already making those products.

Medicines made in Puerto Rico include AstraZeneca's cholesterol drug Crestor, antibiotics and drugs for inflammation from Pfizer and Roche's Accu-Chek blood sugar test strips for diabetics. Eli Lilly makes the active ingredient for its diabetes medicines on the island. And Amgen, a huge biotech drugmaker, produces most of its medicines there, including widely used rheumatoid drug Enbrel, a number of cancer drugs, heart failure drug Corlanor and osteoporosis drugs Prolia and Xgeva.

Hurricane Maria didn't cause major damage to the roughly 80 medicine and device factories but many have needed cleanup and some repairs, according to several companies contacted by The Associated Press. The companies said operations were also hampered because workers couldn't get to factories and they were dealing with damage to their homes.

The medical products industry, which set up a large base in Puerto Rico decades ago to take advantage of since-expired tax advantages, is key to the financial health of the debt-laden territory. The FDA said medicines and medical devices account for about 30 percent of Puerto Rico's gross domestic product, and about 80 percent of those products are used by residents of Puerto Rico and the 50 states.




Photo Credit: AP/Ramon Espinosa, File

Vehicle Struck Church in Ashford, LifeStar Requested

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LifeStar was requested after a vehicle struck a church in Ashford on Friday night. 

Tolland County dispatch said crews were responding to the intersection of Westford Road and Turnpike Road.

No other information was immediately available. 



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

Man Dies After Being Recovered While Drowning in Stamford

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A man died in the hospital after he was recovered from the water while drowning in Stamford, the fire department said. 

City firefighters, police and EMS responded to a report of a man drowning in the area of 250 Harbor Drive, an inlet between Ware Island and Shippan Point, at 11:22 a.m.

Divers located the man with the assistance of side-scan sonar mounted on the Stamford fire boat and brought him to the surface less than an hour after 911 was called, fire officials said. 

The 34-year-old man was transported to the hospital and later pronounced dead.

The incident is under investigation. 



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

State Chooses Hartford, Stamford Sites for Amazon HQ Bid

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The state will propose Hartford and Stamford regions as potential sites for Amazon's second headquarters location, according to Governor Malloy's office. 

Last month, Amazon said that it will spend $5 billion to build another headquarters in North America to house as many as 50,000 employees. 

"We believe that the Hartford and Stamford regions best fit the criteria set forth by the company and we know that both communities will give us a competitive advantage. We are grateful to all of the communities that have shown interest. Should Connecticut be chosen, the entire state stands to benefit," Malloy said in a press release.

Malloy's office said that after a review of 17 submissions, the Hartford and Stamford regions stood out as the state's strongest contenders. Both sites have a population of a million, are in close proximity to international airports, have easy access to mass transit, major highways and arterial roads, the governor's office said. 

“Amazon is a forward-thinking company that competes for top talent, embraces strategic, energy efficient development, and promotes civic and philanthropic engagement within the company and among its employees,” Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman said.

Amazon already has two existing facilities in Wallingford and Windsor. Over the summer, Amazon said it has plans to expand their presence through a fulfillment center in North Haven.

The stat is working to finalize Connecticut's submission, which is due on October 19. 



Photo Credit: AP

Linda McMahon Says Connecticut Has Some Work to Do

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Linda McMahon, in her first official trip to Connecticut as a member of the Trump Administration, said the state has to work on becoming more business-friendly.

She said recapturing the state’s reputation of the 1970s and 1980s should be a priority.

"It's sad for me because one of the first reasons that my husband and I came to Connecticut to start a business was the favorable tax environment," said McMahon of the current fiscal situation in Connecticut. "We were able to start our business and really grow it and today it's just not true and we have many businesses that are leaving because we have an unfavorable tax environment."

General Electric made its move to Boston official this past summer with a groundbreaking. Aetna announced it would move to New York City in the next year.

Aetna did cite Connecticut’s uncertain budget situation as a factor, but General Electric did not. As a matter of fact, the tax climate in both Boston and New York are very similar to Connecticut, and in some respects, even more expensive places to do business.

Nevertheless, McMahon said Connecticut has an image problem at the very least and has a reputation for turning to tax increases to solve budget problems.

"We've eroded the tax base," McMahon said. "There are many people graduating from our colleges and institutions who leave the state to go elsewhere because there aren't jobs for them here."

McMahon was tapped by President Donald Trump to be the administrator of the Small Business Administration. She’s one of the founders of World Wrestling Entertainment and is a twice-failed candidate for the US Senate. She spent tens of millions of her own money in unsuccessful bids for public office.

Connecticut First State to Recognize ESports as Student Competition

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Connecticut is now the first state to recognize a video game phenomenon as a high school extracurricular activity.

Along with Friday night lights, there’s a new official student competition taking the stage in Connecticut.

“Esports are competitive video games,” Clint Kennedy said.

Clint Kennedy, Director of Technology and Innovation for New London public schools helped kick off Esports in Connecticut schools last year, the Connecticut Association of Schools now naming it a recognized high school competition.

“Here in Connecticut we ran kind of a beta season or first season last year and we had 23 high schools across the state participate in our events,” Kennedy said.

The competition combines communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity and Kennedy said it's attracting all kinds of students.

“We have football players that are playing when they're not in season we have other students that are not always necessarily the first one involved with school activities,” Kennedy said.

Connecticut is now the first state to join the Electronic Gaming Federation as a High School Esports League, a right of gaming passage Kennedy looks forward to seeing take off.

“I'm excited for those students and I'm excited for the scene overall,” Kennedy said.

East Haven Students Sell T-Shirts After Tree Falls on Friend

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Friday night as the East Haven High School football team took on Guilford High, fans in the stands were doing as much cheering for one of their fellow students who couldn’t be at the game as they were for the football players on the field.

That student is Nick Vessicchio, a 16-year-old who was seriously injured in July when a tree fell on him as he mowed his family’s yard.

To celebrate their classmate, students, fans and staff at the game all work #NICKSTRONG t-shirts. The shirts have been on sale at Nick’s high school and the money raised is being donated to his family, who is at his bedside in a Boston area rehabilitation facility.

Nick’s classmates said they’re being strong in his absence as he battles to recovery.

"NickStrong to me is the whole community, the whole school coming together and really just bringing the whole community together for Nick," East Haven senior Adam Perrotti said.

"We always find the positive. We always find a way to see through the darkness and our kids are fantastic,"  Anthony Verderame, the athletic director for East Haven Schools, said. 

Nick’s friends say he was always a huge part of the student section, they wanted to make his presence felt at Friday’s game.

"He was always in our student section, always laughing, always smiling. Very intelligent kid and I just can’t wait for him to get better," Perrotti said.

Nick’s family members in attendance say the teen is making strides as he tries to recover and they were moved to see the outpouring of love from his school community.

"I can not put into words how empowering it is and beautiful," said his cousin Cori Boroski.

And though he’s not with them at school currently, Nick’s friends are sending their messages of love because they know he can hear them.

"Nick, you’re strong. You’re going to fight through and make it," friend and classmate Joseph Brown said.

In the last week, the students said they’ve had t-shirt sales totaling about $2,000.

Friday marked the first #NICKSTRONG night and the students plan to have at least one for each sport at their school during the year.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

Remnants of Hurricane Nate to Impact Connecticut

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NBC Connecticut Meteorologists issued a First Alert for late Sunday night through Monday. The First Alert was issued for the threat of heavy rain that could lead to areas of flash flooding.

The Columbus Day Weekend starts out on a pleasant note with dry conditions on Saturday and temperatures climbing into the upper 70s and low 80s. 

The weather turns unsettled by Sunday and especially by Monday.

In addition to the heavy rain the remnants of Hurricane Nate will bring gusty winds to the area starting on Sunday. 


The National Hurricane Center announced late Friday night that the Air Force Hurricane Hunter found winds strong enough to upgrade Nate to a category 1 hurricane. 


Hurricane Nate is projected to make landfall somewhere from Pensacola Florida to New Orleans.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for southeastern Lousianna, southern Mississippi, and southern Alabama. 


The hurricane center currently has nate making landfall as a category 1 hurricane however some of the latest guidance suggests it could strengthen into a category 2 hurricane by the time it makes landfall on the United States.


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Victim's Family Sues to Freeze Las Vegas Gunman's Assets

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The Santa Clarita family of a man killed in the Las Vegas mass shooting has filed a lawsuit aimed at freezing the gunman's assets.

John Phippen, 56, of Valencia was killed at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival on Sunday when 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock shot and killed 58 people and injured more than 500 others.

The attorney for Phippen's family filed a lawsuit in Clark County, Nevada. It seeks to block Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, and his brother, Eric, as Paddock's rightful heirs. NBC News reports Paddock was a successful gambler, earning at least $5 million in 2015.

"This is an action for the benefit of all the victims to preserve these assets," said the Phippens' attorney, Richard Patterson.

Patterson says he plans to file suit against Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and its parent company, MGM Resorts International. He also said one other victim could be joining the lawsuit.

"We hope that this doesn't happen again," Phippen's son, Nathan, told NBC4 News outside of the courthouse. "This is a terrible loss for not only our family, (but) the community and the world because we lost an amazing person."



Photo Credit: Family Photo
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