Police are responding to a crash at South Main Street and Brush Hill Road in Middletown and the intersection is closed.
No additional information was immediately available.
The Indian Embassy in Houston says they are monitoring developments in the Sherin Mathews missing child's case in Richardson.
"We are closely monitoring Sherin Mathews case. We have established the contact with the community and authorities," a spokesperson from the Indian Embassy, said in a written statement.
The minister of External Affairs for Government of India, Sushma Swaraj, said in a tweet Thursday, "We are deeply concerned about the missing child. Indian Embassy in U.S. is actively involved and they keep me informed."
Three-year-old Sherin Mathews was adopted from India by the Mathews family last year.
She disappeared from her Richardson home on Oct. 7 and has not been found.
Authorities placed her adoptive parents Wesley and Sini Mathews' 4-year-old biological daughter in foster care shortly after Sherin was reported missing. Sini Mathews has a hearing Monday to try to regain custody of her child.
Her father, Wesley Mathews, told police he last saw his daughter when he ordered her to stand by a tree at 3 a.m. as punishment for not drinking her milk. Police say Mathews also claimed he did laundry before calling police to report her missing shortly after 8 a.m.
Wesley Mathews has been charged with endangering or abandoning his daughter. He is out of jail on bond.
Search warrants released Wednesday revealed a washer and dryer were among 47 items seized from the Mathews home last week. Richardson police said they continue to examine evidence and comb for clues into Sherin's disappearance.
Nine people were arrested after police stopped a group suspected of dealing drugs while riding stolen dirt bikes in Hartford.
Police said they were conducting surveillance on Broad Street Thursday when they saw the group. Officers arrested all nine and said several of the suspects had existing arrest warrants.
Police also said they recovered eight dirt bikes they believe were stolen and one that they knew had been stolen from New Britain.
Police also said they seized a loaded Smith & Wesson .32 revolver with five rounds of ammunition and around 300 bags of packaged heroin.
Jonathan Rosario, 23, of Hartford, was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent and third-degree criminal trespass.
Luis Santos Jr., 19, of Hartford, was charged with third-degree criminal trespass, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of narcotics, interfering with police and drug factory.
Devon Logan, 18, of Bloomfield, was charged with third-degree criminal trespass.
Luis Padua, 28, of Hartford, was charged with third-degree criminal trespass.
Yan-Carlo Lliriano-Munoz, 25, was charged with third-degree criminal trespass.
Francisco Gonzalez, 19, was charged with third-degree criminal trespass and possession of narcotics.
Antonio Hernandez, 30, of Hartford, was charged with third-degree criminal trespass and possession of less than an ounce of a controlled substance.
Eliezer Orozco, 35, of East Hartford, was arrested on four warrants for town ordinance, failure to respond, second-degree failure to appear -littering, failure to respond, second-degree failure to appear-disorderly conduct, first-degree criminal trespass, second-degree failure to appear -town ordinance, failure to respond, and second-degree failure to appear.
A 17-year-old Hartford boy was charged with third-degree trespass and possession of narcotics.
A 17-year-old boy assaulted a 14-year-old boy at Terryville High School in September and police arrested them both, as well as two other people, after learning it was in retaliation for a drug-related robbery, police said.
Police said they responded to Terryville High School on Sept. 28 after a 17-year-old boy assaulted a 14-year-old boy in the cafeteria.
As police investigated, they learned that the 14-year-old arranged to buy an ounce of marijuana from the 17-year-old and went to the meeting site, a local business, with two other males.
When the 17-year-old approached the vehicle the others were in, a person in the back seat pulled what looked like a gun, police said.
Fearing he would be shot, the 17-year-old handed the marijuana to the armed person and the people in the car drove off, police said.
The 17-year-old was charged with illegal sale of marijuana as well as in connection with the assault, police said.
One male from Plymouth, one from Bristol and one from West Hartford were charged with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, larceny in the sixth degree, conspiracy to commit larceny in the sixth degree and illegal possession of marijuana.
Police have not recovered the gun shown during the robbery, but said they think it was an airsoft pistol.
An Colorado Cub Scout was kicked out of his den after asking a state senator questions about the current political issues from gun control issues to health care legislaton taking place across the country, NBC News reported.
The Cub Scout's mother Lori Mayfield filmed a video of her eleven-year-old son Ames Mayfields' exchange with a Republican state lawmaker at a Cub Scout event in Denver last week. In the video, the fifth grader confidently reads his typed questions while state Senator Vicki Marble listened on.
“Why on earth would you want someone who beats their wife to have access to a gun?” Ames Mayfield asked in the video.
Mayfield's mother said after the exchange the den leader told her that her son would not be welcomed back into the den, NBC New reported.
If you are fan of “Gilmore Girls” fan, the original series or “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” on Netflix, Kent is where you will be, or want to be, this weekend.
If you’re reading this, you more than likely know the series was set in the fictional Connecticut town of Stars Hollow, a quaint community, where everyone knew everything about everyone and a town troubadour was part of the local fabric.
Fans of the beloved series started the festival last year.
Special guests this year include some fan favorites, including Keiko Agnea (Lane Kim), Todd Lowe (Zack Van Gerbig), Aris Alvarado (Caesar) Emily Kuroda, (Mrs. Kim), Liz Torres (Miss Patty) and Rose Abdoo (Gypsy)
Tanc Sade (Finn) Biff Yeager (Tom the contractor), Eric Henry (Nat Compton in “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life”), Rini Bell(Lulu), as well as people who worked on the show behind the scenes will be there.
The weekend events include Gilmore-inspires activities, including screenings of the show.
Tickets are $250 and they are for the whole weekend. The event started this morning and goes through 2 p.m. Sunday.
Some Halloween treats are trickier than others when it comes to sugar and calories. Here's a better way to dip into your kids' candy stash.
NBC News worked with experts to size up the nutritional labels of some of the most popular Halloween candies, with a strong focus on calories, portion size and sugar content, so you can make better choices in the lead-up to Oct. 31. (To keep things in perspective, the American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugar intake to 37 grams for men and 25 for women per day.)
Top Picks
Nutritionist Pick #1: Trolli Sour Bit Crawlers
One serving — eight pieces — of these brightly colored gummy worms comes in at 100 calories and 14 grams of sugar.
Nutritionist Pick #2: Snack-Size Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
A single peanut butter cup has 110 calories and 11 grams of sugar.
Nutritionist Pick #3: Charms Blow Pop
Although this lollipop with gum in the center has 13 grams of sugar, it’s only 70 calories.
The Best and Worst of the Rest (In That Order)
Snicker Miniatures
Twix Caramel Cookie Bars Mini
Kit Kat Minis
Twizzlers Strawberry Twists
Tootsie Roll Minis
Brach's Candy Corn
A Georgia woman is accused of diverting more than $700,000 from the University of Connecticut to her banking accounts after posing as a representative of Dell Computers, according to paperwork from Connecticut Superior Court.
UConn police said they were alerted on June 21 that $773,079.35 was stolen from the university and they launched an investigation. That investigation revealed that the University of Connecticut’s routing number was used between April 12 and May 19 and that someone who was not authorized diverted the payments.
Police have identified the suspect as 39-year-old MuthAini Nzuki, a native of Kenya who is a naturalized United States citizen living in Kennesaw, Georgia.
UConn realized something was wrong when Dell Computers contacted the school on May 24 asking for payment on invoices that were past due. UConn told the company that most of the past invoices had been paid and reached out to vendor, the supplier information management company the university uses, which allows UConn and vendors to view the status of invoices and remittances and maintain company information.
According to the arrest warrant application, Nzuki created an account with the vendor company, posing as a Dell employee, and synched up her account and UConn’s account by entering Dell’s federal tax ID and imputing an invoice number and amount owed from any Dell invoice to UConn. Between April 12 and May 19, Nzuki is accused of diverting money from an approved Dell banking account to an account she created 32 separate times.
Nzuki used an assumed name of a person who turned out not to be an actual Dell employee and used a free email service in Germany to create the email she used to open the account.
Records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement show that Nzuki has been a naturalized U.S. citizen as of 2010, has a U.S. passport as well as a Kenyan passport. She traveled from Atlanta to Paris on May 25 and returned to Atlanta from Kenya on Aug. 8.
A judge at Rockville Superior Court signed a warrant for Nzuki on Aug. 16 and UConn police sought help from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia to help find her. UConn police then transported Nzuki from Georgia on Thursday.
Nzuki has been charged with first-degree larceny and first-degree computer crime and was held on $1 million bond, but it was lowered to $500,000. She is due back in court on Dec. 1 and is being represented by an attorney.
UConn officials said the university and the state will not be responsible to absorb the financial loss and it will be worked out between the vendor who processed the payments and Dell, which was supposed to receive them.
No student or employee data was accessed or compromised, according to UConn.
Local doctors say new 3-D mammogram technology is helping women detect breast cancer earlier and with fewer mistakes.
Elaine Lindsley was a junior at UConn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, undergoing a double mastectomy and chemotherapy before the start of her senior year. The Bristol native traveled the world and donated the wigs from her hair-free days before learning this year that her cancer was back.
The difficult diagnosis came out of left field for Elaine, who dreams of a career in nursing.
“I never thought I would have it at 21, never mind two times by the time I’m 24,” she said.
Doctors at Jefferson Radiology in Farmington hope new 3-D mammogram technology at their offices will help women pinpoint cancers that are very small.
Dr. Diana James, their director of breast imaging, said 3-D mammograms are more precise than traditional mammograms and allow doctors to scroll through the breast tissue, making it easier to spot and evaluate abnormalities that used to mean a return visit or biopsy for the patient.
“The goal for the patient is to find the smallest cancer that's possible, the earliest stage possible,” and said that this technology has increased the rate doctors catch cancers by 40 percent. Dr. James said.
Early detection can make a big difference in how women experience breast cancer treatment as well, potentially helping patients catch tumors before develop into more aggressive forms and avoid chemotherapy.
Elaine stressed the importance of regular breast exams and mammograms if you are over 40 and wanted to remind women everywhere, “you’re never too young to have breast cancer.”
A team from Jefferson Radiology will be at NBC Connecticut’s Annual Health & Wellness Festival on Saturday, Oct. 28 with more on 3-D mammograms as well as information on how to sign up for their monthly Mammogram & Manicure nights.
Learn more information on the Health & Wellness Festival here.
A senior congressional aide who has been briefed on the deaths of four U.S. servicemen in Niger says the ambush by militants stemmed in part from a "massive intelligence failure."
The Pentagon has said that a force of 40 to 50 militants ambushed a 12-man U.S. force in Niger on Oct. 4, killing four and wounding two others, NBC News reported. The U.S. patrol was seen as routine and had been carried out nearly 30 times in the six months before the attack, the Pentagon has reported.
The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly, said the House and Senate armed services committees have questions about the scope of the U.S. mission in Niger, and whether the Pentagon is properly supporting the troops on the ground there.
While more than 80 percent of Puerto Rico remains without power a month after Hurricane Maria knocked out the island’s power grid, Hector Alejandro Santiago Rodriguez is at work on his nursery in Barranquitas because of the solar panels he installed six years ago.
Winds destroyed a third of his greenhouses and more than half of his plants and damaged a quarter of the solar panels, but Santiago’s Cali Nurseries never lost electricity after the storm. He has been able to pump water from his wells and operate his irrigation system for poinsettias, orchids and other plants he sells at Costco, Home Depot and other stores.
"It has been the best investment of my life," said Santiago, the largest grower of poinsettias and orchids in Puerto Rico. “In the past, people had problems with the high cost of electricity and now, with the distribution of fuel, for those who have generators.”
It cost Santiago $300,000 for 244 solar panels, an expense that might dissuade others, but he said, “Now time has sided with me that the 'expensive part' is not having electricity when you need it the most.”
The destruction of the island’s power grid has brought new focus on the bankrupt Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and how the electricity system could be rebuilt in a more resilient way by taking advantage of renewable energy.
At a meeting with President Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Puerto Rico had a chance to become a showcase for a sustainable energy grid with public-private partnerships.
"We think there is an opportunity here to leverage growth in the energy sector and to be innovative, not only rebuild what we had in the past, but also with the aid of the federal government and with the private sector, rebuild a much modern, much stronger platform," he said. "And not only have Puerto Rico have energy but actually be a model of sustainable energy and growth toward the future."
Tesla, the manufacturer of solar panels, the Powerwall battery and the Powerpack commercial battery, and a German competitor, sonnen, are poised to become private partners in that switch to sustainable energy.
Tesla is snagging most of the attention. Rosselló has already talked with its founder Elon Musk, after Musk tweeted that the company could reconstruct the island's electricity with independent solar and battery systems.
"The Tesla team has done this for many smaller islands around the world, but there is no scalability limit, so it can be done for Puerto Rico too," Musk wrote on Oct. 5. "Such a decision would be in the hands of the PR govt, PUC, any commercial stakeholders and, most importantly, the people of PR."
"Let's talk," Rosselló responded. "Do you want to show the world the power and scalability of your #TeslaTechnologies? PR could be that flagship project."
Rosselló told USA Today that he and Musk later spoke about running a pilot program on the island of Vieques. The governor and a team from Tesla have since met and Tesla has sent experienced installers to Puerto Rico to train a small Powerwall installation team there, Musk tweeted.
Tesla declined to comment further but it has already constructed microgrids on Hawaii's Kauai and American Samoa and has said it will work with energy providers around the world to overcome barriers to building sustainable, renewable grids.
Francis O'Sullivan, the director of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's MIT Energy Initiative, agreed that there was an opportunity now to integrate newer technologies into Puerto Rico’s power grid.
Companies like Telsa will be part of the effort, but they will not be able to rebuild Puerto Rico's electricity system in the next six months or even a year, he said. There is a tension between restoring electricity quickly and re-imagining the grid.
"That’s a really tremendously big job rewiring the entire island and not just a big job but a very expensive undertaking," he said. "And in terms of shorter term delivery or redelivery of electricity services, it is not the solution."
For now, work is underway to restore hundreds of miles of transmission lines and thousands of miles of distribution lines. Even this short-term work will require more workers, more equipment and more money.
"It's too much for us alone," Nelson Velez, a regional director for the Puerto Rican power authority, told The Associated Press as he supervised crews working along a busy street in Isla Verde, just east of San Juan, on a recent afternoon. "We have just so many, so many areas affected."
But new technologies could be introduced in strategic locations, such as around public safety buildings or hospitals, O'Sullivan said. Micro-grids could incorporate more storage and renewable energy, he said.
Puerto Rico now produces only about two to three percent of its total electricity from such renewable energy as wind and solar, O’Sullivan said. That share has been growing rapidly but is still not more than 200 or 250 megawatts of a total capacity of 5 to 6 gigawatts. A transition on an island-wide scale would cost about $2 billion and take several years of work, he said.
"The more extensive redevelopment or rewiring of the system in Puerto Rico to make it more renewably centric and more more reliable, that’s not going to happen by the end of October or November," O'Sullivan said.
Rauluy Santos, an auditor at PricewaterCoopers in San Juan, took a widely circulated photograph of Tesla Energy cargo at the Air National Guard Base Muñiz at Carolina, near San Juan's Luis Marín Muñoz International Airport on Oct. 14. He spotted the shipment while he was waiting for water, food, medicine and other goods sent from the Hyssop Church in Boston, to be distributed through the non-profit, Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción, of which he is a director.
Santos said it was time to for the island to invest in technologies such as solar energy to provide cheaper, more sustainable energy with lower carbon emissions. He and others are waiting to see if this is a publicity stunt on Musk's part or a true humanitarian effort, he said.
"However I believe in Elon Musk and have high hopes on his delivery of the promise," he said, "but please let it be with an affordable price tag in which our economy can get at least a bump with a new industry and new job opportunities from all the years in recession we've been."
He agreed that pilot programs should be tried first, on the islands of either Vieques or Culebra.
"Our governor, Ricardo Rosselló, was proactive with Elon Musk's tweet and we're eager to learn what's the plan," he said.
While Tesla has been getting the publicity, a competing German company, sonnen, has been selling its sonnenBatteries in Puerto Rico for 18 months, according to the company’s U.S. senior vice president, Blake Richetta.
Sonnen is focused on creating microgrids for shelters, clinics and community centers in areas that lack power and clean water, it said. It is working with a Puerto Rican partner, Pura Energia, which installs solar panels with sonnen batteries, and it expects to have the first five micro-grid locations up and running by the end of October. Five additional micro-grids are to be running in November, and a total of 15 by mid-December.
Sonnen does not make solar panels but typically provides smart technology and storage while working with regional distributors and installers who bring the solar panels. For this project, the Puerto Rico Energy Security Initiative, it is donating sonnenBatteries and covering the cost of the solar panels and the installation.
"Sonnen is also unique by virtue of the fact that our factory is shipping a working, proven product, on a daily basis and we can deliver energy security to the people of Puerto Rico, without delay," Richetta said in an email. "For sonnen, this is not 'theory.'"
Longer term it expects to sell and install more sonnenBatteries in Puerto Rico, as part of systems that increase resiliency and bolster the grid by creating localized power supplies and reducing the effect of a single point of failure -- important in the face of devastating storms.
"A decentralized electricity grid in Puerto Rico, composed of thousands or even a few million solar arrays, coupled with clean energy storage, would form a 'virtual power plant' for the island," Richetta said. "This distributed 'virtual power plant' would become the most resilient grid infrastructure in the country today, one that is effectively impossible to 'bring down,' via a hurricane."
Even before Hurricane Maria hit, British billionaire Richard Branson told Reuters that he was setting up a fund to enable Caribbean nations to replace fossil fuel-dependent utilities destroyed in Hurricane Irma with low-carbon renewable energy sources. The Caribbean islands have mostly been generating power by burning diesel.
Branson has been approaching governments, financial institutions and philanthropists, Reuters reported last month.
"As part of that fund we want to make sure that the Caribbean moves from dirty energy to clean energy," Branson, who has lived in the British Virgin Islands for 11 years and weathered Irma on his private island, said.
In a blog entry this week, the Brookings Institute noted both Tesla and sonnen’s emergency measures and evaluated the likelihood that the grid would be rebuilt with solar and battery storage.
"That is a hope but there’s no certainty," Lewis M. Milford and Mark Muro wrote.
"It would take a dedicated group of companies, a local government willing to be creative and strong federal support for rebuilding the power system in a more resilient way," they wrote. "Merely redoing the same diesel-dependent, centralized electric system, the status quo, should not be an option."
The Tesla project on Kauai consists of a 13-megawatt solar farm and a 52 megawatt-hour battery installation that Tesla and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative expect will reduce the use of fossil fuel by 1.6 million gallons a year, according to The Verge. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative has contracted with Telsa to buy the electricity that is produced -- at 13.9 cents per kilowatt hour for 20 years.
On the island of Ta'u in American Samoa an $8 million solar project funded by the U.S. Department of Interior and the American Samoa Power Authority was completed late last year, according to National Geographic. That project — 1.4 megawatts of electricity that can be stored in 60 Powerbacks — shifted the island's energy generation from 100 percent diesel fuel to entirely solar. It will save about 110,000 gallons of diesel fuel and was built to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds.
Santiago, the nursery owner, is not sure his business will survive the crisis, but said he had already recovered 70 percent of his poinsettias and is trying to save others. He believes that after the catastrophe brought by Hurricane Maria more people will invest in solar energy. It has helped him protect the Earth and has provided him with clean energy and constant voltage which made his equipment last longer, he said. He sold excess energy to the government.
"Now, when nobody has electricity, we can pump our own water which makes us self-sufficient," he said.
"Cali Nurseries will survive Hurricane Maria with the favor of God," he said.
Now everyone can get a taste of what scientists see on the red planet.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory collaborated with Google to produce Access Mars, a free immersive experience that be accessed with a computer, mobile device or virtual reality/augmented reality headset.
Access Mars: Experience access Mars by clicking here and learn about Curiosity’s mission here.
Using imagery from NASA’s Curiosity rover, users can explore the desert terrain while poking around nooks and crannies. The program features four notable regions: Curiosity's landing site, Murray Buttes, Marias Pass and Pahrump Hills. The rover’s current location on Mt. Sharp will be continually updated as new imagery comes in.
The software is adapted from a similar program used by NASA scientists to study Martian geology.
"We've been able to leverage VR and AR technologies to take our scientists to Mars every single day," said Victor Luo, lead project manager at JPL's Ops Lab, which led the collaboration. "With Access Mars, everyone in the world can ride along."
The experience was crafted by pairing Curiosity's imagery and scientific data with WebVR, an open-source virtual reality software that be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.
Visitors can learn more details about Curiosity’s experiments such as photos of digging sites, soil mineral compositions and even a selfie the rover took so scientists could monitor wear and tear.
"Immersive technology has incredible potential as a tool for scientists and engineers," Luo said. "It also lets us inspire and engage the public in new ways."
A University of New Haven (UNH) student hoping to join the United States Army is fighting back against President Donald Trump’s proposed ban on transgender individuals.
Dylan Kohere is a freshman studying criminal justice at the University of New Haven.
Since middle school, he said he has dreamed of serving in the United States military, but now Trump’s attempt to reinstate a ban might prevent him from fulfilling that dream.
"People fought for me for 18 years of my life, I always felt like I had my own civil duty to fight," Kohere said. "Give back to the country that always gave to me."
Kohere was home in New Jersey in late July when a friend sent him a screen shot of the president’s tweets.
"I felt really, really targeted," he said. "Personally targeted at the fact that you know I was fully capable of serving and I was fully able and my gender identity was the whole reason I wasn’t being allowed."
Trump later sent a memo to the Pentagon after the tweets that said in part, "Please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military."
"Regardless of how I identify," Kohere said. "If I can meet the standards, I don’t see a reason why I can’t serve."
Kohere began his gender transition at the end of the 9th grade.
"It’s made me really a much happier," he explained. "Much more confident person over the years finally being able to physically output how I’ve always felt internally."
Kohere has joined eight transgender individuals, including several active service members, in a federal lawsuit filed by lawyers from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders to challenge this policy change.
"It’s not just fighting for me, and my rights, it's fighting for the rights of tens of thousands of people who are currently serving now and thousands of people who are going to want to serve in the future," Kohere said.
If given the chance, Kohere said he’d accept an invitation to speak with President Trump about his desire to serve in the army.
"Explain to him, look at him, ask him to look at me as a human being and not as a gender and not as you know anything other than an American citizen who wants to serve his country," he said.
A federal appeals court Friday refused to allow an immediate abortion for a 17-year-old who came to the U.S. illegally and is now in detention. But the court gave her more time to find a way to obtain one.
Groups supporting and opposing abortion rights have been watching the case closely.
Known in the court record only as Jane Doe, she crossed the southern border on her own in September, unaccompanied by relatives, and was taken into federal custody at a detention center in Texas. After a medical examination revealed that she is pregnant, she sought an abortion.
Texas authorities gave her permission, but the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the detention facility, refused.
More than 60 restaurants across the state start serving Puerto Rican inspired dishes and drinks on Saturday to raise money for the island ravaged by Hurricane Maria.
In the kitchen at Claire’s Corner Copia in downtown New Haven, Marjorie Cancel can’t wait to prepare a popular Puerto Rican pastry.
"It’s called qursitos and it’s basically a puff pastry with cream cheese and it goes very well with coffee," she said.
Claire’s and Geronimo Tequila Bar & Southwest Grill are two New Haven restaurants taking part in the CT Loves Puerto Rico initiative.
"It’s the perfect vehicle to do so everybody’s going to go out and eat and everybody’s going to realize that there’s somebody out there who’s hungry and a little goes a long way," Timothy Scott, a co-owner and director of operations at Geronimo, said.
A hundred percent of the proceeds from the special Puerto Rican influenced menu items will be donated to the United for Puerto Rico fund helping the island rebuild and recover.
"Me being here and not be able to do a lot, this is one thing I can do to give back," Geronimo employee Esteban Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez is from Puerto Rico and most of his family still lives there.
"Some people are suffering," he said. "Some people are trying to help the others, we’re fighting to get it back together."
Geronimo patrons will be able to try Puerto Rican pork roast tacos and a coconut based cocktail.
"It doesn’t taste like anything else that any other island would do," Gonzalez said.
The coquito drink is traditionally made with Puerto Rican rum, Geronimo’s staff will be mixing it with tequila instead.
Back at Claire’s during a busy Friday lunch rush, Cancel told NBC Connecticut she still can’t get in touch with her sister in Puerto Rico.
"I haven’t heard from her since the hurricane happened," she said. "So you know I just hope that she’s OK and I pray to god every day she’s alright."
The restaurants statewide will serve their special Puerto Rican menu items starting tomorrow through Saturday Oct. 28.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a speech Saturday to police chiefs from across the country gathered in Philadelphia, said forging new relationships between local and federal authorities will help reduce crime in communities across the country.
It was the first of two speeches Sessions will give this week in a city that his Department of Justice has publicly battled for most of the last nine months over Philadelphia's sanctuary city approach to immigration enforcement. His appearances are part of a weeklong conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Sessions spoke about the federal Project Safe Neighborhoods program and other initiatives to reduce violent crime by the Department of Justice, including the use of federal prosecutors to aid in cases by local authorities.
"Forging new relationships with local prosecutors and building on existing relationships will ensure that the most violent offenders are prosecuted in the most appropriate jurisdiction," Sessions said. "But our goal is not to fill up the courts or fill up the prisons. Our goal is not to manage crime or merely to punish crime. Our goal is to reduce crime."
A large group of protesters, describing their demonstration as "Abolition Weekend," will hold a rally outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center at noon.
Sessions has had a rocky relationship with some of America's large cities during his tenure at the DOJ, with Philadelphia among the most notable.
He and Mayor Jim Kenney have traded barbs over the city's local immigration enforcement policies. The Trump Administration's DOJ has consistently labeled Philadelphia as in violation of federal requirements for notifying federal immigration officials when city police comes in contact with undocumented immigrants.
The city has argued that it meets all of demands of the federal statutes and any of the Trump Administration's additional requests are not only not required by law, but would hurt the ability of local police to fight crime.
The City of Philadelphia is suing the DOJ in federal court over the disagreement.
In his speech, Sessions talked about local and federal cooperation in crime-fighting efforts.
"Partnering with community leaders, and taking the time to listen to the people we serve really works. I remember, when I was a U.S. Attorney, my office prosecuted a gang in Mobile. When the case was over, community leaders asked for a community meeting to talk about how we could further improve the neighborhood," he said. "We developed a practical plan based on the requests of the people living in the neighborhood. It was a city, county, state, and federal partnership using existing resources to fix the community."
Police are investigating a crash involving a scooter and a car on Cambridge Street in Manchester Saturday.
Police dispatch confirmed the accident was in the area of 87 Cambridge Street. Crews are on scene assessing the situation and more information was not immediately available.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
No budget, no meeting. On Friday Governor Malloy made it clear that until there's at least a draft of the bipartisan agreement made earlier this week, it just doesn't make sense to meet with legislative leaders to discuss it.
On Thursday lawmakers had said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven) and Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin/Southington) would meet with the governor on Saturday to discuss the budget proposal.
"I assumed that we were going to go over an actual budget document. I assumed that since they were having an announcement of a budget that they had prepared documents," said Malloy.
He went on to say, "I know the Democratic leaders still intend to meet and hear my thoughts. I assure you I want to have a meeting as well, and we will have a meeting. But obviously I can't give feedback on a budget I haven't seen and reviewed."
Lawmakers say they have a framework and that a draft will quickly follow. On Thursday, House leaders caucused with members to go over the details. They're pushing for a budget vote next week.
Today Speaker Aresimowicz released a statement saying, "I always appreciate the Governor’s input, and a number of his ideas are part of the bipartisan budget that is being finalized. I look forward to meeting with the Governor soon to share details of the agreement, and hopefully secure his support. I also expect to have an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House next week."
Senator Looney also released a statement regarding the governor's comments saying, "Legislative leaders are continuing to flesh out the final details of the bipartisan budget agreement reached in principle earlier this week. Once these details of the fully balanced bipartisan budget that represents consensus in the General Assembly are settled, we will share them with our caucus and the governor."
At this time it's unknown how close lawmakers are to a veto-proof majority.
The governor appeared skeptical of the bipartisan budget agreement and raised questions regarding the few things that lawmakers have said are in the proposal.
"We've been told poor towns are getting more aid, but how much? Is it enough to begin addressing the massive inequities in education between wealthy and less affluent towns?" Malloy asked. "We can't repeat the mistakes of the past that got us here. We can't rely on short-sighted gimmicks that only make our problems worse in the coming years. Those are the things I'll be watching for when I get a full budget."
Malloy also called the proposed $130 million cuts to UConn over two years "pretty outrageous" and questioned the sudden news of a plan to eliminate the car tax in year two.
"There is some truth that it is the hardest tax to collect. It's the biggest default factor in tax collection, but it represents largely somewhere between six to ten percent of any municipality's revenue. Are there other ways to collect that revenue? I suppose there are, but in the context of this budget it seems to be an unusual discussion to have in the final hour," said Malloy.
Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven) released a statement in response to the governor's press conference saying, "This is Governor Malloy’s third press conference in a row where he has absolutely nothing helpful to say. This is an irrelevant leader trying to make himself relevant. Instead of being open to a truly bipartisan budget that leaders have worked on day after day together as equals, he continues to make himself an impediment. Governor Malloy has already said that if the state doesn’t adopt a budget, businesses will leave, employers won’t come here, and job losses will grow even more than they already have. If that’s true the governor should be as supportive as possible of lawmakers’ efforts to pass this budget. Instead he appears comfortable sitting on the sidelines lobbing insults and getting nothing done."
Governor Malloy says what he's asking for is not unreasonable. He says he's never invited a legislative leader to negotiate a budget when there wasn't a draft to put in front of them.
"How can you tell what's acceptable if you don't have the whole budget? If you're going to make compromises then you want to know what you're compromising on," said Malloy.
The recent fall weather has been great for getting outside and it’s been a boost for people who run Halloween attractions across the state.
Things take a ghoulish turn this time of the year in Enfield. A couple homes transform into what’s known as the "Terror on Sun Street."
The haunted houses feature creepy creatures. But you did not need to bundle up to check them out, with the temperature in the 50’s Friday evening.
"It’s beautiful, yeah. Very nice" Barbara Semanie of Enfield, said.
Previous years found the owners scrambling to cover and store items to protect them from the conditions.
“Rain does a lot for mine because we have to bring a lot of it in because it’s animatronics,” Al Thibodeau, “Terror on Sun Street” organizer, said.
So far, so good this year.
Over in Bristol, screams filled The Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce.
This twisted maze of horrors started 27 years ago.
"This is our most successful year so far," Ernie Romegialli, managing member of Graveyard Productions, said.
Staff here credit the weather for drawing the crowds.
The Haunted Graveyard continues Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through October 29.
Many hope the only frights are found hiding behind each corner, not in the weekend forecasts.
"It’s nice. It’s a little warm," Amber Saavedra of New Britain, said.
The "Terror on Sun Street" is also a fundraiser for the local food shelf.
You’re suggested to donate a nonperishable food item.
It runs Saturday and Sunday this weekend and then October 28 to 31.
