Temperatures were below freezing Thursday, but they will be even colder Friday night, so at least one school has changed its football schedule because of it. 

The administration at Howell Cheney Technical High School in Manchester decided to move Friday night’s football game against Quinebaug Valley Coop from Friday to Thursday night. 

“It’s a little unusual. Normally it has to be lightning or a blizzard to stop a football game,” said Joe Asermelly, the football coach for Quinebaug Valley Coop. 

Asermelly said the decision was up to the staff at Cheney since the game is at their field, but his team lost a day of practice. 

“Football coaches, we love practice, we love repetition. We love feeling confident in our players’ ability and memory of what to do in certain situations. So hopefully it’s late enough in the season that they’re prepared enough for most all situations,” said Asermelly. 

A former employee of a VA Hospital is accused of making threats against staff and has been arrested. 

William Donnelly, 49, of West Haven, is accused of making several threats against VA staff and claiming he had explosives and was going to use them. 

West Haven Police responded last Donnelly’s Elizabeth Street home around 10 p.m. and said they searched the premises, looking for explosive materials and other threatening materials. 

Donnelly was arrested, charged with threatening and breach of peace and held on bond.

A serious crash has closed down the northbound side of the Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield. 

Police said the crash is near Arrow Road. The northbound side of the road is shut down at Wells Road. The southbound side is moving. 

The crash could delay Newington school buses. Newington Schools posted on Facebook that no buses were involved in the crash, but the backup could delay buses by up to 45 minutes.

Twitter said Thursday that it will "pause" its verified account system in the wake of criticism over an organizer of the Charlottesville rally having received a coveted blue check mark on his profile. 

Jason Kessler, a white nationalist who has taken credit for organizing the "United the Right" rally that led to the death of a counterprotester, promoted his new Twitter verification on Tuesday. His profile features a confederate flag and notes that he has written for far-right websites. 

Kessler was charged with a felony perjury charge just last month for allegedly lying to a judge that he was not the aggressor when a man was assaulted earlier this year. 

Back in August, Kessler used Twitter to insult Heather Heyer, the women who was killed while protesting at the Charlottesville rally. He had called her “fat” and a “disgusting communist,” and said that her death was “payback time.” He later claimed he was hacked, then blamed prescription drugs and alcohol as the reason behind the tweet. He briefly deleted his account.

The move to verify Kessler’s account comes after Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, had recently said the service was planning to toughen rules on hate speech then take on its verification policy.

“Not as high a priority as enforcement, but it’s up there,” he said last month, Bloomberg reported.

Twitter explains on its website that verification is for accounts in the "public interest" and "a verified badge does not imply an endorsement."

But the verified account of a white supremacist caused an outburst from Twitter users against Kessler.

Some users claimed Dorsey was a “Nazi” supporter for allowing Kessler’s account to be verified.

"Verification was meant to authenticate identity & voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator of importance," Twitter's support account said in response. "We recognize that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it. We have paused all general verifications while we work and will report back soon."

Dorsey retweeted the message and assured he was working to fix the problem. 

"We should’ve communicated faster on this," he said, acknowledging that the "system is broken."

Twitter also faced criticism over its policies last month when actress Rose McGowan was briefly unable to post on the service after a tweet about sexual harassment included a private phone number.  

After a business meeting before the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013, a Russian participant offered to "send five women" to Donald Trump's hotel room in Moscow, his longtime bodyguard told Congress this week, three sources who were present for the interview told NBC News.

Two of the sources said Keith Schiller viewed the offer as a joke, and immediately responded, "We don't do that type of stuff."

The two sources said Schiller's comments came in the context of him adamantly disputing the allegations made in the Trump dossier, written by a former British intelligence operative, which describes Trump having an encounter with prostitutes at the hotel during the pageant. Schiller described his reaction to that story as being, "Oh my God, that's bull---," two sources said.

In a statement, Schiller's lawyer said "the versions of Mr. Schiller’s testimony being leaked to the press are blatantly false and misleading. "

A transmission line failure Thursday left thousands in Puerto Rico without power, just after areas had finally seen a restoration of electricity following Puerto Rico's blackout after Hurricane Maria.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority confirmed that as of Thursday afternoon, the island was only at 18 percent power generation compared to 43.2 percent in the early morning.

The failure took place in the same transmission line that had been repaired previously by Whitefish Energy, a Montana firm recently under scrutiny for a $300 million contract to restore power on the island.

Authorities say they are expecting that service may be restored starting tonight in some of the affected areas; it could take about 12 to 18 hours.

Are you getting a strange symbol when you try to type the letter "I" on your iPhone?

If you updated your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to iOS 11.1, you may find that the letter "I" is autocorrecting the letter "A" with some kind of symbol next to it, either a "?" or barcodes, Apple said.

Apple provided a workaround when the bug first became an issue over the last week, but it looks like now users can update their devices to iOS 11.1.1 to fix the issue.

Here's how you can update your device:

1. Plug your device into power and connect to the Internet with Wi-Fi.
2. Tap Settings > General > Software Update.
3. Tap Download and Install. If a message asks to temporarily remove apps because iOS needs more space for the update, tap Continue or Cancel. Later, iOS will reinstall apps that it removed. If you tap Cancel, learn what to do next.
4. To update now, tap Install. Or you can tap Later and choose Install Tonight or Remind Me Later. If you tap Install Tonight, just plug your iOS device into power before you go to sleep. Your device will update automatically overnight.
5. If asked, enter your passcode. If you don't know your passcode, learn what to do.

Normally, taxpayers in Norwich only receive one bill a year for their motor vehicle tax.

But after city officials identified a shortfall because of less funding in the recently approves state budget, they say they need to send out a second one.

"Too many people can’t afford this," said Christina Onorati from Norwich. "I mean the cost of daily living itself is unaffordable."

Onorati is the personal caregiver for wheelchair-bound Donna Wheeler, who depends on a customized van to get around.

"She was exempt in the town of Canterbury for having a handicapped-equipped vehicle," Onorati said.

Now living in Norwich, they say the city won't honor the exemption for Wheeler’s more than $300 car tax bill.

"I’m on a fixed income. I’m past 65 years of age and I just don’t have it, I just don’t have it," Wheeler said.

With less funding than expected in the state budget, Norwich projects having about a $1.3 million shortfall, city manager John Salamone said.

"That is unfortunate. We billed at 32 mills in October. We waited as long as we could, there wasn’t a budget in place so we had to bill," Salamone said. 

The state budget set the car tax cap at 39 mills, so Salamone said the additional bill will make up that 7 mill difference. Depending on a vehicle's value, he said the bill should be between $30 and 50.

"It’s about $300,000 to the city," he said. "It's significant money we should bill."

Onorati told NBC Connecticut the city should consider other options.

"I think there’s other budget cuts that could be made that aren’t necessarily being looked at or overlooked," she said.

As the city sends out the second car tax bill, department heads are already starting to plan for the next budget, Salamone said.

"The budgets are running together this year," he said.

For the first time in years, Jim Riopel has a clear view of the odometer in his 2015 GMC Terrain.

"I could not read the mileage on the odometer due to the spider and the spider web," Riopel said.

According to Riopel, a spider found its way inside the console about six months after he bought the SUV. He took it to the dealership and said he was told the repair wouldn’t be covered under warranty.

Riopel then contacted General Motors (GM) directly. The automaker opened an investigation and after about two months came back to Riopel with the same answer.

"They stated it wouldn’t be covered due to it being caused by nature," he said.

Riopel argued the spider should never have been able to get inside the dash.

"It was supposed to be a sealed unit and the spider was able to get into a sealed unit. So I was telling them it seems to be a defect with their design," Riopel said.

Eventually, Riopel let the issue drop.

"I have two children and they thought it was pretty funny. They were a little grossed out by it, but they kind of got used to it over time," he said.

But the longer he owned the vehicle, the more concerned Riopel got about its potential trade-in value. He emailed NBC Connecticut Responds to see if we could get things restarted with GM and at NBC Connecticut's request, they reopened the case.

Riopel said there was a lot of back and forth with the automaker and the dealership, but in the end, he got the all clear. His Terrain now has a brand new instrument cluster and eight fewer legs.

"(The spider and I) parted ways on mutual terms," Riopel said.

A spokesperson for GM told NBC Connecticut the company does not believe there was anything wrong with the seal. GM replaced the instrument panel as a goodwill gesture.

The Consolidated School District of New Britain in partnership with the CCSU-Ana Grace Project Relief Effort officially announced their Hurricane Relief Welcoming Campaign.

The campaign hopes to welcome students from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other communities impacted by the recent natural disasters. The district has enrolled 97 students from hurricane-ravaged areas.

One of the students is 12-year-old Yariana Velasquez who moved from Puerto Rico three weeks ago with her pregnant mother and stepfather, Francisco Morales. Luckily, Morales has an uncle they’re staying in New Britain after Hurricane Maria ravaged much of the island.

“No branches, no leaves like mass destruction,” said Morales.

With at least 75 more students expected to come from the island, the school district has teamed up with the CCSU-Ana Grace Project Relief effort – announcing today, the start of the city’s Hurricane Relief Welcoming Campaign.

Once families who need to register their children in school arrive in New Britain, they will be asked to go to visit one of three locations to register the child, depending on their grade.

“The first one is located on 183 Steele Street these are for students entering grades pre-k through grade 8,” said CSDNB Superintendent, Nancy Sarra. The address is located behind Slade Middle School.

Students grades 9th through 12th grade should register at New Britain High School on 110 Mill Street. And at each of these registration locations, there will be a translator on site.

Students interested in enrolling at Central Connecticut State University should go to the university’s admissions department.

The Hurricane Relief Welcome Campaign is all about 'love wins' – it’s the phrase Nelba Marquez-Greene’s family adopted – she’s the founder of the Ana Grace Project which started after her daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook Shooting.

"This is how love wins – making sure that all students have the opportunity to be successful," Marquez-Greene said.

A two-alarm fire destroyed a Murphy Road in Portland Thursday morning.

“Flames were probably 40 to 50 feet in the air,” Sam Silliman said. 

Flashing lights and flames burned through the foggy morning and firefighters dealt with below freezing temperatures.

“It was just a frosty morning to start but we didn't have any icy conditions at all,” Chief Robert Shea, of the Portland Fire Department, said. “We were concerned earlier this morning at first, with some icing out. …." 

Seven tanker trucks from surrounding departments also responded to help put out the fire. 

Mindy Aresco, a volunteer with the Women's Portland Fire Department Auxiliary, arrived with food and helped keep firefighters full and warm. 

“It's a cold day it's a big structure fire here,” Mindy Aresco said. “It's about four dozen eggs sandwiches for the fire department today. I started making English muffins and toast, slamming everything together, packing them up and rushing to get them down here for them.” 

No one was in the house and Silliman said he’s just glad this morning’s fire wasn’t any worse. 

“After seeing the flames in person and seeing how serious it was, I'm very glad that no one was in there,” Silliman said. 

Fire officials said the state fire marshal’s office is helping with the investigation into what caused this fire. The home is total loss. 

It’s the season of giving and it’s never too early to start.

One Plainville woman spent Thursday using a gift she received, to buy thousands of dollars worth of gifts for kids in need across Connecticut.

Like kids in a candy store, Erica Donovan and her daughter, Bailey, felt the joys of a shopping spree on Thursday so they could later donate the items to Toys for Tots. 

"I am just doing my part. I really truly am. But I am happy that the spirit of giving is so contagious," Erica said.

Erica earned a $3,000 Disney voucher from her work as a 31 Gifts Consultant. She could have taken a vacation or spent the money on her own two kids, however, she decided to do something even better.

"I decided to use by spending it all here at the Disney store and donating everything that I purchased to Toys for Tots," Erica said.

Erica went to Westfarms on Thursday because there was a 25 percent off sale at the Disney Store for friends and family members. Meaning she could get $750 more worth of toys for charity.

"There's $3,750 worth of toys that are being rung up right now that we are going to be able to donate to these guys when we are done," said Erica.

The Marine Corps got the call and was thrilled.

"The toys are going to go to kids in the greater Hartford area. Actually this is kicking off our season. So it's pretty awesome," said Staff Sgt. Ashley Dee.

In fac, other people saw all the bags, heard Erica’s mission and started giving donations themselves. Proof that a good deed really does go a long way.

"I just hope everyone has an amazing holiday season, have that spirit of giving inside you and please pay it forward when you can," Erica said.

NBC Connecticut is helping spread that spirit with a toy drive at Westfarms on Dec. 9 from 9 a.m. until noon. People are urged to bring new, unwrapped toys and all the donations will be given to Toys for Tots.

Bulkeley High School in Hartford needs warm clothes donations this year because of the number of students coming from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

"Many students are now coming, they’re being enrolled due to the hurricane in Puerto Rico and they have no place to go so they’re coming here. And when they come here, they often don’t have the items they need in order to be prepared for a winter in Connecticut," Gretchen Levitz, the program director at Bulkeley High School, said.

The school is hoping you can help donate items to keep these students warm: scarves, hats, coats, gloves and socks are needed. The school is also looking for donations of personal hygiene products including, maxi pads, toothbrushes, liquid soap, shampoo, lotion and deodorant.

"Since I came here I was coming to school with this blazer and it was very cold and this doesn’t work for this cold," Gia De Leon, who just moved from Puerto Rico three weeks ago, said. "I didn’t come with any jackets. I don’t have scarves. I don’t have enough boots or socks that I could feel warm in this weather."

Within the last two months, a total of 36 students have arrived just from Puerto Rico.

The items donated would not only go to those students but also students from other countries like Jasmine Lall from Guyana and Etienne Trotman from Guinea.

"I get cold really fast and its sort of difficult for me but I’m trying to cope," Lall said.

"I used personally before the clothes they give us and I really think it can benefit us," Trotman said.

If you’d like to donate, just contact the school and ask for Levitz to arrange to bring any items or email her directly.

For more information, go to the school's website or the Facebook page.

Separately, the Taste of Bulkeley will be held on Dec. 7. All proceeds will go to students for needed programming, items and supplies. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite for $20. There will also be a silent auction.

Electric Boat took some time to recognize their employees who have served just days before Veterans Day. 

As a flag waived high above Electric Boat’s Shipyard, employees stood with their hand over their hearts or in salute, honoring the sacrifice of the brave men and women who served the country.

That included Retired U.S. Army Major James Flyntz. He spent 28 years with the Army, deploying to Japan, South Korea and Kuwait.

The majority of that time, he also worked at Electric Boat.

"During any active duty stints they’ve supported me throughout with healthcare and making up the difference in pay," Flyntz said.

His son, Dylan, works by his side, helping to create fast-attack submarines for the Navy, while currently serving the Army.

"Quite the job to do both and have the ability to serve overseas, if need be, and also to defend the country using submarine deterrents," Lt. Dylan Flyntz said.

The Flyntzes are just two of the roughly 15 percent of Electic Boat staff who served the military. The company honored its veterans with a ceremony during every shift today.

"A lot of veterans after they get out of the service and take the uniform off and you put a new camouflage on and try to blend into the community. I think a lot of times it’s great to get that ‘Thank you for your service'," Anthony Paolino, who leads the Military and Veterans Affairs at Electric Boat, said. 

EB has hosted Veterans Day observance ceremonies since 1999.

There is a new twist in the murder case involving an Ellington man who is accused of killing his wife.

The attorney for Richard Dabate is asking a judge to drop the charges against his client who is accused of killing his wife Connie in their Ellington home back in December 2015.

On Wednesday, attorney Hubert Santos filed a motion in Rockville Superior Court to dismiss on the ground of "prejudicial pretrial publicity" he believes has been generated by proceedings in the probate court in Rockville. Judge O. James Purnell III has been presiding over the probate proceedings, but has not gone through Santos’ motion.

"I haven’t read it. I haven’t seen it. I have no idea what is in it," Purnell said.

Purnell would not go into specifics on the Dabate case, but he said all probate cases go through a relatively standard process.

"The application comes in and the next document that comes in is an inventory saying what probate assets are. Next is a final accounting, there may be some motions in-between final accounting, and then a distribution," he said.

According to Santos, the Dabate case has not been so cut and dry. In his motion, the Probate Court at Rockville has "acted as if the Defendant is presumed guilty" and "ignored the evidence supporting the Defendant’s innocence."

Jim Bergann, who is a Hartford attorney with no connection to the case, spoke to NBC Connecticut on Thursday. 

"It is unusual for a defense lawyer to take this aggressive position that Attorney Santos has taken and it's a smart position because he lays it out very clearly," Bergann said.

The motion highlights evidence pointing to Dabate’s innocence. It cites the time it took to arrest the defendant, the DNA of another person that was also found on the gun and lack of gun residue on Debate’s hands following the murder.

While Bergann does not believe the charges will be dropped, he said the motion may have already accomplished more.

"(Santos is) alerting the public, the judge and the state’s attorney this is a not so simple a case. 'You got the wrong guy and I am going to fight'," Bergann said.

Santos and Tolland state’s attorney Matthew Gedansky did not return NBC Connecticut’s request for comment.

Vice President Mike Pence has been quietly cultivating his predecessors since taking office, a different approach than the one taken by his boss, NBC News reported.

Pence has a phone call with Joe Biden at least one a month and has had numerous conversations with Dick Cheney, including a meeting in the West Wing, people close to the two former vice presidents tell NBC News. The group of No. 2s exchange ideas and advice on foreign and domestic policy, working with Congress and how to navigate the job.

The discussions effectively position Pence as the highest-profile link between the Trump administration and the establishment figures from both parties that President Donald Trump repeatedly rebukes, and could put Pence in a precarious position with his boss, who has been criticized by both Biden and Cheney.

For his part, Trump has had a bitter breakdown in communication with Barack Obama and has no relationship with George W. Bush, according to people familiar with the matter.

A 54-year-old Seymour man is dead after another man who was fleeing from police and driving the wrong way crashed into his car in West Haven Thursday night, according to state police.

Police said a 45-year-old East Haven man had fled the scene of a crash in Orange and led police on a chase.

Around 9:55 p.m., the East Haven man was driving east on the westbound side of Meloy Road, sideswiped a 2006 Scion XA , kept going and hit a 2012 Subaru Outback driven by 54-year-old Phillip Hunt, of Seymour, state police said.

Hunt and the driver who hit him both sustained serious injuries and were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, according to state police, and Hunt was pronounced dead at 11:59 p.m.

NBC Connecticut is not naming the driver because no charges have been indicated.

Connecticut state police have taken over the investigation and they ask anyone with information about the crash to call 860-779-4917.

Route 6 was closed in Bristol because of a gas leak Friday morning.

Police said Farmington Avenue, or Route 6, was closed between Camp Street and Stafford Avenue.

Eversource, firefighters and police officers responded to the scene and contained the leak.

The road reopened around 9:30 a.m.

If you’re ready for the holiday season, you’re in luck. 

Santa and Mrs. Claus have arrived at Westfarms and children can participate in Santa’s Flight Academy. It’s one of only 12 Santa experiences of its kind, across the country. 

“There's a lot here, there's over 280 pieces of technology, 40,000 twinkle lights , 3,000 square foot winter wonderland and a sleigh that is 22-feet high,” said Amanda Sirica, the spokesperson for Westfarms. 

The kids get cadet badge passes with their name and photo on it, then they gear up in a virtual flight suit. After that, Santa’s helpers take them through the large sleigh into a snowing dance party, before finally seeing Mr. and Mrs. Claus. 

“It was pretty awesome they get these cool badges and they got to go through all the different steps of filling his sleigh and helping Santa out and then they got to play in the snow which was really cool… They loved it they still have snow in their hair,” said Lauren Maisch. She brought her three kids to the opening day. 

Children get to meet Santa and have their photos taken professionally. If parents are worried about a line, they can take the Santa Expressway and sign up for an appointment to the flight school early online.  

“It's so exciting! They love it! They absolutely love Christmas, getting presents and seeing Santa,” said Jesi Nelson, who brought her three daughters to see Santa on Thursday.

Santa and his one-of-a-kind, immersive holiday experience will be at Westfarms through Dec. 24.