One person is in custody and police are looking for three other people after a police chase that started in Southington early Friday morning and ended with a crash in New Britain. 

State police and Southington have chased the white pickup which police said was stolen from Bristol and has been used in several crimes over the last week. 

Police said someone broke into it with a crowbar and a witness followed in onto Interstate 84 and lost it near the Route 72 Interchange. 

Police found the vehicle near Interstate 84 and Route 9, where a tire blew after the truck hit a curb around 2:05 a.m. Friday. 

One person is in custody and three got away. 

State police are investigating.

An armed robber who attempted to hold up a Florida Walgreens escaped with only some candy and ice cream after the "wholly unimpressed" clerk refused to hand over the money.

Surveillance video captured the male suspect walking into the Weston Walgreens at 1751 Bonaventure Boulevard on Monday afternoon.

The man tried to conceal his face with his red hoodie as he made his way toward the registers, grabbing some candy bars and ice cream as he approached the clerk, video shows. 

"As the employee rang up his items, the thief pulled out a handgun, pointed it at the clerk and demanded the money from the register," said Broward County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Gina Carter, in a statement.

The audacious clerk stood motionless in "quiet resistance" while staring down the barrel of the man's gun, Carter said. When the suspect repeated his demand for money, the expressionless clerk didn't move.  

"Met with such passive resistance, the thief grabbed the shopping bag and fled," Carter said.

Carter added that the clerk "with nerves of steal" was not harmed in the attempted robbery, police caution others against not complying with an armed suspect. 

BSO released surveillance video of the incident and are asking for the public's help in identifying the suspect. He is described as a male in his 20s with a "dark complexion," approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. He wore a red Columbia hoodie and a black baseball cap.

BSO detectives believe he may be connected to similar robberies around Broward County.

Anyone with information on this crime is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Anonymous tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.

Roy Moore, the Republican running for the U.S. Senate despite new sexual misconduct allegations, is facing backlash on a different front over a comment he made about slavery more than two months ago that resurfaced this week in a viral tweet.

The Republican said in September that America was last great during a time when "families were strong," the United States "had a direction" and "we had slavery," drawing outcry from the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and many others who viewed his sentiment as revisionist history or white supremacist.

The comment came at a rally in Florence, Alabama, when one of the only African Americans in the audience asked Moore when he thought America was last great, The Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

"Moore acknowledged the nation's history of racial divisions, but said: 'I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction,'" the Times reported.

The comments resurfaced Thursday when Eric Columbus, who served in the Justice and Homeland Security departments during the Obama administration, tweeted a link to the Times' September story. He wrote, "Can't make this stuff up," receiving more than 8,000 retweets.

In response to the renewed attention on the comment, Moore's campaign told NBC News, "Judge Moore clearly made his point, which is that America is great when our families and our faith are strong. To suggest that Judge Moore condones slavery is recklessly malicious."

People lashed out on Twitter over Moore's September statement, including actress and activist Gabrielle Union and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

"What direction is a nation headed when families are ripped apart, women are routinely raped & bodies viciously tortured and mutilated," Booker wrote on Twitter.

Bernice King, daughter of the late Martin Luther King Jr., called Moore's statement "appalling" and his thinking "violent, inhumane."

The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change called the statement "dangerous, insensitive, white supremacist."

Democrat Doug Jones, who Moore will face in the Dec. 12 special election, released a statement on his opponent's comment, calling it "disturbing" and part of his "terrible history on civil rights."

"With his extreme views and divisive rhetoric, Roy Moore would be incapable of representing all of the people of Alabama," Jones said.

Moore has a complicated record on civil rights.

When he was Alabama's chief justice in 2001, black organizations asked to erect a plaque of King's "I Have a Dream" speech at a state courthouse. Moore, who had already put up a monument for the Ten Commandments, denied the request, saying adding any monument would "diminish the very purpose of the Ten Commandments Monument," al.com reported.

A federal judge instructed Moore in 2002 to remove his Ten Commandments monument, saying it favored one religion over others, The New York Times reported. Moore later put up the King monument, but he instead featured excerpts from the civil rights leader's 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail," AL.com reported.

But after Moore refused to follow the federal order to remove the Ten Commandments statue from the courthouse, he was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court in 2003.

In 2004, Moore opposed an amendment to Alabama's constitution that would have erased "segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for 'white and colored children' and... references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks," the Washington Post reported. Opponents of the amendment argued it would lead to higher taxes in the state.

Voters elected Moore chief justice again in 2012, and Moore was later suspended for defying the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. He formally resigned from the bench in April 2017 and joined the race for Alabama's Senate seat.

"I'll stand for the rights and liberties of the people," Moore said announcing his candidacy, according to al.com. "My position has always been God first, family then country. I share the vision of President Donald Trump to make America great again."

Since joining the Senate race, Moore, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

Two women have accused him of molesting them in the 1970s when one was 14 and one was 16 and Moore was a deputy district attorney in his 30s. Others claim he pursued relationships with them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18. Another woman said Moore groped her in his law office in 1991.

Moore’s campaign has denied the allegations, calling them "outlandish attacks" by the Democratic party and The Washington Post, which first reported the accusations. Moore has said that the women would have reported the claims sooner if they were true.

A man threatened emergency room staff at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London with a knife early Friday morning and one hospital employee was injured while trying to restrain the suspect, according to police. 

Hospital security staff contacted police just before 12:30 a.m. and security staff led officers to the man, who staff had restrained by that point. 

Police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Carlos Rodriguez, of New London and said he had been yelling profanities and breaking hospital medical equipment while brandishing a knife and threatening personnel. 

A member of the hospital staff sustained a minor injury while trying to restrain Rodriguez, according to police. 

Rodriguez was charged with assault on public safety officer, carrying a dangerous weapon, second-degree threatening, breach of peace and third-degree criminal mischief.

With wildfires destroying hundreds of homes as they rampage across Southern California this week, Democrats are again chastising Republicans for eliminating a natural disaster deduction from the tax reform bill that the House passed last month.

The House bill, approved on Nov. 16, removes the deduction for personal losses from wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters not covered by insurance or other assistance. Victims of major disasters could still get tax breaks provided Congress passes special legislation particular to the disaster.

Several fires have been raging in the greater Los Angeles area down to San Diego, threatening lives, homes and businesses. They are being driven by dry conditions and the Santa Ana winds, forcing 190,000 to evacuate, shutting down highways and suspending Amtrak service. Overall, the state has faced one of its most destructive and deadly fire seasons in history.

“The situation is unpredictable and stressful, and safety is the foremost concern,” said Democratic Rep. Grace Napolitano of Norwalk. “It is unreasonable to think those suffering losses from these natural disasters might not be compensated should the Republican tax bill become law. This is absolutely heartless and must be fixed.”

The new fires are blazing just as insurance claims from the state’s wine country fires in the fall reached more than $9 billion, the bulk of it from hard-hit Santa Rosa, making those fires the costliest in California’s history. Forty-four people died and thousands of homes were destroyed.

The mayor of Santa Rosa, Chris Coursey, called the elimination of the natural disaster deduction “unfathomably bad.” Santa Rosa continues to deal with the state’s worst fire disaster, he said.

“We’ve got a serious humanitarian disaster, a serious infrastructure disaster, a serious economic disaster that we’re facing over the next several years,” Coursey said.

Earlier, the state’s two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, noted in a statement that the elimination of the tax deductions in the House bill — among many to make up for cuts in corporate rates and other changes — comes during the worst fire season in the state’s history.

“Asking victims of wildfires or earthquakes to suffer in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich is the height of cruelty,” they said.

Democrats questioned whether residents would to be able to determine their losses in time for this year’s taxes, though they would be able to file for an extension or file an amended return. And Democrats were crying foul over tax benefits that victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria received but not those trying to rebuild from the recent wildfires.

“Our tax code shouldn’t pick winners and losers in natural disasters,” Feinstein and Harris said. “This is just another example of the extraordinary lengths Republicans will go to cut taxes for wealthy corporations and individuals at the expense of middle-class families.”

Coursey criticized Republicans for singling out California, a blue state unlike Florida, Texas and other states hard hit by the hurricanes.

“I don’t know how anyone in Congress can justify taking on the victims of a disaster at a time like this,” he said.

Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has said that he plans to introduce legislation offering special tax relief for wildfire victims, too.

“I am focused on securing funding for those impacted by this year’s devastating storms and wildfires while also working to wrap up the most transformational tax reform bill in a generation,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

Current law allows deductions for uncovered losses if the amount exceeds 10 percent of one’s income.

Congress earlier this year waived the 10 percent requirement for the hurricane victims and allowed them to withdraw money from their 401K retirement funds without penalty, among other benefits.

The Senate tax reform bill retains a deduction but only for federally declared natural disasters.

President Donald Trump on Friday declared a state of emergency over the fires, which allows for federal money to fight the fires. That is separate from a major disaster declaration, which would required under the proposed Senate bill and which would provide assistance for emergency and permanent recovery work.

Because wildfires often are smaller than other natural disasters and do not receive a federal designation, the elimination of the deduction would hurt California in particular. Feinstein's office points out that of the 57,981 wildfires in the United States this year, only the October fires in California have received a federal disaster declaration so far, according to data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Interagency Fire Center.

But the other fires are just as devastating to those affected, lawmakers noted.

“Republicans have said that Americans should not be concerned about this change because if there is a major disaster, then Congress might pass a special bill to provide tax breaks,” Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, of Sherman Oaks, said. “If your home burns down without it being part of a major disaster – Congress won’t act.  And if there is a major disaster – Congress might not act.”

Americans deducted $1.6 billion in 2015 for natural disaster losses, according to the IRS. The Treasury Department estimated that taxpayers would deduct $4.83 billion in losses beginning next year through 2027.

“LA County has over 11 million residents, and we have recently experienced the worst years of wildfires in our history,” Napolitano said. “My district includes the Foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, where three major fires over the past eight years have displaced residents, destroyed properties, and disrupted life in our communities. Financial relief has been vital for the recovery efforts of my constituents and the millions who have suffered from natural disasters nationwide.” 

The House and Senate must reconcile their two tax bills before a final version is sent to President Donald Trump. Republicans have said they want a bill by the end of the year.

NBC Connecticut Meteorologists are continuing to closely track a system that will bring accumulating snow to the state on Saturday. 

A winter storm warning is in effect for the shoreline and the rest of the state is under a winter weather advisory.

Snow will begin first in southeastern Connecticut overspreading the state from southeast to northwest. 

The early morning hours tomorrow will be quiet. Snow will start to fall after 7 a.m. 

Take a look at First Alert Future Radar at 11:30 a.m. you can see light to moderate snow falling statewide. 

We're expecting this to be primarily a snow event however a few areas could experience some mixing. Extreme southeastern Connecticut areas like Stonington, Groton, New London, Waterford, and East Lyme could see sleet pellets mix with snow. 

Fast forward the clock to 3 p.m. and we're talking about moderate snow falling statewide. It appears the heaviest of the snow will come down between noon and 5 p.m.

The snow will taper off Saturday evening with a few lingering flurries and snow showers through the evening and overnight hours.

Take a look at First Alert Future Radar at 8:30 tomorrow evening.

Snowfall accumulations are expected to range from 3 to as much as 6 inches. It appears the highest totals will be areas east of the Connecticut River. With the lowest values in the Litchfield hills. 

NBC Connecticut will provide continuous updates through the storm on air, online, and on the NBC Connecticut App.

A man was arrested after pleasuring himself in front of a patient at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown and grabbing her buttocks, according to police. 

Police responded to the hospital around 12:30 p.m. Thursday and met with the victim who said she was being treated in the emergency crisis unit, walked into her room after taking a shower and 27-year-old Christopher Laurito, of East Hampton, masturbated in front of her, according to police. 

As the victim walked out of her room to go to the nurses’ station to report the incident, Laurito grabbed her buttocks and two nurses witnessed it, according to police. 

Laurito was taken into custody and charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and public indecency. 

He was released on $5,000 bond and he is due in court on Dec. 21.

Officers responding to a burglary in Naugatuck Wednesday found a child sitting next to marijuana plants in the suspect’s car, according to police. 

Police responded to reports of a basement burglary just after 8 p.m. on Wednesday and the suspect, 33-year-old Maicon Maria, of Naugatuck, was arriving as officers were, police said. 

Officers saw marijuana in Maria’s car and a child sitting next to them, according to a news release from police. 

Police seized the plants and charged Maria with risk of injury to a child, manufacture of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. 

Maria was released on a $7,500 bond and he is due in court on Dec. 20.

An email that was sent to then-candidate Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. in Sept. 2016 pointed them to hacked WikiLeaks documents that had already been made public, according to a copy of the email provided to NBC News by Trump Jr.'s lawyer.

The email, first reported by CNN, offered a decryption key and a website address to access the documents, the officials said.

But the email is dated Sept 14, not Sept 4, as CNN had reported. On Sept 13, the day before the email, WikiLeaks had tweeted links to what the group said was 678.4 megabytes of DNC documents.

Trump Jr.'s attorney, Alan S. Futerfas, said in a statement to NBC News that the email "arrived after published media reports disclosed 12 hours earlier that hacked documents had been posted. The suggestion that this information was not public is false."

A Plainville woman is embodying the spirit of Christmas and proving that paying it forward really does inspire other people to do the same. 

Erica Donovan won $3,000 to spend at Disney from her work as a Thirty-One consultant and, instead of paying for a vacation or going to a theme park with her family, she spent all the money buying toys for charity last month and donated them all to Toys for Tots.  

Disney was inspired by the story on NBC Connecticut, matched Donovan’s donation and called her last week to let her know. On Friday, she went on another $3,000 shopping spree for Toys for Tots with that donation. 

But as Erica was shopping at the Disney store with her daughter, friends and the Marine Corps, mall employees from Westfarms surprised her with another $3,000 donation to buy gifts across the mall for children this holiday season. 

The giving was so inspiring that people at the mall to shop started donating gifts and money themselves. 

Seeing the spirit of giving, Legos has joined in the charity and added another $3,000 donation of toys to go to Toys For Tots. 

Erica, overwhelmed with emotion, said she hopes these good needs continue to inspire people to pay it forward this holiday season. 

If you’re inspired, take part in the NBC Connecticut Toy Drive tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 9, at Westfarms.

It is going on from 9 a.m. to noon. There will be donation locations outside the store as well as inside, so you do not have to get out of your car during the snow. 

A New York woman suffered from blurred vision and permanent dark spots after staring directly into the solar eclipse in August, according to a case study released Thursday. 

The woman, identified by CNN as 26-year-old Nia Payne of Staten Island, walked into the New York Ear and Eye Infirmary of Mount Sinai with symptoms of vision that was blurred, distorted and could not perceive color well. She also reported seeing a central black spot in her left eye, according to the study published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

She told doctors that she first glanced at the sun during the eclipse for 6 seconds then she borrowed a pair of what she thought were eclipse glasses and looked up at the sun for another 15 to 20 seconds. She said she viewed the eclipse with both eyes. 

Doctors monitored the woman and advised her to use certified eclipse-viewing glasses when looking at the sun. But six weeks after the eclipse, she was still seeing dark spots in her left eye. 

Upon further examination, doctors noticed that the dark spot shape in her eye resembled a partial solar eclipse. They concluded that during a partial solar eclipse, when part of the sun’s core remains visible, viewing the solar rim without eclipse-viewing glasses with special-purpose solar filters can lead to severe solar retinopathy.

Doctors also captured images of the damage.

"It's embarrassing. People will assume I was just one of those people who stared blankly at the sun or didn't check the person with the glasses," Payne told CNN. "It's something I have to live with for the rest of my life. But it could be a whole lot worse, and I try to count my blessings."

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a person whose eyes are damaged by a solar eclipse will begin feeling symptoms within a few hours of the exposure. The young woman sought medical assistance three days after the solar eclipse occurrence. Doctors diagnosed her with a rare case of acute solar retinopathy which occurs when the eye retina is severely damaged by gazing straight into the sun.

Acute solar retinopathy is caused by photochemical toxicity when light can damage the retina and underlying structures. While the eye has several ways to protect itself from such damage, certain exposures to light can still result in temporal or permanent damage, according to the NCBI.

In 1999, there were 14 recorded incidents of eyes damaged after a solar eclipse in the United Kingdom. 

According to NASA, there is a point during the eclipse where the light is the most damaging and it is best to keep eyes protected at all time during an eclipse. 

The New York case study concluded that young adults may be especially vulnerable and need to be better informed of the risks of directly viewing the sun without protective eyewear.

A man who was fired from a Milford car dealership threatened his former employer and was arrested after officers found a homemade explosive device in his Milford home, according to police.

Police responded to Stevens Ford in Milford at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday to take a complaint about a prior threat and were told that 52-year-old Richard Dunn, of Milford, had been fired from his position at the dealership the day before and made a threat while picking up his last paycheck to harm other employees with an explosive device, according to police.

While Officers were taking a statement from am Stevens Ford employee, Dunn returned, claiming he needed an oil change, and officers spoke with him about the allegations.

Police said Dunn was committed for a psychiatric evaluation. He did not have any explosives in his car, but was taken into custody for the initial offense.

Dunn is a convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing any weapon, police said.

Later in the evening, police search Dunn’s residence and found an M-80-type explosive with BBs glued around it, several BB guns, an electronic defense weapon, knives, swords and a bow and arrow.

The State Police Bomb Squad responded and took control of the explosive device.

Detectives are still investigating.

Dunn has been charged with first-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace. Police said additional charges are pending.

A woman who accused GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual assault is now saying that she added notes to the yearbook message she touted as proof that the two knew each other in the 70s, NBC News reported.

Beverly Young Nelson, appearing on "Good Morning America" Friday, was asked if she had made notes under Moore's signature on the yearbook page that she said Moore inscribed. She answered yes.

Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, later added in a news conference that Nelson's notes included the date and location below Moore's signature, which a handwriting expert said matches Moore's based on public record. Allred said Nelson added the annotation as a reminder of the details of the encounter.

Nelson had not specifically addressed adding notes to Moore's yearbook message. Moore has denied her allegations of sexual assault and has said the message is a forgery and not his signature.

A man held up the clerk of a gas station in Torrington at gunpoint Thursday night and locked him in a walk-in cooler, according to police. 

Police responded to Irving Gas at 392 Church St. around 11:19 p.m. to investigate an armed robbery and the clerk reported being held up at gunpoint and restrained in a walk-in cooler as the robber went through the store. 

Police are trying to identify the robber, who was described as stocky, with a medium build and between 5-feet-9 and-6-feet tall. 

He was wearing a black jacket, gray sweatpants and a black backpack and fled with two large white trash bags containing cigarettes and cash. 

The clerk was not hurt during the robbery. 

Anyone who has information should call Detective Kyle Johnson, of the Torrington Police Department, at 860-489-2000.

Hartford police are investigating two separate shootings that happened within hours of each other on Friday. 

The first shooting was reported at 11:02 a.m. after the Connecticut Children's Medical Center told police that a gunshot victim and a witness were dropped off at the hospital.

The witness told police that they were walking south on Franklin Avenue when a vehicle pulled up and shot at them before driving away. One of the people walking was struck once in the groin/abdomen area and is listed in critical condition, police said. 

The second shooting was reported at 12:19 p.m. when the Hartford Hospital informed police about another gunshot victim also dropped off by a private vehicle at the hospital. 

The victim's sister told police she walked out of her home on Bond Street and saw her brother collapse in the middle of the road. She said she flagged her friend down to drive them all to the hospital. The victim is in critical condition, according to police. 

Cameras in the area captured the woman and her friend loading her brother into a mini-van and leaving.

Police are investigating both of the shootings and have no other details at the time of post. 

The owners of a Manchester liquor store that burned to the ground in April were celebrating on Friday. 

"So glad they’re back, really really glad. I came in and I was clapping," resident Irene Lajeunesse said.

It’s the comeback story that’s worth a champagne toast.

Lajeunesse had to be a part of M&R Liquors’ grand re-opening in Manchester Friday, eight months after an electrical fire burned it to the ground.

"Looking at all the customers and everyone is family and friends and we are all here having a good time," the manager, Neal Rounseville, said.

For Rounseville, the walls that once stood here are personal and the transformation uplifting.

"This has been heartfelt only because my father and myself built with my brother we built this building in 1980," Rounseville said.

Rounseville said the new 9,000 square foot building features a 24-door beer cooler and is stocked with new merchandise and new life.

"This was only a business we are fortunate we were able to rebuild and there were a lot of memories but we have many more memories to share with people in the future," Rounseville said.

New memories, he said, should be shared over a drink.

"Enjoy a nice bottle of champagne," Rounseville said.

President Donald Trump held a campaign style rally in Pensacola, Florida, Friday night, where he endorsed Alabama GOP Senate Candidate Roy Moore and talked about global trade deals.

The Trump administration's primary North Korea strategy would do little to curb the country's nuclear program and could trigger a famine, according to experts.

After spearheading several rounds of sanctions, the White House is now urging China to turn off oil supplies to Kim Jong Un's regime and the 25 million people he rules, NBC News reported.

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, summed up Washington's thinking Sunday: "You cannot shoot a missile without fuel."

Many analysts say such a move would have minimal impact on North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and would instead hit the country's agricultural sector, potentially leading to mass starvation.

A tractor-trailer carrying live chickens crashed on Interstate 84 in Southbury Saturday.

Connecticut State Police said the crash happened on I-84 east near exit 13. Minor injuries and a fuel leak were reported.

The truck was carrying over 5,000 live chickens, police said. The Department of Agriculture was called to the scene.

The right lane is closed while crews clear up the crash.

More details were not immediately available.

An intoxicated driver faces charges after crashing into a parked South Windsor police cruiser early Saturday, according to South Windsor police.

Police said the crash happened shortly after midnight on Route 5 near Chapel Road. There was no one inside the cruiser at the time and no injuries were reported.

The driver was arrested for DWI.

The department is down one all-wheel drive vehicle while repairs are made.