The combination of McDonald's planned rollout of fresh, never-frozen beef, its recent relaunch of its Dollar Menu and woes at other restaurant chains could help the restaurant boost its same-store sales and grab more market share in the industry, CNBC reported.

The burger giant's stock ended 2017 up more than 41 percent, the largest stock move in the restaurant industry during the year, and more than one analyst is calling for more gains in the new year.

Analyst Mark Kalinowski told CNBC that he predicts "same-store sales for the company will continue to grow, particularly in the second half of this year."

Patrick Stewart walked into the famous Frank Pepe's pizzeria in New Haven on Tuesday. 

The owner, Gary Bimonte, said Stewart was "passing through" and decided to get a bite to eat in New Haven. 

Stewart ordered the renowned white claim pie and took the time to take pictures with staff members. 

Bimonte said the employees were excited to meet the celebrity. 

Governor Dannel Malloy has announced changes he said will improve patient care at the state's maximum security mental hospital.        

Malloy will separate the Whiting Forensic Division from Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH) in Middletown. CVH serves a broader population of psychiatric patients than Whiting.

Last April, it was reported that staffers were caught on video surveillance allegedly taunting, poking, spitting at and even putting a dirty diaper on the head of a 59-year-old patient.

Since the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters' exclusive, 37 staffers were put on administrative leave. 

At last check, 13 staffers put on leave have either been terminated, resigned or retired and 10 of the 37 staffers were arrested.

Separating Whiting from CVH will allow CVH, the larger facility, to continue participating in Medicare and Medicaid, according to the executive order signed by the governor.  

Wayne Kukucka got a rude awakening when his family returned to West Hartford after a holiday trip in New Orleans.

"We got in at around 3:30 in the morning, walked in the door and saw an entire wall of ice right over there in the corner," Kukucka said.

A frozen pipe leaking into the lower levels created an ice rink in the living room. The issue, Kukucka believes, started with an upstairs toilet. 

"I was crossing my fingers that nothing bad happened to the house while we were gone and lady luck wasn’t with me this time," Kukucka said.

Just back from their vacation, Kukucka decided to send his wife and young daughter to a hotel nearby while he deals with the repair crews.

"They are telling me they are going to have to take out the entire ceiling, replace the entire floor of the bathroom," he said.

On Tuesday, his home was already drying out but repairing the split pipes was the priority. It sounds simple enough, but in this cold weather finding a free plumber is not as easy as it sounds.

Wayne Peras works for Joe the Plumber in South Windsor. Amid several other customers on Tuesday, he found time to get the water running for the Kukucka's once again.

To avoid similar problems happening to other residents, Peras recommends leaving as many internal doors in your home open as possible. That includes bedroom doors, closets and cabinets to keep the warm air circulation. 

"Turn your hot and cold on very little bit, just have a little drip," Peras said.
"That pipe will constantly be moving and hopefully, you won’t have a freeze up."

The Kukuckas are still gathering damage cost estimates.

With the holiday week over people across Connecticut are slipping back into their regular routines, but this cold weather is making that more difficult than usual.

The cold weather complicated some students' return to schools. Several districts made the decision to delay or cancel classes Tuesday to prevent kids from coming to class during the coldest hours of the morning.

In New Britain, the Smalley and Lincoln Schools in New Britain are closed today because of heating issues. 

The Smith School in Glastonbury closed for the day after heating units on the roof froze and a pipe burst in the ceiling, causing tiles and water to damage a couple of classrooms. 

The superintendent said the building has heat, but it is not working properly in all of the rooms. It's not clear when the school might reopen.

The issue also caused buses to be late to pick up elementary students.

The Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School in New London is closed for the week after pipes burst in the freezing temperatures.

In Woodbridge, Beecher Road School was on a two-hour delay because of a pipe that froze and burst in a sixth-grade classroom over the weekend. Two Meriden schools - Hanover and John Barry School, had sprinkler pipes burst, and Hanover dismissed at 11 a.m. 

The Prendergast School in Ansonia was canceled today due to a water pipe breaking.

For the latest information on school closings and delays, click here.

The cold is also a problem for vehicles. AAA says it has had record call volume between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. and more than 225 calls for help.

The company said calls have soared in the past week and they expected dead battery calls to be an issue this morning.

Despite the New Year’s holiday, AAA says their call volume was the highest it’s been since this cold snap started. At one point, calls approached 200 an hour. AAA said they’ve received over 10,000 calls in the last week in the Greater Hartford area.

Experts say the ongoing freezing temperatures are putting more stress on batteries, and that vehicles that have sat idle outside over the holiday may not start Tuesday morning.

The cold air also impacts tire pressure. Experts advise drivers fill theirs up before you hit the road to avoid a flat.

AAA also recommends drivers prepare for the worst before they head out – even on short trips. Drivers are advised to have a fully charged phone, a full tank of gas, and an emergency kit with warm clothing, a blanket, snacks, and any required medication, in case of a breakdown.

The temperatures are also causing issues on the roads themselves. In Berlin, crews are on Robindale Drive trying to fix the second water main break on this block since Sunday.

"The freeze-frost cycle, it’s so cold the ground’s shifting and moving and as the pipes are laying there, as the ground freezes and moves it cracks the pipes like this here," explained John Connery, a maintenance tech for the Kensington Fire District.

The water’s been shut off to about 20 homes on Robindale Drive.

For the latest weather information, click here.

NBC Connecticut Meteorologists are forecasting a high impact storm for Thursday with snow, strong winds, and bitter cold following the storm.

A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for New London, and Windham counties where snowfall totals are expected to be the highest. 

IMPACTS:

Snowfall Accumulation

We're forecasting the highest snowfall accumulation of 4 to 8 inches in areas of eastern Connecticut. Totals of 2 to 4 inches can be expected in western Connecticut. 

Wind

Winds will become quite strong on Thursday and the strong winds will continue into Friday. Wind gusts over 40 mph are possible especially in coastal areas of southeastern Connecticut.

This could lead to sporadic power issues throughout the state.

Cold 

Some extreme cold will follow the storm for Friday and Saturday. This could be concerning if there are power outages throughout the state. Cracked water pipes are one of the issues we are concerned about.

High temperatures on Friday are only expected to reach 10 degrees for inland areas. Some cities and towns won't even make it out of the single digits.

Even colder air will arrive by Saturday with morning low temperatures between -5 and -15 in parts of the state with afternoon high temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees.

TIMING:

Snow will overspread the state during the early morning hours on Thursday. We're forecasting snow to start between midnight and 4 a.m. 

The heaviest of the snow will come down between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. with lingering snow showers and flurries continuing right into the evening hours. 

The 36-year-old father who was shot at a restaurant near Buckland Hills in Manchester on Saturday has died and the suspects have been arrested. 

The victim, Norris Jackson, of Hartford, was shot at Bonchon Restaurant on Pleasant Valley Road and was transported to Hartford Hospital in critical condition before he died on Sunday night, according to Manchester Police.

On Monday, police said they are searching for a man and a woman linked to the shooting and should be considered armed and dangerous. The victim's mother, Barbara Turner, said the two people worked with her son. 

"I’m not a hater, my son didn’t hate, but they need to turn themselves in,"  Turner told NBC Connecticut about the two suspects in her son’s shooting.

Turner said she has donated her son's organs after making the gut-wrenching decision to take him off life support late New Year’s Eve. He was the father of four sons and three daughters and he was like a stepfather to his girlfriend's three sons, she said.

"He was awesome, just awesome. A great son, father, uncle, a wonderful person," Turner said.

Officers weresearching for 28-year-old James Goolsby and 23-year-old Leanne Robitaille, both of Manchester, in connection with the shooting and said both should be considered armed and dangerous. They were arrested on Tuesday. 

Police continue to investigate what led up to the shooting.

The restaurant franchise released the following statement after the shooting:

"We at Bonchon Franchise are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting in Manchester, CT today, and are deeply concerned about the family and friends who are suffering. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and their family as we also respect their privacy during this ordeal."

Thomas S. Monson, the 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who led the nearly 16 million-member faith for nine years as the church's "prophet, seer and revelator," died Tuesday evening at the age of 90.

Monson, who served as president of the church since February 2008, died from causes incident to age, according to a statement from the church.

Two years ago, the Utah-based faith announced Monson was "feeling the effects of advancing age." Since then, he had scaled back his conference speeches. He was most recently hospitalized in April 2017, although church officials had declined to offer any specifics on the nature of Monson's treatments in the hospital.

"More even than his words of strength and inspiration, he will be remembered for the abundance of his love and the overflowing of his compassion for every one of God’s children," said Mitt Romney, the first Mormon nominated for president by a major political party, in a statement Wednesday.

But even in his final years, Monson continued his decades-long legacy of quietly ministering to the sick and comforting the bereaved, according to the church's announcement. “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved,” Monson taught.

During his tenure, worldwide church membership grew by 3 million. This was despite some of the most intense scrutiny that the Mormon faith had faced in its history, from a divisive vote over gay marriage to high-profile Mormon candidacies for president and a hotly debated policy for same-sex couples and their children.

The World War II veteran served on President Ronald Reagan's Task Force for Private Sector Initiatives in 1981.

Monson is survived by three children, eight grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.

His successor is not expected to be chosen until after the funeral.

The Journalism and Media Academy and Culinary Arts Academy in Hartford will be closed today because of a water main break. 

School officials said they decided to keep the school closed for today to protect the safety of students. MDC said there will be no water in the building until the afternoon because of the break in a 12-inch water main at 150 Tower Ave.

One man is dead and another is in critical condition after a shooting in New Haven Tuesday night. 

The shooting happened on Wadley Street and it's the first homicide of the year in the city. 

It was reported at 10:44 p.m. and officers found the two men at a parked car.  The driver, 37-year-old Ronald Wayne Matheney, of Hamden, was shot multiple times, according to police.  He was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The passenger, 34-year-old Corey Bland, of Hamden, was shot in the arm and is in stable condition at Yale-New Haven Hospital, police said.

Police do not have any information on who shot the men or a getaway car. 

Officers and detectives have been at the scene to collect evidence and interview residents.

Investigators are asking for the public’s help. Anyone who has information that could help solve this case should call detectives at 203-946-6304.

California labor officials say there's a growing trend of employers warning workers to do what they're told or face deportation.

Immigrant rights advocates say they're seeing these threats happening more because attitudes have changed against immigrants. Now, the California Labor Commission is suing on behalf of a construction worker who says he didn't get paid and was threatened.

The construction worker's case isn't unique — many of the new complaints are coming from workers in that field. Employment rights attorney Sebastian Sanchez is representing one worker who says when he tried to get paid for the tile work at a home in Arcadia, his boss threatened deportation.

"If you want to cause any trouble, just know my family is connected to the sheriff's office and I bet you wouldn't want a call to ICE," Sanchez said his client was told.

Sanchez is now helping the state labor commission sue that employer, who did not respond to requests for comment.

The commission says deportation threats coming from employers have increased sharply, from seven in 2015 to 20 in 2016 to 94 in 2017. Sanchez blames the spike in threats on anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from President Donald Trump and promises by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase raids in so-called sanctuary cities like Los Angeles.

"The ramifications of the current climate have really been very broad and have had a real impact on workers' lives," Sanchez said.

Industries with high numbers of undocumented immigrants, like construction and garment workers and farm laborers, are especially at risk, Sanchez said. His clients tell him that when they have raised workplace concerns, their employers have said things like, "So you want to continue this, OK, let me contact ICE."

A worker's immigration status, however, is irrelevant under California and federal law, Sanchez said. "If you work, you have a right to be paid."

A few homes have been evacuated after an underground gas leak in the East Rock area of New Haven, according to the deputy director of emergency operations for the city. 

Canner Street is closed between Whitney Avenue and Prospect Street. 

Officials initially said two schools were closed, including the Worthington Hooker School, but school officials said there are no school closures. A K to 2 program was relocated and not other schools were impacted.

Police are asking pedestrians to avoid Whitney Avenue and Canner Street,

Officials said the incident has been going on for a few hours and they are trying to determine exactly where the leak is.

A New Britain man is dead after jumping over an overpass along Route 72 in New Britain after a crash on Tuesday night, according to state police. 

Police said 55-year-old David Rodriguez, of New Britain, crashed into a guiderail near exit 7 on Route 72, then his Toyota Camry crossed the road and hit a jersey barrier. 

Rodriguez got out of his car, jumped off the overpass and died after being transported to Hartford Hospital, according to state police. 

Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information about it should call state police at 860-534-1000, extension 6019.

Sherin Mathews, the 3-year-old girl adopted from India and found deceased in a ditch in Richardson last year, died from "homicidal violence," the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office confirmed on Wednesday.

Details of the autopsy and toxicology reports are expected to be released later Wednesday.

Sherin's body was found Oct. 26, more than two weeks after Wesley Mathews, her adoptive father, had reported her missing. Wesley and his wife, Sini, face criminal charges in connection with Sherin's death.

Wesley remains in custody on $1 million bond for felony injury to a child with intent to commit serious bodily injury. Sini is also in jail, held on $100,000 bond for child endangerment/abandoning for allegedly leaving Sherin home alone while she, her husband their other daughter went to dinner on Oct. 6, the night before Wesley reported Sherin missing.

The couple has been fighting for custody from the state of their biological child, a 4-year-old girl living with family in the Houston area. Both were expected in court Wednesday morning to try to regain custody of their biological daughter, but that hearing was rescheduled to Jan. 26.

Sini Mathews' attorney told NBC 5 that nothing in the autopsy or toxicology reports implicate Sini in the toddler's death. Wesley's attorney denied to comment.

The Richardson Police Department and the FBI continue to investigate the toddler's death.

Richardson police have not released a new statement regarding the autopsy results at this time.

NBC 5's Maria Guerrero contributed to this report.

The dangerous cold could have a negative impact on your car. Your car uses more battery power in the cold, which could lead to dead batteries and the cold weather can lead to flat tires. NBC10's Matt DeLucia has what you need to know to protect your car from the cold.

Officials at Boston's Logan Airport are keeping a close eye on Thursday's storm.

As of Wednesday, some airlines were getting ahead of what will likely be significant delays and perhaps canceled flights in the Northeast, and were offering travelers options to change or cancel their flights.

For customers traveling Thursday through next Wednesday, JetBlue is waiving change/cancel fees and fare differences to and from a number of cities in the Northeast.

If your flight is canceled, you can get a refund if you booked before Tuesday.

Delta is also offering refunds to cancel or change severely delayed flights. Customers can make a one-time free change to their ticket if they are scheduled to travel to, from, or through New England and parts of the Northeast this week during the storm.

As always, travelers are urged to review their tickets and to double check with their airlines before heading to the airport.

Thursday's storm, which will begin before dawn, is expected to bring up to a foot of snow in Boston, along with strong to damaging wind gusts and the possibility of minor to moderate coastal flooding likely during the high tide at noon. White-out conditions during some of the heaviest snow bands are expected to develop by midday Thursday and continue into the evening. Blizzard warnings have been issued for parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine. Click here for a complete list of weather alerts.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un is not likely to disrupt the Olympic Games in February if for no other reason than he is fond of winter sports, according to experts who have studied the reclusive, nuclear-armed leader.

His string of missile tests in 2017 cast a pall over preparations for the games in nearby Pyeongchang, leading to some confusion from the Trump administration last month over whether U.S. athletes would be allowed to go to the Games. (The U.S. Olympic Committee is not planning on pullinng out.)

But on New Year's Day, even as he warned the U.S. about "a nuclear button" on his desk, Kim suggested immediate talks with Seoul over sending a delegation to the Olympics. South Korea responded the next day by proposing a meeting on Jan. 9. 

When the Olympics begin a month later, experts believe he may be watching.

“He seems to — whether it’s his own inclination or born of his experience as a student in Switzerland — to like winter sports,” said Stephen Noerper, an adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University in New York City. “I think that’s an important consideration.”

Noerper noted that Kim built a ski resort in the same mountain range as the venues for the Winter Games, only to the north of the border. NBC News reported last January that the Masikryong ski resort was kept open by work gangs whose members appeared to be as young as 11 or 12 and who were clearing snow by hand, without snowplows or trucks to scatter salt.

Exactly which winter sports Kim would favor isn’t clear. Noerper speculated that he might like skiing but noted he had no idea whether Kim skis.

Kim is believed to have attended boarding school in Switzerland, but for how long is also not known. Some reports have him at the the Liebefeld-Steinhölzli Schule near Bern between 1998 and 2000, when he would have been 15 to 17 years old. However Kurt Campbell, a former U.S. secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, has told CNN that Kim spent seven or eight years in Switzerland. He reportedly posed as the son of a driver for the North Korean embassy, according to The Washington Post.

Whatever North Korea does, the International Olympic Committee is stuck holding the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang because it is too late to move the Olympics, said Mark Dyreson, a sports historian at Penn State University.

“They’re over a barrel if they want to have the Winter Games,” he said.

South Korea is hoping that North Korea will participate in the Games, even with a North Korean cheering section, Noerper said. But tensions over the North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile tests and the recent escape of two North Korean soldiers across the Demilitarized Zone between the countries may make that impossible.

North Korea qualified for the Games with a pair of figure skaters, Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, but then missed a deadline to confirm they would participate. The International Olympic Committee still could make a spot for them if North Korea says it wants to take part.

North Korea has tried to disrupt the Olympics in the past.

Thirty years ago, as South Korea was preparing to host the Summer Games in 1988, two North Korean agents planted a bomb in a Korean Airlines plane. It exploded over the Andaman Sea and killed all 115 on board. North Korea hoped the bombing would create chaos in South Korea, but instead the agents were caught. One killed himself and the other confessed, telling her interrogators that her orders came directly from Kim Il Sung or his son, Kim Jong Il, the present leader’s father.

Noerper said that he doubted North Koreans would do anything similar this time.

“In general, I don’t think many analysts are expecting any kind of overt disruption of the Games,” Noerper said. “It would isolate North Korea even more.”

He said that Kim was trying to strike a different tone than his father and that the Games are separate from the missile tests, the most recent of which took place at the end of November, marking a total of 18 since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Trump has threatened the rogue state with “fire and fury” if the tests did not stop, but a new report — unconfirmed by NBC News — has North Korea trying to load anthrax onto missiles.

And Trump, responding to Kim's New Year's Day "nuclear button" comment, fired back with his own taunt. 

"Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!" Trump tweeted on Jan. 2.

Looking forward, China could have a moderating influence. It is hosting the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, would not want serious disruptions at the upcoming Games and has some influence over North Korea policy even there are limits, analysts say.

China and South Korea, which historically have had strong ties, want to repair a relationship that was damaged last year.

A November report from Reuters noted that local businesses were hoping for a surge of interest in the Games from Chinese tourists after the two countries put aside a diplomatic dispute over an anti-missile system. Chinese visitors accounted for nearly half of all foreign tourists into South Korea last year but the number dropped 61 percent from March to September compared to the same period last year, according to Reuters, citing official data.

China's Foreign Ministry said that the goal was to have the relationship back to normal “as soon as possible,” according to The Washington Post.

“I think they’ll probably exert some influence but given the level of tensions it’s probably a time for some sort of shenanigans,” Dyreson said.

He said North Korea would like to engage in the kind of espionage it is famous for: using female spies to entice athletes into disgraceful behavior, for example, or doping athletes so that they fail drug tests.

Dyreson said he would not be surprised if North Korea ramped up missile tests during the Games.

“Because frankly there’s no way the U.S. can retaliate or do anything while the U.S. team and other nations are three miles away so they’ll probably do even more taunting if that’s possible,” he said.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, who was re-elected to the top position in the state's largest city two years ago after serving a federal prison sentence, has filed the paperwork to run for governor in 2018.

He released a statement Wednesday, saying he filed the paperwork with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

“The road to bringing fiscal stability back to Connecticut runs through economic development and job growth. We can get Connecticut back to being the powerhouse of innovation and industrial strength – where young people and entrepreneurs come to start businesses and create jobs, raise their families and make a global impact,” Ganim said in a statement. “Our cities should be the engines that drive our economy that benefits residents of all towns in Connecticut. …”

Ganim was first elected Mayor of Bridgeport in 1991 and served until 2003.

He was then sent to federal prison after being convicted of 16 counts of corruption and served seven years. 

In 2015, he was again elected mayor of Bridgeport. 

“I am far from a perfect candidate; I’m someone who has made mistakes in my life. Three years ago, I asked the voters of Bridgeport for a 2nd chance to get it right and improve our quality of life, and I am grateful they gave me that opportunity,” Ganim said in a statement. “Now, I can see that all of Connecticut needs a 2nd chance to succeed. We can create and build that future together. I want to open all the doors of opportunity for everyone in our state. Connecticut needs a new direction to achieve growth and realize our full potential, and I am offering 14 years of success as an example of what we can accomplish together.”

Gov. Dannel Malloy, who has served as governor since 2011, announced in April that he would not seek a third term. 

Ganim said after Malloy's announcement then that he felt confident in his political future after his rebirth in Bridgeport. 

Taco Bell announced that it will begin selling Nacho Fries this month for one dollar in the Dollar Menu war with fast food giants, CNBC reported.

The newest addition to Taco Bell's menu is part of a strategy for the year where the Mexican fast food will introduce 20 additional new items onto its Dollar Menu across the nation. The fries will also be an availabe options in the $5 box meals. 

Jack in the Box and McDonald's have both followed suit and also introduced new additions to their respective Dollar Menu items, CNBC reported.

Taco Bell told CNBC that its menu items garnered more than $500 million in sales in 2017 and its $5 boxes, which often contain its limited-time offerings, generated an additional $1 billion in sales for the brand.

Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, freshly sworn in Wednesday after a contentious special election against Republic Roy Moore, tapped former transportation official Dana Gresham as his chief of staff, becoming the only Senate Democrat to have a black chief of staff, according to reports. 

Jones announced Gresham's appointment on Tuesday. Only two Senate Republicans also have black chiefs of staff: Sens. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Tim Scott of South Carolina, Politico reported. 

Gresham served for eight years as assistant secretary for governmental affairs at the Department of Transportation during the Obama administration, according to a statement from Jones' team. And for six years before that, he was the chief of staff for Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who served from 2003 to 2011.

Black voters played a key role last month in Jones' victory over Moore, whose campaign had been plagued by sexual harassment and assault allegations. Black voters made up 29 percent of the electorate, and almost all of those voters — 96 percent — supported Jones, according to NBC News' exit polling. A staggering 98 percent of black women voters backed Jones.

Black voters turned out at a higher level than in 2008 and 2012, when Barack Obama was running for president, according to The New York Times.

After the upset, Jones faced pressure to hire a diverse staff. Seventeen groups representing minorities, including the NAACP, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund and National Urban League, wrote a letter to Jones on Dec. 19 urging him to hire at least one person of color to his senior staff.

"As a new Member of the U.S. Senate, you have an opportunity to show your constituents that not only do their voices matter, but that their experiences and skills are vital to the work that you do to represent them," the groups wrote in the letter, obtained by the Washington Post. "Ensuring racial diversity among your staff would enhance the deliberation, innovation, legitimacy, and outcomes of your office and of the Senate as a whole."

Jones later said in a statement to the Post that he is "absolutely committed to having a diverse staff including in top posts in my Senate office."

Fellow political figures lauded Jones' decision to hire Gresham.

"Great News! Birmingham's own stand out Dana Gresham chosen to be Chief of Staff to Alabama’s Senator Doug Jones! Looking forward to working with them to move Alabama forward!! @GDouglasJones," Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell tweeted.

Amanda Brown Lierman, political and organizing director for the Democratic National Committee, wrote, "Snaps for @GDouglasJones naming Dana Gresham as his Chief of Staff!"