The extreme cold this winter has more people looking for cheaper ways to heat their homes.

West Hartford homeowner, Paul Scierra, is turning to Citizens Co-Op to save money on oil.

"Last year it cost me I think $1,600 to heat this house," Scierra said. "Had I been paying retail, it probably would’ve been about $2,200."

Citizens Co-Op Vice President, Rosie Stanko, said they have about 6,000 members in Connecticut.

"We’re usually about $0.40 cheaper than other full service companies," she said.

Members pay an annual fee to the co-op and then they negotiate the prices with the oil companies.

"Prices on oil has really jumped up in the last couple of days because it’s been so cold," Stanko said. "It’s really causing people to look at what they’re paying and especially with how much they’re burning right now."

Pipe issues continue to plague the state even with the extremely cold snap at an end.

Crews worked to make repairs overnight after water main issues in Newington and West Hartford.

The first was on Francis Avenue in Newington. Crews shut down the water main around 8 p.m. Tuesday and closed the road between Day Street and Willard Avenue (Route 173). The water service has been restored, but the road remains closed.

The 8-inch water main was installed in 1951.

Two businesses - Lighthouse Community Holiness Church and John And Sons Landscaping – were affected, as well as one nearby home.

MDC crews were also looking into a possible water main leak at the intersection of Quaker Lane South and Park Road. There was limited information on that issue, but there was water visible in the road.

Water main breaks are common during cold weather when freezing causes pipes to burst.

It's too early to say that romaine lettuce is the source of an E. coli outbreak that has made at least 57 people in the U.S. and Canada sick, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NBC News.

"One of the things we worry about is we don’t know the source of contamination," said Ian Williams, chief of the CDC's Outbreak Response and Prevention Branch.

Williams confirmed that no new cases have been diagnosed since early December, but without knowing the true source, it's hard to say that outbreak is over. And blaming a single crop too soon could leave people at risk if something else is spreading the bacteria.

Williams' comments come after Consumer Reports acted on its own last week to warn people not to eat romaine lettuce. The company said that even though it didn't have "100 percent certainty that romaine lettuce is the cause of the E. coli outbreak in the U.S., a greater degree of caution is appropriate given that romaine lettuce is almost always consumed raw."

Classmates and parents of 8-year-old Massachusetts student Bridget Kelley welcomed the third-grader back to school with a massive show of support following her 15-month absence for cancer treatments and a stem cell transplant, "Today" reported.

Hundreds of students, parents, teachers and police officers stood in the 4-degree cold, holding colorful signs as Kelley arrived at Merrymount Elementary School in Quincy on Jan. 2.

"When we saw all the people we thought she could be overwhelmed and embarrassed,'' Bridget's mother Megan Kelley told "Today." "But she raised her arms like 'Victory!' and she soaked it in. She totally went with it, and that made it that much more exciting."

Warmer weather brings with it melting snow, and when temperatures dive back down below freezing, everything turns to ice.

It’s become a problem for several areas in Waterbury, especially on sidewalks near schools.

Parents pointed out a patch of ice and frozen slush just two blocks from Chase Elementary, a popular spot for parents to drop off their kids.

The city said that while these paths were cleared after the snow storm, they admit the refreezing is becoming a problem.

A slip on the sidewalk is a concern for little ones. Phil Caron said he's been more protective of his grandson on their walk to school.

"We have to hold his hand and make sure he doesn’t topple over,"  Caron said.

City officials said they’ve heard the complaints and are taking actions.

"These unshoveled sidewalks here in the city of Waterbury, and of course around the state of Connecticut, are a concern. They’re a public safety concern," said Joe Geary, the city’s chief of operations.

Geary said that while the city is responsible for treating more than 300 miles of road, businesses are responsible for clearing paths near their properties, many of which are near schools like Chase.

He told NBC Connecticut that the city is being more vigilant about enforcing these laws, and admitted the city will need to pick up the slack too.

"There’s certainly room for improvement," Geary said. "We don’t want the vulnerable school children to get out into the roadway, when they can safely get out and walk on the sidewalks."

Reporting problematic areas is encouraged, so the city knows what areas to tackle, but residents are encouraged to help.

"We would also ask our residents if they can throw some sort of an ice melt down, or a sand to give a good traction," Geary said.

On top of clearing those spaces, with rain on the way DPW crews are going around Wednesday checking the city’s 3,000 storm catch basins.

If there are any problematic spots of ice, snow, and slush on sidewalks that you’d like to report to the city, contact the mayor’s office at 203-574-6710, or at the citizens' service center at 203-597-3444.

Patriots fans can get free admission to the Main Twain House in Hartford through Saturday, as long as you show up showing your Patriots Pride.

Officials from the Mark Twain House said they are offering anyone who shows up through Saturday wearing Patriots gear free admission to the museum, but specialty tours are not included.

The New England Patriots take on the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

We want to see your Patriots Pride. Send your photos to shareit@nbcconnecticut.com. 

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a voting rights case Wednesday brought on by a Navy veteran and software engineer who is challenging the system Ohio uses to remove voters from a database, NBC News reported. 

In Ohio, the local election board uses change-of-address data from the U.S. Postal Service to identify voters who have moved without providing updated information. The election boards will then send out notices to those ineligible to vote. If there is no response or vote within an four-year time period, their registration is canceled, NBC News reported.

"If the court sides with Ohio," said Professor Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Irvine, "you'll see more red states making it easier to drop people from the voter registration rolls, and it's going to continue what I call the voting wars between the parties."

The Supreme Court will hear about the issue of what a state can assume from a resident's failure to cast a vote in more than one election.

Civil rights groups argue the system deters the minority groups while the state has argued the tool helps keep voter registration lists accurate, NBC News reported. 

Crews are working to repair a water main break on Emmett Street in Bristol.

The Bristol water department said the break affects the area of 360 to 500 Emmett Street. Water service is being shut down. Customers in the area may see lower than normal water pressure, discolored water, or no service at all.

Once service is restored any customers experiencing discolored water should run cold water in the bathtub until it runs clear.

There was no estimate on how long the repairs would take.

The Plainville AAA location on Farmington Avenue will be closed for the week after a burst pipe caused flooding.

Licenses services are available at other AAA offices in Avon, Cromwell, Enfield, Manchester, Old Saybrook, Waterford and West Hartford.

Frozen and burst pipes continue to cause issues across the state after a stretch of frigid temperatures, but there is a warm-up this week. For the full forecast, click here.

Jeff Bezos' wealth reportedly hit $105.1 billion this week, making him the richest man alive among those whose wealth is publicly traceable, CNBC reported.

But Bezos hasn't always been a billionaire.

He was born the son of a 16-year-old mom and deadbeat dad, according to CNBC, which charted his path to success in a new profile.

Bezos, a straight-A student in high school who secured early admission to Princeton, thought at one point that he would be a theoretical physicist.

His idea to start Amazon came years later while working in finance.

Click through for more on Bezos' biography.

Emergency crews responded to an incident at JB Williams Park in Glastonbury Wednesday morning, but little additional information was immediately available.  

LifeStar responded to the scene, but emergency responders who were carrying the person on the stretcher to the helicopter rerouted the person to an ambulance. 

Police confirmed that Neipsic Road is closed in the area of the park and that LifeStar was called to the scene, but could not confirm any details of the situation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The state is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information on the death of a man shot in Hartford in October 2015.

On October 21, 2015, Police responded to 7 Cherry Street and found 19-year-old Ricardo Rivera lying near the entrance to the home with a gunshot wound in his head. Medics rushed him to St. Francis, where he was placed on life support. He died of his injuries.

A second man was also injured in that shooting.

To date, no witnesses have come forward and there was only minimal evidence recovered. The state is offering up to $50,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case.

Anyone with information can contact the Hartford police Major Crimes Division Lt. Paul Cicero at 860-757-4179 or the anonymous tips line at 860-722-8477.

On the morning of Dec. 8, Nellyan Velázquez and her 3-year-old daughter left Puerto Rico for New York, unaware of what their fate would be. After a long wait at the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) building in the Bronx that lasted past midnight, a school bus arrived and took them to Brooklyn.

Once in Brooklyn, they spent the night in a building without an elevator. Their room was “super disgusting.” The mattresses had no sheets. Velázquez did not even remember the address. They arrived at 2 a.m., asleep. By 6 a.m., with the temperature at 40 degrees, they were outside of the building again with their suitcases—waiting for the bus to return to the Bronx office to see if they would get a temporary shelter.

That day, PATH, a program of New York City’s Department of Homeless Services, put them in a Coney Island apartment where they spent the second night in another room that Velázquez described as “horrible.”

“I’ll tell you this: cockroaches would crawl into the drain, through the pipes of the sink, in the kitchen, behind the refrigerator. Cockroaches were everywhere. One night, I’m turning over in my bed to see my daughter sleeping in the shelter and right then a cockroach crawls across her pillow…. You have to be in the shelters by nine. You have to sign in to enter and exit. They really aren’t places you can live in… The other day when I spent my overnight, I saw three Puerto Rican families arriving,” Velázquez  said.

Families from Puerto Rico who lost their homes to Hurricane María are showing up at homeless programs in New York mainly through third-party referrals, but without information about the Federal Agency for Emergency Management (FEMA) Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program, which offers temporary stays in hotel rooms.

“[PATH] is putting them in cluster buildings. They’re putting them in shelters, which you know, I appreciate that they are offering them, but … I was the one who took her out of that shelter,” said Sonia Velázquez, a Puerto Rican community leader from New York who familiarized Nellyan with the FEMA program and then took her to a Brooklyn hotel that was working with the federal agency.

That hotel was providing rooms for several Puerto Rican families displaced by the hurricane: a man living alone; a 50-year-old woman and her sick mother; a woman living alone; a 43-year-old woman with her husband and three daughters. All their homes in Puerto Rico remain unlivable with no power. The children have missed school. The adults have lost their jobs. The sick lack medical services.

Meanwhile, both the Puerto Rican and federal governments continue to struggle in the recuperation process. Three months after the hurricane, almost half of the island’s population still does not have power. FEMA has not distributed emergency funds, while Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate is around 10.8 percent and people leaving the island could fluctuate between 100,000 to 200,000 people per year.

According to Velázquez, who has been in the Brooklyn hotel since Dec. 12, there are between 28 and 30 families living there. Velázquez would not give an exact number of people who live there or are arriving daily at the hotel, citing “security reasons.”

The number of people living in Puerto Rico’s government shelters reached a peak of 15,000 right after the hurricane, but that number has been decreasing since October. Meanwhile, starting on Oct. 30, the number of people seeking help through FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program in U.S. hotels has increased.

As of Jan. 9, there are 11,533 people from Puerto Rico in the FEMA program, according to data provided by the agency. The vast majority of these people are living on the East Coast.

The Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI) identified a significant increase of 3,180 people in the FEMA program between Dec. 14 and Jan. 9. In addition, the current number of people in this program is greater than the number of people who received shelter from the Puerto Rican government two days before the hurricane. That number was 11,105, according to the island’s Department of Housing.

Florida is the state with the largest number of families in FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program at 1,755. Massachusetts is next with 578. In New York, there are 208 families, and Pennsylvania has 176 families. As of January, there are 922 families in hotels on the island. The program allows people to stay for five to 14 days. After that, participants must request an extension. According to FEMA, 1,192 families have already completed the program. In addition, there are 19 families whose relocation status is unknown. FEMA contractor Corporate Lodging Consultants, a provider of hotel service in the United States, tracks the status of the program.

As of this publication of this story, 78 percent of the families in the FEMA program have yet to resolve their permanent housing needs. In addition, 280 people are still in Puerto Rico’s government shelters.

Outside of the numbers, FEMA chose not to give profile information about the people in the program. The CPI asked the agency for data about age, gender and family unit categories. FEMA press officer Joann Díaz said that this information is confidential, noting that a “report must be created.” Díaz also indicated that she does not know when the agency could provide the data requested by the CPI.

A Journey With No Return
Nellyan Velázquez lived in the town of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. She sought shelter from Hurricane Maria at the home of her maternal grandmother, and had to wait until some streets were passable to head back to her house. When Velázquez went back home, “it was horrible,” she said. Mud, leaves and water were everywhere. She had to toss out everything that got wet.

She is 25 years old, with a bachelor’s degree in criminology and a special concentration in advertising and marketing. Before the hurricane, Velázquez  worked in two stores at the Las Catalinas Mall in Caguas—one that sold shoes and another that sold eyeglasses.

“The mall is already open, but for me it’s not feasible to work three or four hours to maintain a generator and buy food, which gets damaged every day. And my daughter is allergic to many things too, and the medications for that. For me, it is not feasible to stay in a country that’s really going backwards instead of moving forward,” said Velázquez, who wore a padded, thick jacket to protect herself from the cold.

In Puerto Rico, some friends told her about Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) in New York. She searched the internet for information, found an address and saw a photo of the building. Velázquez  called, but no answered. Without any further information and with airfare her mother bought, Velázquez and her daughter took their trip in early December.

Like many others on the island, which had been facing a decade-long fiscal crisis, Velázquez had already thought about moving to the United States before the hurricane. But she always resisted.

“Because I had my work and although it wasn’t a big salary, I was a team leader in one job and a regular employee at the other one. It wasn’t much, but I could, for example, pay my rent, my bus and manage with my daughter. Yes, I could do it. But when the hurricane passed, obviously everything went backwards. So I thought about it and since I’ve always wanted to go to the United States, this would be a great opportunity to start from scratch. And although life is more expensive here, there are more job opportunities. I want to establish myself. I don’t want to return to Puerto Rico,” Velázquez said as her daughter walked around her.

Velázquez was sitting in a large room on the first floor of the hotel that for the time being has become her home. Unlike the PATH shelters, she said, there are no strict rules here.

“In my case, since I have a baby, I have two beds, a bathroom, a kitchen. I have a table. I have a television. In the shelters, there are no televisions. I have a pillow, blanket… You can go in and out whenever you want. We go to other rooms of people we made friends with. We cook and have a good time. The people that have food stamps, since there’s a kitchen here, they provide us with pots and utensils and plates, and we can cook here, and we eat here. I had [food stamps] in Puerto Rico. I closed that case so I could open it here when I arrived. The process was super fast,” Velázquez said.

For now, life in New York outside of the hotel is filled with paperwork. Velázquez’s daughter is in state care. And Velázquez attends Nutritional Assistance Program appointments and medical appointments. She plans to take courses to perfect her English. Velázquez still does not know how long she can stay at the hotel, but she is already applying to FEMA’s temporary housing program.

The Moyet Family
Fernando Moyet, a resident of Bayamón, Puerto Rico, decided to leave for the United States after his wife had two operations canceled due to Hurricane María. They spent almost a month in a hotel assigned to them by PATH in Brooklyn, until Sonia Velázquez informed them about the FEMA program, and they moved to the hotel where other people from Puerto Rico live.

“First, I found out that to go to a shelter, we had to go to an office called PATH. You get there with your family. First, we were alone because the girls were in school, and all the family members have to be there. We went the next day. We arrived at nine in the morning. Do you know what time they took us from that site? At eleven o’clock at night, to do an overnight as they call it—one night in which they get us the hotel for us or in the shelter for us, because they are little hotels that they have turned into shelters,” Moyet said.

“They took us [from the PATH office] on a school bus filled with people. There were Puerto Ricans but also from here, African-Americans and Mexicans. And they told us that then they would put us in a better place. That overnight I remember was the most horrible thing in the world. My wife has mobility issues. To climb five floors? She can’t do it. How did they not give her a first floor? That was a rat cage full of cockroaches, full of cement. I had no bedsheets,” Moyet added.

“We started getting sick. The meals are horrible, all microwave. You felt like you were in confinement because you have to arrive before nine o’clock at night. If you don’t, you stay outside. For every movement you make, you have to sign in and out. And I said ‘come on, I’m not on probation.’ That’s what it looked like. But that’s their system. With three girls and me and my wife, the five of us got sick, and I said ‘no, I have to do something.’ I kept looking for information,” said Moyet, who has already found work as a chef in Manhattan. In Puerto Rico, he worked as a civil employee at the U.S. Army Buchanan base in Guaynabo.

“We Lost Belief in the Government”
“We didn’t simply lose the facilities and good things in life, because people see that Puerto Ricans always live with good things. We didn’t lose that. We lost the family. We lost our dream. We lost the future of our children. We lost belief in the government, trust in everything,” said a 43-year-old Puerto Rican woman at the hotel, who chose to protect her identity.

She was sitting at a table in the hotel lobby, waiting for more Puerto Ricans to arrive so she could help them. Next to her were two other women who were also in the FEMA program and assisting newcomers.

“You arrive without any direction, with no one to guide you… I don’t know any English but nothing has held me back. I have followed all the ways and means to have people understand me, and if not, I don’t move. I need someone in Spanish and if they do not look for that, I’ll find it somewhere else. And then leave my family, my mom who I have in a home in Bayamón, but I have to settle myself so I can bring her here. And I even had to leave my dogs, three puppies who are my life,” the 43-year-old woman said, holding back tears.

“My house was filled with sewage. I slept in a garage. How do I explain that to my daughters? We have to sleep with the sounds of gunfire from nine o’clock at night on. My daughters slept with my hands holding their hands, because at nine o’clock at night that place [Puerto Rico] was a no man’s land… I never thought to leave at all, because that is my island,” she recalled.

Another woman who was at the Brooklyn hotel for a month-and-a-half did not go through the PATH shelters, but first stayed at a relative’s house, which had also become like its own shelter.

“I came to a relative and stayed there for a few days, and obviously other people who were there had also come. We had almost twelve people in a very small place, in a very small space, and from there we decided to find another place. Right now there is someone here with two kids who doesn’t know where to live or where to stay, and all she does is walk around here. I hope that the little information we have gotten her can help her a bit,” said a 50-year-old Santurce woman, who preferred to not reveal her identity.

“I totally ignored all this. I didn’t know there was help. I didn’t know we could be staying in one place. I didn’t plan to leave Puerto Rico, but then my mother’s condition, so I come here, and that’s why I decided to stay, because in the house where I lived there, everything was damaged, flooded, and we were without power, sleeping on the floor, sleeping practically with everything open. I saw that there were better conditions here, and that’s why I decided to stay,” she said.

Other Places in the FEMA Program
The CPI visited two other New York hotels listed in the FEMA program. One was a two-story cement and wooden structure on Glenwood Road in Brooklyn. The FEMA list identified the place as a bed and breakfast, but upon arrival, a sign said it was a day-care center called Del’s.

It was 1 p.m. There were barely any cars moving on the street, and one or two people were occasionally walking down the sidewalk. The small building’s gate was open, but no one answered the doorbell. When the CPI called and asked if they accepted people from the FEMA program, one employee said yes, but did not know if people from Puerto Rico were staying there.

Another place in Brooklyn was called the Park House Hotel, located in Borough Park. The hotel confirmed that there was a Puerto Rican woman in the FEMA program, but the CPI did not have access to speak with her.

FEMA evaluates each family that participates in the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program every 30 days, since they must demonstrate that repairs are being made to their home, said Delyris Aquino, a FEMA press officer in Puerto Rico. In the case of non-owners, they must submit information from a landlord and demonstrate progress in getting a secure home with the financial or direct assistance granted by FEMA.

The Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program must last three months from the moment it was activated, which in the case of Hurricane María was Oct. 31, 2017. But the Puerto Rican requested an extension that was approved, so the program will be active until March 20.

“This date will be re-evaluated in 31 days to verify if it is eligible for an extension,” said Díaz, the FEMA press officer. The CPI asked if there was a guide or document with all the requirements for this program, but Díaz said that the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program does not have it.

“The system does it and it is internal,” she added.

The CPI asked New York City’s Department of Homeless Services for information about how many families from Puerto Rico it has served since September 20. The CPI also told the department about the complaints about the shelters’ conditions and was asked why people who arrive at the PATH office due to the hurricane do not receive information about FEMA services.

Isaac McGinn, the department’s press secretary, replied with the following e-mail message:

“Our goal is to help evacuees sign up and receive FEMA services immediately after seeking help, and connect with friends and family to get a place to stay.”

This story first appeared at Periodismoinvestigativo.com. English Version by Julio Ricardo Varela Latino USA. Leer en Español.

The story was made possible by the Futuro Media Group as part of a collaboration supported by the Ford Foundation. 

Hospitals nationwide are dealing with an unexpected shortage of intravenous bags often used to hydrate patients and administer medication, and experts said Hurricane Maria is partially to blame.

At Hartford Hospital, the shortage is twofold. The hospital’s main IV provider, one of the country’s three major IV manufacturing companies, is based in California and was closed for repairs for two weeks until recently reopening.

Another company, Baxter, has a plant in Puerto Rico, which lost power during Hurricane Maria in October.

The power outage stalled production rates for months. Some hospitals have had to adjust by switching to other brands, administering more medication orally when possible, or having nurses mix IV fluids by hand.

Hartford Hospital hasn’t had to do the latter just yet. 

Pharmacy director Dr. Eric Arlia said Hartford Hospital has anywhere from a week to a month’s supply — it varies by product. 

His biggest challenge has been putting nurses on a learning fast track of sorts as they adapt to different IV companies and techniques. 

“We have not run out of any IV fluids. Like I said, there have been times where one hospital might run out of a particular fluid, but we will, on a regular basis, if that occurs … we will transfer some product from one hospital to another,” Dr. Arlia said. “That’s something that occurs on a fairly regular basis.” 

Dr. Arlia said this has been an eye-opening experience for him, reflecting how few companies make those critically needed IVs. When two of the three main manufacturers have issues, he noted, it’s enough to send a ripple effect industrywide.

The XL Center in Hartford is implementing new security measures, including metal detectors, and they go into effect tomorrow.

In addition to the bag and prohibited items policies, all guests will be subject to search, at XL Center’s discretion, including purses of normal size.

No bags, backpacks or briefcases will be allowed, but an exception will be made for medically necessary items and diaper bags with an accompanied child after proper inspection.

The center said oversized and prohibited items are unable to be stored at the venue.

The XL Center also said patrons who are accustomed to using the atrium area to navigate the downtown corridor should also prepare for interruptions on event days.

Due to increased security, including use of metal detectors, anyone going to an event is encouraged to allow for extra time to enter the XL Center and to leave non-essential items at home.

Guests who wish to refuse to go through a metal detector will be wanded, which the XL Center says might delay entry into the venue.

Fans who do not have bags or purses will have expedited entry through a designated and dedicated lines.

The metal detectors are wide enough to allow easy entrance into the venue through a wheelchair, but they will likely trigger an alarm. If that happens, the guest will be checked with a metal detector wand.

“Providing a safe, engaging and fun environment for all fans is a top priority for Spectra Venue Management, operators of the XL Center in Hartford,” a statement from the XL Center says.

The boil water notice that was issued for some residents in Coventry has been canceled, according to the Connecticut Water Company (CT Water). 

The company issued a precautionary boil advisory for 140 customers in southern Coventry because of an issue that caused low or no pressure in the water system. 

The boil advisory was in effect until the company could collect water samples from the distribution system and have them tested in the state certified laboratory to be sure that no bacteria go into the water as a result of the loss of pressure, CT Water said. 

On Wednesday, CT Water said the samples collected after the water pressure was restored have come back clean and the water is safe to drink without boiling. 

Anyone with questions can call the company at (800) 286-5700 or they can visit the website.

With opioids killing more people than any other health crisis in Pennsylvania's modern history, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday declared a disaster emergency that suspends regulations hindering access to addiction care.

It's the first time a disaster emergency has been declared for a public health crisis in the commonwealth. Usually, disaster emergencies are reserved for major weather events such as a hurricane or for a terrorist attack.

"I don't take this action lightly. We know that this crisis has taken far too many lives. It has broken far too many families. It has decimated far too many communities and it has gone on for far too long," Wolf said at an event formally announcing the declaration at the State Capitol in Harrisburg.

The move eases some regulations that have been barriers to help for the addicted and their families. It will expire in 90 days as required by the state Constitution. 

The opioid epidemic has hit the commonwealth hard over the past few years. Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest overdose death rate in the United States. Preliminary data shared by Wolf shows 5,260 people died from drug overdoses in 2017 — the highest tally ever recorded and a nearly 15-percent jump over the previous year. 

The proliferation of illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid designed for use in medical settings that can cause an overdose in minuscule amounts, has been a principal cause in large jumps in overdoses and deaths. Cities and states across the country have been grappling with the same issue.

Last year, Philadelphia began implementing recommendations from Mayor Jim Kenney's Heroin Task Force, including increasing access to medicine-assisted treatment and court diversion programs. The Philadelphia Fire Department will launch an EMS unit this summer that's dedicated to responding specifically to drug overdoses in the city's Kensington and Fairhill neighborhoods.

The emergency disaster declaration waives a state requirement that a doctor must have a face-to-face interaction with a person before admitting them into a treatment program. Hospitals won't be required to get a separate license to offer treatment, either.

Jennifer Smith, secretary of the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, said she'll be able to quickly say yes to removing requirements set on the state's 800 treatment providers.

"The declaration enables us to waive requirements on a broad basis without the need for those providers to submit specific requests to us," she said. New laws cannot be created under the emergency.

Fees to have a duplicate birth certificate produced will be waived. The certificates are often required as proof of residency for insurance and treatment programs and can be a surprising barrier to getting into treatment.

"Hopefully with this emergency declaration, we’re able to smooth things out so we can get people into treatment when they’re ready, which is the important thing," said Dr. Brian Work, an internist at Penn Medicine who volunteers at the addiction clinic Prevention Point Philadelphia.

Medics responding to overdose calls will be able to leave behind additional doses of naloxone, so drug users can prevent death if another overdose happens in the future.

Pharmacists will be asked to provide the overdose reversal drug widely, likely for free or at a reduced price. Currently, anyone can purchase naloxone at a Pennsylvania pharmacy.

The Pennsylvania physician general will reclassify fentanyl and similar drugs as Schedule 1 narcotics to limit access and open drug dealers to steep criminal penalities.

Better data collection is required under this declaration as well. It requires that overdoses and neonatal abstinence syndrome — the medical term applied to children born addicted to drugs — are added as reportable conditions and tracked by state and local entities. Often, health officials only have coroner data to rely on.

An Opioid Operation Command Center will launch within the state's emergency management agency and be staffed by employees of nine state departments including health, state police, and others.

Wolf has made the fight against the opioid crisis a major area of focus for his administration. The state launched a prescription drug monitoring program to cut down on doctor shopping and identify pill mills. His administration also provided funding to create treatment centers of excellence and increase access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan.

Pennsylvania is the eighth state to declare the opioid crisis a disaster emergency. Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Virginia have previously made similar declarations. 

Wolf acknowledged that the declaration is not a "silver bullet," but hoped it would streamline the state's attack. He didn't rule out signing another emergency declaration in three months should officials need more time to better address the crisis.

This is a developing story. Check back shortly for updates.

A tractor-trailer rolled over on Route 3 south in Rocky Hill on Wednesday.

Police responded to the crash that involved the tractor-trailer and a motor vehicle on Route 3 at the intersection with West Street around 2:35 p.m.

The tractor is obstructing the right two southbound lanes on Cromwell Avenue/Route 3 just south of West Street, Rocky Hill police said. 

Drivers should expect delays and are encouraged to use an alternate route on Elm Street or Brook Street to get to Route 3. 

No other details were immediately available.

A dog was found dead in a box near the Meriden Humane Society Tuesday night and the animal control office is investigating.

Officers responded to Welles Terrace and Broadvale Road at 9:35 p.m. after a resident who was out walking a dog found the body of a female pit bull, police said.

Police said the dead dog showed no obvious signs of trauma and was transported to the Animal Control Office, which will investigate.

The humane society said it had no additional information on the dog or the circumstances surrounding the dog’s death.

Anyone with information should call the Animal Control Office directly at (203) 235-4179.

The state has indefinitely postponed hundreds of transportation projects worth around $4.3 billion.

Gov. Dannel Malloy and Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker today released a full list of projects that are postponed until new revenue is appropriated for the Special Transportation Fund, which finances the state’s transportation system, including the operating costs of the CTDOT and all of the services it provides.

Projects that are postponed indefinitely include improvements to the Interstate 91/Route 15 interchange on the Charter Oak Bridge, the replacement of the Waterbury Mixmaster, and the widening of Interstate 95 from Bridgeport to Stamford.

A statement from the governor’s office says even routine highway maintenance and transportation aid to cities and towns are seriously jeopardized.

“If Connecticut does not take the necessary action to allow us to restart these vital projects, not only will it put the state’s infrastructure into a further state of disrepair, it will hurt our economy,” Malloy said in a statement. “If we want to compete in the 21st century economy, we need a transportation system that works for people and businesses, and we need to invest in transit-oriented development to build the communities where people and businesses want to be. I want to be very clear – this is preventable, but it requires immediate action. The legislature must act this year to avoid potentially devastating setbacks to our transportation system.”

“Gov. Malloy then authorized a transportation spending plan he knew couldn’t be supported by the fund. His plan spent more than the STF had with no way to pay for it, purposefully plunging the special transportation fund further into deficit,” Senate Republican President Pro Tem Len Fasano said.

“Now, Gov. Malloy and Democrats are trying to use the problem they created to force the legislature to approve new taxes and more burdens on commuters. That has been their game plan all along,” Fasano added.

The governor will be releasing his recommendations to ensure the solvency of the STF in advance of the 2018 legislative session.