Vernon police have arrested a home improvement contractor who is accused of fraud. 

Police said a Vernon resident contacted them in October 2017 to file a complaint against Robert Murphy after hiring Murphy, who uses the business name Signature Home Improvement, to do home improvement work.

The victim reported giving $10,710 to Murphy to do the work on Oct. 18, 2016, police said, but Murphy didn't do the work or deliver any material for the job. He also failed to return the resident's money when asked to do so, according to police. 

Officers arrested Murphy on Monday and he has been charged with second-degree larceny. 

He posted a $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in Rockville on March 27.

Two of the five passengers killed when their tour helicopter plunged into the East River Sunday, marking one of the deadliest civilian aviation crashes in New York City history and one of the worst in America in the last few years, are high school friends who were doing sightseeing in the city this past weekend.

Brian McDaniel, a nearly two-year veteran of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department who worked at Station 36, was visiting his longtime friend Trevor Cadigan, who had been living in New York since October 2017 after taking a job with a business magazine, Cadigan's father said. The two friends were both 26; they went to Texas' Bishop Lynch High School together and graduated in 2010.

The lone female victim has been identified as Carla Vallejos Blanco, an Argentinian tourist who just celebrated her 29th birthday 10 days ago, according to the Argentinian Consul's secretary. Two helicopter employees -- 29-year-old Tristan Hill and 34-year-old Daniel Thompson -- also died.

The chopper was owned by Liberty Helicopter Tours.

Liberty issued its first statement on the crash shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, saying, "We are focused on supporting the families affected by this tragic accident and on fully cooperating with the FAA and NTSB investigations. These agencies have asked us to respect the investigative process by referring all press inquiries to them for any further comment."

The Eurocopter AS350 carrying the five passengers and their pilot went down in the East River near the northern end of Roosevelt Island around sunset Sunday. Only the pilot, identified by sources as 33-year-old Richard Vance, survived.

The pilot called "Mayday!" several times and reported the chopper had experienced engine failure right before the crash, according to the distress call.

Video captured by multiple witnesses shows the chopper hovering in the air, then suddenly descending toward the river, where it crashes, its half-submerged propellers madly spraying water. It overturns, then sinks. Vance managed to escape the flipped chopper. The five passengers were trapped in the inverted aircraft and had to be pulled from frigid waters by divers, officials said.

Cadigan, 26, graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2016 with a bachelor's in journalism. He was an intern at Business Insider until a few weeks ago, the company said, adding it was devastated to hear of his death.

"He was a smart, talented, and ambitious young journalist and producer who was well-liked and made a big contribution," Business Insider said in a statement. "Our hearts go out to his family and friends."

McDaniel is survived by his parents and older brother. 

"Officer McDaniel was single, and had no children, but was immediately survived by his Father, of Dallas; and his Mother and older Brother, of Denver, CO," the Dallas Fire-Rescue said in a statement. "Despite his short tenure, hearts are heavy with grief as we not only try to come to grips with his loss departmentally; but to also be there in every way that we can for his family. The family asks for privacy during this trying time."

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation. A news briefing is expected later Monday. No cause has been officially suggested.

A senior law enforcement official, however, tells News 4 that Vance speculated in an initial interview it was possible one of the passengers inadvertently hit the fuel cut-off switch with a piece of equipment, which may have caused the engine to sputter and the chopper to plunge into the river. 

Residents of a Westport home were evacuated Sunday morning after carbon monoxide detectors went off. Officials said a portable generator has been running too close to the home and the alarms went off when power was restored to the residence. 

The Westport Fire Department received a call at 11:20 a.m. from an alarm company reporting a carbon monoxide alarm and found an elevated reading of carbon monoxide of 120 ppm, so the four residents were evacuated and Westport EMS evaluated them. 

Sustained carbon monoxide levels above 70 ppm can cause a headache, fatigue and nausea, according to the Consumer Product Safety Board. When levels are sustained above 150 to 200 ppm, disorientation, unconsciousness and death are possible. 

Crews determined the source of the carbon monoxide was a portable generator that was running too close to the home. 

The homeowner had disconnected the battery and the alarm indicating elevated carbon monoxide levels went off when power was restored. 

The Westport Fire Department urges residents to report any problems with your alarm system to your alarm company for repair. If your alarm system needs repair or is faulty, place battery-powered smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout your home until your alarm system is repaired. 

They also urge residents to replace your batteries in your detectors and alarm panels twice a year at daylight savings time to ensure they will work in times of a power outage. 

They also urge residents to read and follow the instructions on the generator, including keeping at least five feet of clearance around the generator. 

Enfield High School is one of dozens of schools to be awarded grant money in connection with the new NBC show, "Rise."

NBC is giving money to school drama clubs across the country as its show about a teacher who takes over a struggling school theater department debuts on Tuesday night.

Enfield High School's Lamplighters drama club will receive $10,000.

“This is what I want to do with my life,” Cole Wood, a senior at Enfield High, said. “I have made long friends through Lamplighters. I’ve learned social skills and confidence.”

Along with his classmate, Brendan Turner, Wood made a video and applied for the grant from NBC.

Enfield High School was one of 50 winners out of thousands of entries from across the nation.

“Having more money we’re able to get better sound equipment, maybe better props,” Turner said.

Thanks to help from this grant, Enfield High School is starting new drama classes next year.

“It couldn’t be more timely,” Erin Clark, Enfield High's principal said. “We’ve had budget cuts and a budget freeze recently so having that extra money to make sure that the kids have the supplies they need to have some exciting work in the classroom, it’s really going to make a difference in the program here.”

“It means that other people like myself get to experience and find their dream in the arts,” Wood said.

"Rise" debuts Tuesday at 10 p.m. on NBC Connecticut.

The Connecticut State House of Representatives narrowly approved current Associate Justice Andrew McDonald’s elevation to chief justice, with one Republican acting as the de facto deciding vote.

McDonald won approval from the House by a 75-74 margin. Four Democrats defected and voted with Republicans, as the nomination now heads to the Connecticut Senate for consideration.

"Justice McDonald is not only eminently qualified, but he is ready," Rep. William Tong, who shares the city of Stamford as a hometown with McDonald, said as he brought him up for confirmation on the Senate floor.

McDonald is a longtime ally of Governor Dannel Malloy. He served as corporation counsel for the city of Stamford when Malloy was mayor, represented Stamford in the State Senate, and later took a job in the Malloy administration as his top legal adviser.

Republicans, nearly unanimous in their opposition, refused to entertain the notion that politics was the reason they did not want McDonald at the top of the judicial branch.

“This is not political because of a political party,” Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

Rebimbas beat back accusations from McDonald allies that Republican opposition was rooted in the fact that McDonald was openly gay, and would become the first openly gay chief justice in the United States, if confirmed.

"I’d like to make it clear that the sexual orientation of this or any nominee that comes before us is not a factor," Rebimbas said. 

Republicans instead pointed to his decisions in the state’s death penalty, and refusal to recuse himself, as a top reason for opposing his nomination. They said they viewed that as a possible ethical violation or at least a poor judgment on his part.

Democrats countered by discussing at length how McDonald has been endorsed by just about every legal institution in the state including most of the largest law firms in the state, as well as all three deans of the state’s law schools: Yale, Quinnipiac and UConn.

Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz said the opposition appeared to be viewed through the lens of the 2018 election.

Since Malloy is so unpopular in the state, Republicans felt they could make a safe vote against McDonald, knowing it would help them in the Fall, he opined.

Aresimowicz said that tack was straight out of the Republican playbook in Washington D.C.

"They picked the wrong fight," Aresimowicz said. "The judiciary is clearly not a political subdivision of the legislature and by doing this, this is going to cost them in the general election."

Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney announced Monday afternoon that the Senate would consider McDonald’s nomination before the end of March.

McDonald’s nomination could face long odds in the Senate, as one Democrat has recused herself from voting on the nomination, leaving Republicans with a one vote majority.

A Plainville man said next time he is going to book directly with the airline after finding out a reservation he made with a third-party website was canceled.

Bill Quealy enlisted his daughter to help book flights to Tucson for a surprise Christmas gift to his wife and son.

His daughter found what she thought was a good deal for airfare on a discount travel website called JustFly and purchased two roundtrip tickets for $797.

She received an email confirming the reservation that included a JustFly booking number and an American Airlines confirmation number.

A month before the trip, Quealy’s wife called the airline with a question about the reservation.

"They had told her that there was actually no tickets reserved," Quealy said.

American Airlines’ records showed the trip was canceled.

Quealy said he spent several hours on the phone with JustFly's customer service and an agent told him that he should have received an email alerting him that his reservation required immediate attention.

His daughter used her email account to book the reservation and said she never saw a follow-up email from JustFly about a cancellation or anything else.

Quealy booked new tickets directly from an airline website and asked JustFly to pay the difference in the fares but said the company told him that wasn’t possible.

NBC Connecticut Responds checked Quealy’s reservation on JustFly's website and discovered the family’s trip was still listed as confirmed. Momentum Travel, the parent company of Justfly, acknowledged the error to NBC Connecticut and offered Quealy two $75 vouchers to use toward future travel.

Momentum Travel provided copies of two emails notifying Quealy there was a problem with the reservation and instructing him to call customer service right away, but his daughter said she never received those emails. A spokesperson also said Quealy’s account was never charged for the original booking.

The company said its system is automated to send out an email to the address provided if something goes wrong with booking payment. A spokesperson said the company has no way of knowing if the system is not functioning.

Since Quealy was hesitant to accept the travel vouchers after his experience with Justfly, the company agreed to send him a $150 check instead.

In the future, the Plainville man said he’ll book travel directly through the airline.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, an outspoken gun control advocate, joined U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna for a town hall with high school students discussing gun violence Monday.

The town hall, dubbed a "conversation on gun violence," took place at Newark Memorial High School. It featured about 2,000 people from as many as seven Bay Area high schools.

Kerr began his part of the discussion by telling his very personal story of gun violence tragedy. He was 18 when his father, Malcolm Kerr, was killed in January 1984 by gunmen in Beirut, Lebanon.

“I’m not here because I’m the Warriors coach. Actually I am, because I wouldn’t have been invited. I’m here because I’m a citizen of this country and we’re a democracy and when people say stick to sports, stick to coaching, that means nothing,” Kerr said. “I feel like it’s my responsibility to speak on something that’s very important to me.”

Kerr joined U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and students from throughout the South Bay to discuss the issue. Also in attendance was Matt Deitsch, 20, whose younger brother and sister stayed locked in closets during last month’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

“I think he sees what so many of us see: There’s a moment in this country that can make a difference,” Khanna said.

Deitsch identified himself as the oldest member of the “Never Again” movement. He and others in his group plan to march in Washington, D.C., on March 24.

“It will change things because the youth is mobilizing at a rate that scares the status quo,” said Deitsch, who noted: “This is affecting all communities. It can happen anywhere.”

Kerr believes young people will help create change. “All I’ve really done is expressed my outrage and my concern,” he said.

Kerr said he’d like to do more, perhaps getting “my team involved.”

“I have been truly inspired by what I’m seeing lately from the kids at Douglas High School,” Kerr said. “I’m inspired by what’s happening. It feels real. For the first time, it feels like something’s happening.”

Kerr’s father, Malcolm, president of the American University of Beirut, was murdered in Beirut when Kerr was 18 and a freshman at the University of Arizona.

“I know how the Parkland families feel, or the Aurora families, or Sandy Hook,” Kerr said. “I know what it feels like. I met family members from Las Vegas. I know what that feels like. It’s awful. It’s devastating. It’s horrible.”

"This should not be a partisan issue," Kerr said. "There's lots of stuff that deserves healthy debate. But kids getting murdered at a high school, people getting killed by semi-automatic weapons ... is not up for debate."

Kerr also implored the students in attendance to use Wednesday's national walkout as momentum for the upcoming national march against gun violence on March 24. He said he would be participating in the San Francisco event.

Before Monday's event, Kerr spoke to the critics of athletes and other celebrities speaking out on what are seen as political issues.

"People say, 'Stay in your lane' or whatever. What does that even mean?" Kerr said. "Like, unless you’re a politician you shouldn’t be concerned with your fellow citizen. No!

"Our government works for us. We the people," Kerr added. "We can be the agents of change, but it takes a generation of people who want that change."

Khanna represents California's 17th congressional district, which consists mostly of Silicon Valley cities and includes Newark. He believes people will listen to Kerr.

"I think he could touch people, not just in our district, but young people across the country," Khanna said. "I don’t think there’s a high school student out there who doesn’t know who Steve Kerr is!"

In the immediate wake of the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month, Kerr publicly expressed his disdain for the National Rifle Association and the politicians who have fallen in step with it.

"It doesn't seem to matter to our government that children are being shot to death day after day at schools," Kerr said days after 17 people were killed at the Florida high school. "It doesn't matter that people are being shot at a concert, at a movie theater. It's not enough apparently to move our leadership, our government, the people who are running this country to actually do anything. That's demoralizing."

A silver alert has been issued for a 14-year-old boy from Middletown on Monday. 

Takai Jimenez is described as being 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. 

Police said Jimenez is considered an endangered runaway. 

It is not clear what he may have been wearing. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Middletown police at (860) 638-4000. 

President Donald Trump will travel to California Tuesday for his first visit since taking office and days after his administration filed a lawsuit against the state.

The president will spend part of his time at the U.S.-Mexico border in Otay Mesa inspecting designs for his proposed border wall, and law enforcement officials are expecting protesters to show up the visit. 

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department has released road closures and no parking zones as well as other precautions they are taking to avoid any violence. 

In the areas closed to traffic, the following items are prohibited, according to deputies: Firearms, knives, daggers, clubs, pepper spray, axes, pics, axe handles or pick handles, explosives, slingshots, bricks, rocks, baseball bats, shields, fireworks, stun guns or bear spray. 

They are also not permitting banners, flags or signs that use poles, sticks, staffs, dowels or boards. Glass bottles or containers are also prohibited.

While many San Diegans were reluctant to share their feelings in our country’s ultra-polarized landscape, two San Diegans voiced their opinions about the president, the wall and the U.S. attorney general’s lawsuit against our state.

Andy Bleichwehl said he doesn’t support the wall. “I personally don't think a wall is what we need, but if that's what he's doing, I gotta support the president. He is the president,” he told NBC 7. But he added, "did the Berlin Wall work? They tore it down. So, why are we trying to reinvent the wheel? We know what it does and what it doesn't do.”

Troy Maddry is a proponent, saying, “What I am hoping for is that he will choose [a border wall prototype] and we can start construction on that. I want our state and our country to be safe and I want people to come here legally.”

Maddry said he has four young children and he worries about their future.

“To me it shows that it is still moving forward,” he said of the president coming to survey wall prototypes built last fall. “That was a big issue for us. So the fact that the prototypes are being built and he's looking at them and seeing what will work, I support that.”

Although the president’s visit is scheduled as a quick overnight trip, the last time he was in the state was as a candidate. There were a lot of protests, (including thousands who protested when he was in San Diego) and the possibility of more unrest is a concern for some, including Bleichwehl.

“I can certainly see a lot of negativity,” he said. “We are right on the border. We have a high … Mexican population in San Diego. We are very multicultural.”

Trump’s visit also comes just a week after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a lawsuit against California, asserting state leaders are defying federal law and hindering Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their job.

“I do support him suing California,” Maddry said. “I think we have people in the state that are making decisions for our entire state and putting our safety at risk for political reasons.”

Tuesday's nor'easter is causing major problems for travelers in and out of Bradley International Airport.

According to airport officials, 75-percent of arriving and departing flights have been canceled and there are also several delays.

Passengers who are scheduled to fly out of Bradley are urged to contact their airline before heading to the airport on Tuesday. Several airlines are issuing travel waivers to allow travelers to make changes to their flights without penalty, airport officials said.

Passengers can check real-time flight status updates here.

An employee of a Macy’s warehouse in South Windsor is accused of stealing thousands of dollars of fragrance from the Macy’s Logistics warehouse on Governor’s Highway. 

Police said they started investigating in January after store security determined an employee had been taking women’s fragrances and hiding them in his vehicle, police said. 

South Windsor police arrested 48-year-old Adolph Forsythe, of Hartford, Tuesday and said officers recovered 31 bottles of fragrances valued at $,3433. 

Forsythe was charged with third-degree larceny. He was released on $2,500 non-surety bond and is due in Manchester Superior Court on March 22. 

Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters champion, will be back in Connecticut this summer to play the Travelers Championship. 

He has committed to play in the Cromwell tournament for the 10th time in his PGA Tour career. 

“Bubba is a fan favorite and seems to be in contention to win here every year,” Travelers Championship Tournament Director Nathan Grube said in a statement. “Not only that, but off the course he has always taken a personal interest in things that are important to the tournament, whether it’s visiting The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp or supporting our charitable initiatives.” 

Watson’s first of 10 PGA Tour victories was at the 2010 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands and he won again in 2015. 

Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy have also committed to play in the 2018 Travelers Championship, which will be held June 18 to 24 at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.

Classrooms across the country are still trying to return to a sense of normalcy nearly one month since a gunman killed 17 people at South Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

NBC News created a questionnaire to gauge from teachers what's changed for them since the shooting and how their students are handling it.

Their answers reflected a deep sense of anxiety about what, if anything, they can do to stop a shooter in their own school.

"I think about what I could do to protect my students, while also understanding any number of them could be the shooter," said one teacher from League City, Texas.

Another teacher talked about keeping a can of wasp spray under their desk. 

President Donald Trump's new pick to run the CIA, Gina Haspel, is a career officer who ran a secret prison in Thailand, or CIA black site, where suspected terrorists were waterboarded. She would be the first woman to head the agency.

Haspel, who was named the CIA's deputy director in February 2017, briefly was in charge of a secret prison where accused terrorists Abu Zubayadah and Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded in 2002, The Associated Press has reported. She also helped to destroy the CIA's waterboarding videos, an order that resulted in a long Justice Department investigation that ended without charges.

Trump has supported the harsh interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

Haspel, who joined the agency in 1985, would need to be confirmed as director by the U.S. Senate. She would replace Mike Pompeo, who would become secretary of state.

Haspel served as chief of station at several CIA outposts abroad, and held top senior leaderships in Washington, D.C., including deputy director of the National Clandestine Service, a section of the CIA, and deputy director of the National Clandestine Service of Foreign Intelligence and Covert Action. 

She was deputy director of the CIA's Russia Group and NBC News reported that, according to former colleagues, she has a conventional, hardline view of Russia as a dangerous adversary.

But she was passed over as director of the National Clandestine Service in 2013, after serving as acting director for two months, when California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein in particular raised concerns about her role in the controversial interrogation program.

NBC News reported that Haspel was present at the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, an Al-Qaida terrorist suspect who was waterboarded 83 times in one month and treated harshly in other ways until it was discovered he had no useful information.

"It's no secret I’ve had concerns in the past with her connection to the CIA torture program and have spent time with her discussing this," Feinstein said in a statement Tuesday. "To the best of my knowledge she has been a good deputy director and I look forward to the opportunity to speak with her again."

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said that he wanted to hear about the extent of Haspel's involvement in the CIA's interrogation program, her beliefs about torture and her approach to current law.

"In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, our government squandered precious moral authority in a futile effort to produce intelligence by means of torture," he said. "We are still dealing with the consequences of that desperately misguided decision."

Any nominee for CIA director must pledge to uphold the current ban on harsh interrogation techniques, he said.

Haspel said in a statement that after 30 years as an officer with the CIA, she had been honored to serve as its deputy director alongside Pompeo for the last year.

"I am grateful to President Trump for the opportunity, and humbled by his confidence in me, to be nominated to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency," she said. "If confirmed, I look forward to providing President Trump the outstanding intelligence support he has grown to expect during his first year in office."

A former CIA director, John Brennan, praised Haspel's competence and integrity and told MSNBC that there was tremendous respect for her within the ranks. He acknowledged that she was involved in a very controversial program, a role that he predicted would receive close scrutiny during her confirmation process, but said that he thought she deserved the chance to take the helm at the CIA.

Asked if he would vouch for her, he said, "I vouch for her capabilities, her experience, her expertise, and I do have confidence that she will carry out the duties of director well. I just hope that in this administration where it seems as though loyalty seems to be the highest priority, that Gina Haspel speaks truth to power and represents the CIA in a apolitical, nonpartisan and honest and objective way."

Some Democrats, the ACLU and other civil rights advocates objected when she was named deputy director last year.

"I am especially concerned by reports that this individual was involved in the unauthorized destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, which documented the CIA's use of torture against two CIA detainees," Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island wrote in a letter to Pompeo at the time.

Christopher Anders, deputy director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office, said in a statement Tuesday that Haspel was "up to her eyeballs in torture." 

"The CIA must declassify and release every aspect of Haspel's torture record before considering the nomination," the statement added.

Police have arrested a man who was accused of masturbating in a car in a plaza in Vernon Monday afternoon. 

Police said they received a report around 3:53 p.m. Monday about a man pleasuring himself in a vehicle in the parking lot of Tri-City Plaza and the report included a description of the man and the vehicle he was in, including the license plate. 

Officers arrived a short time later, but the vehicle was gone. 

After checking on the license plate the witness gave, police responded to a home on Scott Drive and charged 53-year-old David Keune, of Vernon, with public indecency and breach of peace. 

He posted a $10,000 non-surety bond and will appear in Rockville Superior Court on March 27. 

Police are continuing to investigate and ask anyone with information to call Vernon Police at 860-872-9126.

Authorities have identified the body of a man found dead Monday afternoon in Oxford at the Naugatuck State Forest.

Connecticut State Police said Tuesday that no foul play is suspected in the death of 64-year-old Jeffrey Bussolari of Southbury.

His body was found around 3:15 p.m. in the Naugatuck State Forest near Old Litchfield Turnpike.

State Police and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection responded to the scene.

Police said there is no threat to the public.

Power is out for around 3,000 homes and businesses, down from nearly 4,000, as the third nor’easter hits Connecticut in a week and a half.

Eversource was reporting more than 3,800 outages as of 11:51 a.m. That included more than 1,200 in Portland after a tree came down on a line. Power has been restored to Portland. 

As of 3 p.m., power is out to 68 percent of Lisbon and that is affecting 1,273 customers.

See the full list of Eversource outages. 

Two U.S. fast-attack submarines that have the Nutmeg State to thank for their names are working together near the top of the world.

Los Angeles-class fast attack sub USS Hartford and Seawolf-class fast attack sub USS Connecticut both surfaced through the ice in the Arctic Circle on Friday, according to the Department of Defense.

The submarines are taking part in a five-week maritime Ice Exercise (ICEX) along with the United Kingdom Royal Navy submarine HMS Trenchant in the Arctic Circle north of Alaska.

The exercise is a way to train crews and test the capabilities of the submarines in extreme cold-water conditions, according to the Pentagon.

“From a military, geographic, and scientific perspective, the Arctic Ocean is truly unique, and remains one of the most challenging ocean environments on earth,” said Rear Admiral James Pitts, Commodore, Undersea Warfighting Development Center.

Pitts said taking the subs under the Arctic ice alters the way the vessels operate.

“We must constantly train together with our submarine units and partners to remain proficient in this hemisphere,” Pitts said. “Having both submarines on the surface is a clear demonstration of our proficiency in the Arctic.”