A military helicopter with U.S. service members aboard crashed in Iraq late Thursday, U.S. Central Command and military officials said, and rescue teams were responding to the scene, NBC News reported.

"A U.S. military aircraft has crashed in western Iraq with U.S. service members aboard," CENTCOM said in a statement to NBC News. "Rescue teams are responding to the scene of the downed aircraft at this time."

The number of service members on board and the cause of the crash was not immediately clear. The military said the aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Al Qaim, which is in Anbar province near the Syrian border, NBC News reported.

Early indications were that there was no enemy fire involved, officials told NBC News.

Danbury's mayor was treated after having a seizure and collapsing at a GOP governor candidates' event, sources said.

Mark Boughton, a Republican contender for Connecticut's next governor, collapsed at the forum at the North House restaurant in Avon on Thursday night, according to sources at the event.

Sources told NBC Connecticut that Boughton showed no signs of a possible problem as he met with supporters, however, he suddenly collapsed to the ground.

One person got on the microphone and asked if there was a doctor. Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, an allergist from Glastonbury who is also running for governor, ran to Boughton.

Srinivasan said he found Boughton on the floor while he was in the middle of a seizure. Boughton's mouth was foaming, he was extremely pale and he had a very weak pulse.

"It’s a blur. It all happened very fast. You just do what has to be done in those situations," Srinivasan told NBC Connecticut.

The doctor held Boughton's head and eventually was able to position his head in a way where he was safe and the seizure eventually calmed down.

When EMTs arrived, Boughton received medical care and was alert before being transported to UConn Health in Farmington. 

The nine-term mayor added his name to the list of candidates for Connecticut's next governor earlier this year. His consecutive terms as Danbury's mayor is the longest anyone has ever served in the city's history. 

Boughton previously ran for governor in 2014 and for lieutenant governor in 2010 and is among the better-known names in the Republican field.

Last August, Boughton's office said he was recovering after undergoing brain surgery to remove a cyst.

Vanessa and Donald Trump Jr. filed for divorce Thursday ending their 12-year marriage. The couple released a joint statement that said their children remained their top priority.

The scraping, clanking and beeping of snow plows in the middle of the night have become a startling wake-up call for some residents in Mystic.

The Troutman family live near a CVS and Citizen's Bank in their mixed-use community development on East Main Street.  

Merin Troutman said wants the plows to stop running in the parking lots overnight because she has young children trying to sleep. She said the nearby businesses don’t open until 8 a.m. or later.

Her husband, Matt, wrote an email to Stonington’s selectmen asking if there was a way for business’ landscaping and snow removal to not take place between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

As it stands, "unreasonably loud, disturbing or unnecessary activity or noise" that can be heard within the confines of a home is restricted before 6 a.m. and after 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and before 8 a.m. and after 10 p.m. on Sunday, but snow removal equipment is exempt.

The family said their concern has nothing to do with town plows or people digging out of their homes.

"When it snows it happens frequently and it’s quite loud. If there was a way to just not have as much scraping or turn off the reverse beeping on the trucks, it would make a difference," Merin Troutman said.

Matt Troutman said he just wants to start a dialogue with the Stonington Community about whether there can be a change to make it less disruptive, he said in an email. He’s also looking for more information on the town’s ordinances involving noise at night. 

Another neighbor said that she’s a light sleeper and she’d appreciate less noise overnight but understands why the plows are running.

The issue was tabled at the Board of Selectmen meeting on Wednesday night.

"When the snow is gone, that’ll be the end of it. It’s not really a nuisance, it’s something you got to do," First Selectman Rob Simmons said on Wednesday.

The town prioritizes schools, drug stores and grocery stores to be plowed first, Simmons said.

Matt Troutman said he was not aware his letter was being addressed Wednesday.

Merin Troutman said she’s reached out to Citizen’s Bank before about the overnight plowing a couple of years ago and they were responsive for the season. NBC Connecticut reached out for comment and they said they are looking into the matter.

In a statement, CVS said, in part, "CVS Pharmacy tries to offer the community immediate, safe access to our buildings and parking lots after snow storms and other poor weather conditions, while also complying with all local ordinances."

A Connecticut mother, whose family has been victim to unspeakable violence three times, is on a campaign to prevent similar tragedies from happening to others.

Corinna Martin is lobbying for the creation of the National Offenders Registry after two of her daughters and grandchild died in domestic violence incidents.

On Thursday, Martin held a public forum to discuss the need for the registry.

Martin believes the existence of such a registry, that includes charge and other information about people charged with violent crimes and breach of peace, could have saved the lives of her daughters and other victims of domestic violence.

"This is a tremendous way to keep their legacies alive," Martin said.

In 2013, Martin’s daughter Alyssiah Wiley was murdered and dismembered by her boyfriend. Her body was found in Trumbull following an extensive search.

In 2017, another one of Martin’s daughters, Chaquinequea Brodie and her 9-year-old daughter were shot to death. Police said it was Brodie’s boyfriend who was responsible for those two killings.

Both men had documented violence in their backgrounds that Martin wishes were more readily available before their deaths.

Martin believes a database, similar to what already exists for sex offenders, could help potential victims protect themselves. Victim’s advocates at Monday’s forum told NBC Connecticut they support the premise of the database.

"It’s very difficult and if you’re this person who wants to put into Google someone’s name, you’re not always going to get the information that you’re looking for," Julie Johnson, a former New Haven Police captain and current project coordinator at Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence, said. 

Martin has already secured support from local and national elected officials, but she knows the road to seeing her idea realized could be long.

"This is what we need to protect ourselves," Martin said.

Martin said the event on Thursday will be the first of many community conversations and education sessions about this registry idea.

She is hosting another public conversation about her idea on Saturday, March 17 at 10:30 a.m. at the Wilson Library in New Haven.

Parents, students and educators are blasting a plan they said could hurt some of the most vulnerable children in Waterbury.

The plan could end up privatizing dozens of therapists who work with students with autism.

"They’ve been a tremendous help and a lifesaver really to help with my son," Naomi Pitts, of Waterbury, said.

That’s why Pitts showed up to the school meeting on Thursday night to help save the jobs of some 40 behavioral therapists in Waterbury who work with students, up to age 21, who have autism.

"These people worked with me and they’ve treated me so well. And they’ve helped me in so many ways," Nicholas Kling, a former student, said.

Students, parents and many of the therapists packed the meeting, hoping to convince the Board of Education to switch gears and not to privatize the positions.

Many are worried about how the change would affect students. Therapists are also concerned including how this could impact their jobs and benefits.

"Many including myself have been with the Waterbury autism program for over 10 years. We have dedicated ourselves to servicing students with challenging needs on a daily basis," Melissa Stark, president of the Waterbury City Employees Association, said.

Liz Brown, Waterbury Board of Education president, said the district is dealing with cuts from the state and this idea could help save a $500,000.

"It’s a matter of saving money and trying to keep jobs and keep the services to the children," Brown said. 

While the board is also looking to slice millions of dollars more from its budget and potentially eliminate a dozen other jobs, it’s hoping to find solutions to address concerns raised on Thursday.

"I would like to keep their jobs. I think they do an excellent job. I think if we do have to make cuts I would like it more across the board," Brown said.

On Thursday, the board voted to forward a budget proposal to city leaders.

A jogger told police that a man driving a blue car followed her before exposing himself in Trumbull on Wednesday. 

The woman said she was jogging in Nichols Park at Huntington Turnpike (Route 108) near Unity Road when she saw a small blue car parked in the dirt lot of the park around 5 p.m.

She said the driver in the blue car began following her as she jogged onto the road and began exposing himself while asking her to get in his car, police said. 

The man is described as being in his 50s, balding, wearing round wire-rimmed glasses and a button-down shirt. His car had an orange out-of-state license plate and possibly bearing the characters "622FJ", according to police. 

The woman was able to run away unharmed. 

Police are asking anyone with information to contact them at (203) 261-3665 or submit an anonymous tip here. 

The U.S. Navy said two aviators died after an F-18 Super Hornet fighter jet crashed off the coast of Key West on Wednesday.

"We are sad to report both aviators have passed away," U.S. Naval Air Force  Atlantic Comdr. Dave Hecht said in a statement late Wednesday.

The aviators were identified Thursday night as Lt. Caleb King and Lt. Cmdr. Brice Johnson. The circumstances of their deaths have not yet been released.

“As warfighters they excelled in combat, as officers they exemplified the values our Navy holds dear. I was extremely proud to have led, flown, and served with both Brice and Caleb," U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kevin Robb said in a statement, adding the men were "exceptional aviators and living models of what honor, courage and commitment really mean."

The jet was part of Virginia-based Strike Fighter Squadron 213, according to the U.S. Navy. The crew ejected.

U.S. Naval Air Forces said the jet crashed as it was on its final approach to the base at about 4:30 p.m.

"Rescue crews recovered both aviators from the water; they were taken by ambulance to Lower Keys Medical Center," U.S. Naval Air Forces wrote on Twitter previously. "The jet was on a training flight; cause under investigation."

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said it received a call that a fighter jet crashed in or near the naval air base in Boca Chica Key.

MCSO said it dispatched units but that the U.S. Navy reached out and said it had the situation under control and did not require assistance.

Naval Air Station Key West was formally established in 1940 and is largely used as a training facility for air-to-air combat fighter aircraft for all military branches.

A pole was knocked down and wires fell on a school bus in the area of 57 Watertown Road in Morris, according to state police. 

Troopers responded to the area around 6:35 a.m. 

State police said less than a dozen students are reported to be on the bus and no one on it was injured. The driver of the car has minor injuries. 

Eversource was called to respond.

FIGG Bridge Engineers, one of the companies that helped build the pedestrian bridge in Miami that collapsed Thursday, also built the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in New Haven and the Gold Star Bridge in New London. 

Officials from the state Department of Transportation told NBC Connecticut that our bridges are verifiably safe. 

“There is no issue, no problem, no concerns,” DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said. “This was a bridge that was under construction, not complete. We don’t know what happened. It could have been any number of things.” 

On Thursday, a 950-ton pedestrian bridge near Florida International University in Miami, collapsed and six people have died as a result of the collapse, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.  

FIGG, one of the companies that partnered to design and building the bridge, released a statement Thursday after the collapse in Miami: 

“We are stunned by today’s tragic collapse of a pedestrian bridge that was under construction over Southwest Eighth Street in Miami," said a statement from FIGG. "In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before." 

An NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters investigation last month revealed that the United States Federal Highway Administration has classified hundreds of Connecticut bridges as structurally deficient.  

None of these bridges are currently considered unsafe for cars according to the Connecticut DOT, but the department could be forced to close them if costly repairs aren’t made soon and their conditions worsen. 

The Troubleshooters learned that repairs for many of the state's structurally deficient bridges have been canceled or postponed. Earlier this year, Gov. Dannel Malloy eliminated $4.3 billion worth of transportation projects, citing serious funding issues for the state's Special Transportation Fund. Nearly $200 million-worth of already scheduled repairs on 32 structurally deficient bridges were caught up in the mix.

A man was stabbed when he showed up at a home in New London to meet a woman he had connected with on an online dating site, according to New London police.

The victim went to the Dunkin’ Donuts at 175 Broad St. just before 11 p.m. Thursday and said he’d been stabbed, according to police.

He said he’d met a woman on a dating website and agreed to meet at a home in the area of Cleveland and Broad streets in New London.

When he got to the door, a man in his early 20s who was hiding near the house stabbed him in the leg and knee and demanded the man’s wallet, according to police. The attacker fled when the victim did not hand over his wallet, police said.

The victim had three superficial stab wounds, police said and was released from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital after being treated.

The attacker was wearing a black sweatshirt, a red and black winter hat and black pants, according to police.

Anyone with information is asked to call 860-447-5269, extension 0, or text NLPDTIP and the information to 847411.

A 16-year-old girl and a 45-year-old man missing from the Lehigh Valley since March 5 are believed to have taken a one-way flight from Philadelphia to Cancun, Mexico, according to Allentown police.

The new detail from police Friday comes one day after an Amber Alert was issued in Mexico Thursday for Amy Yu, who investigators now believe to have willingly disappeared with Kevin Esterly, a father of two.

On Thursday, an Amber Alert issued in Mexico read in part, "From the investigations, it’s determined that she might be traveling in national territory accompanied by ESTERLY, KEVIN MICHAEL. We consider the teenager’s integrity is at risk being that she could be a victim of a crime."

Allentown police acknowledged Friday that they are now concentrating on tips related to Mexico.

According to a warrant issued after the two disappeared, Esterly signed Yu out of school 10 times between Nov. 13 and Feb. 9 without her parents' permission.

Investigators said it now appears that the girl may have added Esterly to her school emergency contact list as a stepfather. That, they said, would have allowed him to remove the girl from school.

Esterly and Yu apparently had a secret relationship for months, and investigators said Yu may even have gone on family vacations with Esterly. He is married with two children.

Police said Yu's mother called Feb. 9 to report Esterly had signed her child out of Lehigh Valley Academy earlier that day.

On Feb. 15, records show police told Esterly to stay away from the teen's home.

Esterly may be driving a 1999 two-door, red Honda Accord with the license plate KLT-0529. Anyone with information about either person's whereabouts should call Allentown police at 610-437-7751 or by dialing 911.

Longtime Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter, who represented New York districts for more than three decades, died early Friday of injuries sustained in a fall last week at her Washington, D.C., home, her chief of staff announced. Slaughter was 88 years old. 

Slaughter, who has represented the 25th district since 2013, was surrounded by family at the time of her death, Chief of Staff Liam Fitzsimmons said in a statement. She first took office in 1987, representing the 30th district, then was elected to represent the 28th district in 1993 before taking her final post in the 25th district. 

One of the longest serving Democrats in the House, Slaughter became the first woman to chair the powerful House Rules Committee since it was formally constituted in 1789 and was serving as the Democrats' ranking member. She fought tirelessly for families in Monroe County and across the nation, authoring the landmark Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, among other accomplishments. 

"Louise was a trailblazer," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. "Her strong example inspired countless young women to know their power, and seek their rightful place at the head of the decision-making table."

Slaughter, who was the dean of the New York congressional delegation, was serving her 16th congressional term. 

Fitzsimmons described her as a "force of nature." 

"She was a relentless advocate for western New York whose visionary leadership brought infrastructure upgrades, technology and research investments, and two federal manufacturing institutes to Rochester that will transform the local economy for generations to come. As the first chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, Louise blazed a path that many women continue to follow," Fitzsimmons said. "It is difficult to find a segment of society that Louise didn’t help shape over the course of more than thirty years in Congress, from health care to genetic nondiscrimination to historic ethics reforms. The Slaughter family is incredibly grateful for all the support during this difficult time." 

Details on funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time. 

Slaughter was born in Harlan County, Kentucky, and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor's degree in microbiology and a master's in public health. After graduate school, she and her husband, Robert “Bob” Slaughter, moved to the village of Fairport, New York.

She and Bob were married for 57 years, until his passing in 2014. They had three daughters, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. 

Before she was elected to Congress, Slaughter served in the New York State Assembly from 1982 to 1986 and the Monroe County Legislature between 1976 and 1979. While holding elected office, she was regional coordinator to Mario Cuomo from 1976 to 1978 while he served as secretary of state and from 1979 to 1982 while he served as lieutenant governor.

A San Francisco fertility clinic is facing two lawsuits over the possible destruction of thousands of frozen eggs and embryos in a storage tank that malfunctioned.

A Sacramento-area couple, Jonathan and Megan Bauer, sued Pacific Fertility Center in federal court on Thursday. Their attorney, Adam Wolf, says the couple lost all eight embryos they were keeping at the center when the nitrogen level in a storage tank dropped in a March 4 malfunction.

The Bauers had been storing the embryos for several years, and the woman was set to undergo an implantation in April, Wolf said. The couple are now in their late 30s — potentially reducing the chance of pregnancy. They also are not sure they can afford additional fertilization procedures, Wolf said.

"Our clients' embryos as well as their dreams of future children were irrevocably destroyed," he said.

And an unidentified woman sued the center on Tuesday after she said her eggs were also destroyed.

A call to Pacific Fertility was not immediately returned.

The malfunction occurred the same day a storage tank at a fertility clinic in suburban Cleveland failed, potentially destroying as many as 2,000 eggs and embryos, but there is no known connection between the two.

The clinic in suburban Cleveland run by University Hospitals is also facing lawsuits.

The Bauers' lawsuit accuses Pacific Fertility Center of negligence, saying it could have prevented the damage if it had "an adequately operating monitoring system" to catch the rising temperature in the tank.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status to represent other people affected by the Pacific Fertility Center failure.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Traffic was a mess on Interstate 84 East in Hartford Friday morning when trash in the back of a garbage truck caught fire during morning rush hour.

Fire started around 8:30 a.m. in the back of a truck that was hauling around a ton of garbage.

“That’s a huge fire load inside the back of the truck, so anything that could ignite it would create a bigger scene than what we normally deal with,” Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz, of the Hartford Fire Department, said.

Officials said it took around half an hour to put out the fire.

No one was injured, but the truck was near exit 46, a busy section of the highway, when the fire started and there were backups because of it.

The truck had to be towed from the scene.

What a victory. The Loyola Ramblers are making headlines nationwide after a dramatic upset win by the No. 11 seed over the No. 6 Miami Hurricanes in the NCAA Tournament Thursday.

An unexpected three-point buzzer-beater lifted them to March Madness victory and it's just what fans in Chicago were looking for.

Social media was buzzing after the game, with plenty of focus on guard Donte Ingram, who hit the game-winning shot.

He's being called a March icon, after picking the perfect spot to sink that final basket - standing on the March Madness logo as he sealed his team's 64-62 victory.

The 6 feet 6 inches tall senior is one of six players from Illinois on Loyola's roster, and a proud graduate of Simeon Career Academy, a Chicago Public School on the city's South Side.

"It's a great feeling," Ingram said after the game. "I thank Marcus you know, for making that pass. Any one of us could have hit that shot but I was just fortunate enough to be in that position. When I seen the shot and I had space, I was confident."

Chicago Public Schools gave Ingram a shoutout on Twitter after the game, while plenty of other notable names - including former President Barack Obama - joined in on social media to cheer for the Ramblers.

But for one of Loyola's biggest fans - Thursday's victory came as no surprise.

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the team's 98-year-old chaplain, prays with the players before the games and gives them scouting reports during the day.

She was in Dallas to see the team's dramatic win and she said she was more thankful than shocked.

"Thank God, thank God you did it, because we knew we would do it," Sister Jean said after the game.

"When we were in the locker room ahead of the game we just knew that we would do this," she continued, adding, "Our team is so great and they don't care who makes the points as long as we win the game."

Sister Jean was already well-known on campus, but she's now a national celebrity - and she said she's already praying for the second round.

Loyola will face No. 3 seed Tennessee next on Saturday, fighting for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen.

Days after a gunman stormed their Florida school and killed 17 people, two young survivors wrote a song about their grief and healing. On Friday, those Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students released their song for the world to hear.

The inspirational power-ballad is called "Shine," and the students said on their YouTube page that it "is dedicated in loving memory of the 17 victims" of the Feb. 14 massacre. All proceeds will go toward their non-profit, Shine MSD, which helps fund recovery efforts for the victims and families affected by the shooting, as well as mental health programs centered around the arts.

Sawyer Garrity and Andrea Pena penned the original song "as a creative outlet so our voices and the voices of those 17 could be heard and never forgotten," Pena wrote on Twitter.

It's packed with emotional lyrics that illustrate the trauma they experienced and how they are fighting to overcome it. A single piano leads the track with rich harmonies and powerful strings filling the background until the song reaches a crescendo with drums.

Garrity and Pena were moved to record and release "Shine" after performing it at the Feb. 21 CNN Town Hall event along with several other students.

"What started as a personal healing journey quickly grew into an anthem met with an overwhelming response," their website says. "Sawyer, Andrea, their families and friends realized the power of healing through artistic expression, and the positive impact the arts has in inspiring hope and unity in the aftermath of tragedy."

A little Milford, Connecticut boy was not happy when he heard that Toys R Us stores will be closing soon and his family has the video to prove it.

Parents across the country are finding themselves with the unenviable task of breaking the news to their little Toys R Us kids that Toys R Us will be closing its doors soon.

Terri Fischettl shared the video of how that news went at a home when Max heard that his favorite toy store is closing.

With the end coming soon for Toys R Us, Max is now counting the change in his money jar and plans to go buy one more toy from Toys R Us before the stores close.

The search for a man who is missing after an explosion and fire destroyed the Texas chemical plant where he worked is underway again Friday.

Dylan Mitchell, 27, is believed to have been at work inside the Tri-Chem Industries Plant in Cresson when something exploded, sparking a fire that consumed the building Thursday.

Mitchell's brother, Austin Mitchell, spoke with NBC 5 Thursday afternoon and said his family is fearing the worst since his brother hasn't been seen since the blast was reported.

"It sucks. I feel hollow," Austin Mitchell said. "It's been this long, he's probably dead."

The section of the building that remains standing after the fire was searched by rescuers earlier Friday, but there was no sign of Mitchell in that part of the building.

The search was halted for part of the day while the collapsed part of the building was evaluated. Sometime before 2 p.m., crews began using heavy machinery to lift parts of the collapsed structure so that the search for Mitchell could continue.

Officials at the scene said some parts of the building are still smoldering and that the search could take some time.

"What's in there is still dangerous right now, there are a lot of fires still burning in there; relatively small fires," said Ron Becker, Chief of the Cresson Fire Department. "We know, based on some witness accounts, where we think the individual was last seen and it's a portion of the building that has collapsed."

The Environmental Protection Agency and a specialized hazmat team are on site assisting in the investigation. 

Two other people working at the facility were injured in the fire, including one person who was critically burned on his trunk and hands and flown about 50 miles to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

A second injured person, whose injuries were not as serious, was taken to Lake Granbury Medical Center.

NBC 5 has learned about 12 people work at the Cresson facility, which opened about a year ago. There were no other injuries reported and it's not immediately clear how many people were working at the facility Thursday.

On Friday, a list provided to state regulators shows the mixing facility routinely worked with a number of different chemicals, including acids, many of them flammable and others that are toxic.

Air quality around the area has been monitored and officials do not believe there is any threat to the public.

The investigation into the fire, meanwhile, is ongoing. Though most believe the cause of the fire was accidental, arson investigators from Tarrant County are also looking into what caused the fire.

NBC 5's Kevin Cokely and Tim Ciesco contributed to this report.