Waterbury police are investigating a fatal stabbing on Saturday.
A female victim was stabbed to death at 15 Matson Court around 3:15 p.m., according to police.
The Waterbury Crime Scene Investigation Unit was at the scene Saturday evening.
Investigators did not release any other details but said they are conducting an ongoing investigation.
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton exorcised some of his previous statewide demons by securing the nomination of his party for governor.
Boughton will enter the August primary as the endorsed nominee of his party, providing him a key talking point and symbolic boost as he looks to woo registered Republican voters.
“The moment is now, the time is now for Republican leadership and Republican values to make this state the place we all remember it to be,” Boughton said during his acceptance speech before more than 1,000 state Republican delegates.
Boughton has been Mayor of Danbury since 2001. He twice previously sought statewide office, unsuccessful each time. He entered the nominating convention as a favorite among longtime Republicans.
The final tally of 557 delegates for Boughton was exactly the amount he needed to outpace the field of eight contenders at the start of voting Saturday.
After the first ballot, the City of Stamford’s Chief Financial Officer, Mike Handler, and Glastonbury State Representative Prasad Srinivasan were each dropped because they did not meet the eight-percent threshold for support.
For Srinivasan, the result was devastating. He missed out on the second ballot by one vote, ending 18 months of campaign events, fundraisers, and debates.
“I thought I had it. I was sure about that,” Srinivasan said. “But I wanted to give this the opportunity to see if I can serve the state.”
After the second ballot, conservative Peter Lumaj, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, and former Comptroller General of the U.S., Dave Walker, all were eliminated from contention.
The biggest winner from that ballot was Steve Obsitnik, the Westport businessman and Navy veteran.
Obsitnik squeaked past the eight-percent threshold during the first ballot, and successfully garnered more than 17-percent of the vote, securing a spot on the ballot for the primary in August.
Obsitnik, who previously lost a bid for Congress to Jim Himes, said he’s a “pragmatic” Republican who can appeal to independents in the progressive Northeast.
“You know what? Charlie Baker in Massachusetts, he’s a business outsider. He’s doing pretty well. I think we can take a page out of his book here in Connecticut,” Obsitnik said.
Tim Herbst ran just behind Boughton, and was a clear convention favorite among many convention delegates. He was the only other candidate to lock in a position on the primary ballot on the first tally.
Herbst, the former First Selectman of Trumbull who ran unsuccessfully for Treasurer in 2014, said he will look to separate himself as a straight-talking younger candidate in a crowded field.
“The way I am going to distinguish myself is I am not going to tell people what they want to hear in the name of winning an election. I am going tell people what they need to hear to save the state of Connecticut,” Herbst said. He secured more than 45 percent of convention delegates.
The August primary could get more crowded. Two candidates from the convention, Mike Handler and Mark Lauretti, vowed to collect signatures of registered Republicans. Two others, former UBS executive Bob Stefanowski, and former hedge fund manager David Stemerman also said they would look to collect signatures to achieve ballot access.
It’s possible that registered Republicans could be deciding amongst seven people when they vote in the primary in August.
Five months after a deadly fire in Griswold, State Police have made an arrest.
Connecticut State Police have arrested a Hartford woman in connection with the deaths of three family members in Griswold.
Ruth Correa, 23, of Hartford, was taken into custody Saturday morning and charged with Murder with Special Circumstances, Robbery, Arson and Home Invasion.
According to authorities, the investigation started in December 2017 after the remains of husband and wife, Kenneth and Janet Lindquist, were found inside their burned down home on Kenwood Road in Griswold.
During that time, police also said that a fire in an abandoned car in Glastonbury the same night was connected to the deadly fire in Griswold.
On Saturday, May 5, State Police were called back to Kenwood Road on reports of human remains found in the woods. The medical examiner later determined the remains to be the 21-year-old Lindquists' son, Matthew.
Shortly after, Hartford Police, along with assistance from State Police, obtained warrants and conducted interviews at two addresses in Hartford.
Police said they arrested Correa on Main Street. She is being held on $2.5 million bond and is expected to appear at Norwich Superior Court on Monday.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and they expect more arrests to be made.
The South Central SWAT Team is holding a fundraiser to raise money for the officers who were injured in an explosion in North Haven earlier this month.
Those officers have not been able to work since the explosion and all have a long road to recovery ahead of them, according to East Haven Police.
The public is invited to Stony Creek Brewery in Branford from 3:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, for beer, food, raffles and laughs.
Each ticket costs $30 and includes admission, 2 Stony Creek craft beers, food and raffle tickets.
On May 2, members of the South Central Regional SWAT team were called to a house on Quinnipiac Avenue to arrest a man after a domestic violence incident was reported earlier, according to police.
The man refused to communicate with police and barricaded himself inside the home. While members of the SWAT team were securing buildings on the property, there was a massive explosion in a barn that caused a fire that spread to other buildings. The force of the explosion was so violent that the officers were blown off of their feet, East Haven police said.
Nine officers were seriously injured and hospitalized after the blast. The five officers from East Haven, three from North Haven and one from Branford suffered injuries including concussions, broken bones, burns and leg and knee injuries.
All of the officers have been released from the hospital, but several still have to recover from physical and psychological injuries.
Some officers have had surgeries and other may still undergo surgery, according to police.
All of the money raised will help the officers support their families, police said.
If you'd like to purchase tickets to the fundraiser, you can do so here.
The Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulin Cruz, is heading to Hartford to be honored at the 2018 Latinas & Power Symposium this week.
Cruz is set to receive the Latina Champion Award on Thursday at the sold-out annual event in Hartford.
She gained notoriety in the days following Hurricane Maria's landfall, criticizing President Trump and his administration's response to the devastation. During that time, she could be seen on the ground comforting residents and pleading for more aid during television appearances.
Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. It brought destruction to much of the island and affected the lives of 3.5 million Americans. Officials estimate the hurricane caused roughly $100 billion in damages.
The mayor will also recognize nine Puerto Rico relief warriors. They are described by the symposium as individuals and organizations in the northeast region who "went far beyond the call of duty, rolled up their sleeves and dove in to spearhead various Hurricane Maria relief drives."
“Our Hurricane Relief Warrior Award will honor the women, men and one little girl who rose above the chaos, threw caution to the wind, and provided lifesaving relief to the victims,” said Marilyn Alverio, creator and producer of the annual Latinas & Power Symposium. “They heard Mayor Carmen’s cry for help and arrived in droves with relief containers filled to capacity.”
The local Warrior Awards honorees include a 10-year-old girl from South Windsor who created a massive toy drive to send over a thousand gifts to children in Puerto Rico during the Christmas holiday. Also being honored will be 8 organizations which did things such as raising money, donating life-saving essentials, building houses and relocating families to help people on the island.
“We focus on strategies for success for this segment of the population and have done our best to fill the voids and lack of opportunities not available to Latinas in our region. This year and after the devastation Hurricane Maria left, we could not host this event without recognizing our amazing local warriors whose efforts help save many lives and are hands-on involved in the restoration of Puerto Rico,” Alverio said.
Mother's Day should be mostly dry, but some showers could move into Connecticut Sunday afternoon.
Inland temperatures will climb into the 60s. Sea breezes along the shoreline will keep temperatures in southern Connecticut in the 50s.
The best chance of showers will be in the evening and along the shoreline.
Temperatures Sunday night will drop as low as 40 degrees with scattered showers possible.
This week you can expect warmer temperatures with more chances for rain throughout the week.
Police are investigating after a body was found in New London on Sunday morning.
Officers were called to a residence near Plant Street and Montauk Avenue shortly after 11 a.m. after receiving a report of a male body in the yard of the residence. When first responders arrived to the scene, they confirmed the man had died.
The cause of death does not appear to be suspicious, according to investigators.
Police have not released the man's identity while his next of kin is notified.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the New London Police Department at (860) 447-1481.
A volunteer firefighter in Shelton and Trumbull has died after a car crash in Fairfield early Saturday morning, officials say.
Fairfield Police responded to Kings Highway East near Chestnut Street around 1:40 a.m. for a report of a single car crash.
Investigators say 22-year-old Austin J. Buoni of Stratford, was driving a 2005 Nissan Altima eastbound on Kings Highway East when he lost control of his vehicle, slid across the eastbound travel lane and crashed into a utility pole off the right side of the road.
First responders transported Buoni to Bridgeport Hospital, where he later died.
Buoni was a volunteer firefighter in Shelton and Trumbull who graduated from Valley Fire Chiefs Regional Training School in 2014, according to a post on the school's Facebook page.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
As high-profile police shootings continue to shake the United States, a growing number of black police chiefs are struggling to deal with the way their officers treat young men of color, NBC News reported.
Daniel Hahn, police chief of Sacramento where Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man, was killed in March, is among the officers trying to deal with this issue. He said Clark's death was "another piece of evidence that our relationship with the community was not where it needed to be."
American police departments have long struggled with allegations of racism and brutality, but a renewed sense of urgency was sparked in recent years. According to some researchers, a significantly higher number of black police officers has the potential to ease tensions between police and black communities. According to the most recently available government data on local police departments, 12 percent of departments were black and 73 percent were white in 2013.
Power is out to traffic lights at Ridge Road and Dixwell Avenue in North Haven, according to police.
Police said temporary stop signs are being put up to help with traffic control.
Police ask anyone traveling through the area to use caution.
Firefighters responded to a fire at Soma Technology in Bloomfield early Monday morning.
Officials said the alarm company called the fire department to respond to 166 Highland Park Drive just before 3 a.m. because water was flowing and firefighters found two trailers that were backed up to the building on fire.
Supplies in the trailer burned and the business will be closed for the day.
“The primary damage is to the tractor-trailers and the equipment in the back. There’s a little bit that just got inside the building, enough, and actually the fire sprinklers knocked down the fire in the building and actually saved them a lot of damage,” Roger Nelson, the fire marshal, said.
State police and the Bloomfield Police detective squad were called in to help with the investigation.
Police said they have made four arrests after investigating cupcakes tainted with bodily fluids that were brought to a school in Winsted last year.
Police have arrested two boys and two girls who attended the Gilbert School in connection with the case and said many had been unavailable due to being away at college and turned themselves in after learning of warrants for their arrest.
Police are not releasing the suspects’ names because of their ages, but said the charges include conspiracy to commit sexual assault in the fourth degree, sexual assault in the fourth degree and breach of peace in the second degree.
The principal of the Gilbert School in Winsted said last year that the batter of cupcakes brought into the school was tainted with an unconfirmed non-drug substance and given out to a few students.
On Monday, police said the cupcakes were tainted with bodily fluids.
The case was brought to authorities after an examination of the cupcake and DNA comparisons to the suspects, according to police.
Police are investigating the drowning death of a man found in the Pequabuck River in Bristol Saturday.
Officers responded to Memorial Boulevard at Mellen Street at 9:50 a.m. and found 52-year-old Rodney Eldred in the river.
An autopsy was performed Sunday and determined he drowned, police said.
The results of a toxicology test are still pending and police said Eldred’s death does not appear to be suspicious.
No one won the Mega Millions jackpot Friday night, but someone who bought a ticket in Torrington won $3 million and this is the first CT Lottery $3 million Mega Millions prize ever, according to the CT Lottery.
Tthe winning ticket was sold at The Cork Fine Wine & Spirits at 1597 E Main St.
The player matched five numbers and added the Megaplier, so the $1 million prize was multiplied to $3 million.
All draw game tickets expire 180 calendar days from the draw date and players are encouraged to check their tickets carefully online at CTLOTTERY.ORG, by scanning in a lottery Ticket Checker, by using the official CT Lottery Mobile App, or at any lottery retailer location.
A black Waffle House customer seen being choked by a white North Carolina police officer on video last week claimed Monday that he was also the victim of homophobic slurs inside the restaurant, NBC News reported.
Anthony Wall and his sister went to a Waffle House in Warsaw, North Carolina, on May 4 after he took his sister to her high school prom.
Wall said an employee used a slur and threatened physical assault. His lawyers said surveillance video will show the employee was the aggressor in the incident.
Police were called to the restaurant; video uploaded to Facebook shows a larger, white officer slam Wall against a window and throw him to the ground.
The Warsaw police chief has previously declined to comment on the details of the investigations or the officer's actions. A representative for Waffle House didn't immediately respond to Wall's claims.
As the EpiPen shortage continues, frustration and fear climb for Connecticut parents who are trying to get their hands on the life-saving product.
“I can’t even describe that fear of what’s going to happen. Is this going to be that one chance that it’s going to push him into anaphylactic shock,” Carolyn Janis said.
Janis said her local pharmacy is out of EpiPens for her 4-year-old son and she, along with other parents and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, demanded answers Monday from the FDA.
“This is not enough, this is not safe enough. We are unable to keep our children and loved ones safe,” Janis said.
The FDA announced the shortage in some parts of the U.S. last week, citing a manufacturing problem.
A statement Mylan released last week that while there are intermittent supply constraints, the product is available and the company is currently receiving continual supply from its manufacturing partner Meridian Medical Technologies, a Pfizer company.
On Monday, Pfizer released a statement saying its shipments have been increasing and exceeded projections in April.
“We are currently shipping product and our shipments have been increasing over the last few months, with April shipments exceeding projections,” Pfizer said in a statement.
The company stated the “constrained supply of EpiPen is due to supply of certain third-party components, along with process changes implemented which have temporarily limited capacity at our manufacturing facility.”
“I am demanding the FDA take emergency action to be sure of the manufacture of these devices,” Blumenthal said.
He said he plans to question the FDA on how long it’s known about the shortage and what it’s doing to make sure families that need the product won’t be left without it for long.
“They need to be more forthcoming with the facts if they know what the facts are. If you don't know them, that is an abject failure on the FDA’s part,” Blumenthal said.
Mylan said people should still be able to find alternatives by calling its customer relations phone number at 800-796-9526.
Janis said the shortage must come to an end before it’s too late for families.
“It is not an optional medication. This is a medication that is used in true crisis,” Janis said.
The White House said Monday that Melania Trump was hospitalized after undergoing a procedure to treat a benign kidney condition.
The first lady's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said the procedure was successful and that there were no complications. Grisham said Mrs. Trump is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center just outside Washington and will likely remain there for the rest of the week.
The White House did not offer any additional details on Mrs. Trump's condition.
Mrs. Trump, who has been gradually raising her profile as first lady, recently hosted her first state dinner and launched a public awareness campaign to help children.
With the president watching in the Rose Garden, Mrs. Trump last week unveiled the "Be Best" campaign, which she said will focus on childhood well-being, social media use and opioid abuse.
The first lady, who's 48, lived full time in New York during the administration's opening months so the couple's son, Barron, now 12, would not have to change schools midyear. She and Barron moved into the White House last June and since then the first lady has been raising her public profile.
Mrs. Trump joined her husband last month to host the prime minister of Japan for a two-day summit at the Trumps' Florida estate, and the Trumps hosted the president of France at the White House on a three-day state visit, including a lavish state dinner. Mrs. Trump also represented the administration at the April funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush.
Two people were injured in a chemical fire in a plastics research lab in Monroe Monday.
Fire officials confirmed they were called to a fire at Axel Plastics Research Laboratories at 50 Cambridge Drive, just before 2:30 p.m.
Fire Marshal William Davin said the two people injured were employees. They were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Their conditions were not immediately clear.
The fire was out before firefighters arrived.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the fire marshal’s office and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
More information was not immediately available.
Check back for updates.
An off-duty Connecticut state trooper who died in a head-on crash in Wolcott in February was driving under the influence with a blood alcohol three times the legal limit and she was going nearly 80 miles per hour just seconds before the crash, according to Wolcott Police.
The Naugatuck Valley Accident Reconstruction Team said Trooper Danielle Miller's cruiser and a 2004 Ford pickup collided head-on on Wolcott Road (Route 69) near Tosun Road around 8:48 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3.
Miller and the other driver were taken to the hospital to be treated for their injuries and Miller died as a result of those injuries.
Police said the other driver, who knew Miller, just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He had seconds to react and swerved to avoid the head-on collision, according to police.
"He happened to be driving his vehicle when Trooper Miller went into his lane," Wolcott Police Chief Edward Stephens said during a news conference Monday morning.
Police said the other driver was forced to move from town because people jumped to conclusions.
" The poor kid had to move out of town. You know, people were calling him names, cop killer, things like that. He was just a victim in this," Stephens said.
Miller was going 79 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone four seconds before the crash and she was going 57 miles per hour at the time of the crash and her blood alcohol content was .24, police said Monday during a news conference about the investigation.
Investigators have closed the case because Miller was killed in the crash.
"We all make mistakes in life that have consequences. Unfortunately, Trooper Miller made a mistake, which she paid for dearly with her life. It's very sad," Stephens said. "It's a very tragic occurrence for everyone involved."
Miller was assigned to Troop L in Litchfield and was a member of the 124th Training Troop.
When asked if state troopers are allowed to drive their cars while off-duty, state police said troopers are allowed to do so if they choose to so they can respond quickly if they are asked to mobilize or respond to an incident.
They released a statement Monday morning about the crash.
“We are saddened by the emerging details of the off-duty accident involving Trooper Danielle Miller on February 3, 2018. The Wolcott Police Department investigation report revealed that Trooper Miller sustained fatal injuries while operating the vehicle at a high speed and under the influence of alcohol. Her car struck an oncoming vehicle. Fortunately, that driver was not seriously injured,” state police said in a statement Monday.
“As an agency, we mourn Trooper Miller’s passing. We also maintain a zero tolerance policy with respect to operating a state vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” the statement from state police goes on to say. “Trooper Miller’s death serves as a painful reminder of the dangers and the devastating consequences of impaired driving. The Connecticut State Police, as are all law enforcement agencies, steadfast in their efforts to reduce the number of alcohol-related incidents along our roadways.”
The state police union said it honors Miller’s service but does not condone “her poor decision making that evening.”
“This incident should not be a reflection on the other men and woman of the State Police who risk their lives enforcing the law while protecting and preserving the lives of others,” the statement says.
The union statement goes on to say leadership “has and will continue to take steps to ensure incidents like this never happen again and we hope that Trooper Miller’s passing will serve as a cautionary example that may discourage other drivers from making similar decisions in the future.”
Environmental hazards at our public schools happen more often than you think:
Devin McHenry was one of those students at the Glastonbury elementary school. She and her mom Darcy remember the day well.
“I was panicking and driving as quickly as I could to find out, anything,” said Darcy McHenry.
The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters looked at years of school data, and found some troubling trends when it comes to the air quality issues at local schools.
We obtained a copy of the state’s most recent “school facilities survey.” School districts fill out the survey which includes 17 different categories addressing school air quality.
Out of more than 1,000 public schools, more than 300 had a deficiency in the 2013 survey, the last one done by the state.
We reached out to the 300 schools with deficiencies, and at least 40 are still in the process of fixing them, some five years later.
While he didn’t review these particular incidents, Dr. John Santilli, who has researched indoor air quality, said cases like these are often the result of poor maintenance by school districts.
While there is plenty of equipment these days to detect and treat problems with school air, Kosta Diamantis, head of the state’s office of school construction, said the problems shouldn’t exist in first place.
“It’s the simple stuff. It’s things that are allowed to get into the air, and it's things that could’ve been addressed.”
According to the school data, schools across the state are dealing with maintenance issues such as leaky roofs, poor ventilation, chipping floor tiles, and sagging drop ceilings.
Newington Superintendent Dr. William Collins says while most of his schools use computers to regulate air flow, Anna Reynolds Elementary still has 1950’s technology.
“The buildings are in very good shape so people don’t notice it but over time as you start to let things slip, it just starts to snowball on you,” Collins said.
Collins said two years with no budget increase from the town left the board of education with no choice but to cut school maintenance. He said protecting student programs is the priority and something had to be cut.
Newington Mayor Roy Zartarian said the school board just has to live within its means.
“We appropriate a sum of money. How the board of education decides to spend it, is entirely up to them,” Zartarian said.
Going forward, towns like Newington may have no choice but to beef up their maintenance budget, if they want state help when it comes to building schools.
The state is now buckling down on districts wanting money for schools. They’re asking districts if they have a consolidation plan, and how much they set aside for school maintenance, which normally, should be about 2 percent to 4 percent of an overall school budget.
“There are many districts that are building rich, and, they just have too many school buildings,” said Diamantis.
Closing some of those buildings could free up millions of dollars for maintenance.
Darcy McHenry said it’s a worthwhile investment if it will mean cleaner, safer school air for her daughter and her classmates.
“Especially dealing with kids, high concentration of people in a smaller space, it’s something that you should be more diligent with,” she said.
