Think before you flush! That’s the message in Stonington as the Water Pollution Control Authority works to finalize a fee increase for users as it is costing about $40,000 a year to unclog and repair the sewage system damaged by items that should never be flushed down the toilet.

“They’ve reached a certain age but the real problem is not the plants themselves," First Selectman Rob Simmons (R) said. "The real problem we’re encountering is what people are flushing down the toilets.”

Simmons told NBC Connecticut that some residents are not being mindful about what goes, so the fees for sewage system users need to go up.

“Disposable diapers, I got two grandchildren, disposable diapers are disposable, not in a toilet," Simmons said. "You put them in a bag and you put them out with your normal trash.”

The diapers, so-called flushable wipes and feminine hygiene products being flushed down toilets, as well as the cooking grease being dumped down kitchen drains, are doing damage to Stonington's sewage system, Simmons said.

“The pumps in our plants are failing and we have to open up the pumps and clean them out, that’s the problem," Simmons said.

Marty Jefson rents his home in the borough of Stonington, where one of the three sewage plants are located. Jefson said he is not looking forward to the higher fees.

"It's frustrating," Jefson said, "I’m disappointed, but I can only do what I can do right and be careful with the way we use it.”

He offered a suggestion for how to properly get rid of grease.

"Always keep like an empty coffee can or something like that around to pour it off in and let it solidify and then dispose of it through the trash, not into the sink or toilet,” Jefson said.

The first selectman is urging everyone to use common sense to solve this underground problem.

"There’s certain things you put down a toilet," Simmons said. "Don’t put all the other junk down the toilet.”

About a third to half of residents depend on the three sewage plants in town, Simmons said. Other homes have their own septic tanks.

The rate increase, once finalized, would go into effect on July 1.

Connecticut has formally requested help from FEMA to assess storm damage in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties after severe weather including tornadoes hit the state last month.

The state has asked FEMA to conduct a joint Preliminary Damage Assessment of the damage from the storms on May 15. State officials will coordinate the assessment with FEMA and the affected towns, cities and state agencies. The state has requested that the assessments begin the week of June 11.

Hard-hit towns including Oxford, Southbury, Hamden, and Brookfield, among others, are still trying to clear up after the powerful storms. Many areas saw severe property damage as heavy winds took down trees, wires, and more. In some towns, homes were so severely damaged they had to be condemned.

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A 7-year-old boy was injured in a hit-and-run crash in Waterbury Monday, and police are searching for the driver.

Police said the crash happened just after 8 a.m. at the intersection of North Main Street and Elizabeth Street. According to police, a Nissan four-door sedan ran through the stop signal as a Durham school bus stopped and hit the 7-year-old boy as he was crossing the street.

The boy was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening.

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Durham School Services released the following statement on the situation:

"Our thoughts are with our young student and his family. Motorist passing a stop arm is of great concern. We are working with authorities to resolve this incident and to prevent this from happening in the future."

The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information, or who recognizes the vehicle in the photo, should contact Waterbury police at 203- 574-6941 or Crime Stoppers at 203-755-1234.

A cat that was housed at an animal shelter in Dayville in May was rabid and health officials are urging anyone who was in contact with the cat to call the health department.

Lilac, a young, short-hair gray tiger cat, was at the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments Animal Services Program shelter at 125 Putnam Pike in Dayville and tested positive for rabies on May 30, according to the Northeast District Department of Health.

They are advising anyone who might have come in contact with this cat from May 14 to 29 and has not yet been contacted by NDDH or NECCOG, to call NDDH at (860) 774-7350 ext. 24 for an assessment of exposure.

Lilac was housed in the middle cage at the main shelter.

The Northeast District Department of Health and the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (or NECCOG) are contacting staff, volunteers and recorded visitors to NECCOG Animal Services, but they are issuing an advisory out of an abundance of caution to alert other visitors who might have been exposed to rabies.

NECCOG Animal Services Director Kristian Hernandez said that when the shelter first picked up the cat, she was taken to the vet with a leg injury. At that time the cat was friendly and the vet determined there was an infection in the cat's joint. Later, when someone was clearing the animal's cage, she jumped out and attacked a dog, bit an employee and scratched another.

After the incident, the cat had to be tested for rabies.

Hernandez said it's impossible to pre-emptively test for rabies because the animal must be euthanized to be tested.

After the cat tested positive, three employees and three volunteers were vaccinated and/or tested for rabies.

Hernandez said the public is not allowed to touch animals before their adoption period begins, and that animals are kept away from the general public for two to three weeks before being made available for adoption.

People can get rabies from being bitten by an infected animal, but an animal with rabies can also transmit the virus through its saliva, which can come in contact with a person’s mucous membranes or can get in open wounds on the skin.

Rabies can be fatal once clinical signs appear, but the Northeast District Department of Health said it can be prevented through timely medical treatment, including administration of one dose of immune globulin and four doses of vaccine over two weeks. 

The 7-2 ruling in favor of a Colorado baker is reverberating in Connecticut.

The US Supreme Court ruled that a Colorado wedding cake maker had the right to refuse service to a same-sex couple because of his own closely held religious beliefs.

The court, however, ruled specifically on the case of Masterpiece, the shop in question, and made it clear the ruling was not meant for any kind of precedent when it comes to denying service or the interpretation of discrimination.

"I don't know if we got our freedom back but I know that we at least got our respect back and our dignity back,” said Peter Wolfgang with the Family Institute of Connecticut, the state’s leading social conservative voice. The group has opposed same-sex marriage in the past.

Wolfgang, the FIC’s executive director, said the ruling is a victory for individuals who run their businesses with their religious and conservative beliefs in mind.

"We have the right to live and work consistently with our beliefs and the government cannot punish us for having those beliefs and the government cannot decide that those beliefs are offensive,” Wolfgang said. “It's not their role, and the US Supreme Court just said that."

The American Civil Liberties Union in Connecticut took a different victory away from the ruling in Washington.

Dan Barrett, the ACLU’s legal director in Connecticut, did not view the ruling as a narrow path for discrimination, but instead as protection being reaffirmed in Connecticut for certain civil rights laws.

"There is very strong language in there supporting what we all think to be true which is that states can protect those who live within their borders,” Barrett said.

He said in a state like Connecticut with a recent history of protecting civil rights for certain groups, the ruling provided support for the state to continue down that path.

"For LGBTQ folks, for anyone who is concerned about racial discrimination or age discrimination that is a very important holding that says that Connecticut laws are A, unaffected, and B, the Connecticut legislature can continue to look out and protect people as they go through the world either in commercial transactions or in housing or public accommodations."

A young Long Island girl and her family has forged an unlikely transatlantic friendship three years after she dropped a message in a bottle into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Shiloe Khkohar was 6 years old on a family cruise to Bermuda in 2015 when she decided to print a note, roll it into a bottle and drop it in the ocean. 

"I want to wish you a happy, healthy life," read the note in all-caps, accompanied by a gift from Shiloe, a crystal from upstate New York. 

She ended her note asking anyone who finds it to contact her dad by email.

"Honestly I didn't think it was gonna go anywhere," her father Imtiaz Khokhar told News 4.

That doubt evaporated two weeks ago when Imtiaz Khokhar opened an email from someone in Morocco. The bottle had been found by a fisherman, a father of a five named Hassan Elbaz. Elbaz didn't speak or read English, so his son contacted the Khokhars and sent photos through social media to confirm that the message in a bottle had been delivered. 

"He goes, 'Is this you?'" Imtiaz recalled of his conversation with Elbaz's son. "I said, 'Yeah, it's me!'"

Shiloe's mother, Wendy Khokhar, said, "He was saying he couldn't believe a 6-year-old sent that message. But that's Shiloe, she's a sweet kid." 

"There are so many things that could have happened," said Shiloe. "It could have hit a rock or something."

The bottle that traveled nearly 3,000 nautical miles has now brought two families together, and the Khokhars hope to follow the bottle to Morocco later this year. 

"They sent us pictures of the mom over there, the siblings, and now he keeps saying he can't wait to meet us," said Wendy. 

It really is a very small world, the Khokhars said -- something their now 9-year-old daughter seems to understand already.

Credit cards that were in a wallet that was stolen from the PF Chang’s restaurant at Westfarms mall were used to buy more than $4,000 worth of credit cards at Target stores in Southington and Waterbury, according to Clinton police. 

Police said the victim is a Clinton resident and the department took the report on Friday. In all, the credit cards were used to buy $4032.01 worth of gift cards, according to police. 

The Clinton police department released surveillance images of two men. One was wearing a black and red polo shirt and black pants and was seen wearing a Kangaroo-style hat and black shoes as he left the store. 

The other man was wearing a tan baseball hat, glasses, a black button-down shirt, dark pants and dress shoes. 

Anyone who can identify the men is asked to call Officer Kate Recchia at the Clinton Police Department 860-669-0451 or email krecchia@clintonct.org.

A recall has been issued for cooked ground beef shipped to schools, including in Connecticut, because it might contain hard pieces of plastic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  

Goodman Food Products, based out of Mansfield, Texas, is recalling approximately 34,400 pounds of fully cooked ground beef products that might be contaminated with the plastic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. 

The ground beef patty and crumble products were produced on Aug. 2, 2017. 

The USDA Foods for the National School Lunch Program bought the beef products and shipped them to institutional locations in Maine and Connecticut and the FSIS is concerned that some of the beef might be in school freezers or refrigerators. 

The following products are subject to recall: 

• 40-lb. cases of “Don Lee Farms FULLY COOKED BEEF PATTY CRUMBLES” with lot code 5886A7214, case code CNG36100 and “Best if used within” date of Aug. 2, 2018. 
• 40-lb. cases of “Don Lee Farms FULLY COOKED HOMESTYLE BEEF PATTY” with lot code 5886A7214, case code CNG38220 and “Best if used within” date of Aug. 2, 2018. 
• The products in the recall have the establishment number “EST. 5886A” inside the USDA mark of inspection. 

The USDA Foods for the National School Lunch Program bought the beef products and shipped them to institutional locations in Maine and Connecticut. 

Schools that bought the recalled products are urged not to prepare or consume them and instead throw them away or return them to the place of purchase. 

Officials said the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Services received consumer complaints about hard, white plastic material found in the fully cooked ground beef products. No one has become ill from the beef and anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider. 

Around 6,000 gallons of liquid manure fell off a tractor-trailer in Ellington this morning and rolled over into a field along Frog Hollow Road, according to Tolland County 911.

They said around 3,000 gallons of manure and 10 to 15 gallons of diesel fuel leaked. Crews from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said the department helped oversee the cleanup efforts.

State police said the incident happened on Frog Hollow Road, near Crane and Chamberlain roads.

The road was closed, but has reopened.

Border agents and child welfare workers are running out of space to shelter children who have been separated from their parents at the U.S. border as part of the Trump administration's new "zero tolerance" policy, according to two U.S. officials and a document obtained by NBC News.

As of Sunday, nearly 300 of the 550 children currently in custody at U.S. border stations had spent more than 72 hours there, the time limit for immigrants of any age to be held in the government's temporary facilities. Almost half of those 300 children are younger than 12, according to the document, meaning they are classified by the Department of Homeland Security as "tender age children."

The stations, run by the Border Patrol and meant only as the first stop for children detained at the border, often lack adequate bedding or separate sleeping rooms for children.

"It would be highly inappropriate and even unsafe to hold children for extended periods in these short-term border facilities because they often lack the adequate medical and nutritional resources for these young people," said Greg Chen, director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

A spokesman for DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

The body of a missing kayaker was pulled from Long Island Sound, off of Old Saybrook, this morning, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The victim, 18-year-old William Zadrozny, went missing on Memorial Day.  His capsized kayak was found near the mouth of the Connecticut River later that day.  A personal flotation device and fishing gear were found attached to the kayak, officials said.

There is a vigil planned for Zadrozny at Saybrook Point Tuesday at 7 p.m.

A person who was driving on a learner's permit got a car suspended on a cable along Blue Hills Avenue in Hartford Tuesday, according to fire officials. 

The female driver had a male passenger in the car when she went off the road near Westbourne Parkway, according to fire officials. No one was injured.

Police responded to the home of outspoken Parkland activist and school shooting survivor David Hogg after what officials say was a hoax phone call of a person inside with a gun.

Chopper 6 was over the scene at the home shortly after 9 a.m.

Broward Sheriff's Office officials say no one was home at the time of the call, but SWAT units responded and searched the home and surrounding areas.

A nearby elementary school was also placed on lockdown for over a hour before police cleared the area.

Hogg, along with several other survivors of the Feb. 14 attack that killed 17 people, recently announced a summer bus tour aimed at registering young voters. The 75 stops in more than 20 states will also include each congressional district in Florida. 

Ansonia schools are in danger of closing around a week early because of a budget shortfall and there will be a special meeting tonight, according to the Ansonia Board of Education. 

The board of education is in a battle with the city over education funding after the city’s Board of Aldermen voted to cut $600,000 from the Board of Education in January and the board of education filed a lawsuit against the City of Ansonia, arguing the city is “illegally” cutting its cash after already having approved the education budget.  

A letter the attorney for the board of education sent on May 31 to the commissioner of the state Department of Education says the board is $500,000 short of being able to cover the payroll because of the city budget.

Supt. Carol Merlone will be holding a news conference at 4:30 p.m. at the board of education to provide a brief statement.

Then a special board of education meeting will be held at 7 p.m. about the possible early closure of Ansonia Public Schools by Wednesday, June 6.

The school year was supposed to end on June 18, according to the board of education, and a news release from the school board said this would mean the district would not meet the state-mandated 180 days of school.

There will be an informational meeting at 8 p.m. in the Ansonia High School auditorium following the special meeting of the Board of Education. 

They’re back.

The two most conspicuous absences throughout New England’s voluntary offseason programs had been quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski, but each member of one of the most prolific quarterback-receiver tandems in NFL history returned to Gillette Stadium on Tuesday for the first day of the team’s mandatory minicamp.

It had been the expectation all along that Brady and Gronkowski would be back for this week, which consists of three sessions between Tuesday and Thursday.

When asked if the absence of the superstars affected the team’s preparation for the upcoming season, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was quick to point out that organized team activities (OTAs) are voluntary.

“It’s good to have all the players here,” Belichick said. “It’s always good to work with all the players.”

Save for injuries, no other players were missing from minicamp on Tuesday.

The injury bug is already present for the Patriots, however, with Malcolm Mitchell, Joe Thuney, Jacob Hollister, Brandon Bolden and David Jones not spotted during drills on Tuesday. Mitchell’s absence is certainly a reason to sound an alarm after the 24-year-old wide receiver missed all of the 2017 season with a lingering knee injury.

During 11-on-11 sessions – without players wearing pads – both Brady and Gronkowski received reps with the first-team offense. Brady completed 11 of his 13 passes.

Gronkowski caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from Brian Hoyer at one point during 11-on-11s, splitting through Jordan Richards and Damarius Travis in coverage before finishing with one of his patented ‘Gronk spikes.’

Gronkowski, who contemplated retirement before confirming last month that he’d be back for the 2018 season, confessed to having some jitters prior to his first day back with the team.

“The first time, when it’s been awhile, you get some jitters going out there,” Gronkowski said. “You just don’t know; it’s football, you’ve got to compete. You’ve got to compete with really good players every time you step out on the field.”

Asked why he stayed away from the voluntary OTAs, Gronkowski said that he’d spent the spring training on his own.

“I felt like that was the best thing for me,” Gronkowski said. “I wanted to take care of my body, take care of myself and see where I was at before I came out here. I think it was a good decision.”

“It’s exciting any time you have your teammates out here working together, working as a team, trying to get better,” Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater said of the return of Brady and Gronkowski. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

Entering his 11th season with the Patriots – behind only Brady and kicker Stephen Gostkowski for longest active tenure with New England – Slater said that players are so zoned in on what they have to do as individuals that it’s hard to spend much time on who happens to be in camp, vs. who isn’t.

“You’ve got enough to worry about trying to get yourself going in the right direction,” said Slater, who re-signed with the Patriots this offseason after visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency.

Devin McCourty, entering his ninth season with New England, was asked about President Donald Trump rescinding the invitation of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to the White House after practice. Without speaking for anyone on the Eagles, McCourty offered a quick opinion on the matter.

“We’re not surprised, are we?”

Brady did not speak with the media after Tuesday’s practice. Using last offseason as a guideline, Brady did not speak with the media between the postgame of Super Bowl LI in February until the second week of training camp in August.

The Patriots have four more voluntary sessions next week, with the Tuesday session open to the media. After that, no one is required to be back in Foxboro until the beginning of training camp in late July.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)announced Tuesday he's canceling the chamber's annual August recess over what he says is the "historic obstruction" by his Democratic colleagues.

McConnell said senators "should expect to remain in session in August to pass legislation, including appropriations bills, and to make additional progress on the president’s nominees."

Senators were schedule to depart Washington on August 3 and not return until after Labor Day — just three weeks before the October 1 fiscal year deadline. McConnell said in a statement that lawmakers will stay to work on "passing appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year."

Democrats immediately responded that Republicans are so nervous about the November midterm election that will determine control of the Senate that McConnell is keeping Democrats away from the campaign trail this summer.

Not all is lost for senators hoping to take a break. The Republican leader's office says it's expected that senators will be away from Washington during the first full week of August before returning for the rest of the month.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Using President Donald Trump's preferred communication method, Eagles star safety and political activist Malcolm Jenkins vowed via Twitter to continue fighting "the truth" despite White House snub.

On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Trump disinvited the Super Bowl champions to D.C., Jenkins accused the White House of lying to "paint the picture that these players are anti-American, anti-flag and anti-military."

"It's hard to step out in the public and fight to make it better," Jenkins tweeted. "It takes courage to stand up for the truth even if it's not a popular one."

Jenkins' tweeted his statement minutes after the White House issued its own statement doubling down on Trump's decision and accusing the Super Bowl champions of abandoning their fans by offering to send only a small delegation to D.C.

The White House said it was the team’s “lack of good faith” that prompted Trump to cancel the celebration.

“Unfortunately, the Eagles offered to send only a tiny handful of representatives, while making clear that the great majority of players would not attend the event, despite planning to be in D.C. today. In other words, the vast majority of the Eagles team decided to abandon their fans,” the statement read.

Trump initially claimed his decision was rooted in the ongoing debate over whether NFL players must stand for the national anthem. That question became increasingly controversial after San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began silently kneeling on the sidelines at the beginning of games.

Kaepernick's protest was intended to raise awareness around racism and, specifically, the killing of black men by police. But his on-field activism sparked criticism from both the NFL and football fans who claimed that politics and sports don't mix. 

Things started to fall apart for the Eagles Friday when the Eagles reneged on their initial promise to send a group of 81 people to the White House, according to the Trump administration. More than 1,000 Eagles fans were also expected to attend the celebration, the White House said.

But the Eagles asked to reschedule their visit because only a small handful of players could attend. The president, instead, canceled the celebration on Monday less than 24 hours before festivities were set to take place, according to the White House.

Trump's suprising decision was announced late Monday evening in a short statement painting the team — whose mascot is also the United States' national symbol — as unpatriotic. The 

"[The Eagles] disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country," Trump said in a statement released Monday evening. "The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better."

In lieu of a visit with the team, the White House is staging a “Celebration of America” featuring music provided by U.S. military bands and choruses.

This isn't the first time Trump has disinvited a professional sports team after its players hedged on visiting the White House. Last year, after the Golden State Warriors won the NBA finals, Trump singled out Stephen Curry in a tweet:

"Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!"

Perhaps anticipating yet another showdown as the NBA finals near, Cavaliers star LeBron James said Trump's Eagles backlash is "typical" of this president. 

"I know no matter who wins this series ... it won't be Golden State or Cleveland going" to the White House, he said.

"Let's not let someone un-inviting you to their house take away from that [championship] moment," James added.

Reactions to the president’s decision were mixed in Philadelphia, which continues to revel in the city’s historic Super Bowl victory. Mayor Jim Kenney told NBC10 that the Eagles remain world champions “regardless of where they’re going today.”

“I'm very proud of our team. I'm very proud of the Eagles organization for their involvement in the community,” he said. "I'm really glad that the president disinvited them as opposed to some people going and some people not going because, this way, that doesn't leak into the locker room next season and there's not any disunity. They're a team together. They're the underdogs forever. And I'm proud of all of them."

Several local leaders, including Sen. Pat Toomey and Sen. Bob Casey, also canceled their visits to the White House Tuesday. Only U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican who is hoping to unseat Casey in November, planned to attend the “Celebration of America.”

Utah native Joshua Holt, who was freed last month from a Venezuelan prison after nearly two years held without trial, said in a "Today" interview Tuesday that the experience still haunts him.

Holt, a 26-year-old Mormon missionary, was jailed at El Helicoide, or The Helix, a prison in Caracas criticized for its human rights abuses.

He said cockroaches crawled over him inside his tiny cell, which was about the size of a twin-sized bed, and a plastic bag was used to cover the door. He sat in his underwear, barely about to breathe.

"They never took me out to go to the bathroom," Holt added. "If you had to use the bathroom, you either had a bottle or a newspaper."

Holt was in the country to marry Thamara Candelo, a Venezuelan woman he met online, when anti-gang police accused the couple of stockpiling assault rifles and grenades in her family home.

The State Department later called the weapons charges "questionable."

A body was found in a vehicle at the Walmart parking lot in Norwich Tuesday.

Police were called to the parking lot at 220 Salem Turnpike for a report of a deceased person. The death does not appear to be criminal in nature, police told NBC Connecticut.

The investigation is ongoing.

Piles of mulch stretching the length of a football field are left in Hamden – the remnants of hundreds upon hundreds of trees ripped from their roots when a tornado rolled through last month.

Michael Tattar made his fourth trip to the debris drop-off station at the Department of Public Works in Hamden Tuesday. He said it won’t be his last.

“It’s going to be weeks if not even months for some stuff to get done because you’re finding more and more things that are a problem,” said Michael Tattar, a longtime resident of Hamden.

On May 15, an EF1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 110 mph moved along a 9½-mile path between Beacon Falls and Hamden, according to the National Weather Service.

The progress in the hard hit town has been slow and steady with crews just moving to 12-hour days after working around the clock for weeks.

“We’ve pretty much been in most areas at least once,” said Craig Cesare, the director of the Department of Public Works. “Folks as you can imagine are continuously bringing more debris out to the curbs as they’re reaching their backyards. There has just been an overwhelming amount of debris put out.”

Cesare said all of the debris will be turned into piles and piles of mulch that have to be processed before they can be used. He said it may contain insects or plant diseases, such as termites or poison ivy, so they are urging people not to take it.

“Typically when you buy mulch it has been treated and cleaned and filtered, so this is raw mulch,” explained Cesare. “It has anything and everything inside of it, so you need to be mindful of what you’re handling.”

Meanwhile, neighbors told NBC Connecticut they appreciate all the town is doing to make the clean up a little easier.

“It has been a tremendous response, and I think for the damage that’s been done I’m kind of well pleased with what they’ve done so far, said Hamden resident Mike Montgomery.”

Cesare said the department has spent about $1.5 million of the $2 million the town borrowed for immediate expenses. He expects the clean-up to be completed in about four weeks.