A Meriden man is accused of stealing an American flag from New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart’s home.

Police arrested 54-year-old Stephen Neary Friday. Investigators said Neary was seen on video trespassing and stealing the flag from the front of the mayor’s house last week.

Neary was charged with third-degree criminal trespass and sixth-degree larceny.

Stewart had posted the video from her surveillance camera on her personal Facebook page. She said a replacement flag was anonymously left outside her house before she got home.

As families find ways to keep cool this holiday weekend, officials also want to remind everyone to be smart about the heat.

An excessive heat watch has been issued for parts of the state on Sunday.

But the mercury was already on the rise Friday, and dozens of kids spent the day splashing around at Goodwin Park in Hartford.

In Hartford cooling centers, splash pads and some of the city's pools are now open or will open soon. Goodwin Park was packed Friday.

“I’m kinda hot, that's why I came here. It is exciting. I love getting wet too,” said 8-year-old Leiliani Calderon.

Mom Marisol Espinosa is staying cool in the shade.

"The pool isn't open yet, so the next best thing is the sprinkler here or go to the beach you know,” Espinosa said.

Officials want to warn folks the heat can be deadly. Check on your neighbors, pets and don't forget your kids in the car.

Many towns and cities across the state have set up cooling centers. Bloomfield’s libraries are part of that plan.

Daniel Bernard is a 10-year-old from Bloomfield. “It’s really hot and I get a headache,” he told NBC Connecticut. “Kind of cooler in here."

Brooklyn Cooke, her best friend and her best friend’s grandmother waited for the town pool to open ahead of the heat wave.

“I can play in the water,” Cookie said.

And what many of us may already know, but is a good reminder during a heat wave -  be cautious of the jobs of first responders.

"The fire hydrants in the street, we ask for the community's help in making sure these hydrants aren't turned on, and children are not playing in the roadways. We've had numerous close calls in the past,” Hartford Fire Chief Reginald Freeman reminded residents.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin reminded families they should also make sure not to leave children and pets alone in hot cars that are locked up and turned off.

For a list of available cooling centers, click here.

Connecticut’s US senators say the Senate set a precedent when it comes to considering Supreme Court Justice nominees during election years, and the Senate should stick to it.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D) said, “Mitch McConnell didn’t say he was doing it for political reasons. He said he was doing it to protect the American people, to give the American people the choice in 2016.”

Murphy is referring to the was treated by the Republican controlled Senate in 2016. Garland, a US District Court Judge in Washington DC, was President Barack Obama’s pick to succeed Antonin Scalia. Scalia died suddenly, leading to the vacancy.

Now, Democrats like Murphy and Blumenthal are arguing the situation is similar, if not identical. An election is four months away, and control of the US Senate is at stake. In 2016, McConnell rolled the dice by delaying action, on the hope that the Republican presidential nominee, at the time the primary season was in full swing, would defeat the Democrat, allowing for a conservative to be nominated to the bench. That risk paid off.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal says the biggest concern for him is the future of women’s health and the access to abortion services.

“This choice has real life impacts for women’s rights to decide when they become pregnant, their reproductive rights, women’s healthcare in all forms.”

Murphy says even though president will not be decided for more than two years, the Senate should wait on any confirmation.

“That is not a rule that I would set but if you set it then you have to apply it to both Republican presidents and Democratic presidents.

A Vernon woman was shocked to discover her personal health information posted for the world to see after purchasing a medical alert bracelet online.

After a recent medical diagnosis, Leah Luce bought a personalized medical alert bracelet from a third-party seller on Amazon.com.

In addition to her medical conditions, the bracelet included Luce’s name, birthdate and emergency contact information.

Luce said she intentionally picked a design that had most of her personal details printed on the inside of the bracelet. She said she liked the product and even gave it a positive review on Amazon.

A few weeks later, she received a frightening phone call from her physician.

“My doctor had notified me and said you know, she didn't want to scare me," Luce said.

Luce said an employee at her doctor’s office had been shopping for medical bracelets on Amazon and came across Luce’s personal information in some of the photos advertising different medical ID bracelets.

Luce said it took her only a few minutes of searching to find the photos. She immediately called Amazon and said an agent told her the company would investigate. She then received a follow up email from Amazon, which said the company will not be able to release the outcome of its investigation.

Luce also contacted the seller, Personalized Love Jewelry. She said an employee told her the photos would be taken down within an hour. When they were still up the following day, Luce reached out to NBC Connecticut Responds.

NBC Connecticut Responds sent emails to Personalized Love Jewelry and Amazon asking how Luce’s personal information ended up in the photos.

The seller responded almost immediately with an apology and wrote in an email, “I will ask my workmate cover it with mosaics within 24 hours.”

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement, “All Marketplace sellers are required to follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account. The products in question are no longer available.”

The page with the photos that contain Luce’s information is no longer available on the Amazon site.

Luce said she’s lost trust in Amazon and plans to cancel her Prime membership. She hopes telling her story will prevent others from going through a similar ordeal.

Despite the seller revealing her personal health information on the Amazon website, this is not a violation of the federal medical privacy law, known as HIPAA. Only health plans, health clearinghouse and healthcare providers are bound by the law.

State House Square in Hartford saw about 50 protesters arguing for a reversal of the Supreme Court’s decision on President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

The high court upheld the president’s executive action that barred visitors from several majority Muslim countries, in addition to North Korea and Venezuela.

"We will not forget that unless he comes out and he apologizes and he reverses himself on this policy and so many other policies,” said Mongi Dhaouadi with the Connecticut Council on American Islamic Relations.

The high court ruled, on a 5-4 vote, that the travel ban was well within the president’s executive authority. The court also determined that the president, in his role as Commander in Chief, can make decisions when he deems it to be in the country’s national security best interest.

David McGuire with the Connecticut ACLU, found that to be a flawed justification given President Trump’s track record.

"The troubling thing about the ruling on Tuesday was that the court basically gave no considerations to statements that Donald Trump made as a candidate or tweeted out,” said McGuire. “It's very clear. He said he's going to stop Muslims from coming here, period. It was very concerning that the court just read the order on its face and really deferred completely to the president about security concerns."

Muslims in Connecticut said Friday they feel the system designed to protect freedom of religion, let them down.

"If you think of the Supreme Court, it's supposed to be the organization that is the checks and balances against a president out of control but we can see even the Supreme Court has abdicated its responsibility for being fair and for standing up to this nation and its values,” said Reza Monsour, president of the Islamic Center of Greater Hartford.

The shooting in a Maryland newsroom this week that left five people dead came less than six months before a new law takes effect in that state that allows people to raise “red flags” restricting a person’s access to guns.

There is no way of knowing if the events in Annapolis would have played out differently, but the new law, an extreme risk protective order law, allows relatives and law enforcement officials to ask a court to temporarily restrict a person’s access to guns if they are found to be a risk to themselves or others. The law will go into effect in October.

“Given the facts of this case, I think there was a strong possibility that law enforcement would have been able to obtain an extreme risk protection order against this person and therefore the person’s guns might have been removed or he wouldn’t have been able to buy this gun,” said Lindsay Nichols, the federal policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control advocacy group.

Maryland’s gun laws are typically stronger for handguns than long guns but the extreme risk protection order applies to all firearms, she noted.

The accused shooter, 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos, bought the pump-action shotgun he used in the killings legally a year or so ago, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare told reporters on Friday.

Ramos apparently had a longstanding grudge against the newspaper over a 2011 column about his pleading guilty to criminal harassment. According to court records, he pleaded guilty to the charge in July 2011 in Anne Arundel County and later sued the newspaper unsuccessfully over the column. A former publisher, Thomas Marquardt, told The Baltimore Sun that Ramos began harassing the newspaper’s staff shortly after the column was published.

The misdemeanor harassment conviction, for "misuse of electronic mail," would not have disqualified Ramos from buying a shotgun. Some convictions would prevent a licensed gun dealer from selling a weapon to a person — felonies, violent crimes and misdemeanors that carry penalties of two years — but not his harassment charge. The maximum sentence for that misdemeanor is one year in jail, a fine up to $500 or both.

Maryland also does not require a private seller to conduct a background check before the sale of a rifle or shotgun, though the checks are generally required for handgun sales, Nichols said.

“So the harassment conviction would not have prevented him from passing a background check, and a background check may have not even been required,” she said. “Maryland does have an assault weapons ban that may have prevented him from obtaining a more deadly weapon. But there is clearly still a lot of work to be done, even in a state like Maryland with relatively strong gun laws.”

The Giffords Law Center, which evaluates the strength of each state’s gun laws, has awarded Maryland an A-, one of only a half-dozen states to receive a top high mark. This year, Maryland also passed a law requiring a person convicted of domestic violence crimes, even some misdemeanors, to surrender firearms.

Only Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois and Massachusetts require the licensing of rifles, though California does maintain records of all long gun sales. Any time a long gun is sold in California, a record must be sent to the state Department of Justice.

Red flag laws, also called gun violence restraining orders, gained attention after the shooting deaths of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February. The mother of the alleged shooter, Nikolas Cruz, had contacted police over behavior she found troubling.

Afterward, Florida quickly passed a red flag law, followed by Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to another gun control advocacy group, Everytown for Gun Safety. Other states that are considering such legislation: Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Texas Gov. Greg Abbot says he wants to explore a law, but the Texas Tribune notes that it has previously gone nowhere in the Texas Legislature.

Before the Parkland shooting, only five states had such a red flag law in place, while now 11 do.

After the Parkland shooting, the National Rifle Association offered some conditional support for red flag laws.

“We need to stop dangerous people before they act,” Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, said in a video. “So Congress should provide funding to states to adopt risk protection orders.”

But it also said it did not support the kind of red flag laws that had already been passed at that point, which would include ones in California and Washington state, and it sued to block the new Florida law contending that its provision banning sales to those under 21 was a violation of the Second Amendment. 

Gun control advocates remain skeptical about what the NRA would support. In an email, the NRA said the organization believes there should be laws in place to prevent "truly dangerous individuals" from accessing firearms. But it stressed the organization's commitment to fully protecting the "Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens" and said that laws like Maryland's would need to "include criminal penalties for those who bring false or frivolous charges." 

A review by the Oregonian newspaper of the red flag law that went into effect in Oregon last year found that in the four months from Jan. 1 to April 30, judges had granted gun removals in 24 of the 27 cases filed. At least four of the gun owners had threatened to shoot people in public places, but most removals were meant to prevent suicides and domestic violence shootings.

A study from the University of Indiana found that red flag laws in Indiana and Connecticut were associated with a drop in the rate of suicides by firearms in both states. Indiana’s rate dropped by 8 percent in the decade after the law was enacted; Connecticut saw a 14 percent drop in the eight years after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, when the state tightened enforcement of its law.

Nichols, of the Giffords Law Center, said that red flag laws are based on the best predictors of future violence, including threats of violence or suicide or actual acts of violence or suicide attempts. The removal of weapons are temporary, generally lasting about a year, and follow judicial due process, she said.

“They really fill an important gap because they enable family members and law enforcement to temporarily remove guns from a person that they know to be dangerous,” Nichols said.

“They provide this great opportunity to prevent these sorts of tragedies from happening in the future,” she said.

An undocumented child separated from a parent is getting care here in Connecticut.

Today lawmakers visited with the people in charge of that facility in Groton.

Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, along with Congressman Joe Courtney, went to Noank Community Support Services.

They were hoping to meet the child there who was separated from a parent as a result of President Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy.

At the last minute they were told that could not take place. They still learned a lot about how the child separated at the border is doing and how this agency is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reunite him or her with family.

Regina Moller with Noank Community Support Services said “There’s been further conversations with both parents of the child. and we’re certainly working in advancing how we get them reunified with a parent or family.”

Moller added it will take hours more of conversations to get the child reunited with relatives.

All the members of the Congressional delegation who visited Moller expressed frustration with what they call the “snail’s pace” the federal government is maintaining when it comes to getting these minors back with loved ones.

A 14-year-old was shot multiple times in Bridgeport Friday.

Police confirmed they were investigating the shooting in the area of Park Avenue and Park Terrance Friday afternoon. The teen victim was shot multiple times in the face and chest, according to police.

No other details were immediately available.

With this weekend’s heat, thousands are expected to flock to Ocean Beach Park in New London. But the city is working on a paving project on Ocean Avenue – a main artery to the beach – which means drivers can expect detours.

Ocean Avenue, south of Gardner Avenue to Neptune Avenue, will be closed Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday from morning through evening.

The recommended route to Ocean Beach will be from Montauk Avenue to Pequot Avenue, but there are other detours posted, too.

Local traffic will have access to Ocean Avenue.

New London Public Works Director Brian Sear calls the approximately $2 million project a total “reclamation and repave.” It’s state-funded through a grant. The work started in September and was supposed to be completed by April. But there were some utility conflicts that set it back.

Sear said the project is in its last two weeks.

“I guess it’s inconvenient for people who are used to using the road but they’re going to end up with a brand new road and they’re detouring one block,” Sear said.

New London Mayor Michael Passero called it a “nightmare scenario” now that it’s impacting beach season.

Fourth of July and Sailfest, which is coming up on July 14, are two of the busiest weekends in New London, according to Police Chief Peter Reichard.

“Maybe not the ideal time to do it but it is what it is,” Reichard said.

Ocean Beach’s manager said the beach could see 10,000 people on both Saturday and Sunday.

There will be extra officers out to help mitigate traffic flow.

“We knew it was going to be a hot, muggy weekend and that usually attracts large crowds to the beaches. Not only Ocean Beach but some of the private beaches off Pequot Avenue,” Reichard added.

People who live in the area said on a typical beach weekend, traffic is bad enough. On popular weekends or holidays, some residents have seen cars back up a mile and half, sometimes farther.

“It’s horrible! The worst weekend in the world to cut it up the way they did,” said Debbra Ellison who lives on Neptune Avenue, right before the gates to Ocean Beach.

She’s not happy about the weekend chosen to do the road work.

“It’s going to be bad. I’m not going out,” Ellison said.

“The traffic’s going to be incredible now,” chimed Lenny Lindh of New London, who feels similarly as final preparations and paving starts on the road.

But some residents are just going with the flow.

“I choose not to be bothered by those and we’re going to enjoy ourselves and this beautiful weather,” Jennifer Tattersall said.

New details are being revealed in the chilling death of a 74-year-old Connecticut woman who was found in a pool of blood, her neck stabbed three times with a kitchen knife, next to her own bed earlier this month. 

The arrest warrant for Eden Claxton's 75-year-old husband, Allen, was unsealed Friday -- and it paints a picture of a man prosecutors allege was desperate to end medical and financial struggles by murder-suicide. 

Emergency crews responding to a 911 call from Allen Claxton the morning of June 11 found Eden Claxton's butchered body in the master bedroom of their upscale Hycliff Terrace home in Stamford home. Allen Claxton was at the top of the stairs calling for them to come to him, according to the arrest warrant. Police arrived. 

Allen Claxton had a rope around his neck and told them someone had grabbed him from behind and tried to strangle him; his white T-shirt and white shorts were covered in what appeared to be blood, the warrant says. He had two swollen eyes, which were black and blue, a swollen tongue, cuts to his left hand and blood on his face -- and was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries, according to court records. 

Investigators went to the master bedroom. There they found Eden Claxton, barely clothed, her right arm bent over her neck with a fist in a clenched position as if she had desperately tried to stop the bleeding. 

Inches from her body was a kitchen knife about 8 to 10 inches long, and it appeared someone had tried to wipe off the blood. There was blood on the sheets and pillow on her side of the bed, blood on the window frame, blood on the floor -- and an apparent effort to wipe it clean with two tissues, the arrest warrant says. 

Officers noticed apparent drops of blood on the stairwell leading downstairs and followed them; they found blood on the outer kitchen door handle and lock leading to the side of the house, and more apparent blood that seemed to have been cleaned up on the floor in front of the door. In the kitchen there was a butcher block of knives; it was full. 

The cops then went to the basement, where they found another butcher block of knives. That one had knives missing. Nothing else was disturbed. 

According to the arrest warrant, Allen Claxton told cops he and Eden were in bed around 7 a.m. that day and they heard a noise like something fell off a shelf. He went downstairs to check it out, saw nothing unusual and came back upstairs with a knife. When he reached the top, he says he felt something slip around his neck and then passed out. When he awoke about three minutes later in one of the home's bedrooms, not the master, he didn't have the knife. He went into the master bedroom and saw his wife in a pool of blood, the arrest warrant says. He called 911. 

Allen Claxton told officers he didn't see who choked him. He also kept asking where his wife was and was eventually told she was dead. He went on to tell officers his wife had breast cancer, glaucoma and other ailments, while he was battling his own blood disorder, but, when asked, denied that he or his wife would be driven to suicide by their illnesses. 

An emergency room doctor reported to police that Allen Claxton's injuries were consistent with a "botched hanging." Investigators challenged Allen Claxton's account of a third party assailant; they asked how he cut such deep lacerations to his hand that he needed stitches and he said he didn't remember, according to the arrest warrant. 

A search of the home found handwritten notes by Allen Claxton that conveyed research of suicide and murder; others indicated a financial strain with a desperation to relieve that strain, the arrest warrant says. A review of Allen Claxton's email accounts found personal thoughts on depression, anxiety and murder/suicide, the arrest warrant says. 

One email stood out. According to the arrest warrant, it said, in part, "Every day is the same slipping towards the event which will shatter our lives. I spend every day paying bills and watching our money disappear. To be foreclosed from the place which has been home for thirty years and with no knowledge of how to live anywhere else is paralyzing. This is why life continues unchanged hoping for some miracle. The only way out of this is an (sic) to create an horrific event where we both die at the same time. We are elderly and if we were younger the plan would be different. We are alone and the few friends we have will be horrified but they are not family members and the shock will pass. Our children did not see us frequently and we are not part of their lives." 

"Taking your own life is not something I ever contemplated but I also never planted (sic) to become so destitute. I have never felt anything other than love for my wife so helping her with her own death is a (sic) tragic and fills me with guilt," the email said. 

Investigators learned Eden Claxton had stage 2 breast cancer and was scheduled for a mastectomy June 20, nine days after she was found dead. 

Allen Claxton was arrested this week. He pleaded not guilty to murder and was released after posting $1.5 million bond. His attorney confirmed those facts Thursday when News 4 New York reached out for comment. 

Allen Claxton also had to surrender his passport and was ordered not to leave the state without permission.

The NBC Connecticut meteorologists have issued a First Alert for some seriously hot weather is moving in this weekend, with temperatures feeling like the triple digits likely Sunday.

Saturday will be hot, with highs reaching 95 inland and high 80s along the coast, but the humidity remains relatively low.

On Sunday, the humidity kicks up, and the "feels-like" temperatures soar. An excessive heat watch is in effect for most of the state Sunday and Monday, with a heat advisory along the shore. With actual temperatures in the high 90s, it will feel like over 100 degrees inland Sunday.

The heat sticks around with 90s forecasted for Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday and Friday inland, with a bit of a break along the shoreline.

A cold front and a chance of a storm should offer a break in the heat by next weekend.

For more information on the forecast anytime, click here.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that North Korea has increased its production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sites in recent months — and that Kim Jong Un may try to hide those facilities as he seeks more concessions in nuclear talks with the Trump administration, U.S. officials told NBC News. 

The intelligence assessment, which has not previously been reported, seems to counter the sentiments expressed by President Donald Trump, who tweeted after his historic June 12 summit with Kim that "there was no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea."

Analysts at the CIA and other intelligence agencies don't see it that way, according to more than a dozen American officials who are familiar with their assessments and spoke on the condition of anonymity. They see a regime positioning itself to extract every concession it can from the Trump administration — while clinging to nuclear weapons it believes are essential to survival.

Tim Crews, publisher and editor of The Sacramento Valley Mirror, has fielded his share of death threats in the 27 years since he opened the newspaper. In April 2017, an unidentified reader left a hangman's noose at the door of his office in Willows, California — an implied threat that may be linked to a local murder investigation the paper was covering at the time.

The gesture was extreme enough to catch the attention of the international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, but not enough to intimidate the 74-year-old journalist.

"If you go to jail in Glenn County, if you’re arrested, your name goes in the paper," Crews told NBC News on Friday. "We report every police call. We report every accident. ... We’re the paper of record here. But not everyone wants to be in the paper of record."

So Crews says he was saddened, but not surprised, to have to write a Page 1 editorial about the mass shooting that left five journalists dead Thursday in Annapolis, Maryland, for the Saturday edition of his 2,960-circulation broadsheet.

Officers from Southbury Police Department and Troopers from Connecticut State Police are trying to identify a suspect after two suspicious incidents in Southbury and Roxbury early Saturday morning.

According to police, around 1:00 a.m., an elderly resident of Heritage Village in Southbury says she was awoken by a nude man standing in her bedroom. She said that once she confronted him, the man ran out of her house, got into a black vehicle and sped off.

Shortly after, around 1:24 a.m., an elderly resident of Bernhardt Meadow Lane in Roxbury reported a nude man standing in his bedroom. Officers say when the resident yelled, the nude man ran out of his house to a vehicle that the resident did not see.

The suspect in both incidents is described as a 30-40 year old bald man of average height with a thin build.

If you have information about the incident in Southbury, you're asked to call Southbury Police Officer Corigliano at (203) 264-5912. If you have information about the incident in Roxbury, you're asked to call Trooper Gray at (203) 267-2200. All calls will remain confidential.

An on ramp on Route 9 north in New Britain is closed after a tractor trailer accident on Saturday afternoon.

Officials say a tractor trailer carrying milk rolled over on the Ellis Street on ramp to Route 9 north around noon.

Containers of milk could be seen spilled in the grass near the on ramp.

Firefighters say one person was extricated and transported to a hospital. Investigators are working to determine what caused the crash.

It is unclear how long the on ramp will be closed for.

Actress Diane Guerrero took the stage Saturday at D.C.’s Families Belong Together rally to share her own experience of family separation and demand change for the children being "irreversibly damaged" at the border today.

Guerrero’s mother and father were deported back to their native Colombia when she was just 14 years old. Her older brother was later deported as well. The 31-year-old actress, known for her roles in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” and the CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” has written an adult and children’s book about her divided family.

“Once my family was taken, I became fully aware that my community matters less to some people,” Guerrero told the crowd in D.C. “That we are treated differently because of the color of our skin or where our parents were born.”

Guerrero, who was born in America, first spoke publically about being the child of undocumented immigrants in a 2014 Los Angeles Times op-ed. She detailed her life after their deportation and wrote that "not a single person at any level of government took any note of me. No one checked to see if I had a place to live or food to eat." Though "the parents of friends graciously" cared for her, she said she lived a "rocky existence." Guerrero recounted the singing recitals and graduations her family missed.

Standing on the D.C. stage and at times speaking through tears, Guerrero admitted that she was “lucky enough to have people in my community take me in... to be able to continue school… to find work or to go to college" following her family's deportation. However, she acknowledged that “that kind of luck is one in a million.”

“I wouldn’t have been so lucky if I had been among today’s generation of children who will be irreversibly damaged by our government's actions,” Guerrero said. "I would have had a much different story to tell if I had been imprisoned after being separated from my family, without a warm bed and only the cold faces of ICE agents and the crinkling feeling of a Mylar blanket."

She railed against the administration's zero-tolerance policy that separated more than 2,000 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Guerrero was one of the thousands of people in cities across the country who protested Saturday and demanded the administration reunite divided families.

“It’s a denial of children’s humanity to say that because they were born in a difficult or dangerous place at the wrong time that they don’t deserve a second chance, that they shouldn’t ask for refuge,” Guerrero shouted. “How many more children are we willing to subject to a lifetime of pain?”

She encouraged her listeners to “remember in November” the administration’s policies and to enact change. She implored the crowd not to “be blind to the blatant disregard of human life.”

“When we march to the polls, remember our anger, the outrage and the desire to act. Remember in November that the end to these cruel policies starts with us.”

“As one who has seen first hand, I have taught myself to have hope,” Guerrero added. “I have to believe that this is an opportunity for us to rise above the tyranny, the ignorance, the malpractice, and believe in change. This is the chance for us to come together as a nation and rise above division and fear. Only then can we stop the separation of families and stop the policies that place children in cages.”

Guerrero concluded: “Te amo, mamá, papá, hermano. Te amo, and I miss you every day.”

Ten cows are safe after Troopers from Connecticut State Police Troop E in Montville helped them get away from highway in Griswold on Friday.

Police say the Troopers helped round up about 10 cows that were found enjoying a meal along I-395 in Griswold.

It is unclear where the cows came from and how they got so close to the highway.

Multiple state parks have reached capacity on Saturday.

Miller's Pond State Park in Durham reached capacity around 12:00 p.m and is closed to new vehicles.

Wadsworth Falls State Park in Middletown is at capacity and cannot accomodate new vehicles as of 1:15 p.m.

Burr Pond State Park in Torrington is also full to capacity. No new vehicles were allowed in after 2:50 p.m.

For the latest state park information keep an eye on the Ct State Parks twitter @CTStateParks.

Temperatures on Saturday were expected to reach 95 degrees with partly cloudy skies.

Three state swimming area have reopened on Saturday after being closed due to water quality concerns.

According to DEEP, Rocky Neck State Park in Niantic, Kettletown State Park in Southbury and Gardner Lake State Park in Salem are all open again. High bacteria levels from recent rain forced the state to issue temporary no swimming orders on Friday.

The swimming area at Mashamoquet Brook State Park in Pomfret will remain closed. It is unclear when it may reopen.

DEEP is also reminding residents to take precautions when at any swim area. They recommend following all posted beach rules and being aware of underwater hazards. According to DEEP, natural swimming areas can have sudden drop-offs, inshore holes, large rocks or tree roots that can't be easily seen from the surface and can be hazardous when jumping and diving.

Parents are also encouraged to always watch their children and only swim in designated swim areas where lifeguards can see you. 

The historic state capital of Annapolis is draped in grief from a shooting attack on the local newspaper, which killed journalists who chronicled soccer games, art exhibits and the fabric of small-city life.

A sign outside The Annapolis Bookstore, a block from the Maryland State House, starkly expresses the depth of sorrow many are feeling in this quaint waterside capital of about 40,000 near the Chesapeake Bay. "There are no words,'' it says.

With its weekly sailboat races and picturesque downtown, residents were settling into summer's languid rhythms when the shooting shattered the usual tranquility. In a quiet town where the incoming class of the U.S. Naval Academy just arrived this week and residents take pride in a rich colonial legacy, the shooting at The Capital that claimed five lives opens a new chapter in its long history.

"It feels so personal,'' said Mary Adams, who owns The Annapolis Bookstore and knew two of the victims. "It has shifted our community, and maybe it's made us more attuned to the fact that we are all in this together.''

The Rev. M. Dion Thompson, who worked as a journalist at The Baltimore Sun for 15 years, made the sadness a focus of his sermon at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Annapolis on Saturday evening. He also highlighted journalism as a force to comfort the afflicted, as he sought to comfort people saddened by the killings.

"Not that it's awakened the community, but I think our community now joins so many others in feeling this intense harm that has been done to us,'' Thompson said after the service. "The Capital is not a giant newspaper. Annapolis is not a giant town, so people know who we are talking about.''

Adams knew Wendi Winters, the paper's special projects editor. They met years ago at a Harry Potter night at another bookstore in town. She also knew assistant managing editor Rob Hiaasen, also among the dead. The others killed in Thursday's rampage were editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.

"I'm just so sad that this happened to ... the people and their families,'' Adams said. "They're all good people just trying to support a local newspaper, and now everyone is wondering how could this have happened.''

Jarrod W. Ramos has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder. Authorities say he had a longtime grudge against the paper, suing it in 2012 for an article it ran about him pleading guilty to harassing a woman. A judge later threw it out as groundless. In past years, Ramos repeatedly targeted staffers with angry, profanity-laced tweets.

Designed more for an age of horses and buggies than SUVs, Annapolis has a baroque street plan of downtown traffic circles and diagonal streets that can make it feel distant from modern times. For some, that sense of withdrawal made Thursday's tragedy all the more shocking.

Lisa Quina, owner of an interior design studio called Barefoot Dwelling, recently moved from Baltimore - a city struggling for years to lower a high homicide rate - in search of a smaller, safer community.

One of the considerations for choosing Annapolis was its close-knit nature.

"I guess it's a wakeup call in any community,'' Quina said. "Despite how quaint or how historic, how uncomplicated some of our day-to-day challenges are, we are vulnerable to the worst possible scenario.''

Caitlin Walls, who works as an assistant interior designer at the shop, said Annapolis has always felt to her like a safe place to be. "It's sad it's such a growing reality in places that you thought were the safer places,'' Walls said of the shooting.

And for some raised in Annapolis, like New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, the tragedy hits hard even after they've gone elsewhere. Born in Tennessee, Belichick graduated from Annapolis High in 1970 and has strong ties from when his father was an assistant coach at Navy.

"For my entire life, The Capital has been my hometown newspaper. My family and I have enjoyed special relationships with many great people who have worked for the newspaper,'' Belichick said. "My heart goes out to the victims, their families and the entire Annapolis community.''

Steve Samaras, who owns Zachary's Jewelers on Main Street near the City Dock, said he attended a vigil Friday night with his 12-year-old niece. He said she already was grappling with consequences of gun violence, because a friend of hers who had moved to Florida had attended Marjory Stone Douglas High School in Parkland, where 17 people died in a shooting in February.

"She said `Uncle Steven, I'm scared.' What do you tell a 12-year-old kid? What do you tell any child,'' he said.

More than 1,000 people streamed through Annapolis on Friday evening to remember the victims.

Samaras has experienced the resilient side of Annapolis first hand. In 2005, the building that housed his business was destroyed by a fire, and he had to relocate. Seven days later, he said, the community made sure he was open at his present location.

"So, the resilience, the determination that they showed me, that's what we're going to see happen here,'' he said.