Despite billions of dollars spent on clinical trials through the decades, Alzheimer's disease remains one of the most devastating and baffling diseases in the world, affecting more than 5 million Americans alone.

But Dallas scientists have made a major breakthrough in the fight.

They have discovered a "Big Bang" of Alzheimer's disease — the point at which a healthy protein becomes toxic, but has not yet formed deadly tangles in the brain.

According to a study from UT Southwestern's O'Donnell Brain Institute, scientists found the shape-shifting nature of a tau molecule just before it begins sticking to itself to form larger aggregates. 

The tau protein is believed to be the key driver of Alzheimer's disease. 

The revelation offers a new strategy to detect the devastating disease before it takes hold, and has spawned an effort to develop treatments that stabilize tau proteins before they shift shape. 

Doctors call it the biggest finding in Alzheimer's research to date.

"New treatments have failed to stop the progression of Alzheimer's. What we are hoping to do is design a treatment that would actually stop the disease before it even manifests in a person," said Dr. Marc Diamond, Director for UT Southwestern's Center for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases.

"In the case of other diseases that are due to a shape shift protein, it's been possible to design a drug that is approved that helps prevent that shape shift from occurring. If it's been done in other diseases, it could possibly be done in Alzheimer's."

Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's has no current cure.

Any drug resulting from the discovery of the disease origin would still be years away, Diamond said.

Taylor Parker, of Arlington, was diagnosed two years ago and is now supported by her husband Stan.

"After a while, I realized that I was slowly losing Taylor.  Most days, I was okay. Some days, I was not okay. Some days, I cried," Stan Parker said.

Despite the fact that any possible drug likely won't help Taylor in time, they say they're happy that she's still able to enjoy life with as much joy as possible. Diamond's team's next steps are to develop a simple clinical test that examines a patient's blood or spinal fluid to detect the first biological signs of dementia.

Following a discussion with President Donald Trump, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced Tuesday that it would roll back planned drug price increases for July, NBC News reported. 

The president said he met with Pfizer CEO Ian Read, as well as U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to discuss Trump's "drug pricing blueprint" and came away with a vow from the company to roll back price increases "so American patients don’t pay more."

Pfizer in a statement said its prices would be "deferred" to levels seen 10 days ago, "as soon as technically possible, and the prices will remain in effect until the earlier of when the president’s blueprint goes into effect or the end of the year — whichever is sooner."

Trump praised the move, writing on Twitter, "We applaud Pfizer for this decision and hope other companies do the same. Great news for the American people!"

One of Germany's most high-profile neo-Nazi trials came to an end Wednesday when so-called "Nazi bride" Beate Zschaepe was found guilty of 10 counts of murder, NBC News reported.

She is the last surviving member of a neo-Nazi gang, the National Socialist Underground, that carried out a series of killings and bombings between 2000 and 2007.

The gang killed eight men of Turkish origin, a Greek migrant and a female German police officer.

Zschaepe spoke only twice during the five-year case, but did deny taking part in killings while also apologizing to the victims' families.

A woman was arrested in connection with the brutal assault of a 92-year-old man who was struck with piece of concrete and told to go back to his own country during the Fourth of July attack. 

Laquisha Jones, 30, of Los Angeles, was arrested Tuesday night near 60th Street and Crenshaw Avenue in the Willowbrook area of Los Angeles, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The attack on Rodolfo Rodriguez, part of which was captured on video by a witness who called 911, occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. on July 4 in the area of East 118th and Robin streets.

A motive for the attack was not immediately clear, investigators said. Rodriguez was going for a walk in his neighborhood when he encountered the assailant. Once he was on the ground, a group of men started kicking him, the witness said. The female attacker told Rodriguez, a U.S. resident who is from Mexico, to go back to his own country, according to the witness.

"Who would do this to anybody? A 92-year-old senior citizen," said Erik Mendoza, the victim's grandson. "What can he do to anybody? There's no harm that he meant."

In the witness video, a woman wearing a red shirt who was walking with a child can be seen holding what appears to be a piece of concrete.

Jones was taken into custody without incident, according to the sheriff's department. She was booked for assault with a deadly weapon and is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Jail records did not indicate an initial court appearance. It was not immediately clear whether Jones has an attorney.

Investigators are still attempting to determine whether there were more individuals involved in the attack. 

Rodriguez was released from the hospital to recover from his injuries at home with his family.

Police in Monroe are investigating after multiple vehicles were burglarized on Wednesday morning.

Officers say suspects are targeting unlocked vehicles and have also stolen vehicles with the keys left in them in residential neighborhoods on the southeast side of town.

Residents are being reminded to take all valuables out of their vehicles and lock them, even when they are parked at home or in the driveway.

Anyone who may have seen any suspicious activity or who may have caught suspicious activity on their security systems during the overnight hours is encouraged to contact Monroe Police at (203) 261-3622.

As migrant children begin to reunite with their parents, two children separated from their families and sent to Connecticut are heading to court.

The legal team representing a nine-year-old boy from Honduras and a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador are suing the federal government in an effort to reunite both children with their parents, who they haven't seen in about two months.

During that time, they've been in a group home run by a Groton non-profit.

In court documents, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement insists the children are being well cared for.

Both have been able to speak with their parents over the phone. The boy has spoken to his father six times and the girl has spoken to her mother four times since the end of June.

Those phone calls came six weeks after they were separated.

"We have filed two lawsuits and a request for emergency relief to stop the federal government from unnecessarily tearing families apart, causing significant mental, emotional, and physical harm to these children and their parents," said Marisol Orihuela, of the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic.

The hearing for the two children being housed in Connecticut will take place in Bridgeport later Wednesday morning.

Several activist groups have planned rallies outside of the courthouse.

When middle school friends Zack Perkins and Johan Zhang were trying to get into college, they say they had little guidance.

Their public school guidance counselor had hundreds of other students, and they didn't have thousands of dollars for a private college adviser. They leaned on older peers. And when they got into Harvard University, they figured they could help others navigate the college admission process.

In their dorm room, the friends started Admissions Heroes.

"We had tons of spreadsheets," said Perkins. "We tracked requirements at each of the schools and we built a comprehensive profile for each student."

By their sophomore year, the first 21 students they helped advise all got into their top-choice schools, and that brought a wave of references. They hired more peer mentors and created a program that matches the students' information and preferences with schools and then calculates their chances of admission. CollegeVine was born.

"After working with so many students, we actually found a way to quantify extracurriculars in a real, predictable way in an algorithm," Perkins said.

By the spring of 2015, Perkins and Zhang had dropped out of Harvard.

"We were thinking, 'We have this corporate finance final tomorrow. Should we do that, or kind of help families change their lives?'" Zhang recalled.

Their dorm room business is now in Cambridge. They have a staff of 60, as well as 650 current and recent graduates working as mentors.

They're offering pro bono work for students who can't afford their services.

A couple in Texas is considering getting divorced just to be able to pay for their daughter's spiraling health care costs, "Today" reported.

Jake and Maria Grey of Sanger are happily married but his $40,000 salary means the family doesn't qualify for Medicaid, which they say is the only way they can afford treatments and care for their 6-year-old Brighton, born with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.

"We've done everything we can do to try to keep her afloat, and we're going to reach a point where we can't do it and we won't have another option. We don't know what to do," said Jake Grey, an Army veteran.

His wife said they don't want donations, just to get the benefits from the state that they need.

Milford Police are trying to identify a man who broke into a convenience store and stole an ATM on Monday.

Officers responded to a burglar alarm at Mobil Mart on Bridgeport Avenue around 12:00 a.m.

According to the Milford Police Department, when officers arrived they found that the glass on the front door was broken.

Milford Police said a man used a large yellow crow bar to enter the business and stole the ATM machine. The man then put the ATM machine in the back seat of the vehicle.

When reviewing the surveillance cameras, Milford Police said they saw an older model Audi sedan pull into the Mobil Mart. The front seat passenger exited the vehicle dressed in all black, wearing a black ski mask and gloves. He had curly black hair hanging out from the back of the ski mask. The driver stayed in the vehicle. 

Anyone with information is as to contact Detective Mahoney at 203-783-4727 or rmahoney@ci.milford.ct.us.

Hartford is joining The United Soccer League for the 2019 season. The new club, named Hartford Athletic, will be owned and operated by the Hartford Sports Group.

Hartford will be joining dozens of teams across North America in the USL for the ninth season of the league's modern era, according to a release.

“Hartford makes the sixth addition to the USL for 2019 and strengthens the league’s presence in the Northeast with a thriving city that boasts a rich soccer history,” said USL CEO Alec Papadakis in a statement. “The league continues to reach new heights through record attendance and additional expansion into exciting new markets. Hartford will join Austin, Memphis, El Paso, New Mexico and Birmingham as new clubs in 2019."

Hartford Athletic will play its home games at Dillon Stadium in Hartford. Officials said the stadium will be restored with funding provided by the state, through the Capital Region Development Authority and in partnership with the City of Hartford.

“After years of planning and hard work, we are excited to officially announce that professional soccer is coming to Hartford and Dillon Stadium will be brought back to life,” said Bruce Mandell, Chairman & CEO of Hartford Sports Group in a statement. “We’re proud of where we’re from and can’t wait to build a Club that will energize our community and bring people together. As an organization, we’re dedicated to winning on and off the field, and we have all the ingredients for success that we’ve seen in so many other soccer cities. Let’s dream big together and use the world’s game to continue the momentum in Hartford.”

The team's name came from ideas submitted by fans, officials said. Hartford Athletic is a Club by the fans, for the fans, so we listened to what was important to you. The team name and colors reflect pride in Hartford and a commitment to the community and youth,” said Mandell.

According to officials, season ticket deposits are on sale for $25. By placing a deposit, fans will be able to reserve their place in line to become a founding member. Member benefits include best seating price and location, official founding member scarf, name displayed in stadium, invitation to VIP events and insider news and access. Spots can be reserved online.

A man crabbing in the Maurice River in South Jersey is suffering from a flesh-eating infection after what one health official described as a very rare reaction to a common bacteria.

Angel Perez, 60, is now fighting to keep all his limbs while in intensive care at a Camden hospital. Effects from the infection began taking hold after his July 2 crabbing trip, according to his daughter.

His first words after having his breathing tubes removed were, "Don't take my legs. Please, don't take my legs," his daughter Dilena said.

She said he could lose his legs, an arm and fingertips if his condition doesn't improve.

Perez's scary medical battle began when he noticed a skin rash after crabbing in the Cumberland County river near Matt's Landing in Commercial Township. 

Soon, his legs started to swell and lesions began appearing on his skin. The next day, July 3, he took two trips to local urgent care centers.

"It got worse. He started to swell up. You started seeing color change, blistering," his daughter said. "He was hallucinating at one point."

By July 4, he went to the hospital and was admitted to intensive care, diagnosed with a rare infection called vibrio necrotizing fasciitis.

Perez's severe reaction to the infection from a bacteria called vibrio vulnificus is extremely rare, according to Cumberland County health officer Megan Sheppard. It was likely caused by the bacteria entering his bloodstream through an open wound.

Vibrio vulnificus is common in New Jersey saltwater and brackish water, especially in the summer months, Sheppard said.

Most of the 80,000 cases of infection in the United States each year are caused by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, she said. Only about 205 of those cases develop from infections caused by the bacteria entering open flesh wounds, as is suspected in Perez's case.

"The immuno-compromised are typically more susceptible, " Sheppard said, adding that many cases involve vomiting and falling ill, but not the potential loss of limbs.

The small sandy stretch off Matt's Landing Road where Perez is believed to have been crabbing in the river has not been shut off to the public, as it is not an approved beach area anyway, Sheppard said.

Crabbing or fishing in the water increases the chances of a bacterial infection, compared to fishing from a boat or dock, she said.

If you are planning a trip to the beach on Wednesday or later this week, you'll see extra lifeguards at work. Hurricane Chris and the remnants of the system could create stormy seas.

There are typically four lifeguards on one end of Misquamicut Beach. On Wednesday, there will be six and on the other side of the pavilion, there will be eight to ten when there are usually six. It's all in preparation of tougher currents.

Beach-goers are getting ready for potentially life-threatening rip currents at Misquamicut State Beach. Hurricane Chris is off the coast of North Carolina and is churning the surf as it pushes north toward New England. Westerly Town Beach lifeguards are putting four to six more guards on the sand, especially since Connecticut beach-goers flock there.

"A lot of people come down here, they don't really know how the ocean works and stuff like that, and they're gone," said Joe Sullivan, a Westerly Town Beach lifeguard.

Sullivan has guarded the beach for two years and knows the signs of a rip current.

"If you see kind of a murky area, try to stay out of that because that's what's going to suck you out and leave you stranded out there," Sullivan said.

Mike Kells, a fellow lifeguard and surfer also knows the signs.

"It just puts up a warning sign for me to be more cautious. If I'm not a strong swimmer and don't have a flotation device with me," he said.

Cathy D'Amico and her kids are staying away from the grip of the rip.

"We're not going in too far today. We're going to stay, at, probably knee level. Definitely. It's way too strong," D'Amico said.

Lifeguards say if you get caught in a rip current, stay calm and do not fight the current. If you're able to swim, swim sideways or parallel to the beach.

Linda DiDonato has been riding a bike all her life.

“When all my friends were turning 16, I was on my bike and not caring about driving a car,” DiDonato said. “I’d be out on the bike.”

But no ride will mean more to her than this year’s Closer to Free on Saturday, Sept. 8.

“It happens to be the one year anniversary of my surgery with the bike ride coming up,” she told NBC Connecticut. “I had a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction. It was a 12-hour procedure.”

After a positive mammogram and ultrasound in May of 2017, right away DiDonato said she wanted to undergo treatment at the Smilow Cancer Hospital.

“It was the only place that came in my mind,” she recalled.

DiDonato has spent time meeting cancer patients at Smilow through her work as a nurse in admitting at the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain.

“Seeing a lot of the people who work (at Smilow), doing a lot of my business here at Yale,” she said, “I could see the quality of the care.”

Two months after her surgery, DiDonato was able to travel to Spain with friends before chemotherapy for a trip that had been planned before her breast cancer diagnosis.

“That was the most exciting thing,” she said, “the nice little sendoff then I was ready for my treatment. I was ready to get started.”

During her interview with NBC Connecticut, DiDonato fought back tears thinking of the friends and family in her circle of support.

“That was the greatest fear, not the cancer, just people just ignoring you and instead I had an onslaught of family and friends and cards coming through, food being sent to my house, and that was the most amazing thing, and it just makes you smile,” she said.

Halfway to her fundraising goal, DiDonato is eager to hop on a bike to give back to the hospital.

“It will bring back some interesting memories,” she said. “It will make me feel great with all I went through with my surgery that I’m able to do the 60-mile ride.”

The annual Closer to Free bike ride, now in its eighth year, raises millions of dollars for patient care and research at Yale-New Haven’s Smilow Cancer Hospital. NBC Connecticut is a proud media sponsor.

At New Design High School in New York, students spend just as much time in their “Design for Life” class as they do in English and math. Students are required to take the class in the fall and spring semesters during all four years of high school. 

In past semesters, students created suicide prevention posters that lined the schools’ hallways. They frequently discuss what to do when feeling sad and how to approach asking for help.

When the students use slang terms like “psycho,” the instructor talks about what disorders mean, what the signs of them are and why it could be hurtful to engage in name-calling. Melissa Dorcemus, who teaches 9th grade math at the school, said the classes enable students to discuss meaningful mental health topics.

The Manhattan school created the program by choice, said Dorcemus, whose colleagues teach the courses. There’s one teacher for each grade level.

Comparable classes could begin appearing in other New York public schools and at schools in Virginia. New laws that went into effect on July 1 require mental health to be made part of public school curricula in those states.

The laws come as intentional self-harm remains among the top-10 causes of death in the U.S., according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. In 2016, suicide was the second-leading cause of death for Americans between 10 and 34 years old.

“This is making mental health not a thing that exists outside the school,” said David E. Kirkland, the executive director of NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. “We’re thinking about mental health how we think about English, math or science.”

Mental health was previously included in Virginia’s education standards for seventh through tenth graders. Virginia’s new law requires the state’s board of education to review and update the existing mental health education standards after consulting with several agencies, including Virginia’s National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

The Virginia Department of Education hasn't arranged a timeline yet for revising the standards, a department spokesman said. Changes to standards typically take about three years, though these alterations might take less time because state tests won't need to be revised. 

Under Virginia’s current standards, by the time students reach their junior year in high school, they should be familiar with the help-seeking process for mental health concerns and understand why pursuing help for mental health issues is significant. Health lessons also reveal how to identify and advocate for school and community mental health resources.

Districts will be required to abide by the new standards but can design their own curricula. 

While the Virginia law modifies existing education standards, this marks the first time a law calls for a mental health education requirement in New York, a New York Department of Education spokesman told NBC.

The New York legislation, which was enacted in 2016, calls for mental health to be incorporated into elementary, middle and high schools’ health curricula.

Schools will be responsible for creating a curriculum that’s aligned with the new state standards. The changes will roll out for the 2018-19 school year, the education department said.

In a document sent to schools, the New York Department of Education outlined new learning standards across grade levels, provided guidance on how to create a healthy school culture and described a tiered support system for at-risk students.

Promoting positive mental health for students and staff and decreasing the stigma related to talking about mental health are among the standards’ goals.

Matt Shapiro, policy director for NAMI New York, said some teachers resisted the idea of teaching mental health.

“Teachers don’t want to be taught what to teach,” said Shapiro, who pushed for New York's new law. “It’s very important to teach kids how to identify potential illness and it’s more importantly OK to talk about it and ask for help.”

While not every mental health lesson will resemble those at New Design, Kirkland anticipates some lessons covering awareness and others utilizing mindfulness and meditation techniques.

Kirkland, who before joining NYU's faculty had taught in Michigan schools, also said that some parents for religious reasons might want their child to opt out of such instruction. But rules for opting in and out of curriculum lessons are already in place, he said.

At New Design High School in New York, teachers train with on-site social workers and work with counselors to address mental health-related issues that might arise, Dorcemus said. Comparable training for educators will likely follow the new standards' introductions.

Teachers are required to file a report when they believe students could harm themselves. They also participate in training related to when they should discuss a student’s mental health with a guidance counselor, Dorcemus said. 

“We’re not just there to teach math or English,” said Dorcemus, who is also a member of the advocacy group Educators for Excellence-New York. “We’re there to help them through the transition of being a child to becoming an adult.”

If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting ‘Home’ to 741741.

The state is offering a $50,000 reward to help solve an 12-year-old homicide case.

Laray Moore was shot and killed while sitting in his vehicle between buildings 11 and 12 at Roodner Court around 11 p.m. on June 29, 2006 and police said they believe he was killed in retaliation for the homicide of Fulton Raines at 1:50 a.m. on June 11, 2006 at the William Moore Lodge.

The state has offered a $50,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Moore’s death.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Norwalk Detectives at 203-854-3011 or the Connecticut Cold Case Hotline at 860-623-8058. Anonymous tips can be left on the Norwalk Police Tip Line at 203-854-3111.

Anonymous tips can be sent to Norwalk Police website www.norwalkpd.com or submitted by typing "NPD" into the text field, followed by the message, and sending it to CRIMES (274637).

Hamden police have arrested a man accused of firing a gun at a victim who was trying to gas up his car.

Police arrested 31-year-old Phillip Holmes on assault charges Tuesday.

According to police, Holmes approached the 46-year-old victim at a gas station in the area of Dixwell Avenue and Woodin Street. The victim, who was sitting in his car when Holmes approached, opened the door, causing Holmes to stumble backward. The victim told police it was then that he spotted a gun in Holmes hand, and drove off.

Investigators said Holmes fired at the victim as he fled, hitting the vehicle multiple times. The victim was not hurt.

Holmes is charged with criminal attempt to commit assault, reckless endangerment, illegal discharge of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm and criminal use of a weapon. He was held on a $400,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on July 24.

Police said Holmes is on federal probation.

It could be the last straw for Stonington.

Wednesday at the Board of Selectman’s meeting a task force will be formed to research whether or not the town should ban plastic straws, bags and take-out containers.

“It should have been done a long time ago,” said Mystic resident Kyle Chapman. “It's very harmful to the ocean which is a big part of obviously the culture in Mystic and Stonington and has been for 100’s of years and we should be taking care of the ocean.”

First Selectman Rob Simmons was approached by town residents who asked him to try to come up with a solution to the town’s littering problem. Simmons said he has walked the town’s shoreline and personally picked bags and bags of plastic waste.

“Why do we have plastic straws that we use just once?” Simmons asked.

A small number of local restaurants have already made the switch to paper goods and grocery stores have started supplying customers with paper bags but some say that the alternative doesn’t live up to the original.

“I think they need to improve on the design though, because they are really flimsy and they fall apart real quick and they get all soggy,” said Rachel Weisz-Smith of paper straws. “But I think being that this is like the rollout of the paper straws I’m hoping that within time soon that they improve upon the design.”

The potential change in Stonington comes on the heels of an announcement by Starbucks earlier this week that they will stop using plastic straws by 2020. Fort Meyers and Seattle have both issued plastic straw bans and proposals are being considered in San Francisco and New York.

Other cities in Connecticut have also followed suit. Greenwich passed a ban on single-use plastic bags that goes into effect in September of this year. The Board of Representatives in Stamford have been working to nail down details of a ban that would work in their city.

“We’re one town, we’re 18,000 people,” Selectman Simmons says. “ We’re just a small community but when they say think globally, act locally –that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The task force will reconvene in 90 days with their recommendation to the board on whether or not the ban should be put into place.

For 20 years, Maxine Whittingham has lived in the same house in Enfield, and for those two decades, Whittingham insists she’s never made a late mortgage payment.

So Whittingham says she was baffled in June when she received a Notice of Intent to Foreclosure from Carrington Mortgage Services.

“I have no clue. I don’t know what could’ve happened,” Whittingham said.

Carrington Mortgage informed Whittingham that they did not receive her March payment.

She immediately contacted her bank about that missing payment.

“The bank clarified that the check had cleared. The money came out,” said Whittingham.

Whittingham showed NBC Connecticut Responds her bank statement for the $1,223 payment that cleared her account.

Then, there were two other attempts to withdraw the same amount of money.

“What happened to my money? Where is it?” said Whittingham.

Whittingham showed us a letter from Keybank that she forwarded to Carrington Mortgage Services verifying that she made the payment in the form of an e-check on March 16, 2018.

“They’re still trying to figure things out,” said Whittingham. “That’s why I reached out to you guys, to see if you could assist me somehow.”

NBC Connecticut reached out to both Keybank and Carrington Mortgage Services.

A Keybank spokesperson tells NBC Connecticut Responds they can’t release client information because it’s confidential, but explained how the bank typically handles situations like this one.

“We obtain the payment trace identification number and share that with the payee so the payee can track the payment,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

And Carrington Mortgage Services says it’s working to resolve the situation, telling Responds:

“We’ll advance the payment on [Maxine Whittingham’s] behalf until the issue is resolved, and assured her that she won’t be subject to any late fees, credit reporting issues, or delinquency or foreclosure actions due to the missing payment.”

Maxine Whittingham says she’s relieved.

“I’m glad that you guys are there to help the people like myself who, who need assistance right now,” said Whittingham.

Hamden police have made two arrests in a fatal November 2017 shooting of a teen on Dudley Street.

Eighteen-year-old Leeandre Benton, of Hamden, was found shot multiple times on Dudley Street, near the Farmington Canal Trail, on Nov. 13, 2017. He died of his injuries two days later.

After extensive investigation police have arrested 22-year-old Robert Moye, of New Haven, and an 18-year-old from New Haven.

The second suspect, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was not publicly identified. Both were charged with felony murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Moye was held on a $2.5 million bond.

Police said a third arrest is expected in the case.

Rep. William Tong is the endorsed Democrat for Connecticut Attorney General in the 2018 election. He’s spent the past fifteen years of his professional career working for the firm of Finn Dixon & Herling LLP in Stamford. Before that, he spent time at a different law firm.

Those credentials, however, do not satisfy Ryan Mckeen, publisher of A Connecticut Law Blog, who raised similar concerns about Susan Bysiewicz in 2010.

Following the case of Dinardo v. Bysiewicz in the State Supreme Court, a standard of 10 years in the Connecticut Bar had to be met, in addition to time working on trials and in litigation. Tong has been a litigator for nearly two decades.

“For me it’s a bizarre niche academic issue but I think it’s a fair question to ask of someone seeking this office,” says McKeen when asked about his interest in this area of legal qualification.

McKeen wrote a post asking if Tong has ever, in fact, been involved in a trial in any capacity, insinuating that Tong has spent most of his legal career in a corporate setting, negotiating settlements and avoiding actual court proceedings.

He says, to this point, Tong’s answers have been unsatisfactory.

“What are these trials? What are these dockets? What are these cases? And what has your role been in these cases?”

Tong said Wednesday that he has been involved in, by his count, 23 federal cases and 30 state cases in Connecticut alone, which do not include the more than 400 matters he’s been involved with around the country.

“It appears to be an orchestrated smear campaign,” Tong says of McKeen’s criticism and skepticism. McKeen told NBC Connecticut he is a registered Democrat who supports Chris Mattei for the Office of Attorney General, one of Tong’s two primary opponents. The other opponent is Paul Doyle, a state senator who represents Wethersfield and Middletown.

Tong says his record is transparent and clearly makes him qualified to run for and hold the office of Attorney General.

“It is just absurd to think that before running for attorney general that I would not have vetted this, and double, and triple and quadruple checked this with a number of lawyers, which I did.”

Tong points to one example of a case in New Britain Superior Court in 2016 that he won. His client, an aerospace company, was looking for a judgment against another company from out of state. Tong says he handled the entire proceeding from start to finish up to the point when the other party was ruled to have failed to appear in court. Tong said he was ready the day of that ruling to make statements in a trial.

“It wasn’t like I went in there and Judge Wiese said, ‘you’re good.’ No, we spent a good amount of evidence talking about the evidence, talking about the documents that demonstrated my client’s entitlement in their claim and we got a judgment.”

McKeen isn’t sold on that example, saying if there was a trial there would have been either a bench trial or a jury present, and since the judgment was for a failure to appear, neither happened.

“At the very least, when you have somebody who is seeking the highest attorney’s office in the state they should be able to produce some proof of their work,” McKeen said.

Tong says the rumors about his legal background and professional qualifications were first spread in the hours leading up to his eventual endorsement from the state party, which he says, showed how ineffective they were.

“They tried to peddle this on the floor of the convention and nobody bought it then and I think by and large nobody is buying it now.”