No one was hurt when a car crashed into a river in Vernon Friday.

The car crashed into the Hockanum River near the intersection of Union Street and Windsor Avenue around 2 p.m. The driver was not hurt and no other vehicles were involved police said.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection was notified.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

A Guilford-based moving company is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation after a dozen people with ties to several different moving companies around the country were indicted for conspiring to defraud customers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Kathleen Thoburn told NBC Connecticut she hired Flagship Van Lines, which is based in Guilford, on June 8, signing a binding estimate for $2,475 and putting down a 25 percent deposit. She said they gave her a two-day window for pick-up.

“They called me the evening of July 10 and they said they would be coming at eight in the morning July 11, so I was able to get my building maintenance manager to open up the freight elevator early for me that morning,” Thoburn explained.

She said the movers packed up her things and told her they would arrive in Albany in about a week. Kathleen said she started calling after a few days for an update and heard nothing.

”They never answered their phone. You always got either one of two people. One guy’s name was Ian and the other one I don’t recall, but it was the same exact voicemail and they said they would get back to you.”

She said when she finally heard from someone after about two weeks, they couldn’t give her any information about her belongings. She then contacted the Guilford Police Department, which is assisting the U.S. Department of Transportation with a criminal investigation.

”The minute I said Flagship Van Lines she said I’m going to have to stop you right there because we’re getting a lot of calls,” Thoburn said.

The Better Business Bureau told NBC Connecticut it has received more than 40 similar complaints concerning Flagship Van Lines in the last two months. The business has an “F” rating on their site.

”After we see a pattern of complaints like this, we do reach out to that place of business, and we have not heard back from them yet,” said Luke Frey with the BBB.

After several failed attempts to contact Flagship Van Lines via telephone and email, NBC Connecticut went to the business, which was closed in the middle of the day.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cincinnati, Ohio said it believes there are more than 900 victims around the country of what they are calling a scheme, which includes:

“After the customers agreed to hire the moving companies, employees of the moving companies would allegedly load the customer’s goods onto the truck and then bump the price of the move…the moving companies would allegedly refuse to give back the household goods until customers paid the inflated prices.”

Thoburn said when the movers arrived for pickup she ended up paying more than the agreed upon price. She said she is trying to stay optimistic but not holding out hope that her things will be delivered.

”The bottom line is things are just things, and they didn’t take your family. They didn’t take your children. They didn’t take your pets, anything very, very special, so if you treat it sort of like a natural disaster, I think that will get people through,” she said.

According to the Connecticut Office of the Secretary of the State, Flagship Van Lines filed a name change to Blessed Movers LLC on July 20.

The BBB is urging people with a similar experience with the company to call the Inspector General’s Fraud Hotline at 1-800-424-9071.

The NBC Connecticut meteorologists have issued a First Alert for the threat heavy rain Friday night and the potential for strong storms on Saturday.

A flash flood warning was issued for all of Connecticut through Saturday afternoon.

Thunderstorms are expected to move through the state on Saturday morning and continue through midday. Those storms could contain heavy rain and flooding. There is a slight risk of severe weather.

Sunday will be a much nicer day.

Businessman Bob Stefanowski certainly speaks like he is the candidate to beat in the five-way race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

"I think when you're in the lead like I am, people are going to come at you,” he said during an interview at his Branford campaign headquarters.

Stefanowski boasts an internal poll that he says showed him with a 15 point lead on the field, which is why, says Stemerman, one of the GOP challengers paid for attack ads against him at such an early stage.

“The ads clearly didn’t work, Stefanowski said. “Why would you only have it up for a week and then pull it?”

The Madison resident has run an unconventional campaign in the land of steady habits. He bypassed participating in the party’s nominating convention back in May, has been running television ads since the start of the year, and is funding his campaign through private donations and with his own money as opposed to applying for the Citizens Election Program.

“$25,000 a day?” Stefanowski asked. “That’s not for me.”

What Stefanowski says the state needs is tax relief, and he has the boldest effort in the field of Republicans looking to become governor. He says he can scale back the income tax over the next eight years, ending with a phase out. The endorsed Republican, Danbury’s Mayor Mark Boughton, has pledged to phase out the income tax over the next decade, if elected.

The income tax is the single biggest revenue generator in the state of Connecticut, bringing in close to $9 billion each year, which accounts for nearly half of all revenues.

Stefanowski says replacing that revenue will come from a combination of economic growth and spending cuts.

Stefanowski said, "If I can get some cost cuts, and I can use those to fund a tax cut, that will increase tax revenues and we'll look at it and if revenues are increasing more than we think, we'll cut taxes more.”

But what Stefanowski does not account for is that without the income tax, the state will become more reliant on other taxes that are either regressive in nature or unreliable over recent years.

He said the state will utilize revenues from sales taxes as a result of higher consumer confidence due to lower income taxes, and revenues from the state’s two tribally run casinos to fill the gap caused by phasing out the income tax.

“We have a sales tax, we've got gaming in this state. We'll have more jobs coming in,” Stefanowski said. “I'm not telling you they're going to increase or they're going to decrease, I'm telling you they're another source of revenue for the state.”

The other attack that has come Stefanowski has to do with his Democratic registration as early as last year, and his lack of civic involvement for having not voted in years as he lived overseas.

He says he was laser focused on assisting UBS while living in London, and said his time as a Democrat has nothing to do with how he would run the state. He even made a comparison to the current president.

"Donald Trump was a Democrat longer than me,” Stefanowski said. “Look at what Donald Trump has done for this nation in terms of somebody who knows how to negotiate, somebody who knows how to recut all of the lousy deals from people before him. We can use some of that in Connecticut and m background will bring us right where we need to go."

The Hartford Yard Goats are hosting the Trenton Thunder, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, this weekend at Dunkin’ Donuts Park. This weekend marks the first time the Thunder have visited Hartford in 2018.

Because of the popularity of the Yankees in the Northeast, games against the Thunder are always heavily attended and draw legions of fans of the Bronx Bombers seeking autographs or hoping to see a big leaguer on assignment.

The Thunder are currently sitting in second place in the Eastern League's Eastern Division and only two games back of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.  The Yard Goats are in third place, just over nine games behind the Thunder.  The Goats play the Thunder eight times in August with the playoffs on the line.

This weekend also marks the return of fan-favorite player Drew Weeks to Dunkin' Donuts.  Weeks played in Hartford in 2017 before getting the call up to Albuquerque, the Rockies' Triple-A club earlier in 2018.  But after 49 games in New Mexico with the Isotopes, Weeks is back with the Goats and likely to get a warm reception from the fans. 

But there's more than just baseball to be excited about at the park this weekend.

Fans are gearing up for a big game on Sunday night as the team honors wizarding legend Harry Potter. The first 1,500 fans in attendance Sunday, Aug. 5 will receive a “Golden Snitch Theme Baseball” as a free giveaway.

You can expect plenty of other Harry Potter-themed surprises throughout the night.  But good news, we're told Muggles are welcome!

If you arrive early at Sunday's game, you'll have a chance to meet a number of members of the NBC Connecticut team, including Kaitlyn McGrath, Jill Konopka, Heather Burian and CT LIVE!'s Taylor Kinzler.

They'll all be celebrity scoopers at Scooper Sunday helping raise money for the Jordan Porco Foundation and adult suicide prevention programs.  There will be 30 different flavors of ice cream to choose from eight vendors, including A.C. Petersen Farms, Bear's UConn Dairy Bar, Capital Ice Cream and Ben & Jerry's.

Scooper Sunday will run from 3:15 to 7 p.m. at the Sam Adams Party Deck.

The American Red Cross will be honoring NBC CT, Telemundo Connecticut and the Hartford Yard Goats before Sunday's game after last month's largest ever single-day blood drive at Dunkin' Donuts Park.

Standing Room Only tickets remain available for Sunday's game.

NBC Connecticut is proud to be the official media partner of the Hartford Yard Goats.

Lee Tager of Simsbury is accustomed to declaring his firearm and going through additional security screenings at airports. But the retired Bloomfield police officer said he was caught off guard during a round trip flight from Logan International Airport to Seattle Tacoma International Airport in April when his luggage was destroyed enroute.

“The locks had been cut off. The zipper had been broken. My suitcase was open. The clothes were wet,” said Tager.

Tager said he declared his unloaded firearm with JetBlue as required. An agent examined his luggage, verified his information and made sure he locked the weapon in an approved hard case.

“I asked them can I put on my own lock and they told me we recommend that you do put your own locks. So nobody has access to it,” according to Tager.

After the first leg of his trip to Seattle, Tager noticed the damage to his luggage. That’s when he filed a claim with JetBlue and reported the incident to a TSA agent in Seattle.

He said the agent instructed him to go to the large baggage area where they perform hand inspections of the luggage. Once they completed that, Tager said the TSA agent approved his gun case.

“She said give me your lock. I will put it on there and I will mark your suitcase so that it will be noted as being inspected by the TSA. So the same thing doesn’t happen,” said Tager.

But it did happen again. When he retrieved his wife’s suitcase on the return trip to Logan, Tager said the zipper was broken. This time, the TSA put a card in the bag informing Lee that the agent conducted a physical inspection.

“It was unacceptable because I made specific efforts to make sure that it wasn’t going to happen again and the TSA told me it was not going to,” said Tager.

Tager told NBC Connecticut he filed a second claim with JetBlue at Logan for the $240 worth of damage to two pieces of his luggage. A week later, Tager said he filed two written complaints against the TSA. But never heard back from the TSA and didn’t get an answer from JetBlue.

“I want to find out why it happened,” said Tager.

So, he turned to NBC Connecticut Responds. A TSA spokesperson tells Responds:

“The passenger’s luggage went through additional screening at Logan International Airport while in the airline’s custody. The TSA confirmed through inspection logs and video footage that at no point did the luggage physically interact with a TSA employee. And at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the video confirms the passenger observed the entire screening process and it was sent on to the airlines.”

Jetblue’s spokesperson confirmed that they did receive Tager’s baggage complaints and stated:

“While damage to locks and zipper pulls fall outside the coverage of our Contract of Carriage, the team elected to send the customer a replacement bag and issue an additional $75 in JetBlue credit for the inconvenience.”

And this situation, turned out to be a valuable lesson for Tager. “I did buy another suitcase. It does have a TSA approved lock on it.”

The TSA recommends that passengers contact the individual airlines for their policies on damaged items or to file a complaint and/or claim.

A body was found in a yard in Colchester and Connecticut State Police are investigating.

Police responded to 63 Shailor Hill Road around 5:45 p.m. and found the body in the yard. Police said there does not appear to be a criminal aspect to the incident, but the case remains under investigation.

No other information was immediately released.

A person was hit and killed by a train in Stamford Friday night.

A Metro-North spokesperson confirmed the crash. The victim’s identity was not immediately released.

There were delays on the New Haven line while authorities investigate.

No other information was immediately available.

A U.S. District Court judge in the District of Columbia ruled Friday that the Obama-era program offering temporary protected status to a cohort of immigrants brought here illegally as children must remain in place despite efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle it, NBC News reports.

Judge John D. Bates excoriated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's arguments to end the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

" ... The Nielsen Memo offers nothing even remotely approaching a considered legal assessment that this Court could subject to judicial review," Bates wrote. He added, later, "The Nielsen Memo demonstrates no true cognizance of the serious reliance interests at issue here -- indeed, it does not even identify what those interests are ... " 

However, he ruled that the administration could have until Aug. 23 to appeal the decision before the order to reanimate the program and allow new applications goes into effect. 

New London police are investigating an attempted abduction of a 9-year-old girl, and have released a photo of the suspect vehicle.

Police said the girl was walking up the driveway of 93 State Pier Road when she was approached by a man in a pickup truck around 1:15 p.m. The victim told police the man had his hands on his “private parts” when he opened the door, and tried to get her inside the truck.

The victim ran to a family member’s apartment who contacted police.

The suspect is described as male with a medium build, possibly 30 to 40 years old, with facial hair. He was wearing glasses, a dark-colored shirt and a blue Nike hat at the time.

The pickup may be a silver early 2000 Dodge Ram, with white wall tires with silver rims, sidestep rails, circular white stickers or decals on the upper right and upper left rear windows, and white paint on the inside of the rear tailgate.

Anyone with information should contact police.

A Town of Suffield employee is being investigated after reporting an incident of suspected child abuse or neglect that happened last month.

According to town officials, the Parks and Recreation employee learned of the incident of suspected child abuse or neglect on July 3. The employee reported the incident to the Director of Parks and Recreation on Friday. The Suffield Police Department and Department of Children and Families were immediately notified.

After the employee reported the incident, town officials questioned whether the incident should have been reported sooner. The First Selectman's Office began an administrative investigation and has requested a criminal investigation into how long the incident took to be reported. The employee is on paid administrative leave during the investigation.

The incident did not happen at a town-related activity or program, town officials said.

Town officials have not released the employee's name. The investigation is ongoing and an arrest has not been made, police said.

Earlier in the week, Suffield police launched an investigation into allegations that school administrators and members of senior leadership of the Suffield Public School District, including the superintendent, failed to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the state Department of Children and Families. Law enforcement sources said the incident in question happened at the high school. A source said the incident in question involves a conversation between a student and school staff member about pornography.

Damage reports are starting to come in after a tornado touched down in Webster, Massachusetts. Trees are down and roofs have been ripped from buildings, according to multiple reports.

The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado early Saturday afternoon but said they are still continuing to survey the damage, adding in a tweet that it will "take quite some time" to determine strength and path-length of the tornado.

The tornado warning expired at 10:45 a.m. after being in effect Saturday morning for Worcester and Middlesex counties.

There is confirmed building damage in Webster, according to a tweet from the Uxbridge Fire Department.

Images show part of a roof that was ripped off of a Webster building.

"In Dudley, the main impacted locations include the Schofield Ave, Chase Ave, Central Ave, Cross Street, and West Main Street near the Webster line," Dudley Police Chief Steve Wojnar said in a statement. "There are power outages and numerous roads, including much of Webster’s South Main Street, blocked by debris and trees. Several are Impassable. Non-emergency vehicle and pedestrian traffic are asked to stay out of the area, especially due to downed power lines." 

Tia Durand-Paradis, of Southbridge, was in downtown Webster for a ribbon cutting ceremony when the tornado touched down. She described what she witnessed as the storm came through.

"The whole sky changed...it was just like sideways rain, and the windows kind of started rattling so everyone kind of made their way downstairs...by total luck the backdoor blew open which I think saved all of the windows from smashing, but the next store over, the costume shop, blew out every window that's in the place, and just a few doors down I guess took the roof right off the building, so it was pretty intense," she said.

Durand-Paradis added that they were concerned because the Main Street buildings have all glass fronts.

"We were just focused on the glass not coming in at us," she said. "Looking out at it, the only way I can explain it is if you were to stand in an automatic car wash, like it was just torrential downpour, and sideway winds and things just literally blowing by."

Durand-Paradis said she has never witnessed anything like it, adding it was pretty scary to experience.

Main Street at the Webster-Dudley line is shut down due to damage from the tornado.

Webster Deputy Police Chief Michael Shaw tells NBC10 Boston that they have cleanup crews and utilities on the ground.

"We are running through with MEMA, and we have the Red Cross on scene, obviously the fire department and EMS, everyone is working," he said.

Shaw said there has been one minor injury but they are making sure everybody else who was affected by the event has been accounted for and is okay.

"It was a woman who was traveling on Main Street and a piece of debris hit her car and caused a minor injury. She was transported to the hospital but believe she is going to be okay," he said.

The deputy chief, who was in Worcester at the time the tornado touched down, added that the damage is pretty good in size, and that Main Street in Webster took the brunt of the damage.

"We've got several buildings that were affected, a couple of them were vacant. We do have some buildings that are contained apartments that unfortunately had to have residents evacuated," Shaw said. "Our building inspector is checking to make sure that those are OK in case they are able to go back into them. If not, we have opened an emergency shelter. But we've got a lot of debris down, telephone poles snapping. From what I'm being told, the majority of the town is without power, so we're taking precautions. We have National Grid on scene, both gas and electric, making sure that we can try to resolve that situation as soon as possible."

Shaw said everything happened pretty quickly, and while images do show the damage, seeing it in person "doesn't prepare you when it's your community."

"We have a very dense downtown with a lot of buildings, and it could have been a lot, lot worse. And fortunately it wasn't."

On Pleasant Street in Webster, an electrical pole snapped in half. As of 1:00 p.m., more than 5,100 Worcester and Essex County residents are without power. National Grid is on scene.

One woman who has a business down the road discussed the devastating damage following the tornado.

"It took the whole roof off," the woman said. "We have trees down, everything. It's our business, and it's destroyed. We lost everything over there."

The woman said she was at the store when it touched down.

"Thank God we weren't here, we probably would have been gone with it," she said.

The business woman said she witnessed a lot of damage, including at stores like CVS and gas stations. She added it will take time to rebuild everything.

The National Weather Service - Boston said in a tweet that they are aware of the damage to the Webster area and that they will continue to monitor.

The Auburn Fire Department sent ambulances to Webster for station coverage, as Webster is backed up on multiple calls for both Fire and EMS.

The Southbridge Fire Department is covering Dudley, as both Dudley and Webster have received multiple calls due to the tornado.

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service conducted damage surveys in Woodstock, over to Dudley and to Webster, according to a second tweet. They made the determination that it was a tornado. NBC Boston/necn meteorologist Michael Page says it's all about the trees when surveying damage. He says the direction the trees fall is very telling. If the trees are perpendicular to each other, it would indicate there was rotation touching down.

Although the tornado warning has expired, heavy rain is still coming and could cause flash flooding in several areas, especially urban areas of the Boston - Providence corridor. Flash flood warnings have been issued for parts of Suffolk County (Boston), Essex County, Norfolk County and Middlesex County in Massachusetts until 1:30 p.m.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Damage is being reported after severe storms moved through the northeastern part of the state on Saturday morning.

A flash flood warning is in effect for parts of Middlesex, New Haven and New London counties. A flash flood watch is in effect for Fairfield, Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven, New London, Tolland and Windham counties. A Flood Advisory is in effect for Middlesex and New London counties.

The storm brought down multiple trees and wires across the state. Meteorologist Josh Cingranelli is reporting trees down in the area of Route 198 in Woodstock. Photos from residents there also show damage along Route 169. 

The intersection of Route 197 and 198 in Woodstock is closed after a tree and wires came down on Route 198, fire officials said.

Thousands of outages are being reported. According to Eversource, 2,079 customers are without power including customers in Vernon and Woodstock.

Vernon Police said there was a lightning strike in the area of Hartford Turnpike and Tunnel Road and live wires and a tree came down. Hartford Turnpike is closed from Coldspring Drive to West Road. There is no vehicle or pedestrian access in the area due to safety concerns and residents are being asked to avoid the area. Police anticipate the road will be closed for the rest of the day as crews do extensive work to repair the power lines. 

Old Mountain Road in Farmington is closed between Route 4 and Timberline Road after a powerline came down. Eversource is at the scene. Motorists are urged to use Oakland Avenue as a detour.

A tornado warning was issued for parts of Tolland and Windham counties, but has since expired.

Right over the border in Webster, Mass., trees can be seen across roadways, utility poles are snapped and power lines are down. Our crew could see a gas station that had its roof ripped off and traffic signs that were damaged.

The National Weather Service is sending a crew to Webster to survey the damage. They have confirmed that a tornado touched down in Webster, but have not determined its strength.

A 77-year-old man who was reported missing in Guilford has been found dead on Saturday.

Officers from Guilford Police and firefighters from Guilford Fire Department responded to Trolley Road around 9:45 a.m. after getting a report of a missing 77-year-old man.

The man's vehicle was found in a parking lot after he was reported to have gone there on Friday.

First responders said they found the man's body a short distance away from his vehicle. There were no signs of foul play, according to police, but it is unclear how the man died.

Police have not released the man's identity.

The Newseum, a museum dedicated to freedom of the press and the First Amendment, has pulled from its store T-shirts that featured President Donald Trump's description for the news media. 

Shirts with the phrase, "You Are Very Fake News" were available on their website for $19.95 along with "Make America Great Again" hats. 

"The Newseum has removed the 'You Are Very Fake News' t-shirts from the gift shop and online," Newseum spokeswoman Sonya Gavankar said in a statement on Saturday. "We made a mistake and we apologize. A free press is an essential part of our democracy and journalists are not the enemy of the people."

Gavankar added that those particular "Fake News" shirts were meant as a "satirical rebuke," and that the Trump hats have been for sale in the museum's shop since the 2016 campaign.

California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced Saturday that the White House had approved the state's request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Shasta County, where the historic Carr Fire continues to burn. According to Governor Brown's office, the request was submitted to the President and approved in the same day.

"This is part of a trend – a new normal – that we've got to deal with. We're dealing with it humanly, financially and governmentally," Governor Brown said on Saturday during a media briefing related to the Carr Fire.

"A Presidential Major Disaster Declaration helps people in the impacted counties through eligibility for programs and support, including housing assistance, food aid, unemployment assistance, counseling and medical services and legal services," a statement from Governor Brown said.

"The declaration also includes public assistance to help state, tribal and local governments with ongoing emergency response and recovery costs, including repairs and replacement of disaster-damaged facilities and infrastructure such as roads, bridges and utilities," the statement added. "The declaration also includes hazard mitigation, which helps state and local governments reduce the risks and impacts of future disasters."

As of Saturday morning, the Carr Fire in Shasta County had burned 141,825 acres and was at 41 percent containment with over 1,000 residences destroyed and nearly 200 residences damaged. The Carr Fire is currently the sixth most destructive fire in the state's history, along with being the 13th most deadly and 17th largest blaze in the California record books. 

California has been hard hit by wildfires, and 17 major fires continue to burn, giving new meaning to the "Golden State" nickname.

A full press release from Governor Brown related to the Presidendial Major Disaster Declaration for Shasta County and a more information can be found here.

Russia has appointed actor Steven Seagal as a special envoy to improve Russian-U.S. ties, NBC News reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the appointment on Saturday saying Seagal's role would be to develop Russian-U.S. relations in the "humanitarian" sphere, including in the fields of culture, art and youth exchanges.

The 66-year-old martial arts star — who rose to fame in the 1980's and 1990's for his roles in movies such as 'Above the Law' and 'Under Siege' — was granted Russian citizenship in 2016 and is a vocal supporter of President Vladimir Putin.

Seagal, who sometimes appears on Russian state TV to talk about his views and career, was cited by Kremlin-backed TV station Russia Today (RT) as welcoming the appointment. "I've always had a very strong desire to do all I can to help improve Russian-American relations," Seagal said according to RT. "I have worked tirelessly in this direction for many years unofficially and I am now very grateful for the opportunity to do the same thing officially."

Police in East Haven are working to identify a man who they say burglarized a local business on Sunday morning.

Officers said the man entered My Country Store on Main Street through a rear door around 6:20 a.m. and took cash from the cash register.

In photos provided by police, the man can be seen wearing a white shirt, grey pants and a green bandanna.

Any information provided will remain anonymous, according to police. If you recognize the man, you're encouraged to contact East Haven Police Department on Facebook or call them at (203) 468-3820.

Interstate-91 in Meriden has reopened after a multi-vehicle crash closed part of it on Sunday afternoon.

According to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the crash closed I-91 southbound between exits 19 and 18. 

Officials estimated the area would be closed for an hour or less and has since reopened.

There is no word on if anyone was injured or how many vehicles were involved.

Five people died after an airplane crashed at a CVS parking lot in Orange County Sunday, the Orange County Fire Authority said.

The plane went down around 12:30 p.m. in the 3900 block of Bristol Street in Santa Ana, the OCFA said, adding that the Costa Mesa Fire Department was also responding to the scene. All five victims were passengers on the airplane, and no one on the ground was injured.

At least one car on the ground was hit by airplane parts, with a red sedan showing extensive damage that included a broken windshield and a totally destroyed trunk.

The 1973 Cessna 414 fixed wing aircraft is registered to Category III Aviation Corp in San Francisco, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

The FAA is investigating the crash.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.