Jonathan’s Dream Playground in West Hartford is designed for children of all abilities, and the volunteers that run the place are hoping to restore a well-loved park of the playscape to its former glory.

The playground reopened last year sporting new equipment, but volunteers are hoping to save a precious piece.

The playground metallophone holds a very special place in the hearts of the people behind Jonathan’s Dream. They’re hoping with a little TLC, it can inspire kids for many more years.

Years of standing in the elements wore off the paint which shows children how to use it.

“The tune is very soothing and very easy to listen to and play,” said Ronit Shoham, Jonathan’s Dream Project Manager and godmother.

Shoham is the volunteer managing the playground. She says the aging instrument is the only piece saved from the original Jonathan’s Dream, which opened more than 20 years ago. The piece is uniquely designed, like all the equipment, to engage children who may use a wheelchair or have impaired hearing or vision.

“They can reach it from all around, they’re able to reach the mallets, they’re able to see the notes,” Shoham explained.

She posted on Facebook looking for someone to restore it to its former glory, something Jerry Williams thinks would be the icing on the cake at his son’s favorite place.

“If it had more color to it, maybe they would be more attracted to it, but it sounds good,” Williams said.

When all the notes are properly color-coded, kids should be able to play Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Shoham said several people have already coming forward looking to help, and one plans to get started next week.

Two people were transported to the hospital on Saturday morning after a boat hit a sandbar in Old Saybrook.

Officials said five people were on the boat when it hit the sandbar near the Harbor One Marina around 11:00 a.m. Two of the people on board were transported to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Mutual aid from Old Lyme and Middlesex, as well as DEEP responded to the scene.

Three state beaches will be closed during this year's Labor Day weekend.

Kettletown in Southbury, Indian Well in Shelton and Wharton Brook in Wallingford are all closed this weekend, officials with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said on Saturday.

Officials said cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, has closed both Kettletown and Indian Well. Wharton Brook remains closed from storm damage.

All other state beaches are open this weekend, according to DEEP.

Carmela Puppi hoped a lift and massage chair would ease some of her burdens.

"I needed a chair that was comfortable and comparable to my needs," the Wallingford resident said. “I have a lot of health issues.”

In February 2017, Puppi paid $1,199 for a Hampton Serta brand lift chair and recliner from online retailer, RLB Furnishings, LLC. The chair was manufactured by Novo Home.

"I ended up stuck in this chair with my legs up and my back down," Puppi said. “It was really frightening.”

Puppi said she complained to Novo Home, and the manufacturer sent out a service tech to look at the problem. The service report described the problem as a manufacturer defect.

Novo Home decided to replace the chair with the same model under warranty.

But Puppi said she also experienced problems with the replacement chair and called Novo Home a few more times to service it.

A spokesperson for the retailer, RLB Furnishings, told NBC Connecticut Responds Novo Home went out of business in the fall of 2017. The spokesperson said although RLB Furnishings is not a manufacturer or wholesale distributor, the company continued to work with Puppi, along with Lifestyle Solutions, which acquired a license to sell similar Serta chairs.

RLB told noted that it is not a manufacturer or wholesale distributor, that they offer a 30 day return policy, but that warranties are the sole responsibility of the manufacturer.

NBC Connecticut Responds attempted to contact Novo Home by phone and email, but did not receive a reply.

In response to our inquiry, Lifestyle Solutions provided Responds with the following statement:

“RLB (the retailer) approached Lifestyle Solutions with regard to supplying parts that RLB thought may be helpful to resolve the NOVO Home chair issue with Ms. Puppi. Lifestyle Solutions did, in fact, supply some new parts at the request of RLB to try and help RLB resolve the dispute with Ms. Puppi (at no cost to Ms. Puppi). Lifestyle Solutions was under no obligations to provide those free parts to Ms. Puppi, but did so as a goodwill gesture to both RLB and RLB’s customer, Ms. Puppi. Notwithstanding Lifestyle Solution’s goodwill gesture, Ms. Puppi then demanded that Lifestyle Solutions provide her with additional free parts (for a chair that Lifestyle Solutions had neither manufactured nor sold). Lifestyle notified Ms. Puppi that while it was happy to sell her additional parts, it could not provide her with additional free parts for a chair that Lifestyle Solutions had not manufactured or sold in the first place. Nor can Lifestyle Solutions offer Ms. Puppi a refund for a chair that Lifestyle Solutions had no connection in manufacturing or selling. Nevertheless, it is our understanding that Ms. Puppi is still in need of a comfortable chair to help her with her condition. As a further goodwill gesture to Ms. Puppi, Lifestyle Solutions would be pleased to offer Ms. Puppi (free of charge) one of the Lyft-type chairs manufactured and sold by Lifestyle Solutions under the Serta license.”

Puppi said she can live with that resolution.

The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection says whenever you purchase a product with a warranty, find out if the warranty is with the retailer or the manufacturer. You should also check the length of the warranty. The time range may vary depending on the product. And verify whether the warranty only covers a certain cost or certain components of the product. If you have questions about the warranty terms, talk directly with the warranty provider before making the purchase.

Labor Day weekend starts off with some beautiful weather for any outdoor activities, but it won’t be long before another span of hot days in the forecast.

Saturday brings temperatures around 80 degrees, with some clouds in the morning. Most of the day will be sunny with low humidity.

There will be a slight chance for a shower Sunday with temperatures in the mid-80s.

The heat comes back Monday with temperatures near 90 degrees. The heat breaks near the end of the week.

Get the full forecast anytime here.

A family is devastated after an airline lost their most precious cargo: their beloved dog.

Jonathan Rolon says his parents flew from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paraguay on Aug. 27 after visiting him in Connecticut. Their emotional support dog, Logan, was supposed to take that flight, too.

But when Rolon’s parents landed in the South American country, they were told Logan ended up not making the LATAM Airlines flight due to a ramp issue.

Rolon says he went to the airport and asked to see Logan, but the story took an odd twist when he was informed by an airlines employee that he couldn’t see the dog because another worker took the pooch home.

Though he wasn’t told why the employee took the dog home he was given the name of the worker — and an intersection to search, since, apparently, the dog went missing from that employee’s residence.

In a statement from LATAM, the airline says it is actively searching for Logan since his disappearance.

According to the airline, it has posted about 600 search posters around neighborhoods close to JFK Airport — including Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau County. The search flyers cover a 30-mile radius and offer a reward for information on Logan.

Additionally, a team of over 50 LATAM representatives has been involved in the search, while local police were also contacted regarding the disappearance.

On Aug. 29, according to LATAM, the Animal Care Center of New York (NYC ACC), which is responsible for animal welfare, relocation as well as searching for lost animals, became involved in the search for Logan, as well.

The airlines says it has also been in contact with the Rolon family and has offered to transport them to New York when they wish.

“LATAM deeply regrets the situation and will continue to provide all the recourses at its disposal in the effort to reunite Logan with his family,” the airlines says.

Logan’s disappearance has taken a toll on the family, with Rolon saying his absence is a blow to his mother who has become extremely depressed due to the missing pooch.

Actor Kevin Bacon and his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, were spotted at the Goshen Fair on Saturday.

The couple has a house in nearby Sharon.

Bacon is best known for movies like "Footloose," "Apollo 13" and "Animal House" and the television show, "The Following."

He is also known for the pop culture game, "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," whose premise is that anyone in Hollywood can be linked to the actor.

Sedgwick is known for movies like "War and Love," "Born on the Fourth of July," and "The Game Plan," and for her role on television shows including, "The Closer," and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."

A group of local firefighters returned home Saturday after weeks spent battling wildfires in Montana.

Five members of the Connecticut Fire Crew, who have special training and certification to fight forest and wildfires, left for their 14-day tour on August 15.

Allan Waterman of Moosup, Jacob Light of Enfield, Robert Yost of Milford, Deven Yudelsen of Burlington, and Patrick Marcoux of Sturbridge, MA, joined a company of fifteen others from the northeast.

The crew’s first seven days were spent in Montana’s northwest corner near Ennis, where they battled the Wigwam Fire until it was mostly contained. They then moved hundreds of miles south to Libby, MT, primarily focusing on protecting the town from the Gold Hill Fire, which remained one-percent contained when they left for Connecticut on Saturday.

The two fires are burning through approximately 7,600 acres, according to a release from DEEP, and the sight of the destruction is seared into Robert Yost’s memory. “When you’re standing in a forest that’s burned, that’s decimated all around you, it’s mind-boggling,” he said.

Yost, a firefighter with the Westport Fire Department, used his paramedic training to handle minor injuries sustained by the group as they hiked for miles each day with 40-pounds of supplies on their backs.

The work was hard, but leaving Montana knowing his crew helped secure the town from the fire raging just 13 miles to the north feels good.

“It’s probably the hardest work you’ll ever do, yet the most fun you’ll ever have,” he said.

Firefighters with similar training have been dispatched nationwide through the Forest Service’s reciprocal aid program to battle the wildfires that claimed more than 6.8 million acres so far this year. DEEP sent a fire engine and a three-person crew to California earlier in the week to the Ferguson Fire in Yosemite National Park, where almost 97,000 acres are burning. The fire already claimed the lives of two firefighters.

The father of Mollie Tibbetts, the Iowa woman allegedly killed by a Mexican man living in the United States illegally, implored people Saturday to stop using her murder to advance their political agenda, a day after President Donald Trump's son criticized some Democrats and what he called an "open-borders agenda," NBC News reported.

"At the outset, politicians and pundits used Mollie’s death to promote various political agendas. We appealed to them and they graciously stopped. For that, we are grateful," Tibbetts' father, Rob Tibbetts, wrote in an op-ed in the Des Moines Register published Saturday.

"Sadly, others have ignored our request. They have instead chosen to callously distort and corrupt Mollie’s tragic death to advance a cause she vehemently opposed. I encourage the debate on immigration; there is great merit in its reasonable outcome," Rob Tibbetts wrote.

"But do not appropriate Mollie’s soul in advancing views she believed were profoundly racist. The act grievously extends the crime that stole Mollie from our family and is, to quote Donald Trump Jr., 'heartless' and 'despicable,'" Mollie’s father wrote.

The U.S. military said it has made a final decision to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of not doing enough to root out militants from its border region with Afghanistan, NBC News reported.

The proposed cuts mark a new low in what were already deteriorating relations with the United States' longtime ally. Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said in a statement to Reuters on Saturday that if the cuts are approved by Congress, the Pentagon aimed to spend the money on "other urgent priorities."

The Coalition Support Funds — which the Pentagon is now proposing to cut — were part of a broader suspension of aid to Pakistan announced by President Donald Trump at the start of the year.

The Trump administration has claimed Islamabad is granting safe haven to militants who are waging a 17-year-old war in neighboring Afghanistan — a charge Pakistan denies. Announcing the initial suspension of funds in January, the president accused Islamabad of rewarding past U.S. aid with “nothing but lies & deceit.”

Two men are dead after a triple shooting in Hartford early Sunday morning.

According to Hartford police, shots rang out around 1:24 a.m. outside of a crowded house party in the area of 267 Hillside Ave.

The city's shot spotter system was activated twice, for around a dozen shots total. 

When police arrived, they found two men suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The men were transported to Hartford Hospital where they were both pronounced dead. Police said one victim is 34-year-old Kevin Campbell, of Windsor, and the other is 28-year-old Joshua Steele, of Hartford. 

Minutes later, officers said they received a frantic 911 call about someone who was shot several blocks away in the foot. "It was apparent he was part of this shooting on Hillside Avenue," Hartford Police Lt. Paul Cicero said. According to police, the victim is a 24-year-old Alex Roman, of Hartford. He was transported to St. Francis Hospital and is listed in stable condition with non life-threatening injuries. 

"We don't have any reason to believe this was a random act of violence. Like I said, there was a lot of people there. There may have been some kind of disagreement or what not. Investigation ongoing," said Hartford Police Lt. Paul Cicero.

Officers believe the shooting suspect and the gun that was used is still out there. They also believe all of the vicitms were targeted.

Hartford police are asking anyone who may have information or may have witnessed the shooting to come forward to help them identify a suspect.

"There was a lot of people here," said Hartford Police Sgt. Aaron Boisvert. "A lot of people saw what happened and were hoping someone saw what happened comes forward and lets us know."

Hillside Avenue from Catherine Street to Flatbush Avenue will be closed while police continue to investigate.

A man is recovering after being shot in the foot in Hartford on Sunday afternoon.

Police said they received shot spotter notification for shots fired near 60 Gillette Street around 3:50 p.m. When officers arrived, they said they found evidence of gunfire, including property damage to a vehicle and a nearby building.

Shortly after, a 22-year-old man from Hartford arrived at St. Francis Hospital with what appeared to be a single gunshot wound to his foot. Officials said his injury is non life-threatening.

Hartford Police are investigating the shooting.

LifeStar is responding to a rollover crash that closed part of I-84 in Plainville on Sunday.

State police said I-84 eastbound is closed at exit 34 for a rollover crash with ejection and serious injury.

Officials said traffic is being diverted off of exit 34 so LifeStar can land on the eastbound side of the highway.

It is unclear when the highway may reopen. 

An off duty South Windsor police officer has died after he sustain injuries while trying to break up a fight at a bar in South Carolina. 

Officials from Georgetown County Sheriff's Office identified 41-year-old Officer Matthew Mainieri.

According to police, Mainieri died as a reult of head injuries he sustained from the assault. 

Kelton Jess Todd, 21, of Aynor South Carolina was charged with assault in connection with the fight. Police said futher charges are pending as the investigation is ongoing. 

Sgt. Mainieri was a 20-year employee of the South Windsor Police Department. 

According to Deputy Chief Scott Custer, Sgt. Mainieri began working as a community service officer in January 1998 and became a police officer in May of 1999. 

During his career, he served as an Officer, Corporal and Sergeant.  He served in the Traffic Division and Detective Division. He was member of the regional traffic unit (Metro Traffic Services) and was an accident reconstructionist.  He was also an instructor in many areas including firearms and motorcycle instructor.  He also served as a member of South Windsor's regional emergency services team. 

"We send our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends as well as his police family throughout Connecticut and beyond," Custer wrote in a press release. 

At least 10 people were shot overnight at a San Bernardino apartment complex in California, police say. 

Some of the victims are in critical condition, but no fatalities have been reported, according to the San Bernardino Police Department's Lieutenant Rich Lawhead. Victims were transported to three area hospitals. 

The shooting happened in the front common area of the complex, Lawhead said. Prior to the incident, people were shooting dice in that area. 

He said it's unclear what led to the shooting. A suspect has not yet been identified.

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

Despite anecdotal and historical accounts of pot’s painkilling properties, scientific evidence that it works better than traditional painkillers is hard to come by. But Dr. Jeffrey Chen, director of UCLA's Cannabis Research Initiative, wants to change that, NBC News reported. 

The United States classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with no medical use, like heroin and cocaine. And as a 2015 article in the journal Current Pain and Headache Reports points out, high-quality clinical studies of pot’s effectiveness are limited. 

"The public consumption of cannabis has already far outpaced our scientific understanding," Chen said. “We really desperately need to catch up.”

Now, with one of the first academic programs in the world dedicated to the study of cannabis, researchers hope to conduct a high-quality study using opioid patients. The study aims to find out which combination “produces the most good,” according to Edythe London, a distinguished professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the UCLA school of medicine who designed the study.

Crews responded to a fire at a building on Kensington Street in Hartford on Monday morning.

Officials said the fire broke out at 167 Kensington Street around 7:30 a.m. It became a two-alarm fire around 7:50 a.m.

It is unclear if anyone was injured.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A juvenile has been issued a summons after being found in possession of a stolen vehicle in Hartford on Sunday.

Officers responded to Grand Street after getting a report of a stolen vehicle. According to dispatchers, the 2016 GMC Terrain was confirmed stolen out of Hartford.

Police conducted surveillance from an undisclosed location and saw the vehicle was occupied.

Once additional officers arrived, they converged on the vehicle and detained the juvenile operator without incident.

Police said the juvenile was issued a summons on scene and was released to his guardian.

Police in New Milford have released a photo of a man they are trying to identify after a vehicle was stolen last week.

Officers said a vehicle was stolen from Bostwick Place around 5:06 a.m. on August 29. The vehicle was later recovered in Danbury off of Nabby Road, near Stew Leonards.

If you have information or you can identify the man in the photo, you're asked to call New Milford Police's TIPS line at 860-355-2000.

Tropical Storm Gordon formed near the Florida Keys on Monday, packing maximum sustained winds of 45 mph as it moves toward the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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Gordon is located about 60 miles west-northwest of Key Largo and is moving west-northwest at a speed of 16 mph, as of the NHC's 11 a.m. public advisory.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect from the mouth of the Pearl River on the Mississippi-Louisiana border to the Alabama-Florida Border.

The NHC issued a Tropical Storm Warning for portions of South Florida in Miami-Dade County and Monroe County — from Golden Beach to Bonita Beach, and for the Florida Keys from Craig Key to Ocean Reef, including Florida Bay.

A Tropical Storm Warning is also in effect for the Okaloosa-Walton County Line westward to east of Morgan City, Louisiana, including Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for west of Shell Beach to the Mouth of the Mississippi River and east of the Mississippi-Alabama border to Navarre.

Gordon is expected to gradually strengthen during the next 48 hours, the NHC said. Up to 4 inches of rain is expected to fall over the central and northwestern Bahamas, the Florida Keys and South Florida through early Tuesday.

The storm is expected to reach the central Gulf Coast by late Tuesday.

The NHC issued a flood watch for Broward and Miami-Dade counties from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday.

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