A man approached a young boy at a bus stop in Watertown Thursday afternoon and police are asking anyone with information about the person, the car or other similar incidents to come forward. 

The 11-year-old boy had been dropped off at a bus stop at Tucker Avenue and French Street just before 3 p.m. when a white sedan approached him and the driver asked him if he needed a ride, then asked him to get into the vehicle, police said. 

The boy said no and ran home, according to police. He told police the vehicle looked like a newer white Toyota sedan and the man appeared to be in his late 20s, with dark hair and scruff on his face. He was wearing a blue shirt and a baseball cap. 

Anyone with information on the vehicle or who knows of similar incidents should call Watertown School Resource Officer Desena or the Watertown Police at 860-945-5200. 

Civil rights groups sued Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate for governor who also oversees elections in the state, saying the method his office uses to verify new voter registrations is discriminatory, NBC News reported.

The lawsuit, filed late Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, comes after the revelation that thousands of applications remain in a pending status just weeks ahead of November's midterm election.

The filing alleges that Georgia's "exact match" protocol — which requires information on voter registration applications to precisely match information on file with the state's Department of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration or be placed on hold — suppresses minority votes in violation of the Voting Rights Act, the 14th Amendment and the 1993 Voter Registration Act.

"Under this 'exact match' protocol, the transposition of a single letter or number, deletion or addition of a hyphen or apostrophe, the accidental entry of an extra character or space, and the use of a familiar name like 'Tom' instead of ‘Thomas’ will cause a no match result," lawyers for the civil rights groups wrote in the suit.

If you are looking for a little extra cash over the holidays, the United States Postal Service is doing some seasonal hiring. In Connecticut, it is hoping to fill 275 positions at the Wallingford facility, where a job fair was held on Friday. 

“Right after Thanksgiving, right through Christmas, we will be delivering packages almost 24 hours a day,” said John Wezenski, the senior plant manager for the Connecticut Valley District. 

Postal officials said work will begin in November after Veterans Day. They said new hires will work evenings and nights during the holiday season, which runs from Nov. 10 through Jan. 4, loading and unloading trucks and sorting packages. 

“They’re very friendly here and we work as a team to pull out the mail to go out on time,” said Claudette McLeod, who is hoping to be hired for a 19th season. 

“I’m really available to do anything at the moment,” said 19-year-old Justice Willoughby, of New Haven. “I’m just trying to find something that will help me benefit and get me more experience.” 

USPS joins a long list of companies also hiring for the holidays, such as retail-giant Target, which plans to hire more than 120,000 people this season at $12 an hour. USPS will be paying a competitive $16 to $17.50 an hour. 

“That’s the biggest reason probably why I’m here at the moment,” said Willoughby. 

“It’s extra money in my pocket for Christmas and also to pay my bills,” said McLeod. 

If you are interested in applying or learning more about job opportunities with USPS, click here. 

Part of Route 63 in Middlebury is closed after a tree took down wires, according to police.

Route 63 is closed north of the intersection of Route 66 and no injuries are reported.

There is no indication of when the intersection will reopen

No additional information was immediately available.

Thousands of runners and spectators are expected to participate in the Eversource Hartford Marathon Saturday, and there will be several road closures in four different towns starting just before the 8 a.m. race start.

In downtown Hartford, Trinity Street between Elm and Capitol closed Friday morning as hundreds of volunteers worked to get the course ready for runners.

“We are filling water bottles about 8,000 of them I think,” said Mika Cormier, a volunteer.

“It’s the fifth year I’ve been doing this,” said volunteer, Sunita Singh. “I enjoy it every year.”

Tens of thousands of people are expected watch the race.

“It is our 25th running this year,” said, Elizabeth Cowles, for the Hartford Marathon Foundation. “We are so excited. Huge celebration downtown tomorrow. We’ve got about 11,000 runners.”

There will be significant road closures throughout Hartford, East Hartford, South Windsor and West Harford.

Josh Miller, the Hartford Marathon technical director, said drivers should prepare and plan ahead.

“Race start is 8 a.m. in downtown Hartford,” Miller said. “Most closures start just prior to that at 7:30 a.m. We go out in to the East Hartford and South Windsor. Those closures go anywhere from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., but we open roads as soon as we can. Our public safety in on site at all those intersections to assist to make sure residents get to where they need to go in a timely manner,” Miller said.

For those who plan on heading to the race, there are parking lots and garages open for the event.

John Oates, chair of the Hartford Marathon Foundation Safety and Security Task Force, said there will be uniform and plain clothes officers at every corner. He said spectators and runners should speak up if they notice suspicious activity.

“If they see something like doesn’t fit, a behavior that doesn’t match, it’s very important for them to grab a police officer, grab a marathon staff member, or grab a volunteer firefighter,” Oates said.

Runners are all issued clear plastic bags. Spectators are asked to also bring clear bags, or leave them at home.

Bristol Water Department officials are assuring residents that their drinking water is safe after a sample of raw, untreated water from one of their wells tested positive for E. coli bacteria.

The Bristol Water Department regularly tests both raw water and treated drinking water for quality. Officials said raw water collected from a Mix Street wellfield on Oct. 9 tested positive for Coliform and E. Coli bacteria. There are five wells located on Barlow, Mix and Mechanic streets that supply water to the city on top of the surface water system. All water from the wells is treated and disinfected with chlorine before entering the distribution system for use.

When the results came in officials collected additional samples of treated water, from the distribution system and found no bacteria.

The well that tested positive for E. Coli was taken out of service so officials can determine the cause of the contamination.

“The Water Department has taken Well #3 out of service and it will remain out of service until we determine and correct the cause of the bacteria, wrote Board of Water Commissioners Chairwomen Elizabeth Phelan in a statement. “We have reviewed this situation with the Health Director of the Bristol/Burlington Health District and the Department of Public Health Water Supply Section and they are in agreement with our action plan.”

Officials stressed that bacteria was only found in the raw, untreated water, meaning the drinking water is safe and residents do not need to take precautions.

Meriden police are trying to locate a man accused of shooting a family member in the leg.

Police said 57-year-old Rafael Santiago is wanted in connection with a domestic incident that turned violent on Wednesday. According to police, responded to a dispute reported at a home on Curtis Street and found a man shot in the leg. The injuries were not life-threatening.

Investigators have secured an arrest warrant for Santiago, but have yet to locate him. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact local authorities. Police said Santiago should not be approached.

Anyone with information on questions can call or text police at 203-537-0116.

Surveillance footage captured the moment a car slammed into a Dayville gas station Thursday afternoon, sending glass, shelves and merchandise flying.

The owner of Chucky’s Mobil Gas on Hartford Turnpike said the driver was taken to the hospital. No one inside the store was hurt.

Connecticut State Police are investigating.

A brand-new cyber lab at the Coast Guard Academy in New London is going to help better train cadets and give them opportunities for hands-on learning.

“I was hoping there would be a cyber major when I applied, so hearing there was news of it, I was all over it,” said Fourth Class Cadet Nick Epstein of Elkridge, Maryland.

He’s part of the Coast Guard Academy Class of 2022 and declared the brand-new cyber systems major as his intended major, making him part of the inaugural class.

He’ll be working in a new $1.3 million state-of-the-art cyber lab.

“Sensitive content is being sent across cyber systems/cyber networks at all times, so with how much it’s changed, you can only expect that cyber is going to become more and more important,” Epstein said.

Cmdr. Joseph Benin is the program coordinator for the cyber systems major. It’s the first new major at the academy in about 25 years.

“It’s needed. It’s maybe overdue,” Benin said.

In the lab, students will have an isolated “cyber net” to work with.

“So they have isolation that they’re able to work with real malware. We’re able to have them be attacked in real-time and see what those effects are,” Benin said.

According to Benin, while the academy has had cyber classes for decades, this gives hands-on experience. Students can, for example, configure firewalls and learn about dynamic routing.

There are four tenure-track positions and two technicians for the major, which was so new, cadets weren’t able to select it before “swab summer.” Thirty-one students now have it as their intended major. Cadets are not formally accepted into a major until the end of their second year at the academy.

The room was primarily funded by the academy’s alumni association. The Coast Guard Academy funded the equipment, Benin said.

“You actually feel like you’re doing something and you can see the accomplishment of what you do,” said Fourth Class Cadet Austin Aitken, of Monroe Township, New Jersey.

The ribbon cutting for the new cyber lab is Saturday, Oct. 13. Cadets will start taking classes in there in January.

As part of homecoming at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, the Class of 1963 gifted the campus a monument of Alexander Hamilton.

They unveiled the $250,000 gift Friday morning.

The first Secretary of the Treasury is considered the “Father of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

The wife of Hamilton’s late great-great grandson, Laurens Morgan Hamilton, was present. Mary Anne Hamilton said her late husband—who’s also the grandson of J.P. Morgan—has spoken at the Coast Guard Academy before and would be thrilled about this tribute.

“For so long my husband and his family were trying to get people to acknowledge Hamilton…and show how great he was,” Hamilton said.

“He’s the father of the Coast Guard and he should be here. And he should be the first big monument that we have here at the Coast Guard Academy,” Mike Burdian, president of the USCGA Class of 1963.

The Hamilton monument stands in front of Hamilton Hall.

A Norwalk doctor has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison on drug distribution and health care fraud charges after what authorities have called the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the federal Medicare Fraud Strike Force in the country.

Dr. Bharat Patel, 71, of Milford, was convicted of running a “pill mill” and selling prescriptions for drugs, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, to addicts and drug dealers, who would then sell the drugs on the streets. He was sentenced to 54 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Connecticut U.S Attorney's office.

The charges were connected to a nationwide opioid and healthcare fraud crackdown. Hundreds of defendants were charged across the country, including doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving over $1 billion in false billings.

The local investigation began after allegations that two doctors might be writing prescriptions outside the scope of legitimate medical practice.

Patel and a partner, Dr. Ramil Mansourov, operated out of Family Health Urgent Care, at 235 Main Street in Norwalk.

Some of those addicts they are accused of selling to referred to the defendants’ medical practice as “The Candy Shop,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Authorities said Patel regularly provided prescriptions for narcotics, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, to patients he knew were addicted or had been arrested for distributing or possessing controlled substances.

On several occasions, he sold the prescriptions to patients under the table for $100, including to some who used a state Medicaid card, then distributed the drugs, officials said.

In 2014 alone, more than $50,000 in cash was deposited into Patel and his wife’s bank accounts and some of that money went to buy the house Patel currently lives in, according to federal authorities.

Mansourov was also charged and pleaded guilty to health care fraud and money laundering offenses earlier this year. He is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 5.

The trip of a lifetime for a Branford family got off to a rough start when the car service they hired didn’t live up to their expectations.

Lan Guglietta and her family had plans to travel to their native country of Vietnam. Guglietta said her 80-year-old mom hadn’t been back there in 30 years.

“We’ve been planning it for like a year…just for this day to go,” Guglietta said.

Guglietta said she booked an SUV car service through an online company called Ride with Red Hat, Inc. to take her and her family to and from JFK airport.

“We didn’t realize we’d run into a nightmare on this ride,” said Guglietta.

Guglietta insisted that she read the reviews and thought $300 was a reasonable amount to pay for an BMW SUV. She said she put down half the amount of the trip when she booked it.

“We were completely in shock when we saw the car he came to pick us up,” Guglietta said.

Guglietta said the driver showed up in a Volkswagon Jetta sedan to transport four people and four large suitcases to the airport. When she asked the driver about her SUV reservation, Guglietta said he told her the company instructed him to come and pick them in the Volkswagon.

Frank Acocella, owner of Ride with Red Hat, Inc. told NBC Connecticut Responds:

“On the day of pick up, my SUV fleet was all out and we sent the sedan. We told customer that we would not take her if she wanted. She accepted.”

Acocella said his driver offered to cancel the ride but Guglietta decided to stay with the company for the trip to the airport.

Guglietta said driver forced her family’s luggage into the trunk to make it fit.

“He was jamming as hard as he can this way, jamming that way. Every single inch he can find, jammed it in,” added Guglietta.

Guglietta said she also noticed a strong odor in the car and saw food stuck to the window.

“We were very upset. But we have no choice,” added Guglietta.

Acocella disagreed saying: “We picked her up at 6 p.m. for a 3 a.m. flight. Therefore, customer had ample time to get other ride. Nonetheless, she accepted.”

Guglietta told us she cancelled her return trip. Then, she discovered her son’s laptop had two cracks in the screen when the family returned home and explained that to the owner.

“He said that I get into his car and therefore it’s my problem,” said Guglietta.

According to Acocella, “that night she called to cancel return trip. At that point customer did NOT mention anything about a computer screen. Regardless it states on my website we are not liable for personal items please check my website. Furthermore…a week after her arrival she calls me to tell me about computer. A Week [sic] after arrival.”

Even though, the company is not obligated to do anything about the broken computer screen, Guglietta wants the company to pay for the damaged computer.

“I’m just so, so disappointed,” added Guglietta.

A spokesperson with the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) says the state has regulatory authority only over intrastate livery services in Connecticut. All intrastate livery services must be registered and approved for passenger service by the CTDOT, which includes vehicle inspections prior to entering service. Interstate livery operations are not regulated by the CTDOT. The State says it appears that the company is a ride referral service/broker. These types of services are not regulated by the CTDOT.

Thousands of Connecticut children are living with someone charged with caring for them because their parents cannot. Now the state is expanding a program designed to help cover the unexpected cost of raising someone else’s kids.

The Kinship & Respite Grant program is run by the state’s probate courts. Officials say for many of the kids, these relatively small amounts of money are the difference between living with someone they know and trust or the foster care system.

Bernice Hobby is the court-appointed guardian for her two grandchildren, Emmanuel and Hezekiah. She said it can be hard on her, and the program eases the struggle.

“It makes me emotional,” Hobby said.

As the probate court-appointed guardian, Bernice receives small grants every year, which help with everything from the gas bill to fixing their car.

“If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be able to function,” Hobby told NBC Connecticut

In nearly 20 years with the probate courts, Probate Court Administrator Paul Knierim said he’s seen the kinship and respite grants they provide make it possible for low-income family members to accept responsibility for a child.

“We’re talking about families with limited resources available to them,” Knierim said.

This week, they’re expanding the program to guardians and children who are not related.

“That person who’s really close to the family is ready to step in and we feel deserves the same level of support as a family member doing that,” Knierim said.

The grants are capped at $500 per child or $2,000 per family per year, significantly less than the cost to the state if these children were to be sent into the foster system.

Twelve-year-old Hezekiah wants everyone to know the money his grandma receives is put to good use.

“We need to help her get through the hard times,” he said.

More information on the program is available here.

A pedestrian is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after a crash in Manchester early Saturday morning.

Police said they were called to West Middle Turnpike around 2:20 a.m. after getting a report of a crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian.

When officers arrived, they said the pedestrian, later identified as a 23-year-old man, was not responsive. Emergency medical personnel began life-saving measures and transported him to Hartford Hospital to be treated for life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the vehicle stayed at the scene and cooperated with police, officers said.

Witnesses told police that the pedestrian attempted to cross West Middle Turnpike near the Pepe's driveway when he was hit by the vehicle.

The crash is under investigation. If you witnessed the incident or have additional information, you're encouraged to call Manchester Police at (860) 533-8651.

You see the aerial video from the Panhandle and it’s enough to leave you stunned. Miles and miles of devastation, but it looks familiar to anyone who remembers the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew or last year’s assault by Hurricane Irma on the Lower Keys.

As you contemplate roofs that are splintered and walls which have collapsed, remember that experts say for the most part, you’re looking at homes built before stronger building codes became state law in 2002.

Compared to older homes, structures built according to the newer building codes fared much better during Irma and Hurricane Michael, both Category 4 storms.

“Definitely a lot less damage, they would be on stilts, most likely be concrete block structure, hurricane clips on the roofs,” explained Walter Conklin, an engineer who runs FIU’S Wall of Wind lab. “So you have minimal damage compared to what you see now of everything there was to code.”

The Wall of Wind lab is one of only a handful of wind tunnel facilities in the world able to simulate Category 5 hurricane winds. The engineers here are always doing research or testing products and building designs to see how they perform in strong winds. They’re looking for what does and what doesn’t hold up against a storm like Michael.

“What roofs hold up better than others, what nailing pattern would work better than others, hurricane strap compared to no hurricane strap, concrete compared to wood frame,” said Conklin, listing some of the components of modern houses.

The Wall of Wind is a powerful tool for research, but Conklin says his team can’t adequately simulate the effect when a hurricane demolishes a structure and then hurls its debris into another house.

“So even if the home was to code it wasn’t meant to withstand damage from multiple homes impacting it,” Conklin said.

That phenomenon, the engineers at FIU say, surely happened in the Panhandle communities, accounting for an unknown amount of damage, because there are so many homes there built before the building codes were beefed up in 2002.

If those codes are followed, homes and other structures can be made hurricane-resistant, but only if everything is built correctly.

“A lot of it has to do with installation, so you can have the best building codes in the world but if you don’t install it correctly that thing will fall apart,” Conklin said.

Quality matters.

A Silver Alert has been issued for a 12-year-old who has been missing from Naugatuck since Friday night.

Family members told police that 12-year-old Nathaniel Miranda was last seen at home in Naugatuck at 5:14 p.m. on the home's doorbell camera. He said he was going to walk the dog, but neither returned home.

Police said family has tried to call Miranda's phone, but it is turned off.

Miranda was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black pants and grey and black sneakers. He is possibly with a dog, described as a Yorkipoo.

He is described as being 5'6" and weighing 190 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.

If you have any information about Miranda's whereabouts, you're urged to contact Naugatuck Police at (203) 729-5221.

Connecticut State Police are investigating after a vehicle crashed into two other vehicles and a house in Middlefield early Saturday morning.

Firefighters said they were called to a report of a car into a building on Baileyville Road, also known as Route 147, around 2:00 a.m.

When they arrived, they found that a vehicle traveling south on Baileyville Road had left the roadway on the right side and crashed into two parked vehicles and an unoccupied house.

Both parked vehicles were heavily damaged, as well as a trailer that was attached to one of the vehicles, according to fire officials. The unoccupied house was minorly damaged in the crash.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection responded to the scene for an evaluation and to clean up the area after large amounts of gasoline and other fluids from the vehicles were found.

The driver was the only person in the vehicle and refused medical treatment at the scene, officials said.

The accident is being investigated by Connecticut State Police.

The State Department says former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's security clearance has been withdrawn at her request, NBC News reported.

Clinton's decision comes after Admiral William McRaven penned an op-ed in the Washington Post rebuking President Donald Trump's decision to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance in mid-August, according to her spokesperson Nick Merrill.

On Aug. 30, Clinton's representative wrote a letter to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the U.S. State Department asking for a withdraw of her clearance "immediately."

"[Clinton] has no desire to have her clearance become part of an unprecedented partisan controversy over the clearance process, for the reason eloquently stated by Admiral William McRaven," Clinton's attorney wrote.

An 8-year-old child has serious injuries after a pedestrian crash in Norwich on Saturday morning.

Officers received a 911 call for a vehicle versus pedestrian crash near North Main Street and Central Avenue around 10:30 a.m.

When first responders arrived to the scene, they learned the pedestrian was an 8-year-old child with a serious leg injury. The child was transported to the hospital for treatment, according to police.

North Main Street between 12th Street and Central Avenue was closed while the accident reconstruction team assisted with the investigation. The road reopened around 1:30 p.m.

Anyone who may have witnessed the accident is encouraged to call Ofc. Rich Cannata at the Norwich Police Department at (860) 886-5561.