The University of Connecticut is opening its housing a day early to help students avoid moving in during the worst of the weekend storm.

UConn residence halls at Storrs and Stamford will open at 9 a.m. Saturday. Move-in was originally scheduled for Sunday.

The school is encouraging students to take advantage of the early opening on Saturday, or wait until Monday. Students who are new to their halls or picking up keys for new room assignments will be able to check in from noon until 4 p.m. Saturday.

The worst of the storm, which will include snow, sleet, and freezing rain, is expected Sunday.

The storm is expected to start late Saturday and go into Sunday. The NBC Connecticut meteorologists are forecasting between 3 to 6 inches of snow in Storrs and 1 to 3 inches in Stamford. After the storm, bitterly cold temperatures are expected and Monday will likely be icy.

The dining halls and Storrs Student Union will not reopen until Sunday so students should make other plans for meals.

Students who have no other choice to move in but Sunday are asked to use caution and look out for pedestrian and plows while driving.

Danbury police are searching for the suspect in a shooting near Danbury Hospital.

Police said the shooting happened in the area of Ellsworth and Hospital Avenue. One victim was shot in the arm and is at the hospital being treated, police said. The injuries do not appear life-threatening.

The suspect was last seen in the area of Wooster Cemetery. He is described as a young man wearing a blue dew ray and black NorthFace backpack.

Police said the victim was targeted and that there is no immediate threat to the general public.

The Ellsworth Avenue School and Western Connecticut State University were notified and went into temporary lockdowns that have since been lifted, according to Mayor Mark Boughton.

No other details were immediately available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

East Hartford police are trying to identify a suspect accused of assaulting and robbing a woman in December.

Police said that on Dec. 29 the suspect pictured above approached a woman in the area of 218 Main St. around 10:30 p.m., after the victim shopped at a convenience store. The suspect attacked the woman and stole her cash, police said.

He is described as 5-foot-9, 250 pounds, with short black hair, a beard and mustache. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and dark pants.

Anyone who recognizes the suspect should contact East Hartford Police Detective Patrick Sullivan at 860-291-7611 or the East Hartford Police Department’s Anonymous Tip Line at 860-289-9134.

A Southington family created a new way to keep kids safe, and their device was chosen as the winner of a national competition.

The White family came up with the kid-safe switch, a device that sounds an alarm when a child gets too close to a hot stove. But mom Jill said she would have never imagined what happened next.

“We did it almost as an art project, but never did I have the confidence to believe in our creative thinking, and the ideas could turn into something,” she said.

They entered the safe switch into the Frito Lay Dreamvention Contest, a national competition, and it was chosen as one of five finalists. Last weekend, they flew out to Dallas with the other finalists for an awards brunch.

“We were also thinking everybody in this room wants this so bad," White said.

White says that after 2 million votes nationwide, they announced that her family won. The prize - $250,000.

“I think I’m still coming out of the shock,” White said. “I don’t even know if people could see my reaction because I burst into tears.”

After taking a celebratory trip to Disney, the family plans to invest some of the money into the idea that started it all - the safe switch.

“I would like to see it happen,” White said. “I would like to see it help people someday.”

It’s a device they hope may one day save lives.

“Dreams always felt like dreams, and now they feel attainable,” said White.

More banks across Connecticut are offering no-interest loans to provide short-term financial help to workers going without pay during the partial shutdown of the federal government.

On Thursday, the City of Danbury announced that Union Savings Bank would provide no-interest loans for up to 90 days as the shutdown persists.

“While Washington is broken, the City of Danbury works, we work to get from A to B and keep compassion alive and well here,” said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.

Union’s President and CEO Cynthia Merkle told reporters that because the shutdown hits Danbury directly, with more than 250 workers at the Federal Correctional Institution in the city working without pay, the bank felt a civic duty to provide some relief.

“We apologize that our fellow community individuals are living with this but hopefully we can make it a little bit better,” Merkle said.

The first loan program that was announced came at the beginning of the week when Gov. Ned Lamont appeared with Webster Bank CEO John Ciulla to announce that the bank would provide loans that would be backed by the full faith and credit of the State of Connecticut.

A spokesperson for Webster Bank said more information on the loans, and interest in the program, would be available Friday.

Elsewhere in Connecticut, the images of the shutdown on affected employees look like the fallout of a recession or depression.

TSA workers lined up to collect groceries during a Foodshare event in Windsor Locks. The event was quickly organized in the past few days to provide assistance for the 150 TSA workers at Bradley who are working without compensation.

“This is not a typical thing for Foodshare to do but we wanted to pull together in this time of need,” Miranda Muro from Foodshare said.

Sarah Small and Adrian Pellot have each worked at Bradley for the TSA for more than 11 years. They say the anxiety of the shutdown is picking up the longer it continues.

“Definitely, yes, because we have no other way of getting any money unless we literally get another job,” said Small.

Pellot, who has a supervisory role at the airport, says he keep checking his bank account to ensure he can cover critical payments and says the loan programs may become necessities if the shutdown continues for even more days and weeks.

“Even yesterday, I was thinking, I had a quarter of a tank of gas in my car, do I just fill up here in Connecticut?” he asked. “Massachusetts is a little bit cheaper, do I take the drive and go up to Mass and do that? I’m trying to think about little ways to cut costs here and there.”

Amtrak has announced modified service on its Midwest and Northeast lines ahead of a weekend storm expected to bring heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain across the regions.

On Saturday and Sunday some trains from Chicago to the Northeast will be canceled, and there will be modified schedules for the northeast lines Sunday.

Anyone planning to travel by Amtrak should check their train status before leaving, and allow extra time to get to the station.

Customers were tickets for modified or canceled trains can take a train with a similar departure time or another day. Amtrak will waive charges to change reservations. For more information, call 800-USA-RAIL.

A full list of the changes is below:

Canceled service for Saturday, Jan. 19, and Sunday, Jan. 20, includes:

Capitol Limited (Chicago – Washington, D.C.): Trains 29, 30

Lake Shore Limited (Chicago – New York/Boston): Trains 49, 449, 48, 448

Cardinal (Chicago – New York), Train 50 on Jan. 19 and Train 51 on Jan. 20 between New York and Indianapolis.

Modified service for Sunday, Jan. 20, includes:

Acela Express service (Boston – New York – Washington, D.C.): Trains 2250, 2254, 2249, 2251, 2253 will not operate only between New York and Boston. Train 2290 is canceled entirely.

Northeast Regional service (Boston – New York – Washington, D.C.): Trains 160,164, 88,161,135,167 will not operate only between New York and Boston.

Keystone Service (New York – Philadelphia – Harrisburg): Trains 662, 664, 672, 661, 667, 671 are canceled.

Pennsylvanian service (New York – Philadelphia – Harrisburg – Pittsburgh): Trains 42 & 43 are canceled.

Vermonter (St. Albans, Vt. – New York – Washington, D.C.): Trains 54, 57 are not operating between St. Albans, Vt. and New Haven, Conn.

Northeast Corridor service between New York and Washington, D.C., and points south will continue to operate as scheduled.

Southwest Airlines' yearlong effort to launch affordable flights to Hawaii is stalled. Craft brewers haven't been able to ship their seasonal beers. Hundreds of federal rental assistance contracts with private landlords have expired, putting low-income families and seniors at risk of eviction. Across the country, thousands of unpaid government employees and contractors struggling to make ends meet are turning to food banks for assistance.

As the partial government shutdown moves through its fourth week with no end in sight, the economic blow is hitting not only federal workers but also business people, households and travelers across the country. And experts warn that if the shutdown drags into February or beyond, as the president has suggested it could, the devastating impact would be widespread. 

"We'll be in no man's land," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told NBC News. 

Here is how the worsening damage could unfold: 

Food Insecurity
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it can fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, through February. The agency announced last week that it would bankroll the $4.8 billion in benefits for 39 million people enrolled in SNAP, but with a catch: States must issue those payments on or before Jan. 20 and families must make those funds — about $250 per household — last through February, whether the government reopens or not. 

If the shutdown lasts until March, the USDA could be forced to dip into its reserves to help fund the program, and its $3 billion SNAP contingency fund won't cover a full month of benefits.

"If the shutdown continues and USDA determines it does not have the authority to extend SNAP in March without congressional action, many low-income households would be at risk of serious hunger and hardship," said Dottie Rosenbaum, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Emergency food assistance providers such as food banks and food pantries, as well as other local community service providers, would likely see dramatic increases in demand as families and individuals scrambled to fill the hole in their monthly food budgets."

It's not just families enrolled in the program that would take a blow. Should SNAP benefits cease, Rosenbaum said the more than 250,000 supermarkets, grocery stores, and other retailers that participate in the program would see a substantial drop in SNAP redemptions, which in many cases constitute a significant share of their sales.

Eventually, non-food retailers will also feel the pinch. That's because SNAP frees up cash for low-income households to buy other basic essentials like diapers and clothing, boosting economic stimulus.  A 2010 USDA study found that every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.79 in economic activity.

Threats of Eviction
Since the shutdown began on Dec. 22, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been unable to renew almost 700 rental assistance contracts, placing low-income seniors and families at risk of eviction, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).  

Another 450 Project-Based Rental Assistance contracts are slated to expire over the next two weeks, and an additional 550 won't be renewed should the shutdown continue through February, NLIHC President Diane Yentel said.

Under the Section 8 housing voucher program, tenants pay 30 percent of their household income for rent and utilities while the federal government makes up the rest of the rent. The average annual income for these households is $13,000.  

The Washington Post reported HUD sent a letter to landlords earlier this month, instructing property owners to dip into their reserve accounts "to cover funding shortfalls" and keep tenants in their homes. 

But not all property owners have sufficient savings to dip into and need the rental revenue to pay their mortgages, insurance, property taxes and other operating expenses.

A landlord in Arkansas came under fire this week over a letter sent to more than 1,200 tenants across her 50 apartment complexes throughout the state. The letter said that because of the government shutdown, tenants had until Jan. 20 to either pay their rents in full or leave.

"If the people can't pay their rent, I can't pay bills. If I don't get paid, I can't pay my people," Annette Cowen, a property manager in Arkansas, told KFSM-TV.

Arkansas Online reported that after media attention and calls to lawmakers to intervene, the USDA told Cowen the agency would finance the rental contracts through at least February and maybe longer.

"People are really scared about what will happen to them," Yentel told NBC in a phone interview.      

Landlords of America's poorest tenants won't be the only property owners concerned about whether they'll get the next rent payment. The General Services Administration, which leases more than 187 million square feet of space around the country on behalf of federal government agencies, could miss its January rent payments at thousands of properties if the shutdown continues into February. 

Joe Brennan, managing director of Government Investor Services at JLL, said in a phone interview it is unclear how widespread the ripple effect of a delinquent federal tenant would be. Investors in commercial real estate properties are not just developers, but include pension funds, collateralized debt obligation bonds and capital stocks. 

"This is uncharted territory," Brennan said. "The government has never missed rent payments before."

The faith and credit of the U.S. government has historically made the investment low risk with competitive leases. If the once-reliable tenant misses several rent payments over the course of the shutdown, Brennan warned investors may label them "high risk," leading to higher rent prices paid for by American taxpayers.   

Private landlords leasing space to the government can’t evict their federal tenants over nonpayment. They also can’t fine the government over late payments without approval from their tenant. Their only recourse is fight it out in court, a long and expensive process, Brennan said.

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied?
The government shutdown, meanwhile, is threatening to grind federal court cases to a halt after it runs out of money on Jan. 25. 

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which initially projected that funding would be exhausted by Jan. 18, revised its estimated outlook on Tuesday. The office said in a statement that the additional week of funding was mainly "attributed to aggressive efforts to reduce expenditures."  

Since the shutdown began, federal courts have continued to operate by using court fee balances and other "no-year" funds. Courts and federal public defender offices have delayed or deferred non-mission critical expenses, such as new hires, non-case related travel, and certain contracts as part of their cost-cutting efforts. Judiciary employees are reporting to work and currently are in full-pay status. 

But once existing funding runs out the courts will operate on an "essential work" basis. Individual courts are allowed to determine which staffers are deemed necessary. Some courts have already issued orders suspending or postponing civil cases in which the government is a party.

And while President Donald Trump claims the fight over funding for a wall is necessary to address border security, the shutdown is having an unintended consequence on his efforts to curb illegal immigration.

Between Dec. 24 and Jan. 11, 42,726 immigration court hearings were canceled due to the shutdown, congesting an already backlogged system, according to a report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Another 20,000 scheduled cases will be canceled by the end of this week and as many as 100,000 hearings will be pushed back indefinitely by the end of the month if the shutdown continues.

Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, said in an interview with NPR that she now has around 2,000 immigration cases before her court in Los Angeles. And some judges, according to Tabaddor, have upwards of 4,000. The cases are booked years in advance and rescheduling them will be a logistical nightmare.   

"We don’t have time to adequately consider the cases that we do have, much less have to spend extra time to think about what we’re going to do with all the cases that have to be rescheduled," she told NPR.

Safety Risks
The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday it would resume inspections of some of the riskiest foods such as cheeses, produce and infant formula as early as Tuesday. The routine inspections had been briefly halted as a result of the partial government shutdown.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told NBC News his staff put calls out to furloughed workers to gauge whether they would come back to work despite not getting paychecks. 

"We got an overwhelming response from our very dedicated and mission-driven field force who are coming back to work unpaid," he said.

Riskier foods account for about a third of the agency's roughly 8,400 routine inspections each year.

Meanwhile, applications for new drugs have been halted. The FDA review of a life-saving peanut allergy treatment for children ages 4 to 17 is on hold due to the government shutdown. The California-based biotech company Aimmune Therapeutics said in an SEC regulatory filing that the FDA is unable to begin review of AR101, its experimental treatment for peanut allergies, due to the shutdown. A spokeswoman for the company told NBC that the FDA will initiate review of AR10 once "the lapse in appropriations has ended." 

However, Aimmune could see further delays even after the government has re-opened. Gottlieb warned in a tweet on Jan. 5 that the FDA is running out of user fees, which are paid by the companies and used to fund the regulatory review of drugs. The money was diverted to fund safety inspections during the shutdown.  He wrote on Twitter that review program will run out of money in early February. 

The shutdown has halted inspection of chemical factories, power plants, oil refineries, water treatment plants, and thousands of other industrial sites for pollution violations, The New York Times reported.

It has also suspended federal cleanups at Superfund sites around the nation and forced the cancellation of public hearings, deepening the mistrust and resentment of surrounding residents who feel people in power long ago abandoned them to live among the toxic residue of the country's factories and mines.

Houston, We Have a Problem
The effects of the shutdown are already rippling through aviation, with unpaid security screeners staying home, air-traffic controllers suing the government and safety inspectors off the job.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners who staff security checkpoints and air-traffic controllers are among the "essential" federal employees required to work through the shutdown without pay.

"I still have a mortgage to pay, I still have financial obligations — students loans — and those don't stop," Gerald Quaye, an air-traffic controller at New York's JFK airport, told NBC New York. "So, to come to work and not get paid and not know when I'm going to get my next paycheck, it's unsettling."   

It also has security repercussions. Mike Perrone, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said it's hard for TSA and FAA employees to "keep their head in the game" when they're worried about bills not getting paid. 

Many employees tell local media they can't afford to miss another paycheck. Industry officials worry that if the shutdown lingers and TSA employees quit en masse, with training for new highers on hold, the lack of staffing will lead to longer security lines, closed checkpoints, extended flight delays and even the grounding of flights.

"TSA only has what it has," said Christopher Bidwell, the vice president for security at the trade group Airports Council International-North America

Economic Damage Ripples
On Tuesday, Kevin Hassett, a top economist in the White House, acknowledged that the shutdown was weighing on the economy more than he had previously estimated. Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said the White House now calculates that annual growth is slowing by about 0.1 percentage point a week.

Some companies are pointing to specific problems: Delta said Tuesday that the shutdown is costing it $25 million a month in government travel. Its CEO, Edward Bastian, said that with the FAA partially closed, Delta will also likely delay the start date of eight new aircraft.

Southwest Airlines told eager customers on social media that their long-awaited flights to Hawaii are on hold because they have not been able to complete the FAA’s certification process for extended over-water flights. The Dallas-based carrier had hoped to start selling tickets for service to service to Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on the Big Island, Lihue Airport on Kauai, Kahului Airport on Maui and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Oahu by late 2018, with flights debuting in early 2019, according the AP.

Bloomberg reports Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Mike Manley told attendees at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit that the new Dodge Ram 3500, which was unveiled Monday, could be delayed reaching the market because of the shutdown. Manley said the company is waiting on an emissions certificate from the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air quality, and cannot sell the truck until that is approved.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees public stock offerings, is mostly closed because of the shutdown. As a result, some companies that had been planning initial public offerings in coming months, including Uber and Lyft, are likely facing delays. Marianne Lake, chief financial officer for JPMorgan Chase, said the bank could lose out on fees from IPOs and merger and acquisition deals that would be delayed if other shuttered agencies can't approve them.

The nation's craft beer taps are also being squeezed. The federal shutdown halted operations at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which regulates alcohol production and distribution, preventing new breweries from opening and stopping shipments of some suds across state lines.

Brewers are increasingly nervous that they will lose money if brewery openings and seasonal beers are delayed much longer.

The end of the shutdown won't bring an immediate end to the delays. The longer the shutdown continues, the bigger the backlog the bureau will have to sort through when work resumes. That means it could still be months before labels and permits are approved.

"A big part of it will be all the plans that brewers have for 2019 will get thrown out the window," said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

An AAA study says the most deadly weather is not when it snows or rains, but when conditions are clear and dry.

The agency cited speeding as a major factor for fatal accidents. According to AAA, deadly collisions on Connecticut’s roadways are making headlines just days into 2019.

State police have responded to a tractor-trailer wreck in Milford and a rollover accident in Suffield.

While we don’t know the exact cause of these fatal crashes, the agency stressed that drivers may be at an even greater risk on dry roads.

“People drive faster when the roads are dry and when the weather is clear,” said AAA spokesperson Amy Parmenter.

In 2018, the State Medical Examiner’s office reported that more than 300 people died in fatal crashes.

Parmenter pointed out that it doesn’t have to be snowing for a road to be dangerous.

“That’s a pretty staggering number. That’s someone dying on Connecticut roads, you know, more than one person in two days,” said Parmenter.

AAA analyzed crash data released by police departments across the country. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety,

Researchers found that over a five year period, nearly 90 percent of fatal crashes occurred when the weather was clear, and about 80 percent of all fatal accidents happened on dry roads.

Which is why Parmenter is pushing for motorists to practice safe driving habits.

“We really want to get the message out there, that just because it’s not snowing doesn’t mean that the roads are dangerous,” said Parmenter.

AAA encourages drivers to pay attention to the following rules if you’re on dry or wet roads: Slow down, drive defensively, limit distractions and never get behind the wheel if you’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol or tired. And always adjust driving behaviors for the conditions around you.

Gov. Ned Lamont plans to activate the state’s Severe Cold Weather Protocol Sunday as a storm moves through and leaves bitterly cold temperatures in its wake.

Sunday’s storm is expected to bring heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain across the region. Behind Sunday’s storm, bitterly cold air and strong winds will result in wind chills as low as -20 on Monday, creating icy conditions. Those in need of shelter from the cold can contact 211. The protocol will run from noon on Sunday through noon Wednesday.

On Thursday the governor urged residents to prepare for the storm and use caution while traveling.

“We are urging everyone in Connecticut to make plans to stay in place Saturday night and into Sunday morning, and only travel if absolutely necessary. I am also activating the Severe Cold Weather Protocol on Sunday to help the most vulnerable in our communities access shelters during this stretch of brutal cold temperatures. If you or someone you know is in need of shelter, please call 2-1-1,” Lamont wrote in a media release.

The Severe Cold Weather Protocol activates coordination between Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), the Department of Social Services (DSS), the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), and the Department of Housing (DOH) to work across the state’s network of shelters to make sure everyone has a place to go in the cold.

The NBC Connecticut meteorologists continue to track the storm and will have updates as we move closer. 

Former Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Thad Allen (Ret.), made a visit to the pop-up food pantry at Leamy Hall at the Coast Guard Academy in New London Thursday in the wake of the partial government shutdown.

“It’s extraordinary how coast guardsmen have come together – men and women – service members, their families, their spouses, to cope with this problem,” Allen said.

He praised the extraordinary work of the Coast Guard and the community but said it’s not sustainable.

“Even as we speak today the Coast Guard Cutter Bollard is out on the Connecticut River breaking ice by East Haddam. And they’re up there doing their job making sure the Connecticut River is open for shipping. They’re not getting paid and their families are at risk. That’s unacceptable,” Allen said.

With the shutdown in day 27 and resources stretched thin, Allen said stresses will eventually build.

“At some point this is going to cause a problem with readiness to respond at mission. And what we don’t want to do is increase the risk to this country that we created artificially,” he said.

Allen was the principal federal official for response and recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He was the U.S. Coast Guard’s 23rd Commandant and the national incident commander for united response during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Yesterday was the admiral’s 70th birthday and he posted on social media that the best present he received was the resilience of the men and women of the Coast Guard and their families dealing with the emergency.

He praised the community efforts, too.

“Extraordinary, extraordinary outpouring of support from the community. Just extraordinary,” Allen said.

The southeastern Connecticut community he knows well. Allen graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1971. He served as the commander of Group Long Island Sound in New Haven in the 1990s where the station in New London was under his command.

Even now, he’s the Tyler Chair at the Institute for Leadership at the Coast Guard Academy. That’s what brought him into town, but Allen said he would have made the trip anyway.

Allen grew up in a Coast Guard family and has seen hardships associated with duty.

“This is a hardship imposed on the Coast Guard with no any mission effect associated with it. We’re not trying to help anybody. It’s almost like we’ve become the victims here,” Allen said.

Route 185 is closed near the Simsbury-Bloomfield town line due to a serious crash in Bloomfield, according to Simsbury police.

Simsbury police confirmed the closure and said it was expected to last for several hours.

Bloomfield firefighters confirmed they responded to the crash, but no details were immediately available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

A man in his 20s was shot on Foster Street in Meriden Thursday.

Police said they received a 911 call reporting shots fired around 6:30 p.m. When officers arrived they found the victim just outside a home. His condition was not immediately clear.

Sgt. John Mennone said the scene is secure and there is no immediate threat to the general public.

Police did not offer any information on possible suspects.

The investigation is ongoing.

There are about 300 people at the Coast Guard Academy working without pay and several hundred more on furlough during the federal government shutdown, and local businesses are seeing the impact.

“People are tightening up and we’re seeing a decline,” said Peter Farnan, the general manager at Mr. G’s Restaurant.

A big part of the usual evening rush at the restaurant has been missing for a while now.

“Takeout, going to lunch, going to happy hour. That’s where they’re first going to cut the cord,” Farnan said.

In a town where the Coast Guard Academy is a major economic driver, the government shutdown and missing paychecks that have accompanied it are impacting more people than just federal workers.

The January numbers are down as Coast Guard employees cut back on expenses like eating out.

“It’s really starting to trickle down and its really starting to hit people’s pockets,” Farnan said. “If this continues like this, it’s not only going to affect us, but other businesses in the area.”

Across the street at Slice Pizza, the growing concern is much the same.

“Very quiet. Normally at this time this place would be really packed right now,” Bar manager Heidi Silva said.

Silva said the usual Thursday night crowd has all but vanished recently. Both Slice and Mr. G’s are offering Coast Guard families a discount, but frustration is mounting.

“I just want it resolved as quickly as possible. I think it’s ridiculous. And it needs to stop,” Silva said. “They work hard everyday and they need to be paid.”

New London Mayor Michael Passero said he’s glad to see businesses stepping up to try to help residents while the shutdown continues, but he’s ready for it to end, and has a message for lawmakers in DC.

“There has to be a compromise. It has to be done now and they have to stop the madness basically,” Passero said. “You can’t be using citizens, government employees, active duty military personnel as pawns in this partisan battle that they’re having.”

The mayor said he’s hopeful that the City Council will heed Gov. Ned Lamont’s call for towns across the state and delay tax collection for property taxes of federal employees while the shutdown continues.

A Glastonbury woman is frustrated after catching a mail carrier cutting corners.

Home surveillance video shows a mail carrier stay in the truck when approaching a house, and then tossing a package onto the driveway. The woman who was waiting for that package says this has happened dozens of times.

“We were particularly interested in having that arrive and of course it was the glass that was being thrown out,” explained Lindsey Almenas.

Almenas has had growing worries about things being damaged. She says the family installed the surveillance camera about eight months ago and were surprised by what they saw time after time.

“If the package is a size you can hold within your hand it gets thrown out the window and if it’s a heavier package he’ll get out of the truck and place it,” she said. “It’s super frustrating. I’ve addressed it with the Postal Service before and it continues to happen.”

NBC Connecticut shared the video with U.S. Postal Service.

In response, a spokeswoman wrote in part:

“A mishandled package is unacceptable and does not reflect the careful efforts of the thousands of professional, dedicated carriers in our workforce. We are disappointed to see the actions of our employee.”

After Almenas posted the video on social media, she was surprised to read others in town write about similar experiences. Now she’s optimistic things will improve.

“Thanks for addressing it with the right people and I hope I can report back there’s been a change and our packages are being delivered properly,” she said.

The Postal Service tells us anyone with concerns about their mail delivery should contact their local Post Office.

Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday addressed news coverage and criticism regarding his wife’s decision to return to teaching at a Virginia elementary school that explicitly bars LGBTQ employees and students, NBC News reported.

“My wife and I have been in the public eye for quite a while, we're used to the criticism,” Pence said in an interview with EWTN, a cable network that offers “news from a Catholic perspective." But, he added, “to see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us.”

“We have a rich tradition in America of Christian education, and frankly religious education broadly defined,” he continued. “We'll let the other critics roll off our back, but this criticism of Christian education in America should stop.”

National news outlets, including NBC News, reported Wednesday on the publicly available employment application and parent agreement of Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, where Karen Pence is now teaching art twice a week.

A typo in an email address connected total strangers — and will result in an unlikely guest at a party in Vermont this weekend.

“I try to be open to things in life,” said Will Novak of Arizona, who was accidentally invited to the bachelor party of a man he never met.

A typo meant the invitation went to Will instead of to Bill Novak of Brooklyn, because their email addresses — like their names — are just a single letter off from one another.

“He’s a really nice guy,” Bill Novak said of Will Novak, referring to the email and texting friendship that developed after other party guests sorted out the email confusion.

The invitation was to a bachelor party for a man named Angelo and will be held this weekend at Vermont’s Okemo Mountain Resort.

Will Novak responded to the misdirected message, accepting the invitation, because he said he thought Angelo and his friends seemed cool.

“The fact they wrote back and met me at my level of intensity and enthusiasm and were like, ‘You seem great, you’re hilarious, come on out — let’s have fun,’ was amazing,” Will Novak said.

“It’s very crazy,” Bill Novak acknowledged, adding that he thinks his group of friends will all get along with the stranger from Arizona, based on the sense of humor and fun Will has demonstrated.

The director of Okemo’s ski-and-ride school said he will give the Arizonan beginner lessons, hoping to get his skills to the point where he can take an easy run with the whole bachelor party.

“I’ve never heard of anything even close to something like this,” ski-and-ride instructor Chris Saylor said of the unusual reason the guest is attending the bachelor party. “I think the friendship they’re going to build with people they’ve never met before, just through an errant email — it’s going to be stories for a lifetime!”

Bill Novak, the intended guest, said he can’t wait to meet the other Novak, and made a T-shirt staking his claim that he’s the “real” Will Novak.

Will Novak, the one in Arizona, said he is curious if his return trip home Sunday may be delayed by snow this weekend in New England. If it is, no biggie, he said: he’ll just have more time to spend with his new buddies.

Thursday, Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont, tweeted well-wishes to the groom-to-be and the guests at the bachelor party.

“Please extend my congratulations to Angelo and his bride-to-be on their wedding!” Scott tweeted. “It’s always great when new people visit Vermont. I hope you all have a fun weekend. Be safe and enjoy the snow!”

The four Americans killed Wednesday in an explosion in Syria were a soldier, a sailor, a civilian member of the Department of Defense and a contractor supporting the department, NBC News reported.

Three have been publicly identified: Army Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan R. Farmer, 37; Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon M. Kent, 35, and Scott A. Wirtz. The contractor has not been identified.

The deaths of two U.S. service members made Wednesday the deadliest day for Americans in Syria.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was a suicide bombing, though it did not immediately produce evidence to support the claim. American defense officials said that ISIS has not been present in the city for months and cautioned the group sometimes falsely claims credit for attacks.

Hartford police have arrested a man accused of stabbing an acquaintance during an attempted robbery 10 months ago.

Police took 49-year-old Ralph Jones, of Hartford, into custody on Thursday and he has been charged with first-degree assault, robbery in the first degree and possession of a dangerous weapon in connection with a stabbing on March 8, police said.

Officers found the victim on Liberty Street while investigating a report of a person in a vehicle who had been stabbed several times in the face and neck and he was transported to St. Francis Hospital and admitted into emergency surgery.

At the time he was stabilized, the victim could only offer minimal information about the assault and police said they discovered that the

suspect and victim were neighborhood acquaintances and were driving in the Albany Avenue area when the assailant pulled a knife, demanded money from the victim, tried to rob him and that escalated into a violent assault.

Police said the assailant fled and evidence was found as police tried to track him.

Over the 10 months that followed, detectives from the major crimes division worked to identify the suspect, who was only known at the time as “New York.” Then police identified Jones as the suspect and obtained a warrant for him on Jan. 11.

On Thursday, members of the Hartford Police Fugitive Task Force were able to determine where Jones was and took him into custody. He will be arraigned today.

Some snow is falling this morning and there are some school delays and some slick roads are reported.

We're also tracking a second much bigger storm will arrive Saturday night and continue into Sunday. 

STORM 1 - FRIDAY MORNING

There are school delays in Hamden and Stamford because of some snow. Most of what is falingl is snow, but some light mixing will likely occur along the shoreline. 

There is not a lot of snow, but as we have experienced in the past, it's not about the amount of snow it's all about the timing during the morning commute, which could cause some issues on the roads. 

STORM 2 - SATURDAY NIGHT & SUNDAY

The second storm will be more powerful and could result in major impacts here in Connecticut. 

The latest model guidance indicates that snow will develop statewide on Saturday night with a transition to a wintry mix during the overnight hours and eventually over to plain rain for most of the state.

There is some indication that the majority of the storm will stay wintry for the northern third of Connecticut with a freezing rain accreting on tree limbs and power lines. 

Amtrak has already announced service changes ahead of the storm.

Let's talk about the two scenarios that are possible.

Scenario 1

This storm track would be the coldest scenario with the center of lower pressure tracking along the Connecticut shoreline. This would result in mostly snow for the hills town, snow to and ice in for interior Connecticut, and snow to mix to plain rain along the shoreline. Right now it appears this scenario is less likely. 

Scenario 2

If the center of a low-pressure system tracks to the northwest of Connecticut it would result in a mostly ice/rain scenario (a warmer solution). This track would result in snow to a wintry mix to plain rain in the hills with snow quickly transitioning to plain rain along the shoreline. 

Right now it appears we could be dealing with measurable snow for interior CT and especially the northwest hills with icing occurring even down to the shoreline. 

One thing we are certain of is a cold blast of air will arrive right after the precipitation ends Sunday night and some very cold temperatures are expected Monday morning. This will cause a flash freeze and any untreated surfaces will become very icy and we expect slick travel Monday morning with temperatures of 0 to 10 degrees.