Some of Connecticut’s most popular restaurants have a history of health violations, but you might never know about them.

Despite living in the age of the Internet, most cities and towns in our state are still doing inspections on paper, making it difficult to find out how your favorite eateries are performing.

• Click here for more information on Connecticut's food safety regulations.

Shannon Berton got salmonella at a New Haven restaurant and said she’s a lot more careful since about how her food is prepared.

“The abdominal cramps, that was like the primary thing. It was something that made you drop to the ground,” she said.

Berton’s story is not an isolated one.

An estimated 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illness in homes and restaurants every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Records NBC Connecticut Investigates reviewed show the restaurant where Berton got sick failed a half dozen health inspections over the past two and a half years.

Connecticut has 66 health agencies, which are supposed to conduct inspections three times per year at restaurants where hot food is served for issues that can cause foodborne illness, close any restaurant that fails an inspection and then inspect it again.

However, the state does not require restaurants to post inspection scores online or in restaurants.

In other states if you want to check and see if your favorite restaurant has any health violations, you can check it out online. In Connecticut you have to go to your local health department, ask for the individual file for your favorite restaurant, and then look up each inspection individually.

NBC Connecticut Investigates asked the West Hartford-Bloomfield Health District for restaurant inspections going back three years.

We were only allowed to look at the records for one restaurant at a time. The inspections are on paper, kept in individual folders and are not necessarily in chronological order.

When asked about access to the records and the efficiency of the system for consumers as well as the health departments, Health District Director Steve Huleatt said, “ I mean I keep saying to you, consumers can come here, and we’ll give them that information.”

People seldom do that, according to Huleatt.

What are consumers missing without reading these restaurant inspections?

NBC Connecticut Investigates spent days reviewing restaurant inspections and found dangerous, repeated violations for failure to keep food at proper temperatures, and more:

• One restaurant had toxic chemicals stored in a food prep area.

• An inspector discovered moldy fruit at another.

• And then there was the report that showed that an inspector found mouse droppings in the flour in one restaurant.

While some were isolated incidents and the restaurant fixed the issue by the next inspection, there were other cases in which restaurants were found to be in violation year after year, but consumers would never know unless they spent days looking at the paper records.

Bill Marler, an attorney specializing in foodborne illness cases, said if Connecticut health departments were more transparent about restaurant inspections it might help patrons avoid restaurants that are repeat violators and reduce their chances of getting a food related illness.

“If you know that a restaurant has a food safety problem, or a series of food safety problems, or they’ve had an outbreak, or they continue to have bad inspections, as a consumer, you wanna know that,” Marler said.

In hundreds of areas around the country, restaurant inspections are readily available online. You can simply click on your favorite eatery and review their inspection reports. But just a handful of health districts do this in Connecticut, and not West Hartford-Bloomfield.

After we asked for restaurant inspections from the Hartford health department, we got a stack of restaurant inspections. We asked, “Is that everything?” and they said “You tell us.”

Months later, we got to inspect piles of restaurant reviews, which were not organized by restaurant but rather by restaurant inspector.

Liany Arroyo, Hartford’s new health director, told NBC Connecticut Investigates the restaurant inspection file there, “…needs a humongous overhaul. We need a digitized system that allows inspectors to immediately do an inspection, upload it into a database, so that it’s much easier for us to have you come in and say, ‘Here, here’s all the inspections for the last two years, on this tablet, have at it.’ Or, ‘Here, we’re gonna print this out and give it to you.’”

In New Haven, we had to ask for the restaurant inspections we wanted in advance and show up at a ninth-floor office to view them.

When asked about making it easier for the public to get access, the New Haven health department said, “We’re working on it. We’re supposed to be getting digitized.”

But change may be on the way.

This year, the state will adopt a new food code, which will change what is analyzed during restaurant inspections.

Connecticut food protection program supervisor Tracey Weeks said the state will eventually post a lot of the inspections online and someday, maybe, even on an app.

The state restaurant association said it is also in favor of more restaurant inspection transparency, pointing out online reviews of their clients can sometimes have false information.

Here are links to the health departments in Connecticut that do make inspection information available online:

East Shore District Health Department

Farmington Valley Health District 

Quinnipiack Valley Health District 

Naugatuck Valley Health District 

Norwalk Health Department

Stamford Health Department 

Waterbury Health Department 

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If you’ve been out at all recently, you’ve likely seen it advertised, CBD oil, a hemp-based substance that is the newest health craze, claiming to help everything from epilepsy to a sore elbow.

In North Texas, like across the country, it’s sold in high-end establishments, complete with CBD for dogs, as well as in head shops, where it shares the shelves with rolling papers and bongs.

But is it legal in Texas?

Well, that depends on who you ask.

NBC 5 Investigates posed that question to the Texas Attorney General’s Office and they answered by canceling a scheduled interview.

Instead, a spokeswoman for the state’s chief legal officer sent us an email that said: “The Office of the Attorney General cannot provide a legal opinion on the sale, distribution and use of CBD oil …” unless formally requested to do so by a state official or agency.

Considering the growing popularity of CBD, and the increasing number of mom-and-pop stores that are selling it, it would be easy to assume it’s legal.

In North Texas, however, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office has a different opinion, and it means jail time, possibly for a felony, for people possessing even small amounts of CBD.

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One of Billhymer's clients is a young man, with no prior criminal record, who was arrested with CBD oil.

It happened during a routine traffic stop, on a Tarrant County road, after the man told the officer he had CBD in his car, purchased at a local shop for insomnia.

“He’s just trying to find his way in life and he has literally been knocked to his knees by this,” said the man’s mother, who spoke on condition that she and her son remain anonymous, because his case has not been completely resolved.

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“The first thing he said was, ‘Mom, I told them the truth. I told them I had the CBD oil because I didn’t think there was anything wrong. It was laying right there,’” said the mother, whose son was initially charged with a felony, later downgraded to a misdemeanor.

The charge was ultimately dismissed, after he completed a first-time offender program, but his arrest remains on record, for now, until he formally asks the court for expungement.

CBD is short for cannabidiol, derived from the cannabis plant. But unlike marijuana, it does not produce a high.

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High or no high, is it legal?

“No. Absolutely not,” said Larry Moore, chief of the Tarrant DA’s criminal division.

The one exception, Moore said, is for seizure patients, who can legally get the oil if they have a prescription and go to one of the few licensed dispensers in the state.

The prosecutor said that in Tarrant County, it is a felony to possess CBD with any trace amount of THC, the component that, in larger amounts, produces a high. It is a misdemeanor, he said, to have THC-free CBD.

Asked if he was willing to lock up the soccer moms and senior citizens who have been drawn to CBD by its advertised health benefits, Moore said, “We are going to enforce the law.”

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“If there’s people that think this ought to be legal, the legislature is where you go and make that argument. It’s not my office,” he said.

But not all district attorney’s in North Texas agree on what state law says about CBD.

The DA’s office in Denton County said in a statement that, “given the current state of the law,” it is “currently not pursuing CBD-only cases.”

In Dallas County, the district attorney’s office said it will not aggressively prosecute CBD cases, but will “watch closely and look at on a case-by-case basis.”

The Collin County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment specifically about CBD, saying only that it is “working through these issues in collaboration with our local law enforcement partners.”

With no clear answers on the legality of CBD, users like Sandra Walker, of Dallas, are left to worry, wonder and argue for the benefits of the oil.

“I would tell them that this stuff saved my life,” said Walker, who was left with severe pain and blinding headaches following a car crash.

Doctors initially prescribed powerful opioids, which Walker said had their own crippling effects.

“I couldn’t enjoy life at all. I was still in pain ... I couldn’t connect with my friends and family,” she said.

CBD, Walker said, lifted the pain without the side effects.

“I live life again. I live a fabulous life,” she said.

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But until there is a better understanding on what’s legal, and what’s not, CBD users should be cautious, said the mother of the man arrested in Tarrant County.

“They can have a felony charge brought against them, and it can have a huge, negative impact in their life ... for something they innocently purchased at a store,” she said.

Adding to the confusion, some CBD shops tell customers that their products, even with low amounts of THC, are legal, thanks to the recent passage of a federal farming bill that legalized commercial hemp production.

But state’s still decide their own rules and Texas has not legalized hemp production. Additionally, the Food and Drug Administration said it’s still against federal law to market CBD products as dietary supplements, or as an ingredient in food.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it is still reviewing the newly passed farm bill to understand its impact on issues related to CBD. The agency has previously said it CBD was not a high priority, instead, focusing its attention on the opioid crisis.

In Tarrant County, the DA’s office told NBC 5 Investigates local police seem to be giving CBD shops a bit of a grace period because there is so much confusion on what the law says.

But the office was quick to add: that grace period may not last forever.

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Friday night at 10 p.m., meet a former SWAT officer who is now running a CBD shop and hear what he says about why some police officers are using CBD and how local departments are reacting to that.

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Don’t let a heart attack or a stroke be your wake up call. Heart disease is the number one killer of women, causing one in three deaths each year, according to the American Heart Association.

Friday, February 1 is national Go Red Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about heart health and it kick starts American Heart Month. 

Pamela Bridgeford, who lives in Mansfield, knows all too well the importance of taking care of your heart. 

"I felt a change in my chest and I felt almost like I was going through an asthma attack," Bridgeford said. “I had no endurance and I was tired." 

She underwent open heart surgery 10 years ago at Hartford Hospital. At the time she needed a mitral valve. Then in July, she had a second scare. 

"I was in California and was walking up this steep hill and I just lost my breath," Bridgeford said. 

She needed a second surgery to replace the valve. 

Heart disease runs in her family, but Bridgeford said she has also taken these experiences as a reminder to prioritize her health. 

"My older brother passed away and basically it was heart disease so it made me even more conscious of that and wanting to make sure I take care of myself," Bridgeford said. 

Bridgeford is nearing the end of her cardiac rehabilitation at Windham Hospital in Willimantic. On Friday, Feb. 1, from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., the hospital is hosting a Go Red for Women event to raise money for the rehab center. 

Younger people, ages 35 to 64 are at risk for heart disease earlier in life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Doctors recommend you monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol, watch your diet, eat less salt and make exercise a priority. 

Symptoms of heart attack in women include shortness of breath, nausea or chest or arm pain.

One man has been found dead after a fire at a New Britain apartment building, according to officials.

Crews responded to the fire at 55 Horace St. at 8:22 a.m. and the man was found dead on a bed in a first-floor apartment, officials said.

Two other people were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

The fire chief said the fire was small but there was a lot of smoke.

There are five additional apartments in the building and there does not appear to be damage to those units, according to fire officials. The building inspector will determine when the residents can return.

The road is closed and public works crews will be putting treatment down on the road.

No additional information was immediately available. The fire marshal is investigating what started the fire.

Having teenage video gamers can lead to big fights about screen time limits, but in the Schoepke house, it cost the family more than just their time.

"Thirteen months of multi-hundred dollar charges. Everybody was just floored," said Bolton, Massachusetts, resident Liz Schoepke.

Schoepke and her husband said they are out $13,000 after their son made a series of in-game Xbox purchases. They think it happened when he repeatedly pressed a button on his controller in an effort to get into games faster. It's something they claim was unintentional.

"We thought we had enabled the block of in-game purchases," explained Schoepke. "I guess it didn't work or maybe it was in one game and not in the next game that was added in the cue. There's probably a lot of things that we could have done or should have done differently, but just the fact it happened is really scary."

When the Schoepkes set up their Xbox One system, they entered a credit card number and an email address that they don't regularly use. They say they missed dozens of Microsoft receipt emails detailing the purchases from June 2016 through November 2017.

"Three hundred dollars in charges in one day. That's crazy," said Schoepke. "We had agreements with the boys that whenever there was something to buy that we would be happy to consider it if they would talk to us, and tell us what it was, and we did that fairly regularly. We thought it was under control."

The Schoepkes also admitted they weren't checking their monthly credit card statements, which were set up with automatic direct pay. They eventually discovered what was happening.

"We asked the kids if they were doing this, and they said no," explained Schoepke. "They had no idea and so we went to Discover first and said, 'we think there has been fraud.' They removed the charges, and then did their investigation, and determined in fact it was our account with my son's gamer tag that was incurring the charges."

The Schoepkes say the credit card fraud investigation took months, and afterward, they tried to fight the charges with Microsoft. They say Microsoft customer service told them they would have to go through the online system to get the charges reimbursed.

"The system has a number of questions before you enter the information. The third question asks whether the charge was made within 14 days. I said no and you can't even enter your plea," said Schoepke.

NBC10 Boston Responds reached out to Microsoft, and asked them to take a look at the Schoepke’s complaint. A Microsoft spokesperson told us:

"Xbox offers purchase limit tools for child accounts to avoid surprise spending in the Microsoft store. These features are highly customizable, and parents can choose to approve each purchase before it's made, to receive alerts after each purchase or to set up an allowance to limit the number of purchases children can make on their own."

The company did not reverse any of the charges. Schoepke says it is a $13,000 lesson.

"That's a tough pill to swallow. I want to be mad at my child, but he had no idea what he was doing," said Schoepke.

The Xbox.com support page provides information on how to prevent unauthorized purchases by children. They recommend creating a passkey that is required for signing in and they recommend using Xbox gift cards for purchases, rather than attaching a credit card to kids' accounts.

A Hartford teen suspected of robbing a pizza delivery driver in Southington is also accused of robbing a Chinese food delivery driver at the same motel two days earlier, according to Southington police.

Police arrested 19-year-old Patrick Brown, of Hartford, on Thursday.

They said he ordered Chinese food on Jan. 9 and had it delivered to the Motel 6 on Queen Street in Southington. When the driver arrived, Brown robbed him of $400.87 at knifepoint and ran, according to police. No one was injured during the robbery.

Brown has been charged with robbery in the first degree and larceny in the sixth degree.

Police said he is also accused of committing a similar robbery at Motel 6 in Southington on Jan. 11 and he admitted to committing both robberies. 

The Elm City’s New Haven Promise has been inspiring students for years, encouraging them to set their sights on college as a child through an annual winter celebration. 

The initiative’s 10th “Snowball” Celebration was another success Friday morning as students at the Fair Haven School sized up several of the state’s public and private colleges through dance and movement. 

“We start in Pre-K,” explained Fair Haven School principal Heriberto Crodero. “They take on Gateway and kindergarten with Quinnipiac. As you’ll see, they all kind of take a different university and as they go through, they get to experience every single university here in the state of Connecticut.” 

“You don’t get to university by thinking about it when you’re a senior or a junior in high school,” Quinnipiac University President Judy Olian said. “You get to university because you start out early.” 

Ivanaliz Zayas is an eighth grader at the K-8 school, which has had the most New Haven Promise Scholars than any other neighborhood in the city. 

“Sports help you a lot getting into the colleges that you want to go to and different programs that will help get you the good grades you need,” Zayas said. 

Olian said this is where they belong. 

“This is exactly what we should be doing, preparing the youngest of the youngest generation to see their future in education,” Olian said.

After 21 years, the Connecticut Open is coming to an end. 

A news release says the Connecticut Open is not viable without a Title Sponsor and the Tennis Foundation of Connecticut has made the decision to sell the Premier WTA sanction to APG and the tournament will take place in in September in Zhengzhou City, China.  

The tournament will not take place in New Haven in August 2019 and beyond the TFC board is looking whether another WTA or professional tennis event can be drawn to the city at a more sustainable level. 

“It has been an amazing 21-year run for women’s professional tennis in New Haven and we are truly grateful to all the fans, volunteers, players, media and sponsors involved,” Tournament Director Anne Worcester said in a statement. “While we remember our great champions, we are most proud of the benefits the tournament has brought to the local community. In particular we would like to thank the State of Connecticut, City of New Haven, Board of Alders, Yale University, Yale New Haven Health, WTA, USTA and USTA New England, all of whom have supported and contributed to the Connecticut Open for more than two decades. We have many memories to cherish both on and off the court.” 

The WTA is looking at opportunities for new International-level events in the United States in the week before the US Open, one such event could begin as early as this year, with a second in 2020. 

“The Connecticut Open has been one of the most beloved tournaments on the WTA Tour for 21 years,” WTA CEO Steve Simon said in a statement. “We want to recognize and extend our appreciation to the Connecticut Open’s dedicated team and fanbase for their years of commitment and passion for women’s tennis.”

New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell will be retiring after 21 years with the department and he will be taking a new job.

In a Feb. 1 letter to the New Haven police community, Campbell wrote that he will be a state inspector for the Department of Justice in New Haven and he’ll be leaving the New Haven Police Department within the next 60 days.

“The last 21 years has been a blessing and an honor to serve with you and to serve you. I will be praying for each of you and for this great city as I have always been for the last 21 years,” Campbell wrote.

Campbell was selected as New Haven’s police chief in 2017 after serving as the interim chief when former Police Chief Dean Esserman resigned.

Police are looking for four people believed to be responsible for a series of car break-ins in Naugatuck early Friday morning.

One of the incidents was captured by a surveillance camera on a home on Debbie Lane around 4:45 a.m.

The video shows four people in a newer-style dark blue 4-door sedan that is stopped outside the home.

A man and woman get into an unlocked car in the home's driveway and take items from the vehicle.

Police said they received other complaints of similar thefts in the Debbie Lane area and believe they are related.

Anyone with information on these incidents is asked to call Naugatuck police at 203-729-5221.

Wishes came true for some deserving patients at Yale New Haven Hospital on Friday. 

They thought they were there to help open a new teen center at the hospital, but the celebration was really about three teens who have been battling serious illnesses. 

“The hospital has been involved with Make-A-Wish for a long time,” said Pam Keough, president of Make-A-Wish Connecticut. “For the last five years, you’ve referred 450 patients, and last year alone was 100 patients.” 

They each got to open one big box and there were smiles, hugs and tears as their wishes were granted. 

“My wish was to go on a cruise so I can get away from the cold in Connecticut and today it was granted,” said Aaron Cusson, a 15-year-old patient who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. “For me it’s going to be a nice vacation away from reality.” 

“It’s really amazing,” said his father, William Cusson. “He went through hell last year and this is a nice break for him.” 

Keough said Make-A-Wish comes into children’s lives at a time when they need it most. 

“They’re going through a really difficult time; their whole family is part of it. We come in and give them some hope. We give them something to look forward to,” she said.  

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has apologized to the Cherokee Nation for her decision to release the results of a DNA test showing she has distant Native American ancestry, the tribe said Friday.

“Senator Warren has reached out to us and has apologized to the tribe," Julie Hubbard, the executive director of Cherokee Nation Communications, said in a statement to NBC News. "We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws not through DNA tests. We are encouraged by her action and hope that the slurs and mockery of tribal citizens and Indian history and heritage will now come to an end."

Warren, whose campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Cherokee statement, was widely panned for deciding in October to respond to President Donald Trump's taunting by releasing the results of the DNA test, which found "strong evidence" that she has Native American ancestry dating back six to 10 generations.

A woman has died after she was hit by a car in New Haven last month.

Police said 44-year-old Helen Ramos was trying to cross Middletown Avenue near Foxon Boulevard when she was hit by a car on January 18. was seriously hurt when she was hit by a car in New Haven Friday.

She was hospitalized and died of her injuries on January 29.

The driver of the car did stay on scene and is cooperating with police.

The case remains under investigation.

It was an honor for young women in Connecticut. More than 100 girls were officially inducted into the Boy Scouts of America at the state capitol today.

For the first time, more than 100 girls were welcomed into the Boy Scouts in Connecticut.

“I’m excited that girls are being let into the Boy Scouts and that they’ll have the opportunity to earn the eagle rank,” said Emily Crisafulli from Glastonbury.

Crisafulli says she tried Girl Scouts but decided it wasn’t for her.

“Girl Scouts was fun, but I think in Boy Scouts I will have more opportunities to go on more camping trips and go outside more.”

“It’s been a great day in the Boy Scouts,” Steven Smith, Boy Scouts of America. “The time has come. Scout me in.”

The organization announced in last 2017 they would allow both boys and girls to become members in effort to be more inclusive.

“We want to have a program that’s family based,” Smith said. “And we would take care of the boys and send the girls on their way. Now we can do both and have a family program.”

“There’s more people to go to camp with, more people to go on trips with and have fun with,” said Alex Pillis from Watertown.

The units, or dens, will be single gender—all boys or all girls. Everyone will have the chance to earn the coveted rank of Eagle Scout.

“In order to earn the eagle scout you have to learn how to survive on your own and you need to know first aid and a lot of life skills,” Crisafulli said.

Gov. Ned Lamont is practically tearing up his predecessor’s playbook when it comes to the state’s plan of economic development.

Lamont unveiled his new strategy and top advisors on the topic during an event in Hartford Friday.

“We have been a laggard if you look around the country, for many many decades to tell you the truth and that’s about to change,” Lamont told the crowd at Upward Hartford. “As we’re rethinking our whole strategy when it comes to economic growth and economic development.”

He announced a new partnership between the non-profit Connecticut Economic Resource Center and the Department of Economic and Community Development as being the main driver of economic policy.

He tapped David Lehman, a Goldman Sachs executive to lead DECD, and he will serve as senior economic advisor to the governor, a new role.

Lehman, Lamont said, reached out to members of his transition team and volunteered to serve in the administration.

He said he plans on using his relationships in the corporate to help the image of the state.

“I think the governor has used the word, ‘hospitable,’” Lehman said. “It needs to be a welcoming environment that encourages growth.”

Lamont will also lean on two corporate allies who have provided him with different kinds of support over the past year.

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo’s former CEO, and Jim Smith, Webster Bank’s former CEO, will join CERC’s board, and work with Lehman on economic development.

Recently, Smith helped the Lamont administration craft its policy to provide state-backed loans through private banks to unpaid federal workers.

Lamont and Nooyi have a relationship that goes back decades to when the two were classmates at Yale.

Nooyi even provided an introduction for Lamont with Infosys’ CEO, which eventually led to Infosys selecting Hartford for expansion last year.

She says she is committed to helping Connecticut.

Nooyi said, “I’d like people to say once again, Connecticut is the greatest state. We’ve made some detours, but we’re once again the greatest state in the country.”

As for strategy, Lehman would not commit to any particulars, as he will not start his new position until February 19, and his commissioner nomination must be confirmed by the General Assembly.

Lamont, however, said he does not plan on continuing the “First Five,” Program, which was championed by the Malloy administration.

The program was used to craft individual incentive and tax break packages for major corporations. Among its biggest successes were ESPN and United Technologies, with them committing to the state. However, the program was also used to lure Alexion Pharmaceuticals to New Haven, where the company built a new headquarters. Within five years, Alexion had announced plans to move its headquarters to Boston, forfeiting major tax breaks.

Lamont said he expects a new vision for how the state lures companies, but would not rule out providing cash, loans, or tax breaks in ways other states compete for companies.

“I don’t think you want the state of Connecticut picking winners and losers. We’re going to do everything we can to help incubators like [Upward Hartford] create the next generation of jobs and we’ll do our best to recruit and keep new companies coming to Connecticut.”

Connecticut Democrats, with some support from Republicans, are looking to enact gun reforms that they were unable to pass last year.

In particular, they want to ban the manufacture of homemade firearms known as “3D” or “ghost guns.” They also want to mandate new safe storage parameters for firearms.

“This prevents children from getting access to handguns and it allows the owner to get quick access to it if they should need it,” said Jeremy Stein, the executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, as he displayed a lockbox.

Under the proposed legislation, a gun owner would be criminally liable if their weapon was not stored properly and led to someone being shot.

The legislation was crafted following the death of Ethan Song, a Guilford teenager who died when a gun he came across accidentally fired. The gun was not locked away.

Rep. Sean Scanlon, a Democrat who represents Guilford said of the bill, “If the gun is used in a crime, as it was in this case, then the police and the prosecutors would be able to charge that individual with a crime of improper storage.”

At least 10 Republicans are backing a measure that would ban the manufacture and use of ghost guns in Connecticut.

Rep. Gail LaVielle, (R – Wilton), says the wide support from so many Republicans is a response to last November’s election results, and what they heard from voters during the campaign.

“All of us who have introduced a ghost gun bill have heard loud and clear from our constituents that this is important to them,” she said following the press conference.

Democrats now control the Connecticut Senate, and they have wider numbers in the Connecticut House. Gun reforms are expected to be priorities for them, as Gov. Ned Lamont also campaigned on those issues.

The Connecticut Citizens Defense League favors gun storage legislation, but is not supportive of the ghost gun proposal.

CCDL President Scott Wilson told NBC Connecticut in a statement, "It is legal under federal law for a person to build a firearm for personal use provided that the gun is kept for themselves. It is also important to note that it is 'illegal' under federal law for a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm (such as a felon) to build or even own a firearm. There is nothing in this proposal that would prevent a determined criminal from gaining access to an illegal gun."

Juice, sodas and chocolate milk could all disappear from children’s menus in Connecticut if a newly proposed bill is given the OK.

Under proposed House Bill No. 7006, there would be no beverages other than water, sparkling water, flavored water with no added sweeteners, unflavored milk or a nondairy milk alternative on kid’s menus.

A restaurant could still sell a customer a drink off of the adult menu for their child.

But Harvey Lee, general manager of The Shack, a family-friendly restaurant in Groton, said that could ultimately hurt the customer.

“Now they’re going to be paying for a regular sized drink and pretty much paying more than what they would for be for a kid’s meal,” Lee said.

“I don’t think it’s wrong to have (soda and juice) on the kids menu,” said Omar Mejias, of New Britain, who went for lunch at The Shack Friday.

He ordered his son Gabriel orange juice of the kid’s menu calling it a treat for the 2-year-old who usually drinks water.

It’s all about moderation, according to Mejias.

“I think it’s wrong for people to decide for parents what their kids should eat, or drink, or watch, or anything like that.”

“It’s not cigarettes, it’s not drugs, it’s not alcohol, it’s just a little bit of sugar,” said Ledyard mom Jennifer Wessell.

She has a 12-year-old and said while she understands regulating the sale of sugary drinks in schools, the kid’s menu restrictions would be too much.

“Obviously I am right there to say ‘yes you can have it’ or ‘no you can’t have it,’” Wessell said.

But dad Randy Russ, who has a son who’s now too old to use the kid’s menu, said this would help educate parents about added sugars and possibly limit a child’s intake.

“I would be in favor of it because we have a childhood obesity problem in this country and it’s being fueled by this type of thing,” Russ, of Pawcatuck, said.

In this bill, health inspectors would be required to check the menus during regular inspections. It would also require the Commissioner of Public Health to adopt inspection and enforcement procedures.

In 2006, a law was passed that banned selling soda and other sugary beverage in Connecticut’s public schools. It was designed to help fight childhood obesity and prohibited the sale of all soda and electrolyte replacement drinks, like Gatorade.

Cheshire police have arrested a man on sexual assault and strangulation charges after an incident at a home on Wallingford Road Friday.

Police said they responded to a situation at the home around 9:30 a.m. Friday. They did not immediately provide details on what happened.

They arrested 32-year-old Mark Lacy. He was charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree strangulation, first-degree threatening, risk of injury, unlawful restraint and third-degree assault.

Lacy was held on a $500,000 bond and is due in court on Monday.

Interstate 95 northbound in Orange has reopened after a crash and a gas leak, according to Connecticut State Police.

Police said the highway and ramp were closed near exit 41 on Friday night. The highway has since reopened.

No other details were immediately available.

Check back for updates.

A Bristol couple with big plans to open a brewery never imagined Washington politics could stop their dream from becoming a reality.

But that’s what they were confronted with during the government shutdown. Now they’re glad they can once again focus on brewing.

“We were like this is it… then the next day the government shut down,” explained Rachel Haseltine, co-owner of Better Half Brewing.

Inside of the space set to become Better Half Brewing, husband and wife Michael and Rachel Haseltine are breathing a sigh of relief.

“It’s been a huge relief for us. This is something we knew would take a long time even before the government shutdown,” Michael said.

After five years of planning, the couple was nearing the final phases of preliminary work for their North Main Street brewery when their application for a required federal brewing and selling permit stalled completely because of the government shutdown.

“It’s our federal license from the TTB t be able to manufacture and sell beer,” Rachel explained. “That’s kind of all that we’re doing here.”

With construction supplies ready to be installed, empty barrels waiting to be filled and a car waiting for customers, they waited but tried to keep going for all 35 days of the shutdown.

“We would be ready and just waiting for that piece of paper,” Michael said.

The needed permit was finally issued this week, three days after Washington got back to work. Now they’re looking forward to getting their business going, a dream for themselves and the community.

“Better Half Brewing is part of the revitalization of downtown Bristol. We’re hoping the spark that really gets this town going again,” Michael said.

Now that the Haseltines are over the shutdown hurdle, they’re on to state licensing process with the hope to open in early April.