Connecticut state police have arrested a Plainville man who is accused of driving while impaired and going the wrong way on Interstate 84 West early Monday morning.

State police received 911 calls around 12:43 a.m. Monday about a driver who was going the east on I-84 West near exit 33 in Plainville and identified the driver as 32-year-old Daniel Christopher Vice, of Plainville.

He was stopped just before exit 39 and police said he appeared to be intoxicated and failed field sobriety tests.

Vice was arrested and charged with illegal operations of a motor vehicle under the influence, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, reckless endangerment in the first degree and other charges.

Bond was set at $5,000.

Vice is due in court on Feb. 11.

A man from Enfield is accused of sexually assaulting a second massage therapy client in Glastonbury.

Glastonbury Police arrested 27-year-old Patrick Corning, of Enfield, on Monday.

Corning is accused of inappropriately touching a female massage therapy client in September of 2018, while he was employed by Massage Envy in Glastonbury, police said.

According to officers, Corning had previously been arrested on December 6, 2018. He was accused of sexually assaulting another client in the same manner, also in September of 2018.

Corning turned himself into police on Monday and was released on a $50,000 bond. He is facing charges including sexual assault and disorderly conduct. 

Corning is scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court on February 27.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer David Hoover at (860) 652-4284.

An employee of Paci Restaurant in Fairfield was attacked and stabbed while she took the garbage out at work on Sunday night and police are looking for the man who attacked her.  

Police said they responded to 96 Station St. at 9:20 p.m. on Sunday and the victim told them that she was taking the garbage out when someone grabbed her from behind. 

As she struggled to try to get away from the man, he hit her in the face and stabbed her in the abdomen with something, police said. The man then fled, heading west toward the parking lot. 

The victim is in stable condition. She told police she didn’t recognize the person who attacked her. 

Police are looking for a tall man who was wearing a black hat, a scarf and a black jacket. 

Anyone with information about the assault is asked to call the Fairfield Police Detective Bureau at (203) 254-4840, or Text-A-Tip to CRIMES (274637). Include "FPD" in your text message. 

You could also submit a tip online. 

A Danbury High School student died over the weekend and the school will provide counselors and support staff to help students who need assistance. 

The student died on Saturday, according to a Facebook post from Superintendent Sal Pascarella: 

“It is with great sorrow that I share information on the untimely passing of a Danbury High School student on Saturday, Feb 9, 2019. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are extended to family and friends at this most difficult time," Pascarella wrote. 

The statement does on to say:

“Danbury High School will have counselors and support staff on hand for any student in need. In addition if at any point you feel your child may be having difficulties, please contact their school principal, counselor or social worker for support. 

“We are aware that an individual posted inappropriate information regarding the deceased online, and Mr. Donovan, DHS principal, is working with authorities to have it removed. We strongly recommend that if your child has viewed the posting(s) to have a discussion with them. 

“This is a difficult time for everyone involved. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.“ 

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Federal officials are sending warning letters and advisories to manufacturers of supplements which claim the products can treat diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes, NBC News reported.

Among the products hit with warnings for illegal marketing are fish oil, green tea extracts and melatonin. See the full list here.

The crackdown from the the Food and Drug Administration comes as it announced a sweeping modernization of dietary supplement regulation and oversight. The agency says three in four American adults take some form of dietary supplement, as do one in three children.

"As the popularity of supplements has grown, so have the number of entities marketing potentially dangerous products or making unproven or misleading claims about the health benefits they may deliver," said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a statement.

A pair of tweets that freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., sent about the Israel lobby were denounced as "anti-Semitic" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders on Monday, who called on her to apologize, NBC News reported.

Omar tweeted on Sunday, "It's all about the Benjamins baby" along with an emoji of musical notes, in response to another tweet, implying that U.S. politicians defending Isreal were driven by money. Asked by another user who she thinks is paying politicians to support Israel, she said it was the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

The pro-Israel nonprofit responded that it is "proud that we are engaged in the democratic process to strengthen the US-Israel relationship."

Omar, a Somalian refugee and proponent of the Israel-pressuring Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, quickly came under fire from members of Congress who viewed the comment about "Benjamins" as an anti-Semitic trope involving Jews and money.

"Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive," Pelosi and other Democratic leaders said in a statement that condemned the remarks while acknowledging that "legitimate criticism" of Israeli policies is protected speech.

Improper disposal of ashes is to blame for a garage fire in Milford Monday, according to Milford fire officials.

Crews were called to the home at 169 Yale Ave. around 12:42 p.m. Firefighters found active flames coming out of the walls when they arrived.

The homeowner told fire officials he had emptied ashes from a wood burning stove into the plastic recycling bin around 9:30 a.m. The bin, which he left next to the garage, started the fire.

The damage was mostly confined to the exterior of a two-car garage and a car inside the garage was not damaged. No one was hurt.

Fire officials said ashes and embers from a fireplace or wood-burning stove should be placed in a fire-rated metal container at a reasonable distance away from your home.

Connecticut’s U.S. Senators are calling on President Donald Trump to stay out of the way of the members of Congress who are negotiating a bipartisan deal on board security.

They each say they are confident that such an agreement could lead to the government staying open for the next several months, if the president agrees to sign it into law.

“His tweets and interference are the main reason that a successful negotiation would not happen,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D – Connecticut).

The 35-day shutdown that spanned from December into January was a result of an impasse of more than $5 billion in funding the president demanded to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump was unsuccessful in securing those funds while Republicans controlled Congress for the first two years of his presidency, and threatened to shut the government down over the issue once Democrats won control of the House of Representatives.

He later relented to demands from both Democrats and Republicans, and agreed to reopen the government while a deal over border funding was hammered out. In recent days, the president and his staff have said second shutdown remains possible.

White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd over the weekend, “is a shutdown entirely off the table? The answer is no.”

Blumenthal and Murphy both back border funding, but not for a wall, which they each describe as, “medieval.”

They said they want Congress to authorize more investment in drones, border patrols, and improving security at established entry points.

Murphy says if the president stays true to his campaign promise and demands from December and January before agreeing to open the government, then the political fallout will be his and Republicans’.

“If the president doesn’t substantially move the ball, I think tonight or over the next 48 hours I think we get an agreement,” Murphy said.

With his budget address approaching on February 20, Gov. Ned Lamont has penned an open letter to Connecticut residents discussing his priorities and strategy for the state economy.

See the full text of the letter below:

February 11, 2019

My fellow residents, friends and neighbors,

First, thanks for allowing me the opportunity to govern this great state. It doesn’t matter to me for whom you voted in November. From the day I was elected, I began focusing on governing the best way I know how – transparently, openly, and in a way that encourages debate, dialogue and discussion on all sides of an issue. That’s why it’s important that you hear from me directly about my vision for Connecticut’s future and how it shapes the budget that I will be submitting to the legislature in just over a week.

I believe our state is poised for success, with new jobs on the rise, unemployment rates at historic lows, and the growth of established and emerging sectors from wind energy to biotechnology on the horizon. I also believe that delivering on those opportunities requires a sustained commitment to fiscal stability that will allow Connecticut to turn the page on what’s been holding it back and give you, your employers, and your local governments the confidence you need to thrive.

We are expected to end the fiscal year with a surplus. While that sounds like great news, I ask you to temper your enthusiasm for a few reasons.

• First, our economy has still not fully recovered from the Great Recession more than a decade ago, and we must be prepared for the possibility of another economic downturn.
• Second, we cannot allow the fact that we are expecting a surplus and the likelihood of a significant deposit to the Rainy Day Fund lull us into a false sense of security and sap the urgency we need to confront our fiscal crisis head-on. In fact, a significant portion of the anticipated surplus must, as required by the recently enacted volatility cap, be deposited to the Rainy Day Fund and therefore cannot be used to address the budget gap. Although we could use that surplus to balance next year’s budget, our fixed costs – the true culprits behind our continued deficits – are growing by hundreds of millions of dollars per year. That growth eats into our ability to make much-needed investments in our future- things like a 21st century transportation system, education and workforce and economic development.

These fixed costs are not something that we can simply cut, as they are contractual obligations, similar to your mortgage or credit card debt. So where do we go from here?

In my proposed budget, I’ll suggest a path forward to finally address those fixed costs and reduce the rate of increase. I’ll also hold the line on the operating budget, while increasing investments in technology which, over time, will streamline our citizens’ interface with state government and produce real long-term savings. These savings won’t happen overnight, but we can’t continue to put off to tomorrow what we should have begun a decade ago. People expect an Amazon Prime experience and our state government’s capabilities, namely its technology, simply aren’t there.

In terms of revenue, the sales tax used to be the revenue workhorse, supporting most of our state’s budget. But today, the sales tax is not applied to the fastest growing sectors of our economy including the digital and service economy. If you go to a store to buy a DVD, you pay sales tax. But if you download that same DVD from a streaming service, you don’t. What sense does that make? There are many similar examples in our state’s current sales tax exemptions list and we need to streamline our system and ensure fundamental fairness. Next week, I plan to start a discussion with the legislature about how we can reform the sales tax without raising rates.

My job on February 20 is to share with you a realistic and thoughtful budget that will jumpstart the Connecticut economy, and work for everyone – leaving no one behind. But my proposal is just the beginning of the conversation – not the end. I look forward to sitting down with your legislative representatives, with our friends in labor and business, and with other stakeholders, as we push toward an honestly balanced budget – which we will pass in the light of day and before the end of the legislative session in June.

Our budget will be posted online, and I encourage you to take a look and share your thoughts with my office via email or social media. Over the coming weeks and months, I, the Lieutenant Governor and key commissioners will also be travelling around the state to talk to you in person about my proposal. We need to hear from you, and so do your legislative representatives. It’s my job to make sure that you understand the tenuous reality that we face, as well as the cost of doing nothing at such a critical juncture. But it’s also my job to make sure we work together to pass a budget that represents and supports the values we hold dear. Let’s work together and make our state the place we know it can be.

Teddy Roosevelt once said “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” This is hard work. But it’s worth it. I look forward to doing it with you.

Ned Lamont

Governor, State of Connecticut

Bridgeport police have issued a warning about a batch of heroin circulating in the city that they believe is connected to multiple deaths.

Bridgeport police say a batch of heroin branded as “Head Games” has been found with multiple victims of what appear to be deadly overdoses.

According to police, on February 6, a 57-year-old woman was found dead on Coleman Street. On February 11, a 37-year-old man was found dead on Washington Avenue. In both cases, investigators found envelopes marked “Head Games with a red skull next to the victims.

Bridgeport detectives are actively investigating.

With the timing of Tuesday’s snow, superintendents across the state are facing a tough call when it comes to opting for an early dismissal or declaring a snow day.

“The problem for superintendents is looking into their crystal ball,” said Groton Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Graner.

He’s keeping a very close eye on the weather forecast, the Doppler radar, and has conversations with several other superintendents in the New London County area to come up with the best course of action.

The challenge with Tuesday’s storm is when the snow will start. In Groton, early dismissal begins around 12 p.m., which means the elementary school student would be on the roads until around 2:15 p.m., according to Dr. Graner.

So the question is whether students have enough time to safely get home before the snow and sleet if school is not canceled altogether.

“The number one factor obviously is children’s safety and busses are these big, huge vehicles that are actually extremely light in terms of their volume,” Graner said.

The district also has a teacher on staff who was a former meteorologist for the Navy and helps advise the district, and several other districts, during weather events.

Graner will be up at 4 a.m. to make the official call.

Since just a couple of hours can be the difference between cutting the day short or calling off school, some superintendents turn to a weather consultant for help.

Meteorologist John Bagioni, owner of Fax Alert Weather Service, spends the winter consulting with about 80 school districts statewide.

“If it’s going to start between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., 9 a.m. and noon, that makes it a complicated call and [superintendents are] going to have to decide whether they can comfortably and safety make an early decision or make an early dismissal call,” Bagioni said.

“Many will probably, I think in western Connecticut, go with cancellations. There’s some opportunity with eastern Connecticut (and) northeastern Connecticut to maybe sneak in an early dismissal day,” he added.

The biggest challenge with a forecast like Tuesday’s is when the snow will start because districts will have to make sure there’s a window for students to dismiss safely, Bagioni said.

He even holds conference calls with multiple superintendents so they can bounce ideas off of one another.

“I personally was, when I was growing up, in a bus stuck in the snow,” said Mystic mom Lynore Plouffe.

So when it comes down to it, Plouffe rather school be canceled. She’s home during the day and can help out her neighbors, too.

“They would have to take off of work,” she said.

Stay-at-home mom Natalie Zeni, of Groton, does the same for some parents.

“It’s hard for a lot of parents,” Zeni said. “Especially if they need babysitters or rearrange someone else.”

Superintendent of Region 10 Schools Alan Beitman, which serves the towns of Burlington and Harwinton, said the district has already used two of their six snow days but would not hesitate to use another if necessary.

It’s all about the safety of their 2,400 students.

He plans to make the call Monday night so parents can make plans and he can ensure seniors and juniors who drive to school are facing safe conditions on the roads.

“The risks are just far too great to take any chances. It’s one more day added to the end of the school year, and my parents are very supportive of us taking precautions and being conservative,” Beitman said.

Reporters and editors of the Hartford Courant announced that they have formed a new bargaining unit.

One of the organizers told NBC Connecticut that about 60 reporters and editors would be covered by the new bargaining unit.

Rebecca Lurye is one of the organizers for the new Hartford Courant Guild, which has filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board for recognition by the Courant and its parent, Tribune Publishing.

Lurye says the petition for a union is not a direct response to any one event, even as the paper has seen layoffs over the past 15 years.

“I don’t think there was one last straw. We could have done this 10 years ago when the Courant lost 100 workers to mostly layoffs,” said Lurye, who covers business and health for the Courant. “And we gave the company 10 years to kind of right the ship, and now, if it’s going to happen, we need to be part of the conversation.”

The Courant is one of the newspapers under the Tribune Publishing label. The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are also part of Tribune, and each newsroom has seen successful unionization efforts in recent years.

Unionizing efforts have become more common as newsrooms have seen more cutbacks by corporate parents.

Courant Publisher Andrew Julien would not comment to NBC Connecticut about the petition from newsroom employees, but a spokesperson did provide the letter he sent to members of the Guild.

In the letter, Julien acknowledged receipt of the petition filed with the NLRB

“The economics of the newsroom are not what they used to be and there’s no way the newsroom is going to come back to its glory days of the 1980’s and the 1990’s,” said Rich Hanley, an Associate Professor of Journalism at Quinnipiac University.

“At some point, journalists needed to say, ‘stop it,’ and this move by the Courant is that moment. They’re saying the newspaper is too important to let executives decide its future.”

The Hartford Courant is the longest continuously circulated newspaper in the United States, going back 254 years.

Lurye says employees are looking for a voice when major decisions are being made that affect readers and employees. On employment issues, Lurye specifically mentioned wanting to have a say in raises, grievance procedures, and cost of living increases.

“We just think it will look better. It will be stronger. It will be more stable. We’re lucky to still have people with decades of experience at the Courant and they shouldn’t have to go through their jobs feeling like the next shoe is going to drop on them and constantly worrying about whether they’re valued by the company.”

Lurye says she hopes the Courant voluntarily recognizes the Guild as a bargaining unit. More than 80 percent of the newsroom signed cards backing the effort.

She says she hopes the new group working as a union could help to keep the Courant as a Connecticut institution and have a seat at the table helping shape how that happens.

“We really don’t know who will own us a month or a day from now or a year. It means that we’re always able to negotiate those major things. It means that we’re able to advocate for ourselves and that’s not a natural thing for journalists sometimes, to be activists or advocate for anything, but it’s OK for us to ask for the tools we need to do our jobs to the best of our ability.”

A number of legislators have decided to take aim at bills connected to our state's rising bear population.

NBC Connecticut Investigates explored the idea of bringing back a bear hunt in a piece that aired last November.

Legislators have scheduled a hearing for one of the proposed bills, which calls for a black bear hunt in Litchfield County only, an area with one of the state’s greatest concentrations of bears.

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The bill would allow no more than five percent of the black bear population to be taken in a hunt.

Senator Craig Miner, (R –Litchfield), one of the bill's sponsors said, “No one wants them eliminated. We want them controlled. Right now they are out of control.”

Another bill suggests setting up a bear sanctuary. And another would empower the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to manage our state's bear population.

The Connecticut Director of the Humane Society of the United States told NBC Connecticut Investigates, “Trophy hunting of bears is not appropriate in Connecticut.

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The HSUS says the public needs to be better educated about removing things that attract bears, like bird feeders and garbage, and keeping dogs on a leash.

Connecticut State Police are searching for a missing hiker in East Granby.

Emergency dispatchers confirmed they were looking for a missing hiker at the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. Police identified the hiker as 58-year-old Trevor French. A Silver Alert has been issued.

French is 5-foot-7, 180 pounds, with grey hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Connecticut State Police Troop H at 860-534-1000.

Hamden’s mayor is hoping to catch drivers running red lights with new traffic cameras. But there’s a catch - by law, the cameras can’t be used for that purpose right now.

Right now new traffic lights are going up at seven intersections in town including here at Dixwell and Whitney avenues.

As crews work to replace aging equipment, some see an opportunity to help tackle a problem.

Mayor Curt Leng had his own close call with someone running a light as he tried to cross Whitney Avenue.

While police have boosted enforcement, the mayor also hopes cameras being installed along with new traffic lights could make a difference.

“I think the red light cameras are really effective tools if they’re used carefully,” Leng, a Democrat said.

But using the cameras to ticket drivers is not currently allowed under state law. The mayor hopes to change that by starting talks with local lawmakers, among others, including about a potential pilot program here.

“Even if we don’t put out the tickets, let us use them to get the data because that’s what’s important,” Leng said.

The idea of red light cameras has previously faced opposition in the state, including concerns about privacy and effectiveness.

Grants are helping to pay for the lights’ $2.8 million cost.

As for now, the mayor says the cameras can still be used by police to help solve crimes in the area.

A federal law aimed at helping patients better understand the cost of their medical care may have missed the mark.

The rule created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) requires all hospitals to post a complete list of their current standard charges online in a machine-readable format. The price lists, known as chargemasters, must be updated at least annually.

In its proposal, CMS wrote, “We are concerned that challenges continue to exist for patients due to insufficient price transparency. Such challenges include patients being surprised by out-of-network bills for physicians, such as anesthesiologists and radiologists, who provide services at in-network hospitals, and patients being surprised by facility and physician fees for emergency room visits.”

But simply making the chargemasters available online does little to help patients understand the cost of their medical care, according to Barbara Feder Ostrov, a senior correspondent with Kaiser Health News.

“It’s really tricky because these list prices are super technical,” Feder Ostrov said. “So unless you’re a doctor, it’s really hard to comparison shop using these prices.”

Each list consists of every procedure, medication and tool you might encounter during your hospital stay. Each hospital uses its own abbreviations.

When we looked up a brain MRI with contrast, we found a dozen variations including:

• HC MRI BRAIN BRAIN STEM W/CONTRAST MATERIAL
• M-BRAIN WITH CONTRAST
• MRI-HEAD W CONTRAST
• MRI BRAIN INC STEM W CONTRAST
• MR MRI BRAIN WC
• Click here to see the comparison document

The other drawback of the chargemasters is the prices aren’t an accurate reflection of what patients can expect to actually pay.

“These list prices are just that… like a hotel room rate that you see posted on the door of a hotel room. Hardly anybody ever pays that list price. Usually it’s negotiated. And the people doing the negotiations are the insurers who give you your health insurance or Medicare or Medicaid,” said Feder Ostrov.

But the uninsured likely won’t pay the list price either. Most hospitals offer some type of discount or financial assistance to patients without insurance.

“You can work with the hospital to negotiate a better rate on your final bill. They really don’t want to take you to collections because they’re not going to get as much money,” Feder Ostrov said.

Although consumers may find the chargemasters confusing, Feder Ostrov believes the transparency is an important part of the larger healthcare conversation.

“It's better to know about this stuff than it isn't. That’s the first thing,” she said.

“It also allows policymakers to review the prices that are out there to compare among institutions and to say… Can you really justify this price? Can you break it down for us and tell us what these services and treatments are really worth?”

CMS acknowledged that the chargemasters alone may not be helpful to patients for determining what they are likely to pay and said it is considering ways to improve the accessibility and usability of that information.

NBC Connecticut contacted the Connecticut Hospital Association to learn more about the pricing process. A spokesperson advised us to contact hospitals individually. Some did not respond to our inquiries. Those that did, declined to comment.

One person suffered severe burns in a car fire on Interstate 84 in Tolland on Monday night.

Firefighters were called to Interstate 84 eastbound before exit 69 around 11:15 p.m. for a vehicle accident with a fire.

One patient was transported to a local hospital to be stabilized and was then transferred to LifeStar, according to a tweet from Tolland Alert.

Part of the highway was closed while state police and the fire marshal investigated. All lanes have since reopened.

The U.S. on Monday released its plan to become the world leader in artificial intelligence, nearly two years after China laid out its own playbook, NBC News reported.

President Donald Trump's executive order explained his administration's views on developing artificial intelligence but left open a major question: Where's the money?

"Money talks when it comes to government priorities, and new money actually drives priorities," said R. David Edelman, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama for tech policy.

Trump's executive order, which did not include any new funding for A.I. research, comes amid mounting tension over China’s ambitious efforts. China in 2017 laid out a national plan to try to develop A.I. technology, an ambition that was likened to the Apollo missions to the moon and set off anxiety within the United States as the Trump White House was silent.

People, including some teenagers, are getting their first vaccinations amid a measles outbreak in 10 states, NBC News reported.

Eighteen-year-old Mayci from Augusta, Georgia, said her mother raised her to believe "vaccines are bad, this is something we don't do," but changed her mind after going on Reddit for advice when she heard about the outbreak.

Georgia is one of 17 states that allows students to attend school with non-medical exemptions from vaccinations. Experts believe measles outbreaks are linked to the anti-vaccine movement, but the recent one has spurred people to get vaccinated.

This January, health officials in Washington state saw a more than 400 percent increase in measles immunizations compared to last year.

The newspaper delivery driver who is accused of backing into a Coventry High School student and pinning her between two vehicles in December has been charged.

The 16-year-old student was injured when 42-year-old Bernard Luetjen, of Hartford, backed into her as the teen was getting out of a parent’s vehicle at the school at the beginning of the school day on Wednesday, Dec. 5, according to officials.

The student was not pinned for long and her injuries were not life-threatening, according to police. She was taken to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

After the incident happened, Supt. David Petrone, of Coventry Public Schools, said the newspaper delivery driver was bringing newspapers for the library. Investigators said the driver was backing out in the wrong direction when he hit the girl.

"She exited the car and went around to the back and at that time another vehicle had backed up and she kind of got crushed between the two vehicles," explained Coventry Police Detective Jeffrey Spadjinske.

Luetjen turned himself in on Tuesday and has been charged with reckless driving and unsafe backing. He was released on a promise to appear.