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Bird, Cat Stolen in Bizarre Pet Store Smash-and-Grab

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If "Ashes" the cat could talk, she would have a wild story to tell from this weekend.

The store pet of Diane's Pet Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, began her wild couple days sometime between 3 and 3:45 a.m. Sunday morning. That's when unknown burglars ran a car into the front of Diane's, according to the Central Berks Regional police department.

Ashes and a parrot that the store owner was birdsitting were stolen — or taken hostage? — as three bandits then made off with the two animals, police said.

"It was discovered that the persons involved had then forced the door open and removed a green and red parrot with a white cap in its white cage - as well as 'Ashes,' the store's beloved pet cat," police said in a Facebook post.

By Monday morning, Ashes was returned to the store, apparently without anyone noticing.

The unnamed parrot remains at large, as do the perpetrators of the bizarre smash-and-grab, authorities said.

The owner of the pet store told NBC10 that she was watching the bird for a vacationing friend, and that the parrot is worth about $1,000.

The owner also said that the bandits didn't succeed when they first tried breaking into the store by backing their car into the front door. They later returned, she said, and stole the two animals.

Nothing else was stolen, she said.

Central Berks police said in the Facebook post that anyone with information about the crime should call Officer Matthew Rissmiller or Detective Sgt. Deron Manndel at (610) 779-1100 or county communications at (610) 655-4911.



Photo Credit: Provided

Flight Attendants Union Demands Investigation of 'Sexist' Skit Caught on Video

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A union that represents flight attendants is demanding American Airlines investigate a video of a skit depicting flight attendants dancing suggestively to attract passengers, the group said Sunday in a statement.

The video, which was posted on Twitter, featured women dressed as flight attendants singing and dancing to "Big Spender" around a man depicting an American Airlines Executive Platinum customer.

"This cannot be happening in today's environment. We will not tolerate our profession being objectified in a sexist manner," Association of Professional Flight Attendants National President Lori Bassani said. "We want the facts about the company's involvement and we want answers."

The APFA asked American Airlines CEO Doug Parker to investigate and asked to know about management's involvement in the skit.

In a letter that was sent to American Airlines employees Sunday, the carrier said the skit took place at an event organized by customers and held at a private residence. It went on to say American Airlines was not involved in the event, nor did it see the agenda ahead of time.

The airlines said it was especially upset to see its logo on the screen while the skit was performed.

"We have reached out to this group of customers that hosted the event to express our displeasure with the content of the skit," American Airlines' statement read. "Additionally, we will continue our discussion with the APFA on this matter."



Photo Credit: NBC 5 News

Man Slashed Woman With Razor Blade at Milford Mall: Police

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Milford police have arrested a man who is accused of cutting a woman’s arm and neck with a razor blade. 

Police said they responded to reports of a possible domestic violence on CT Post Mall property around 3:15 a.m. Saturday. After investigating, police arrested 26-year-old Manuel Armstrong, of Waterbury. 

He’s accused of using a razor blade and slicing the arm and neck of a woman he was with, according to police. Police said they also learned that Armstrong had an active warrant for his arrest. He was accused of failing to appear in court on Sept. 4 for a motor vehicle arrest in Naugatuck on July 27. 

Armstrong was charged with breach of peace in the second degree, assault in the second degree and failure to appear in the second degree. 

Bond was set at $25,000.

Tractor-Trailer Rollover Causing Delays on I-91N in North Haven

U.S. Car Buyers Could Face Higher Prices From Import Tariffs, Auto Industry Warns

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Automakers, car dealers and parts manufacturers have gone into high gear in a bid to derail the threat of new tariffs on foreign-made cars and car parts.

The tariffs, they warn, could backfire, raising prices for U.S. consumers and sending the domestic automotive market into a tailspin, NBC News reported.

The latest wave of concern was triggered by the Commerce Department’s confirmation that it had delivered on Sunday a long-awaited report to President Donald Trump that looked at whether foreign autos and auto parts pose a threat to national security. Trump has indicated that if the report backs up that conclusion, he may impose tariffs expected to run as high as 20 to 25 percent.

While Detroit’s Big Three automakers have raised concerns about foreign-made vehicles over the past several decades, “not a single company in the domestic auto industry requested this investigation,” the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade group representing a broad alliance of automotive companies, said in a statement.



Photo Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File

Crash Closes Southbound Side of Charter Oak Bridge

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The southbound side of the Charter Oak Bridge, Route 5 and 15, is closed in East Hartford after a crash, according to state police, and they warn drivers to expect heavy delays through rush hour.

The East Hartford Fire Department Twitter account said paramedics were treating seven patients, then Tweeted that all patients were transported to area hospitals.

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Drivers are urged to avoid the area.

No additional information was immediately available.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut
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Drivers With Ties to Conn. Racing Club Top 10 at Daytona 500

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A local youth racing club is celebrating after two alumni finished in the top 10 at the Daytona 500.

Rookie Ryan Preece from Berlin finished eighth during his debut at The Great American Race on Sunday.

Preece was four spots behind Joey Logano of Middletown, who is the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Champion.

Organizers at the Silver City Quarter Midget Club in Meriden told NBC Connecticut they hope Preece and Logano’s success can inspire more young drivers to try racing on their track.

“My father was a gearhead,” said Marry Trapp, who competed in quarter midget racing with her siblings growing up. “It was a family event. Every weekend we knew were racing.”

Trapp is the secretary for the Silver City Quarter Midget Club five years after introducing the sport to her now 12-year-old daughter Kali.

“We came down here in October to do the fall arrive and drive and she loved it quit dance, quit soccer and we’ve been here ever since,” Trapp said.

Trapp and her daughter watched the Daytona 500, featuring the top 10 finishes from the two Connecticut drivers.

“It was very cool,” Kali said. “I wanted them to get top three but it was cool getting them up there.”

Logano gave Silver City a shoutout during his post-race interview on national TV and he tweeted “was a cool moment racing up front with Ryan Preece towards the end tonight. From quarter-midgets in Connecticut to the Daytona 500 it shows dreams come true.”

“When they were up there in the front like that it was amazing,” Trapp said. “It was very exciting to watch the two of them, especially together, they were next to each other on the track.”

“I want them to come back and visit that would be really cool,” Kali added. “I did see Joey once.”

Trapp said she hopes Logano and Preece’s stories can help increase participating in quarter-midget racing.

“It’s huge for us,” she said. “Hopefully I mean we are looking obviously for more drivers to come and to build out club up. It’s nothing like it used to be years ago, we used to have you know 150-200 cars here on any given Saturday now we’re down to 65.”

Her daughter can’t wait for the snow to melt so she can get back behind the wheel.

“My goal is just to get up there again, like in top 3, maybe first,” Kali said.

Children ages 5-16 are invited to test drive a quarter midget car for $20 at 835 Hanover Road in Meriden. The racing season begins the first weekend in May.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut
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Lamont Tiptoes Campaign Flip Flop on Tolls

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Gov. Ned Lamont’s toes come very close to the line when it comes to going back on a campaign promise only to back tolls for 18-wheeler trucks.

He announced over the weekend in a social media video, and through an op-ed in Hearst Connecticut Media publications, that he wanted to pursue a conversation about two different paths when it came to tolls: tolls for trucks only like he campaigned on, or a broad toll program on all cars.

Lamont did pledge in the video he posted to Twitter, “Maximum discounts for Connecticut residents and Connecticut drivers.”

Lamont had much more to say about improvements to transportation during the campaign than his chief rival, Republican Bob Stefanowski. Lamont was out in the open discussing his plan for limited tolls. Stefanowski, on the other hand, opposed tolls in all forms but did not provide any plan to improve roads, bridges, and commuter rail.

Lamont said on June 13 of improving transportation infrastructure, "I think that starts with electronic tolling on some of our biggest trucks that are coming in from out of state using our roads, tax free, creating tons of maintenance issues and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

He was not alone in calling for some kind of toll program. Unaffiliated candidate Oz Griebel proposed congestion toll pricing in a pilot program in HOV lanes, while Lamont stuck to the truck toll pledge.

During the Connecticut Broadcasters Association Debate on October 18, Lamont said, “We can’t rely on the gasoline tax anymore. That’s become prohibitive, so we do a toll on tractor trailer trucks.”

Then, less than two weeks after he won the election to become Connecticut’s 89th governor, he found himself at odds with outgoing Gov. Dannel Malloy, his fellow Democrat. Malloy spent his last year in office backing tolls publicly for the first time, saying a truck-only program would not be enough.

Lamont said on November 19, “My focus on electronic tolling is very clear. We’re going to focus on those big tractor trailer trucks and that will raise us something like $250 million. That’s something I think I can get through this legislature on short order and I want to get going on that.”

The Lamont administration is defending the governor’s announcement over the weekend as a look into his leadership style, listening to all ideas.

"There's a difference between being in the campaign in the heat of debate and being in the governor's office,” Chief of Staff Ryan Drajewicz said.

He cited data from studies conducted by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, conveying that trucks would bring in, at most, one quarter of the revenue that all cars would bring in for the state. The studies showed Connecticut could bring in up to $800 million from all vehicles, and somewhere between $50 million, and $200 million through exclusive truck tolls.

Democratic Sen. Alex Bergstein, a freshman member of the General Assembly form Greenwich, campaigned on installing tolls, and filed a bill to do so. She told NBC Connecticut that she favors starting an infrastructure bank to the fund the projects, while also partnering with private sector companies with expertise in infrastructure projects. She said she hoped Republicans would support it, saying, “modernizing our infrastructure should not be a partisan issue. It’s a matter of economic survival. And an Infrastructure Bank would deliver the results we need.”

Republicans criticized Lamont, and today Sen. Len Fasano said he did not expect any of the 13 Senate Republicans to vote for any toll proposal.

“Tolls just simply do not work, not in the short term, and frankly, not in the long term,” Fasano said. He wants the governor to be open to the GOP proposal to borrow $65 billion over 30 years without new revenue to pay for infrastructure, instead.

“I think tolls is a very difficult proposition to get through that capitol,” he said.


FAA Probe Into SWA Weight, Baggage Calculations Ongoing

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The Federal Aviation Administration says it's not ready to close a year-long safety investigation into Southwest Airlines.

The investigation is centered around the weight of baggage loaded onto Southwest's Boeing 737 aircraft.

The FAA confirmed to NBC 5 the investigation, which was first published in the Wall Street Journal, was launched in February 2018 to take a look at weight and balance performance on Southwest's flights.

The paper reported that the FAA found "systemic and significant mistakes with employee calculations and luggage loading practices."

Errors in weight calculations can affect a pilot's takeoff and landing calculations.

The FAA said it has "directed the development of a comprehensive solution to the methods and processes used by Southwest Airlines to determine this performance data," adding that it "will not close its investigation until it is satisfied that Southwest's corrective actions are consistent and sustained."

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is downplaying the investigation and told NBC 5 Monday there is no enforcement action against the airline regarding weight and balance and that the investigation is "a common mechanism for the FAA to document and share safety interests or concerns with an airline."

Southwest said it has implemented controls and enhanced procedures to address the concerns and has shared those with the FAA.

The airline believes that the action has resolved the issues and is requesting the investigation be closed.



Photo Credit: NBC 5 News

California and 15 Other States Sue Over Trump's National Emergency

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California and 15 other states filed a lawsuit Monday challenging Donald Trump's national emergency declaration.

“The president admitted that there’s not a basis for the declaration. He admitted there’s no crisis at the border. He’s now trying to rob funds that were allocated by Congress legally to the various states and people of our states,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC Monday afternoon before the suit was filed.

“The separation of powers is being violated, we’re going to go out there and make sure that Donald Trump cannot steal money from the states and people who need them, since we paid the taxpayer dollars to Washington, D.C., to get those services,” he said.

Trump said on Friday that he would bypass Congress by declaring a national emergency to build a border wall along the nation’s southern border, after a protracted battle in which Congress has repeatedly declined to give the president billions to build border barriers.



Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

'Patients Are Being Duped': What's Inside Some CBD Products

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On a recent night in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood, curious shoppers stopped by a social hour to try out drinks, treats, and more that the vendors said contained CBD, the chemical found in marijuana and hemp plants that’s surging in popularity thanks to claims it can help with a litany of medical issues.

Although CBD, short for cannabidiol, comes from the cannabis plant, it does not get you high. As long as it’s derived from hemp, it’s legal to buy over the counter.

People tell NBC Connecticut that they’re using CBD as a natural remedy for all kinds of health issues, ranging from pain and inflammation to anxiety and depression.

Jocelyn Cerda started the “So Chill CBD Social Hour” after she started using CBD herself.

“I have Crohn’s and colitis, so I use it on a regular basis just to keep my symptoms under control,” Cerda said.

Hemp products became easier to buy and sell after a change to federal law last year, but they’re also unregulated. Yet public demand for CBD is growing and companies are cashing in. The industry is projected to hit the billion dollar mark this year.

Chris Martinez, the president and co-founder of Evio Labs, said his laboratory has tested CBD products for more than 400 companies.

“There’s a lot of inconsistencies in the market right now,” Martinez said.

To see if you’re getting what you pay for, NBC stations in Miami and New York partnered with Martinez to blind-test three brands of CBD oil and four brands of candy gummies that were purchased over the counter in stores and online.

The results showed that a product’s contents sometimes did not match its label. More than half of the samples contained less CBD than advertised.

“They were significantly lower – sometimes three times less than what was stated on the label,” Martinez said of the results.

The lab rejected samples from two brands of oils for not meeting California standards for quality control.

Evio Labs flagged one of our samples, labeled as a Lazarus Naturals product, for containing high levels of lead according to FDA standards.

“It had four times the amount of lead than is approved. If a child gets their hands on these products, it could be life-threatening,” Martinez said.

NBC 4 New York purchased the sample from an independent seller on Groupon. Lazarus Naturals said they could not verify that the sample was actually their product because they have experienced a problem with counterfeit products sold on unapproved marketplaces.

Another sample purchased from CBDistillery contained an amount of a pesticide that exceeds California’s acceptable standards. A company spokesperson told NBC 4 New York that they had the batch in question tested by “an accredited third party lab,” and that the amounts of the pesticides detected passed that laboratory standards.

NBC 4 New York also purchased several vials of Jolly Green CBD oil online and in a store.

Every sample contained less than half of the advertised amount on the packaging, according to the lab results. The company did not respond to NBC 4 New York’s requests for comment.

Only one brand of gummies, Green Roads, contained the amount of CBD advertised on the packaging. Of the other three brands, one brand contained zero CBD.

Gummies purchased from a surgery recovery website called, “Dani’s Doll House,” were marketed as the “strongest” CBD gummies.

“All five of those samples had zero CBD in them,” Martinez said.

The website’s owner told NBC 6 Miami that they purchase the gummies from a distributor and apply their own label for resale, adding in an email follow up that she is “going to try to get to the bottom of this.”

Samples of gummies from Hemp Bombs and Gold Line had less than the amount of CBD advertised, according to the lab results.

Hemp Bombs told NBC 6 Miami that they couldn’t verify those results. A spokesperson said the gummies were made using an older manufacturing process that involved “sprinkling CBD on them.” They said the company now “infuses the CBD hemp extract into the gummies.”

Test results for Gold Line brand gummies, which were purchased online, had less than half the amount of CBD advertised on their website at the time of purchase. The company told NBC 6 Miami that they put the "wrong photo" online and called it an "innocent mistake." They removed the product from their website.

"Until there is some type of regulation that levels off the playing field, patients are being duped. Patients are buying products that aren't really going to benefit them," Martinez said.

Before making any purchases, Martinez suggested asking sellers for lab results from within the last 30 days. Industry experts also advise making sure products are tested for heavy metals, pesticides and toxins.

Some companies put QR codes on their labels for buyers to scan and pull up results right on their phones.

"I tell the vendors, ‘Hey, bring those lab results,’" Cerda said. The goal of her monthly social hour is to connect people with local vendors making their own CBD, she said.

We did not test any of the products available there.

CBD products for sale at dispensaries to medical marijuana patients are different from the hemp products available over the counter, and the only FDA-approved use for CBD is in a treatment for severe forms of epilepsy.

Cerda said she now uses a CBD product that is only available at medical marijuana dispensaries, but she said access to CBD is necessary for people who do not have health conditions that qualify them to use medical marijuana in Connecticut.

With some caution, and a little trial and error, she said CBD's pros can outweigh the cons.

"It's a gray area. These are uncharted waters. You just gotta go out there and give it a shot," Cerda said.

The Supermoon Returns, Bigger and Brighter

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Skywatchers will get a special treat Tuesday when the biggest, brightest supermoon of 2019 lights up the night sky.

This will be the second in this year’s trio of back-to-back supermoons. The first occurred Jan. 21, and the third will fall on March 21.

A supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the moon is at its closest point to Earth in its monthly elliptical orbit around our planet. Since they’re a bit closer to us, supermoons appear larger and more luminous than ordinary full moons — though scientists are quick to point out that the difference is generally so subtle as to be imperceptible.

“They are essentially the same,” Patrick Hartigan, an astrophysicist at Rice University in Houston, told NBC News MACH in an email. “You can maybe tell the difference from a normal full moon if you make a practice of looking at a lot of them” — something Hartigan said is true for him.

This month, the moon will be closest to Earth at 4:07 a.m. EST Feb. 19. The moon won’t be completely full until 10:53 a.m. EST Tuesday.



Photo Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP

Tong Joins Lawsuit Against Trump Over National Emergency

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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has joined attorneys general from other states in a lawsuit to challenge the national emergency declaration by President Trump over the border wall.

President Trump announced Friday he was declaring a national emergency at the southern border and is using his executive authority to tap billions of other government funds to build the wall.

Trump took the action as he signed into law a deal to keep the federal government open. The legislation gives Trump 55 additional miles of border fencing, well short of the 200-plus miles he wanted.

On Friday Tong said some of the money Trump could use may have been earmarked for projects in Connecticut and that is why he is working on the lawsuit to stop the president from using a national emergency declaration to use funds to build the wall.

The complaint, filed Monday, states that Trump's declaration is unlawful and unconstitutional. 

"President Trump’s hyped crisis is a pretext to justify redirecting Congressionally-appropriated funds to pay to build a wall along the southern border after he failed to get Congress — or Mexico — to pay for it. The facts do not support President Trump’s rhetoric or his declaration," a media release from Tong's office read.

The suit seeks injunctive relief to block the emergency declaration.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and is led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Becerra and Tong are joined by the the attorneys general of Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

Mass. Couple Believes They Lost Wedding Rings in Connecticut

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A Westwood, Massachusetts couple is desperately hoping someone can help them find the wife’s lost engagement and wedding rings after they made a pit stop in Connecticut.

“I looked at my hand on the wheel and I noticed, oh my god my rings aren’t there,” Kimberly Reggiannini said.

A trip home after a night celebrating a birthday turned into a disaster for Kimberly and Peter Reggiannini when Kimberly realized she’d taken off her wedding rings in the car, but forgot to put them back on.

“Previous to stopping I had taken my rings off in the car and placed them on my lap because I was putting some lotion on my hands because they were dry,” Kimberly explained.

The couple was driving home to the Boston area from New York City Sunday around 11 a.m. when they stopped at the Branford rest area on I095 to get gas and use the bathroom. Kimberly said the rings had to have fallen out when she got out of the car. She didn’t realize until they were back on the road.

“At this point I was crying hysterically,” she said.

The couple’s search of the car came up empty. They went back to the rest stop, but the frantic search yielded nothing.

“Maybe it’ll be in some crack somewhere and we can find it. The fact that neither of them turned up has made us think that maybe somebody saw them, saw both of them and picked them up,” Peter said.

They’ve called Connecticut State Police and Branford Police, and local pawn shops and posted about their predicament online, hoping someone has the rings and will return them.

The rings are insured and the couple feels confident they can get them replaced, but that’s not what they want. They’re hoping to get the jewelry and memories attached to them back, memories they consider priceless.

“I knew right away that I was covered for this. It’s not like it made us feel any better when we lost it. It's not about the money. It’s about what we lost,” Peter said.

“I don’t have my ring. It’s the ring he gave me when he proposed. It’s the ring he put on my finger when we got married,” Kimberly said.

The couple also thinks somebody may have driven over the rings. Thy know it’s a long shot, but they’re asking anyone who drove in the area in the last day and a half to check their tires on the off chance one of the rings is wedged in there.

The couple is willing to pay a reward.



Photo Credit: Kimberly Reggiannini

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Likely to Step Down in 3 Weeks

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will likely be stepping down from his position in about three weeks, NBC News reported, citing Justice Department officials.

That word comes just days after William Barr was confirmed as the new attorney general by the Senate. 

Rosenstein, who has been overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, said in January that he would leave shortly after the arrival of a new attorney general but that he would stay long enough to ensure an orderly transition.



Photo Credit: AP

Connecticut Catholics Have Eyes on Pope's Sex Abuse Summit

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Praying for success.

That was Pope Francis’ message to the faithful on Sunday about an upcoming clergy abuse conference.

Francis calls the issue an “urgent challenge of our time.”

Nearly 200 church leaders from around the world will head to Rome later this week. Many hope it’s a turning point when it comes to how the church deals with clergy sex abuse.

“This is a worldwide crisis of the credibility of the church,” said Mark Silk, professor of religion in public life at Trinity College.

Now the Roman Catholic Church is taking historic action, with scandals erupting around the world.

In Connecticut, the Archdiocese of Hartford and the Diocese of Norwich recently released the names of dozens of priests who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

“If you don’t have moral credibility and you’re a church, you’re a religious institution, what do you have?” said Silk.

Silk is optimistic about what might come out of the abuse summit which is set to get underway on Thursday.

On the agenda: making sure bishops know how to protect their parishioners and what will happen if they don’t.

“The problem that the Vatican has had, that the church has had, is they haven’t really had any procedures for formally dealing with these kinds of things,” said Silk.

Among those watching what happens: members of a group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, otherwise known as SNAP.

“We’re hoping that the Pope will take some very decisive action,” said Gail Howard, SNAP Connecticut chapter co-leader.

Howard says the organization has several demands.

“We would like all bishops who participated in enabling child abuse by moving offenders around to be fired,” said Howard.

SNAP also hopes church leaders agree to turn over relevant files to civil authorities and not block efforts to allow civil suits regardless of when they’re filed.

Experts say one of the difficulties will be coming up with rules that work around the world, with different cultures and laws.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Rescue Underway of Guests Stuck on SeaWorld Ride

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Crews rescued 14 people and two others remain trapped on SeaWorld San Diego ride Monday night, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue.

Bayside Skyride is a gondola ride that crosses Mission Bay.

Rescue crews were called in at around 7:20 p.m. for the 16 people stranded on five different gondolas, said SDFD Battalion Chief Robert Logan.

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The first two guests were rescued by 9:20 p.m., SDFD said. By 10 p.m., half of the guests had been rescued. By 10:30 p.m., 14 people had been rescued.

SDFD said there was a big gust of wind that tripped a circuit breaker that caused the ride to stop working.

Crews lowered the guests via a rope system down into boats in Mission Bay that then transported them to a nearby dock, according to Logan.

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Of the 16 people, Logan said there was one infant. The infant will require a special harness. Another person involved was described as partially paralyzed.

“It could possibly be hours and hours. Something like this we want to be slow and methodical," Logan said. “A fall from that distance can be catastrophic.”

Each guest is being rescued one at a time.

"All the guests are currently safe," SeaWorld said in a released statement.

SeaWorld said it is in contact with all of the trapped guests at this time. Blankets are available on the gondolas, the theme park said.

Logan said warming packs and additional blankets were being brought to the stranded people as rescue effort continues.

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Jonathan Sherr was reportedly one of the guests stuck on the ride. He is in a gondola with his 15-year-old son.

At around 6:15 p.m., Sherr said the wind “just started rocking the cart, and I looked up at the cable, and right when I was looking up at the cable shaking violently, we just stopped.”

Sherr said there were some wind gusts prior to getting on the ride.

Sherr said he would take his family to SeaWorld a lot when his kids were younger. “I won’t be coming back,” he said.

“Watching the cable shake violently was a pretty daunting thing,” Sherr said. He was inside gondola number four, but when it stopped moving, he said he and his son were “at peace.”

Sherr’s daughter had just gotten off the ride when Bayside Skyride lost power. “We would have been stuck up there if we didn’t go before them,” she said. “We were the last ones to get off up there.”

Sherr claimed there was a lack of communication between guests and SeaWorld for the first hour they were trapped. However, the theme park said it is in accordance with the “highest safety standards.”

Natasha Nelson told NBC 7 her family were some of the other guests trapped on the ride.

Nelson’s 11-year-old daughter and 12-year-old nephew were in one gondola. Nelson’s sister, Naomi Ince, and Ince’s 9-year-old daughter were in another gondola.

Ince had been watching the children at this time, and Nelson said her sister’s phone had since died.

It is not clear why the family had been split up into two gondolas at this time.

SeaWorld issued the following statement:

Guest safety is paramount. Due to an unusual gust of significant wind, the operations of the Bayside Skyride stopped. A number of guests are currently on the Skyride seated in 5 gondolas. We are currently working with San Diego Fire & Rescue and the San Diego Lifeguards to evacuate the guests from the ride. We practice emergency evacuation procedures with local first responders annually. We are in contact with the guests via intercom, and they have been made aware of the evacuation procedures. There are also blankets on board each gondola. Evacuations will be conducted in accordance with the highest safety standards. All the guests are currently safe while awaiting evacuation. Guest safety is our top priority. Once our guests are cared for, we will conduct a thorough inspection of the ride prior to re-opening. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused the guests.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.



Photo Credit: Kasia Gregorczyk via AP
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Hiker Who Got Trapped in Quicksand at Utah Park Rescued

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A man hiking in a national park in Utah got stuck in quicksand and stayed trapped until late that night when rangers were able to reach and free him, NBC News reported.

The hiker, Ryan Osmun, then remained with rescuers in the park overnight in frigid, snowy weather until visibility was high enough the next afternoon to airlift him to an awaiting ambulance.

The 34-year-old hiker, who is from Arizona, was walking a trail Saturday at Zion National Park with a female friend when his leg became stuck in quicksand along the Left Fork of the North Creek, the National Park Service said Monday.

“His leg was buried up to his knee and he was unable to free himself,” agency officials said in a statement. "He and his companion tried to free his leg and were unsuccessful."



Photo Credit: Ryan Osmun

Bernie Sanders Announces He Is Running for President Again

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Vermont senator and 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday he is running for president again in the 2020 race.

Sanders told Vermont Public Radio he is running for office because President Donald Trump is an "embarrassment to our country" and because he wants to continue pushing progressive ideas into the mainstream.

In a biting interview Tuesday, Sanders called Trump a "pathological liar" and a "racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe."

Sanders said he plans to continue championing for universal health care, a $15 minimum wage and to reduce student debt.

"It turns out that three years have come and gone and many of the ideas that I talked about...are very, very popular," Sanders said.

Sanders confirmed that he was running later Tuesday on social media.

In an appeal for supporters to sign up for his email list, Sanders’ website Tuesday morning said that no presidential candidate "is capable of taking on Donald Trump and the billionaire class alone. There is only one way we win — and that is together."

An independent, Sanders nevertheless challenged Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. He became renowned for long, impassioned stump speeches in which he railed against political corruption and trumpted that average people were his biggest supporters, donating on average just $27.

He lost, though the process was marred by controversy as hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee suggested that party officials had favored Clinton during the primaries. The revelation cast a pall over the pary's convention, when Sanders conceded the race to Clinton despite supporters' protests.

Sanders faced his own controversy when some male supervisors in his 2016 campaign team were accused of harassment by women. Sanders apologized for the alleged misconduct and said it "was absolutely unacceptable and certainly not what a progressive campaign or any campaign should be about."



Photo Credit: Chris O'Meara/AP, File
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Hartford Homicide Victim Is a Middletown Man: Police

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Hartford police are investigating the city's third homicide of the year after the body of a Middletown man was found on Woodland Drive early Tuesday morning.

Investigators said they were called to the area of 198 Woodland Drive just before 1:30 a.m. for a report of an unresponsive person.

Responding officers found the body of a 26-year-old man with an injury to his chest. The injury does not appear to be consistent with a gunshot, according to police.

The victim, who has not been identified pending notification of family, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Hartford Police Crime Scene Division and Major Crimes Division have taken over the investigation.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut
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