Hartford police and firefighters have responded to the Metropolitan District building at 555 Main St. to investigate after several vials were found in the building. 

It’s not clear what’s in the vials, but officials from the fire department said the substance is contained and poses no threat to personnel or the public. 

The southbound side of Main Street will be shut down between Wells and Gold streets, according to police. 

Out of an abundance of caution, the Hartford Police bomb squad/hazmat team has responded. 

There are no external evacuations, police said. 

No additional information was immediately available.

Wall sections built more than a year ago as examples of a border wall between U.S. and Mexico were in the process of being removed Wednesday.

SkyRanger7 captured aerial video of a construction dismantling a third prototype while two others lay in pieces. 

On Tuesday, one worker was drilling into one of the border wall prototypes standing just north of the current border fence and east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. 

Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the prototypes will need to be removed to make way for fencing that will replace existing fencing along the border. 

Crews are working to replace about 12-and-a-half miles of the secondary fencing and add an additional one-and-a-half mile of brand new secondary fencing at a cost of $131 million.

The steel bollard fence will stand 30 feet high, double the size of the fencing that's been in place since 1997.

Construction of the border wall prototypes was completed in late October 2017 and President Trump visited the area to view the designs in person the following March. 

A report released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in September suggested the prototypes were able to be breached when tested. 

They also found there would be "extensive" or "substantial" challenges building the prototypes on the type of terrain found along the southwest border. 

While no single prototype was selected as the best design for a border wall, Department of Homeland Security officials told NBC 7 there were features of several prototypes that may be incorporated into future fencing or border barriers. 

The existing barriers along the southwest border of the U.S. vary between bollard-style fencing on the ground or on top of a levee wall as well as bollards spaced to be a barrier for vehicle traffic and wire mesh-style fencing. 

A report released in July by the U.S. Government Accountability Office stated that CBP awarded six companies orders to design and construction eight barrier prototypes. The cost of those orders was a total value of over $3 million.

Four were made from reinforced concrete while four included other materials.

NBC 7 Investigates reported the breakdown of the costs of the prototype project to the region.

Local law enforcement officials were concerned about potential disruptions or protests in the area while construction companies were building prototypes.

The bulk of the costs to both the city and the county was for overtime pay of law enforcement officers used to secure the area near the border while the prototypes were being built. 

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department reported $700,000 in overtime costs in connection with the border wall prototype project. 

NBC 7 obtained records showing the city of San Diego spent $278,000 to protect the prototypes during construction. 

The head coach of Yale’s women’s ice hockey team has resigned.  

The Yale University Department of Athletics released a statement Wednesday that says Joakim (UK) Flygh has resigned effective immediately.

“I want to thank UK for his hard work and service to our university and department,” Director of Athletics Victoria M. Chun said in a statement. "I wish him and his family the very best moving forward."

Flygh began coaching the Bulldogs in 2010.

The school will immediately launch a national search for the next head coach.

Gloucester Police reminded parents to keep an eye on their children's online activity on Facebook Tuesday night after reports of youth engagement in the "Momo Challenge."

This viral craze involves children texting a WhatApp number to receive instructions to do strange tasks that escalate as they complete them. 

According to Rolling Stone, they might begin by watching a horror movie late at night alone, and end by being asked to self-harm or even encourage them to die by suicide.

The first message is supposedly a picture of a creepy bug-eyed woman named "Momo," who threatens the challenger via message to release their personal information or harm them if they do not continue with the tasks.  

The challenge has been reported by news sources since July 2018, though the origin of the challenge is unknown, Rolling Stone reports. Some reports say trolls are including images of Momo in videos of child-friendly characters.

Though it is debated how widespread or dangerous the challenge truly is, police around the world have taken to warning parents of the potential danger.

Danbury police have arrested a juvenile in connection with a shooting near Danbury Hospital on Jan. 17.

One victim was shot in the arm in the area of Ellsworth and Hospital Avenue, according to police.

Police said the victim was targeted.

The Ellsworth Avenue School and Western Connecticut State University were notified and went into lockdowns after the shooting, according to Mayor Mark Boughton.

Police said the suspect was taken into custody on Monday and charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of firearms, breach of peace: threatening, first-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment.

A group of children from Glenville Elementary School in Greenwich soared to new heights on Mount Southington on Wednesday with the help of a local adaptive ski program.

For close to 30 years, the non-profit Leaps of Faith Adaptive Skiers has been helping kids and adults with disabilities participate in sports from snow skiing to hitting the water in the summer, giving them the tools to build their confidence.

“I think it’s a big deal for these kids who are not necessarily looked at the same way to have a sense of normalcy and do what a lot of other kids do,” LOF volunteer Alexandra Sportini said.

Glenville’s gym teacher, Deirdre Burke, organized the day. She is also a LOF volunteer.

“There’s nothing more I love than seeing my students excel, so to give them this opportunity to really build their confidence was kind of a no-brainer.”

Ramzi Si-Ahmed is one of Burke’s students. He has cerebral palsy and has worked with LOF a few times.

”It’s a very nice, kind thing of them to do…I just appreciate them helping me.”

“I hope that they are learning that they can do absolutely anything and that there’s nothing holding them back,” Burke said.

CREC and DATTCO are investigating after a school bus driver went the wrong way on an Interstate 91 ramp in Windsor Tuesday morning. 

CREC said a substitute driver was operating the DATTCO-contracted bus and made a wrong turn onto an I-91 southbound entrance ramp in Windsor on the way to CREC Museum Academy in Bloomfield. 

The driver turned the bus around on a one-way on-ramp instead of following the DATTCO standard protocols, CREC said. No children were on the bus at the time. 

DATTCO said the bus driver is experienced but was driving a different route and should have stopped the bus and contacted DATTCO on how to proceed.  

The driver involved has been “removed from service,” and CREC said it is working with DATTCO to review this incident along with the State Police. 

DATTCO said the driver will not be back in service until the investigation is complete.

“CREC manages transportation services for the State’s Regional School Choice Office, and DATTCO is one of several transportation companies contracted to provide these services. CREC, and all of the contractors, place student safety as first priority. There is no tolerance for safety violations,” CREC said in a statement. 

Central Connecticut State University is in the process of naming one of its buildings for a very special alumnus.

The Social Sciences building will soon be named for Ebenezer Bassett.

“This is the first within our CSCU system of having a building named after an African American,” said William Fothergill, Associate Councilor at CCSU. “It took 166 years.”

Bassett was University’s first black graduate back in 1853. Bassett went on to be an educator and then served as the first ever African American diplomat as Ambassador to Haiti under President Ulysses S. Grant.

“A big part of what we’re trying to do is preserve his legacy,” Fothergill said. “Ebenezer Bassett, I would say in a very succinct way, was one of the most distinguished men of the 19th century.’

Although Bassett graduated more than a century ago, the idea of naming a building for him is exciting to the students of today.

“I think that’s really cool. I think that shows we’re moving in the right direction,” said student Sixto Pacheco.

President Donald Trump's inaugural committee is facing a new legal threat after the attorney general for Washington, D.C., issued a subpoena for documents, NBC News reported, citing a committee spokesperson and source familiar with the matter.

The legal action marks the third known government agency scrutinizing the finances of the inaugural committee after it raised and spent a record-breaking $107 million.

The revelation of the new investigation, which was first reported by The New York Times, comes three weeks after the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of New York subpoenaed the committee. The New Jersey attorney general is also probing how it spent the massive haul of cash.

Opposition is lining up against ideas that could lead to more regional school districts in the state.

“Wolcott is Wolcott. You can’t touch Wolcott. Our schools here are fantastic,” said Cathy Galipaut of Wolcott.

Galipaut praises Wolcott Public Schools and sees no need to combine with other districts.

“My kids were, had beautiful classes. We’re a family in Wolcott. So I think we should stay that way,” said Galipaut.

Right now at the State Capitol, there are several bills being considered involving school regionalization.

One would potentially require districts to combine based on the number of students in the district.

“I would probably want to keep it local, that would be my decision,” said Staci Charbonneau of Wolcott.

Wolcott’s superintendent and the Board of Education also oppose forcing schools to regionalize.

In a post on Facebook today, Superintendent Tony Gasper wrote in part:

“In Wolcott Public Schools, there is no fat to be cut...no low-hanging fruit to be found that would improve our efficiency or students' school experience.”

Supporters of regionalization believe it could benefit some of the state’s more than 200 districts by saving money through sharing or consolidating services.

Recently Governor Ned Lamont tried to ease concerns of skeptics in Fairfield County.

He explained his plan would only encourage not require partnerships.

“He has an open ear and an open door so I think together we can craft a policy that is more voluntary than forced,” said Jayme Stevenson, R – Darien First Selectman.

You can weigh in on three education plans later this week.

Stop by the public hearing at the Legislative Office Building on Friday at 1 p.m.

Hartford Athletic, Connecticut's new pro soccer team, has teamed up with Trinity Health of New England as one of its founding partners and unveiled their new jerseys Wednesday.

Trinity Health of New England, which includes Saint Francis Hospital, will be the team’s title partner and official healthcare provider.

“Over the past 120 years Saint Francis Hospital, a member of Trinity Health Of New England, has been an anchor institution in our community, and with this organization on board as our lead partner, we are excited to come together to make our community the best place to live, work, and play,” Hartford Athletic Chairman and CEO Bruce Mandell wrote in a press release.

The organizations will work together on and off the field, collaborating on community initiatives as well as outreach and educational events.

“Trinity Health Of New England is proud to partner with Hartford Athletic to bring soccer, the world’s most popular sport, to our local communities,” said Dr. John Rodis, president of Saint Francis Hospital. “This partnership is an exciting opportunity to be part of a momentous time in our capital city, one we believe will unite the individuals of the communities we serve in a healthy way. We are honored our team of talented physicians, especially those who are part of the Connecticut Sports Medicine Institute at Saint Francis, will be able to provide optimal care to this elite group of athletes and their passionate fans.”

Hartford Athletic’s inaugural season will start March 9, with the home opener slated for May 4, though Dillon Stadium is still under construction.

"Now I see the turf going in, I see the stadium going up and it brings a whole sense of pride and excitement I think it's great for the community, goes well beyond Trinity Health of New England really, just great for Hartford and really great for Connecticut," Rodis said.

If the stadium isn't ready by the homeowner, the backup plan is to play a maximum of four games at Rentschler Field.

The Thomas Hooker Brewery is hosting a watch party for the first match on March 9 at their location at 140 Huyshope Ave. in Hartford.

Would the fear of getting a parking ticket while visiting a favorite store or restaurant stop you from going there? That’s what business owners in Storrs Center say is happening.

“When you work real hard and you do everything right and (customers) leave and tell you, ‘It was great we can’t wait to come back,’ and then they come back in 5 minutes and say, ‘We’re never coming back,’ it’s pretty disheartening,” said Steve Smith, co-owner of the Dog Lane Café in Storrs Center.

But Steve Smith and his co-owner Brian Jessurun said that has happened many times and a $30 parking ticket is to blame.

The extremely strict enforcement of street parking in downtown Storrs makes it tough for Storrs Center business to do business, according to Smith.

“I’ve spoken to the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, I’ve spoken to the mayor, I’ve spoken to the town manager, and every time I think, ‘well maybe we’re getting somewhere,’ I drive in here and I see somebody in a blue shirt writing a ticket on a Sunday and I get frustrated,” Smith said.

He’s been open for over six years and thinks LAZ Parking, a company that enforces parking on behalf of the town of Mansfield, needs to ease off, especially during non-peak hours or times of the year when students aren’t in school.

Someone can grab a coffee, make a run to the nearby CVS and slightly miss the timeslot back to the car and face a fine.

It’s hurting business, Jessurun said. And businesses in Storrs Center pay taxes and contribute to the community and neighboring University of Connecticut.

“On weekends there’ll be no cars and they’re out there ticketing like crazy. Last Sunday I got a ticket,” said Kim Cash, who owns Bliss.

The boutique owner said she’s losing customers — especially elderly ones who don’t want to walk from the garage or the one parking lot for Storrs Center.

“On a Wednesday, maybe 50 to 100 (customers), that’s a realistic number. And we’ve just watched it drop, drop, drop,” Cash said.

She has another store in nearby Willimantic and said customers will just go there because there’s a better parking situation. Cash said she’s even had moms and daughters who are looking at prom dresses leave the store because they were afraid of getting a ticket.

Since 2016, there has been 30 minute and one hour street parking in the area of Storrs Center, according to the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, a non-profit created by the town and UConn to foster continued development, management and promotion of Downtown Storrs.

There is also the Dog Lane Lot, a free parking lot limited to two hours, and a parking garage where the first two hours are free and $1 per hour afterward.

On its website, the Partnership writes, “There has been no direction to LAZ to enforce parking more strictly. In fact, the Partnership has asked LAZ to be lenient during times when school is not in session…”

Mansfield Downtown Partnership Executive Director Cynthia van Zelm said the Partnership speaks with the businesses in Storrs Center and is always looking at ways to enhance and better the experience in downtown Storrs.

NBC Connecticut called and emailed LAZ Parking. They referred us to the “Parking in Downtown Storrs” post on the Mansfield Downtown Partnership website.

“I’ve been ticketed literally more times than I can count,” said UConn Junior Reilee Barron.

She uses Select Physical Therapy in Storrs Center.

“The parking on the street is only 30 minutes so I have to usually rush through my appointment or leave and move my car,” Barron said.

A new police radio system for your town or city costs a fortune, to the tune of millions of dollars.

In the past year an alternative has been offered by the state that can get departments up and running with a new system that’s much faster, often at a third of the cost.

Connecticut State Police just spent $30 million upgrading and updating its network. It has so much bandwidth, that it can provide space to broadcast on the network for free, according to Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella.

“This is great, for a lot of these towns. And the bigger picture is the ability to communicate with anyone and everyone that is on the system on a bad day in the state of Connecticut,” Rovella said.

Communities including the towns of Groton, Stonington, Coventry, and Norwich, told NBC Connecticut Investigates that joining the State Police network will save them millions of dollars, affording them a brand new, state of the art police radio system at a third of the cost, or less. The municipalities still must purchase new handheld and car radios, additional dispatch software, and radio tower enhancements.

“For something that was going to cost us in the neighborhood of three, three and a half million dollars, we’ve found a system that gets it, to the same capabilities and then some for less than a million dollars, for around $800,000,” said Groton Town Police Chief L.J. Fusaro.

Fusaro, a retired state trooper with experience using the state police network, sees no downsides to this new relationship.

He said joining the regional system means better service at a lower cost his department, as well as fewer towers and equipment to maintain. Given those benefits, he said he’s OK giving up that local control, something that has often been a roadblock to regional efforts like this in the past in Connecticut.

“I don’t want to manage a radio system, to the extent that I don’t need to. So having collaboration with an organization, an agency that has some very skillful people and some very knowledgeable people when it comes to radio communications is huge for me as a municipal police chief.”

Not every Connecticut town sees it this way. Avon taxpayers recently voted to spend more than $4 million on a police radio network serving their town only.

At a recent town meeting Avon town manager Brandon Robertson, a member of the state’s E911 commission, told residents “… we just didn’t think it was wise to throw our lot in with the state of Connecticut…the initial savings on a $4.1 million project was estimated to be about $500,000, and we thought for the $500,000, we would rather retain control.”

Neither Robertson nor the Avon Police Department granted an on camera interview for this story.

In a statement the chief said:

“The Town of Avon conducted a comprehensive study concerning its proposal to replace the town’s existing conventional analog communications system, meeting the Project (25) Standard. The Town has selected a vendor and voters have accepted the proposal through a referendum this past December. At this time, the Town of Avon feels it is in the best interest of the community to maintain our own core to meet our public safety needs. This system is a town-wide radio system to include Police, Fire, Public Works and Board of Education. While we recognize that we may realize initial cost savings in the short-term, our long-term investment in a core owned by Avon will not only meet our needs, but those of the region, should they wish to join. Additionally, this will give us the ability to plan our budget needs without any unanticipated State increases.”

NBC Connecticut Investigates has requested a copy of the study Avon conducted on replacing its communications system, but has not received it to date.

Kim Jong Un was not responsible for horrific injuries sustained by American student Otto Warmbier, who died shortly after being released from 17 months of detention in North Korea, President Donald Trump said Thursday at a press conference after the nuclear summit in Hanoi collapsed, according to NBC News.

"Some really bad things happened to Otto — some really really bad things. But he tells me that he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word," Trump said, referring to the North Korean dictator.

Warmbier, 22, was arrested for taking a propaganda banner from a hotel while on a visit to Pyongyang in January 2016. The University of Virginia student from Ohio was later sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

There will be an increased police presence at a Plymouth Middle School today after a possible threat made on social media, according to Plymouth Police. 

No additional information was immediately available.

Virginia's first lady apologized Wednesday after a state employee reportedly told lawmakers and the governor's office that Pam Northam handed out cotton to the woman's daughter and another black child during a recent tour of the governor's mansion, NBC News reported.

"I regret that I have upset anyone," Northam said. "I am still committed to chronicling the important history of the Historic Kitchen, and will continue to engage historians and experts on the best way to do so in the future."

Northam had asked the children to imagine picking cotton as enslaved Africans, according to The Washington Post. Leah Dozier Walker wrote that Northam's actions "do not lead me to believe that this Governor’s office has taken seriously the harm and hurt they have caused African Americans in Virginia."

Gov. Ralph Northam's office said the two students were not singled out, which was verified by another parent of a student present. The incident comes in the wake of the governor's own blackface scandal.

Former congressman Beto O'Rourke will not make another run at a U.S. Senate seat, though he says he's made a decision about his next step and will announce it soon.

NBC 5's media partner The Dallas Morning News first reported Wednesday that O'Rourke has decided not to challenge incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in 2020. Two sources familiar with O'Rourke's thinking confirmed that to NBC News.

For nearly a month — since O'Rourke's Feb. 5 interview with Oprah Winfrey — there has been speculation that the El Paso native would declare his candidacy to be the Democratic nominee for president.

People close to O'Rourke told The Dallas Morning News they expected him to announce a presidential campaign within weeks.

"Amy and I have made a decision about how we can best serve our country," O'Rourke said in a statement Wednesday. "We are excited to share it with everyone soon."

O'Rourke told Winfrey he would make a decision before the end of February, and that he had "been thinking about running for president."

Six days later, with President Donald Trump in O'Rourke's hometown of El Paso, O'Rourke spoke at a counter-rally within shouting distance of the coliseum where the president spoke.

"With the eyes of the country upon us, all of us together are going to make our stand here in one of the safest cities in America," O'Rourke said. "Safe not because of walls but in spite of walls."

O'Rourke lost to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz by less than three percentage points in the 2018 Senate race, coming closer to unseating an incumbent Republican senator in the state than anyone since Democrat Bob Krueger narrowly lost to Republican John Tower in 1978, according to the Texas Tribune.

Since his loss in the midterms, O'Rourke has chosen an unorthodox path as he tries to decide whether or not to run.

On Jan. 10, he livestreamed a visit to the dentist; he wrote regularly on the website Medium about a solo roadtrip he took through parts of the country, stopping in states like Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico; he was interviewed by Winfrey in New York City.

If O'Rourke decides to run for president, he would be the second candidate from Texas to enter the race, joining former San Antonio mayor and Housing and Urban Development Secretary in the Obama administration Julian Castro.

A Wethersfield police officer was involved in a serious crash early Thursday morning and has been taken to a hospital.

The accident happened at the intersection of Griswold Road and Prospect Street around 3 a.m. 

Officers at the scene said a woman driving eastbound on Prospect Street hit the side of the officer’s police cruiser.

Both the woman and the officer have significant injuries, but they are not life-threatening, and were taken to the hospital, according to police.

An accident reconstruction team was called in to investigate.

The intersection will remain closed for the next few hours, police said.   

President Donald Trump cut his losses at his second summit with North Korean despot Kim Jong Un on Thursday, leaving the negotiating table with nothing more than he arrived with, NBC News reported.

What Trump may have sacrificed in prestige and effort is dwarfed by what he and the country might have lost if he made the concessions that Kim was seeking in order to strike a deal.

Trump said the sticking points were that North Korea wanted all U.S. sanctions lifted, too high an asking price for denuclearizing "a large portion of the areas that we wanted."

The summit was "an outright failure," tweeted Victor Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But "Trump made the right decision to push for more than minimal steps and take no deal over a bad deal."

A 13-year-old was hit by a car in Vernon Thursday morning and has been taken to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Police said officers, firefighters and EMS responded to the scene at Union and Ward streets at 9:10 a.m. and the child’s injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

Police are investigating.

No additional information was immediately available.