Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal for a paid family and medical leave policy in Connecticut saw a public hearing on Tuesday.

His proposal differs slightly from the one being pushed progressive Democrats in the General Assembly, as Lamont’s would allow for an exemption for employers that provide a paid family and medical leave benefit to their employees that is separate from the state program that’s under consideration.

Carmina Hirsch is a rarity at hearings on the issue, as she’s a small business owner who supports the policy, saying it would not be a strain on her small law firm. Hirsch has two employees in her Shelton law office.

"When and if they need to take that time to care for themselves, a sick parent, spouse, a sick child, you’re not paying that employee for the time they’re not working so you can hire a temporary worker for example from a temp agency," she told the Labor Committee Tuesday.

One of Lamont’s senior advisors, Colleen Flanagan Johnson, told NBC Connecticut in a statement, “In Connecticut, middle and upper-income individuals working for large employers are more likely to have access to PFML, but only about six percent of low-income workers do, often resulting in increased business turnover, as well as costs to the state for public assistance. The Governor is proposing residents earn paid leave by contributing a small portion of their pay toward a family and medical leave trust fund similar to insurance.”

The proposal would have all employees deduct .05 percent of their earnings into a fund to pay for people to take time off.

Eric Gjede with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association says smaller employers are very worried about the consequences of such a mandate on businesses.

“We still are deeply concerned about this thing being an unsustainable long-term liability for the state of Connecticut,” he said.

He described Hirsch, the small business owner who testified in favor of the bill, as an outlier who does not speak for most employers. CBIA represents thousands of businesses in Connecticut.

“I don’t think that the money's they are going to take from employee wages to help fund the program is nearly enough and also I think that impact on small business in particular is going to be devastating,” Gjede said.

Hirsch argues that Connecticut would become one of the more competitive and business-friendly states in the region with a policy like this, saying that employees would be valued more than they currently are.

“Do you want your sick employee at work not being able to function and do their job because they have to be there or do you want do you want to give them the time to recover from the illness they’re going through, and come back full steam ahead and serve your business well?”

A Bible said to have been signed by Donald Trump sold on eBay for $325, according to the listing.

The item was described as a 4.5-inch tall "mini bible" signed by Trump at a rally in 2016, which would have been before his inauguration.

The listing indicated the Bible would be sold with a certificate of authenticity. The seller states it "obtains all our memorabilia and autographs in person directly from the celebrity signers themselves."

Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce he is taking executive action to try to eliminate the use of the death penalty in California.

Two sources familiar with the governor's plans tell NBC4's I-Team that Newsom may use the governor office's authority to reduce sentences of all condemned inmates on death row.

Newsom has been calling elected officials around the state to share some information, but details are expected to be revealed at a news conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

NBC4 has reached out to a spokesman for the governor, but did not hear back.

Newsom has been openly advocating for a moratorium on the death penalty and told the LA Times this week that he has asked his legal advisers to research his options as governor.

An illuminated cross - 56 feet tall - high above the Interstate 84 in Waterbury can be seen from miles away. To some, it is a symbol of faith as well as a sign of what may be to come.

High atop Pine Hill, is what's left of Holy Land USA, an 18-acre religious theme park that was opened in 1955 by local lawyer John Greco. Inspired by selected passages from the bible, the property consisted a chapel, stations of the cross and replicas of catacombs and small middle eastern style villages dotting the hillside.

"It's a place of reflection to at least try to understand the dynamics and the gravity of what it was over there," said Chuck Pagano, who was among the thousands of people who visited these grounds each year during its prime in the 1950s and 1960s.

"It was a special place for me," said Pagano, who is now the Chairman of the Holy Land Board of Directors. "Lot of visitors came up and it was definitely in a different sort of a build at that point. It was really bustling."

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Pagano said that not enough people know the history that is right beneath the recognizable glowing cross.

"I think the cross probably lights the wick of curiosity of some people," Pagano said.

The park closed to the public in 1984 for renovations and never fully reopened. Over the years, behind locked gates and "no trespassing" signs, there was decay and disrepair as well as vandalism and even violence.

Since those darker times, there have been brighter days for Holy Land. A non-profit organization purchased the grounds in 2013. This month, the public has been welcomed back to the property - only during daylight hours - to walk around and view what remains.

The driveways were repaved last year and a new website was launched in early March. An outdoor mountaintop mass is planned for April 28. 

"Hidden in plain sight" for years, there are new hopes - and prayers - that Holy Land will soon rise from ruin.

"I'd like to be approaching what it was when I was younger as a reflection point we'll see if we get there," said Pagano.

If you know of other spots in our state that seem to be “hidden in plain sight,” NBC Connecticut wants to hear from you. Submit your idea here, or email Dan.Corcoran@nbcuni.com and include "Hidden in Plain Sight" in the subject line.

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Hartford’s police chief says he expects that an investigation into accusations that a sergeant harassed an officer to soon wrap up.

The complaint got a lot of attention, especially after the officer says originally nothing was done with it for nine months.

“Right now there seems to be a group of committed women in this community who are sick and tired of this,” said Kamora Herrington, chair of the city’s LGBTQ+ Commission.

On Tuesday, people in Hartford demanded action. They want to know what’s going on with two sexual harassment complaints involving the Hartford Police Department.

“Why is sexual harassment in the police department something we hear about, we can express some type of outrage and then put it in a pile and it sits there forever,” said Herrington.

Some believe it’s also a culture problem at the department that needs a correction.

“Our commitment is to foster a culture where harassment and discrimination is not tolerated,” said Cherese Chery, director of human resources.

On Tuesday, city staff explained to a women’s commission changes to how complaints are handled, as the city looks at updating its sexual harassment policy.

There were concerns including from commission member Erica Crowley.

“It’s really unclear what mechanisms are there to make sure these complaints are followed up on and taken seriously. And the effect of that from what I understand is that victims are left unprotected and not updated,” said Crowley.

Police leadership was also at the meeting.

“We as a department we value everyone’s input,” said Hartford Police Chief David Rosado.

Rosado tells us they’re looking at bringing in a national firm to take a look at what they’re doing.

“The culture in our department, we work on improving every day,” said Rosado.

The chief says part of this is building a diverse department. In the most recent recruit class, he says half are black or Hispanic and women make up more than a quarter of it. 

Several advertisers have over the past two days said they will stop running ads on Fox News shows hosted separately by Jeanine Pirro and by Tucker Carlson, NBC News reports.

Each of the Fox News anchors has attracted controversy after making inflammatory statements.

The advertisers were acting in response to Pirro saying on her March 9 show that Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is "Sharia-compliant" because she wears a traditional hijab head covering.

Carlson has been under fire since the liberal activist group Media Matters for America on Sunday night released recordings of comments he made during appearances on a radio show in which he disparaged sex workers in Florida and described women as being “primitive.”

Investigators are working to determine what caused a two-alarm fire at a vacant building in New London late Tuesday night.

Firefighters said they responded to a fire at a vacant, three-story brick building on Trumbull Street in Fort Trumbull shortly after 11 p.m.

Crews were able to knock down the main body of the fire, but remained on scene until early Wednesday morning.

A fire boat was called in because one side of the building abutted the water, but firefighters did not need to use it, fire officials said.

No injuries were reported, but one boat was damaged.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A man is in serious condition after a large group fight led to a stabbing in Hartford on Tuesday night.

Officers were called to the intersection of Wethersfield Avenue and Annawan Street around 9:30 p.m. after getting a report of a stabbing victim.

When they arrived, police said they found a 38-year-old Hartford man who had a laceration to his abdomen. He was transported to Hartford Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

Witnesses at the scene told police that there was a large group altercation in front of 374 Wethersfield Avenue when the man was stabbed. After the assault, police said witnesses told them that the man walked north on Wethersfield Avenue where he later collapsed.

The man is currently in serious, but stable condition, according to police.

It is unclear what led up to the fight.

A Silver Alert has been issued for a 10-year-old boy who is missing from Hartford.

Jose Ortiz was last seen wearing a white tee shirt with a white and blue zip-up, hooded sweatshirt and white and light blue sneakers, police said.

Ortiz has been missing since Tuesday.

He is 4'7" and 80 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes, according to police.

If you have information on Ortiz's whereabouts, you're urged to call Hartford Police at (860) 757-4000.

At least one person was seriously injured when a driver who hit a school bus in Burlington crossed Route 4 in Harwinton and hit another car head-on Wednesday morning, according to police.

The second crash happened around 8 a.m. near Route 72 and state police said Route 4 will be closed for a while.

Burlington police said the driver sideswiped a school bus and drove off. No children were on the bus at the time of the crash.

As crews were responding to the crash involving a school bus, crews were called to a more serious crash after the driver hit another car head-on, police said.

Three people were in the two vehicles and the driver believed to have struck both vehicles was flown by LifeStar medical transport helicopter to Hartford Hospital, according to police.

No additional information was immediately available.

Police have arrested three men in connection to a prescription fraud at a CVS Pharmacy in Glastonbury on Tuesday night.

Officers responded to the CVS Pharmacy on New London Turnpike around 5:30 p.m. after getting a report of a man attempting to obtain a fraudulent prescription.

When police arrived, they said an officer approached two men outside of the store who fled when the officer made contact.

The officer pursued one of the men around the building, across the street and up into Monaco Ford's Sales lot, where he was taken into custody. The other man entered a vehicle in the parking lot, where a driver was waiting for him. The vehicle then fled south on New London Turnpike, according to police.

Police saw the vehicle turning onto Hale Road and later found the vehicle abandoned at the end of Montano Road, where it had become stuck in the snow, police said.

Three officers followed footprints into the snow into the woods parallel to the route, across all lanes of Route 2 and about a mile westbound down the westbound side of Route 2. A police K9 from Wethersfield assisted and the two remaining men were taken into custody without incident, officers said.

Police arrested 28-year-old Marlon Lissade, of Bronx, New York, 27-year-old Mark L. Smith of Brooklyn, New York, and 27-year-old Kirk S. McGowan, of Bronx, New York.

Lissade, Smith and McGowan are all facing charges including conspiracy to obtain a controlled drug by fraud and interfering with an officer/resisting arrest. McGowan Smith is facing an additional charge of obtaining a controlled drug by fraud and Lissade is facing an additional charge of criminal trespass.

All three men were held on $50,000 bond and will be in court on Wednesday.

Fire broke out at the Hartford Golf Club in West Hartford Wednesday morning.

The general manager of the club on Norwood Road said no one was hurt and that the fire started during maintenance on the roof.

The extent of the damage is not known.

The author of “Fifty Shades of Grey” will be in Connecticut next month to speak about her new romance novel, “The Mister,” at the OMNI Hotel in New Haven.

RJ Julia is hosting the event with E L James at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14. 

A news release from RJ Julia calls “The Mister” a “roller-coaster ride of danger and desire that leaves the reader breathless to the very last page.”

James has said "The Mister" is a modern Cinderella story, a "thrilling and sensual" fairy tale. It features a rich Londoner who "has rarely slept alone" and a beautiful woman who is an "alluring mystery."

Tickets for EL James in conversation with Roxanne Coady, the owner of RJ Julia Bookseller, cost $35 per person, plus tax, and include admission to the event, one copy of “The Mister,” admission to the signing line to meet E L James and party favors.

“If you joined us when E L was here in 2012, you'll know that this will be a night to remember!,” the RJ Julia website says. 

James will only sign two books per person, one of which could be personalized, but all books must be purchased at the event. Attendees will not be allowed to have books from home signed.

The 24-year-old "transient" who was arrested in connection with the brutal slaying of a 59-year-old woman in South San Jose last month is an undocumented immigrant with a long criminal history, officials said.

Carlos Eduardo Arevalo Carranza, a Salvadorian national, was arrested Monday and booked into the Santa Clara County jail for murder, officials said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents tried to deport Carranza nine times before, but their detainer requests were not honored in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties, both so-called "sanctuary cities."

In every occasion, local authorities declined to cooperate with a federal request to hold Carranza in jail due to his immigration status — as is often the policy with "sanctuary cities" and counties — and he was released back on the street.

ICE typically asks jails to hold undocumented inmates for an extra 48 hours after they would otherwise be released in order to get a warrant to begin deportation proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security has said that complying with these requests is voluntary because keeping someone in jail without a warrant violates the 4th Amendment.

In Santa Clara County alone, Carranza has prior convictions for kidnapping, drug possession, battery on a police officer, trespassing and burglary. Carranza was diagnosed with psychosis back in 2016, according to a source. 

Erik Bonnar, an acting field office director for ICE, said Carranza has been arrested numerous times for criminal activity and convicted of more than 10 crimes in the past three years. He called for lawmakers to reconsider a policy that ignores federal hold requests for predatory felons. 

"How many more people have to be killed or injured before California lawmakers will open discussions to revise the state policy prohibiting local law enforcement agencies from working with ICE to apprehend dangerous criminal aliens?" Bonnar said in a statement. "It’s unfortunate that our communities face dangerous consequences because of inflexible state laws that protect criminal aliens. These sanctuary policies have unintended, but very real, and often tragic consequences to public safety."

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia did not mince words.

"The City of San Jose and our police department has no control over how the county interacts with federal immigration enforcement or deportation of violent or serious felons like Carlos Arrevala Carranza," Garcia said. "Those policies are not set at our level."

Garcia also said Carranza stalked Bambi Larson and the South San Jose neighborhood where she lived for some time before allegedly beating and stabbing her to death.

The chief said Larson's son and a co-worker discovered her body on Feb. 28 at her home on the 900 block of KnollfieldWay, just east of the Almaden Expressway. Both were checking on her after she didn't show up for work. Police said Larson's body was found with multiple stab wounds and determined it was a homicide.

Neighbors also shared surveillance video they believe shows the suspect walking to and from Larson's home on the day of the murder. At one point, surveillance video shows the suspect wiping his face with a shirt as he's walking away from the home.

"Hopefully, they've got the right person and they'll pay for it for what they've done to take away a beautiful, beautiful person," neighbor Laura Bisceglia said.

Larson attended San Jose State University and the University of California at Santa Cruz, and was a manager at medical testing company Roche Sequencing Solutions in San Jose.

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith released the following statement on Tuesday:

"This is a senseless act, and very well may have been preventable. My deepest sympathy goes out to the family and friends of Ms. Larson. Carlos Arevalo is a violent predator who should have remained in custody until officials with ICE had the appropriate time to evaluate his immigration status. It has been my long standing position that all undocumented immigrants who are a serious or violent felons, should be held for ICE evaluations. I will advocate to change the county policy to try to prevent this from happening again.”

SafeWise has released a list of what it deems the 20 safest cities and towns in Connecticut based on FBI crime report statistics and Ridgefield is at the top of the list. 

The top 10 safest cities on the list are:

1. Ridgefield
2. Cheshire
3. Simsbury
4. Westport
5. Guilford
6. Greenwich
7. Fairfield
8. Newtown
9. Milford
10. Wallingford

See the full listing here. 

Norwich police have made an arrest in what they call a case of severe abuse of a 3-year-old boy.

Police arrested 27-year-old Edward T. Quinones Jr., of Taftville, on Saturday and charged him with risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons.

Police started investigating when the Connecticut Department of Children and Families CareLine contacted them early on the morning of Sept. 17 to report the possible physical abuse of a 3-year-old child.

They said an emergency room doctor at Pequot Medical Center contacted the CareLine to report that the little boy’s mother had brought him in hours earlier to be treated for bruises and other injuries that were at varying stages of healing. The victim was subsequently transferred to Yale-New Haven

Norwich police said the child had been staying with Quinones and his girlfriend in Taftville and the victim’s mother had paid them both to care for her son while she was working from Friday evening on Sept. 14 to Sunday evening, Sept. 16. It was during that weekend when the child sustained serious injuries to his head, face, arms, torso, genitals and legs, police said.

Quinones was released after posting a $50,000 bond and he’s due in Norwich Superior Court on March 21.

Police said they do not expect any other arrests.

Facebook and Instagram are down for some users on Wednesday. 

"We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible," a Facebook spokesperson told NBC via email. 

The Facebook down detector began spiking about 12 p.m. EDT with more than 11,000 outage reports at that time. 

Facebook has not confirmed if the outages are worldwide or in the United States only. 

As of 3 p.m. EDT, some users are still experiencing the outage. 

President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was sentenced Wednesday for the second time in federal court, and Manafort now faces nearly seven years in prison after subtracting some of the time he's already served.

The most recent sentence in Washington, D.C., on conspiracy crimes that included money laundering, tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign lobbying work, added three and a half years to his time in prison.

A week earlier, Manafort received a roughly four-year sentence from a federal court in Virginia, a term that prompted widespread criticism as too light.

The two judges — T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — offered varying views of the 69-old-year Manafort.

Ellis described Manafort as "otherwise blameless" before his current legal woes, while Berman Jackson said "a significant portion of his career was spent gaming the system."

Elie Mystal, the executive editor of the Above the Law website, said of the judges, "I think the key difference is that Ellis thought Manafort was being prosecuted in an attempt to 'get to Trump' and Jackson thought he was being prosecuted...because he's a criminal."

"Jackson made a right-in-the-center of the guidelines kind of sentence, while Ellis gave Manafort a major downward departure because he thinks it's all about Trump," he said. 

"It wasn't on Jackson to 'make up' for Ellis's leniency, and I'm not that surprised that she did not."

Here is a sampling of the judges' comments:

Judge T.S. Ellis III
Manafort "has no criminal history. He is a graduate of a university and law school here, Georgetown for both, and he’s lived an otherwise blameless life."

"He's also earned the admiration of a number of people, all of whom have written the court about him."

"The law is very clear that in sentencing, a court must consider the entire individual, not just the individual and his crime-committing activities. Mr. Manafort has engaged in lots of good things."

"He’s been a good father and husband, and he has been a good friend to others and a generous person. Or course, that can't erase his criminal activity but it is — they are favors that the court must take into account."

"The court also has to take account of the guidelines. They're not mandatory, but they'e advisory. These guidelines are quite high. They provide for a sentence that is from 19 to 24 years, roughly."

"I think that sentencing range is excessive. I don't think that's warranted in this case. It raises questions."

"But over the years, there has been a remarkable trend in sentences imposed for this kind of conduct. The sentences have been remarkably light, and I need to take that into account."

"The government cannot sweep away the history of all these previous sentences."

"He is not before the court for any allegation that he or anybody at his direction colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election."

Judge Amy Berman Jackson
"It is hard to overstate the number of lies, the amount of fraud and the extraordinary amount of money involved."

Manafort's fraud was conducted to support a lavish lifestyle that included buying "more suits than a man can wear."

"The defendant isn't public enemy number one. But he's not a victim either."

"A significant portion of his career was spent gaming the system."

"The element of remorse and responsibility were completely absent."

"Saying I'm sorry I got caught is not an inspiring plea for leniency."

"The 'no collusion' refrain that runs through the entire defense memo is entirely unrelated to the matters at hand."

"The 'no collusion' mantra is simply a non-sequitur."

President Trump announced Wednesday all Boeing 737 Max aircraft would be grounded "effective immediately" in the wake of a crash in Ethiopia where 157 people were killed. A software issue may cause the plane to dive suddenly if the aircraft appears to stall out. Many pilots have stated that they were unaware of the potential issue.

A West Haven man with cystic fibrosis whose bucket list wish to meet President Donald Trump brought people together across political party lines has died.

Barrett was born with cystic fibrosis and only expected to live into his early teens. At age 44 with his future uncertain, he and his sister started putting together a bucket list. Barrett’s desire to meet the president captured the attention of the first family, and the president made a personal phone call to him on March 5.

"You're my kind of man, Jay...I'm very proud of you," Trump told Barrett during that call. "You keep that fight going; we both fight."

Barrett, who was in home hospice care, passed away in his sleep last night, according to a Facebook post from his sister Brigette Hoskie.

Hoskie, who is a local councilwoman and a Democrat, had been working to help Barrett achieve as many items off his bucket list as possible. She used social media to draw attention to her brother’s story.

Before his death, Barrett also received calls from Eric Trump and Housing and Urban Development executive Lynne Patton, who set up the call with the president.