Six female correction officers have been indicted amid allegations that women endured invasive body cavity and strip searches when they tried to visit loved ones in jail, horror stories that were unearthed in a series of I-Team reports. 

The half-dozen suspects, including Leslie-Ann Absalom, a 53-year-old former Department of Correction captain, are accused of illegal searches at the Manhattan Detention Complex. They pleaded not guilty to charges including official misconduct, unlawful imprisonment and conspiracy at their arraignment early Monday afternoon.

Aside from Absalom, the indicted include officers Daphne Farmer, 49, Jennifer George, 32, Lisette Rodriguez, 51, Alifoa Waiters, 45 and Latoya Shuford, 36.

According to court documents, the correction officers routinely unlawfully strip-searched female visitors, including forcing them to remove their pants and underwear, touching their breasts and examining their genital areas. Four of the officers allegedly filed false paperwork to justify the illegal searches, prosecutors say. Ultimately, three visitors were arrested on the basis of charges stemming from those unlawful searches, prosecutors said. 

Names of attorneys for the women weren't immediately available. 

In a statement, Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Elias Husamudeen said officers assigned to the visitors' area at the Manhattan facility arrested more than 50 guests last year alone for allegedly trying to smuggling in drugs, razors and other contraband. 

"Every day they do everything they can to keep this jail safe for visitors, inmates and correction staff," Husamudeen said. "They deserve more public support for the diligent professionalism they exude every day."

Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett said stopping contraband from getting into city jails is critically important, but not at "the expense of visitors' dignity, the law and the Correction Department's rules." 

According to DOC protocol, officers should conduct "pat frisk" searches of visitors who are suspected of having contraband and must get written consent for the searches in advance. Should a visitor refuse to consent, DOC officers can suggest a "non-contact booth visit" or the officers may deny the visit entirely.

The I-Team has been reporting on illegal strip search complaints in city jails for years. Last summer, three women filed notices of claim against the DOC, claiming they were sexually abused by correction officers during visits.

One woman described being touched inappropriately and threatened that child welfare authorities would be called to take her kids away if she complained. Another said she was so traumatized by a strip search she couldn't go back. 

"By the time she was finished touching the top, like my breasts weren’t even in my bra. My bra was all the way up to my neck," the woman said. "She (the officer), went in, she went inside, she moved around, touched my private area. And I just had to stand there. I was in shock."

In February 2018, the I-Team interviewed two other women who said they had been improperly searched in bathrooms on Rikers. At the time, the DOC claimed that bathrooms had been used because of “space limitations,” but promised the practice had been stopped. 

About 14 months before that, the Department of Investigation sent a letter to DOC making sweeping recommendations to the department on improving visitor procedures. It wasn’t until June 2018 that DOC updated its policy directive. 

The Department of Investigation released a new report Monday following the indictments assessing the need for further changes to DOC policies, practices and training protocol. (You can view the full 120-page report here.)

Among the department's findings: DOC increased video surveillance coverage after a DOI follow-up investigation last year, but does not review it in real-time or spot-check it regularly. DOI also found that DOC often conducts the strip searches with a single officer in a place hidden from public view "in what appears to be a misplaced emphasis on privacy." 

DOI suggests officers default to public area searches unless the visitor requests a private search. Searches should also be conducted with a captain's supervision and video recording, but those measures, along with the consent requirement, are at times ignored. 

DOI says DOC incorporated most of the suggestions it made in its 2016 report, but says there is a clear need for more staff training. Enhanced video and staff surveillance is also critical moving forward, DOI said. 

The watchdog also issued new policy and procedure recommendations in the report it released Monday. Those include: stopping a visitor search as soon as contraband is found, prohibit bathroom searches, post clear signs and illustrations in English and Spanish explaining visitor search policy and procedure, develop a demo video for staff training and assign an on-call DOC attorney to help visitor area officers with questions, among other suggestions.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance urged DOC to quickly adopt and implement the watchdog agency's recommendations.

"There is no excuse for violating the human rights of New Yorkers visiting our City’s jails. As alleged, these officers flagrantly abused their power when they ignored their training and subjected visitors to humiliating and unlawful searches," Vance said in a statement. "Further, they attempted to cover up their actions by forcing visitors to sign consent forms under false pretenses, and repeatedly lying in official documents."

Attorney Alan Figman, who represents nearly 40 women who have made accusations of sex abuse, told the I-Team in August it was clear the most recent set of DOI guidelines were not being put into practice. 

“I look at DOC as a department that is totally out of control. The only way to achieve any sort of regulation is to bring in federal monitors,” he said. 

Governor Ned Lamont highlighted some of the state's economic achievements at a news conference in Milford on Tuesday and also discussed the need for fiscal reforms and different spending habits.

"I'm looking at the most innovative state, the fourth most innovative and you know, you think of this state as you know, we've got some great old businesses. We make helicopters, we make submarines, we make tools. A, they are all retooling right now. You wouldn't believe how they're updating and computerizing everything they do," Lamont said.

It was also announced that the state has been upgraded by a national bond rating agency.

"The State of Connecticut, the nation's premiere bond rating agencies have upgraded our state for the first time in a while." said Milford Mayor Ben Blake.

Blake said Milford has seen the economy get better in their town firsthand.

"We are right in the middle of an economic renaissance. We've had an explosion of new businesses come into town, businesses that already exist here expanding. Last year alone, we had 465 new businesses that have made Milford our home. Obviously that is good for our tax base, but it also is a good opportunity and it leverages other economic opportunities," Blake said.

Milford and New Haven have also seen more millennial relocate there compared to everywhere else in the nation, according to new research.

"One of the things that we've recently seen it leverage was put out last week in Bloomberg Business, where research shows that more millennials are moving to Milford and New Haven than anywhere else in the nation," Blake added.

He said there's a whole host of factors, but believes it's because Milford has jobs, there are businesses coming in and it's a great place to work and live.

Blake also said there are numerous institutions of higher learning that surround the town like Yale University and University of Bridgeport and there's easy access to transportation including by boat, train and cars.

"It is a great place if you want to get to New York in an hour and a half or Boston in two hours, but most importantly we're in downtown Milford right now. There is a lot of hustle and bustle. The City of Milford has more coastline than anywhere else, 70 and a half miles of pristine shore front. This is the place that people want to be," Blake said.

"I love the fact that U.S. millennials, a generation later, still find this is a wonderful place to be, to live, the quality of life," Lamont added.

At the news conference, Lamont also discussed the need for fiscal reforms and spending within the state's means, as well as how to responsibly invest in the infrastructure.

"We're trying to get our fiscal house in order, get our structural cost fixed so this next generation of folks right here knows what Connecticut is going to look like in 20 years and knows that we have an economy that invests in the future, a budget that invests in the future, doesn't borrow from the future," Lamont said.

Lamont added that he's talked to business leaders asking what it takes for them to grow here and how to attract the next generation of talent.

"They [business leaders] told me two things: they said one...Connecticut, you've gotta get your fiscal house in order. Connecticut, you've been addicted to debt for a long time and that's what we've done in our budget," Lamont said.

He said the other issue that business owners complained about was traffic and congestion on roads.

"The other thing I heard from every business owner is the gridlock is killing us. The congestion on our roads, the slowing rail and that's why I've tried to do, in a very appropriate way, not borrowing more, which is what the legislature wants to do to, some of the legislature want to do to fix the transportation, but invest in our future...having users pay for that through electronic tolling," Lamont added.

Lamont said he plans to have a lot of the cost be picked up by people who are from out of state or companies who drive tractor-trailers through the state.

"Over half of that cost would be born by out of staters and big tractor trailer companies. So that we can not have Connecticut taxpayers have to pick up the burden, but those that use the roads to do it. It's the most important thing we can do to get this state going again, to get this state growing again," he said.

Lamont said he is working collaboratively with his friends in the legislature to form a budget and has about 30 days to go.

Eli Terry Elementary School in South Windsor is dismissing students early because of water issues. 

School officials said there was a water main break in area. 

No additional information was immediately available.

Two Seymour High School students fainted in an art classroom Tuesday morning and school officials said no hazardous material was found in the air.

A post on the Seymour Public Schools Facebook page said two students fainted in an art classroom around 8:40 a.m. and the school was placed in stay put mode while the room was evacuated as a precaution.

The school notified police and EMS and EMS treated the students while the fire department vented the room and tested for air, according to the Facebook post.

The fire department determined there were no hazardous materials in the air and that the room was safe for students to return to, the Facebook post says.

The White House has directed former counsel Donald McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, current White House counsel Pat Cipollone said in a letter Tuesday, NBC News reported.  

McGahn was subpoenaed last month by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., for testimony and documents as part the panel's investigation into possible obstruction of justice by the president and others. Nadler has said that Mueller's report indicates McGahn "is a critical witness to many of the alleged instances of obstruction of justice and other misconduct described in the Mueller report." 

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has directed McGahn not to produce the subpoenaed White House records, Cipollone wrote, adding that the committee should direct any request for those records to the White House. 

McGahn faced a Tuesday deadline to comply with the subpoena.

Washington, D.C., and more than a dozen states are investing in programs to make clean energy available to low- and moderate-income households and to give jobs to people like Steven Donerson, a retired soldier and musician whose life fell into a tailspin after the economy tanked in 2008.

Donerson, 51, lost his marriage, his home in Washington, D.C., and his job as a concierge director. “My whole way of life,” he says. He was still struggling two years ago when he entered a 12-week training program to learn how to install solar panels. Afterward he got a job with Grid Alternatives Mid-Atlantic, which ran the program.

"It’s one of the best experiences that I’ve had working in my life," he said. ”It’s not like working. It’s like I’m doing a service for the community and I’m getting paid for it. So it doesn’t seem like a job."

Donerson was on hand recently when the District celebrated the 100th solar installation under Solar Works DC, a clean energy and job training program targeting low- and moderate-income residents. It is part of the District's ambitious goal of getting 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2032. By then, through its Solar for All program, it also wants to bring solar energy to 100,000 low- to moderate-income families, whether homeowners or renters living in multi-family buildings. All are expected to see a 50-percent savings on their electricity bills over 15 years.

"We have an example for the Congress, a concrete example, of how it really is possible to create programs that expand green infrastructure and address income inequality," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.

"No other jurisdictions our size anywhere in the nation, not New York, Hawaii or Los Angeles, has made this type of commitment to both decarbonize our electricity and to do so in a way that supports and looks out for our most vulnerable residents," she said.

Across the country, the clean energy industry is trying different ways to reach low- and moderate-income residents, from innovative funding to access to community solar projects, according to Warren Leon, the executive director of the Clean Energy States Alliance. The alliance has published a directory of initiatives throughout the United States.

“We’re still somewhat in an experimental phase,” Leon said. “And part of the issue is it’s not so easy to do because there are a lot of obstacles.”

The most obvious is that it is difficult to afford a solar system, but there are others too, he said. Low- and moderate-income residents are more often renters; if they do own their homes, the roof might not be in a condition to hold solar panels.

If solar energy is not implemented in a way that reduces inequality, it risks losing the support of a public that perceives it benefiting only the well-to-do, he warned.

“Clean energy is transforming the electricity system in this country and it’s a big engine of economic development and job growth,” he said. “It’s important that this transformation take place in a way that includes all segments of society and especially those communities that are most in need of jobs, economic development and the lower electric bills that can come from embracing clean energy.”

The District’s Solar Works DC was developed by the city’s Department of Energy and Environmental and the Department of Employment Services. In two years, it has trained more than 100 people, creating jobs in the mid-Atlantic region and helping to ensure the District meets its clean energy goals.

"Get Up on the Roof and Learn About It"
“Not only are we deploying solar in lower income communities and preserving affordable housing in D.C., we’re giving people an opportunity to see what it’s like to be part of this clean energy transition," said Grid Alternatives Mid-Atlantic’s executive director, Nicole Steele. "Get up on the roof and learn about it, get in the classroom and learn about all of the components that go into a solar installation and be part of the solar industry.” 

Grid Alternatives Mid-Atlantic installs the solar systems for free for homeowners whose income qualifies. They lease the systems without cost and receive 100 percent of the energy produced. A single person in a household can make up to $65,650 in gross income. For a family of eight, the amount is $123,750.

Solar for All is financed through the District's Renewable Energy Development Fund from payments made by Washington, D.C.’s, electricity provider, Pepco, as an alternative to meeting renewable energy goals. 

The mayor's budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year includes $1.3 million for Solar Works DC, $12 million for Solar for All, and $25 million for solar energy investments in the city's property and community solar projects.

Elsewhere, Connecticut has a program in which solar panels are leased to low- and moderate-income families through a non-profit organization called Inclusive Prosperity Capital, which was spun off from the Connecticut Green Bank and PosiGen Solar and Energy Efficiency. PosiGen started in New Orleans as the city rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina and found that thousands of homeowners who wanted to install solar panels and make their homes more energy efficient but could not.

“They paired solar with energy efficiency which is really when you start to see drastic reductions in energy burden for the families who need it most,” said Inclusive Prosperity Capital’s CEO Kerry O’Neill.

Energy costs have dropped to 3 percent or 3.5 percent of income, which is in line with what more affluent families typically pay, she said.

The non-profit also analyzed residents’ credit worthiness across the state. Connecticut has as many homeowners in lower incomes who can qualify for a 650 credit score, which is typically what solar financing requires, as in upper incomes, she said. In addition, PosiGen uses alternatives to traditional credit scores, measures such as whether a homeowner is current on property taxes and other data.

Since 2016, solar installations have reached parity across incomes with programs such as Solar for All that removed barriers for lower- and moderate-income residents, traditionally underserved markets that wanted clean, green energy but did not have the resources.

Other states are using solar energy plus storage in community buildings, places that can serve as shelters in case of power outages, Leon said. Maryland, for example, provides grants to developers to partly pay for the cost of installing solar panels and microgrids in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. During power outages, the so-called resiliency hubs will provide emergency heating or cooling for refrigeration of medications or milk from nursing mothers and power to recharge cell phones or computers.

Retrofitting Apartments in Chicago
A report from the federal Environmental Protection Agency highlighted 11 programs that have achieved results and have the potential to be scaled up, replicated and sustained. Among them is the Chicago-based non-profit Elevate Energy, which improves energy efficiency in multi-family buildings. It operates in 11 states, providing an energy assessment, guidance on solutions, access to financing and followup.

Anne Evens, the chief executive officer, said that in many cities more than 40 percent of families live in affordable, multifamily housing. It is more challenging to work with those buildings — and their owners and property managers — than the owner of a single-family home because often it is the tenants who are getting the benefits. The organization has to show property owners that it is in their interest to have stable tenants who can afford their heating and air conditioning bills, she said.

“It’s really important for a number of reasons,” Evens said. “Obviously if we’re going to meet our climate goals we have to deal with the carbon that’s generated when we’re heating and powering their homes, so it’s important from that perspective. But it’s also really important from a financial security perspective.”

The organization has retrofitted almost 50,000 units over the last several years, in Chicago and elsewhere.

The U.S. government's Fourth National Climate Assessment, mandated by Congress and released last year, warned of severe effects on the country's economy, health and environment if it does not act to curb the emission of greenhouse gases.

"People who are already vulnerable, including lower-income and other marginalized communities, have lower capacity to prepare for and cope with extreme weather and climate-related events and are expected to experience greater impacts," the report's summary warned. "Prioritizing adaptation actions for the most vulnerable populations would contribute to a more equitable future within and across communities."

The solar panels that were turned on April 23 in the District are on top of a home owned by Dawn Fong, who has lived in her Northeast Washington house for 20 years. All of the energy from the solar panels is available first for her and her daughter’s use; then any excess goes into the power grid. Pepco provides a credit to her bill in the next month.

And after she applied for the solar panels, she learned of a job at Grid Alternatives Mid-Atlantic as an administrative assistant. She applied and was hired.

“With D.C. being a lead in the clean (energy) act, I was very curious about it and thought I would start somewhere,” Fong said.

“I’m really excited about having solar and where that leads me.”

Creating the Workforce of the Future
Grid Alternatives Mid-Atlantic is a subsidiary of a nonprofit organization started in California after the state's 2001 energy crisis. The founders, Erica Mackie and Tim Sears, engineers who were doing large-scale renewable energy projects for the private sector, wanted to make solar technology available to low-income communities.

The organization completed its first installation on a single-family home in San Francisco in 2004, and since then has compiled a record of 11,810 systems producing 49,715 kilowatts to prevent 867,149 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. It has trained 41,427 workers and saved $350 million in electricity costs for participants.

“Not only are we building a distributed power plant one rooftop at a time but we’re also creating the workforce of the future,” Mackie said. “And I think for us it's about how do you really lift up communities and especially communities on the front lines of climate injustice and economic injustice.”

Grid Alternatives now serves families in California and Colorado in addition to the Mid-Atlantic region and tribal communities throughout the country and has partners in Mexico, Nepal and Nicaragua.

"We really have this vision that we can make a transition to clean energy and we can do it a way that includes everyone and isn’t just about access but is really about deep equity," Mackie said. "It’s not about do I have access to solar panels but do I really benefit from those panels? Can I really get that job? Can I have career mobility? Can we really take back our power?"

Grid Alternatives not only installs solar panels on single-family homes, but also on multi-family affordable housing, which enables it to serve renters, and for community solar facilities, which allows someone across town to benefit from the power produced.

Mackie said she thought there was potential for Grid Alternatives expansion in areas where cities and states take the lead in policy, where policy-makers want to create clean energy that is equitable.

"Communities have always said I want to breathe cleaner air, I want to leave a world that is better for my children, I care about trash in my backyard," she said. "And I think that effort only became all the more critical in the absence of leadership at the federal level."

California has been out front in programs for all of its residents in both single and multi-family homes, Leon said. But he cautioned that smaller states do not have the resources to easily replicate California's initiatives.

Donerson, who now installs solar systems on multi-family buildings, had been intrigued since learning about Nikola Tesla, the early 20th century electrical engineer and inventor, and Tesla's early work on solar energy. He hopes to move up to become an energy inspector.

As Fong’s solar panels were activated, a crowd of installers for Grid Alternatives Mid-Atlantic cheered, among them Egan Dales, a former Marine who had received a technical degree in renewable energy and geology. He was self-employed, working as a gardener when he began looking for a short-term job a year ago.

“It was wintertime when I applied,” said Dales, who is studying for a degree in horticultural technologies. “I didn’t have a gardening job for the winter.”

“It’s going wonderful,” he said. “I feel like I’ve learned solar so fast in this amount of time.”

Across the street, a real estate broker, John Britton, watched from a house he was selling.

“Any type of vibrancy or any type of change especially something that’s either environmentally friendly or forward thinking is always a positive for the neighborhood,” he said.

Connecticut Open House Day is a time to celebrate the state and it will be here soon.

June 8 is Connecticut Open House Day and there are many opportunities to explore areas of the state that are unfamiliar or revisit the cities and towns you love.

More than 150 attractions, museums, galleries and organizations will participate this year, from Ashford to Woodbury, and offer free or discounted admission, giveaways, hands-on activities and more.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center will celebrate Harriet Beecher Stowe’s birthday with free admission and several family activities. 

The New England Carousel Museum in Bristol is offering free admission from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. 

The PEZ Visitor Center in Orange is offering free admission and PEZ girl and PEZ candy tablet mascot will greet guests throughout the day with additional surprise. 

The Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry in Storrs is offering free guided tours of the current exhibitions at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. 

KidsPlay Children’s Museum in Torrington is offering half-price admission from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. 

Some restaurants and vineyards are also offering deals.

See the 2019 Connecticut Open House website for more information and to see what locations near you are participating. 

West Haven police have released video of the damage done to the scoccer field at Alma E. Pagels Elementary School in West Haven over the weekend and they are asking for help to identify whoever is responsible. 

Officers responded to a report of vandalism at 26 Benham Hill Road around 5 a.m. on Sunday, May 5 and found tire marks in the field and damage to part of the chain link fence surrounding the field. 

Police said the surveillance videos they later obtained show a four-door pickup truck with overhead running lights and a utility box mounted in the bed as it drives on the field then through the fence line. 

West Haven Police are asking the public for help to identify the vehicle and or driver shown in the surveillance video. 

Anyone with information should call the non-emergency number at 203-937-3900 or Crime Prevention at 203-937-3570. Reference case number 19-28460.

One of the biggest names in golf is coming to Connecticut this summer and will compete in the 2019 Travelers Championship.

Phil Mickelson has committed to the tournament and this will be his first appearance in Connecticut since 2003.

The 48-year-old five-time major champion has 44 PGA tour wins and two of those wins were at TPC River Highlands in 2001 and 2002.

“Phil Mickelson is one of the greats of the game, and it’s going to be exciting for Connecticut golf fans to have the opportunity to see him back at River Highlands,” Travelers Championship Tournament Director Nathan Grube said in a statement. “Phil brings even more star power to an already elite field of PGA TOUR pros, and we are thrilled about this announcement and the commitments we’ve received thus far.”

Mickelson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.

Other 2019 Travelers Championship commitments include Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Francesco Molinari, Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey, Tony Finau, Jason Day, Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Cantlay, Patrick Reed and Marc Leishman.

“This is great news for the Travelers Championship and for our community,” Andy Bessette, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Travelers, said in a statement. “When you add a name like Mickelson to the great field we have already announced, you have the makings of one of the most exciting groups of players we’ve ever had. We couldn’t be happier about how the 2019 player field is coming together.”

The 2019 Travelers Championship will be held June 17 to 23 at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell. 

A Hartford police lieutenant is recovering after he was hit in the head with a baseball bat while trying to break up a fight in Windsor while he was off-duty, according to police. 

Windsor Police said officers responded to a call reporting a fight at a home in town just before 8 p.m. Friday and learned that Paul West, later identified as a Hartford police lieutenant, had been hit with a bat while trying to break up a fight. 

West was taken to Hartford Hospital for treatment. 

Rosa Milner, 32, of Danielson, and other people who have not been identified were involved in the fight, according to police. They said it appears that Milner went to the home to confront one of the residents and a fight broke out during the confrontation. 

Police have not identified the person who is suspected of hitting West. 

Milner faces breach of peace and assault charges for her alleged role in the fight. 

Windsor Police are investigating. 

West was recently accused of failing to properly address a sexual harassment claim by a Hartford police officer in a separate case. 

There have been more than 760 cases of measles in America this year — the highest number in 25 years, NBC News reports. With measles scares happening everywhere from movie theaters to cruise ships to planes, individuals with compromised immune systems and their families are upending their daily routines to avoid getting the highly contagious disease. 

Unlike vaccine-hesitant parents who choose not to give their children the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine based on arguments discounted by science or those who object for religious reasons, many with weakened immunity desperately want to get the shot to protect themselves — but cannot.

At the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York — the state that has seen the most measles cases so far this year — Dr. Miguel Perales, a medical oncologist and deputy chief of the bone marrow transplant service, said almost every patient of his asks how to protect themselves from measles.

"They're worried about being around kids, going to the movies, the store, anywhere where there's kids," he said. "Patients are very worried about their risk of exposure, and not just immediate exposure, but indirect exposures through other family members, other children."

One person was taken to the hospital with burns after a fire in Bethlehem Tuesday, according to the fire marshal.

Fire Marshal Kenneth LeClerc said a passerby called in a fire at 33 Porter Hill Road around 12:30 p.m. When firefighters arrived they found a male burn victim in the front yard. He was taken to Waterbury Hospital for treatment and his condition was not immediately clear.

No other humans were home, though some pets remain missing, according to LeClerc. The damage to the home is significant.

A business operates out of the home, officials said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Shots were fired Tuesday at a school in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, about 12 miles south of Denver, officials said.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office, in a tweet, said there was an "unstable situation" at the school. 

The incident took place at the STEM School Highlands Ranch at South Ridgeline Boulevard and Plaza Drive, according to NBC affiliate 9News.com.

Officials urged people to avoid the area.

This is a developing story.

Farmers are seeing the effects of climate change and considering ways to adapt to a warmer climate.

A second-generation farmer, Irv Silverman has been around long enough to see climate change impacts first hand, and he concerned about the future at his farm and for his grandchildren, whether they farm or not.

As far as his crops - mainly apples and peaches - climate change is creating problems by producing too much rain, like this past April.

"Well, the springs have been getting warmer and wetter – there’s the problem,” he said. “Peaches are pollinated by bees like everything else. When it stays wet, bees don’t work they don't pollinate.”

Without that window for pollination, and when there is a very wet spring, there is no production, Silverman explained.

The shorter, cold season and warmer and sometimes wet springs have allowed pests to flourish.

“You get a lot more mosquito problems because we have a lot of rain, and it’s warm. You have standing water. Standing water causes mosquitoes gnats, other things to multiply terribly, and ticks, which is another thing everybody has a problem with.”

The colder winters in the past have killed ticks, but with warmer winters they’re seeing a bigger tick problem,” Silverman said.

Right now, Silverman Farms has a great "pick your own", family fun farm, where the peaches and apples are the primary crops. But in a warming world, Silverman is concerned about what this farm will be able to produce in 50 years.

"From the south, coming up, it’s not really a joke, but I could see, you know, palm trees and oranges here. I may not be here for it, but with climate change these are the things that happen,” Silverman said.

As coldest recorded temperatures rise each year, the ability to grow different things becomes a real possibility.

To date, climate change has not impacted the farm's yield, but it has created new challenges.

But what if there was a way to take the growing season out of the equation and grow produce 12 months of the year?

Maple Lane Farms II in Cheshire is doing with that with hydroponics.

The main ingredients for farming are plenty of bright sun, nice, seasonable temperatures, and dark, fertile soil, but Maple Lane has no soil.

Brant Smith of Maple Lane Farms II is effectively controlling the environment, and attempting to be climate change proof. Hydroponics grows produce in super clean, mineral packed water. In these immense greenhouses, Maple Lane can grow bib lettuce, among other things, every single day of the year.

"Hydroponics is basically growing in water. We have the nutrients added to the water and providing for the plants everything that they need,” Smith explained.

There are main advantages of this futuristic farming.

"It's a controlled environment so that there are no pests, because we’re inside. And so we don’t use pesticides or fungicides. We are able to provide exactly the nutrients that the plants need so that each and every harvest is perfect. The plants as a third thing would be, I would say almost coddled, to the point that you’re getting something with the best taste," Smith said.

By using shades and LED lighting, fans to circulate air, and the ability to precisely control the water temperatures, hydroponics can deal with a hotter and wetter world, taking climate change head on.

In a warming world, the biggest challenge and cost for hydroponics is keeping the greenhouses cool with massive air conditioners at the same time keeping water temperatures at the optimal growing level. It is a cost that Maple Lane accepts as part of the process, as they try to climate-proof their farm and also look to diversify what they can produce in the future.

A woman says Vallejo, California, police used a taser on her last month after she and her friends were pulled over because the officers incorrectly thought they were making gun gestures with their hands, in an incident captured on chaotic cellphone video.

It's the latest accusation of excessive force against the Vallejo Police Department, following the deadly shooting in February of a man who'd been sleeping in his car at a fast food drive-thru. He was the uncle of the woman now alleging excessive force in her own case, Deyanna Jenkins.

Jenkins, 20, said she and her friends were riding down Tennessee Street April 16 when they were pulled over by Vallejo police.

"As they were coming to the car, I heard them: 'Roll down the windows, roll down the windows,'" Jenkins recalled, adding, "They had the guns.”

She said an officer told her, "Oh, you guys think this is a game or something?" and then asked to see license. Jenkins said she left her driver's license in another bag and then the officer grabbed her arm through the car window, telling her she was resisting arrest.

That's when one of the passengers started recording. In the video, an officer said they saw passengers making gestures towards them, pointing fingers at them in the form of a gun.

"You guys want to drive by and put your hand out the window and say, 'Bang, bang, bang,'" an officer says in the video.

But Jenkins said that's not what happened.

"We were listening to music," she said. "They were Snapchatting ... on the phones. It was never, like, hands out the window."

Jenkins said she was taken out of the car. Screaming can be heard in the video, which is dark and hard to make out.

Two months before the incident, Jenkins’ uncle, aspiring rapper Willie McCoy, was shot and killed by Vallejo police in a Taco Bell, where police had discovered him unresponsive with a gun in his lap.

Jenkins says she doesn’t know why she was pulled over. Vallejo police say they can't go into detail about this case.

"The chief did an internal investigation," Capt. Lee Horton said. "We're not providing any further statements at this time. It’s a personnel matter that’s ongoing now."

Civil rights attorney Melissa Nold, who has represented the family in the McCoy case, said the Vallejo Police Department needs to be reviewed by an outside agency.

"They've been reviewing themselves, supervising themselves, training themselves, and it seems to be getting worse," Nold said.

The city of Vallejo is asking the Department of Justice to come in and review the police department and help with community relations. It was uncertain if and when that would happen.

Vice President Mike Pence said the United States will consider sanctions relief for Venezuelan officials who break their support of the Maduro regime and announced the lifting of sanctions against a general who last week broke ranks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, NBC News reports. The U.S. has sanctioned more than 150 government officials and state-owned businesses loyal to Maduro.

Pence announced the U.S. was removing sanctions on Venezuelan Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera, the former chief of the country’s intelligence service, “effective immediately,” during a speech at the Conference on the Americas at the State Department Tuesday afternoon in Washington.

The vice president also announced the Navy hospital ship the USNS Comfort will be deployed to the Caribbean, Central America and South America in June for a 5-month mission to address the “crisis” in Venezuela.

Pence’s remarks come after a failed attempt from opposition leader Juan Guiadó to oust Maduro from power. In the end, the majority of the military appeared to stand with Maduro and he remains in power.

The school year may be winding down, but New Haven Public Schools are still focused on their "Attendance Matters" campaign.

Nearly 4,000 students were considered chronically absent in the 2017-18 academic year. That means they missed 10 percent of the school year, or about two days per month.

“The mission is to try to finish the year out strong,” NHPS dropout prevention officer Michael Fox said. “We try to target the kids that’s been missing in the last few days of school or has been out a period of time.”

An assistant football coach at Hillhouse High School, Fox tackled the issue of chronic absenteeism on Tuesday by going door-to-door with other staff members to speak with families.

“This is the time of year where we see attendance reducing and students not coming to school as we have beautiful days like today and we just want to encourage families to make sure that their children are in school every day,” said Gemma Joseph Lumpkin, chief of Youth, Family and Community Engagement, on one of the stops during a neighborhood canvas.

The school district assigns success mentors to high risk students and sends texts and emails to parents throughout the year.

“The early grades are significant super important years for our children,” Lumpkin said. “Going face to face and talking to families one on one really gives us that sense of relationship building.”

Superintendent Dr. Carol Birks said there are short-term and long-term consequences for young students missing too many school days.

"Research shows that missing as little as 2 to 3 days per month can translate into third graders unable to master reading, sixth graders failing courses and ultimately teens dropping out of high school,” she said.

Birks explained that excused absences are also counted when determining whether a student has been chronically absent.

“Even parent excused absences can add up and contribute to academic trouble, chronic absenteeism is not just students who are skipping school but students who miss school often for various reasons such as vacations and doctor appointments,” she said.

The owner of a troubled Hartford housing complex was supposed to go before a judge Tuesday, but he was a no-show. It’s just the latest in a sequence of setbacks for the tenants at Barbour Garden Apartments.

“They’ve stepped up. Is it enough? Absolutely not,” said Hartford Fire Marshal, Ewan Sheriff.

Sheriff said after an arrest warrant was issued for Martin Rothman, of Adar Hartford Realty, LLC, owner of Barbour Garden Apartments, in April, repairs were made to part of the complex’s fire alarm system, but he’s only begun to tackle the pages and pages of violations the city’s charged him.

Tuesday, Rothman was a no-show for the first hearing of his court case.

“They get a pass. All he do is collect the check, leave us for dead, and he just doesn’t have to show up? It’s not right, it’s not right at all,” said Shanoah Gallup, a Barbour Garden Apartments tenant.

Gallup said she’s raised her two children in the troubled housing complex for the past 13 years. She stood outside the courthouse Tuesday in protest of the living conditions she’s had to endure.

“It’s been ups and downs, for the most part, more downs than ups,” said Gallup.

She pointed to the time her crutches fell through a hole in the floor and into the apartment below and says that was just the beginning of a long list of complaints she and other tenants had.

“I don’t care how much you clean and disinfect the mold comes back, you have mushrooms, you’ve got holes in the ceiling, you’ve got mice feces all over the place,” said fellow Barbour Garden Apartments resident Tasha Jordan.

Taking a landlord to criminal court for code violates may seem rare but it’s not unprecedented in the capital city, and the mayor says you’ll be seeing a more aggressive response from the city.

“We’re sending a strong message not just to this landlord, this slumlord, but to every other property owner who is just extracting a rent, not investing in properties, and putting people at risk,” said Mayor Luke Bronin (D).

Adar Hartford Reality learned in February that it would lose its $750,000 annual federal housing contract after it failed an inspection. HUD says all of the tenants will be moved out over the next several months.

“I’ve been looking for other units but it’s not so easy to just get up and leave with children,” said Gallup.

Rothman’s attorney, Carl Porto, said his client was a no-show in court Tuesday because he doesn’t believe Connecticut has jurisdiction over him since he is a New York resident.

A judge disagreed and ordered him to appear in two weeks otherwise he will be re-arrested.

“I want him to go to jail. Honestly, I want him to live like us right now and see how it feel. Let his kids live there,” said Jordan.

Porto said Rothman was in talks to sell the property, but the sale was “derailed by HUD and local activism,” in February.

“The contract has been re-executed with the original buyer and we are hopeful for a sale which will ultimately be the salvation of this property,” said Porto. “The criminal system here has for lack of a better word, motivated the individuals behind the company to put some money into the property. Things that need to be done are being done,” Porto told the judge.

Porto said the buyer is a newly formed LLC called Hartford Preservation A, a subsidiary of Heritage Housing out of South Norwalk.  David McCarthy, the presdient of Heritage Housing, told NBC Connecticut he's intersted in being part of a solution.

He said Heritage Housing had hoped to purchase the property with tenants in place, but now expects to buy it as a vacant property. If there are tenants still living there when they take over the property they plan to make immediate repairs to make it safe for the existing tenants. Otherwise, they will start a long rehab early next year. McCarthy doesn’t expect have tenants back in before 2021.

“I’m optimistic we can be part of the solution and make it a place people can be proud to live in," McCarthy said.

Meanwhile, HUD is working with the tenants to relocate them to other Section 8 housing, a process they expect to take several months.

Purdue Pharma’s former CEO, Richard Sackler, had a very low opinion of those addicted to drugs manufactured and distributed by his own company.

In emails recently unsealed by a federal court order, Richard Sackler, one of the members of the family that started the pharmaceutical giant, is in a conversation with an unnamed acquaintance.

At one point, Sackler wrote, "Abusers aren’t victims; they are the victimizers."

In another exchange, the acquaintance writes, "You know what the general ignorant public will say, do away with the drug!! Blame the manufactures (sic), Drs., pharmacist, but NEVER NEVER THE CRIMINAL, HE/SHE, (to be politically correct) is never to blame. Give me a break, lest I THROW UP! The whole thing is a sham and if people die because they abuse it then good riddance."

Richard Sackler responds: "Unfortunately, when I’m ambushed by 60 Minutes, I can’t easily get this concept across. Calling drug addicts 'scum of the earth' will guarantee that I become the poster child for liberals who want to do just want (sic) to distribute the blame to someone else, as you say."

The documents are part of the lawsuit brought by Connecticut and other states, alleging that Purdue Pharma is responsible for the opioid epidemic, arguing that the company knew its drugs were addictive, and that the company downplayed that fact, insisting on peddling the drugs to doctors and clinics around the country.

Purdue Pharma has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

“What these emails show is not just utter disregard, but in the criminal law, there’s a concept known as depraved indifference and this is depraved indifference to human life and the cost of this crisis,” said William Tong, Connecticut’s Attorney General.

Tong says the emails bolster the case against the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma, showing how the family and executives viewed those who were hooked on the company’s signature product, Oxycontin.

The state’s lawsuit is looking to recover funds for treatment and abuse, and for families impacted by the opioid epidemic. Purdue Pharma’s current CEO has said publicly that the company is exploring bankruptcy protection due to the legal challenges against the company.

Two of the top Democrats in the Connecticut General Assembly said Tuesday that the state has an obligation to consider ending religious exemptions from vaccinations for public school students.

“I think we have to have some conversations now,” said Rep. Matt Ritter, (D – Hartford), the majority leader of the Connecticut House of Representatives.

The discussion is happening now because of the measles outbreak around the country that’s seen more than 760 confirmed cases, with fewer than half a dozen of them in Connecticut.

Connecticut lawmakers have a measure before them that would modify who could sign off on exemptions, but a prohibition on the religious exemption, Ritter admits, would be an aggressive step forward. He said that step may be necessary.

“If you change the law and you get rid of the religious exemption like West Virginia, Mississippi and the state of California, you’re not forced to vaccinate your children, but you’re not allowed to enroll in public schools.”

Opponents to the idea argue the state of Connecticut has no place making such demands of parents.

Rep. Vincent Candelora, (R – North Branford), says because the state is so highly vaccinated on the whole, Democrats are searching for a problem to solve.

“We have the highest vaccination rate in the country, so Connecticut doesn’t have these issues of outbreaks that other states have, which is why I feel like rushing to address something where we don’t see evidence of an issue is a mistake.”

The Connecticut Department of Public Health unveiled data from the 2017-18 school year last week that showed some school districts had vaccination rates for measles and rubella below 95 percent.

The question of religious exemptions and the state’s ability to limit them was then posed to Attorney General William Tong for an opinion on the matter. He responded saying the state is well within its right to limit exemptions for parents.

Tong said Tuesday, “The Supreme Court spoke more than 100 years ago, and so did the Connecticut Supreme Court that the state clearly has the authority to require and regulate immunization here in this state and across the country.”

He added, “It’s frankly one of the first things we learn in law school, any state’s authority to take steps to protect public health and safety. That power is very broad and it always has been.”

If Connecticut is going to move on the issue, it will have to happen quickly, since the legislature adjourns next month.

That’s a reason, Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, (D – Berlin), the House Speaker says, to move on the issue.

“Do we want to wait until there’s an outbreak? I mean, that’s not the best argument,” he said.