A homicide investigation is underway in the Hill neighborhood in New Haven after a man was shot and killed overnight. 

Officers were called to Congress Avenue and Redfield Street around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday after getting a ShotSpotter alert and 911 calls of a person shot.

When police arrived, they said they found a man in the road who had been shot. He was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. His identity has not been released.

There is no suspect in custody at this time, police said.

Congress Avenue is closed between White Street and Redfield Street while police investigate the shooting. There is no estimate on when the road could reopen.

Tuesday night's shooting is the second shooting on Congress Avenue near Redfield Street this week.

On Monday night, police said they responded to the intersection around 7:15 p.m. after getting a ShotSpotter alert.

A short time later, a 21-year-old gunshot victim arrived at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The victim's injuries were not considered life-threatening, police said.

It is unclear if the two shootings are related.

Anyone with information is asked to call the New Haven Police Department Detective Bureau at (203) 946-6304. Callers may remain anonymous. 

A pedestrian is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after being found on the side of the road following a hit-and-run in Manchester early Wednesday morning.

First responders were called to Parker Street near Utopia Road shortly before 2 a.m. after getting a report of a pedestrian who had been found lying on the side of the road. Officials believed he or she had been hit by a vehicle.

When crews arrived, police said they found the pedestrian unconscious and unresponsive. First responders provided CPR and successfully brought back a pulse.

The pedestrian was transported to Manchester Memorial Hospital and was later transported to Hartford Hospital to be treated for a severe, life-threatening head injury, according to police.

Officers said the vehicle involved in the collision left the scene before police arrived.

Members of the Metro Traffic Services Regional Accident Reconstruction Team was called in to document and collect evidence.

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is urged to call Officer Justin Gaudino at (860) 533-8651.

There was a small fire at Mohegan Sun Wednesday and it has been extinguished, according to officials at the casino. 

Officials from Mohegan Sun said there was a small fire on a service cart in Sky Tower and staff quickly put it out. 

The fire caused a bit of smoke, “but the issue was resolved and there were no injuries,” according to Mohegan Sun.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday that President Donald Trump is engaged in a cover-up as he and his administration have blocked Congress from obtaining testimony and documents for their investigations, NBC News reported. 

"We do believe that it’s important to follow the facts. We believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States. And we believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up," Pelosi said after a closed-door caucus meeting with House Democrats to discuss their efforts to conduct oversight and investigations of the Trump administration. 

Her comments come as calls by Democrats to open an impeachment inquiry grow louder. Supporters of that action, which Pelosi has resisted, include nearly a dozen out of the 24 Democrats on the key House Judiciary Committee, which has the power to begin an inquiry. 

Silvia C. has a job cleaning houses, but she still relies on government assistance to help keep her two daughters safe and healthy. Her 8-year-old has asthma and, without benefits, Silvia is not sure she could afford her child's medication.

When Silvia, a Washington resident, noticed Spanish-language news reports about the Department of Homeland Security's proposed changes for immigrants participating in some government programs, her initial reaction was one of fear. The revisions, which would apply to visitors and immigrants from abroad as well as those petitioning for green cards or trying to extend their stays on nonimmigrant visas from within the United States, would not affect most lawful permanent residents such as Silvia.

But so much confusion has surrounded the proposal that immigrants across the country have still questioned whether their families should access government benefits intended to cater to the most vulnerable. For some, the answer has been "no," even before changes to the so-called public charge rule have gone into effect and when the policy would not directly apply to them.

"A lot of these families that rely on these different public programs to meet their basic needs may not be accessing the services that they need," said Hamutal Bernstein, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute and the lead author of a new report on the first national data that captures the scope of "chilling effects" connected to the so-called "public charge" policy debate last year.

Immigrants have long had to prove they will be self-sufficient in the United States by demonstrating that they will not become a public charge. But a proposed policy change under the Trump administration would dramatically expand the definition of a public charge to include people who access noncash benefits such as food stamps (SNAP), most of Medicaid and public or Section 8 Housing. Proposed last fall, the possible rule change marks one of a number of policies related to legal immigration that President Donald Trump has rolled out as most of America concentrates on migration at the border.

"This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers," former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said at the time.

Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said the revised public charge rule will likely rank among the administration's policies with the broadest impacts on immigration in this country, as tens of millions of people could be affected if it is implemented.

Already, there have been ramifications from the policy debate. During a nationally representative survey last December, roughly one in seven adults in immigrant families reported that they or a family member forwent noncash public benefit programs because they feared they or their family might be disqualified from obtaining a green card as a consequence. Among low-income immigrant families, that number jumped to about one in five, according to new research from the Urban Institute released on May 22. Adults in families with children under 19 years old were also disproportionately affected. 

Even in households where the proposed public charge ground of inadmissability shouldn't apply, families were on high alert. 9.3% of adults where all foreign-born family members were naturalized citizens also experienced or witnessed chilling effects on their family's use of benefits in 2018, as did 14.7% of adults where all foreign-born family members had green cards. Meanwhile, refugees and asylees have been among those concerned about taking advantage of government programs, advocates say, even though they're explicitly exempt from the proposal.

"I think people are just trying to be as safe as possible," said Connie Choi, NILC's Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign field manager and strategist.

The most common program that adults in immigrant families said someone in their family stopped participating in or did not apply to was SNAP, followed closely by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. Nearly 17% of adults who reported that their family had not accessed a form of assistance "indicated that the implicated program was specifically Medicaid or CHIP benefits for a child in their family," according to the Urban Institute report.

When Bernstein followed up with survey respondents who had experienced or witnessed these chilling effects, she met a natural born citizen married to a green card holder who was worried about accessing SNAP, even as they were expecting a child; an international doctoral student avoiding assistance to ensure his green card process went smoothly; and a naturalized citizen whose sister had stopped using SNAP, even though she had a green card, because she feared it might affect her citizenship claim.

Silvia worried at first that her 3-year-old U.S.-citizen daughter's benefits might impact her husband's green card petition as he tries to come to the U.S. (the implicated program, WIC, is not among those targeted in the proposed public charge changes, and her concerns represent how misinformation on the topic spread among the immigrant community). She also expressed concerns that accessing benefits for her family might cloud her own citizenship claim, even though the website for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says "lawful permanent residents who subsequently apply for naturalization would not be subject to inadmissibility determinations."

Adults who reported hearing a lot about the public charge rule were far more likely to have family forgo government assistance because of fears about green card disqualifications, according to the Urban Institute report. Bernstein said the data suggests that if the revised rule is actually implemented, increased awareness could lead to even more hesitation from mixed status families around using benefits.

Veronica Hernandez's team at Mary's Center — a community health center that serves the D.C. metro area — fields questions on a daily basis about the proposed changes to the public charge ground of inadmissability, she said. She has watched as parents decide to take themselves or their entire families off of benefits, denying themselves medical care because of fear. When there's a story in the news, she starts getting calls and visits from people asking what they should do.

"We just try to calm them down," she said, "and educate them."

The forecast for Wednesday is for sunny and warm weather, but the NBC Connecticut First Alert meteorologists are tracking severe weather to the west of the state on Thursday afternoon and evening that could bring rain or thunder for Connecticut. 

NBC Connecticut First Alert meteorologist Bob Maxon said there is a threat of severe weather in New York and Pennsylvania, which is likely to weaken as it heads east. Our team will be watching this situation carefully as new data comes into the First Alert weather center and have updates throughout the day. 

The forecast for Wednesday is sunny with highs in the upper 60s and low 70s and the temperatures will also hit the 60s and 70s Thursday. 

Check the forecast anytime here. 

A man wanted by Torrington Police for failure to appear has reached an unusual deal with police. 

Jose Simms, 29, has agreed to turn himself in to police if the police department gets 15,000 likes on the Facebook post with his wanted poster, according to police. 

Police said they were looking for 10,000 likes and Simms was looking for 20,000, but they split the difference. 

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“It will be difficult but is doable,” the police Facebook post says. 

While you can share the post to get the number of likes closer to 15,000, police said you can also use a more traditional method of helping police find suspects and let them know where he is. You can call them at 860-489-2007. 

Simms is wanted on several warrants for several failure to appear in the first degree and failure to appear in the second degree. 

As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, the post has around 1,900 likes. 

Police are searching for the person accused of assaulting a Hamden resident with a gun after officers said they brushed shoulders in a parking lot on Tuesday night.

Officers were called to the parking lot of 655 Fitch Street around 11 p.m. after getting a report of an assault with a gun.

Investigators determined that a 32-year-old Hamden resident left his parked vehicle and while returning to his home, he brushed shoulders with a man, police said. The man then hit the resident in the head with a gun and pointed the gun at him, officers added.

According to police, the man is described as a 40-50 year old who is 5'10" with a medium build. He had thick-framed eyeglasses and was wearing a sweatshirt and shorts.

The resident, who authorities said sustained a cut on his head, refused medical treatment.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Hamden Police Department at (203) 230-4000.

Michael Avenatti, the attorney who rocketed to fame through his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels in her battles with President Donald Trump, was charged Wednesday with ripping her off.

Federal prosecutors in New York City say Avenatti used a doctored document to divert about $300,000 that Daniels was supposed to get from a book deal, then used the money for personal and business expenses. Only half of that money was paid back, prosecutors said.

Daniels isn't named in the court filing, but the details of the case, including the date her book was released, make it clear that she is the client involved.

Avenatti denied the allegations on Twitter.

"No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled. She received millions of dollars worth of legal services and we spent huge sums in expenses. She directly paid only $100.00 for all that she received. I look forward to a jury hearing the evidence," he wrote.

The charges pile on top of previous allegations of legal misconduct by Avenatti, who represented Daniels when she sued to be released from a nondisclosure agreement involving an alleged tryst with Trump.

Avenatti was previously charged in New York with trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike by threatening to expose claims that the shoemaker paid off high school basketball players to steer them to Nike-sponsored colleges. And in Los Angeles, he's facing a multicount federal indictment alleging that he stole millions of dollars from clients, didn't pay taxes, committed bank fraud and lied during bankruptcy proceedings.

Avenatti has denied the allegations against him on both coasts, saying he expects to be exonerated. The Los Angeles charges alone carry a potential penalty of more than 300 years in prison.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, initially hired Avenatti to handle a lawsuit she filed last year in which she sought to invalidate the nondisclosure agreement she'd signed with Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen in exchange for $130,000.

The money was supposed to buy her silence about an alleged affair with the president, who denies that it took place. In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in connection with the payment.

Daniels first publicly raised concerns about Avenatti's conduct in November.

In a statement, she said Avenatti had launched a fundraising effort to raise money for her legal case without telling her. She also said he had filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump, on her behalf, against her wishes.

"For months I've asked Michael Avenatti to give me accounting information about the fund my supporters so generously donated to for my safety and legal defense. He has repeatedly ignored those requests," she said. "Days ago I demanded again, repeatedly, that he tell me how the money was being spent and how much was left. Instead of answering me, without my permission or even my knowledge Michael launched another crowdfunding campaign to raise money on my behalf. I learned about it on Twitter."

At the time, Avenatti responded that he was still Daniels "biggest champion."

He said that under his retention agreement, she had agreed to pay him just $100 for his services, and he was entitled to keep all the money he raised for her legal defense to defray what he said were substantial costs of her case.

The defamation case initiated by Avenatti against Trump backfired, with a judge ordering her to pay the president's legal bills.

When Avenatti was first charged with defrauding other clients and extorting Nike in March, Daniels said she was "saddened but not shocked."

She added on Twitter that she had fired Avenatti a month earlier after "discovering that he had dealt with me extremely dishonestly." She did not elaborate. 

The Better Business Bureau says travel schemes are a growing trend as we head into the summer season and warns consumers to be careful.

A Litchfield man reached out to NBC Connecticut Responds after finding out the hotel didn’t have his trip deposit to Mexico.

The summer season means summer travel. For Tyrus Williams, Mexico was his place of choice.

“This is our one big time, you know, for all of our family to get together,” said Tyrus Williams. “The price was phenomenal.”

The Litchfield resident booked an all-inclusive trip to Mexico, seven days and six nights, for $698 through Florida-based 360 Tri-Star Travel.

“After speaking with my wife and everything, I said let’s book this,” said Williams.

Williams said he’d never used a travel agency for this kind of trip before.

When he reached out the hotel to confirm the reservation, he ran into trouble.

“I said, and we’re all set? And they go, yeah, except you got to send us your money,” said Williams. “I said, what do you mean I have to send you my money? I said this has already been paid for.”

Williams said the hotel didn’t receive the deposit. He showed us his receipt and bank statement for the $698 payment. And he said he had no luck getting in touch with Tri-Star.

“You call them, nobody answers,” said Williams.

After Williams exhausted all of his options, he turned to NBC Connecticut Responds.

“You have the means more than I have to really go out and get these people,” said Williams.

The Florida Attorney General’s office has received four complaints against 360 Tri-Star travel. They include: taking money and not providing the trip, unanswered phone calls, and the company offering refunds not given.

On the BBB’s website, there were 24 complaints closed in the last three years. All of those complaints went unanswered with many customers unable to locate the business.

The issues ranged from paid vacation packages, to reservations, to no response from the company.

According to the BBB, From 2017 to 2019 - there were 39 reported travel scams from Connecticut residents, claiming it cost them $52,487.17 total.

Luke Frey with Connecticut’s BBB says the cheapest price isn’t always the best option.

“Whenever you make that last payment, you should have your hotels, you should have your airlines. You should really have everything you’re purchasing in that last payment. So, you know you actually have a trip that is booked,” said Frey.

Remember to check the company’s cancellation policy.

“If you have to cancel due to health or other issues. And really see what that refund policy is, especially if you’re being pressured to pay on the spot,” said Frey.

The BBB says you should check online reviews of any travel agency before booking a trip.

We reached out to 360 Tri-Star travel multiple times. We’re still waiting to hear back.

Meanwhile, Tyrus Williams said he was refunded the $698.

A suspected bed bug was found at Crosby High School recently, according to a letter from the principal.

According to a letter from Principal Jade L. Gopie, school staff contacted the City Health Department and School Facilities Division to begin a cleaning of the impacted areas once the suspected bed bug was found.

Bed bugs are common in the U.S. and do not pose any immediate health risk to humans, according to the CDC. Though not considered dangerous, a bed bug bite could cause an allergic reaction and any bites should be looked over by a doctor.

“Virtually all instances of beg bugs in a school environment are the result of the insect being carried in from the outside in isolated circumstances. The Waterbury Board of Education and the City Health Department consider the health and safety of students and our school community as a top priority. We will continue to work collaboratively and proactively to maintain the schools as insect free and to support the remediation of issues outside of the school environment,” Gopie wrote in the letter.

Gopie said all the impacted areas were cleaned and there will be follow-up inspections as needed.

There have also been recent reports of bed bugs at Waterbury Career Academy High School. School officials have said these are isolated incidents.

Emergency crews responded to a fire at a barn on on Piney Branch Road in the Ivoryton section of Essex Wednesday.

A neighbor told NBC Connecticut the building is a storage barn and the owners use it to store equipment for a landscaping business.

There are multiple departments and tankers trying to get water to the scene.

More details were not immediately available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Lifeguarding is a glamorous summer job but qualified candidates are in short supply here in Connecticut.

Sarah Battistini, the water safety coordinator for State Parks Lifeguards, says she spent much of the winter recruiting.

“We reached out to the high schools and colleges trying to let them know if anyone is looking for a summer job we have positions open,” said Battistini.

Although state beaches are expecting to be full-staffed by July 1, there is an immediate need for lifeguards. So far they’ve hired 70 lifeguards for the season and are hoping for about 30 more.

Beaches like Rocky Neck are anticipating a busy summer and will need broad lifeguard coverage. Caroline Spada, the senior lifeguard at Rocky Neck State Park says they need nine lifeguards during the week and 18 on the weekend.

“It’s honesty one of the best jobs in my age group,” said Spada, “even if you’re older too.”

Because the need is so great, retirees are also being asked to apply. Staff explains that a retirees experience and maturity add to team chemistry.

Regardless of age, all qualified candidates must pass rigorous physical tests.

“We need to see that you can swim underwater for 25 yards, that you can tread water for two minutes without using your hands and that you can do a timed brick retrieval from about 7 to 10 feet,” explained Battistini.

Lifeguards must also be able to swim 550 yards continuously and run a quarter mile in 90 seconds. The physical requirements are justified by the job’s ultimate responsibility.

“This is a job that involves guarding people’s lives,” said Battistini. “That is our base goal every day is to make sure every beach goer that comes in and goes swimming leaves at the end of the day.”

As for this weekend six of the eight Connecticut state beaches will have coverage. However, Burrpond in Torrington and Indian Well in Shelton will have no staff.

For most high school football players, there's no bigger stage than Friday night lights, but for a football star at Sheehan High School in Wallingford, the lights keep shining into the spring.

Terrence Bogan is the best high school running back in the state. Really, he rushed for a state-best 2,481 yards in his junior season last fall. He credits his growth to his teammates because he’s not one to talk a big game.

“I wasn't really, I didn't really have high expectations for myself,” said Bogan. “I just wanted to do better than I did before."

But Bogan’s spotlight doesn’t fade when the stadium lights go out. Instead, he trades in the playbook for a playbill.

"It's just amazing to watch him on stage,” said Sheehan High School choral director Paige Sperry. “I've had a lot of football players in chorus over the years since I've been here. I just haven't had them on stage.”

Bogan has been involved in theater since middle school, and now he’s regularly the leading man

"Here we don't have 10 shows but football we have 10 games in a regular season so, definitely opening night it's like, you can't mess up."

But the differences between theater and football for Bogan, believe it or not, end there.

"He gets on the field and he wants to win, we know,” said Sperry. “He gets on the stage and he wants to put on the best possible performance he can."

Bogan says he knows what he’s going is out of the ordinary, but he’s glad at his school, it’s celebrated.

“I think it's cool here where someone is just an athlete or just an actor,” said Bogan. “Everyone does anything that they're comfortable doing and I like that.”

Keep your car off and keys out of plain sight when pumping gas.

Naugatuck police are sharing that message as they investigate a brazen car theft from a gas station Tuesday afternoon in broad daylight.

The owner, still in shock, spoke with NBC Connecticut about the ordeal that could happen to anyone. He asked not to share his name or show his face.

To make matters worse, the owner said he had literally left the car dealership with his new 2015 black Audio less than 10 minutes before a surveillance camera at the gas station captured video the car theft.

"I literally just drove it off the lot," he said. "The car wasn't even dry from washing it."

Naugatuck detectives are trying to figure out if they can enhance the quality of the grainy video, Lt. Colin McAllister said.

“2019 and our video is surveillance is not very up to date it looks like,” the owner said.

The video shared on the police department's Facebook page shows the new owner in a yellow shirt pumping gas on the passenger side of his new Audi. It's hard to make out because the quality isn't the best, but someone hopped behind the wheel and drove off as he finishes filling the tank.

“I was very excited to pick up my new car," the owner said. "Got there around 3:40, finalized all the paperwork took off around probably 5:40ish.”

By about 5:50 p.m., Naugatuck police said they'd received the report of the car theft at the Cumberland Farms Gas Station on North Main Street.

“I did get a brief look at him," the owner said. "At first I thought maybe I didn’t put the car in park and it started rolling and I looked up and saw the suspect in the car.”

Police said they believe a newer white Lexus seen leaving the gas station may have dropped off the suspect who took off with the car in front of several witnesses.

“We encourage people not to let their guard down, especially at gas stations," Lt. McAllister said. "These are locations we know that people are gonna steal vehicles are going to surveil. They look for targets of opportunity victims who might not be attentive to the fact that their vehicles are running or they left their keys in there.”

The owner of the stolen Audi learned that lesson the hard way.

"Don’t leave your keys in your ignition when you go to pump gas," he said, "cause I’ve done it a million times before and never thought it would happen.”

Naugatuck police are asking anyone who can help track down the car thief to give them a call at 203-729-5221.

A key congressional committee has already gained access to President Donald Trump’s dealings with two major financial institutions, two sources familiar with the House probe tell NBC News, as a court ruling Wednesday promised to open the door for even more records to be handed over.

Wells Fargo and TD Bank are the two of nine institutions that have so far complied with subpoenas issued by the House Financial Services Committee demanding information about their dealings with the Trump Organization, according to the sources. The disclosures by these two banks haven’t been previously reported. Both TD Bank and Wells Fargo declined to comment for this story.

Wells Fargo provided the committee with a few thousand documents and TD Bank handed the committee a handful of documents, according to a source who has seen them. The committee, led by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is especially interested in the president’s business relationship with Russia and other foreign entities.

Last Wednesday 39-year-old Christopher Silva was applauded as an “outstanding citizen” for helping Enfield Police in a car robbery case last summer.

Four days later, police arrested Silva on charges of harassment, criminal trespassing, stalking and disorderly conduct for running away from police into the woods near his home, requiring 3 K-9 units and 10 police officers to track him down.

According to the arrest warrant application from the Enfield Police Department, on Saturday a woman reported to police that Silva had sexually assaulted her after trespassing into her home in Enfield's Crystal Corners neighborhood on the night before the awards ceremony.

The account by police says the, "victim had extensive bruising on numerous parts of her body, including her legs, arms, breasts and face."

The redacted document also says Silva sent multiple messages to the woman on Saturday saying things like "things are about to get bad for you," and "yeah, you're (expletive)."

Silva has a previous conviction for sexual assault and is currently required to register as a sex offender until 2026.

In a statement from Enfield Police Chief Alaric Fox, said Silva's award and arrest, "are two independent events, each one of which was reviewed and assessed under the appropriate guidelines."

Silva is currently being held in custody. He does not appear to have an attorney assigned to him yet, but his next court date is on June 7.

Eight Connecticut residents are now some of the U.S. Coast Guard’s newest commissioned officers.

In total, 240 cadets graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in New London Wednesday after 200 weeks of intensive studying and training.

“I couldn’t be here without my family and my friends. I’m pretty proud. That’s all I can say,” said an emotional Quinton Parsons of Niantic.

“It’s been amazing. I can’t believe it. I’m so proud. It’s hard I’m going to miss him a lot,” said his sister, Georgia.

Parsons is headed to Pensacola, Florida. He’s assigned to the US Coast Guard Cutter Decisive.

Not long ago, Parsons and his best friend Billy Bragaw were kids chasing after the caps thrown in the air at graduation.

Here they are pictured at the academy graduation one almost a decade ago.

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Wednesday, they threw their own covers.

“I can’t really put it into words to be honest. It means a lot at the end of the day, but it’s cool to have gone through it with him for sure,” said Parsons.

Family, friends, and even their high school soccer coach now here for them.

“Just to see how they’ve developed into the great young men that they are from where they were. Hopefully, you know, we all have part in that but I’m so proud of them,” said East Lyme High School Soccer Coach Paul Christensen

As class president, Bragaw presented a gift to keynote speaker U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton.

Like Bolton, Bragaw grew up looking up to coast guardsmen.

“The hard work that all of these people, but particularly, were obviously favor our grandson, but they’re all great,” said grandfather Lou Bragaw, a retired Coast Guard member.

“I can’t add more to that. It’s just wonderful to see him graduate and all these kids too,” said Billy Bragaw’s other grandfather Bruce Skinner, who also served in the Coast Guard.

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Parson’s dad Chris has coached at the academy for 18 years.

“I’m the men’s soccer coach. My son came and played for me. This is without a doubt the proudest day I’ll ever have besides when they were born of course.”

While both men will settle into different cities soon—Bragaw is assigned to the Cutter James in Charleston—they’ll still work towards the same goal: two kids from Niantic with a shared dream to protect our country.

Other Connecticut grads include:

Jian Zhang, New London

Camisha Moore, New London

Matt Jones, Gales Ferry

Stephen Bruno, North Branford

Jill Friedman, Farmington

Kali Borden, Milford

If you’re planning to travel this Memorial Day weekend… especially driving, you won’t be alone.

AAA says this is expected to be a record year for holiday traveling with about 43 million Americans going somewhere this weekend, the second largest number of memorial weekend travelers since 2000. Its an increase of about 1.5 million travelers over last year.

Connecticut State Police and AAA are teaming up to get your holiday travel off to a safe start this Memorial Day Weekend.

State Police and AAA will be at the Middletown DOT rest stop off I-91 north Friday morning, offering free battery and tire testing as well as coffee and donuts.

The event runs from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and is part of an effort to discourage drowsy driving and remind drivers to buckle up, take it slow and avoid distracted driving.

“The Connecticut State Police would like you to have a safe holiday weekend. Buckle up, stay attentive and travel the speed limit. We want everyone to reach their destinations safely,” Sgt. Washington of the Connecticut State Police said.

AAA says the worst time to travel is Thursday between 4:45 and 6 p.m. since that is the time travelers are on the road with commuters.

NBC Connecticut spoke with a Massachusetts man who got a head start on the holiday traffic by traveling Wednesday night to visit his son in Bridgeport. When he heads home, he says he won’t let crowded roads get the best of him.

“Just put some good music on, go with the flow. I’m not looking forward, but at the same time I’m not going to stress out about it” said Robert Ryan Junior of Wooster.

State police will have increased patrols over the holiday weekend, including roving DUI checkpoints.

Actor Paul Rudd is endorsing a national version of Ethan’s Law, a proposal by a Guilford family for stronger gun storage laws.

Ethan Song died in 2018 at age 15 when he was handling the unsecured gun of a friend’s father. The gun was stored in the friend’s house in a Tupperware container alongside bullets and the keys to the gun’s trigger lock.

In a video posted to the Ethan Song Acts of Kindness Facebook page, Rudd endorsed the measure.

“Regardless of where you stand on the gun issue I think we can all agree that guns should be stored safety and out of the reach of kids," Rudd said in the video.

Kristin and Michael Song, Ethan’s parents, have been working with the Connecticut Against Gun Violence along with the Newtown Action Alliance to gather support for a national version of the law.

The Connecticut version of the legislation passed the state House of Representatives in early May with bipartisan support.