The intersection of Routes 37 and 39 in Sherman will be closed for hours, according to state police.
The intersection is closed after a tractor-trailer hit wires.
Today is "529 Day"...a day to spread the word about tax-free saving plans that can help cut the cost of college educations. NBC's Liz McLaughlin reports.
A 16-year-old boy robbed a 14-year-old boy with a knife in Hamden on Tuesday night and the teenage suspect was transported to the Hartford Juvenile Detention Center, according to police.
Police said they met with the victim around 8:48 p.m. and he said the other boy approached him as he was walking on Whitney Avenue, near Wakefield Street, pointed a knife at him, demanded his belongings and stole the victim’s cell phone and headphones.
Moments later, Officer Elvin Rivera arrested a 16-year-old resident of the Children’s Center who was on Waite Street. Police said the teen had the stolen items and was charged with robbery in the first degree and larceny in the second degree.
He was transported to the Hartford Juvenile Detention Center.
Special counsel Robert Mueller spoke out about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election for the first time Wednesday to say that he will not provide more information than what's in the report his office released.
Below are his roughly 10-minute remarks as they were prepared for delivery, as released by the Justice Department. Video of the address is at the top of this story:
Washington, D.C.
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Two years ago, the Acting Attorney General asked me to serve as Special Counsel, and he created the Special Counsel’s Office.
The appointment order directed the office to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. This included investigating any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign.
I have not spoken publicly during our investigation. I am speaking today because our investigation is complete. The Attorney General has made the report on our investigation largely public. And we are formally closing the Special Counsel’s Office. As well, I am resigning from the Department of Justice and returning to private life.
I’ll make a few remarks about the results of our work. But beyond these few remarks, it is important that the office’s written work speak for itself.
Let me begin where the appointment order begins: and that is interference in the 2016 presidential election.
As alleged by the grand jury in an indictment, Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system.
The indictment alleges that they used sophisticated cyber techniques to hack into computers and networks used by the Clinton campaign. They stole private information, and then released that information through fake online identities and through the organization WikiLeaks. The releases were designed and timed to interfere with our election and to damage a presidential candidate.
And at the same time, as the grand jury alleged in a separate indictment, a private Russian entity engaged in a social media operation where Russian citizens posed as Americans in order to interfere in the election.
These indictments contain allegations. And we are not commenting on the guilt or innocence of any specific defendant. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
The indictments allege, and the other activities in our report describe, efforts to interfere in our political system. They needed to be investigated and understood. That is among the reasons why the Department of Justice established our office.
That is also a reason we investigated efforts to obstruct the investigation. The matters we investigated were of paramount importance. It was critical for us to obtain full and accurate information from every person we questioned. When a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government’s effort to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable.
Let me say a word about the report. The report has two parts addressing the two main issues we were asked to investigate.
The first volume of the report details numerous efforts emanating from Russia to influence the election. This volume includes a discussion of the Trump campaign’s response to this activity, as well as our conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy.
And in the second volume, the report describes the results and analysis of our obstruction of justice investigation involving the President.
The order appointing me Special Counsel authorized us to investigate actions that could obstruct the investigation. We conducted that investigation and we kept the office of the Acting Attorney General apprised of the progress of our work.
As set forth in our report, after that investigation, if we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.
We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the President did commit a crime. The introduction to volume two of our report explains that decision.
It explains that under long-standing Department policy, a President cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view—that too is prohibited.
The Special Counsel’s Office is part of the Department of Justice and, by regulation, it was bound by that Department policy. Charging the President with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.
The Department’s written opinion explaining the policy against charging a President makes several important points that further informed our handling of the obstruction investigation. Those points are summarized in our report. And I will describe two of them:
First, the opinion explicitly permits the investigation of a sitting President because it is important to preserve evidence while memories are fresh and documents are available. Among other things, that evidence could be used if there were co-conspirators who could now be charged.
And second, the opinion says that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting President of wrongdoing.
And beyond Department policy, we were guided by principles of fairness. It would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no court resolution of an actual charge.
So that was the Justice Department policy and those were the principles under which we operated. From them we concluded that we would not reach a determination – one way or the other – about whether the President committed a crime. That is the office’s final position and we will not comment on any other conclusions or hypotheticals about the President.
We conducted an independent criminal investigation and reported the results to the Attorney General—as required by Department regulations.
The Attorney General then concluded that it was appropriate to provide our report to Congress and the American people.
At one point in time I requested that certain portions of the report be released. The Attorney General preferred to make the entire report public all at once. We appreciate that the Attorney General made the report largely public. I do not question the Attorney General’s good faith in that decision.
I hope and expect this to be the only time that I will speak about this matter. I am making that decision myself—no one has told me whether I can or should testify or speak further about this matter.
There has been discussion about an appearance before Congress. Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis, and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself.
The report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.
In addition, access to our underlying work product is being decided in a process that does not involve our office.
So beyond what I have said here today and what is contained in our written work, I do not believe it is appropriate for me to speak further about the investigation or to comment on the actions of the Justice Department or Congress.
It is for that reason that I will not take questions here today.
Before I step away, I want to thank the attorneys, the FBI agents, the analysts, and the professional staff who helped us conduct this investigation in a fair and independent manner. These individuals, who spent nearly two years with the Special Counsel’s Office, were of the highest integrity.
I will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments—that there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election.
That allegation deserves the attention of every American.
Thank you.
New Haven police have arrested a Seymour man accused of shooting and killing another man in the Hill neighborhood of New Haven on May 21 and the suspect has been charged with murder.
James Tobin, 32, of Seymour, is accused of shooting 28-year-old Thomas Hart, who was found at Congress Avenue and Redfield Street around 11:30 p.m. on that Tuesday night after police received a ShotSpotter alert and 911 calls.
Hart was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Tobin has been charged with murder, according to New Haven police.
This was the second homicide of the year in New Haven and the second shooting on Congress Avenue near Redfield Street in a week.
Bond for Tobin was set at $2 million. He is due in court Wednesday.
The release of the original Netflix documentary "After Maria" prompted a wave of emotions and backlash — to the point that thousands have signed various online petitions asking for the short film to be removed from the streaming platform’s library after accusations it is disrespectful and not in tune with the plight of those still in Puerto Rico suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
The documentary released last week showcases the stories of three Puerto Rican women who were forced to leave the island after Hurricane Maria and the challenges they faced in New York, including homelessness after their temporary FEMA housing expired.
On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island of Puerto Rico, wreaking havoc across its terrain to such great proportions that very few storms throughout United States history provoked the level of widespread destruction and disorganization experienced during and in the aftermath of the hurricane.
The documentary not only resurfaced memories of the devastation left by Hurricane Maria’s passing but incited at least three different online petitions to emerge asking Netflix for the removal of the short film.
According to the Change.org petition, Eliminar Documental After Maria en Netflix. Delete After Maria Documentary from Netflix, which had more than 20,100 signatures by Tuesday afternoon, the short film has “nothing to do with the suffering of millions of Puerto Ricans.” It goes on to say in Spanish that the title should be changed to "After Fema."
“Remove 'After Maria' from Netflix streaming platform,” another petition on Change.org, says the documentary “disrespects the honor, values and working spirit of our commonwealth by ridiculizing [sic] us as poor, inconsiderate and maintained by (FEMA). People from Puerto Rico did not like the documentary and are criticizing it in all social media, news, and papers.”
At the time of publication, that petition had more than 23,500 signatures.
Meanwhile, a Care2.com petition, “Immediate Removal of the Netflix documentary After Maria!!” argues “there is little to no mention of the people who actually suffered through this hurricane who stayed on the island who actually suffered without water electricity food medical help and so on. It shows people who do little to help their situation therefore diminishing the struggles of the people of the island itself.”
“After Maria” director Nadia Hallgren and producer Lauren Cioffi did not immediately respond to NBC 4 New York's email request for comment.
However, in a previous interview with CUNY, her alma mater, Hallgren said: "We ended up deciding to focus on these women in our film because they were the most open to opening up their lives to us, telling their stories. We also loved the story of these three moms who were brave. Two of the women’s husbands came with them, but it was the women who led the charge. They were the ones who came to New York for the sake of their children and their families. So many of us know this story from our own mothers.”
NBC 4 New York also reached out to Netflix. A spokesperson said they had “no comment and the filmmaker will not be doing interviews at this time.”
The controversy surrounding the documentary comes amid news that a second conservative Republican in as many House sessions blocked a long-overdue $19 billion disaster aid bill Tuesday. The bill contains money for Puerto Rico.
The NBC Connecticut First Alert meteorologists are tracking the potential for some strong storms Wednesday evening.
Most of the rain will hold off until after the evening commute with the heaviest rain between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. There is still some uncertainty as to where the heaviest rain will fall, but downpours, thunder, and lightning are all expected the move through the state.
The greatest threat for severe weather remains south and west of Connecticut, but an isolated strong or severe storm can't be ruled out.
Track the rain and storms on our Interactive Radar.
When a South Florida mother lost her Marine son to suicide six years ago, she made it her life's mission to help other veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and in the process, has taken on the U.S. Veterans Administration.
Janine Lutz's son, Janos "John" V. Lutz, died by what she calls a "pharmaceutically-induced suicide" after ingesting a handful of Morphine and Klonopin pills given to him by Veteran Affairs doctors. He was 24 years old.
Lutz blames John's death on the cocktail of powerful medications he was prescribed to treat his PTSD, specifically Klonopin, the brand name of a type of benzodiazepine, a class of drugs used to treat anxiety. The drug can trigger suicidal thoughts and tendencies in some patients.
The VA's National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder recommends against the use of benzodiazepines to treat PTSD. However, the VA does not outright ban doctors from prescribing it.
"I know my son died of pharmaceutically-induced suicide, it was the drugs that made him suicidal," said Lutz. "It wasn't his will [to die], it was the medication that f----- with his mind."
The VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
John had served back-to-back tours in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009. In Afghanistan, he fought in Operation Strike of the Sword, a massive U.S.-led offensive in the summer of 2009 to take control of a Taliban stronghold in the country. The operation left more than a dozen U.S. Marines dead and many more injured — physically and mentally.
"When he came home, he was visibly different, severe PTSD," said Lutz. "As a new mom, receiving a new war fighter, I didn't have any tools. I didn't know the things that I know now."
What Lutz didn't know was just how bad John was struggling.
After being diagnosed with PTSD by the VA stateside, John was given between 17 to 24 prescriptions at any given time. When some of them were taken together, the side effects included hallucinations, paranoia and suicide.
One week after being prescribed Klonopin, John attempted suicide for the first time in 2010. Despite a medical history of mental health problems related to the drug, he would be prescribed Klonopin two more times.
John was also taking morphine for combat-related injuries. Lutz said she kept his medications "under lock and key," at his request, and that she doled them out only as needed."
"He says, 'I need you to take my pain meds, and when I need them, just give me one,' and I said, 'Ok honey,' and he said, 'Yeah mom, I'm just scared,'" she said.
But after a 2013 visit to a VA psychiatrist, who Lutz said John was open with about the fact that his mom locked up his medications and his history with suicidal thoughts, the doctor prescribed him a stronger dosage of Klonopin. That visit was followed by one to an orthopedic doctor who Lutz said gave her son additional morphine pills.
Eight days later, John was dead.
"I was mad," Lutz said.
She believes her son's death was preventable and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the VA and won in November 2017. While the agency never acknowledged wrongdoing, Lutz received a settlement from the VA.
She told the Military Times in 2015 that she doesn't dispute the VA's argument that her son had ample access to medical treatment. But, "she believes his physicians did not thoroughly read his lengthy medical records, did not understand the extent of his injuries and didn't read closely enough to know that some of his medications caused him to contemplate suicide."
Lutz turned her grief into action and started the LCpl Janos V. Lutz Live to Tell Foundation, a non-profit that works to reduce veteran suicide by pairing veterans with other veterans and providing them with services and access to local resources, according to its website. Through Live to Tell, Lutz has also launched Lutz Buddy Up, which helps connect veterans through its social clubs for peer support.
Her latest venture is Vet-Connect, an app that helps law enforcement and first responders connect veterans to resources in their community. Several South Florida police departments have already adopted the system. Lutz said the Sunrise Police Department and the Broward County Sheriff's Office have also expressed interest in the app. Her goal is to grow the app nationally as a resource for veterans everywhere.
"The culture the military creates, especially among combat veterans, where service members take care of each other is re-established locally reducing the barriers of trust, shame, and accountability that organizations typically face when attempting to connect with a veteran in order to provide services to improve their quality of life and mental health," said a description of the program on the foundation's website.
According to the VA, veterans are 1.5 times more likely than civilians to die by suicide, with men ages 18 to 34 at higher risks. Lutz said she wants the VA to change its protocols and the overall way it treats veterans with PTSD.
"Medication should not be an answer to every single problem, that should be the last resort," Lutz said. "[The] first resort is to build local communities. Let’s connect them with other war fighters -- that’s who can understand a war fighter, another war fighter."
Lutz said, for her, every day is Memorial Day. But, she will continue her fight to save others.
"My son is gone, but his death will not be in vain," she said. "Because of his death, others will be saved."
You can download Vet-Connect on the App Store or Google Play.
Veterans experiencing a mental health emergency can contact the Veteran Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 and select option 1 for a VA staffer. Veterans, troops or their families members can also text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net for assistance.
A woman was living in a van with more than 20 dogs and a parrot was charged with animal cruelty, according to police, and they said several of the dogs might need to be euthanized.
Wethersfield police said an officer stopped a Ford Transit van around 9:30 a.m. Monday on Silas Deane Highway because the vehicle was swerving.
The officer who spoke with the driver, identified as 59-year-old Suzanne Eser, of Peabody, Massachusetts, was “overwhelmed by the smell of feces and urine” and noticed at least nine small dogs in the front of the van, according to a news release from police.
Animal control officers from the Newington and Rocky Hill Police Departments were called in and 21 dogs and a macaw were removed from the van and brought to CT Canine on Maple Hill Avenue in Newington to be evaluated, police said.
Police said the dogs were essentially living in feces and urine and were not properly cared for and several might need to be euthanized.
The van was towed and Eser was brought to Wethersfield Police Headquarters and charged with cruelty to animals and misuse of a marker plate.
She was released on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in New Britain on June 11.
Hartford police said they have taken a suspect into custody after an incident that spanned Plymouth, Bristol and Hartford on Tuesday and they identified her as 26-year-old Bernice Martinez.
According to Plymouth police, a woman rammed several cruisers in Plymouth and led police on a chase Tuesday afternoon before abandoning the vehicle in Hartford.
The Plymouth police investigation started when they were someone called them around 12:37 p.m. about a crash on South Riverside Avenue in Plymouth and said a 2014 Kia Sportage had just sideswiped another vehicle and both vehicles had left the scene.
Then at 12:46 p.m., another caller reported the Kia, which had damage, was at the Patco Convenience Store at 131 Main St. in Terryville and the driver was trying to inflate a flat tire.
The officer who arrived found a 2014 Kia Sportage and saw a female trying to inflate. When the officer approached, the female appeared nervous and anxious. She was asked to stand, but she refused, and the officer grabbed her arm, but she pulled away and tried to get away, police said.
She then got into the vehicle and tried to shut the driver's side door on the officer’s arm, according to police. The officer then grabbed her shirt to remove her from the vehicle, but she backed up and the officer let go to avoid being hit, police said.
While trying to get away, the driver hit a pickup, backed into the officer’s police cruiser and into a concrete barrier several times until she was able to flee, according to police.
Then she hit another police cruiser, drove on the sidewalk, hit a building and got away, hitting another cruiser while turning onto Main Street, according to police.
She then drove away, with one flat tire, and led police on a high-speed chase in Bristol where the pursuit ended after conditions became too dangerous, police said.
Police said that at that point, officers were not aware of a domestic incident just occurred minutes before at a residence in Terryville.
Plymouth police said Hartford Police found the 2014 Kia Sportage in Hartford. They said the vehicle hit a pedestrian and the driver had abandoned the vehicle, but Hartford police said no pedestrian was struck and Hartford police did not pursue the vehicle. They said there was a minor crash with a van in Hartford.
Plymouth police said they identified the suspect and an arrest warrant application is pending.
On Wednesday morning, police said Hartford police took the suspe3ct into custody while investigating a domestic violence incident in Clay Arsenal neighborhood.
Editor's Note: Plymouth police said the vehicle struck a pedestrian in Hartford, but Hartford police said a pedestrian was not struck.
Four people were taken to the hospital after a student sprayed pepper-spray in a Meriden classroom Wednesday, according to a statement from the school's principal.
Principal Dianne Vumback wrote in a notice to the school community that two students and two staff members were sent to the hospital after a student sprayed pepper spray in a classroom at Lincoln Middle School. Vumback said everyone in the room was seen by the school nurse and those transported to the hospital have since been released.
Vumback praised the response from students, staff, the nursing team and the Meriden Fire Department for their response.
“I am so proud of our students and staff! I also want to thank our nursing team and the Meriden Fire Department for their terrific response today,” she wrote.
Vumback did not say what penalties the students who released the spray may be facing.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's statements on Wednesday loom ominously over the White House, with President Donald Trump describing it as a "bad day" for him, one source close to the president told NBC News.
There are indications that pressure from the Judiciary Committee in particular is building, with Chairman Jerrold Nadler's comments seeming to raise the stakes: "At this point, all options are on the table and nothing should be ruled out."
The White House is bracing for the possibility of impeachment. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters, "We're always prepared, but I don't think the American people deserve that."
This week, Connecticut lawmakers are expected to vote on whether to ban single-use plastic bags statewide.
Two states, New York and California, already ban plastic bags. Connecticut could be next.
Wednesday, backers of a bill to ban single use plastic bags made their case at the Capitol.
Recyclable paper would still be an option, but proponents are hoping shoppers choose reusable totes instead.
“Bringing your own bag, that’s the name of the game,” said Louis Rosado Burch of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
Rosado Burch spoke at a press conference Wednesday, flanked by several Democratic lawmakers and members of the legislature’s Environment Committee. Rosado Burch said he’s been working for 10 years to get single-use bags banned in Connecticut.
“We have a plastic pollution crises. It’s choking our oceans,” he explained.
While some are already toting reusable bags to the checkout aisle, others are bagging on the idea of a ban.
“I don’t think it’s right,” said Sue Wogelius of South Windsor.
“I’m not really sure how involved the government has to get to solve this problem,” said House Republican David Rutigliano of Trumbull.
The bill, which will be introduced in the state Senate this week and the House next week, calls for an across-the-board ban on plastic bags beginning in July 2021.
“I think plastic is a nuisance and I think we need to help our environment and our whole planet,” said Diana Kankel while shopping at the Geissler’s Super Market in South Windsor.
Fourteen Connecticut communities have already banned single-use bags blamed for endangering the environment and clogging up recycling centers, according to Patricia Taylor, the director of the Plastics Project at Environmnetal and Human Health, Inc. If the statewide ban passes, those cities and towns will still be allowed to follow their local ordinances as long as they are as strict as the state’s.
“I just think it would make it better, better across the board, everybody doing the same thing,” said Geissler’s store manager Jeff Wyse.
“That’s even what the retailers have told us. They don’t want to abide by individual regulations in 169 towns. We need one rule across the state of Connecticut,” said Sen. Will Haskell a Democrat from Westport, which already bans plastic bags.
Stores that don’t follow the law would first get a warning, and then would be fined $250 starting with the second offense. Half of that money would go to the municipality and the other half to a state agency.
“This is a really big opportunity to move our state forward when it comes to recognizing climate change,” said backer Julie Kushner, a state senator from Bethel.
Only paper bags made from recyclable materials with the phrase "Please Reuse and Recycle This Bag" would be permitted, according to the legislation.
“Brown bags are fine but I like the plastic ones better because of the leakage you get from things and it makes brown bags wet and they fall apart too,” said Wogelius.
People who like to reuse these bags say they’ll be forced to go buy plastic bags, replacing plastic with plastic.
“I reuse a lot of them for different items, to put into waste baskets or to pack up,” said Maureen Schaffner of South Windsor.
“I use them for the doggy, picking up stuff,” added Wogelius.
Republican House member and restaurant owner David Rutigliano of Trumbull says his business switched over to paper a year ago, but at a significant cost.
“A plastic bag may cost two cents and a paper bag costs 28 cents,” said Rutigliano. “I know that it sounds great that the businesses pay the tax but ultimately it’s the end use the customer that pays for all these mandates that we’re putting forth.”
The world’s smallest surviving baby has been born in San Diego, according to hospital officials.
The baby girl weighed 8.6 ounces when she was delivered in December. She went home this month as a healthy, happy 5-pound infant.
Officials with Sharp Mary Birch Hospital announced the successful birth Wednesday.
The baby girl was born at 23 weeks and 3 days, induced because she was not gaining weight in the womb after the mother developed preeclampsia. Her parents were advised their baby may not survive the first 24 hours.
That first day turned into two which then turned into a week. The baby girl defied expectations.
"At birth, she was roughly the same weight as a large apple or a child's juice box," CEO Trisha Khaleghi said.
While the family asked the hospital to respect their privacy, they did agree that the hospital could call the infant "Saybie."
Neonatologist Paul Wozniak, M.D. said the baby was born with a strong heart rate but needed special equipment including a custom-sized blood pressure cuff and diapers as small as a table napkin.
The nurses in the NICU were with the baby and her family every day between birth.
"She was a fighter from the get-go," said registered nurse Kim Norby.
“I immediately fell in love with her and her family,” said Devyn Kohl, another registered nurse at the hospital. “It was a true honor to be part of her family's journey.”
She is the world's smallest surviving baby according to the tiniest baby registry, maintained by the University of Iowa, Khaleghi said.
She officially weighed in at 7 grams less than the previous world’s smallest surviving baby born in Germany in 2015.
The hospital, located in central San Diego, helps parents deliver nearly 8,000 babies each year, according to the hospital's website.
It’s not every day you get a private performance from a Grammy-nominated platinum recording artist in your school gym. But that’s how students at an elementary school in Farmington got to spend their Wednesday after donating thousands of items for a good cause.
The students at Noah Wallace Elementary School in Farmington got the special visit from Gavin DeGraw after winning this year’s Bag It Up for Goodwill challenge by a landslide. They collected nearly 80,000 items for donation.
“This reminds me what life is all about,” said DeGraw after his performance in the gym. “This is the most beautiful possible day I could’ve had.”
“I knew a couple of his songs before we started doing the contest, but now I definitely know a lot more,” said fourth grader Brooke Hacker. “I’m a huge fan.”
The proceeds from the 79,862 items they donated to Goodwill will go towards programs and career centers that help people with disabilities across the state.
“All the students like emptied out their closets and we got clothes toys old books, and everyone participated,” Hacker said. “We thought about how we could help the community, and that really like helped us get the items and know that we were doing it for a good cause.”
“It’s significant not just that they won, but that it’s the largest number we’ve ever seen,” said Jeremy Mooser from the Goodwill of Western and Northern Connecticut.
Noah Wallace School Principal, Carrie Huber, says proud is an understatement.
“They worked so hard,” she said, “Our student council set a goal they achieved it.”
And today’s celebration of their success turned out to be to be inspiring for more than just the students.
“I want to thank the school, you guys did such a great job, the children were amazing, and it was just – this was heaven,” DeGraw said.
For young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, finding a job can be challenging. And It’s tough to learn the social skills needed in a work setting in a classroom. That’s why the Project SEARCH program at UConn in Farmington exists.
Wednesday the five interns in the class of 2019 graduated after spending months in an innovative rotational program specifically designed to help them make their transition to the real world.
“I was not sure if I was gonna be able to make it through graduation and not be capable of working, but I proved myself wrong by doing that,” said graduate Justin Thor from Harwinton.
Thor and his four Project SEARCH peers have spent 30 weeks working at different UConn Health departments, with one goal in mind.
“The goal is 100 percent employment,” said Sandy Finnimore who manages the program. “We hope that all of our interns will get placed somewhere in a job that they enjoy making a competitive wage and in an inclusive environment.”
The graduates participated in three 10-week-long internships learning skills to help them get jobs and succeed at them.
“How to like pay attention and keep busy, and manage my time,” said Project SEARCH graduate Marcus Apter from West Hartford.
Even though he made it to the end, Apter hopes the learning doesn’t stop after graduation.
“My dream job would be in an office setting,” he said. “But I would like to do anything and learn different kinds of skills.”
Project SEARCH Executive Director Stephen Morris the program at UConn has a 94 percent job placement success rate.
“You can’t learn social skills that are required at a job in a classroom, you spend time on the job and that’s what our interns are doing that’s why our program is so successful,” said Morris.
Out of the 45 programs like it across the country, Morris says the program at UConn is the most successful.
Project SEARCH was founded in 1996 at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and it’s designed for students either in their last year of high school or graduates in their first year out of school.
There’s a multi-year, multi-million project underway to fix a bottlenecking nightmare for drivers on I-91 north heading east of Hartford and on Wednesday night, the construction will really start impacting drivers.
Exit 28 is shutting down for two years, unless heavy rain pushes back the closure until Thursday evening.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation says they have to close that exit so they can take steps to build a new, two-lane exit ramp to the Charter Oak Bridge at Exit 29, replacing the one lane that is known for traffic.
“So I come from Berlin, so in the morning, I have to leave like 40 minutes, probably 40 minutes, early because it backs up from Rocky Hill, actually into Cromwell sometimes all the way,” said Jennifer Parmelee, who commutes to her family produce business in Hartford.
“I know that it’s so congested. I know for myself personally, if I have to go up 91 or 84, I take the Berlin Turnpike,” said her sister-in-law Lisa Driscoll of Wethersfield. “You can look on the highway. It’s miles and miles of backup.”
“We have to widen I-91 northbound and in order to do that we have to widen a bridge over (Routes) 5 and 15,” said Jim Vincenzo, the CT DOT supervising engineer.
Vincenzo says the headache of the closure will be worth it in the long-run.
“There’s a big payoff at the end.”
But for now, instead of taking Exit 28, the state is asking drivers to detour off what’s already causing the biggest backup, Exit 29. Then, they say you can take Exit 90 to Route 2 westbound and turn right off the first East River Drive exit and right onto southbound Routes 5 and 15.
We have heard from some locals that they know of some better detour routes, but CT DOT says they prefer this detour because they believe it will have the least impact.
“Hopefully they’ll finish it on time or even a little bit before, but that’s a long time. But something needs to be done if you could ever see the congestion there it’s backed up at a dead stop its crazy,” said Driscoll.
To get email notifications about the progress of this project, you can sign up for emails from the state.
Gov. Ned Lamont is looking to get a vote on tolls before the end of the legislative session next Thursday, and not looking to a Special Session like he announced last week.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions Lamont has held with Democratic leaders in the General Assembly told NBC Connecticut that Lamont believes there will be time, once the state budget is finalized, to get his tolls proposal through the General Assembly.
“I certainly hope this is not the case,” said Sen. Len Fasano, (R – North Haven), the top Republican in the Senate.
Last week, Lamont announced with the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate, their intention to hold a Special Session devoted to infrastructure planning and spending.
One source told NBC Connecticut, “with the budget at 98 percent done,” the governor feels there will be momentum, but importantly, the time to pass tolls through both the House and Senate.
Democrats in both chambers discussed the measure behind closed doors Wednesday.
Fasano said if the plan changes to hold a vote on tolls before lawmakers adjourn at midnight next Thursday, then there will be trust issues with the administration.
"You only have your word in this building and your word is your bond,” Fasano said. “That's what you live with in this building and if you break your word, it goes a long way to wreck your relationships in the future so I just hope if he's done this he rethinks this because that would be going back on a promise that he has made to me."
The Louisiana House of Representatives passed an abortion ban on a 79-23 vote Wednesday that would prohibit women from terminating a pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat has been detected, NBC News reports.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has indicated that he would break with his party and sign the ban if it crosses his desk. The Senate already approved the bill with amendments that include language to require an ultrasound and clarified that abortion did not include medically necessary terminations.
The House rejected an amendment Wednesday that would have provided an exception to the bill for women and girls who had been impregnated through rape or incest.
Special counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday morning that in any testimony before Congress he would not provide information beyond what is already public about Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election or accusations of obstruction into his investigation by President Donald Trump. But in what could be a roadmap forward for Democrats, he noted that there is another procedure for charging a president of a crime.
That procedure is impeachment by Congress.
“The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing," he said, without using the word "impeachment."
His comment came as part of his explanation about why charging the president with a crime was "not an option we could consider."
Mueller repeated what he said in the report, that if the special counsel’s team had confidence that the president did not commit a crime it would have said so.
“We did not however make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime,” he said.
He also reiterated that a decision from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel did not permit him to charge a president with a crime while he is in office, even if the charge were kept under seal and hidden from the public.
Still, volume II of his report outlines 10 possible episodes of obstruction.
Democrats have been wrestling with whether to initiate an impeachment investigation into whether Trump tried to obstruct Mueller’s investigation, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging restraint. At the same she has been goading Trump in her public statements.
Last week, she said, “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.”
On Wednesday she thanked Mueller for his "patriotic duty to seek the truth" and said that "the Congress holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate and hold the President accountable for his abuse of power."
Rep. Jerry Nadler, Democrat of New York, is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has the power to initiate an impeachment inquiry, but after Mueller's statement he also stopped short of calling for one.
“Given that Special Counsel Mueller was unable to pursue criminal charges against the President, it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump — and we will do so," Nadler said. "No one, not even the President of the United States, is above the law."
Other Democrats have begun talk about impeachment, among them those running for president in 2020: former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
"Mueller's statement makes clear what those who have read his report know: It is an impeachment referral, and it's up to Congress to act," Warren tweeted. "They should."
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has said he would support impeachment proceedings, called Mueller's statement as close as to an impeachment referral as possible under the circumstances
"The message really is, 'Over to you, Congress,'" he said.
Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the Democratic chairman of the House Budget Committee, said on MSNBC on Saturday, "I'm one of those who believes that we will inevitably have an impeachment proceeding, and if we don't then we've actually neglected our duty under the Constitution,"
On the Republican side, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a strong ally of Trump, tweeted: "And as for me, the case is over. Mr. Mueller has decided to move on and let the report speak for itself. Congress should follow his lead."
Trump himself tweeted: "There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed!"
