Police are asking for help from the public after a burglary at a Westport home and they are asking anyone with outside surveillance video in the area to contact them. 

Police said the burglary happened early Wednesday afternoon and they think the burglar or burglars might have approached other homes before breaking into the home that was burglarized. 

Detectives want to speak with residents in the neighborhoods surrounding Bayberry Lane near Easton Road and the Meeker Road area whose home has a Ring-type doorbell camera or other external video surveillance that was active between noon and 3 p.m. Wednesday. 

Residents of the area who have surveillance video are asked to call Detective Restieri at (203) 341-6025 or the Westport Police Department’s Detective bureau at (203) 341-6080. 

An Ohio family using a home DNA test found that their 25-year-old daughter is not related to her father, according to a lawsuit they filed against a hospital and two fertility practices.

Joe Cartellone said his family made the discovery earlier this year after buying an Ancestry DNA kit to learn more about their Italian heritage, says the family's lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.

“I never would have imagined the Christmas gift of a home DNA kit would unveil this kind of abuse of our trust,” Cartellone told reporters this week.

He and his wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Rebecca, are suing three Cincinnati defendants — the Institute for Reproductive Health, The Christ Hospital and Ohio Fertility Providers, NBC News reports. DNA tests showed that Rebecca is related to five men she has never met before, and one of them "previously worked as a doctor at The Christ Hospital,” family lawyer Adam Wolf told NBC affiliate WCMH in Columbus.

A vehicle fire has closed part of Interstate 84 west in Middlebury on Friday afternoon.

The vehicle fire closed the westbound side of the highway between exits 17 and 16, according to state Department of Transportation officials. Traffic is now able to get by in the left lane.

There is also more than three miles of congestion reported in the area. The congestion spans between exits 21 and 16 and extends into Waterbury.

Authorities have not released details on how long the highway is expected to be closed for.

No injuries were reported.

There's another big development with our state's 911 system that NBC Connecticut Investigates has been tracking.

More than $1 million in federal funding has been awarded to our state to help in the event of a 911 dispatch center having an unexpected shutdown.

The funding is a federal grant from the USDOT that the state has been anticipating for some time.

The grant funds will be used to build a training room that will also double as a backup dispatch center in an emergency.

It will be fully functional with data terminals, two-way radio and the text to 911 technology that was just rolled out last summer.

So far, the state has not determined exactly where the new facility will be located.

The state had been discussing putting it in the Waterbury Police Department's former 911 center, but those talks have stalled.

At Mountain Mist in Meriden, these kids are hard at play. They have one thing in common—diabetes.

“A day camp for kids who have diabetes and their families to send their kids to safe environment, so kids can be kids and their diabetes are still taken care of,” said Dr. Cem Demirci, endocrinologist at Connecticut Children’s.

“What we do here is when they come in your blood sugar is checked they are monitored through the day.”

The week at camp was made possible through a unique partnership between the medical center, YMCA and the Lions Club.

“Lions Club came to us and said 'can we do this?' He said of course we can do this we just have to figure out how,” camp director Carolyn Daniels said.

“My favorite activity is probably when we go swimming,” said 11-year-old Hayden McGee from Oakville.

Two of the camp counselors have diabetes themselves.

“Best part about camp at the activities and how well the staff communicates," said Elias Claudio from New Britain. “I appreciate that people do stuff like this, and they actually do care. There are people out there in the world that make fun of diabetes.”

“Honestly it’s been an absolutely amazing experience I think for us as well as the children,” said Jacob Conte, a counselor at the camp.

The Lions Club fully funded the program. In the future, they hope to expand it across the state.

“This is something that has definitely going to continue going to continue and grow,” said Alan Daninhirsch of the Lions Club.

A former USA National Team figure skater has filed a lawsuit alleging a coach sexually assaulted him on numerous occasions, including at a U.S. Figure Skating event in San Diego.

Attorneys from Manly, Stewart and Finaldi, the same firm that represented victims of former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, filed the lawsuit on behalf of skater Adam Schmidt in San Diego Superior Court.

The lawsuit alleges figure skating coach Richard Callaghan sexually molested Schmidt when the skater was only 14 years old while he was training with the U.S. National Team. The assaults, according to the lawsuit, began in 1999 while Schmidt trained under Callaghan at the Onyx Skating Academy in Macomb, Michigan.

The last known alleged abuse occurred in San Diego in 2001 during the Masters of Figure Skating competition.

“At this event, Callaghan saw Schmidt, still a minor of approximately 16 years old, and secluded and sexually abused him on the premises of where this event took place,” reads a statement from Schmidt’s attorneys. “Callaghan was not suspended from coaching until 2018, 19 years after the initial complaint.”

Last year, Callaghan, who coached former Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski, was suspended from the U.S. Figure Skating Committee over sexual misconduct allegations that were made by another skater, Craig Maurizi. Maurizi, who worked with Callaghan, accused him of sexual misconduct when Maurizi was just 15 years old. Maurizi’s allegations were first reported by the The New York Times. 

“It is one more sad example of the culture of child abuse that is rampant in our Olympic sports programs,” said Schmidt’s attorney, John Manly.

“Our client is an extremely talented young athlete who dreamed of nothing more than to stand on an Olympic podium and hear our National Anthem. Instead, he had to stop competing in the sport he loved because of the sexual, physical and emotional damage done to him by his coach, Richard Callaghan. The U.S. Figure Skating Association and the ice rinks where Callaghan worked ignored complaints against him for years. If they had done their legal duty in 1999 and reported Callaghan to the police, our client and other children could have been protected from this monster.”

In a statement to NBC 7, a spokesperson for the U.S. Figure Skating said the organization does not comment on pending litigation.

The statement added, “U.S Figure Skating fully supports all victims of sexual abuse and misconduct and encourages anyone who has been abused or suspects abuse or misconduct to immediately report it to local law enforcement, the U.S. Center for SafeSport or U.S. Figure Skating.”

A man who authorities say worked as a security guard has been arrested and accused of plotting to firebomb a Las Vegas synagogue or a bar catering to LGTBQ customers, officials said Friday.

An FBI-led anti-terrorism task force on Wednesday netted the 23-year-old suspect and identified him as Conor Climo of Las Vegas, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Trutanich said in a statement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe on Friday ordered the suspect to remain in federal custody pending an Aug. 23 court appearance on a federal firearms charge.

Climo's court-appointed federal public defender didn't immediately respond to messages.

Court documents say Climo communicated by encrypted internet chat with people identified as white supremacists, and told an FBI informant in recent weeks that he was scouting places to attack.

"Threats of violence motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities have no place in this country," Trutanich said.

Documents point to a 2016 news report by KTNV-TV in Las Vegas about Climo patrolling his neighborhood wearing battle gear and carrying an assault rifle and survival knife. He shows and describes to a reporter the four, 30-bullet ammunition magazines he is carrying.

Neighbors expressed concern, but Climo was not arrested at that time.

Las Vegas police Officer Aden OcampoGomez noted Friday that Nevada is an open-carry weapon state and Climo broke no laws.

Trutanich said Climo was arrested Thursday after a probe involving at least one undercover online contact and an FBI confidential informant who reported that Climo "discussed, in detail, how to build a "self-contained Molotov" incendiary device.

Investigators serving a warrant at his home found hand-drawn schematics and component parts of a destructive device, according to the criminal complaint, including flammable liquids, oxidizing agents and circuit boards. They also confiscated an AR-15 assault-style weapon and a bolt-action rifle.

The charge against Climo accuses him of possessing an unregistered firearm in the form of the component parts of a destructive device.

"Climo would regularly use derogatory racial, anti-Semitic and homosexual slurs," the U.S. attorney's office statement said. "He discussed attacking a Las Vegas synagogue and making Molotov Cocktails and improvised explosive devices, and he also discussed conducting surveillance on a bar he believed catered to the LGBTQ community."

Climo could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he is convicted.

Several Norwich schools are on the chopping block as the city looks to save $5 million from their school district’s budget.

“Our ultimate goal is to have more money available for teaching in the classroom,” said Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom (R).

In another sign of tight times, the Norwich Public School District expects to close several of its facilities.

On the chopping block in the draft proposal are Mahan Elementary, the city’s two pre-k buildings and Veterans Elementary. Although there’s also talk of keeping Veterans open and expanding it.

“It’d be horrible for the community,” said Quinelle Higgins.

Higgins said her special needs son started school the last time the district closed two of its buildings. One of her three children attend Veterans Elementary.

“Imagine kindergarten, one teacher, 30 kindergartners, that’s hard for any child to learn, whether they have a disability or not,” Higgins said.

She doesn’t want to see that happen again.

“Classroom size in itself isn’t going to dictate these changes. It is not. It’s a component that’s important. It will be considered through all of it but there’s a lot of issues we have to look at,” said Nystrom.

The Mayor, who sits on the committee of parents, city council, and school board members that have spent the last year studying the issue said consolidating students into larger buildings is a necessity. The district’s central office and alternative high school would also be moved under this proposal as the buildings they’re housed in closed.

“We’re spending $7.5-$8 million on transportation alone moving kids across the city,” Nystrom explained.

The committee has also proposed building a brand new school in a more centralized location, which has Higgins scratching her head.

“That doesn’t make any sense to me. If there’s nothing majorly wrong with the ones we have why would we tear them down to build one larger one,” Higgins questioned.

Nystrom, a former teacher and state lawmaker, said the state is partially to blame.

“The biggest problem we face right now is they make a program, they say this is the funding level to expect and then they don’t keep their word. The money never shows up. But, they pass mandates telling us how to spend the money they didn’t give us,” said Nystrom.

“With all the taxes you pay in Connecticut, let alone Norwich, which has absolutely nothing for our community or our kids, I’m pretty sure they can afford it,” said Higgins.

Nystrom said it’s too soon to tell whether the plan, which is still in the draft phase, will lead to teacher layoffs.

The plan will have to be approved by the city council, the state, and voters, which means it could be three to four years before the schools close. The committee will meet again in two weeks.

A serious motorcycle crash has closed Route 14 in Canterbury on Friday night.

Route 14 is closed at the Canterbury and Plainfield town lines, according to Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Troopers were called to Lovell Lane, also known as Route 14, around 7 p.m. after getting a report of a crash with serious injuries. DOT officials said the crash involves a motorcycle.

First responders are at the scene and DOT personnel are assisting with a temporary road closure.

There is no estimate for when the road will reopen.

A crash with serious injuries has closed part of Route 8 south in Shelton on Friday night.

Troopers were called to Route 8 southbound near exit 12 around 6:20 p.m. after getting a report of a crash with serious injuries.

First responders remain at the scene and Department of Transportation personnel are assisting with a temporary road closure.

Route 8 southbound is closed between exits 13 and 12, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Motorists should expect delays if they are in the area and are encouraged to use alternate routes.

Officials expect the highway to be closed for three hours or less.

It’s the height of the summer season with so many events planned before the school year starts up again.

But last weekend’s tragedies in Texas and Ohio are weighing on the hearts of many folks around the country.

Folks we spoke to in Lebanon and in Mystic Friday said the horrible actions of a few bad actors is not worth living in fear.

“You can’t raise your kids in fear. Unfortunately, there’s going to be those people everywhere. You go and you just kind of have to hope for the best,” said Melissa Wilkinson, visiting Mystic from Rhode Island.

As preparations are underway for the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival, those we spoke to in town won’t be shying away from this crowded event and others.

And in Lebanon, the more people the merrier.

Families looking forward to the Lebanon Country Fair every year for 60-years now, “For me it’s a family affair,” said Marissa Mackewicz, co-director of the exhibition hall.

Organizers here are welcoming the community with open arms all to support local organizations, “We’re very excited for the weather this year, so it’s a great day to be out and enjoying what Connecticut has to offer,” said Mckewicz.

Sadly, the town’s first selectwoman said that security and safety is something they have to think about though.

And back in Mystic, 10-month-old Parker is enjoying her first family vacation. “I’ve become very soft and I love her so much. Everything we do is for her now. Came here to Mystic to get her breakfast, ice cream, and walk around and see everything,” said Parker’s dad Jared Teich, visiting from the Philadelphia area.

While having kids is a major life change, some we spoke to here say they’re also living more cautiously after hearing about last weekend’s tragedies, “Definitely we’re concerned when we go to large crowds or big events, we keep an eye on her and hope for the best and hopefully we can enjoy ourselves.”

One tourist we met has taken matters into her own hands.

“Some colleagues and I started a festival in Keene, NH,” said Elizabeth Nieuwsma-Dell of Vermont.

She hopes celebrating diversity during a multicultural festival will effect change in her community. “We wanted to do something to combat hatred, and what could we do. And this was an idea, something concrete that would effect a lot of people.”

From the Mystic River to the Lebanon fairground, wherever we traveled we heard similar sentiments,

“We wouldn’t know what to do if that ever happens, so we just cross our fingers and just keep living,” said Wilkinson.

“You got to live your life get out here and enjoy it,” said Mackewicz.

“I just feel like you have to live your life you can’t just sit at home and not go out and explore,” said Allison Teich from Philadelphia.

The Lebanon Country Fair runs Friday through this weekend.

The Mystic Outdoor Art Festival is Saturday and Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.

Police have arrested a man and a woman who are accused of breaking into an occupied home in Coventry on Friday afternoon.

Officers were called to home on South Street around 12:30 p.m. after getting a report of a burglary in progress at an occupied home. Police said the elderly homeowner had barricaded herself in a bedroom and called 911.

When crews arrived, police said they found a woman sitting in a vehicle parked in the driveway. The vehicle had been reported stolen out of Farmington, authorities added. She was taken into custody without incident.

Police said they then found a man exiting the back door of the home and he was taken into custody without incident.

Officers said the man had cash and miscellaneous items stolen from the home in his possession. He was also found with a folding knife and burglary tools.

The homeowner was found safely barricaded in the bedroom, police added.

According to police, Kyle Youmans, of Hartford, and Cory Burtchell, of Bristol, are both facing charges including home invasion, burglary and larceny by possession. They were each held on $250,000 bond and are scheduled to be in court on Monday.

A black transgender woman, Pebbles LaDime Doe, was killed this week in South Carolina, making her the 14th black transgender woman killed in the U.S. this year, authorities said, NBC News reported. 

Doe, 24, who was mis-gendered in initial reports, was found dead Sunday in a car parked in a driveway in Allendale County, according to the Post and Courier. 

Authorities said they would not immediately release any more details, such as how she was killed.

"We are sounding the alarm — we are in an absolute state of emergency for black transgender women,” said Chase Glenn, executive director of South Carolina LGBTQ group the Alliance For Full Acceptance. “We are at a crisis point that demands the nation’s attention.

Chase Bank announced on Thursday it will forgive all outstanding debt for Canadian customers who had either of its two VISA cards, NBC News reported.

The move was a business decision to ease the bank's exit as it wound down the credit cards, which it retired last year after 13 years of operation, Maria Martinez, vice president of communications for Chase Card Services, told NBC News.

“Chase made the decision to exit the Canadian credit card market. As part of that exit, all credit card accounts were closed on or before March 2018,” she said in a statement.

Initially customers were told to continue to make payments on the accounts after the credit card operations ceased. But this week Canadian who held the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and the Marriott Premier Rewards Visa saw their balances go to zero.

A congressional committee is sharpening their scrutiny of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, questioning the agency’s oversight of gun dealers who sell firearms involved in a large number of crimes, NBC News reported.

The inquiry, which comes after back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, has been welcomed by gun rights activists who have been raising questions about the ATF’s ability to do its job amid congressional restrictions that have hamstrung the agency.

In a letter sent Friday, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., asked the agency for a series of documents to “better understand enforcement efforts” of gun dealers that sell a large number of guns that are used in crimes.

The committee is asking for the top five gun dealers of each state that are responsible for the sale of guns recovered in crimes from January 1, 2014 to August 22, 2019 and the relevant information of each purchase, including the name and location of the dealer, the number of guns sold by each dealer involved in crimes and the number of homicides or assaults committed with the guns.

To help keep you informed on the most shared and talked about stories, each Saturday and Sunday we'll revisit five stories from the previous week, including the most recent updates.

Flesh-Eating Bacteria

A New Britain man contracted a flesh-eating bacteria and had to have part of his leg amputated after he says he dipped his feet in the water at Hammonasset Beach State Park in June. Bruce Kagan got sick days later and after many surgeries to save his leg, eventually doctors decided to amputate. See more on the story here.

Tragedy Times Two

The nation again spent the week reeling from not one, but two mass shootings. The shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio were just 13 hours apart. In all, 31 people were killed and dozens wounded. President Trump visited both cities during the week, where he was greeted by protesters as he visited with survivors. For the latest on the shootings, click here.

Message of Hate

The Halal butcher shop in Bloomfield that was at the center of a controversy after an escaped cow was slaughtered in a Home Depot parking lot, was the target of anti-Muslim graffiti. The owners of Saba Live Poultry arrived Wednesday morning to find hateful messages scrawled on their building. See more on the investigation here.

Suspect Found Dead

A murder suspect out on bond was found dead on the property of his Fairfield home after his GPS monitor stopped responding Tuesday, according to police. James Taylor was found in a shipping container. He was facing murder charges in the death of his ex-wife. For more on what happened, click here.

Show Me The Money

Believe it or not, there is a way you can make money off of those annoying robocalls to your cell phone. A Texas man has found a way to turn those robocalls into thousands of dollars -- legally. See just how it's done here.

New Haven police have arrested a man who is accused of making a concerning comment about the New Haven Puerto Rican Festival.

Officers said they arrested 53-year-old Jeffrey Hanson, of Orange, overnight after an investigation into a social media post that created concerns for the festival.

According to police, the threat was posted on a local news station's Facebook page on Wednesday and it read the festival is why "we need 30 round magazines." 

New Haven Police Chief Otoniel Reyes said the post went viral and they immediately launched an investigation along with the FBI.

He said while this was an isolated incident, police took the threat very seriously and increased their presence at the festival.

"Whenever anyone threatens the safety of anyone, it is something that is a high priority for us, especially with the climate today around the country where hateful rhetoric has led to violence. We wanted to make sure that our public here in New Haven and the national public knew that this is not something we were going to take lightly," Reyes said.

Mayor Toni Harp echoed the chief's position in a statement on Saturday.

"In New Haven, we will not allow hate, racism, gender bias, or elitism divide us as a city. In New Haven, we will defend equally the rights of all – in this case, the rights of Puerto Rican Americans – to assemble peacefully to celebrate their culture and their traditions," she said. "And in this case, we also defend the rights of the rest of us to attend and enjoy today’s Puerto Rican Festival."

The New Haven Puerto Rican Festival takes place on Saturday from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Hanson is being charged with breach of peace and was held on a $50,000 bond. He posted bond on Saturday morning and is due in court on Monday.

A candlelight vigil will be held on Saturday night for a woman who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Hartford on Monday.

Officials at Mothers United Against Violence said the vigil will be at 415 Hillside Avenue in Hartford, where 55-year-old Sharlene Mansfield, passed away. The vigil is expected to begin at 6 p.m.

Police said they received a call just before noon on Monday reporting a hit-and run just after the intersection of Hillside and New Britain Avenue.

When officers arrived, they found Mansfield in the street, unresponsive. She was transported to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

"Sharlene prayed for crash victims on her street and elsewhere. Now let us join together in prayer for her and an end to these deaths," Mothers United Against Violence said in a Facebook post.

Officers on patrol said they found the suspect vehicle, described as a gray 2018 Hyundai Sonata with heavy front-end damage on Farmington Avenue in Hartford on Tuesday. The car had been reported stolen out of Ellington on August 2.

Police said a person who was in the area of the vehicle did try to run from police and was taken into custody. That person had an active warrant and it is unclear if he has anything to do with the hit-and-run case or the car, police said.

Anyone with information is urged to call 860-722-TIPS.

Police are looking for a man after a woman said she was robbed at gunpoint in New Britain Friday night.

The woman said she was walking on Main Street when a man displaying a handgun demanded money from her, police said.

The woman ran to her car to escape the man and was not injured in the incident, according to police.

Officials checked nearby surveillance cameras and found an image of the suspect on a bicycle.

Police said they are looking for the pictured male, who the woman described as a Hispanic male in his 50s or 60s wearing a black fitted hat, blue jeans and a white and black shirt.

Anyone with information on the identity of the pictured man is asked to call police at (860) 826-3000.

The world of social media — already awash in conspiracy thinking in the Trump era — erupted with new theories Saturday after the news broke that Jeffrey Epstein had died by suicide under mysterious circumstances in his jail cell, NBC News reports.

One of the prime movers was President Donald Trump, who retweeted a post by the conservative comedian Terrence K. Williams suggesting that Epstein was dead because he "had information on Bill Clinton."

"I see #TrumpBodyCount trending but we know who did this!" wrote Williams, who is a headliner on the Deplorables Comedy Tour, which promises to "unleash the conservative mindset, transcending politics and unabashedly mocking liberals."

"RT if you're not Surprised," Williams wrote.

And the president did, giving a boost to one of many theories that ventured into the realm of outlandish conjecture, amplified by other conservative commentators and at least two other Republican officials.