The University of Connecticut is tightening up its tailgating rules and warning students that bad behavior at Pratt & Whitney Stadium could mean the end of the student lot.

In a letter to students, Athletics Director David Benedict said that students must abide by the university’s tailgating policy, which details rules prohibiting hard alcohol, times tailgating is permitted, parking rules and other information.

School officials did not specify what problems they were seeing at the student lot.

Those who have tailgated there before said things can get unruly.

UConn Senior Andre Hristu said he checked out the student tailgating section before football games last year and it was not his thing.

“Too rowdy, too loud. I don’t really like it," he said.

After the lot was created at Rentschler Field in East Hartford three years ago, UConn said it’s getting tougher when it comes to the rules for students.

Among the additions this year:

• No hard alcohol, only beer and wine
• No large containers of liquids
• No standing in or on top of trucks and cars

“It’s a bunch of drunk people hanging out. I don’t know why the put restrictions on it. Because that’s the only reason people go to the football games. But I understand because of how people act after," said UConn junior Xela Laird.

Athletic Director David Benedict said while he understands tailgating is an important part of the gameday experience they need to ensure the health and safety of all students and fans.

In a letter to students, he wrote in part:

“Law enforcement will have a greater presence than in past years to ensure that the tailgating policies are followed and that unacceptable behavior is wiped out. The student lot was created three years ago with the hope that providing an exclusive lot for students would create more enthusiasm and camaraderie among the student body and I still think that can be realized,” he wrote. “However, if the student culture cannot adhere to the appropriate guidelines, the student tailgate lot privilege will be eliminated.”

Even with the changes, students were looking forward to the upcoming season, especially since now they just have to swipe their ID to get in for free.

“It’s pretty fun. You get to see a lot of people. The football team, it’s good to support them," said UConn junior Megan Sturm.

“The school pride for sure. Everyone is, it’s a community as soon as you get there. I’m really excited to see that," said junior Tessa Dipallina.

The home opener against Wagner is set for 7 p.m. Thursday.

New Haven parents are fuming after the school district released a new set of bus routes, changing some stop locations and eliminating others altogether.

The school district’s leaders said the changes are about eliminating redundancies on bus routes and improving student health and activity.

“There were dozens of bus stops where no one actually got on because those people were no longer in the system either through graduation or moving away. This year we cleaned all of the data and reestablished the routes effectively from scratch,” said New Haven Public School Chief Operating Officer Michael Pinto.

But given the pushback from parents, the district is now saying sorry, and they claim they’re going to try to fix things.

“They’re ridiculous, I’m sorry to say it that way but it’s ridiculous,” said parent Loyda Hernandez.

Hernandez learned over the weekend that her kids’ bus stops are moving further away, and one child is losing a ride to school altogether.

“That’s not fair, not only for my child, but for other little kids that have to walk,” Hernandez said.

The school district said K-8 students must now live more than a half mile from the school to get bus service. It’s a mile and a half for high schoolers.

Instead of catching the bus, this year Hernandez’s high school sophomore will have to walk from the family’s home on Shepard Street to school at Hillhouse High, which could take as long as 30 minutes.

“I want them to put the stops where they were before,” Hernandez said.

A day before school started, hundreds of parents showed up at district headquarters, angry about the changes they said are poorly planned, inconvenient, and in some cases, unsafe.

School Board President Darnell Goldson said the board wasn’t consulted about the route changes and the school district’s plan wasn’t thought out.

“This roll out wasn’t tested before it was rolled out and that’s frustrating because they had all summer to do it,” Goldson said. “I think they’re trying to save some money and they’re just realizing they made a mistake now. “

Recognizing the mistake, the district’s COO said they’re now reevaluating the bus changes, though families will have to tolerate their problematic routes, at least for now.

“We sincerely apologize for that. Its raised significant concerns and anxiety in our New Haven Public Schools family,” Pinto said. “If you received a bus assignment, please follow that for the time being, but we are working to address your issue.”

The school district wasn’t about to provide numbers for how many families are losing or gaining service, or how much money they are saving.

But they said they’re working on fixes, and admitted some of those stops are in places they shouldn’t be.

The new changes will be announced on September 9.

Without making the policy change public, USCIS, and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, has quietly rejected all requests for deferred action, except those made by certain military members and veterans, NBC News reports. In addition, deferred action for immigrants who arrived as children, known as "Dreamers" under the DACA program, is protected because of ongoing litigation.

The deffered action program is reserved for  immigrants who have "compelling circumstances," such as a medical condition. Approved applicant do not get the legal right to work, but the status can prevent them from being deported while they await a green card.

WBUR-FM, Boston's National Public Radio station, was first to report that USCIS has denied medical deferred action requests, reserved for immigrants with health conditions whose lives would be endangered if they were deported.

USCIS told NBC News the policy of denying deferred action now applies not only to medical cases but more generally to all deferred action requests outside of the military and DACA. Instead, applicants must apply to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"USCIS field offices will no longer consider nonmilitary requests for deferred action, to instead focus agency resources on faithfully administering our nation’s lawful immigration system," an agency spokesperson said in a statement.

At Bradley International Airport people departing on flights to Florida Wednesday said they’re watching this storm, worried about what Hurricane Dorian will mean for their travel plans.

Carolyn Rios was heading to Disney for a huge family trip with her daughters.

“I’m hoping that it doesn’t hit Florida,” she said. “I don’t wanna cry because it could be a really sad birthday for my niece. We always make it through the weather, but we are looking forward to a good, sunny fifth birthday that the whole entire family can enjoy.”

Dorian gathered strength and became a hurricane Wednesday afternoon.

Caroline Padilla from Glastonbury just returned from Florida. She said people there are preparing for the storm.

“I know a lot of people are buying water,” she said. “That’s for sure. People are doing that already. Getting water because that goes fast.”

Suzanne Aresco at AAA said traveling during hurricane season is usually cheaper, but it’s risky.

“You’ve got to worry about flight changes and delays, cruise changes, alterations or cancellations,” she said. “So at AAA we are monitoring this storm.”

She said it’s a good idea to check the cancellation policy as early as possible to avoid unexpected fees.

“If someone booked travel on their own, my suggestion would be to go onto the airline website, go onto the cruise or hotel website and find out do they have weather advisories up.”

As summer winds down, fair season heats up, bringing in amusement rides and attractions.

Consumer Investigator Sandra Jones looked into just how safe those rides are, and what goes in to making sure they stay that way.

Whether it’s the state fair, amusement parks, or even carnivals, Connecticut State Police say safety is non-negotiable.

Tragedies have marred the fun at events across the country.

In 2018, a woman fell out of an amusement ride in Queens ending up in the hospital. In 2017, the Fireball ride at the Ohio State Fair malfunctioned mid-air, killing one person and injuring seven others.

And in 2016, at Ocean Beach in New London, Connecticut State Police shut down the Scrambler after a half dozen people were shocked.

Terrifying scenes have played out at amusement parks across the country.

“We want to keep everybody safe coming out to these carnivals, the travelling road shows that come out,” explained Detective Richard Gregory with the Connecticut State Police Explosion Investigation Unit.

Detective Richard Gregory is charged with keeping you safe on the rides.

“If we could keep the ride from falling over. If we could keep the car onto the ride and if we could keep the passenger safe in the car that they’re sitting in then we’ve done a job there,” he said.

Gregory explained his work as he inspected nearly 30 rides at the Danbury Fair Mall, checking for proper set up and making sure state regulations are followed.

First up was the Ferris wheel.

“I started at the foundation. I start at the blocking at the basic footprint of the ride to make sure that it’s level and steady,” he said.

Working safety restraints are a must.

“Make sure that all of their fasteners are in place. All their seatbelts are properly buckled and broken parts are replaced.”

Some of the equipment’s safety features include indicators for operators.

“You can see none of the green lights are illuminated right now. So, the operator knows this ride can’t start until it gets four green lights across the top,” he said.

Inspectors search for sharp edges or hazards inside of cars, and if they’re securely attached.

“We find a lot of broken and worn parts and pieces to the rides. All of the rides are portable. So, we look at the set up positions of the rides,” Gregory said.

Something else that’s essential for safety at those festivals - height restrictions, which are posted at every ride, set by the manufacturer in both English and Spanish.

“We can never have too many sets of eyes to make sure everything is safe,” said Marc Janas with Powers Great American Midways. Janas said his company hasn’t had a mishap in 40 years, and they plan to keep it that way.

Janas said that he thinks sometimes, carnivals get a bad wrap.

“I think people have a misperception that it’s a fly by night type of operation where we’re a multi-million dollar business,” Janas said. “We’re very, very proud of what we do and we’re proud to have a great safety record.”

According to Connecticut State Police, 2078 amusement rides were inspected in 2018 in Connecticut. They found deficiencies in 1278, ranging from missing parts to serious safety hazards.

So far this year, out of 1078 inspections they’ve found 562 with deficiencies.

When that happens, Gregory said they put an out of service tag on the ride, and ground it.

The outdoor amusement business Association estimates that out of the 2 million-plus riders annually nationwide, there were roughly between 2,000 to 3,500 reported injuries yearly, with at least one fatality each year.

In Connecticut, there were just four reported injuries in 2017, and no fatalities in 2017 or 2018.

Beacon Falls crews respond to a structure fire on Rimmon Hill Road early thursday morning. 

Officials say the fire is at the old meat packing building on top of Rimmon Hill Road.

No word yet on what caused the fire or if there are any injuries. 

Crews responded to a 10-inch water main break in the area of Asylum Avenue in Hartford Thursday morning.

Officials said they have isolated the leak and 945 Aslyum Ave. is the only property affected.

Police are asking the public to avoid the area while crews work to repair the water service line.

The road is expected to be closed through the morning rush.

Route 191 in East Windsor is closed at Route 140 because of crash. 

No additional information was immediately available.

Federal police officers arrested a Silver Spring, Maryland, woman suspected of attempting to steal sensitive medical specimens and equipment from the clinical center of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

The woman, Chinyere Okunji, is unemployed and suspected of having mental health concerns, according to testimony in court Wednesday. She wore a lab coat with a University of Rochester logo, but does not work for the school or NIH, according to a detention order issued by a federal judge.

The agency said Okunji entered the grounds through the NIH visitor screening process and was issued a visitor's pass. But the agency said it is unaware of why she was on the campus.

The woman was acting suspiciously and "trying to open hospital freezers, which are kept locked and may be accessed only by authorized hospital employees," according to a police affidavit obtained by the News4 I-Team.

The incident occurred Aug. 21 in Building 10 at the NIH clinical center, which is home to about 1,600 clinical studies, including into rare diseases.

Police arrested Okunji, who was ordered detained pending trial at a court hearing Wednesday at the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. She is charged with stealing U.S. property.

According to the NIH police affidavit, "Unknown to any of the hospital personnel, she entered restricted areas of the hospital by following authorized medical personnel into those areas. She was carrying a number of white plastic patient bags containing items belonging to NIH. When confronted by hospital personnel, she said at different times that she was a doctor, was going to see a patient, was with the phlebotomy lab, and was with another clinic."

According to the affidavit, Okunji was found holding bags with specimens of "human peptides" that required refrigeration and were stolen from a medical researcher. The affidavit said she was also found carrying a medical thermometer and hundreds of slides belonging to the hospital.

"The NIH is reminding employees that even if someone is wearing a lab coat or hospital staff attire, that person should still have a valid NIH ID visible," an NIH spokeswoman said. "Employees should not hesitate to question individuals in non-public areas that aren't displaying proper identification and are not known to the employees that work in that area."

Okunji, 29, did not speak during the Wednesday afternoon hearing. She is scheduled to return to court in October. The judge ordered a psychological exam of Okunji.

"We don't know what she did when she had access back there (at NIH)," a federal prosecutor said during Wednesday's court proceedings.

The prosecutor said the feds have not yet completed an estimate of dollar amount or worth of the items stolen.

In his detention order, a federal judge called the items stolen "a weird assortment of rare specimens." The items were taken from the surgery theater at the facility and from freezer knit areas, the judge said.

Okunji's defense attorney declined to comment.

A rideshare passenger gunned down an Uber driver and another passenger in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Tuesday night and told police he was high on PCP at the time of the shooting, authorities say.

Beaudouin Tchakounte, 46, and 32-year-old Casey Xavier Robinson were found dead in a car on Indian Head Highway near Bald Eagle Road about 9:45 p.m., Prince George's County police said. Tchakounte was the Uber driver and Robinson was a passenger.

Detectives quickly learned through information from Uber and other clues that Tchakounte picked up Robinson and later picked up a second passenger, 42-year-old Aaron Lanier Wilson Jr., at a separate location. 

Wilson was arrested about 6 a.m. at his home in the 10000 block of Indian Head Highway.

Police said Wilson confessed that he was picked up and he was inside the vehicle. He also told detectives he was high on PCP, police said.

Wilson was charged with first- and second-degree murder.

During a news conference Wednesday, a spokesperson for police said Tchakounte was the father of four children.

“We are devastated by this news and our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of Beaudouin Tchakounte and Casey Robinson. We will continue to work with law enforcement on their investigation into this heinous crime,” a spokesperson for Uber said to News4 through email.

Police are still asking that anyone who may have passed by the area during the shooting or who saw something to to contact Prince George's County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS.

Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.

The school year in New Haven began on Thursday with 21,500 students heading back to the classrooms. But while many are excited, some parents are frustrated due to the recent changes to the school district’s busing routes. 

Students from Kindergarten through eighth grade now do not get bused if they live within a half a mile from the school. For high school students, the cutoff is 1.5 miles. 

Even the distance getting to a bus stop changed for many families. 

Corrine Smith’s 14-year-old daughter used to walk one block to the bus stop, but it was changed to six blocks. 

“I know a lot of parents in New Haven are frustrated, very frustrated this morning,” Smith said. “New Haven, they need to get it together. They really do. For them to do this and I got her notice for the original bus stop two days ago.” 

The Smith’s story is being echoed across the city and the superintendent has been fielding complaints from angry parents. 

“I just want to say to families, I apologize profusely. This really saddens me. I relied on my operations team and the department of transportation and I was getting briefs from them every week for several months and they assured me we would not interrupt services for our families,” said Carol Birks, the superintendent of public schools in New Haven. 

The superintendent said she was never told a student would have to walk up to a mile and a half to get to school. 

“Given the information that was provided to me, that no student would walk more than a quarter of mile. I would never have allowed that plan to be rolled out,” Birks said. 

Birks said the district plans to rectify the situation in the coming weeks and asked families to be patient. 

“I take this very personally and seriously because our children deserve and our families deserve respect and a great start to the school year. So, again I apologize,” Birks said. 

For parents unhappy with the new bus routes, the district says to call the Department of Transportation at (475)220-1600, fill out the form here or submit a Transportation Change Request Form at your child’s school. 

The DOT will make adjustments on a case-by-case basis by Sept. 6. 

A New Haven police captain who was released from the hospital a week ago after being shot while off-duty received a warm welcome, hugs and handshakes as well as a standing ovation at a New Haven police meeting this morning.

New Haven Police Captain Anthony Duff was off-duty and on his way to the hospital where his first grandchild was born on the night of Monday, Aug. 12 when he saw a man fire a gun at another man. Duff tried to intervene and was shot three times.

Duff was released from the hospital last Thursday and fellow officers lined the exit of Yale New Haven Hospital and cheered as he was released.

On Thursday morning, Duff took some time to speak to fellow officers, as well as media attending the meeting. 

The person who shot Duff fled the scene and remains at large.

Meriden police are investigating the death of a local woman who had been reported missing and they want to speak with anyone who had an eyelash appointment booked with her in the days before her disappearance. 

Meriden police are asking anyone who had an eyelash appointment scheduled with Perrie Mason on Friday, Aug. 16; Saturday, Aug. 17; or Sunday, Aug. 18 to call Detective Femia at 203-630-6219 with any information they have. 

Mason, a 31-year-old single mom of two boys, had moved to Connecticut from Hawaii about two years ago to get a fresh start. 

She was reported missing on Sunday, Aug. 18 and her body was found days later in Waterbury. 

The cause of her death has not been released. 

Mason’s ex-boyfriend, 38-year-old Jason Watson, was arrested in connection with a domestic assault that took place before she went missing and he was charged with strangulation, assault, unlawful restraint and disorderly conduct. A judge called him a “prime suspect” in her disappearance. 

According to the arrest affidavit, Watson called Meriden police on Sunday, Aug. 18 to report that Mason might be missing, but that she also might be at her friend's house and that she was mad at him. He told officers that he would call them again if she didn't show up at work, police said. 

Mason had an eyelash salon on Main Street in Meriden.

Since July, three kids have worked together to help get ready for Connecticut’s Annual Closer to Free Ride, which raises funds for the Smilow Cancer Center.

Mae Zonfrillo, Cooper Leng and Jenna Laudano are all connected to one another due to cancer.

Leng is a Leukemia survivor, while Zonfrillo’s father and Laudano’s mother have both battled the disease.

This year, Laudano decided to get a little more involved with the ride by creating her own team, raising close to $3,000 dollars in two months for research, and riding for her mom.

“She is who I’m mostly riding for and we want to kill the beast and start awareness,” said Laudano. “We know someone who rides closer to free and I thought it will be cool to ride Closer to Free to and form my own team.”

All three were supporters on the sidelines in the past and wanted to pour that effort into 2019 through art.

“Every single time I came here there would be an art project here that I could do,” said Zonfrillo. “I told my Mom, this is so fun why can’t we have the patients do this because it makes me really happy.”

The group began decorating and constructing boats filled with thoughtful handwritten messages on the sails of each ship responding to the prompt “I am.”

The boats were delivered throughout Yale New Haven’s Smilow Cancer Center and taken to nine care centers throughout the state.

“It makes me feel proud to make other people happy,” said Leng. “I’m not really much of an artsy person but it’s fun when you’re doing it with a group, instead of by yourself.”

Dana Brewer is Smilow's Creative Expression Coordinator of Integrated Medicine.

"The patients love it when they read the story behind why we're collecting the response to I am,” said Brewer. “Kids can make a difference and their proving that they can.”

Brewer says it’s a full circle moment after Jenna and her daughter decided to take part in the ride after cheering on other riders.

"I think it’s great to see them riding and say their riding for their mom or their grandmother, or their father or riding for themselves, it really hits home that's everyone has been touched in some way by Cancer,” said Brewer. “The kids themselves are the leads on this project, so it was amazing to work with them.”

NBC Connecticut is proud to be connecting you with the Closer to Free Ride presented by Bank of America, on Saturday, September 7.

"Connecticut’s Best Ride" ride benefits Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center. Riders choose to take on 10, 25, 40, 65 or 100 miles on professionally designed and supported routes traveling through wooded hills and seaside vistas.

After leaving the iconic Yale Bowl after an inspiring and emotional Opening Ceremony, riders pause in front of Smilow Cancer Hospital for the Smilow Salute, where patients, doctors and nurses line the sidewalks and greet the riders to thank them.

One hundred percent of participant fundraising goes to cancer research and care, including clinical trials, survivorship programs, cancer genetics and prevention programs.

Weather and a changing climate are a critical component of Connecticut's mosquito population. 

This summer is expected to close out as the sixth warmest on record since in addition humidity levels are higher than normal. This directly correlates to an increased mosquito population this summer.

Philip Armstrong from the Department of Environmental Sciences says "the mosquitoes this ear are bad we're seeing more mosquitoes in are trap collections than our long term averages and that is largely due to the weather conditions."

Philip went out to say that this wasn't the only year we're dealing with above normal numbers in fact "last year was a record year in terms of the number of mosquitoes that we collected"

Unfortunately with rising temperatures, increasing humidity, and increased rainfall the mosquito population will only increase in years to come.

Data from Climate Central shows that the mosquito seasons are starting earlier and ending later year after year.

From 1980 to 1989 there were and average of 71 active mosquito days and now the average is over 100 days per year in Connecticut. 

This is allowing for new species of mosquitoes to progress northward. One of those species is the Asian Tiger mosquito which is capable of carrying the Zika Virus a virus we have never seen here in Connecticut. 

As kids head back to the classroom in Wolcott, the district is trying to get all of their computers back from hackers.

“It halts everything. It halts all the learning, all the students, they suffer because they don’t get the education that they need,” said Jess Culali, who has three children attending class in the Wolcott Public Schools. “It’s scary that these hackers can do this from wherever.”

Wolcott Superintendent Anthony Gasper said the school district’s computer system was attacked with ransomware at the end of the last school year. According to the school’s superintendent, the staff was unable to access all of their internal files to get the data back. The Wolcott School District was asked to pay the hackers a ransom.

Gasper declined NBC Connecticut’s request for comment. Instead, he referred us back to his interview with a local newspaper. In the Republican American, he said, “Every computer in the district, every server, every network switch. It basically meant that every file that was stored on a network drive or a hard drive was locked."

Gasper said no student data was compromised. Working with IT experts over the summer, Gasper said the school district was able to get most of its data back, but with some files, including teacher lesson plans, still encrypted, he said he planned pay a ransom to get it back.

“If at all possible, don’t pay the ransom. When you pay the ransom you’re just perpetuating the cycle. That makes their attack successful and that encourages them to do more,” said Tim Weber, director of security services at ADNET Technologies.

Weber has worked in the security space for 25 years and says hackers are no longer just targeting big business and large government agencies. In the last five years he says schools and towns have become particularly vulnerable, because they depend so heavily on their computers and are more likely to pay the hackers who hijack their systems.

“It’s blackmail. That’s a blackmail scam. After they pay the ransom they can do it again. Stop it,” said longtime Wolcott resident Charlie Lanza. “We vote for these politicians to protect our tax dollars and they are held ransom for a blackmail scheme and they just reach into our coffers and pay the bill instead of fighting.”

Other taxpayers in town shared Lanza’s concerns.

“I don’t think they should pay the ransom,” said Betty Morse. “It just encourages more compromise of the system and people will just keep paying more money, my taxpayer’s money.”

Wolcott police were brought in, but not until Wednesday, after Chief Edward Stephens read about it in the newspaper. He said he was concerned that his department wasn’t notified sooner to protect the rest of the town’s computer systems. He also said the department may have been able to keep the district from having to pay the ransom, had they been brought in earlier to investigate.

Gasper wouldn’t say how much the hackers are demanding, just that the price tag isn’t “exorbitant.” He confirmed to the Republican-American that the amount was less than $10,000.

Weber said the deductible for cyber insurance is typically around that amount. He cited two recent examples of Florida towns each having to pay $500,000 to hackers. Their insurance paid the bulk of it, while the municipalities only had to cover the $10,000 deductible.

Still, some of the town’s taxpayers worry that paying up with leave it more vulnerable in the future.

“Once you give a ransom then they’re more likely to say we can do it again,” reasoned Culali.

Weber said victims of a cyber-attack are more susceptible to future threats, especially if they don’t take steps to protect themselves.

“They have to figure out how the attackers got in, how this event started, because if they don’t plug that hole then the likelihood is that they’ll get attacked again,” he said.

Several other Connecticut school districts were hacked last school year, but avoided paying a ransom because they had their files backed up.

We reached out to Superintendent Gasper and the entire Wolcott school board.

Board of Education member Kelly Mazza said she abstained from the vote related to the ransomware attack because she didn’t feel she had enough information.

“We were presented the ransom opportunity rather quickly at this week’s meeting because of the narrow timeframe to respond to the hackers so I was not prepared to vote,” she said in an emailed statement. 

Before Avon was the beautiful town we know today, it was known as Northington.

Fast forward almost 200 years to today, there’s a longtime Avon resident who is helping keep the memory of one of the area’s most historical figures of that time alive.

Richard Rulon has been the superintendent at the West Avon Cemetery for almost a decade now, a volunteer position he holds near and dear to his heart.

“My wife is living over here now, and my daughter-in-law, is over here now, I like to keep the place neat for them and everybody else that is over here.”

That connection brought Rulon’s attention to the beat-up headstone of Reverend Rufus Hawley.

“He was the most important person in town for the decisions they had to make, the morals, the values, anything that happened,” said Terri Wilson, president of The Avon Historical Society.

The reverend was born in 1768. He died in 1826, but you can’t make that out on his headstone.

“It was in such bad shape, I just wanted to do something with it,” said Rulon.

So Rulon raised $8,000 to get the reverend a new one, but that wasn’t even the hardest part.

According to state law, he says he had to find one of Hawley’s descendants to sign on off on the change.

“Rev. Rufus is my 5-times great-grandfather,” said John Miller.

The Millers, who live in Oxford, have done research on their relatives, but it was just stories of the past until local historians helped link them to this present project.

“It was easy and it was like a new world opened up to us,” said John’s wife Christine Miller

“Finding the Millers was the key to the whole puzzle,” said Avon town historian Nora Howard.

Now the stone is in the hands of a local sculptor as he works to replicate the original, “Something that’s been weathering for more than 200 years and you want to get it right. You don’t want to find out six months after you finish, oh you made a mistake,” said working sculptor Randall Nelson.

In the meantime, the cemetery’s superintendent would love to see other community members take a similar interest in their town’s buried history.

“Trying to keep history alive. That’s what it is. Trying to remember and look back and be proud of where we have come from and the people who brought us here. That’s what cemeteries are about,” said Nelson.

Hand High School is coming off back-to-back state Class L state championships and the Tigers have high hopes for this season.

“Expectations coming into this season are nothing but a championship,” said senior offensive and defensive lineman Ben Corniello.

The program is as strong as ever, thanks in part to third-year head coach Dave Mastroianni who helped restore the culture.

“This is what it means to be a Hand Tiger and this is how we act, this is how we behave, this is how we practice and this is how we play,” said Mastroianni.

“We’ve developed a really strong culture around here,” added senior cornerback, wide receiver and kicker Isaiah McNeilly. “Once Coach came in, he instituted a lot of new things that I think has built a lot of team chemistry.”

Dating back to 2017, the Tigers have won 24 straight games and two straight State Titles.

“Most guys were involved in both those so we don’t like to think about those that much but we also like to embrace that a lot of people want to beat us because we’ve done that,” said senior quarterback Phoenix Billings.

“I know it sounds repetitive but the success is 1-0. We’ve been fortunate to pile up 24 wins in a row right now,” said Mastroianni.

There could be some new competition this year with successful programs like Berlin, New Canaan and St. Joseph all joining Class L.

“We realize that it’s not going to be that easy this year,” said Corniello.

“We’ve been looking to this for a while so it’s going to be nice to beat the better teams and still be able to say we’re the best,” said McNeilly.

A three-peat for Hand would be the perfect ending for the senior class.

“Not many teams in the state have been able to do that,” said Billings. “There’s only been two teams here that have done it and to do it with this senior class, the guys that we’ve been playing with since fourth grade, it would be amazing.”

A man suffered serious injuries when he was stabbed in the chest in Vernon Wednesday.

Police said they were called to the area of Union and Ward streets around 6 p.m. for the stabbing. The victim was rushed to Rockville Hospital in a police car.

The victim, who was not identified, suffered “significant” but not life-threatening injuries, police said.

No arrests have been made, but investigators believe the victim knew the suspect and that this was not a random attack.

The investigation is ongoing and any witnesses are asked to contact Vernon police at 860-872-9126. Calls can be made anonymously..

A suspicious device found in a Cheshire CVS parking lot prompted an emergency response and evacuations Wednesday.

Cheshire police said they were called to the CVS at 905 South Main St. just before 7 p.m. for the suspicious item. The Cheshire Fire Department and Connecticut State Police Emergency Service Unit were also called and the area was evacuated as a precaution.

Crews determined the item was an environmental testing device and not a threat.