As Democratic candidates compete for the opportunity to take on President Donald Trump, the incumbent they hope to oust is more personally disliked than any of his recent predecessors, and half of voters say they’re very uncomfortable with the idea of his re-election, NBC News reports.

But the electorate at large also expresses doubts about some of the progressive policies being backed by candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and the party’s more moderate frontrunner — Joe Biden — also faces questions about his fitness for the job.

Those are the major findings in the latest release from the September NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which also shows that 46 percent of Americans give Trump credit for what they call an improving economy, the highest share of his presidency.

“The Democrats want a referendum on Trump. The GOP wants a comparative choice. And therein lies the rub,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff and his firm Public Opinion Strategies.

When autism research started to really accelerate a couple decades ago, many scientists thought finding a cure might be easier. Today, the latest science points away from a single cure, but there are ways to help autistic people lead healthier, happier lives and more that can be done to help, NBC News reports.

“I think that given the complexity and the variability of the causes and the manifestations of autism, trying to come up with a cure is probably not the right approach,” said autism researcher and psychologist Len Abbeduto, director of the University of California, Davis, MIND Institute in Sacramento.

An estimated 80 percent of autism cases involve genetic factors, and it tends to run in families, but there is no single “autism gene,” Abbeduto explained. In fact, research has shown that more than 100 genes, and maybe upwards of 1,000, may play a role. Researchers also suspect that environmental factors — such as exposures to infectious agents, pesticides or other toxins in pregnancy — may play a role.

Now, researchers have turned much of their attention to identifying autism in children as early as possible in hopes of intervening sooner with therapies to try to alter the developmental trajectory of their young brains. 

A 35-year-old Honduran pastor fleeing death threats from gangs in his native country sought asylum in the U.S. but was told eight months ago he had to wait in Mexico because of a Trump administration policy, NBC News reports.

Earlier this week, Douglas Oviedo's eyes filled with tears as a San Diego judge told him he had won: He could stay legally in the United States as a refugee.

The young pastor was among the first asylum seekers sent back across the U.S. southern border under the Trump administration’s remain-in-Mexico policy — which has since expanded to more than 40,000 migrants waiting in dangerous and overcrowded conditions in border towns.

He is also one of only a few to have won asylum since the new policy took effect in January, his lawyers said.

Popular chef Carl Ruiz has died, his restaurant confirmed on Sunday.

La Cubana, Ruiz's restaurant, opened this summer in the Meatpacking District. His cause of death wasn't immediately clear.

"No words can fully express our sadness at the sudden loss of our dear friend and brother," a post on La Cubana's Instagram account read.

"To honor the work you loved so much Chef, La Cubana will continue your work in establishing The Carl Ruiz Scholarship Foundation for aspiring chefs," the post added. 

The New York chef was a star in the culinary scene, making appearances on popular Food Network shows.

In August, Ruiz joined Today In New York to share his recipe for bacon, egg and cheese empanadas with NBC 4 New York anchor Pat Battle. 

Guy Fieri, Jet Tila, Michael Symon and other popular chefs shared their memories of Carl and offered condolences Sunday. 

"I'm heartbroken that my friend chef Carl Ruiz is gone," Fieri wrote on Twitter. "I have no words to describe what a great friend he was to me and my family." 

"His ability to make me laugh and smile under any circumstances was only outshined by his talent as a chef," he added. 

A motor vehicle fire has caused delays and lane closures on Interstate 84 West in West Hartford.

The incident occurred between exits 40 and 39A.

The two right lanes were closed to traffic.

It is unknown what caused the fire and if there are any injuries.

A man has died after being swept away by rushing water in a river in New Haven Sunday night.

An intense search was underway for hours on the West River on the New Haven and West Haven line.

A 48-year-old male was pushed under water when the tide was incoming, according to New Haven Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana.

New Haven and West Haven firefighters responded to the area of Orange Road and West River at around 5:15 p.m.

The man was trying to cool off in the water, according to officials.

"An individual went in to assist him, had hands on him, started to pull him under and before you know it, the individual went under the water," Fontana said.

New Haven officials used sonar technology to locate the body underwater.

Fontana said the area is "tricky" and the rescue was difficult.

The river can reach 10 to 15 feet deep in the middle, Fontana said.

"We would discourage anyone who would want to swim here. It's not really meant for swimming," Fontana said.

The man's body was recovered by crews about four hours later and not far from where he fell in.

The town of East Hampton is having their public schools sprayed for mosquitoes due to the concern of Eastern Equine Encephalitis on Monday and Tuesday.

The single application of organic mosquito control spray will be applied to the exterior perimeter tree lines of the high school, middle school and center school fields.

The spray is applied by a backpack mist blower onto the trees and brush along the wood line of the fields, town officials said.

No spray will be applied to the grass surfaces of the playing fields, authorities added.

The spray began at 5 a.m. on Monday at the high school and middle school and will be applied at the center school on Tuesday.

Spraying is expected to be completed by 8 a.m. each day.

The sprayed area is open to use within two hours of the application, once the water evaporates from the spray mixture, according to town officials.

The application can be effective for up to 45 days in ideal weather conditions, experts said.

Town officials said East Hampton Public Schools is also following the guidelines of the Department of Public Health for EEE.

All outdoor after school activities, athletic practices and athletic games and events will end prior to dusk until the first frost.

The first day of fall has officially arrived, but Monday's temperatures will feel more like summer.

Temperatures will soar into the 80s in the afternoon and some inland towns could get near 90.

With dew points in the 60s, it will also feel quite humid, especially along the shoreline.

More fall-like temperatures return on Tuesday with high temperatures in the mid to low 70s.

Temperatures steadily drop throughout astronomical fall. Check out the average high and low temperatures for the next few months leading up to winter on December 21st!

[[561105581,c]]

The average high temperatures for astronomical fall ranges from 72 degrees today to 38 degrees on December 21st.

You can get the latest forecast anytime here.

Tomorrow will mark exactly four months since Jennifer Dulos disappeared. It's been 122 days since her five children said goodbye after she dropped them off at school and it's been more than 16 weeks since police found blood stains and spatter in the garage of her New Canaan home.

Jennifer's estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, are each facing multiple charges in connection with Jennifer's disappearance.

On Monday, Fotis will be back in court because of his GPS monitoring device. He's been wearing it since June when he was released on bond.

According to the Hartford Courant, Fotis is "not properly recharging the batteries in the GPS device on his ankle and it has happened four times between August and September."

When NBC Connecticut reached out to Fotis' attorney, Norm Pattis, he said Fotis needs the battery adjusted.

Jennifer Dulos has been missing since May 24. 

In the latest arrest warrant, police allege Fotis drove one of his employee's pickup trucks to New Canaan and was lying in wait for Jennifer when she returned home.

Investigators have several surveillance video angles of the pickup truck, but none of them can identify the driver.

According to the warrant, Troconis admitted to police that Fotis was not home the morning of Jennifer's disappearance and later in the afternoon was cleaning the employee's truck.

Troconis told police that Fotis had the truck professionally cleaned and she also said it was her and Dulos on surveillance video in Hartford dumping bags of trash. Those bags of trash were later found to have items containing Jennifer's blood.

Both Fotis and Troconis are facing two charges of tampering with evidence and one charge of hindering prosecution in relation to Jennifer's disappearance.

The judge has the option to revoke Fotis' bond if he finds Fotis did not comply with the terms of his release.

Police have set up a dedicated website for tips in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. Anyone with information that can help the investigation is asked to call police at 203-594-3544 or send an email to findjenniferdulos@newcanaanct.gov.

The woman who read a powerful statement at the sentencing of a college swimmer who sexually assaulted her at Stanford University told CBS' "60 Minutes" that she wanted to claim back her identity and write a book about her ordeal because she believed her story remained untold. 

“In order to survive, you just shut everything down,” Chanel Miller said about the January 2015 assault by Brock Turner. “You have to function. You have to go to work in the morning. It was much easier to just repress everything.” 

In Sunday's interview, Miller revealed how she was left in the dark about the assault for days before learning about what happened to her from an online news story, NBC News reported. For years, Miller was known in legal proceedings as "Emily Doe."

“Rape is not a punishment for getting drunk,” she told "60 Minutes." “We have this really sick mindset in our culture as if you deserve rape if you drink to excess. You deserve a hangover, a really bad hangover, but you don’t deserve to have somebody insert their body parts inside of you.” 

Miller said she was "in shock" by Turner's six-month sentence. He was released from jail after serving three months. 

Miller's memoir is scheduled to be released on Tuesday. She said her dream is to write children's books.

Macy’s is closing its Backstage operational unit in South Windsor and has notified the state that 78 jobs will be eliminated.

Macy’s sent a letter to the state Department of Labor last week that says the jobs are at the Macy’s Logistics and Operations Center at 301 Governors Highway in South Windsor.

There will be three waves of layoffs.

The first will be between Nov. 17 and 30, the second will be between Nov. 30 and Dec. 13 and the last will be between Feb. 1, 2020 and Feb. 14, 2020.

Russell Boyd, the vice president of human resources, wrote in a letter to the state that the employees do not have “bumping rights” and they will be given information about the opportunity to transfer to open positions in the location or in nearby Macys locations.

Simsbury Police are investigating after hundreds of hemp plants were damaged or stolen from a farm in two separate incidents this month.

Officers said they got a report of 100 hemp plants that were stolen from or damaged at the farm on Sept. 16.

Less than a week later, authorities said another incident happened at the same farm. On Sunday, police received a report of 300 more hemp plants that were taken or damaged.

Three adult men and one juvenile were arrested on Sunday, according to police. All of the men are from Massachusetts.

Eduard Otero-Febo, 20, Jeftian Otero-Febo, 19, 22-year-old Joel Padilla and the juvenile were charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief, larceny in the sixth degree and interfering with a police officer.

Investigators found five black trash bags with hemp inside when they arrested the men, authorities added.

Police are still looking for an additional person in connection to the incident.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Tim May at (860) 658-3141.

Police are investigating a shooting at a Stratford bar early Saturday morning. 

One man was shot at the Sports Corner Café on Stratford Avenue in Stratford around 12:08 a.m. Saturday, according to police. 

His injuries are not life-threatening. 

The Stratford Police Department Investigative Division is investigating the incident.

A Watertown man is accused of animal cruelty after a dog was found with bruises, broken teeth and a possible concussion. The man is also accused of holding a hatchet during a confrontation with the dog’s owners.

Police made the arrest after responding to a home on Sunnyside Avenue around 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

They said they responded to the home to investigate reports of a disturbance involving a man with a hatchet after relatives came home to find their dog injured.

The people who contacted police said 51-year-old Jean Marcelin Francois didn’t like the dog and had been home alone with it, police said. When the dog’s owners confronted Francois, it turned into an argument.

Francois then pulled a hatchet in his waistband and “postured in a threatening manner while wielding the hatchet,” according to police.

The confrontation then got physical and Francois went back to his room with the hatchet, according to a news release from police.

Police said the people who contacted them reported finding blood, urine and broken dog toys in a room.

The small dog was taken to a local animal hospital and found to be bruised. It also had a cut and swollen nose, two broken teeth, bruised gums and a possible concussion, police said.

Police took Francois into custody and he denied all accusations, police said.

He was charged with disorderly conduct and cruelty to animals and held on a $10,000.

He is due in Waterbury Superior Court.

An Army soldier was arrested for allegedly passing on bomb-making instructions to fellow "radicals" and sought to blow up cell towers and news stations, authorities announced Monday.

Pfc. Jarrett William Smith, 24, stationed out of Fort Riley in Kansas, was arrested Saturday and charged with one count of distributing information related to explosives and weapons of mass destruction, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

Smith, who enlisted in the Army in June 2017, could face up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 if convicted, NBC News reported.

New Canaan Animal Control is reminding pet owners to be on alert after a coyote grabbed a small dog Sunday.

Animal control said the dog and its owner were on Shady Knoll Lane around 5 p.m. when the coyote snatched the dog. The owner was able to frighten the coyote, which dropped the dog.

The bite left the dog with two punctures on the neck and ear.

This is the third reported coyote encounter in the area over the past month. Pet owners are reminded to watch their dogs and always have hazing tools on hand to scare away wildlife.

There have been multiple coyote sightings around Waveny Park, the train tracks and the Merritt Parkway Greenway.

Coyotes will attack and kill pets, especially small dogs and cats, but coyote attacks on humans are rare, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. If you encounter a coyote, experts suggest making loud noises and acting aggressively to scare the animal away.

Learn more about living with coyotes here. 

A man is dead after an ATV crash in Harwinton Sunday.

Police said 61-year-old James Delevieleuse suffered fatal injuries when his ATV crashed in a wooded area near the High Riders Snowmobile Club on Bissell Road around 9:15 a.m.

Delevieleuse was not wearing a helmet, according to police.

No foul play is suspected. Delevieleuse was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.

The case remains under investigation.

After 57 days of searching for their lost Border collie in Montana, a couple from Washington was reunited with their loving Katie. Carole King had quit her job as a postal worker to devote herself to the search for the 7-year-old dog, according to reports.  

She and her husband Verne first noticed their dog was missing after returning  to their pet-friendly hotel room in Kalispell, Montana, after a night out. Katie had fled, possibly scared by the sound of thunderstorms, The New York Times reported.  

The Kings started their search throughout the neighborhood and feared that big  forests nearby would make their task more difficult. They would later post pictures of Katie on Facebook groups, search for her during the night with special equipment, order animal traps and leave clothing so the missing dog could detect their scent.

The couple's despair escalated as time passed by. Verne King returned to the family's home near Spokane while Carole stayed behind hundreds of miles away. 

After eight weeks, Carole King was surprised on Sept. 15 when a nearby resident mentioned he had seen something outside his window that looked like Katie.

She rushed over to the person's house. After walking around the fields nearby, Katie was finally found under a tree, dehydrated and much thinner, according to the Times.

When she shouted her name, the Border collie responded immediately, running as fast as she could toward her owner.

“All I could think about was, ‘I’m done. I got her," King told the Times. 

Estelle Sherry sat at Beth El Cemetery in Avon and was presented with a folded flag. It’s a moment that’s been 75 years in the making. The 92-year-old finally got the chance to say goodbye.

"These families in many cases, the last thing they heard about their loved one is they went missing," said Dr. Stephen Johnson, a Department of Defense historian who works for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, also known as DPAA. DPAA is an agency within the DOD that works to recover missing personnel from all past wars and conflicts.

"I just knew that my uncle had been killed in WWII," said Richard Sherry, who is Estelle’s son.

That’s the telegram the family of Army First Lt. Herschel Mattes received back in 1944: killed in action in Italy. That’s all they’d learn until five years ago when NBC Connecticut first spoke to Estelle about her recent correspondence.

"You will be surprised to receive a letter from me, a perfect stranger …" it began. And it revealed her brother’s remains had been found.

"It’s like going through a death all over again," Estelle said at the time.

Eventually the journey revealed that while dive-bombing an enemy vehicle, Mattes’ aircraft was struck by ground fire and he died in the crash. With enemy forces nearby, his remains could not be recovered, and we’re told he was buried by locals. A few years later, Mattes was moved to the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and known only as X-977. That is until this year when Mattes was officially identified and brought home. The plane carrying him landed in Connecticut on Friday.

"My uncle is coming home and his sister is still alive to see this. It’s just amazing," said Richard.

"This is my mother’s favorite person in the world," said Estelle’s older son, Stephen. "I think it’s a great relief for my mother to have some closure."

For Mattes, it was a display of full military honors at the cemetery in Avon. And the person who sent that original letter, Dr. Vincenzo Lucherini traveled from Italy to see it. Another man crucial to this moment, Dr. Johnson, was also there. Both men worked tirelessly to make this reunion a reality. The Sherry family says they’re now considered family.

"It’s so important for me. I am moved and proud," said Lucherini.

"We owe it both to the missing – we leave no person behind – and we owe it to the families," said Johnson.

It took most of her life, but now Estelle finally knows what happened and where her brother is.

"It’s been 75 years. A long time since she saw him last,” said Richard. “And she gets to say goodbye."

The Riverside Avenue Extension in Bristol is closed due to an active investigation on the Savino Bridge, according to Bristol Police.

Police said the road is closed between Middle and Pine streets. Drivers should avoid the area and expect delays.

No other details about the investigation were immediately released.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.