A chemical spill into the Farmington River has become the catalyst for one of Connecticut’s most pressing environmental health threats.

On June 8, 50,000 gallons of firefighting foam was accidentally released from the Signature Flight hanger at Bradley International Airport.

The foam went into the hanger’s drains and traveled to the nearby Metropolitan District Water Pollution Control Facility, eventually dumping out into the Farmington River.

The foam contained a chemical called PFAS - short for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances - and soon after plenty of questions about its potential health effects emerged.

As a precaution, Windsor Mayor Don Trinks said the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection put up warning signs downstream of the MDC facility urging people not to eat the fish they catch.

“It really brought home the idea that there’s something really bad that happened,” Trinks said.

According to the Connecticut Department of Public Health and DEEP, PFAS - known as “forever chemicals” - have been linked to health risks ranging from developmental effects in fetuses and infants and certain forms of cancer.

“The spill was like a lightning rod, it caught the attention of the public and it’s a major problem,” explained Rainer Lohmann, a professor of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.

Lohmann was tapped by DEEP before the spill to test three Eastern Connecticut rivers for PFAS.

Gov. Ned Lamont put together a task force to address PFAS contamination.

The task force immediately moved to ban the use of AFFF foam and departments across the state are swapping it out for other alternatives.

But Lohmann said PFAS exists well beyond firefighting foam.

Contamination of public and private wells has been identified in Greenwich, Norwalk, East Hampton and Willimantic. The sources range from airports, military bases, firefighting training facilities to former landfills. The first order of business could be to test our drinking water.

“It’ll take Connecticut hundreds of water samples to figure out which areas they might have to focus on,” Lohmann said.

“Whenever Connecticut steps forward and files a lawsuit that’s a big deal, it’s a big undertaking we don’t do it lightly,” said Attorney General William Tong.

Tong said Connecticut is considering following in the footsteps of other states and suing those responsible for producing these chemicals.

“ If you’re going to get damages and you’re going to be successful in a lawsuit you have to have all your facts ready to go and that’s the phase that we’re in now,” Tong said.

States like Minnesota and New York have filed lawsuits against companies that produce products containing PFAS, including 3M, which told NBC Connecticut Investigates that it has invested more than $200 million globally on PFAS remediation and $100 million in testing water sources in the US.

As Windsor waits for PFAS testing results on the Farmington River, Connecticut stands by to learn just how much of it could exist elsewhere.

“We know it’s still moving forward and all of us want it done yesterday,” Trinks said.

Bradley International Airport said it continues to discuss with the State Fire Marshal's office and tenants long term solutions for the airport.

The next step is for the state to decide if it wants to keep the EPA’s current recommended 70 parts per trillion guideline. A number of surrounding states have changed to create tougher restrictions.

ECSU has a new Warrior. She's the youngest player for the ECSU Women's Soccer Team and is already a star. Eleven-year-old West Tarricone signed her letter of intent on Thursday.

"It's incredible because we never thought West would have the opportunity to be part of a sports team like this or to go to college, so now we get both, you know, and it's precious, precious," said West's mom, Cara.

West's beaming parents say this is a bright spot in a tough year. Their daughter experiences intense seizures daily. Just this year she's been in the ICU three times and in the hospital for more than three months.

"There are times we're stuck in a hospital for a really long time. We still have this to look forward to," said West's mom, Diane.

Last fall the family learned about a nonprofit called Team Impact which connects kids with serious and chronic illnesses to college teams. Around the same time the women's soccer team connected with the program and it was a perfect match.

"For her family to come together with our team and us coming together with hers, just one big happy family," said ECSU senior and soccer player Erin Collins.

"It's cool that we get to help her, but it's also helping us as well," said ECSU senior and soccer player Linnea Reich.

And it's not just West who signed on but also her twin brother who is always right by his sister's side. They'll go to practices and games and other team events. Already West has found a lot of joy at the center of the huddle.

"I am super excited for her to be a part of our team and family," said ECSU junior and soccer player Emily Kratochwil.

West was already a warrior off the field and now she's one on it too.

"We don't know how long we'll be blessed with her and so we really want her to have an awesome time," said Diane. "Seeing her get so bright and excited and the big smile on her face means the world to us."

The ECSU Women's Soccer Team and the Tarricones hope that their story inspires other college teams to work with Team Impact.

Three House committees have released dozens of texts between U.S. diplomats in Ukraine discussing how to handle a response to President Donald Trump’s demands that the country launch an investigation into Joe Biden’s family.

The release follows an almost 10-hour interview with former Ukrainian envoy Kurt Volker. Volker provided the text messages to the committees.

Trump’s pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is the subject of the House Democrats’ impeachment investigation.

Read the text messages below:

The estranged husband of a missing mother of five and his girlfriend are both due in court today for charges connected to the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. 

The last time Jennifer Dulos was seen was on May 24 when she dropped her children off at school in New Canaan. 

Police who went to her New Canaan home after Jennifer was reported missing found blood spatter in the garage. 

Jennifer’s estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, has been charged with two counts of tampering with evidence and one count of hindering prosecution. He is due in court for a pre-trial hearing. 

After a court appearance in September, Fotis Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis, said that the defense team would argue a “motion to dismiss certain of the charges lodged against Mr. Dulos.“ 

Dulos' girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, has also been charged with two counts of tampering with evidence and one count of hindering with prosecution and she is due in court Friday afternoon. 

Dulos and Troconis have both pleaded not guilty and have been out on bond, wearing GPS monitoring devices. 

Route 9 North is closed in Deep River after a crash involving at least two motorcycles, according to state police. 

The Connecticut Travel Smart website says the crash happened between exits 4 and 5. 

State police said the highway is closed to all traffic at exit 5.

We had record warmth on Wednesday and now a frost advisory is in effect for the majority of the state. 

As the cooler weather arrives, there is hope that it will reduce the threat of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, or EEE. 

Three people in Connecticut have died after contracting the virus, which mosquitoes can transmit to humans, and one other person has become ill. 

Mosquitoes are cold-blooded and cold air from winter will slow them down and decrease their activity. The first frost of the season will help put them into a deep-sleep or hibernation, but true relief won't come until a true freeze.  

Frosts are when the temperature dips near or below freezing for a short period of time. Freezes, on the other hand, are where the temperatures dip below freezing for several hours. 

Temperatures overnight will fall into the 30s across most of the state. 

The hill towns are expected to drop below the freezing mark while the rest of the state looks to stay above freezing. 

While the cold air should help kill off some mosquitoes, to rid ourselves of all mosquitoes we typically need a few successive nights of well-below freezing temperatures lasting for several hours. 

How Do You Prevent EEE Infection? 

The best ways to prevent infection include:

• Use bug spray
• Wear long sleeves and pants/Cover bare skin
• Avoid spending times outdoors during or after dusk until dawn

Get more tips from the CDC here. 

Is EEE Always Deadly?

About a third of patents who develop EEE die. Death usually occurs two to 10 days after the onset of symptoms, but can occur much later, according to the CDC.

How Common is EEE?

An average of seven human cases of EEE are reported every year. Connecticut only had 1 reported case from 2009 to 2018.

Symptoms of EEE (From the CDC):

The incubation period for Eastern equine encephalitis virus disease ranges from four to 10 days.

Infection can result in one of two types of illness, systemic or encephalitic (involving swelling of the brain, referred to below as EEE). The type of illness will depend on the age of the person and other host factors. It is possible that some people who become infected with EEEV may be asymptomatic (will not develop any symptoms).

Systemic infection has an abrupt onset and is characterized by chills, fever, malaise, arthralgia, and myalgia. The illness lasts 1 to 2 weeks, and recovery is complete when there is no central nervous system involvement. In infants, the encephalitic form is characterized by abrupt onset; in older children and adults, encephalitis is manifested after a few days of systemic illness. Signs and symptoms in encephalitic patients are fever, headache, irritability, restlessness, drowsiness, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, cyanosis, convulsions, and coma.

Treatment for EEE

No human vaccine against EEE infection or specific antiviral treatment for clinical EEEV infections is available. Patients with suspected EEE should be evaluated by a healthcare provider, appropriate serologic and other diagnostic tests ordered, and supportive treatment provided.

Steve Dearborn was supposed to be on the vintage World war II era B-17 that crashed at Bradley Airport and was there to witness the horrific tragedy. He said he believes not getting a seat on that aircraft saved his life. 

"That fireball went up. I never saw nothing like it. It's horrible. I says, ‘the plane blew up’ and everybody, they started hugging each other and everything," Dearborn, of East Windsor, said. 

Dearborn said he was supposed to be on the flight, but it was already full when he got to the airport, so he was told to wait until the next flight. The next flight never happened. 

The plane was at Bradley Airport for the "Wings of Freedom Tour" sponsored by the Collings Foundation. The B-17 bomber was known at one point as the "Flying Fortress" or the 909. The foundation has canceled the last day of the event.

After the crash, the Collings Foundation canceled the last day of the tour. 

“I know I'll never go up in one of those planes. I won’t go up in them. To me that was such a near death thing here that. I'm kinda shaking a little right now here talking to you," he said. 

Seven people were killed in that plane crash on Wednesday morning and eight others were injured. 

Dearborn said he'll never forget what he witnessed. 

Several agencies are investigating and the National Transportation Safety Board sent a crew of 10 to Connecticut to look into what caused the crash.

Eversource is warning people about a scam in which customers are asked to pay for a new meter or be disconnected.

Eversource Tweeted that scammers are calling to say they need to install a new meter for the customer to avoid being disconnected but the customer has to make an immediate payment of $300 first.

The company said the call is a scam. It’s not coming from Eversource.

"If anyone contacts you via phone, email, or at your door about a bill you don't believe you owe, don't fall for it," Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull said in a statement. "Scammers will tell you payment is required immediately, and will prey on your desire to make sure you're organized and your bills are paid. Always disengage, and contact your utility company with the contact information you know to be correct."

If you receive a suspicious call about your Eversource account, hang up the phone. You can verify the status of your account by contacting Eversource directly at 800-286-2000. You can also call the Office of the Attorney General's Consumer Assistance Unit at 860-808-5420.

To report a scam using the Attorney General's online complaint system, click here.

A 17-year-old Maloney High School student who was in critical condition after a crash in Meriden Monday morning has died, according to police. Police previously said the teen’s foster father, who was driving the SUV the boy was in, was under the influence.

Meriden police said the 17-year-old, Alex Medina, was a passenger in the back seat of a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder that crashed into a utility pole near Baldwin Pond just after 11 a.m. and he was thrown from the vehicle and hit his head on a tree.

The teen was airlifted by LifeStar to the hospital, where he was in intensive care. Police said he was not wearing a seatbelt. Police have not released the teen’s name and have not said when he died.

Another family member who was visiting from another country was in the front seat of the SUV and was transported to Midstate Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Police said the driver, 65-year-old James Bailey, failed a field sobriety test at the scene and had a blood alcohol level of one and a half times the legal limit of .08. He was not injured in the crash.

Police who arrived at the scene found the Pathfinder off the road and in several bushes across from the entrance to Baldwin’s Pond.

The vehicle was going north on North Wall Street at a high rate of speed, when it went off the road and hit a telephone pole in front of 193 North Wall St., police said. After snapping the pole, the Nissan continued north and hit another telephone pole located in front of 231 North Wall St.

Bailey was charged with DUI, reckless driving, reckless endangerment and assault in the second degree with a motor vehicle.

He was released after posting $200,000 bond and is due in court on Oct. 15.

Police said Friday that Baily will face additional charges. 

The state Department of Children and Families released a statement on Tuesday afternoon and said they were investigating.

“Upon learning of the incident, we immediately began a review of our involvement with this child and the care he received while placed with this family. An investigation has already commenced by our Special Investigations Unit regarding the specific circumstances leading up to the accident,” Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes said in a statement. “Furthermore, the Department has been in contact with the Office of the Child Advocate and Plaintiffs in the Juan. F. Consent Decree consistent with Governor Lamont’s requirements regarding state government transparency and accountability. We will cooperate fully with any outside review of our actions.”

Police are investigating and ask anyone with information to call the Meriden Police Department at 203 630-6215.

A 50-year-old man was hit by a dirt bike and thrown several feet while crossing Route 3 in Middletown earlier this week and police are asking for help to find the driver who fled the scene. 

The man was struck around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday while crossing Newfield Street at Westfield Street and he was thrown around 15 feet, according to police. 

The pedestrian was in a crosswalk and he was crossing with the signal when he was struck, police said. 

Police said the driver who hit him was speeding, passed all stopped southbound traffic, went through the red light and did not stop. 

The pedestrian suffered a broken leg as well as other bumps and bruises from being hit by the dirt bike, according to police. 

Middletown Police are looking for the public’s help in identifying the driver. They said he was wearing a white helmet. 

Anyone with any further information is urged to call Officer John Passacantando at 860-638-4063 or 860-638-4000.

Microsoft announced Friday that a group of hackers believed to be linked to the government of Iran tried to access more than 200 email accounts associated with current and former U.S. government officials, journalists, prominent ex-patriate Iranians and one U.S. presidential campaign, NBC News reported.

The company said that it had seen "significant cyber activity" from a group of hackers that it believes "originates from Iran and is linked to the Iranian government."

Microsoft's threat tracking operation found the group attacked 241 email accounts, including one presidential campaign. The company did not name the campaign but said the attempted attack was not successful.

U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney criticized President Donald Trump’s appeal to Ukraine and China to investigate one of his main political opponents, on Friday calling the overture “wrong and appalling.”

Romney said that Trump’s soliciting a probe into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter was “brazen and unprecedented” and rejected Trump’s assertion that he was concerned only with corruption and not with weakening Biden, a leading contender in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.

“When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated,” Romney said in a statement, which he also tweeted. “By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.”

Romney’s comment comes a day after Trump openly urged China to look into the Bidens' behavior.

Romney's fellow Republican senator, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, objected to the call for an investigation Thursday night. 

"Hold up: Americans don’t look to Chinese commies for the truth," Sasse said in a statement to the Omaha World-Herald. "If the Biden kid broke laws by selling his name to Beijing, that’s a matter for American courts, not communist tyrants running torture camps."

Romney had earlier tweeted that facts needed to come out regarding reports that Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had been pressuring the president of Ukraine for the investigation. Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid that Congress had approved for Ukraine to fend off Russian aggression, though the money was eventually released. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

"If the President asked or pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rival, either directly or through his personal attorney, it would be troubling in the extreme. Critical for the facts to come out."

Democrats began an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s actions, after the White House released a memo about Trump’s July 25 private conversation with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. During the call, Trump pressed Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens in Ukraine. The former vice president worked with Ukrainians to try to end corruption there. Hunter Biden, meanwhile, had a paid position on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas producer, whose owner had been under investigation.

On Friday, Ukraine’s general prosecutor, Russian Ryaboshapka, said his office was reviewing that earlier probe as part of wider audit of at least 15 cases closed or dismissed by his predecessor. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.

A whistleblower submitted a complaint to Congress regarding the Ukraine phone call and later the handling of a word-for-word transcript of the call, which as stored in a separate electronic system reserved for particularly sensitive classified information. He wrote that he had received information from multiple government officials that “the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”

Trump has demeaned the whistleblower, questioned his motives and insisted he has a right to know his identity.

Two Republicans senators have come forward to defend the whistleblower, who remains anonymous — Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa.

“This person appears to have followed the whistleblower protection laws and ought to be heard out and protected," Grassley said on Tuesday. "We should always work to respect whistleblowers,”

And Ernst said Thursday said, “Whistleblowers should be protected.”

In Congress, Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd, a former CIA undercover officer who is not seeking re-election, said Friday morning on CNN: "It's terrible....China is an adversary.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray, meanwhile, declined to comment in response to Trump's public call for China and Ukraine to investigate his election rival or the release of text messages late Thursday that showed how American diplomats dangled a White House meeting for Ukraine's president in return for a Biden probe.

In May, Wray had testifed before Congress: "I think my view is that if any public official or member of any campaign is contacted by any nation state or anybody acting on behalf of a nation state about influencing or interfering with our election, then that’s something that the FBI would want to know about."

Meanwhile on Friday, Trump said that the White House would formally object to Democrats conducting an impeachment without an official vote. A letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to say that the administration will not cooperate without a vote — although Trump also said he believed it would pass.

Pelosi has said that a vote is unnecessary.

"The existing rules of the House provide House Committees with full authority to conduct investigations for all matters under their jurisdiction, including impeachment investigations," Pelosi wrote Thursday in a letter to House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy has also called for a vote. 

Democrats have said that they will subpoena the White House for documents it has requested if they are not turned over by Friday. Any failure to produce the documents will be used as evidence of obstruction for impeachment.

CORRECTION (Oct. 4, 2019, 2:10 p.m.): An earlier version of this story misstated who was the first Republican senator to criticize President Donald Trump’s appeal to China about investigating Biden. It was Sen. Ben Sasse, of Nebraska.

In April, Brendan Dassey wrote a handwritten letter to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers asking for a pardon. 

Now, his attorneys and celebrities alike are pushing for that letter to become reality. 

(Read the full letter below)

The letter from Dassey to Evers is a list of things Dassey wrote about himself "for you to get to know me." It reveals things like his favorite drink is Orange Crush, he likes Doritos and Funyuns, his favorite season is fall and more. 

It ends by asking Evers for a pardon "because I am innocent and want to go home." 

"If I would get to go home, I would like to get a job involving video games," he writes. "I would like to help take care of my mom and one day have a son and daughter of my own. I would name my daughter Grace and my son Mizar which is the name of a star in the big dipper." 

The letter has since been tweeted by Kim Kardashian West, who urged Evers to read it.

Attorneys for the "Making a Murderer" subject have filed a petition for clemency in his case, asking Evers to pardon or commute his sentence "on the basis of actual innocence and his extreme sentence." (Read the full petition here)

Dassey is serving a life sentence after being convicted of first-degree homicide, second-degree sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse following the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. His uncle, Steven Avery, is also serving a life sentence for the crime.

Attorneys Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin, both with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, argued Dassey was a 16-year-old high school "special education student with no criminal history" at the time of his confession to the crime. He has an IQ of 74, and a speech-language function in the bottom percentile, they said. 

"After undergoing four police interrogations in 48 hours, he found himself charged with involvement in one of the highest-profile homicides in Wisconsin history – and, subsequently, sentenced to life in prison – based on a videotaped confession about which state and federal judges, national police authorities, prosecutorial groups, and psychological experts have since expressed the gravest doubts," they wrote in their petition. "Indeed, his confession is disproven by the physical evidence found at the crime scene, including DNA. The confession is also marked by Brendan’s utter inability to describe accurately the method by which Ms. Halbach had been killed until he was told by police that she had been shot in the head. And it is punctuated by Brendan’s staggeringly guileless requests to go back to school even after agreeing to confess to murder." 

The petition to Evers is the latest attempt at clearing Dassey in the case, which has been closely followed by Netflix in multiple seasons of "Making a Murderer."  

The series followed Avery and Dassey as they try to overturn their convictions. Avery had argued that his conviction was based on planted evidence and false testimony.

The series spawned conjecture about the pair's innocence, but those who worked on the cases accused the filmmakers of leaving out key pieces of evidence and presenting a biased view of what happened.

Previously, a federal judge in Milwaukee overturned Dassey's conviction, but several legal proceedings later, an appeals court kept Dassey behind bars and the Supreme Court declined to weigh in on the controversial case. 

"Like no other case in this State, and indeed few around the globe, the case of Brendan Dassey cries out for relief. Seeking clemency from the Governor is now one of the last remaining legal options available to him," the 26-page  petition filed Wednesday reads.

In a press conference Wednesday, attorneys, joined by a large group of experts and advocates, described the many issues they saw in Dassey's confession.

"From the first interrogation through the last these investigators told Brendan they were not cops - they were more like father figures or friends," Drizin said. "They threatened him by telling him that the district attorney’s office was ready to charge him with a crime or a cover-up of a crime."

They argued the confession was coerced. 

"He actually believed that he would be set free if he just told police what they wanted to hear," Drizin said, adding "true confessors don’t need help with their narratives." 

Both Avery and Dassey are still fighting for freedom. 

It’s been a year since the rollout of text to 911 in Connecticut, and few people have been using it.

Data acquired by NBC Connecticut Investigates indicates less than one percent of the people asking for help use text to 911.

Numbers just released by the state showed those amounts have risen slowly, however.

In September, data showed that in the first year of text to 911 in Connecticut , the small number of texts sent fell into one of three buckets:

• People who were just testing the system out
• People who mistakenly texted 911
• People who had genuine emergencies

Enhanced 911 Commission chair John Elsesser said he hopes going forward people will realize text to 911 works and they don’t need to test it anymore.

He added that the state is OK with the fact that an overwhelming majority of those asking for help still call instead of text, noting text to 911 is mostly for the disabled and people in dangerous circumstances where they can’t talk out loud.

“We anticipated that it wasn’t going to be highly used based on New Hampshire’s experience which was ahead of us. But it’s clearly a viable option and has been successful in reaching people who were compromised and couldn’t speak,” Elsesser said.

Elsesser told us about a few cases where people were in distress, texted 911, and got help.

The state also recently did a survey about text to 911.

It says 85 percent of respondents were aware Connecticut has the service, and were able to understand when it’s appropriate to use text to 911 versus calling.

A Middletown woman is dead after being hit by a car on Route 9 South in Berlin Wednesday.

Connecticut State Police said 54-year-old Marie Ahern was hit around 5:15 a.m. near exit 23, and the car left the scene.

Anyone with any information on the crash should contact Connecticut State Police - Troop H at 860-534-1000.

Weeks before the whistleblower's complaint became public, the CIA's top lawyer made what she considered a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the whistleblower's allegations that President Donald Trump abused his office in pressuring the Ukrainian president, U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

The move by the CIA's general counsel, Trump appointee Courtney Simmons Elwood, meant she and other senior officials had concluded a potential crime had been committed, raising more questions about why the Justice Department later closed the case without conducting an investigation, NBC News reports.

In the days since an anonymous whistleblower complaint was made public accusing him of wrongdoing, President Trump has lashed out at his accuser and other insiders who provided the accuser with information, suggesting they were improperly spying on what was a "perfect" call between him and the Ukrainian president. But a timeline provided by U.S. officials familiar with the matter shows that multiple senior government officials appointed by Trump found the whistleblower's complaints credible, troubling, and worthy of further inquiry starting soon after the president's July phone call.

Lower income undergraduate students will be able to receive free tuition to attend the University of Connecticut starting with the fall 2020 entering class, UConn's new president announced Friday.

Families in Connecticut with a household income of $50,000 or below annually will be able to have their children attend UConn tuition-free.

The plan is part of a tuition initiative called the Connecticut Commitment.

“It is critical for U.S. higher education institutions to work to change both the perception and reality of what they deliver,” newly inaugurated school president Thomas C. Katsouleas said Friday. “This is critical for the future prosperity of Connecticut. To keep our brightest, most talented and most diverse human capital in Connecticut, we must continue to offer as many of them as possible a high quality and affordable education in their state.”

Students will qualify for up to four years of full-time undergraduate study for entering freshmen or up to two years of full-time undergraduate work for entering transfer students.

The campaign will be supported by a fundraising campaign and by allocating other school resources to the financial aid budget, UConn said in a press release.

All admitted Connecticut resident students who are enrolling as freshmen or transfer students will automatically be considered for the Connecticut Commitment institutional grant award if they fill out the FAFSA form by the Feb. 15 annual deadline.

The award is also available to more than one sibling at a time, as long as the siblings and their family meet the qualifications, the school said.

“We are sending a loud message to Connecticut students: Not only do we want you at UConn, we want to make your degree affordable,” Fuerst said.

The university has put together a FAQ about the initiative.

Mosquitoes in two more Connecticut communities have tested positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

On Friday, public health officials announced that Waterford and Groton were the latest communities to test positive for EEE, bringing the total number of towns to 26.

The deadly virus has claimed three lives and sickened a fourth person.

Because of the threat of EEE, the Friday night lights look a little different these days as teams try to get the games done before dusk. Schools across the state made the decision to move up evening activities to protect fans.

Berlin moved their varsity football game from 6:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. after people were told to avoid the outdoors after the sun goes down.

“It is weird. I like the Friday night lights. But, it’s worth it. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Crystal Taylor, a Berlin football parent.

“You know, it only takes one time with the mosquito scare that’s going on so I’m glad that they moved it up,” said Kristin Sparks, whose two sons also play on the team.

Ann Burgoyne, of Cromwell, said news of the deadly virus making its way to Connecticut left her a bit unnerved. She hoped Friday night’s forecast for frost would kill the threat for EEE.

“I would have thought that would have nailed them,” said Burgoyne.

Not so, said one of Connecticut’s leading experts on the mosquito-borne disease, Dr. Theodore Andreadis, head of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

“Mosquitoes will seek areas where they can hide. They’ll protect themselves,” he explained.

He said they’ll find a home under the roots of trees or in your house. He said some of the 52 different species of mosquitoes buzzing around Connecticut can even live through the dead of winter.

The lab at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station has been busy since Andreadis’ team first discovered a mosquito in Voluntown carrying the virus back in July.

“We’re continuing to trap. We are likely to find a few more infected ones,” said Andreadis.

The good news, he said, is that the bugs have stopped breeding, dramatically reducing the chances that EEE will continue to spread.

“We say the risk now is very low but it’s never zero,” stated Andreadis.

That means this might be the last week teams have to play under the sun instead of the stars.

“There will still be a few mosquitoes around but the risk will be so low that it probably won’t be necessary to curtail those activities,” said Andreadis.

He pointed out that the latest tests show no new cases in Voluntown, which bodes well for the entire state.

“That would indicate to us, that the transmission cycle has come to an end,” Andreadis said.

While we’re not completely out of the woods yet, Andreadis said the chances of exposure to EEE are low.

While Friday night’s frosty forecast won’t kill them, he explained that the cooler weather causes them to stop biting.

“I think by the end of next week we’re pretty much done,” he said.

Municipalities will get an update from public health officials next Tuesday on whether they’ll get the green light to move outdoor activities back to their regularly scheduled time.

Andreadis said those who plan to spend time in wooded areas, particularly in the eastern half of the state where the most mosquitoes have tested positive for the virus, should keep taking steps to protect themselves.

The Karambays of Newington said they’ll continue to put those precautions into practice.

“I wear long sleeves. I cover up as best I can,” said Debra Karambay.

“I watch the times of day and where I’m going. So, I have been very careful that way,” added her husband, Paul.

Attention is already turning to year. Andreadis said he plans to ask the state for money in the budget to add more mosquito collection sites and conduct more tests.

“I strongly suspect that we will see some activity next year and it will likely be in the same locations but I don’t think we’ll see as much,” he said.

Temperature and rainfall patterns will ultimately determine the prevalence of the virus next year, he explained.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign fired its national organizing director, Rich McDaniel, after an investigation into "multiple complaints regarding inappropriate behavior," the campaign said Friday.

“Over the past two weeks, senior campaign leadership received multiple complaints regarding inappropriate behavior by Rich McDaniel," campaign communications director Kristen Orthman said in a statement. "Over the same time period, the campaign retained outside counsel to conduct an investigation."

Based on the results of that investigation, the campaign found that "he could not be a part of the campaign moving forward," NBC News reports.

News of McDaniels' firing was first reported by Politico. Orthman declined to elaborate on the specific nature of the complaints. In a text message, McDaniel confirmed to NBC News that he was no longer with the campaign.

"I would never intentionally engage in any behavior inconsistent with the campaign or my own values. If others feel that I have, I understand it is important to listen even when you disagree. I wish the campaign and my colleagues well," he said in a statement.

Preliminary testing results detected elevated levels of PFAS chemicals in fish from the Farmington River after firefighting foam spilled into the river from Bradley International Airport in June.

According to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the preliminary results, which are unvalidated, showed elevated levels of the potentially dangerous chemicals in the tissue of the fish. A third-party laboratory is in the process of validating the results of the tests. DEEP expects to receive those results as early as next week.

On June 8, 50,000 gallons of firefighting foam, which contains PFAS, was accidentally released from the Signature Flight hanger at Bradley International Airport.

The foam went into the hanger’s drains and traveled to the nearby Metropolitan District Water Pollution Control Facility, eventually dumping out into the Farmington River.

Public health officials issued an advisory after the spill warning area residents not to eat any fish caught in the river until the impact of the spill was investigated. That advisory remains in effect months later.

PFAS is a group of thousands of man-made chemicals that are widely used in consumer products, including products ranging from nonstick cookware to waterproof clothing to carpets to food packaging materials. According to DEEP and the state Department of Public Health, PFAS have been linked to health risks ranging from developmental effects in fetuses and infants to certain forms of cancer.

Gov. Ned Lamont has appointed a state PFAS task force create a plan of action to address PFAS and its health risks across the state. The plan makes multiple recommendations, including to test drinking water for PFAS, to reduce or prevent future releases of PFAS-containing firefighting foam to the environment, and to identify assess and clean up historical releases of PFAS to the environment. View the Draft PFAS Action Plan here.