Students and faculty at Emerson College were mourning Wednesday, a day after a popular journalism professor was fatally struck by an MBTA Commuter Rail Train while riding his bicycle to work.  

Moses Shumow was riding his bicycle on a pedestrian "cut-through" lane at Beverly Depot station in Massachusetts Tuesday morning when he was struck by a train. Shumow, an associate professor, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Grief counselors were scheduled to be available at the school to speak with those impacted by Shumow's death.  

"The fact that his life and his work were cut short this morning is an unimaginable tragedy," the university said in a statement.

Shumow, a 2001 graduate of Emerson’s broadcast journalism program, had been working at his alma mater for less than two months before his untimely death. He was a beloved educator who was admired by his students.

"What can I say about Moses Shumow? He was awesome," student Angel Salcedo said. "He was everything we could have asked for in an adviser."

"Moses is an incredible, dedicated and wonderful educator and journalist," said Janet Kolodzy, Emerson College Journalism Chair.

Shumow is survived by his wife and three children.

The investigation into the crash is ongoing.

A group of police officers in Florida are being called heroes after saving the life of a toddler who was choking on a snack cracker.

Officials from the Kissimmee Police Department released body cam footage showing the moments last Saturday when Amanda Zimmerman handed her 18-month-old son MJ to officers after he started choking on a goldfish cracker and was not breathing.

"I was just beside myself," Zimmerman told NBC affiliate WESH-TV.

Officers were able to put the child on his back and performed CPR before Fire Rescue crews arrived and took him to the hospital, where he was able to recover and is reportedly doing OK.

"Being without oxygen for that long and then just coming out…he didn't miss a beat," Zimmerman said. "God put them where they needed to be.”

Zimmerman said she plans on taking a CPR class as a result of this incident.

The suspect in a murder in Windsor Locks Tuesday is in the hospital, under police watch, and police said they have obtained a warrant charging him with murder, but he has not been formally charged.

Antwon Barnes, 38, of Windsor Locks, is suspected of shooting 35-year-old Leroy Jefferson, of Hartford.

Windsor Locks police responded to a 911 call around 10:50 a.m. Tuesday and found Jefferson just outside the doorway of 131 Old Colony Road. He had been shot several times, including in the head, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators said Barnes, who lives in the Old Colony Road building, confronted Jefferson in the hallway and shot his multiple times. Police said Barnes also pointed the gun at a woman the victim was with and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire.

According to police, Jefferson was dating Barnes' ex-girlfriend, who Barnes has a child with.

Windsor Lock police said one of their officers spoke with Barnes by cell phone and persuaded him to turn himself in.

Barnes was in Hartford anfdturned himself in to a police officer and a detective at the Hartford Public Safety complex on Tuesday afternoon, according to police.

Windsor Locks police said that Barnes had a duffel bag with him that contained a gun.

Police said Wednesday that Windsor Locks police have an arrest warrant signed by a judge that charged Barnes with murder, criminal attempted murder and first-degree larceny. The bond will be $2 million, according to police.

Barnes is in custody but has been admitted to a local hospital for a health issue and has not formally been charged or arraigned because of that, police said.

Police said they will be in contact with the court to determine how they wish to proceed with the charging and arraignment process.

New London is holding its annual Halloween event indoors due to concerns about Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

The event will be held indoors at the Garde Arts Center on State Street.

A news release from the mayor’s office says Mayor Mike Passero consulted local and state health officials and it has been determined that the EEE virus risk is considered low but it is still active, making reasonable precautions necessary.

The Annual Halloween Town Youth Event will be on Friday, Oct 25, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Garde Arts Center, at 325 State St. and the Gallery Spaces on that block.

The mayor is urging parents to use safety precautions as children travel to, participate in and leave the event, including wearing shoes, socks, long pants, and long-sleeved shirts and consider using mosquito repellent when it is necessary to be outdoors, then wash treated skin when returning indoors.

Resources for Learning About EEE

Find additional resources for information on EEE and mosquito management online here.

Click here for information on symptoms of and treatment for EEE. 

Someone posted an inappropriate message on the Milford Police Breast Cancer Awareness Cruiser and police are investigating to determine who is responsible.

Police said several officers participated in an event at the Connecticut Post Mall on Oct. 11 to raise awareness and offer patrons who have been affected an opportunity to sign the vehicle.

One message scrawled on the cruiser had an offensive message about the police.

“I am far less concerned with the content of the message, and far more concerned with his choice to express this message on a vehicle designed to raise awareness and sensitivity to breast cancer which has so deeply affected many people. We are vigorously investigating this incident,” Chief Keith Mello said in a message on Facebook.

Police said investigators have high-quality surveillance footage of the incident and a clear image of the suspect.

Once they identify the person, they plan to pursue criminal charges for criminal mischief.

Four people have been taken to the hospital after a school bus and a car collided in Hamden on Wednesday morning.

Hamden police and firefighters were called to a crash involving a school bus and a car at the corner of Lakeview and Benham streets around 7:30 a.m.

Based on the preliminary investigation, police say the driver of the school bus was stopped, waiting to turn left onto Lakeview Avenue, when a vehicle driven by a 30-year-old Hamden resident, was traveling east on Benham Street, “lost control of his vehicle on the wet roadway,” and hit the front of the school bus, police said.

The school bus was carrying Hamden students to New Haven Academy in New Haven.

A total of nine patients were assessed and treated by first responders, firefighters said.

Four students were on the bus at the time of the crash and two sustained head and neck injuries and were transported to the hospital, along with the bus driver, officials said.

New Haven Public Schools confirmed all parents were contacted.

The Hamden resident who was driving the car sustained serious injuries to his leg and hip and was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital. Three other people inside of the car refused medical treatment.

Firefighters did not release details about any potential injuries.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Kevin Hall of the Hamden Police Department Traffic Division at (203) 230-4036.

President Trump famously said during his campaign that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.

In court Wednesday, his lawyers argued that legally, he really could -- and no one could do a thing about it. 

The bold claim came up in a completely different context -- a hearing before the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals about the Manhattan district attorney's efforts to subpoena the president's tax returns.

Trump's lawyer, William Consovoy, was answering questions about the limits of the presidency's legal protections for the officeholder, when one of the judges invoked the president's famous campaign claim. 

"What's your view on the Fifth Avenue example?" Judge Denny Chin asked. "Local authorities couldn't investigate, they couldn't do anything about it?"

Consovoy said the president's immunity wasn't permanent, so Chin clarified to ask if they could act while the president was in office.

"No," Consovoy said.

"Nothing could be done? That's your position?" Chin asked.

"That is correct, that is correct," Consovoy responded. 

The so-called Fifth Avenue example refers to a claim Trump made on the campaign trail in Iowa in early January 2016.

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay?" he said. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it has approved the first drug combination to treat most cystic fibrosis patients.

Boston-based company Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. created Trikafta, which combined three drugs in one. Trikafta has been approved for those aged 12 and older with at least one F508del mutation, which affects 90%, or 27,000 patients, with the lung disease in the United States.

It’s also the first drug that will target the direct cause of the disease for 6,000 patients in the United States, according to Vertex.

The FDA said in a statement that it has consistently aimed to increase the development of new drug therapies like Trikafta while standing by its review standards.

“Today’s landmark approval is a testament to these efforts, making a novel treatment available to most cystic fibrosis patients, including adolescents, who previously had no options and giving others in the cystic fibrosis community access to an additional effective therapy,” it said.

More than 30,000 people in the United States suffer from the life-threatening disease, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry. Cystic fibrosis causes a build-up of mucus in the lungs, digestive system and in other parts of the body, leading to severe respiratory and digestive complications, according to the FDA.

The lung disease is linked to mutations in the CFTR gene, with the most common being the F508del mutation. Trikafta helps the protein created by the CFTR gene work more effectively. Previous drugs created to target the protein failed to help patients with other kinds of mutations in the CFTR gene, according to the FDA.

In two separate studies, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. found that Trikafta alleviated respiratory and digestive symptoms associated with cystic fibrosis.

"If you think about it, we went from being able to treat no patients to being able to treat nearly all patients in seven years," Vertex Pharmaceuticals CEO Jeff Leiden told the Boston Business Journal.

Manchester police are investigating three armed robberies in the span of two days.

Police said the first happened at the Exxon Gas station at 318 Adams St. around 10 p.m. Tuesday. The suspect was armed with a gun and fled on foot with money from the store, according to police.

The clerk described the suspect as male, around 5-foot-7, wearing all black with a hooded sweatshirt that may have said “Central Connecticut State University” on the chest pocket.

The second robbery occurred around 3:21 a.m. Wednesday at the Mobil Gas Station at 427 Hartford Road. Surveillance footage shows a male suspect wearing a yellow jacket and green hat pointing a gun on the clerk. The suspect made off with cash.

Police believe the same suspect also robbed the Xtra Mart Gas Station at 95 Buckland St. around 5:22 a.m. He was armed with a knife and wearing a blue jacket and dark pants, and may have fled in a dark colored SUV, possibly an older model Ford Explorer.

Huffy Alomary is the store manager of the Hartford Road Mobil Gas Station.

He hopes the public can help track down the suspect seen in their surveillance video.

“If they know him like please help us and help the community. It’s not just us. We don’t need those kids of people on the streets.”

It was Alomary’s cousin who has been behind the counter at their family business at the time.

To the robber, he said, “It’s not worth it. To be in trouble for a $100, couple hundred dollars, go get a job. That’s all."

Anyone with information on any of these cases is asked to contact Sgt. Marc Hughes at 860-645-5541 or the Manchester Police Department Investigative Services at 860-645-5510.

Always announced it will remove the Venus symbol from its menstruation products packaging following calls by transgender advocates, who said its parent, Procter & Gamble, was alienating trans and gender-nonconforming customers by not acknowledging that they, too, can experience menstruation. 

“Could someone from Always tell me why it is imperative to have the female symbol on their sanitary products?” Twitter user Melly Bloom, one of those advocates, tweeted over the summer. “There are non-binary and trans folks who still need to use your products too you know!” 

The company announced it would be removing the female signs from its packaging starting in December and aims to have a new design distributed worldwide by February 2020. 

“For over 35 years, Always has championed girls and women, and we will continue to do so. We’re also committed to diversity and inclusion and are on a continual journey to understand the needs of all of our consumers,” Proctor & Gamble's media relations team told NBC News in an email Monday. “We routinely assess our products, packaging and designs, taking into account consumer feedback, to ensure we are meeting the needs of everyone who uses our products. The change to our pad wrapper design is consistent with that practice.”

Stamford police say a suspect being held after a domestic dispute with his mother went into medical distress and died at the hospital.

Police said they responded to a report of a domestic dispute involving a mother and her 23-year-old son around 11:40 p.m. Tuesday When they arrived they found the mother, who police said was the victim in the dispute, but the son had fled. Police secured an arrest warrant for the son on domestic violence charges.

According to police, the son returned home around 1:24 a.m. and the victim called 911. Officers responded and found the suspect hiding in a wooded area. He was taken to the Stamford Police Department, where he went into medical distress.

Despite emergency treatment from the Stamford Police Department and EMS, the suspect died at Stamford Hospital. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine cause of death.

The man has not been publicly identified.

A Hartford Police Department detective is on administrative duty while the department and State’s Attorney Office investigate a use of force report.

According to a statement from Interim Chief Jason Thody, the detective filed a Use of Force report in May after a narcotics arrest. In the report, the detective said that he hit a person in the shoulder area with his radio, believing the person was trying to stand up and flee. The person was in handcuffs and sitting on the ground at the time, the report said.

Upon reviewing body camera footage, investigators determined this use of force needed further review, and referred the case of the state’s attorney’s office.

The detective, who was not named in the statement from Hartford Police, is on administrative duty pending the state’s attorney’s review and an internal investigation.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin released the following statement on the situation:

“The Police Department did the right thing by referring this use of force incident to the State’s Attorney’s office when they determined it warranted further investigation. This is why we have body cameras, and why the Department reviews use of force reports filed by officers.”

We're keeping a close eye on a weather system that will impact part of the upcoming weekend. 

Right now we expect Saturday to remain dry with the bulk of the moisture holding off until Sunday.

An area of low pressure will move through the area late Saturday evening and Sunday.

This will bring moderate to heavy rain to our area primarily on Sunday. 

Some computer models show this storm system could bring over 2 inches of rain to parts of the state.

The other important time frame we're keeping on is Halloween. While it is eight days away some computer models show there could be rain in the area. We will fine tune the forecast as we get closer. 

Check back for updates right here on NBC Connecticut.

At least one person is dead after a house fire in Norwich Wednesday.

Emergency crews responded to the home on Bentley Avenue around 3 p.m.

Sources confirm to NBC Connecticut that the fire was fatal.

Fire services and investigators will be on scene for several hours.

Firefighters from Norwich, Taftville, Yantic, East Great Plains, Laurel Hill, and Mohegan Tribe responded.

No other details were immediately available.

Several cars caught fire at a repair shop on Le Claire Avenue in New Britain Wednesday.

The smoke could be spotted from the highway as crews made quick work of knocking down the flames.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

A woman working to serve the needy at Saint Vincent de Paul in Middletown has saved not just one life but two in just the past week.

“It’s a soup kitchen but that’s just how we lure people in--- with the food, but we also do community outreach,” said Lisa Magee-Corvo, the food services manager at St. Vincent de Paul.

Last week in preparation for her new role as food services director, Magee-Corvo took training on how to administer the life-saving drug Narcan.

“Two days later, there was a situation, and I thought, ‘is this a test. Is this a part of the training?’”

But it was not a test. A woman overdosed in the soup kitchen.

“I went through everything they trained me to do less than 24 hours earlier,” Magee-Corvo said.

Magee-Corvo gave her a dose of Narcan and began CPR.

“She was blue,” she said. “Her pulse was weak and she was losing color.”

After she gave a second dose, first responders arrived and took the woman to the hospital.

“I’m just grateful that I work in a place that offers that kind of training,”

It wasn’t the only time Magee-Corvo needed to administer Narcan. She said a man overdosed here Wednesday.

“I tried to do the same thing I did on Thursday and luckily it was successful,” she said.

St Vincent de Paul Director Mary Ellen Shuckerow says the opioid crisis is an epidemic.

“It’s crossing all socio-economic boundaries,” Shuckerow said.

In these cases, having the drug on hand and proper training available to staff saved lives.

The fifth Democratic presidential primary debate in Georgia will have four moderators, MSNBC announced on Wednesday — and all of them are women. 

Moderating the Nov. 20th event, which is being co-hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post, will be Rachel Maddow, host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell, host of Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC and NBC News chief foreign Affairs correspondent, Kristen Welker, NBC News White House correspondent, and Ashley Parker, Washington Post White House reporter.

The debate will likely feature a smaller lineup of candidates than the dozen who qualified for October's debate in Ohio — only eight candidates have qualified for the debate stage so far, according to an unofficial NBC News tally. It will also be shorter than the three-hour October debate — it's scheduled to air between 9 and 11 p.m. ET.

It will air live on MSNBC and will also stream on MSNBC.com and the Post's website, as well as across mobile devices via NBC News and the Post's mobile apps.

We see them every day. Men and woman in uniform. First responders, who protect our families on a daily basis. On Wednesday the Connecticut State Police made it a point to recognize those efforts.

In a ceremony held at the State Police Training Academy in Meriden, awards were distributed for various acts of remarkable police work and first responder heroism.

“Too often the work that you do is taken for granted,” said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz while addressing a room full of award recipients. “You have demonstrated a combination of bravery and selfless in protecting our communities.”

Awards were presented in eight categories, including bravery, meritorious service and the loftiest award, the Medal of Honor. That distinction is awarded to troopers who performs with bravery while engaged in combat with an armed and dangerous person. This year it went to a group of three troopers from Tolland’s Troop C.

“It happened so fast. There’s no way to prepare yourself as it happens. It’s just your training kicks in,” said Trooper Kyle Kaelberer, remembering how the events of December 19, 2017 played out.

Kaelberer, along with troopers Toby Rutkowski and Timothy Benjamin, responded to a domestic dispute in Mansfield that night, which escalated into an exchange of gunfire, before they neutralized the threat.

“It’s nothing that you can totally mentally prepare for until it happens,” said Kaelberer.

As prestigious as the award is, Kaelberer says it’s not about him or his fellow troopers but more a validation for their families, who selflessly allow their loved ones to endanger themselves, to protect others.

“For them it’s a huge burden to know that I’m in danger every day,” explained Kaelberer. “This award ceremony is giving them the relief and realization that the work we do is recognized.”

Troopers weren’t the only ones recognized. Patrick Doherty received a Commissioner’s Recognition Award. While off-duty, this volunteer firefighter responded and saved the life of an injured motorcyclist on Interstate 84 in Danbury this summer.

“I used all my training to kind of help out someone else,” said Doherty, who had to cross three lanes of traffic on the busy interstate to get to the victim who was bleeding profusely before Doherty used a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

“My father rides motorcycle and so do my friends so I’d want someone to do the same for them,” added Doherty.

While awards were distributed in eight categories they all were connected through one common distinction, as explained by Bysiewicz.

“Whether it’s a terrorist attack, a shooting, a fire, you run in when others run out,” she said. “You’re our heroes. We owe you a huge debt of gratitude,” she said.

Burn injuries have been reported after a school bus and a food truck collided in New Haven Wednesday.

Police said the crash happened near the corner of Grand Avenue and Fillmore Street. The people in the food truck suffered burns, according to police.

An officer on scene said no children on the bus were hurt.

The road is closed in the area.

No other details were immediately available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.