Noor Alexandria Abukaram ran her fastest 5K race of the season for Ohio's Sylvania Northview High School last weekend: 22 minutes and 22 seconds.

But the 16-year-old's celebration was stopped short when officials disqualified her for wearing a hijab during her race.

"My hijab is a part of me. Like if you're asking me to run without my hijab, you're asking me not to run. That's period. Point blank," Abukaram told NBC affiliate WNWO.

Runners are allowed to compete with a hijab, but they must have a waiver from the Ohio High School Athletic Association granting permission before the race, according to a representative from the association.

"The official was simply enforcing this rule since a waiver had not been submitted. After the race, the OHSAA communicated with the school, which then submitted a waiver request. The request was approved immediately, which will permit the student-athlete to compete this weekend at regional competition," the spokesperson told NBC News.

A California man became the first black patient — and oldest patient — to receive a full face transplant, Boston's Brigham and Women’s Hospital said Thursday, after a 16-hour procedure several months ago. 

Robert Chelsea, 68, of Los Angeles — who suffered burns to over 60% of his body and face after his car was struck by a drunk driver in 2013 — had the surgery in July, according to hospital officials.

Chelsea had been on the donor waitlist longer than previous recipients due to his skin tone, hospital officials said.

The 16-hour surgery was led by Dr. Bohdan Pomahac and involved more than 45 physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists, residents and research fellows.

Chelsea's surgery was the ninth performed at Brigham and the 15th in the county, the hospital said.

The California resident had undergone 30 surgeries but doctors had been unable to reconstruct his lips, parts of his nose and left ear.

"Despite being the oldest face transplant patient at 68, Robert is progressing and recovering remarkably fast," Pomahac said in a statement. "We are looking forward to seeing a significant improvement in Robert’s quality of life."

"May God bless the donor and his family who chose to donate this precious gift and give me a second chance," Chelsea said in a statement. "Words cannot describe how I feel. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and feel very blessed to receive such an amazing gift."

The hospital performed its first full face transplant in 2011.

Peak leaf peeping is in full swing and people hoping to catch a glimpse of the gorgeous hues before they fade are flocking to the Litchfield hills.

“They are gorgeous this year,” said Helene Edwards from Vernon. “I keep taking pictures of trees like that’s a gorgeous gold and that’s a gorgeous red.”

“The numbers according to the visitors bureau are 100,000 people come every year,” said JoAnn Ryan, president and CEO of the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce.

Inns are booked. Sales are up at Sunset Meadow Vineyards, a Goshen winery.

“It’s been a great year we’ve had a lot of great color for quite a few weeks compared to other seasons that we’ve had,” said retail manager, Chris Chichester.

Even off-the-grid local attractions are getting a boost in business from tourism.

At Thorncrest Farm in Goshen they make chocolate. Each cow makes a different flavor milk to create the chocolate.

“Every cow will give you a different flavor a different texture it’ll give you a different consistency and experience for chocolate,” said Kimberly Thorn, the chocolatier. “I do think more people are out and about and traveling in from out of state to see the leaves.”

“Restaurants are booming,” Ryan said. “People are walking the streets. They’re loving what’s happening in our region.”

The Ansonia-Milford State’s Attorney’s office is investigating after a West Haven man died while in Connecticut Department of Correction custody in March.

According to the state’s attorney, 30-year-old Carl Talbot was found unresponsive in his cell at the Community Correctional Center in New Haven on the morning of March 21. He had been placed in restraint for being non-compliant about two hours before he was found.

Talbot was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9:40 a.m.

Talbot had been in DOC custody for two days before his death. The office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death to be “sudden death due to physical struggle with restraint, atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardio vascular disease and morbid obesity” and the manner of death as homicide.

Connecticut State Police and the State’s Attorney’s Office are investigating.

“We extend our condolences to Mr. Talbot’s family on their traffic loss. The State’s Attorney’s Office will be in contact with the family to assure that they are kept aware of the progress of the investigation, the purpose of which by statute is to determine the circumstances of the death and whether any use of force was appropriate under the law,” State’s Attorney Margaret Kelley said in a statement.

The Chatham, Ledge Light and Uncas health districts, which cover parts of southeastern Connecticut, are lifting their recommendation to restrict outdoor activities after dusk due to the threat of Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

Health officials had advised residents to limit outdoor activities between dusk and dawn due to the risk of mosquito bite amid a record-breaking year for EEE.

EEE is rare, but can be deadly in humans. Three people in Connecticut have died this season after contracting EEE. The residents were from East Haddam, East Lyme and Old Lyme.

Another, a Colchester resident, was hospitalized.

The disease was detected in mosquitoes and animals in dozens of Connecticut towns, prompting communities to restrict activities and warn residents to take precautions against mosquito bites.

On Thursday, health officials said that while the threat of EEE transmission will not be completely gone until the state experiences a hard frost, the risk of human infection is extremely low at this point. It has been over a month since a mammal-biting mosquito infected with EEE has been found in southeastern Connecticut.

Health officials said residents should still take precautions against mosquito bites, including using insect repellent, wearing long sleeves and pants, and avoiding hiking or camping areas until the first hard frost.

For more information about mosquito management and EEE, click here. 

The death of a Meriden mother whose remains were found in Waterbury in August has been ruled a homicide.

Perrie Mason was reported missing in August. Her remains were found in Waterbury days after she disappeared.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has ruled the cause of death as homicidal violence of unknown etiology and the manner of death a homicide.

No one has been officially charged in her death.

Mason, a 31-year-old single mother of two boys, moved to Connecticut from Hawaii to get a fresh start with her two sons. Her ex-boyfriend, Jason Watson, was arrested and accused of strangling Mason days before her disappearance. In court previously, the judge and prosecution called him a 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.

The case remains under investigation.

President Donald Trump plans to direct federal agencies to cancel subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post, outlets he regularly derides as "fake news" for writing critical stories about him, the White House confirmed Thursday.

It's unclear how Trump's plan, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, would be carried out or enforced, NBC News reported.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday, Trump said he didn't want either paper available on the White House grounds.

The city of New Haven is stepping in to help families affected by the closure of the Boys & Girls Club of New Haven’s after-school program.

The city, New Haven Public Schools, and the Housing Authority of New Haven, have partnered together to provide an alternative for families who rely on the organization, which is ending its after-school programs due to financial concerns.

According to an announcement from the mayor’s office, the partnership will run programming starting Monday through December 18, 2019. The Boys & Girls Club program is scheduled to end Friday. The organization had said they hoped the closure was temporary, but did not have a timeline for when it may reopen.

“This short-notice circumstance presented itself with no easy answer: the Boys and Girls Club is a private entity with what seem to be insurmountable, short-term financial difficulties,” Mayor Toni Harp said in a statement. “With thanks to my staff, NHPS staff, and Dr. DuBois-Walton and her staff at the housing authority, we identified resources and a location – and addressed transportation issues – to help these families resolve what would otherwise have been a childcare emergency.”

The mayor’s office said approximately 250 children were enrolled in the Boys & Girls Club. The new programming will be at the Roberto Clemente School and follow the same schedule and logistics as the Boys and Girls Program.

Read the mayor's letter to families below.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Thursday introduced a resolution backed by more than 40 GOP senators excoriating House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, accusing Democrats of violating due process for interviewing key witnesses behind closed doors.

Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the five-page resolution that includes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as a co-sponsor on Thursday afternoon, NBC News reported.

Democrats argue that there is precedent stemming from the Nixon and Clinton impeachment proceedings for holding the initial investigation behind closed doors. They also have said they don't want witnesses coordinating their testimony.

New Jersey may revoke the liquor license for one of President Trump’s golf club over an incident that led to a man’s death in 2015, a letter from the state reads.

The Division of Alcoholic Beverage control sent a letter to the Trump National Golf Club in Colt’s Neck on Oct. 21, stating they are seeking to take away the club’s liquor license after a man who was “actually or apparently” intoxicated was served alcohol — a violation of the terms of the license.

That man, identified in the letter as Andrew Halder, later pleaded guilty in a fatal drunken driving accident that left his father dead.

Halder was at the Colt’s Neck club on August 30, 2015, when he was served drinks other than beer from a cart on the golf course. He also appeared to be visibly intoxicated, both of which are grounds for the liquor license to be temporarily suspended, the letter reads.

Halder later caused a car wreck in which his father died, and pleaded guilty last year to vehicular homicide.

The usual penalty for such violations would be a 25-day suspension, but “due to the aggravating circumstances in this case” the state is seeking a complete revocation “based upon the total circumstances.”

While only the Colt’s Neck course is being targeted to have its license revoked, the move could have ripple effects to Trump’s other New Jersey clubs, including the clubs at Pine Hill and at Bedminster — which the President frequently uses as a retreat from his time at the White House.

In 2018, over 1,000 people in Connecticut died from unintentional drug overdoses. More than 90 percent of those deaths were opioid-related.

In an effort to make a difference in the opioid crisis, state health officials came together in West Hartford Thursday to promote the Drug Take Back events going on this weekend across the state for National Drug Take Back Day.

“It’s not just a problem for government to solve,” said Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull. “There’s really a role for every single person to be involved to address this problem.”

At the event held at the West Hartford Police Department, officials said tackling the opioid crisis has to start with residents clearing out their medicine cabinets.

“People report that their misuse started from prescription drugs,” Mental Health and Addiction Services Commissioner Miriam Delphin-Rittmon said.

Seagull and Delphin-Rittmon are teaming up with local law enforcement urging families to take part in National Drug Take Back Day and safely dispose of their medications.

West Hartford Police Officer Daniel Moffo said the goal is to, “prevent it from getting into the hands of someone who is either going to do harm to themselves or negatively impact their friends, their family or their community members.”

West Hartford Police will be holding their own drop-off event Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Department of Public Works on Brixton Street.

“We take any prescription or non-prescription med as well as pet medication. Some of the things we don’t take are syringes, open containers full of liquid,” Moffo said.

Moffo’s department is one of about 100 locations across the state where a drug drop box is available 24/7.

Since 2012, these boxes have collected over 40,000 pounds of drugs.

“We feel that every single pill that we put in here is preventing someone from getting their hands on it, and if we can do that we know we can have a positive impact on our community members,” Moffo added.

West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor said that during the holiday season, you should be particularly careful about locking away or getting rid of medications so they don’t get into the wrong hands.

“You might have people in your house that you usually don’t have in your house,” explained Mayor Cantor. “You don’t know what kind of mental state they might be in or what their living patterns are, so you just need to be aware of that.”

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced they will be accepting vaping products as part of their National Drug Take Back Day for the first time this weekend.

“All unused medication and at this point vaping products as well is something we need to be conscious about, especially when there’s children in the home,” Enfield Chief of Police,Alaric Fox told NBC Connecticut.

The Enfield Police Department is one of the drug drop-off locations that will be accepting vaping products like e-cigarettes and pods for this Saturday.

“Even for adult users, we’ve certainly seen a lot of attention recently that’s caused us to question the safety of these products,” explained Chief Fox, “we want folks to make smart choices, but we also want them to know that we’ll accept their unwanted vaping products.”

Three weeks after a vintage airplane crashed at Bradley International Airport killing seven people and injuring seven others, the Simsbury Fire Department is hoping the community will help them support two of their own who survived the crash.

Fire officials say there was such an outpouring of support from community members who wanted to donate, they have set up a charitable fund to give to those members and their families.

Firefighter JT Huber continues treatment at the Bridgeport Burn Center.

“His wife’s been commuting back and forth to be with him and with JT being out of work it’s going to be some time before they can generate funds for household expenses,” said Simsbury Firefighter Tim Gilbert.

Firefighter Jim Traficante is recovering at home. Police say he saved lives opening up the hatch door of the plane after the crash.

“He knew when to do and just for his actions other people were able to get out and that’s big,” said Gilbert.

Local band Organized Chaos and the Old Well Tavern in Simsbury are hosting a Halloween party fundraiser this weekend that will benefit the fund.

The tavern owner and band members had friends flying in the B17 that fateful morning.

“They’ve been here to the shows. They’ve supported us,” said lead singer Jason Proulx about the Simsbury firefighters.

“He and his wife have been customers of ours for years,” said Old Well Tavern owner Frank Cardoso, “JT is just a great guy. Anything we can do to help.”

“I would have been there (on the B-17) if I wasn’t at training, so there was a lot of us that said we would have totally gone. JT had been talking about it and Rob Riddell had been talking about it for months. Yeah….so it’s hard. Very hard,” said band leader Jason Lill. “JT and Jim are from the town. JT lives down the road from us. He’s one of the big supporters of the band, so this is, kind of a you know, hits us right where it hurts, but right where our hearts are placed.”

The party is Saturday at the Old Well Tavern in Simsbury. A cover of $10 and 10 percent of tavern sales will go towards the fund.

A woman was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries after falling from a horse in Granby Thursday afternoon.

Police and EMS responded to a hiking trail near Day Street South and Simsbury Road around 4:11 p.m. and found the victim. She was taken by LifeStar to St. Francis Hospital.

The victim was not identified and her condition was not immediately clear.

A Marine combat veteran whose supporters were seeking a pardon from the governor of California was suddenly deported to El Salvador this week, according to advocates and immigration authorities, NBC News reported.

Jose Segovia Benitez, 38, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1999-2004 and was deployed to Iraq, was deported to El Salvador on Wednesday, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Carlos Luna, president of Green Card Veterans and a supporter of Segovia Benitez, told NBC News Thursday that the deportation was sudden and “unexpected” after the veteran had been granted a brief stay while his attorneys filed additional paperwork on his behalf.

“From my understanding, neither Jose’s attorneys nor the ICE counsel that was assigned to his case in Adelanto were informed that he was being deported,” Luna said, referring to the Adelanto ICE processing center in California. Segovia Benitez was being held in Adelanto before his deportation process began last week.

Cards full of coupons promising free baby gear have been landing in Connecticut mailboxes. But the Better Business Bureau is warning that the offer may be too good to be true.

Tracy DiPietro's 23-year-old daughter doesn't live at home in Plainville anymore, but DiPietro thought she might have ruined a big surprise by opening her mail this week.

"I opened it thinking it was junk mail,” recalled DiPietro of the card she opened. "It says ‘Holy guacamole you're avo a baby.’”

DiPietro thought the purple card with an avocado on the front was sending an important message.

"It says, ‘I'm going to be a grandmother and why didn't you tell me first, why do I have to find out from this card in the mail?’” she thought when she read it.

The card is signed by Jenny B and even has smudge marks next to the note that looks hand written but is actually printed with the message, “Congratulations!!! I’m so excited for you. I hope you like these.”

It came complete with gift cards and a receipt showing their supposed worth, $245 in free baby gear, from car seat covers to pregnancy pillows.

DiPietro visited the websites on the coupons and gift cards.

"Several of them had the same landing page when I went to them so that clued me in that it was one company,” DiPietro said.

NBC Connecticut visited the websites of the dozen product offers contained in the card Tracy opened. Ten of the 12 said that they were distributed by Mother’s Lounge, LLC.

The Better Business Bureau lists 15 alternate names for the company, including Ruffle Buns and Canopy Couture, the same names on the gift cards and coupons that came with the pregnancy card.

NBC Connecticut tried to take advantage of one of the offers: $60 off at www.littlewaddlers.com. When we went to check out, adding the promo code tacked on $18 in shipping.

"BBB actually contacted this company earlier in 2019. Really questioning these practices,” said Luke Frey of the Better Business Bureau of Connecticut. “If you’re advertising free shipping on a product it shouldn’t change if you use a promo code or not.”

The BBB gave Mother’s Lounge, LLC an F rating. Frey said the BBB received more than two dozen complaints from consumers nationwide over the last three years.

"From what other consumers had said in their complaints they are lower quality products than they thought they were purchasing," said Frey.

The BBB said the company's marketing practices are designed to bring traffic to their website.

"Is it a scam? No. Is it questionable marketing practices, absolutely,” Frey said.

"I think their marketing is shady and I don't think I would purchase anything from them,” DiPietro said.

She went so far as to post the card on social media to warn others. She found out that she wasn't the only one who received this mysterious piece of mail. Other women in her town chimed in saying they received the same card.

As for DiPietro’s future as a grandmother, she said she was relieved to find out that wasn’t true either.

"I told her it's from Jenny B and she says I don't know a Jenny B. And I said that's funny because it says you're having a baby and she's like mom I promise I'm not having a baby!”

According to Scott Anderson from Mother's Lounge Jenny B is Jenny Bosco, who according to the company's website, created the different products on the gift cards as a way to simplify motherhood.

In a statement the Utah-based company said in part, "Mothers Lounge has mailed a heartfelt note which includes gift cards with proof of activation, and coupons to new Utah mothers. The qualified recipients for this mailer have, at one point, subscribed to an opt-in list for maternity deals and coupons through a third party marketing company. All information from third party companies is only used internally for Mothers Lounge and is not sold or used for anything else other than the direct marketing of Mothers Lounge."

Many of the women NBC Connecticut spoke to who received the same card said they were not pregnant and had not signed up for any mailing list for maternity deals.

We told Mother’s Lounge, LLC about the discrepancy and also asked for their response to their "F" rating with the BBB and we have not heard back.

A probe by Attorney General William Barr into the origins of the Russia investigation has changed from an administrative review into a criminal investigation, a person familiar with the review confirmed to NBC News.

The review is being conducted by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham. The New York Times first reported Thursday that the administrative review has turned into a criminal investigation.

It’s not clear when the change occurred, but the probe began in May as an administrative review.

It’s not every day that you see an 81-year-old out on the football field with as much spring in his step as the players. But it’s a regular sight in Glastonbury: assistant coach Bob Tigno has been in the game longer than most of his player’s parents have been alive.

Tigno has been coaching since 1964 – 55 years of experience. He has six championship rings with four different programs. He also has a motorcycle. It’s usually only the rings that he doesn’t bring to practice.

"They all say, ‘can we ride it, can I ride it?’ And I say, ‘yeah go, take it.’ But you can't ride it without keys," said Tigno.

The Tomahawks assistant coach's humor though, usually stays in the parking lot.

"When I started I was loud and yelling and all that,” Tigno said of his coaching style over the years. “But now I've toned down on the field but in practice, maybe I'm old school but I think sometimes you have to yell to get your point across."

That’s an approach that's just fine by Glastonbury head coach, Eric Hennessy.

"I think coach Tigs is always there to make sure that kids do the right thing and give great effort,” Hennessy said. “He demands it."

”You can't give more than 100 percent so let’s try to give 100 percent all the time,” Tigno said of what he’s told his athletes, no matter what decade. “And if you give 100% you'll get better either today or even the future."

It’s advice worth listening too, after all, it’s the same philosophy that’s kept him coaching into his eighties.

“I don't think about being 81 or this is what keeps me young,” he said. “I just come out and try to do my job the best I can. I try to give it 100 percent when I'm here."

Glastonbury is 3-2 so far this season. They play at New Britain Friday at 7 p.m.

Voters in East Windsor overwhelmingly defeated plans related to the money that would be paid by a potential new casino in town.

“I’m excited. I think the voters in East Windsor have sent a pretty clear signal that they want people putting forward ideas that benefit the community in a more thoughtful way,” said Selectman Jason Bowsza, a Democrat who is running for first selectman.

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes have been fighting to build a joint casino on land near I-91.

In an agreement, the tribes agreed to pay the town $3 million up front and then an annual impact payment.

“It should be spent towards public safety and other projects that directly are impacted by the casino moving in,” said Selectman Charles Szymanski, who is a petitioning candidate for first selectman.

Szymanski said he believes the proposals sent to referendum were a required step which would set up a fund and create a framework for how to spend the casino money.

But some felt the process was being rushed.

“I don’t think it should have happened so close to election time, less than two weeks away. These decisions should have been made by the next board,” said Sarah Muska, a Republican candidate for first selectman.

Others raised concerns about how the money would be managed.

That was the focus of the second ordinance which was up for a vote and was defended by the current First Selectman Robert Maynard.

“In a sense this new, second ordinance, the distribution, really follows our budget procedure so it’s nothing revolutionary,” said Maynard, who is a petitioning candidate for selectman.

It now looks like the new select board after the election will play a part in setting up the fund.

The tribes received federal approval for the casino, which MGM is fighting.

Two women at an event for actors at a Manhattan bar noticed a disgraced Hollywood producer was among them, and let him know they did not think he was welcome.

Harvey Weinstein was in attendance at the Actors Hour event Wednesday night at Lower East Side bar Downtime, which bills itself as a speakeasy for artists. Many of the other attendees said they weren’t even sure it really was him until a comic took the stage and addressed it, calling him the “elephant in the room.”

“I didn’t know we had to bring our own mace and rape whistles to actors hour,” Kelly Bachman said on stage, with some boos coming from the audience in response.

After Bachman’s set, another woman took a more direct approach, going right up to the table where Weinstein and a crew of people were seated.

“Nobody’s gonna say anything? No one’s really gonna say anything?” Zoe Stuckless is seen on a video asking, incredulously. “I’ll get out of here that’s fine. But nobody’s gonna say anything. I’m gonna stand four feet from a f-----g rapist.”

Stuckless was asked to leave by others, but in an interview with NBC News, she showed no remorse for voicing her opinion.

"If no one says anything, then I owe it to myself, I owe it to the survivors and to all the women that Harvey has victimized to say something,” Stuckless said in a phone interview.

It’s unclear if organizers or the bar itself knew in advance that Weinstein would show up.

Weinstein, who is currently out on bail and is awaiting trial for multiple cases of rape and sexual assault, has pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence. In a statement to NBC New York, a spokesperson for Weinstein said the scene was “uncalled for, downright rude and an example of how due process today is being squashed by the public, trying to take it away in the courtroom, too.”

Requests for comment from the organizers of Actors Hour as well as the Downtime bar were not immediately returned.

A woman known as the grandmother of her Hartford neighborhood was hit and killed by a car police say was involved in a shootout Thursday.

“She was a beautiful person and loved everyone and loved her community.”

Family said 71-year-old Yvonne Smith was on her way to the corner store, something she did every day, when she was hit.

“Devastated. Because I never would have in a million years expected something like this to happen to my aunt,” said Troy Blake, the victim’s niece.

Smith was a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. For many, she was a guardian of the neighborhood.

She loved to laugh and dance, according to her family.

“Everyone around here loved her. Everyone knew her. She'd help you. She'd help your kids. She always had something she wanted to give. She was a beautiful person,” Blake said.

Those who knew her are heartbroken by the loss.

Hartford police said four people in two cars started shooting at each other at Westland and Garden Streets. Neighbors ran for cover and called 911.

“Multiple gunshots, the car speeding off, then I heard the backup and more gunshots,” one witness, who did not wish to be identified, explained.

“As one of the vehicles fled from the shooting scene, they struck a pedestrian that was in the roadway,” Lt. Paul Cicero of the Hartford Police Department said.

For hours crime scene tape wrapped around a large area, with a single shoe left in the middle of the road.

The silver Kia that hit and killed Smith crashed into a nearby building. Police said it was stolen from Manchester.

Officers found a 17-year-old suspect with a gunshot wound who is in stable condition at the hospital, and a 16-year-old who is described as a person of interest.

“It could be anyone walking out of any store at any time and it happens to them,” Blake said.

Smith’s family said the 71-year-old spent most of her life in Hartford and never wanted to be anywhere else. So for her, they’re asking for help to make the streets safer.

“She loved this community. No matter how much we tried to get her to move out of the community, this was it for her,” Blake said.

A candlelight vigil for Smith will take place Saturday on Nelson Street.