Seattle-based Amazon.com has expanded its same-day delivery service to six more cities, now reaching a wider scope of customers than competing programs from tech giants based in California's Bay Area

Amazon's "Get It Today" option, which guarantees same-day deliveries to customers who place orders no later than noon on any day of the week, is now able to reach shoppers in select zip codes in Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, and the D.C. metro area, the company announced Wednesday. Same-day delivery was previously limited to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Seattle. 

Over a million items are available for same-day delivery, and the catalog of options is diverse, ranging from everyday household supplies, health and beauty items, baby items, toys, movies and games, to electronics, office supplies, sporting goods, apparel and home accessories, according to the announcement.

Amazon Prime members pay $5.99 for all the same-day delivery items they can order and non-Prime customers pay $9.89 for the first item and $0.99 for each additional item.

"We aim to offer the largest same-day selection at the lowest price," Greg Greeley, Vice President of Amazon Prime, said in the company announcement.

Other big-name brands with roots in the Bay Area  have also begun offering same-day delivery to customers in various cities, such as the "Ebay Now" program and "Google Shopping Express," but so far Amazon's program reaches the most cities. 

Amazon also recently rolled out "Amazon Fresh," delivering groceries to Amazon Prime members located in parts of Northern and Southern California as well as Seattle, offering same-day delivery on orders over $35. Amazon plans to reach New York City later this year.

Target and Wal-Mart have been testing their own grocery delivery options, too, in select cities, according to TechCrunch.

Police are searching for the men who attacked six employees during the armed robbery of a Bridgeport auto shop Tuesday afternoon.

According to police, at least two armed suspects entered East Coast Auto Parts, Inc. at 14 River Street around 2 p.m. Tuesday and attacked six employees there. They demanded money and took cash from the business office and one of the employees’ cars, police said.

A deli driver pulling into the driveway at the time said he saw suspects running from the building and heard a gunshot as one of them tried to get into his van, according to police.

• Watch Surveillance Footage Here

The driver backed out onto River Street in an effort to get away, where he collided with a minivan driving southbound. Police said neither driver was seriously injured.

Police used a K-9 to search the area of the Pequonnock River, where the suspects ran off, but couldn’t find them.

Authorities are investigating. Police said the shop employees were not hurt.

Anyone with information is urged to call Bridgeport police Det. Martin Heanue at 203-581-5242 or Det. Art Calvao at 203-581-5240.

A North Texas mother has not only set a new world record for the amount of donated breast milk, she has tripled the previous record.

Alyse Ogletree, a mother of two from Denton, donated 53,081 ounces of breast milk to the Mother’s Milk Bank of North Texas — a total of more than 414 gallons.

Ogletree found out Monday that she had been admitted into the Guinness Book of World Records after having applied back in March.

The previous record-holder was Amelia Boomker of Illinois, who donated 16,321 ounces of breast milk.

Ogletree told NBC 5 in March that she was overproducing breast milk when her son Kyle was born in January 2011, filling the hospital’s reserves of breast milk. A nurse asked if she’d ever considered donating her milk, an option Ogletree previously had not known existed.

Soon after, Ogletree found the Mother’s Milk Bank of North Texas and donated 1,880 ounces in total.
After the birth of her second child, Kage, she resumed donating to the milk bank, producing on average 130 ounces per day, Ogletree said.

“It's wonderful to be a part of something as special as helping out little babies,” she said in March.

Part of Route 1 in Norwalk is closed and there are several power outages because power lines are down in the area.

Police said Connecticut Avenue, or Route 1, is closed between Cedar Street and Stuart Avenue and they are asking drivers to avoid the area.

A Tweet from Police Chief Tom Kulhawik says the power outage is affecting 680 Connecticut Light & Power customers in the area of Clinton and Stuart avenues. 

The CL&P Web site lists a total of 1758 power outages in Norwalk.
 

Thunderstorms brought down trees and wires as they moved through parts of Fairfield County this evening, leaving thousands without power in Ridgefield and Norwalk.

A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect until 5:45 p.m. as a storm cell moved southeast across the New York border.

According to Norwalk police and The Ridgefield Press, fallen trees and downed wires led to significant power outages in the area.

At one point, Connecticut Light & Power reported more than 1,500 outages in Ridgefield and 1,400 in Norwalk.

• Track Storms Using Interactive Radar

Metro-North's Danbury Branch replaced one train with a shuttle bus Wednesday evening while crews worked to clear fallen trees from the tracks in Wilton, according to an email alert from the railroad.

The storms have now passed and we should see clear skies tonight, with temperatures in the upper 50s.

Send your severe weather photos to shareit@nbcconnecticut.com.

#NorwalkTraffic: Tree down on Grumman Av between Live Oak Ln and Cranbury Park. N/B lane blocked. Use caution. pic.twitter.com/NFI2nuToTu

— LT. Paul Resnick (@NPD_PIO) August 7, 2014

A woman accused of making it through airport security without a boarding pass and taking a Southwest Airlines flight from San Jose to Los Angeles pleaded no contest Wednesday to a misdemeanor trespassing charge after being arrested at LAX two nights earlier.

Marilyn Hartman, 62, was charged in connection with willfully and unlawfully entering Los Angeles as a stowaway on an aircraft, a misdemeanor, according to the LA City Attorney's Office. She was ordered to 24 months on probation and three days in jail.

Hartman, whose court-appointed attorney said she was homeless, was also ordered to "stay away from LAX" unless she has a ticket to board a flight.

Hartman allegedly bypassed a document checker after a few failed attempts at Mineta San Jose International Airport on Monday night and boarded Southwest Airlines Flight 3785 to LAX.

Southwest flight crews noticed the Bay Area resident after doing a head count when the plane landed in Los Angeles, officials said.

Hartman has previously breached security at San Francisco International Airport and has a history of trying to get on flights without a ticket, officials said.

Three times in February, twice in March and at least once in April she tried to board flights at SFO, where she has a restraining order against her, officials said.

At least twice she was able to breach Transportation Security Administration security and make her way into the boarding area. But the Los Angeles-bound flight from San Jose was the first time she flew anywhere.

The flight to LAX caught the attention of a US congressman who sits on a Homeland Security committee.

"This can't happen," said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California. "We're fortunate this woman was harmless. But we might not be so fortunate in the future."

"San Jose has training issues that I think it needs to fix, because passengers want to know only screened and ticketed passengers are on that plane," he said. "And if that's not the case, the general public's confidence in air safety will collapse, and that will affect all of us."

San Jose Airport officials said Wednesday the incident was not a security issue because the woman was screened by the TSA.

"She was screened for prohibited items," said Mineta San Jose International Airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes. "This was not a security breach."

The TSA issued a statement and said the woman was not a threat.

"The individual was screened along with all other passengers to ensure that she was not a security threat to the aircraft. Following an initial review by TSA at San Jose International Airport, the agency has initiated minor modifications to the layout of the document checking area to prevent another incident like this one," the statement read.

Southwest Airlines and TSA officials said they have opened an investigation into what happened.

Tony Kovaleski and Conan Nolan contributed to this report.

Dancing and robots may not seem to mix, but it's the perfect combination for a group of Farmington students who competed in a worldwide competition in Brazil.

The preteens, who came together to form "Team Genius" after learning of each others' skills through word of mouth, devoted more than 200 hours to creating robots.

They're based on the popular movie "Despicable Me" and are programmed to perform a dance routine to the wildly catchy Pharrell Williams chart-topper, "Happy."

“The most important thing is the time they are spending here, the values they are going to take with them. They are learning how to work as a team,” said coach Kavita Saxena.

Each team member works on all aspects of the robots – from gears, to sensors, to programming – while developing skills that translate to the modern workplace.

“Working as a team, programming together, and dancing together, writing scripts together, collaborating with each other – it's just perfect because in life, that's what most people do,” said team member Sanmati Choudhary.

After dancing their way through the competition in a New Jersey regional, the team was one of just four nationwide that earned the right to head to a worldwide competition in Brazil.

There they earned the Super Team award, joining up with kids from Austria and Brazil to claim the competition's top prize.

But the competition was not just about winning and losing. It was about creativity, brain power, and having fun learning outside a traditional classroom setting.

The head of the New Britain Board of Aldermen is expected to resign from his post as president at a special Common Council meeting Thursday night following an alleged drunken outburst at Mayor Erin Stewart's office late last month, a spokesperson for the mayor's office said Wednesday.

Michael Trueworthy, deputy mayor and chair of the New Britain Board of Aldermen, is accused of bursting into Stewart's office while drunk, calling her vulgar names and telling her not to run for reelection, according to a police report filed after the incident.

The mayor's office says Trueworthy is expected to step down as president of the board at 6:45 p.m. Thursday and that a special Common Council meeting will follow.

According to a warrant dated Aug. 5 and addressed to the city clerk, Trueworthy requested the meeting to accept nominations and elect a new president pro-tempore to take over for him.

He announced his plans to resign as president days after the July 22 incident, which began when Trueworthy allegedly called and emailed Stewart several times during the work day.

Stewart told police that Trueworthy’s emails had been “out of character” and that he sounded drunk on the phone, according to the incident report.

“She stated he was slurring his words and was unable to have a coherent conversation,” the police report says. Stewart told police that Trueworthy was upset with the way she had “handled recent city business and called her an inappropriate name three or four times.”

According to the report, not long after Stewart hung up the phone with Trueworthy, she heard a loud banging coming from the emergency entrance to her office in City Hall. Stewart’s Chief of Staff John Healey opened the door to find Trueworthy standing there and let him in “to avoid a commotion in the lobby.”

Police said Trueworthy “barged into [Stewart’s] office, was being belligerent and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.” According to police, he asked Stewart for a drink, then continued calling her names and threatened to search her office for alcohol when she told him she didn’t have any.

At that point, Stewart asked Healey to call the police chief, the report says.

Trueworthy allegedly told Stewart not to run for mayor again and to leave office, saying she had helped the city in a time of financial crisis and would be “moving on to other opportunities,” according to the police report. He then told her he would run for mayor instead.

Police arrived as Trueworthy’s friends were leading him out of City Hall to take him home. According to the police report, officers saw Trueworthy stumbling and leaning on his friends’ shoulders as they walked him to the car. Police said he was unsteady on his feet and smelled strongly of alcohol.

Stewart told police Trueworthy had had problems with alcohol in the past, but said she didn’t feel threatened or want to press charges, according to the report.

Trueworthy also apparently had problems at a local bar later that night. According to the owner of the West Side Tavern just down the street from City Hall, Trueworthy showed up drunk and was thrown out of the bar after demanding alcohol and making homophobic comments.

Trueworthy admitted that he was asked to leave the bar.

"When you have a high power, you have to be an example for everybody," explained West Side Tavern owner Isaac Silva. "You should not be drunk in public."

After the incidents came to light Monday, Trueworthy stepped down as the president of the Board of Aldermen. He confirmed the accuracy of the police report and said he's taking responsibility for the incident.

"I made a bad decision and thought I could simply drink a beer," Trueworthy explained. "That was clearly not the case."

Trueworthy said at the time he would retain his position as alderman and explained that he would get help for his alcohol problems.

"The best I can do is apologize and make myself better," he said.

Trueworthy was appointed to the administration, finance and law, bonding capital equipment reserve, planning, zoning and housing subcommittees and serves as liaison to Central Connecticut State University, the Department of Property Management, Mattabassett District in Cromwell and the Veterans Commission, according to the city Web site.

New Britain alderman and minority leader Wilfredo Pabon said he was concerned the incident would hurt the public's trust in elected officials and urged Trueworthy to relinquish his position on the board.

"He should step down from the Council completely," Pabon said. "It doesn't look good for the city."

Trueworthy called it a mistake and said he's only human.

No criminal charges will be filed, police said.

Doctors say just one plane ride can bring the Ebola virus to the United States. In Bethesda, Maryland, scientists are studying blood samples and measuring antibodies as they work on a vaccine.

"Someone can get infected in one of these West African countries, feel reasonably well, get on a plane, get off and then all of a sudden get sick here,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. “That's feasible, and I don’t think anybody can deny that."

But the U.S. is much better equipped to prevent the spread of the virus, health officials say.

"Extraordinarily unlikely that it will be an outbreak at all because of the way we take care of people, how we have the capability of isolating them, how we understand what one needs to do to protect the health care providers and the kinds of health care facilities we have," Fauci said.

With no effective treatments available, one of the best ways to stop the spread of Ebola is prevention in the form of a vaccine.

National Institutes of Health scientists have been working for more than a decade on an Ebola vaccine. As the latest outbreak continues to grow, so does the pressure to create a vaccine to prevent a disease that can kill up to 90 percent of its victims.

It's a complicated process of finding the right combination of genes from the virus that's effective with few side effects, but they are closer than ever, Fauci said.

"Vaccine has been tried in monkey models, and it seems to be really quite promising," he said.

The vaccine is made with genetic material from the virus, meaning there's no live virus involved.

"You don’t inject the entire virus of Ebola because that would be dangerous, so what you do is you get a very small component of the virus, which is a protein that coats the outside of the virus," Fauci said.

Scientists hope to be testing the vaccine on humans as early as the end of September, Fauci said. If it proves to be safe and effective, they hope to make it available by 2015. The first group to get it would be health care workers.

"It's difficult to vaccinate an entire population because you don’t know who's going to be at risk because you don’t know where an outbreak is going to be,” Fauci said. “But when you have health care workers who are putting themselves in clear and present danger of getting infected, those are the ones you want to protect."

Connecticut's historic wooden whaling ship has returned to whence it came three months after setting sail on a tour of the New England coast.

The Charles W. Morgan arrived back in Mystic Wednesday evening after being towed from New London on the last leg of its 38th voyage.

Members of the public headed to the wharf Wednesday evening for a welcome home celebration. The 173-year-old ship is once again docked at Chubb's Wharf and will reopen to the public on Saturday, according to a release from Mystic Seaport.

"Taking this American icon, the oldest surviving commercial ship in the country, out on her 38th voyage was a landmark achievement for Mystic Seaport," said seaport president Steve White, in a statement. "We truly accomplished our mission to celebrate our nation's shared maritime heritage."

The Morgan departed Mystic on May 17 and stopped at New London and ports in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including Newport, New Bedford, Provincetown and Boston.

It was the first time the Morgan had left port in Mystic since 1941.

A Killingly man faces manslaughter charges in the deadly shooting of a 16-year-old boy Tuesday night, after police say he pointed a rifle at the teen's face and accidentally discharged it.

Police received a 911 call from a home on Kenneth Drive just after 7 p.m. requesting an ambulance for the boy who had been shot. Neighbors said they heard screams coming from the house after the gun went off.

Twenty-two-year-old Kyle Carney, who was staying at the house with the victim's girlfriend and her mother, was pointing a rifle “in the direction” of the victim when it went off and hit the teen in the face, state police said.

Police found the teen unresponsive in an upstairs bedroom. An ambulance took him to Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam, where he was later pronounced dead, according to police.

Carney was taken into custody and charged with second-degree manslaughter and second-degree reckless endangerment.

He appeared in court Wednesday, where he was accused of violating probation for the third time. Court officials said Carney has "underlying mental health and substance abuse" issues.

He initially told police that he was carrying a rifle as he walked in the hallway by a bedroom and the gun accidentally discharged, according to the arraignment report. Then he noticed the victim, checked on the teen and called 911.

After being placed in a holding cell, Carney asked to speak with a detective and told officers he was not completely truthful during his first interview, according to the affidavit.

He told police that he was walking in the hallway, holding the rifle, and was moving his hand and fingers near the trigger and magazine when the round accidentally discharged, according to police.

Bethany Alexander, a friend of Carney's, attended his arraignment today. She said Carney is a "good buy" and didn't believe the allegations against him at first.

According to Alexander, Carney's rifle was a recent purchsae.

"He sent me pictures. He was very excited," she explained. "He wanted to go shooting with me. It wasn't anything hostile."

Carney is being held on a judge-set bond of $500,000. He's due back in court Sept. 11.

Police are continuing to investigate, and the medical examiner will make an official ruling on the victim's cause of death. Police said they don't expect to make additional arrests.

The teen victim’s name has not been released.

State police have arrested a New Fairfield woman who is accused of abusing her five daughters.

Alexandra Aucapina, 27, of New Fairfield, appeared in court on Wednesday.

She is accused of hitting her children – ages 2, 4, 5, 8 and 9 – with a belt and burning their hands on the stove as well as in boiling water, according to court documents. Aucapina is originally from Ecuador, police said.

Police also found a blood-covered electrical wire in the closet that had been used to bind the childrens hands and feet, according to court papers.

Police started investigating in February after a friend of one of the victim's went to her own father about the alleged abuse, fearing Aucapina would "do it again," according to police. The father then went to a teacher, who reported the possible abuse. The state Department of Children and Families then notified police.

When police spoke with one of Aucapina's children, the girl initially told police that she was injured and cut her legs by falling while carrying logs, police said. But then she told police that her mother often hit her with a belt and carried out other forms of abuse.

The children have been removed from the home and Aucapina was charged with five counts of risk of injury to a minor, one count of second-degree assault, and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree unlawful restraint and cruelty to a child.

She turned herself in to police on around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. 

 

Six-year-old Madison Bergstrom of Stoughton, Massachusetts is like any other girl her age, dancing and lip syncing to One Direction and dressing up like a princess.

But Madi has been battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia off and on since she was 19 months old.

"She's been through a lot for her age and she still has about two years of treatment to go," said her mother, Shauna McLaughlin.

McLaughlin has been through a lot too, as a single parent fighting this battle alongside her pint-sized hero.

"It's hard, it's scary but she is resilient, and inspiring and that's what helps," McLaughlin explained. "She makes me strong."

So when some friends bought Madi and her mother tickets to see One Direction at Gillette Stadium this Saturday, they were thrilled.

In home video from earlier this year McLaughlin asked Madi, "How much do you love One Direction?"

Madi responded, "Like to the moon!" and said she'd ride to their concert as fast as she could.

But Madi ended up back in the ICU this week at Dana-Farber Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. She won't be able to see the concert.

Madi is focused on the positives, like ice cream sundaes in her hospital bed.

But her mom was disappointed and posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone wanted to buy the tickets. She figured she could use the money to do something special with Madi once she feels better.

That post has led to another page with thousands of "likes" asking One Direction to visit Madi in the hospital.

"To see that there's so much good in so many people and that they care, Madison has an army of people behind her," said McLaughlin.

She said that, while she'd love to see the sparkle in her daughter's eye upon meeting her favorite band, she has much bigger hopes and dreams for her little princess.

"I want to see her grow up to be normal and I'm sorry," said McLaughlin, tearing up. "I just want to see her be – the range of normal – there is no range and this is our normal, but I want her to grow healthy; I want her to grow happy."

Six-year-old Madison Bergstrom of Stoughton, Massachusetts, is like any other girl her age, dancing and lip syncing to One Direction and dressing up like a princess.

But Madi has been battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia off and on since she was 19 months old.

"She’s been through a lot for her age and she still has about two years of treatment to go," said her mother, Shauna McLaughlin.

McLaughlin has been through a lot, too, as a single parent and primary caregiver fighting this battle right alongside her pint-sized hero.

"It’s hard, it’s scary but she is resilient, and inspiring and that’s what helps – she makes me strong," she said.

So when some friends bought Madi One Direction tickets for her and her mom to go see the band at Gillette Stadium this Saturday, they were thrilled.

In home video from earlier this year Shauna asked Madi, "How much do you love One Direction?"

"Like to the moon!" Madi said.

"And how much do you want to go to their concert?" Shauna asked.

"I’ll ride to there as fast as I can!" said Madi.

"You want to go so bad?" asked Shauna asked.

"Yes!" exclaimed Madi.

"We are totally going!" Shauna said.

But sadly, Madi ended up back in the ICU this week at Dana-Farber Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and she won’t be able to go to the concert.

Madi’s focused on the positives, such as ice cream sundaes in her hospital bed. But her mom was bummed, and posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone wanted to buy the tickets, figuring she could use the money to do something special with Madi once she feels better.

• Auction Being Held for Madi's One Direction Tickets

That post has led to another page with thousands of "likes" asking "One Direction" to visit Madi in the hospital.

"To see that there’s so much good in so many people and that they care, Madison has an army of people behind her," Shauna said.

Shauna says while it would be awesome to see the sparkle in her daughter’s eye from meeting her favorite band, she has much bigger hopes and dreams for her little princess.

"I want to see her grow up to be normal and I’m sorry," said Shauna tearing up, "I just want to see her be -- the range of normal – there is no range and this is our normal, but I want her to grow healthy, I want her to grow happy."

Vandals have been tagging mailboxes, signs and businesses in downtown Southington, and the town has launched a new campaign in hopes of catching the criminals.

“It’s very difficult to come out and see these things on our buildings,” said Pam DePaolo, whose furniture store on Center Street was targeted last month.

DePaolo said vandals covered her garage in spray paint and broke the windows.

“We're having repeated problems here. We need to be proactive,” she explained.

DePaolo set up surveillance cameras to help detectives track down the culprits, but officials are taking it one step further.

The town just launched a new campaign called “Act On It,” and fliers are posted downtown.

Town officials are encouraging residents to speak up if and when they witness these crimes or know who is behind them.

“We are asking people to act on it when they see this kind of destructive behavior,” said Town Councilor Dawn Miceli.

Southington police are also stepping up patrols and town leaders are telling affected businesses to paint over the graffiti within 48 hours.

“We want to keep buildings clean and keep them aesthetically nice and show that we do care,” Miceli explained.

She's pushing for a grant for paint removal supplies and asking volunteers to help clean up after vandals strike.

“We want to get rid of it as soon as possible,” Miceli said.

The idea is to show vandals that Southington is the wrong place to be and their and their graffiti is unwelcome.

“We are not accepting of it we take pride in our community,” Miceli said.

You can report tips anonymously to police by calling 860-276-1234.

A 16-year-old Greenwich High School student was killed and another suffered a serious leg injury after the teens fell while tubing on Long Island Sound and were struck by the boat towing them, according to police.

Police said the accident happend while four girls, all 16-year-olds from Greenwich, were boating off Greenwich Point Park on Wednesday afternoon. According to police, the boat belonged to one of their fathers.

Two of the teens fell off an inner tube around 2 p.m. and became entangled in the boat's propeller while one of the other girls brought it around to pick them up, police said.

The victims were taken ashore at the Old Greenwich Yacht Club, the harbormaster said. One was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was rushed to Stamford Hospital for treatment of a soft-tissue leg injury, according to police.

Police initially said the surviving victim was in critical condition, but her status was upgraded on Wednesday evening. She received "extensive stitching" and her injuries are not life threatening, police said. She remains in the hospital on Thursday morning.

The harbormaster said the girls are not members of the yacht club.

Police divers remained at the scene throughout the evening to investigate, along with an accident reconstruction team from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

"We believe this to be nothing more than a horrifically tragic accident, and alcohol doesn't appear to be part of it," said Lt. Kraig Gray of the Greenwich Police Department.

The victims' names have not been released. Police said all their immediate family members have been notified and their names will be officially released by noon on Thursday.

Greenwich school superintendent William S. McKersie said in a statement on Wednesday evening that the girls are rising juniors at Greenwich High School. Grief counselors will be available at school "at the appopriate time," McKersie said.

Connecticut boating regulations require operators to be at least 13 years old and obtain a safe boater's certificate to maneuver a boat on the sound. It's not clear if the driver in this instance was properly certified.+

A photo near the investigation site of the boat accident pic.twitter.com/Oz32ygeg2B

— Greenwich PD PIO (@GreenwichCTPD) August 6, 2014

Route 131 in Thompson is closed in the area of Cortis Road because a tree is on wires.

How long it will take to clear the scene is not known.

A 20-year-old hiker was airlifted to Hartford Hospital after falling 15 feet at Roaring Brook Falls in Cheshire on Wednesday evening, according to police.

Police said Spencer Hackett is being treated for non-life threatening injuries. Cheshire fire crews were called to the scene to pull him out of the woods.

He was taken by ambulance to a waiting LifeStar helicopter and airlifted to Hartford Hospital, police said. He's listed in stable condition.

A two-alarm fire caused significant damage to a house on Hidden Pond Drive in Waterbury.

The fire was reported around 5 a.m. When firefighters arrived, everyone who had been inside the home was out and safe, officials said.

Firefighters had to cut a hole in the roof to ventilate after the fire spread quickly from the first floor to the second. Now, crews are watching for hotspots.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Police are investigating a robbery at a gas station in East Windsor early Thursday morning.

A man with a black cloth or shirt covering his nose and mouth implied he had a gun under his shirt and demanded money from a clerk at the Sunoco gas station at 163 Bridge Street just before 4 a.m., according to police.

He fled with the cash, got into a tan Honda and went east on Bridge Street, police said.

No one was injured during the robbery. 

The robber is described as being between 20 and 30 years old. He has dark hair and was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information about the robbery should call the East Windsor Police Department at 860-292-8240.