A 24-year-old chemistry teacher at Danbury High School accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student and giving him alcohol has been fired from the school system, according to the board of education.

Kayla Mooney was arrested at the end of March and charged with second-degree sexual assault and distributing alcohol to a minor. Police said they began investigating after high school administrators contacted them in February.

Mooney is accused of having sex with the student on two separate occasions.

She was placed on paid administrative leave following her arrest and has since been fired, according to the Danbury Boar of Education.

Mooney is due back in court May 27.

Authorities investigating the death of a 9-month-old Rocky Hill boy said an autopsy revealed no signs of abuse, trauma or neglect. 

The baby was unresponsive when his parents brought him from a home in west end of town to Velocity Urgent Care at 396 Cromwell Avenue around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, police said.

Paramedics who arrived at the facility and urgent care staff tried to save the baby's life and revive him, but the baby was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

Police said the circumstances that led to the child being brought to the urgent care facility are unknown.

The chief medical examiner conducted an autopsy on Wednesday and there were no signs of abuse, trauma or neglect, but the office will not rule on an official cause of death until receiving the results of toxicology testing are completed.

Police are treating this as an untimely death until receiving those results. 

No charges have been filed against the parents or anyone else.

A West Haven officer is being treated for minor injuries after he was struck by a stolen car while trying to stop the driver, according to police.

Police said the officer responded to 9 Spring Street around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday after the owner of the stolen van recognized it and called police.

As they arrived, one officer confronted a passenger in the stolen car, while another approached the driver. Police said the driver accelerated, hitting the officer and knocking him to the ground.

The injured officer got up and tried to follow the stolen vehicle in his patrol car, but the cruiser malfunctioned, according to police.

The officer is being treated for minor injuries.

Police said they have identified the suspect and expect to make arrests soon in connection with the case.

The drug at the heart of a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma isn't a household name for many, but on Wednesday, the powerful sedative was being debated in the Supreme Court as lawyers sparred over whether its use to execute prisoners is constitutional.

Midazolam may not sound familiar, but as a benzodiazepine, is in a class with other drugs that might, like Xanax and Valium.

The sedative is used to cause drowsiness, relieve anxiety before surgery or other medical procedures and prevent any memory of discomfort afterward, according to the federal government's medical library.

It's branded in the United States as Versed, the Mayo Clinic website says. Like other benzodiazepines, it works by slowing activity to the brain, letting patients relax and decreasing their consciousness, according to the website.

It is also used to decrease consciousness in seriously ill patients who are hospitalized on breathing machines, according to the website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

The drug can also have serious side effects — including uncontrollable shaking, stiffening and jerking of the arms and legs, seizures, uncontrollable rapid eye movements and difficulty breathing or swallowing.

A year ago Wednesday, death row inmate Clayton Lockett was injected with the drug, the first of three that Oklahoma uses in its executions. He writhed and moaned as he took more than 40 minutes to die.

Lawyers for other death row inmates in the state argued Wednesday before the Supreme Court that midazolam is unsuited for executions because inmates might not be sedated sufficiently and could feel severe pain as the next two drugs are injected. The state counters that lower courts have ruled the dosage likely renders inmates unconscious.

The case has arrived at the Supreme Court as prisons are finding it increasingly difficult to buy drugs for lethal injections. Midazolam was chosen because pharmaceutical companies refused to supply previously used drugs. It has now been targeted, too.

States have begun looking for other methods of execution, with Oklahoma approving the use of nitrogen gas as a backup.

Two Queens women have been arrested in connection with a brawl over a parking spot outside a Long Island mall that was captured on video, police said Wednesday.

Authorities say Latoya Friday, 24, of the Rockaways was looking to park at the crowded Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream Sunday and saw a man, the husband of the other woman arrested, standing in an empty spot, apparently trying to hold the space.

Friday and the man, who was holding a young child, started arguing. At some point, the man's wife, 35-year-old Tawana Morel of Rosedale, showed up and Friday allegedly punched her in the head.

The situation escalated into an all-out brawl, and Friday ended up at the bottom of the pile. A profanity-laden video of the fight posted on YouTube shows Morel straddling Friday and repeatedly punching her in the face. Morel's husband, still holding the child, pushes a second woman away and says, “My wife is going to beat her."

As the punches fly, the husband says, “Baby, bust her head wide … open for running her mouth.” The video then shows Morel pull the other woman up by her feet and punch her in the head several more times.

Nearly two minutes into the video, two other men walk up and attempt to break up the fight as Friday yells, “I cannot breathe!” The man holding the child tells the bystanders, “But she hit her first,” and another man says, “So what, so what?.”

As the two women are separated, the man with the child can be heard saying, “Now you got knots on your face for running your… mouth. Now go home. Brooklyn style.”

Morel, her husband holding the child and two other children then walk away.

Police say Friday suffered minor injuries and refused treatment at the scene.

Friday reported the altercation to police a few days after the fight, police said. Authorities reviewed surveillance footage from multiple angles and arrested both Morel and Friday.

They were charged with misdemeanor assault and released on desk appearance tickets. It wasn't clear if either woman had an attorney.

Morel, who is the mother of seven children, told NBC 4 New York that Friday started the fight when she and the second woman came up and threatened to "tag team" her.

"She jumped into her fighting stance," Morel said. "My shirt got ripped off. My hair was on the ground. My shoes were on the ground." 

She defended getting on top of Friday and hitting her, saying that she learned the moves while taking self defense courses.

"I was horrified," Morel said.

Morel said she recently had a job interview with the NYPD and hopes to join the department. She says she was willing to forget the fight, but then Friday went to the media.

"And now I'm facing and dealing with this type of mess," Morel said.

Firefighters are responding to a brush fire in the area of 35 Whortleberry Road in Redding, according to the fire department.

It's not clear if anyone was hurt or if any structures were involved.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has deemed Wednesday's fire risk "high."

No additional information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

A convicted sex offender from Shelton has been arrested on new charges after police allegedly found him with illegal drugs and said he failed to register his address.

Police stopped Joel Bullock, 31, of Walnut Tree Hill Road in Shelton, on Perry Avenue on Tuesday. Bullock was wanted on two arrest warrant for failure to appear in court and for failing to register as a non-violent sex offender, according to police.

Officers searched Bullock and found him with drugs that were not prescribed to him, police said.

He was arrested on charges out of Shelton and released on $2,5000 bond. Authorities said Bullock was turned over to Derby police after his release.

An 18-year-old man arrested in the kidnapping and rape of a teen in Miami-Dade, Florida, was cleared of all charges Wednesday after DNA evidence exonerated him of the crime, while a second man has been arrested in the alleged incident.

Miguel Macias had been arrested on March 13 in the December 2014 incident, in which the 18-year-old was driven to a remote location and raped.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Judge Jason Bloch apologized to Macias and said he will seal his arrest record.

"Mr. Macias, I apologize for what happened to you sir," Judge Bloch said.

Macias said being away from his family hurt him the most while in jail.

"When you gotta talk to them through a phone and through the glass, that's what gets to you the most," he said. "I knew from the very beginning that I was innocent, I just knew it was a matter of time."

According to Macias' attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, Macias was arrested after the victim found him on Facebook and identified him as the man who raped her. Macias professed his innocence and volunteered a DNA sample after his arrest, Eiglarsh said.

But when the DNA results from the crime were released, they pointed police to 27-year-old Miguel Angel Bustos, who denied the rape allegations and said the sex was consensual, according to a Miami-Dade Police arrest report.

Bustos was arrested Tuesday on sexual battery and kidnapping charges. He was being held without bond Wednesday and it was unknown if he has an attorney.

Many would agree the two men look alike, but Eiglarsh insisted the Facebook identification was insufficient. Macias had text messages proving his alibi, and his tattooed arms and hands should have been an easy way for the victim to identify her attacker, Eiglarsh said.

Chief assistant state attorney Kathleen Hoague said Macias was arrested based on the testimony of a witness and corroborating evidence.

"Once we found out there was other evidence that indicated otherwise, especially DNA, as well as alibi witnesses, we moved as expeditiously as possible and the right result happened," Hoague said. "We are very sorry that the man was in custody for the period of time that he was, but as soon as we found out, we did what we had to do and we released him, this happens all the time, okay, this is not the first time this has happened and it won't be the last."

Eiglarsh said Macias spent 42 days in jail for a crime he didn't commit and he wants to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"If this happens frequently then something needs to be done. I understand that mistakes occur, but they could do things differently," Eiglarsh said. "Don't file the charges when the evidence is so weak before confirming with the lab whether the DNA proves that my client did it or didn't do it."

The person killed in a crash on Route 175 in Newington on Monday has been identified as a 94-year-old New Britain man, according to police.

When police responded to the crash on East Cedar Street, by the Wethersfield line, just after 2:30 p.m. on Monday, one of the drivers, George Chikar, 94, of New Britain, was dead, police said.

The other driver was brought to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries and has been released.

The Midstate Accident Reconstuction Squad is investigating to determine what happened.

Witnesses are urged to call Newington police at 860-666-8445.

A group of motherless ducklings was rescued from a stormwater drain in New Jersey on Tuesday, city officials said.

The nine baby ducks had fallen into a drain at Hamilton Marketplace in Hamilton Township and were unable to escape.

Municipal crews used a jet truck on Tuesday to flush water into the stormwater drains, helping direct the ducklings towards an animal control officer, who was able to rescue eight of the birds.

The ninth duck was plucked from the drain Wednesday morning.

“We have dedicated and compassionate employees serving our residents, and even our local wildlife, here in our community,” Hamilton Township Mayor Kelly Yaede said. "I am proud of the effort these employees demonstrated to rescue the ducklings and transport them to safety."

Because the ducklings' mother was nowhere to be found, the little quackers were taken to the Mercer County Wildlife Center, which cares for injured and young wildlife.

The president of Quinnipiac University is apologizing after he was caught on camera, partying with students off campus over the weekend.

The video of Quinnipiac University President John L. Lahey grabbing a microphone and speaking to guests at a party on Delsole Road has gone viral.

"I outlawed May Weekend 15 years ago," Lahey is seen shouting to revelers on Delsole Road. "But apparently the message hasn't gotten out."

This prompted a flurry of emails to Acting Hamden Mayor James Pascarella from residents wondering what the university president was doing.

Pascarella said citizens were concerned because parties such as these have strained the university's relationship with the community in the past.

Lahey said in a statement that he attended five student events last Saturday and went to the party at the invitation of some graduating seniors.

"Last Saturday, I attended five student events on and off campus, including the Senior Awards Ceremony, the Undergraduate Awards Ceremony, a university baseball game, a student veteran organization barbecue, and on my way home in the early afternoon, at the invitation of some graduating seniors, I made a brief appearance at their off-campus house party," Lahey said.

"In speaking to students at the house party, and in an obvious but ill-advised attempt to be humorous with them, I unfortunately made light of what is clearly a serious matter with respect to off-campus student housing in Hamden. I deeply regret having made these remarks, for which I sincerely apologize. I have already personally conveyed this apology to Interim Mayor Jim Pascarella and renewed my commitment to work with him and town officials to resolve these longstanding student housing issues in the immediate future," he added.

The hosts said they were not involved in contacting the university president and asking him to come.

“It was just something that kind of happened and he ended up in our back yard,” said Rich Borek.

Nearby residents said they were concerned and embarrassed about Lahey going to the party.

When NBC Connecticut reached out to the university earlier this week, the school released a short statement saying, "We have a university president who likes and understands young people."

Pascarella responded to the president's apology by thanking him and saying he wants to continue working together with the university.

"This morning I received a phone call from President John Lahey of Quinnipiac University. I appreciated both his candor and apology and look forward to a refocused dialogue on improving Town/Gown relations and student housing concerns," he said in a statement late Wednesday afternoon. "We are encouraged by his public statement of apology and hope that this even will serve as a catalyst toward resolving these longstanding issues."

No injuries or arrests were reported in connection with the party.

More than 100 protesters were arrested in New York City Wednesday amid rallies to cal for justice in the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore man who died in police custody after suffering serious spinal injuries, sparking violent protests across the Maryland city, law enforcement sources say. 

Several hundred people gathered for the Baltimore unity rally in Union Square before starting to march Wednesday evening. They split into different groups marching in different directions, picking up more demonstrators along the way and growing to a total of about 1,000 or more. 

They held signs that read "Black lives matter," "I can't breathe," "RIP Freddie Gray" and "Is life a white privilege?" 

Organizers had urged various activist groups to rally at Union Square "to show the people of Baltimore that we stand in solidarity with them and with their resistance because their resistance is for justice and their justice is our justice," according to one news release. 

At the start of the march, more than a dozen protesters were arrested near Union Square after they blocked the street. Police with batons had to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk.

Several smaller clashes between demonstrators and police broke out along the march routes afterward, but there were no immediate reports of violence or serious injuries.  

A line of police stood in front of the entrance to the outbound side of the Holland Tunnel, preventing protesters from marching in, Chopper 4 showed at about 8:30 p.m. Police cleared the tunnel shortly afterward, reopening it back to traffic. 

A group of people ended up at Times Square later in the night stood with their arms linked, facing a line of police officers at they chanted "New York is Baltimore, and Baltimore is New York." A skirmish broke out when a protester tried to push past police and onto the street where vehicular traffic was moving. Police took at least one person into custody. 

The demonstrations were being held simultaneously with the ones in Baltimore, which were also mostly peaceful compared to the violent rioting that rocked the city the day of Gray's funeral Monday. 

Umaara Elliott, one of the New York rally organizers, said she encouraged the message protesters in Baltimore were trying to send. 

"Anger can be justified. I don't think that public property should be more important than bodies, than the fact that 80 percent of Freddie Gray's was severed. I don't think that a CVS should be more important than his spine and the fact that his family won't be able to see him again," she said, referring to the drugstore that was looted and burned Monday in Baltimore.

Freddie Gray ran from officers on bicycles at Baltimore’s Gilmor Homes on April 12 near where he lived. He surrendered without a struggle when officers caught up with him, police said. His arrest was recorded on a cell phone video, which showed him limp as he was dragged into a police van.

Gray died a week later, the latest black man to be fatally injured while under arrest.

The protest in New York Wednesday was reminiscent of the the ones that followed a Staten Island grand jury decision's last December not to indict an NYPD officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. 

The decision sparked days of protests across the city, mostly peaceful if disruptive. While hundreds were arrested on charges like disorderly conduct, there was very little vandalism and violence, save for an attack on two NYPD officers during a march on the Brooklyn Bridge on Dec. 13. 

-- Checkey Beckford contributed to this report 

A 56-year-old Danbury park employee died in a car crash on Lake Avenue Extension Wednesday evening, according to Mayor Mark Boughton.

The News-Times reports that the man left the road and struck some trees.

He has not been publicly identified.

A substitute teacher accused of threatening to "shoot up" a seventh-grade classroom at Putnam Middle School has resigned from her position.

Andrea Husson, 46, of Putnam, was arrested earlier this month after making threats against the class. She was charged with second-degree breach of peace.

A Putnam mom told NBC Connecticut the school principal left a message on her phone following the incident April 8 and said the teacher threatened to "shoot up the classroom."

School officials declined to comment on the specific language involved, but Supt. William Hull said Husson "used inappropriate and threatening language in reprimanding a class." She was removed from the school following her arrest and has since resigned, according to Hull.

Board of Education Chairman Michael Morrill said school administrators dealt with the situation "very swiftly."

Husson was released on a $1,500 non-surety bond after the arrest. She is due back in court on April 29.

A motorcycle driver was taken to Baystate Medical Center for treatment of serious injuries after colliding with a Ford Explorer on Route 190/Hazard Avenue in Enfield Wednesday afternoon, according to police.

Enfield police said the crash happened around 4 p.m. near the intersection of Hazard Avenue and Freshwater Boulevard.

The westbound side of Hazard Avenue was closed throughout rush hour and traffic was diverted northbound to Palomba Drive and southbound to Middle Street. Cranbrook Boulevard was also closed following the crash. Police said all roads reopened around 7 p.m.

Police are investigating the crash.

Anyone with information is asked to call Enfield police at 860-763-8920.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Some 300 gallons of fuel spilled into a marshy area of Old Saybrook when "extensive" fire broke out at a moving and storage facility Wednesday afternoon, state officials said.

Firefighters said flames engufled a dumpster, dozens of discarded truck tires and a large diesel tank at H.A. Latham Movers at 175 Elm Street. The fire, which broke out at 4 p.m., also spread into the nearby woods.

According to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the fire started in a detached building that contained a 1,000-gallon above-ground fuel storage tank, along with two smaller, connected 275-gallon tanks.

Flames opened up the side wall of one of the smaller tanks, causing 300 gallons of fuel to spill into the soil and marsh, the DEEP said. So far, officials have recovered about 50 gallons of fuel and will need to excavate the area to get at the rest.

A spokesperson for the DEEP said the spilled fuel has leaked into the ground water and marsh.

Fire officials said Amtrak service was briefly halted during firefighting efforts, but railroad officials said trains were not disrupted.

Firefighters from Westbrook and Old Lyme provided mutual aid.

It's not clear what caused the fire.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Hundreds of people gathered in Boston, rallying in support of protesters in Baltimore.

An hour-long march began at the Boston Police headquarters, ending at Dudley Square in the city's Roxbury neighborhood.

Police say no one was arrested during the peaceful protest. Organizers tell necn that the goal was to get through the evening without any arrests or violence.

Marchers took to the streets, making their voices heard loud and clear. Among them was 80-year-old Marshall Cooper Jr.

"You've got to keep the fire burning," said Cooper. "We got the power. But all we got to do is stick together."

Cooper says events like these are what will change the nation, and he's proud to be a part of it.

"There's a man that went to Boston University, right? Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Was he violent when he protested? No. Did he destroy anything when he protested? No," said Boston Police Superintendent in Chief William Gross. "We're better than that. Let's bring it, Boston. Protest."

UConn’s West Hartford campus is closing. The university’s board of trustees voted Wednesday to approve moving the campus to downtown Hartford.

The West Hartford satellite campus has spent the last 40 years off the corner of Troutbrook Road and Asylum Avenue. The campus is now returning to the city where it first opened in 1939.

"The whole point in doing this is to get feet on the street. And the best way we can do this is to share other facilities with other institutions in the area," said the university’s master planner and chief architect Laura Cruickshank.

The campus will move to the old Hartford Times building on Prospect Avenue. Board officials say the plan is to restore the historic front of the building, add an atrium, two office and classroom buildings and a courtyard.

"So the other proposal today that was approved was buying a building at 38 Prospect Street and that’s all within the $115 million budget that we have had for the last year and a half," said Cruickshank.

It’s a project some students believe is worth the money.

"I think it’ll be a great opportunity for students to get into the city and get volunteer opportunities," said sophomore Brandon Gothoberg.

Other students are concerned with the parking and traffic issues of downtown Hartford.

"A lot of people are going to be late to class. I think they should keep it here because we have our own parking lot. I mean, where are we going to find place in Hartford?" wondered Smith Scott, a freshman.

To solve that problem, the university has a deal with nearby parking garages. School officials are also discussing giving students a pass with CT Transit, which would allow them free bus rides during the school year.

The new campus plans to open in the fall of 2017.

A licensed nurse from Queens has been charged with murder in the death of a severely developmentally disabled 23-month-old girl she was hired to care for who was taken to the hospital with burns over about 50 percent of her body several days after a bath, authorities said.

Oluyemisi Adebayo, 54, of St. Albans, was arrested Wednesday as she prepared to board a flight to Africa via London. 

Naomi Mondesire, who was born prematurely, was a happy and thriving little girl but required the care of a nurse, her grandmother Gardite Mondesire told NBC 4 New York. Mondesire said Adebayo was only on the job two days when she allegedly drew the scalding hot bath that would kill the toddler.

Adebayo called Mondesire to say something had happened.

She said "she did something bad," said Mondesire. "After she look at the baby from the OR, she said it's bad."

According to a criminal complaint, Adebayo prepared a bath for the little girl, whom she was caring for at the child's home in Rosedale, April 21 and tested the tub water with her hand before placing the baby in the tub. When Adebayo took her out of the bath, she allegedly saw the skin was falling off the baby's legs, the complaint says. Three days later, doctors at Nassau University Medical Center performed surgery on the baby to treat second- and third-degree immersion scald burns over half her body.

"You could tell she was in severe pain," said Mondesire.

On Monday, the child died, and preliminary autopsy findings indicate complications of thermal injury -- or being submerged in scalding water -- killed her.

When detectives tested the faucet prosecutors say Adebayo said was used to fill the baby's tub, they found the maximum water temperature for it was 130 degrees. It would take about 120 seconds for the temperature to reach the maximum level, according to the criminal complaint.

Medical personnel told authorities Adebayo's account of how the baby was burned was inconsistent with the nature and severity of her injuries, according to the complaint. The baby allegedly would have had to have been submerged in 130-degree water for about 30 seconds to get the injuries she was treated for.

Mondesire doesn't believe Adebayo tested the water, either. 

"No, she just turned the faucet and put the baby there," she said.

Mondesire said she can't bear to think about the suffering her granddaughter went through before she died.

"Each time I'm thinking about, it's like what Naomi went through, from the time she was in the hot water up until her last day," she said. 

It wasn't immediately clear if Adebayo had an attorney. She's scheduled to appear before a judge Thursday morning.

A funeral will be held for Naomi on Saturday.

-- Ida Siegal contributed to this report.

Planning for a military burial was underway Wednesday after a widow came forward to say three urns left outside a Southern California church contained the cremated remains of her in-laws and her husband, a man police said was a US Army Vietnam War veteran.

Staff members at Nativity Church in El Monte found the urns on Tuesday, and detectives have since learned the ashes are those of veteran Brian Earl Muldrow, and his parents, Erna and Rodney, police said.

It all began when Laurie Muldrow, widow of Brian Muldrow, put the ashes of her husband and his parents inside a storage space in Glendora.

But Laurie Muldrow lost track of those ashes three years ago when she couldn’t pay the storage fees anymore.

"I felt so bad because there was no closure," she said. "It was awful."

Laurie Muldrow said her husband got hooked on prescription painkillers following cancer surgery. He turned to heroin and died of an overdose on Thanksgiving Day in 2008, she said.

She and her two teenage children lost their home to foreclosure and ended up homeless. She turned to drugs but is now in a recovery program.

After she stopped paying for storage, the contents of the unit were auctioned off in a blind auction.

A woman named Lydia Rivera then purchased the storage container and found urns inside, police said.

Rivera told police she wanted to return them to their next of kin but didn't know what to do, so she dropped them off at her local church, and church officials told El Monte police.

Laurie Muldrow saw the urns on the news and called police.

"I saw it on the news this morning ... and now I have everything back," she said.

Detectives are now working with Laurie Muldrow and the Veterans of Foreign Wars - El Monte Post 10218 to provide Brian Muldrow with a proper military burial, El Monte police said.

The remains of Brian Muldrow's parents will be given to their other son Michael, who lives in Hesperia.