Kenneth Cole's suggested correlation between mental illness and gun control has stirred up backlash from the American Psychiatric Association. 

A billboard from the fashion designer in New York City reads: "Over 40M Americans suffer from mental illness. Some can access care...All can access guns."

Cole "is correct. There are 40 million people that suffer from mental illness," Dr. Renee Binder, the association's president, told NBC News.

But, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has found that only 3 percent to 5 percent of violent acts are linked to individuals with serious mental illnesses. Even more alarming, Binder said, people with severe mental illnesses are more likely to be the victim of a violent crime.

Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen officially endorsed her "friend" Hillary Clinton for president Saturday at a “Women for Hillary" event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Shaheen, a former three-term governor who remains popular in the state after winning a second senate term in November 2014, emphasized how much she trusts Clinton and touted her "tough as they come" strength.

“Hillary doesn’t look for a fight but neither does she shrink from one if the cause is right,” Shaheen said. “I’m a woman for Hillary. She is tested. She is our champion and she is our friend.”

The Democratic front-runner discussed the challenges that women worldwide still face to mark the 20th anniversary of her speech in Beijing, China, where she declared "human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all."

"I'm a proud, lifelong fighter for women's issues because I firmly belive what's good for women is good for America," Clinton said.

Clinton also took a jab at Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail, calling their stance on women’s issues “outdated and out of touch.” Terminating federal funding for Planned Parenthood has become a key part of many GOP candidates’ presidential message after the re­lease of sev­er­al sting videos al­legedly show­ing Planned Par­ent­hood of­fi­cials dis­cuss­ing the sale of aborted fetal tis­sue.

Planned Parenthood, meanwhile, provides thousands of women access to affordable, non-abortion services such as reproductive health, cancer screening, and maternal and child health services.

"She will never back down on women’s reproductive rights, and will never defund planned parenthood," Shaheen said earlier to loud cheers.   

Clinton called out Trump for repeatedly insulting women and shot back at his recent defense of his attitude towards them, in which the Republican frontrunner said he "cherishes" women.

"If it's all the same to you, Mr. Trump, I'd rather you stop cherishing women and started respecting women," Clinton said. 

The event marks the launch of a new initiative by the former secretary of state in an effort to enlist the support of more female voters. Both women wore pink jackets, calling it "pink power." The "Women for Hillary" campaign will roll-out over the next two weeks.

Clinton, who was once dominant in New Hampshire, is ramping up operations in the Granite State after recent polls showed a shrinking, if not dissapearing, lead. Challenger Bernie Sanders, who made significant gains over the summer, overtook Clinton by seven percentage points in the early voting state, according to the latest Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll.

A kayaker was dangling his foot in the water when he was bitten by a 10-foot hammerhead shark north of Malibu's Zuma Beach on Saturday, his friend said.

The attack took place just before 3 p.m. off the Deer Canyon shore near Deer Creek Road, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

Kyle Hudgins said he and his friend, 29-year-old Dylan Marks of Santa Monica, were fishing for yellowtail about 2 miles out from the coast when they noticed the hammerhead circling their kayaks.

"We saw this fin and then it dove," Hudgins said. "We didn't see it for like five minutes and then all of a sudden he (Marks) had his foot over the side and he just got bit. And then he put his foot up on the kayak and he said, 'Oh, dude. I just got bit!'"

Hudgins called 911. Boaters and Coast Guard rescuers brought them to shore, where they got the bleeding to his ankle under control.

Marks was airlifted to Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. He was in stable condition after undergoing surgery and not expected to lose his foot, a hospital spokesman said.

Chris Lowe, director of the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab, said hammerheads, which are known to approach fishing boats, are coming closer to the Southern California coast due to El Niño weather patterns.

"They are curious and they will come and steal fish off people's hooks," Lowe said.

Hudgins said he and Marks, who describes himself as a "catch and release shark fisherman" on his Instagram account, were not using bait that would have attracted the shark.

"The shark was just minding his business and then I guess he got hungry last second," he said.

The attack came exactly one week after a hammerhead shark circled a group of kayakers off the San Diego coast, forcing the closure of a stretch of beaches. That same day about 300 miles north, a surfer escaped injury after a great white shark bit her board off the Morro Strand State Beach coast.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders chuckled on Saturday at Hillary Clinton's suggestion that she will be the candidate to do more "than just give a speech for [voters], not just sort of appeal to their emotions."

"I think they're getting nervous," Sanders said after addressing AFSCME union members at an event in Altoon, Iowa, according to NBC News.

"I think the secretary's people are getting very nervous about the kind of enthusiasm and energy our campaign is bringing forth," he added. "But let me be very clear, I think everybody knows this. We're not just giving big speeches. We're not just drawing huge crowds."

As the U.S. heroin epidemic grows, so does the wait list for federally-funded rehab, NBC News reported.

In Massachusetts, substance abusers have to wait weeks to get help. In Florida, it's a month.

One Ohio woman couldn't wait. That's why she asked a judge to send her to jail so she could get clean. "There's no help out there anymore," Kayla Dempsey told NBC affiliate WFMJ. "There's a three-month waiting list for any rehab around here because of the heroin epidemic."

Nationwide, only 11 per cent of substance abusers get help from treatment centers, according to a 2012 study in American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

Bernie Sanders has jumped out to a nine-point lead over front-runner Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, and he's gained ground on her among Iowa voters in the Democratic presidential race, according to a the latest NBC News/Marist polls.

In New Hampshire, the Vermont senator gets the support of 41 percent of Democratic voters, Clinton gets 32 percent and Vice President Joe Biden gets 16 percent. Back in July's NBC/Marist poll, Clinton was ahead of Sanders in the Granite State by 10 points.

In Iowa, Clinton maintains her previous advantage over Sanders — but her lead has declined from 24 points in July (49 percent to 25 percent) to 11 points (38 percent to 27 percent); Biden sits at 20 percent. View the full New Hampshire Poll here.

An officer rescued a 1-year-old girl found locked in a hot BMW at a Norwalk library late morning on Friday.

Police learned that the baby was playing with car keys inside the car, accidentally locking herself in the car. The nanny was outside of the car at the time and she called police right away.

Norwalk Patrol Officer Jeremy Salley responded to the Rowayton Library at 11:33 a.m. on Friday. A baby girl had been locked in the car for 10 minutes. Her face was red and she was sweating, so the responding police officer used a spring-loaded "window punch" to safely break the driver's side window and get in the car. He crawled through the broken window to rescue her when the security system on the car prohibited him from opening the door.

Once he got inside, he said the car was very warm, about 100 degrees. Officers were concerned because of how the sun can quickly heat up a car in minutes.

"Officer Salley's quick thinking and calculated actions kept the child safe from harm," Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said.

Salley said the rescue only took about a minute.

“She was little nervous, crying a little bit. But as soon as I kind of grabbed her and passed her and got her inside to the A/C she was smiling and very happy," Salley said.

Norwalk EMS personnel medically evaluated the 1-year-old girl at the scene.

Police didn't say how the baby got the keys or release details on the sequence of events leading up to the baby locking herself in the car.

“You just have to careful because you know I’m a parent myself and kids do the darndest things you know and just something like that, you know, kids playing with your keys and locks herself inside the car, anything with a kid you have to be careful," Salley said. 

Norwalk police said that the incident was an accident, so no charges will be filed.The woman is the baby's nanny.

The Norwalk Police Department reminds members of the public that they can report incidents to the department's tip line at 203-854-3111, submit anonymous tips online through the department's website at www.norwalkpd.com or text tips to CRIMES (274637) by typing NPD and the information in the text field.

Multiple departments responded to battle a brush fire that broke out in New Fairfield Saturday afternoon.

The brush fire is in a state forest off of Beaver Bog Road in New Fairfield, according to tweets from New Fairfield First Selectwoman Susan Chapman. Firefighters from New Fairfield, Putnam Lake, Sherman, Patterson and Danbury all responded.

Chapman said the fire did not threaten any structures and no injuries were reported. The fire was first reported around 1 p.m. and as of 6 p.m. firefighters had the blaze under control.
 

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed support for the nuclear agreement with Iran on Sunday, calling the various planks Iranian leaders accepted "remarkable" and dismissing critics' concerns over its implementation.

"It's a pretty good deal," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Responding to concerns from critics that the deal will expedite Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon, Powell said Iranian leaders have already been on a “superhighway, for the last 10 years, to create a nuclear weapon or a nuclear weapons program, with no speed limit."

"These are remarkable changes, and so we have stopped this highway race that they were going down — and I think that's very, very important," Powell said.

Powell added that the reduction in centrifuges, Iran's uranium stockpile and their agreement to shut down their plutonium reactor were all "remarkable."

Comfortable levels of humidity and nice weather is expected to stick around through Labor Day.

A big ridge over the eastern United States means any major rain will stay away for days to come. In fact, not a drop of rain is expected the rest of the holiday weekend.

Unlimited sunshine will be the story through Monday.

High temperatures will soar to near 90-degrees by Labor Day.

It turns very humid Tuesday, and that type of humidity lasts through at least Friday.

The 90-degree weather will stick around through Wednesday of next week.

At the shoreline, temperatures will in the lower-80s Sunday and in the middle-80s Monday.

Despite the increasing heat, the key to the forecast is that humidity will stay away!

A pattern change late week means the end of the dry, sunny weather. A cold front will get hung up over the region and result in showers and possibly thunder on Thursday. Showers linger into Friday and Saturday.

The dry weather sticks around through Wednesday of next week, but then a dip in the jet stream finally arrives. That means the potential exists for a thunderstorm on either Thursday or Friday, and the humidity will be moderate by then.

The rainfall deficit at Bradley International is 5.4 inches, which is roughly five and a half weeks’ worth of rain. While the deficit won’t be completely erased late week, at least a dent could be taken out of it.

Stay with the NBC Connecticut First Alert weather team for the very latest forecast on-air, online and on the app.

An 85-year-old woman died after crashing into a condo complex on Country Club Road in Cheshire early Sunday morning.

Police responded to Copper Hill Condos at Country Club and Wolf Hill roads at 7:44 a.m.on Sunday. They discovered a car that car that had crashed into a brick pillar near the condo complex entrance.

The 85-year-old driver was found in serious condition and taken to the hospital, but she later died there.

No further information was immediately available.

The death of a New London woman was ruled an accident after her body was found behind a New London commercial building a day before her birthday.

Autopsy results found that the cause of death for Emily Eshenfelder, 26, of New London, was consistent with a fall.

New London police responded to 36 Bank Street Friday morning after a concerned citizen found an unresponsive female, alerting others. They found a 26-year-old woman, identified Eshenfelder. Medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene. She would have turned 27 on Saturday.

Police ask anyone with information on Eshenfelder's whereabouts late Thursday evening or early Friday morning to call New London police at 860-447-5269 or to leave an anonymous tip through the department's 411 system. Police are also asking anyone with video of the area where Eshenfelder was found to contact the police department's Investigative division.

Tracking equipment helped New Canaan police find a missing 79-year-old man who has Alzheimer's.

Police responded to Thurton Drive on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. after a caller reported an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer's disease had been missing for at least 15 minutes.

Officers found him behind bushes in a nearby yardabout .3 miles away from his home at 6:51 p.m. that night with the help of a Project Lifesaver trasnmitter he was wearing. The tracking equipment helped police find the area quicker and the department said it would have been more difficult to find him without it.

The man wasn't injured and police returned him to the care of his wife.

"Project Lifesaver International (PLI) answers a critical need for protecting people with cognitive conditions at risk of wandering," New Canaan police said in a news release. "PLI is a non-profit organization specializing in search and rescue programs, conducts mandatory training and provides certification, ongoing management and support to public safety agencies throughout the country. The training includes teaching the responders how to use equipment and how to gain the trust of and communicate with people who wander, and to ensure that caregivers are well versed in the program – all of which are essential to a successful rescue."

You can find out more information about Project Lifesaver at www.projectlifesaver.org, www.newcanaanpolice.org or call Lt. Carol Ogrinc at 203-594-3500 or email her at carol.ogrinc@newcanaan.ct.gov.

State police have located a teenager with autism who was reported missing from East Granby on Saturday.

State police spent Saturday searching the area of Tuckahoe Road in efforts to find Kelly Valentino, 17.

She was located that day before a Silver Alert would have been issued, state police at the Troop H barracks in Hartford said.

Israel won't accept refugees from Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday as the government began building a security fence along the Syrian border.

"Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa," Netanyahu said at the beginning of his Cabinet meeting, according to the prime minister's office.

But, he added, that Israel is a very small country "that lacks demographic and geographic" depth.

"Therefore, we must control our borders, against both illegal migrants and terrorism," he said

A driver was killed in a crash in Ledyard late Saturday night.

Thomas E. Mcguire, 63, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, was driving a eastbound in a 2001 Dodge Ram on Foxwoods Boulevard in Ledyard when he veered off the left lane, crossed the intersection with Lake of Isles Drive and crashed into a bridge abutment, state police said.

Mcguire was pronounced dead at the scene.

The car he was driving was registered to someone else from Massachusetts and his relationship to the owner is unknown.

Police continue to investigate the crash.

LifeStar airlifted a seriously injured driver after she crashed into a sign near a curve on Pendleton Hill Road in Voluntown late Saturday night and went down an embankment.

Meghann Mccoil, 25, of Sterling, was driving her 2009 Toyota Camry southbound on Route 49 about a tenth of a mile north of Kinne Road in Voluntown when she lost control and veered in to the oncoming travel lane, state police said. The accident happened at about 11:13 pm.. on Saturday.

She crashed into a "Curve Ahead" sign on the right shoulder of the northbound side of the road, state police said. Her car rolled down an embankment, ultimately flipping and hitting a tree. =

LifeStar transported Mccoil to Hartford Hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening moderate injuries.

Evans Mobil towed the car from the scene.

The road remained open after the accident.

Police have arrested a man who held up a West Haven credit union at gunpoint and stole cash, police said.

Roosevelt Strong, 24, of New Haven, is facing robbery charges.

West Haven police responded to The New Alliance Credit Union at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at 502 Main Street after a hold up alarm was activated.

Employees told police a man wielding a handgun demanded money and took off with cash in a yellow shopping bag.

Police put out a notification with a description of the man to area law enforcement and police found a man fitting the suspect's description walking on Sawmill Road.

Officers stopped the man and found the yellow bag of stolen cash on him.

Credit union employees identified the man as the robbery suspect and he confessed to the crime.

Police charged Strong with robbery and larceny.

He was held in lieu of posting his bond.

Crews responded to 4 Terry Road in Ledyard after a propane tank failure.

There was a 120-pound propane tank failure "with off gassing," Ledyard fire officials said. They responded just after 5 p.m.

Whalehead Road is closed in Ledyard because of "water supply operations," according to the fire department.

No further information was immediately available.

Showing cattle is a family affair for Olivia and Dylan Comstock of Wallingford. The tradition goes back generations.

“They used to have a deed from the King of England back in the 1800’s,” said Dylan, explaining how his ancestors once received land in Connecticut to start raising cattle.

Olivia took care of her calf, Unending Love, making sure she was primped for her turn before the judges. That included clean and drying the calf, putting gel on her fur, and even a pedicure.

“We polish their feet just so their feet look pretty,” she explained.
Most of the cattle in the dairy barn were shown by children who took on a lot of responsibility.

“We have to be constantly watching. You have to be constantly watering and feeding,” explained Dylan.

“I see the dedication. I think it makes them a better child. They’re up first thing in the morning 4:30-5:00 to wash them, care for them,” said their mother Tracy.

Alex Picard loves to show off her hard work with horses at Haddam Neck every year. She said she’s been riding for ten-years.

“I like this fair because it’s kind of local and it’s smaller so you actually get to enjoy coming to the horse show,” said Picard.
Emmalee Sicard eagerly tended to her flock of sheep, waiting for her turn before the judges.

“The toughest part is you have to stand around and it hurts your knees a little. The best part is when you win first place,” said Sicard.
If awards were given out for weather, this weekend's would definitely take home the blue ribbon.

“Turnout’s been phenomenal. We’ve had a great weekend,” said Fair Director Mark Dumond.
For 40 years the Haddam Neck Covenant Church has been selling chickens and this year they cooked up 4,000 pounds of chicken.

“We expect to raise around $10,000,” said church member Phil Visintainer.
For some it’s more than just tradition, eating this chicken is almost a religious experience.

“This is the best chicken known to man. It’s famous in my eyes. We call it the church chicken,” explained Greg Tousignant.

From finger-licking fair food, to high flying fun, this year there's something for everyone. New this year, a circus and jousting competition. The fair finishes Monday with another new event called rock crawling.

For a schedule of events: http://www.haddamneckfair.com/