The Boy Scouts motto is “be prepared,” but a troop in Southington was not prepared for the unpleasant discovery made earlier this week when about 20 pink flamingos they had been using for a fundraiser were stolen from the front lawn of a church.

Scoutmaster Chris Luise said the flamingos belonging to Troop 45 disappeared from outside St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Thursday or Friday.

At first, he thought they'd just been moved, but by Monday it had become apparent that was not the case.

The troop uses the flamingos to raise money each Spring and, while it might seem funny to some that the plastic lawn ornaments were taken, the missing flock will likely cost the troop about $1,500 in unrealized donations.

Luise has contacted police but really, he said, they Boy Scouts would just like their birds back.
 

The midair collision of two planes over Westlake Village in California this week points out that no matter how big the sky, it’s rarely wide open. And the skies over Southern California are among the most crowded in the country.

Part of the reason for that is the sheer number of airports in the Los Angeles area. From the biggest ones like LAX and John Wayne to smaller ones like Hawthorne and El Monte, there are 30 airports in the area.

From those airports are millions of takeoffs and landings. In 2009, Van Nuys Airport earned the title of “world’s busiest general aviation airport” with 400,000 takeoffs and landings that year.

The recession and the high cost of fuel has helped reduce that number, but the latest statistics available show there have been more than 61,000 takeoffs and landings in Van Nuys in the first three months of this year. That averages nearly 700 takeoffs and landings each day from a single Southland airport.

Both planes involved in Tuesday’s midair collision took off from Santa Monica Airport, where records show there were nearly 8,500 takeoffs and landings in January, with more than 8,700 in February.

A tremendous number of aircraft are in the sky at any one moment.

Larry Welk has flown planes and helicopters over California for more than 20 years, including the NBC4 helicopter.

“Airspace continues to get more and more dense,” said Welk, who added that LA airspace is “complex.” Pilots have to contend not only with substantial traffic, but other issues like terrain.

There have been notable midair collisions in the past five years in Southern California.

In May 2009, two planes collided over Long Beach, killing three people.

In January 2008, two planes hit each other over Corona, raining down debris over a strip of auto dealerships. Four people on board the planes were killed, along with one victim on the ground.

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Southern California rivals New York for the volume of air traffic. In New York, pilots complain about what they say can be a hazardous flight over the Hudson River, where nine people died in a 2009 collision between an airplane and a tour helicopter.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, there have been 120 midair collisions since 1999, killing more than 160 people.

Welk said technology that can warn pilots even of small planes of approaching aircraft is minimizing the danger posed by midair collisions.

“I wouldn’t say it’s not safe, but accidents will happen,” Welk said.

Construction of the historic New Haven Downtown Crossing Project will affect drivers beginning on Thursday when exit 3 along Route 34 will close.

Beginning tomorrow, the exit 3 off-ramp on Route 34 westbound in New Haven, between College Street and the Air Rights Garage, will be closed permanently to traffic as crews remove the highway and reconnect streets to help facilitate creation of 11 acres of developable land.

On Thursday morning, all westbound traffic will be diverted to exits 2 and 1.

A new traffic signal has been installed at the intersection of Exit 2 and MLK Boulevard to facilitate the change in traffic patterns.

Signs will be posted to help guide the public.

“Exit 2 is going to be widened from one lane to two lanes and, basically, what you're going to be doing is exiting the highway one block earlier,” Jim Travers, the director of transportation, traffic and parking, said.

Local business access will be maintained during all detours and lane closures and work will occur, weather permitting, and will be rescheduled as necessary.

Drivers are advised to avoid the area and use alternate routes to get into downtown.

The Downtown Crossing project is funded by the United States Department of Transportation, the City of New Haven and the State of Connecticut, according to a news release from New Haven officials.

Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed in Summer 2014.

Residents and commuters are urged to sign up to receive weekly traffic alerts that will keep them informed about detours and possible delays.

 

The 26-year-old Chinese engineer who was carjacked by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects said he was "lucky" to survive an agonizing 90-minute car ride that ended with his escape.

"God was with me," said the man, who goes by the nickname Danny, in an interview on the "Today" show Wednesday.

Danny appeared on "Today" with his face concealed and his voice modified to describe his harrowing encounter with the bombing suspects on April 18.

For Danny's full story, visit NBCNews.com

Three nights after the marathon attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260, Danny was sitting in his Mercedes when a man approached from behind, put his hand through the open window and opened the door from the inside, Danny said. He then pointed a gun at him while asking if he knew of the bombing.

“I said, "Yes, of course,’’’ Danny recalled. “Then he said, ‘I did that. And I just killed a policeman in Cambridge.’’’

The attacker was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Danny said. He ordered him to drive the car while pointing a gun at him. Tsarnaev’s younger brother Dzhokhar was following them in a sedan. Danny's body was shaking so much that he had trouble driving, he said.

“Tamerlan told me, ‘Relax, man. Slow down. Don't drive too fast,’’ Danny said.

Tamerlan soon took over the wheel and Dzhokhar joined them in the Mercedes, he said. The attackers transferred items from the sedan into the Mercedes. Danny didn’t know it at the time, but those items were explosives, which the brothers later hurled at police during a firefight in Watertown, Mass., according to authorities.

Danny, meanwhile, was plotting his escape. The brothers stopped as a gas station in Cambridge, with Dzhokhar leaving the vehicle go to an ATM and get gas. That’s when Danny unbuckled his seatbelt with his left hand, opened the door with his right hand and ran from the car.

I took off,’’ Danny said. “[Tamerlan] tried to grab me. He was trying to grab me. It was very close. I can feel it.”

Danny ran to another gas station and called 911. Authorities used his car’s satellite system and the iPhone he left in his car to track the suspects.

"I think Dzhokhar is, like, a follower,'' Danny said of the surviving suspect. "He went out to the ATM (at the gas station). He went out to get the gas. Tamerlan never got out of the car."

While Danny plans to testify at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial and expects to be identified, he wants to remain under the radar for now, NBC's Matt Lauer said.

For Danny's full story, visit NBCNews.com.

The Grammy Award-winning Blues Traveler has been playing venues all over the world since becoming mega-stars in the 1990s, and one of the stops on the current tour will be right here in a place you might not expect -- the Milford Oyster Festival.

Blues Traveler will headline the festival, which will be held on Saturday, August 17.

“Blues Traveler has been on our band wish list for several years and we are thrilled to be able to finally bring them to our Main Stage” Jay Pinto, vice-president of the festival committee, said in a written statement.  “We have a great stage and backdrop for Blues Traveler” said Paula Smith, Festival president, “This is a wonderful opportunity for fans to enjoy a free outdoor concert in our beautiful downtown harbor area.”

The 39th annual Milford Oyster Festival is August 17 rain or shine in downtown Milford along the harbor.  Not only are oysters celebrated and shucked, but you’ll find arts and crafts as well as demonstrations.

If you cannot make the festival, you’ll be able to catch Blues Traveler in August when they play the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, which runs from July 25 through July 28, in Oceanside Park.

Ticket packages are already available for the festival.

Also expected at this year’s Gathering of the Vibes are The Black Crowes, Tedeschi and Fishbone.  Look for a major artist announcement to come on June 10.


 

A 250-pound piece of an airplane wing that is believed to be part of a 9/11 jetliner was hoisted out of an alley near the World Trade Center where it was found last week and taken into police custody.

A dozen police officers worked for two hours Wednesday morning using ropes and a hoist to lift the 5-foot-long chunk of debris from the 18-inch-wide alley. They then wheeled it onto the street and loaded it into a pickup truck to take it to the NYPD property clerk's office in Brooklyn.

Deputy Chief William Aubrey said the National September 11 Memorial & Museum could eventually take possession of the part. He described the removal as eerie and emotional.

"It's a piece of history," he said. "We tried to preserve it as best we could."

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani told NBC 4 New York on Wednesday that the finding of the plane part was a "heartbreaking" reminder.

"Given the nature of it, we're never going to be able to recover everything," he said. "This is probably just inevitable in the nature of how horrific that attack was."

The part was removed after forensic authorities sifted the soil around it for human remains on Tuesday. The medical examiner's office said no potential human remains were found.

The airplane debris, identified as a piece of a 767 wing, was found wedged in the alley last week by surveyors hired by the property owner, as first reported by NBC 4 New York. The alley is between the rear of 50 Murray St. and back of 51 Park Place, the site where a mosque and community center has been proposed three blocks from ground zero.

Police say they have not determined whether the part came from American Airlines flight 11, which hit the north tower at 8:46 a.m., or United flight 175, which hit the south tower at 9:03 a.m. A FEMA graphic below shows that all the other plane parts in the immediate area were from flight 175.

State police have arrested a 43-year-old Thompson man accused of running a hidden and elaborate marijuana grow house, according to state police.

Just before 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, after a lengthy investigation, state police, the Statewide Narcotics Task Force-East Office and DEA officers went to 20 Leo Circle in Thompson, the home of Bernard Chausse, 43, with search warrants, according to state police.

In the detached garage, investigators found a hidden retractable door led to a locked temperature- and oxygen-controlled grow room on the second floor that held around 25 high-grade marijuana plants, according to state police.

Police also found several high-capacity lights, ballasts and a watering and ventilation system. 

Inside the home, police also found around 3.5 pounds of marijuana packaged for sale, two guns, scales, packaging equipment, around $3,479 in cash, a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup and two Harley Davidson motorcycles, police said. 

Chausse was charged with possession of more than 1 kilogram of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, cultivation of marijuana and operating a drug factory.

He was processed and held on a $75,000 cash/surety bond and is scheduled to appear at GA 11 on Wednesday.
 

A Connecticut jewelry store is hoping to make Mother's Day a little more special for military moms and wives.

Bill Selig Jewelers will give away 1,000 pearl necklaces to the mothers and spouses of active-duty soldiers on Saturday, May 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the store's locations on Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury and on Broad Street in Windsor.

“We wanted to come up with a way of thanking military families for their sacrifices, which are overlooked day-today,” said Sharran Selig Bennett, vice president of Bill Selig Jewelers. “We all just seem to go about our business, and we do forget about the wives, daughters, children of the veterans, the soldiers that are over there fighting.

The store does ask that mothers and spouses of military troops bring a photograph and personal note about their solider.

The family holds the event each year in memory of  Bill Selig, who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

A UConn law student has been arrested, accused of sending anti-Semitic and other racially charged e-mails.

Police started investigating when the Student Bar Association received an e-mail from the account of Anya Kay Bargh, 32, of Middletown, on Feb. 25 that made some disparaging statements about Jewish and African-American members of the school and student group. according to the application for arrest warrant.

The e-mail was in response to a message about the search committee for a new dean of the law school,

Records did not indicate that there had been any unauthorized access to Bargh’s e-mail account.
Days after the e-mails were sent, school officials arranged to preserve records of Bargh’s e-mail account. When Bargh reported not being able to access her account, she was granted restricted access and not allowed to delete e-mails, according to the affidavit.

Police also reviewed Bargh’s social media accounts and said she had posted some disparaging remarks to professors on the law school campus in one Flickr account, as well as violent posts on social media.

Police spoke with the professors, who NBC Connecticut is choosing not to identify, who said they had negative experiences with Bargh, either because of her grades or because she mistook their acts of kindness to help her succeed in law school as sexual advances.

Some said they feared that Bargh wanted to harm them or tarnish their reputations. 

Bargh was charged with second-degree harassment and breach of peace and has been ordered to have no contact with UConn Law School faculty and is banned from trespassing on any UConn property, according to court documents.
 

A 29-year-old Newtown man has been sentenced to more than 23 years in prison for producing, trading and possession of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Edward Wilson sexually abused a 4-year-old girl in 2011 and 2012, filmed and photographed the abuse with an iPhone, and kept videos and images on his home computer. 

Officials said Wilson used email to trade hundreds of other images and videos of child pornography and maintained a collection of child pornography on his home computers.

The investigation began In February 2012, when state police received reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone appeared to be emailing files of suspected child pornography and police tracked the Internet activity to Wilson’s house on Hillcrest Road in Newtown, police said.

On April 13, 2012, state police searched the house and seized more than 300 image files they believe include child pornography, according to a news release from state police.

On Feb. 13, 2013, Wilson pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography.

State police will hold a news conference on Thursday about the investigation into the disappearance of Eastern Connecticut State University student, Alyssiah Marie Wiley.

The last time Wiley was heard from was on April 20.

Wiley was reported missing last Wednesday and a silver alert for the 20-year-old woman was issued last Thursday morning.

"The State Police Major Crime Squad and Missing Person Detectives working with Eastern Connecticut State University Police and the Windham County States Attorney continue to work together following each lead and examining any piece of evidence related to this investigation," a news release from state police said.

Police said last week that they found a car they have been looking for in connection with her disappearance.

The black 2009 Nissan Altima with four doors and tinted windows, with Connecticut license plate 297-ZOY was found in Bridgeport, said Lt. Vance, spokesman for  the Connecticut State Police.

Wiley is 5-feet 6, weighs 150 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on Alyssiah or on the car should call State Police Troop K at 860-537-7500.

Firefighters from several towns responded to a brush fire in Roxbury on Wednesday.

The fire started in the woods of South Street around 3p.m., according to a spokesperson at the First Selectman's Office.

Firefighters from Roxbury and surrounding towns were called to fight the flames. The fire spread over 30 acres.

According to one fire official, firefighters had a tough time getting water to the area because of the hilly terrain.

The fire is not contained. Surrounding homes in  the area were not evacuated or damage.

State police troopers also responded to the scene.
 

Mark Zuckerberg has clicked "Like" on the Keystone XL Pipeline — and now his timeline is going to be chock-full of angry.

The Facebook founder and CEO recently started a political advocacy group called FWD.us — and the group is running a series of television ads in support of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

His PAC was created to support immigration reform, but it is also going to support such things as drilling. There are those in Congress who support immigration reform, but who also support drilling, and some say that the PAC funding might be a means to an end.

Feared and loathed by environmentalists, the pipeline would open up Canadian tar sands for oil and gas exploration.

Activists in the San Francisco Bay Area say they are "angered and mystified" over Zuck's turn for the pipe, and a group of about 50 protested Wednesday at Facebook's world headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. The protest was timed just before the company released its first-quarter earnings. . Wednesday is also "May Day," a day where many took up immigrants' rights and a path to citizenship as the key causes of the day.

The protesters questioned why Zuckerberg would "spend millions in support" of the pipeline, "among the dirtiest projects on Earth."

And they created an online petition to stop "running ads supporting fossil fuels" which as of Wednesday afternoon had collected more than 18,000 signatures.

Zuckerberg did not come outside the building when the protect occurred about noon, nor did he issue any statement on his Facebook news website.

Supporters, however, point out that that building the pipeline means thousands of jobs.

FWD.us's ads feature Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) bashing President Barack Obama for not being supportive-enough of the pipe.

Credo Mobile, the socially-active mobile carrier, says that Facebook has refused to run its ads that blast the pipeline and FWD.us's support for it.

Even though experts say Zuckerberg's primary directive in effecting change in social policy is immigration reform, some are not going to agree with using the pipeline ads as "cover" for that change.

"But invariably there is going to be people who don’t understand and the inevitable result is going to be this type of press fire," Dan Schnur, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times.

Ironically, the Zuckerberg critics have a Facebook page dedicated to their cause.

Demonstrators demanded an overhaul of immigration laws Wednesday in an annual, nationwide ritual that carried a special sense of urgency as Congress considers sweeping legislation that would bring many of the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally out of the shadows.

Thousands joined May Day rallies in cities from Tampa, Fla., to Bozeman, Mont., with participants braving the cold and snow to deliver their message in some places.

Labor organizations, immigrant rights coalitions and residents gathered in downtown Los Angeles, chanting and waving American flags and the flags of their home countries, NBC 4 Southern California reported. About 30,000 were expected to march in L.A. throughout the day.

In Salem, Ore., Gov. John Kitzhaber was cheered by about 2,000 people on the Capitol steps as he signed a bill to allow people living in Oregon without proof of legal status to obtain drivers licenses.

More than 1,000 people assembled on the Montpelier, Vt., Statehouse lawn. In New York, paper rats on sticks bobbed along Sixth Avenue as about 200 protesters set off from Bryant Park, chanting: "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!" The rats were intended to symbolize abused migrant workers.

Many rallies featured speakers with a personal stake in the debate. In Concord, N.H., Kristela Hernandez, 21, said she feared separating from her U.S.-born children if her work visa expires.

"I came here for better opportunities for me and now my children," Hernandez told about 100 people outside the Statehouse. "I'm here to work and to get an education."

Naykary Silva, a 26-year-old Mexican woman in the country illegally, joined about 200 people who marched in Denver's spring snow, hoping for legislation that would ensure medical care for her 3-year-old autistic son.

"If you want to do something, you do it no matter what," Silva said. "There's still more work to do."

The crowds did not approach the massive demonstrations of 2006 and 2007, during the last serious attempt to introduce major changes to the U.S. immigration system. Despite the large turnouts six years ago, many advocates of looser immigration laws felt they were outmaneuvered by opponents who flooded congressional offices with phone calls and faxes at the behest of conservative talk-radio hosts.

Now, immigrant advocacy groups are focusing heavily on calling and writing members of Congress, using social media and other technology to target specific lawmakers. Reform Immigration for America, a network of groups, claims more than 1.2 million subscribers, including recipients of text messages and Facebook followers.

Gabriel Villalobos, a Spanish-language talk radio host in Phoenix, said many of his callers believe it is the wrong time for marches, fearful that that any unrest could sour public opinion on immigration reform. Those callers advocate instead for a low-key approach of calling members of Congress.

"The mood is much calmer," said Villalobos, who thinks the marches are still an important show of political force.

May Day rallies began in the United States in 2000 during a labor dispute with a restaurant in Los Angeles that drew several hundred demonstrators, said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which organized what was expected to be Wednesday's largest rally. Crowds grew each year until the House of Representatives passed a tough bill against illegal immigration, sparking a wave of enormous, angry protests from coast to coast in 2006.

The rallies, which coincide with Labor Day in many countries outside the U.S., often have big showings from labor leaders and elected officials.

Demonstrators marched in countries around the world, with fury in Europe over austerity measures and rage in Asia over relentlessly low pay, the rising cost of living and hideous working conditions that have left hundreds dead in recent months alone.

The New York crowd was a varied bunch of labor groups, immigrant activists and demonstrators unaffiliated with any specific cause. Among them was 26-year-old Becky Wartell, who was carrying a tall puppet of the Statue of Liberty.

"Every May Day, more groups that have historically considered themselves separate from one another come together," she said.

When students of the Prendergast School in Ansonia go out to play in their new playground, it will be in honor of Catherine Hubbard, a 6-year-old girl from Newtown who was killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December.

To renew hope in the face of tragedy, so the 5,000-member New Jersey State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association is building playgrounds to honor the 26 victims of Sandy Hook in areas that were ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

On Wednesday, the group built a playground named for Catherine Hubbard at the school in Ansonia.

“The community could come back to a place where they can just be carefree and innocent,” Jenny Hubbard, Catherine’s mother said.

Hubbard embraced the project, along with her son, Fredrick Hubbard, 8, who was equipped with a hard hat and tool belt to help put it together.

“I like to build,” said Fredrick Hubbard.

Jenny Hubbard said the playground was a perfect way to honor her daughter.

“We had moved this past summer, and … left the swing set, and she was mad that we didn’t bring the swing set with us to the new house. So for us, this is giving her back the swing set,” Jenny Hubbard said.

The Catherine Hubbard Playground will have swings and it will be decorated in pink and purple, Catherine Hubbard’s favorite colors.

“Kids are going to play … in honor of Catherine, to celebrate her life as opposed to being remembered for a very horrific day in our history,” Bill Lavin, of the NJ Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association, said on Wednesday.

Lavin said the location of the playground is meaningful because Ansonia is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy.

Playgrounds across the tri-state area will also be dedicated to the other 25 victims of the Newtown school shooting.

The $3 million project is spearheaded by the New Jersey State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association.

Police arrested a murder suspect Wednesday after a pursuit and a situation that closed down streets around Norton Street. 

Dozens of officers and the New Haven SWAT team responded to the area blocking off several streets around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

According to police, officers began chasing Shaune Meyers at Chapel Street and Derby Avenue.  The pursuit ended at 802 George Street where Meyers pulled a gun on one of the officers.  The officer fired at Meyers but did not hit him, police said.

Meyers dropped his gun and ran into an apartment building at 1 Norton Street.  He kicked in an apartment door and hid inside, actually changing his clothes in an attempt to fool officers, according to police.

Meyers was wanted in connection to the shooting death of a man on Chapel Street Monday.

Qusaan McKoy, of Hamden, was shot outside the Haven Market around 9 p.m. on Monday.

Meyers admitted to being under the influence of PCP and complained of breathing problems, police said.  He was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital for evaluation.
 

A woman interrupted a burglary in progress at her home in Somers Wednesday afternoon.

The woman arrived at her house on Pomeroy Lane and walked in on the burglar, according to police. The person fled the house and the woman called police.

Pomeroy Lane is a dead end street off of Mountain View Road.

Officers used a police dog to help in the search for the burglar, but they did not locate anyone.

There has been a recent string of burglaries in Somers. Police are investigating whether the burglary on Pomeroy Lane is related to others in town.

Two airplanes clipped while preparing to take off from the runway at Newark Airport just outside of New York City on Wednesday evening, officials said. 

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 908, headed to Oslo, clipped its left wing against the tail of ExpressJet Flight 4226, which was going to Nashville, officials said. The planes were taxiing for departure shortly before 7:30 p.m.

The Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A330 was directly behind the ExpressJet Embraer E145 on a taxiway, and was turning right to get onto another taxiway when its wing clipped the tail of the Embraer.

NBC 4 New York's Chopper 4 video from over the airport shows a broken wing on the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) aircraft. 

The ExpressJet plane was towed back to the gate, and the SAS plane taxied back to the gate. Passengers disembarked both planes and were being re-accommodated. No injuries were reported. 

An investigation is underway after a homeowner shot a bear cub in Farmington Wednesday morning.

Officials from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection were called out to a home on Bonnie Drive around 9:20 a.m., and found a bear cub injured.

The man told DEEP officials he was forced to shoot the bear with his BB gun out of concern for his dog, who was outside in the yard.

"Because the injuries were so severe, we had to euthanize the animal, " said Dennis Schain, spokesman for DEEP.

The homeowner has not been charged or arrested at this time.