Multiple departments spent hours knocking down a brush fire in Bristol Sunday afternoon.

The Bristol Fire Department first responded around 4 p.m. to the southwest corner of town on South Mountain. Mutual aid from Terryville Volunteer Fire, Wolcott Volunteer Fire, Plainville Volunteer Fire and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection all responded to assist.

It took crews several hours to knock down the blaze, which burned significant acreage but did not damage any structures. Some minor injuries were reported during the course of fighting the fire, but officials say no serious injury occurred to either civilian or firefighter.

Bristol Fire cleared the scene around 9:30 p.m.

DEEP is still on scene assessing the damage and checking for hot spots.

This is a developing story and more details will be posted as they become available.

The majority of Ted Cruz’s delegates in Maine were picked for the Republican National convention over the weekend, NBC News reported.

That means at least 19 of the 23 delegates Maine will send to the convention in July will be Cruz supporters, benefiting the Texas senator if the selection process goes to multiple ballots. 

Cruz grabbed 12 pledged delegates in March, winning Maine’s caucus. Donald Trump secured nine, while John Kasich won two. 

Trump and his supporters have called the delegate process “rigged,” because it doesn’t reflect the will of voters. They argue the nine delegates he’s won should remain loyal to him on every round of voting. 

The Republican National Committee says the presidential nominee is chosen by the delegates — not the voters.

Three federal officers and a fourth member of law enforcement were shot during a shootout while searching for a suspect on Kansas’ “Most Wanted” list Saturday, NBC News reported. 

Officers were trying to arrest Orlando Collins, 28, at the County Club Motel in Topeka, Kansas. He was put on the state’s “Most Wanted” list for two counts of interference with commerce by means of robbery, according to the FBI.

The shootout started after the federal task force heard “continued” gun fire and approached a motel room door. Two U.S. Marshals and an FBI agent were shot when gunfire broke out, according to an FBI statement. The officers were transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. 

A body was found in the room where Collins was believed to be in. The body was not identified. 

Ted Cruz has gone all out in Indiana, even though John Kasich’s campaign said last week it locked down the support of a majority of the state’s delegates, NBC News reported. 

Cruz said Sunday that only two candidates have a “plausible path whatsoever to winning the Republican nomination — me and Donald Trump.” 

The Texas senator is making an 11-day tour of Indiana, and the campaign has budgeted what officials called a "significant" amount of money. 

The strategy mirrors the operation the Cruz campaign set up in Wisconsin, where Cruz ultimately won big on April 5. The campaign has even established "Camp Cruz," where volunteers can live for free just outside of Indianapolis. 

Indiana's primary will be held on May 3 — a week after the primary Tuesday in Pennsylvania, where Trump has a strong lead in the polls.

A child was rushed to the hospital after being injured by a falling tree in Canton Sunday.

 Police say emergency crews responded around 5:48 p.m. to Old Mill Drive after receiving a 911 call that a tree had fallen and injured a child.

 The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of suspended serious injuries. The victim has not been publically identified at this time.

 The Canton Police Department, Canton Volunteer Fire Department, Canton Volunteer Ambulance and UConn Paramedics all responded for the call. The police department is investigating the incident.

Thousands of supporters of Bernie Sanders packed the New Haven Green on Sunday night.

The Vermont senator’s rally there was his first visit to the state. And it might be one of the biggest presidential campaign events in Connecticut so far this political season.

Police estimate about 10,000 people showed up. There were no reported issues or protestors.

On a bright Sunday afternoon, thousands of people streamed on to the New Haven Green.

“I am so elated. I’m a huge fan of Bernie,” says Michaele Grant of West Haven.

They were there for a chance to see up close a man who could be president.

“I believe Bernie is for the people and I want to see, I want to be part of history,” says Jes-Tina Torres from New Haven.

After an introduction by former REM lead singer Michael Stipe, Sanders took to the stage. He launched into many of his important issues including campaign finance reform, improving education, and reducing income inequality.

“We need an economy that works for all of us,” says Sanders.

Before his rally, NBC Connecticut spoke one-on-one with Sanders about why he stopped in the state.

“Connecticut is important. It has a lot of delegates. I want to win as many as possible,” says Sanders.

And he wants to beat Hillary Clinton, who campaigned in New Haven on Saturday.

“The differences are profound. She’s talking about income and wealth inequality. Well, that’s great. I’ve been talking about it for 25, 30 years,” says Sanders.

Sanders says he has a good chance to win Tuesday’s state primary. But he says it requires a lot of people showing up at the polls.

“Hopefully the people here come out and knock on doors and make phone calls because that’s what we really need,” says Joshua Elliot of Hamden.

Sanders offered indirect criticism of the size of the endowment of Yale University; pointing out that it totals some $25-billion and yet not that far away he says there are kids living in poverty. Just part of what he sees as a “rigged economy.”

 Sanders will also attend an event in Hartford Monday.

The crew of a Southern California police helicopter prevented what could have been a disastrous crash Saturday night by shining the chopper's spotlight to warn an oncoming train of a car stalled on the tracks.

It happened around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, when the Riverside Department's Air Support Unit learned a car had lost control, rolled over and come to rest on the railroad tracks near Dewey Street and Streeter Avenue. The driver was later arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, police said.

Officers saw a freight train about two miles away heading toward the stalled vehicle at between 30 and 35 mph.

The police pilots knew they had to act quickly because of how long it takes a train to come to a full stop. They pulled the helicopter ahead of the train, lowered it and used the spotlight in a crisscross pattern to signal the train.

Members of the chopper crew told NBC4 they thought there still might be a collision. The crew found the car in the residential area and continued signaling for the train to stop.

The engineer saw the lights and began to slow the 2-mile-long train, which screeched to a stop just 40 feet away from the stalled car, authorities said.

"The conductor said had it not been for the flight crew intervening to signal him, he would not have had enough time to stop the train before striking the vehicle," Riverside police said in a news release.

"We deal with all different types of calls, but I've never had to stop a train or get a train's attention," said Riverside police pilot Chris Tavaglione.

The global slump in commodities, marked by low prices of raw materials like lead and copper, is leading to old electronics being dumped and e-recycling companies improperly disposing of them, NBC News reported.

A Kentucky company was caught last year burying old TVs and other electronics devices in a 10-foot-deep hole in a field. These products contain toxic substances such as lead, mercury, beryllium and cadmium

"We want to promote recycling the best we can," James Young, executive director of the Kanawha County Solid Waste Authority in West Virginia, told NBC News. "But when it becomes such a burden, we can't expect municipalities to foot the bill."

Meanwhile, companies that used to recycle televisions for free, including Best Buy, are now charging customers to haul them away.

Los Angeles Lakers had fired head coach Byron Scott after his two seasons in charge of the team led to the two worst seasons in the history of the franchise, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports was first to report on Sunday. 

Later in the evening, the team confirmed that it had opted not to pick up the option of Scott's contract, effectively vacating to position.

In his first season in charge, Scott led Los Angeles to the franchise's first 60-loss season: 21-61. In his second season in charge of the purple and gold, the 55-year-old finished worse: 17-65. Scott will not get a third season in charge.

The Inglewood native and former player with the Lakers earned a great deal of criticism in his tough approach with rookie guard D'Angelo Russell and second year forward Julius Randle. Though both players improved over the course of the season, Scott's decision to remove both players from the starting lineup early in the season did not appear to sit well with a loud segment of fans and national basketball writers.

In truth, the poor display of basketball over two seasons had a segment of fans marveling at how Scott retained his position for two full seasons. Scott’s 38-126 (.227) record over two seasons was largely overshadowed by Kobe Bryant’s retirement. Scott's relationship with Bryant likely helped the coach keep his job in the face of the worst season in franchise history and a consistently horrific product on the court.

After the season, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak stated that Lakers executive vice-president of basketball operations Jim Buss would join him and take time to meet with Scott over the coming weeks. Just shy of 10 days after Kupchak commented on the season review process, the Lakers made the change.

Over those 10 days, however, the Lakers' front office drew a great deal of criticism for not announcing the separation sooner. Two prominent coaches linked with the Lakers, Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks, accepted positions in Minnesota and Washington, respectively. With Scott's departure, however, LA should be linked with nearly every top assistant and out of work coach, including Jeff Van Gundy and Ettore Messina, the latter of whom is currently an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs. 

Yahoo! Sports first reported Scott's firing on Sunday night. Shortly thereafter, the team confirmed the report by stating that the "Lakers have decided not to pick up the option for the 2016-17 season on the contract of Head Coach Byron Scott."

Kupchak said in a statement, "We would like to thank Byron for his hard work, dedication and loyalty over the last two years, but have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to make a change at this time."

Though technically not "fired," Scott had previously shared his desire to return to coach the team for a third season. The decision not to retain his services is effectively the equivalent of firing the coach.

Also in their statement, the Lakers stated that the search for a new coach would begin "immediately."

A North Haven family will be displaced for months after a fire at their home on Green Hill Road early Monday morning.

Deputy Fire Chief David Marcarelli said flames broke out inside the home around 3 a.m. and crews put the fire out in around 50 minutes.

A mother, her three teenage children and their dog live in the house and everyone who was home got out safely.

Marcarelli said a son alerted the family after seeing flames.

The family will be displaced for several months.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Traffic on Interstate 691 East in Meriden was getting by slowly after a car rolled over, but the scene is now clear.

The crash was between exits 7 and 8 and no injuries are reported.

No additional information is available.

Sen. Bernie Sanders will make a second campaign stop in Connecticut and will be in Hartford this morning.

The rally will take place at Mortensen Riverfront Plaza in the Riverfront Amphitheater at 300 Columbus Boulevard at 10 a.m.

Organizers said the event is free and open to the public, but admission is first come, first served. Carpooling or public transportation is strongly encouraged.

Deputy police chief Brian Foley is urging people to park at the Morgan Street garage or the convention center. Secret Service and TSA will be working security.

People who attend the rally are being asked to leave bags at home. Signs and banners on sticks will also not be allowed through security.

The Democratic candidate took the stage at a rally Sunday night before a crowd of about 10,000 people on the New Haven Green just after 7 p.m.

The Vermont senator talked about the need to make college more affordable for everyone.

"Why are we punishing millions of people for getting an education?" Sanders asked about Americans who spend years paying off student debt. "We must make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is not a radical idea," he said. "People should not have their economic future destroyed because they went to college."

Sanders told the crowd that something needs to be done about what he called the epidemic of opiate and heroin addiction. He called for a revolution in mental health treatment and used the topic to take a shot at Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat.

"When people need mental health treatment they get it today, not six months from now," Sanders said. "Now in that context, I'm not quite sure why your governor has cut mental health treatment in Connecticut."

According to a recent Quinnipiac Poll, Sanders trails fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton among likely voters in Tuesday's presidential primary.

Speaking to NBC Connecticut's Matt Austin before Sunday night's rally, Sanders said Connecticut is an important state for him and he thinks he could have a shot.

"Connecticut is important, it has a lot of delegates, I want to win as many as possible," he said. "I believe if there is a large voter turnout on Tuesday we stand a good chance to win. If voter turnout is low, we probably won't win."

Despite warnings about the dangers of laundry detergent pods to kids, calls to poison control centers continue to rise, a new study published on Monday shows, Today.com reported.  

There was a 20 percent increase in reports of children younger than 6 putting the brightly colored packets into their mouths, with serious and sometimes even fatal consequences, according to the study published in Pediatrics.

Researchers analyzed data from 62,254 calls made in 2013 and 2014 to U.S. poison control centers. It showed calls increasing for all types of detergent exposures, but the rise was greatest for the highly-concentrated laundry detergent pods followed by dishwasher detergent packets.

Study coauthor Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital and his colleagues strongly recommend that parents not use laundry detergent packets if there are young children at home.

Four people were arrested and six people were issued citations when officers busted house parties in Willimantic over the weekend and police are warning Eastern Connecticut State University students that officers will be cracking down on house parties during Spring Weekend.

Police said they responded to house parties on Mansfield Avenue and Walnut Street and they received two separate complaints on Bolivia Street. Two residents of Bolivia Street and two residents of Walnut Street were charged with breach of peace.

All four were processed and released on written promises to appear in Danielson Superior Court on May 3.

Five people who were at the party on Mansfield Avenue were charged with creating a public disturbance and one was charged with possession of marijuana, according to police.

Spring Weekend at Eastern Connecticut State University begins on Thursday and police are warning residents that house parties that grow out of control will not be tolerated and arrests will be made.

“Willimantic Police want students to enjoy the upcoming Spring Weekend, but we want them to do it safely and responsibility,” Lt. Alex Coriaty said in a statement.

Police said spring weekend celebrations historically have been respectful and for the most part go without major incident.

In the last couple of years, the house parties have been dwindling because of city police and ECSU staff meeting with off-campus students during their first week back at school each fall semester.

Hillary Clinton made another a campaign stop in Connecticut.

Clinton was in Bridgeport Sunday afternoon.  It is her third stop in the state ahead of Tuesday's primary.

She talked to the crowd about creating jobs, equal pay for women and raising the minimum wage.

"I support the fight for fifteen. I support raising the minimum wage at the federal level because I want people who are working hard full time to feel like they have a pathway out of poverty," Clinton said.

Speaking at the University of Bridgeport, she talked about making college more affordable and allowing graduates to refinance their student loan debt.

On the subject of health care, Clinton promised to fight any efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but she also said there should be a focus on dealing with mental health issues and addiction.

"First of all, we have to save lives, that's number one. But number two, we've got to get beyond this terrible epidemic of addiction that is taking the lives of so many Americans," she said.

The former secretary of state said she would take on the gun lobby and the epidemic of gun violence in America. It was the same theme she discussed at an event in Hartford last Thursday.

Sen. Bernie Sanders made his first campaign stop in Connecticut on Sunday evening.

The Democratic candidate took the stage at a rally before a crowd of about 10,000 people on the New Haven Green just after 7 p.m.

The Vermont senator talked about the need to make college more affordable for everyone.

"Why are we punishing millions of people for getting an education?" Sanders asked about Americans who spend years paying off student debt.  "We must make public colleges and universities tuition-free.  This is not a radical idea," he said.  "People should not have their economic future destroyed because they went to college."

Sanders told the crowd that something needs to be done about what he called the epidemic of opiate and heroin addiction. He called for a revolution in mental health treatment and used the topic to take a shot at Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat.

"When people need mental health treatment they get it today, not six months from now," Sanders said. "Now in that context, I'm not quite sure why your governor has cut mental health treatment in Connecticut."

According to a recent Quinnipiac Poll, Sanders trails Hillary Clinton among likely voters in Tuesday's presidential primary.

Speaking to NBC Connecticut's Matt Austin before Sunday night's rally, Sanders said Connecticut is an important state for him and he thinks he could have a shot.

"Connecticut is important, it has a lot of delegates, I want to win as many as possible," he said. "I believe if there is a large voter turnout on Tuesday we stand a good chance to win. If voter turnout is low, we probably won't win."

Sanders is also expected to make an appearance in Hartford on Monday.

The rally will take place at Mortensen Riverfront Plaza in the Riverfront Amphitheater at 300 Columbus Boulevard at 10 a.m.
Organizers said the event is free and open to the public, but admission is first come, first served. Carpooling or public transportation is strongly encouraged.

An Oxford, Connecticut, animal control officer accused of stealing a dog and forging documents to get free veterinary care for two of her dogs has been arrested, police said.

State police have charged Cori Wlasuk, 44, of Southbury, with third-degree larceny and second-degree forgery. She allegedly failed to impound two dogs she took home from the pound for the required period of time and had the state pay for a dog's care.

Police started investigating Wlasuk after a resident complained at a town hall on Dec. 17, saying the animal control officer had stolen her 7-and-a-half-week-old purebred black female Newfoundland and Wlasuk stole a purebred female brown Newfoundland in 2014, according to state police.

Police began investigating and determined that someone turned the Newfoundland puppy in to the shelter and Wlasuk took her home, rather than impounding her for the mandatory seven days, police said.

She used a friend’s name to adopt the puppy, according to police, and used the same name on a voucher so the state paid to spay the dog. 

Wlasuk is also accused of keeping the dog at the shelter so the town would pay the puppy’s veterinary bills.

Wlasuk was not immediately available for comment. She denied the allegations when they were first raised in December, according to the Republican-American.

Police also investigated the allegations in the 2014 case and said Wlasuk failed to impound a female purebred Newfoundland then as well, and instead brought the dog home.

Wlasuk allegedly told the dog’s owner that she wanted to buy the Newfoundland, paid cash and directed the dog’s owner to sign an owner surrender form. Police said the form turned the dog over to the town even though the dog was at Wlasuk’s home.

Wlasuk is accused of misusing the state’s voucher system in that case as well and getting the state to pay for spaying and the town to pay vet bills.

Wlasuk turned herself in to police on Sunday and was charged with two counts of third-degree larceny and five counts of second-degree forgery, police said.

Bond was set at $5,000. Wlasuk was released and is due in court on May 5.

A 25-year-old Brooklyn, New York man was shot and killed in Hamden early Saturday morning and police are investigating.

Police responded to back of 886 Dixwell Avenue around 1:32 a.m. after receiving reports of a shooting victim and found Jonathan Cooper suffering from gunshot wounds.

The Hamden Fire Department responded and declared Cooper dead at the scene.

Police believe Cooper was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Arch Street and Dixwell Avenue and was shot while driving his vehicle. The shots were fired from a dark-colored SUV that pulled up alongside the victim, police said.

 The Major Crimes Unit and Crime Scene Unit are investigating, along with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Anyone with information should contact Detective William Onofrio at (203) 230-4040.

Dangerous storms packing hail and potential tornadoes were threatening large swaths of the U.S. on Monday, NBC News reported. 

Plains states already got a taste of the severe weather: hail nearly twice the size of a quarter was spotted in Nebraska Sunday along with what appeared to be tornadoes.

The Great Lakes area could see severe thunderstorms on Monday afternoon and evening, with Chicago and Milwaukee in the threat area, according to The Weather Channel. 

Severe thunderstorms are expected to hit the southern Plains, parts of Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley on Tuesday. Storms also were expected to produce potentially life-threatening tornadoes.