A Hartford man is dead after being struck by a car on Interstate 84 west on the Bulkley Bridge in East Hartford Thursday night, according to state police.

Police said the victim, Bryan Nagel, 49, was crossing from the north shoulder to the south shoulder around 7:50 p.m. when he was struck by a car near exit 51. 

Nagel died of his injuries.

The driver, identified as Kari Ostvik, 61, of Burlington, was not injured.

Traffic was backed up onto Route 2 and on the nearby Founders Bridge while police closed lanes to investigate the accident. The highway has since reopened and traffic is flowing.

Meriden police are investigating reports of an abduction early this morning and said the victim has been found and she is OK.

Police said a man abducted a female victim and she is OK, but no additional information was immediately released.

Check back for updates.

As the recovered bodies of Brazil's Chapecoense soccer team begin to be returned to families Friday, the players who did not travel on the team's ill-fated flight are left mourning their teammates, NBC News reported.

"I still have the chance to hug and kiss my children, but my teammates can't do that anymore," said Chapecoense defender Demerson Costa.

The crash killed 71 people, including 19 people from the soccer team. The pilot reportedly told a Colombian air traffic controller he had run out of fuel just moments before the plane crashed into the Andes Mountains.

One player, Matheus Saroli, didn't board the flight because he forgot his passport. He lost his father, coach Caio Junior, who was on board.

Four people were taken to the hospital after a serious four-car crash at Dixwell Avenue and Hartford Turnpike in North Haven this morning and the road is closed for several hours, according to police.

Firefighters and paramedics responded to the scene at 5:54 a.m. and police said it appears a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe traveling west on Dixwell Avenue and a 2005 Toyota Rav 4 collided and the force of the crash sent the vehicles into a 2005 Chevrolet Uplander and a 1999 Honda Civic that were stopped at the intersection.

A 43-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman who were in the Hyundai sustained serious injuries and were transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, police said. 

The 30-year-old man who was driving the Honda and a woman around 40 years old who was driving the Toyota were also injured, police said.

Police said they are still trying to determine who was driving the Hyundai. The patients were thrown from their seats and North Haven firefighters had to extricate them.

The driver of the Chevrolet declined medical treatment at the scene, police said.

"This was a very serious crash involving multiple vehicles and multiple patients. I want to commend our firefighters for their diligent work in assessing the patients and rescuing multiple trapped occupants," Chief Januszewski said in a statement.

The North Haven Police Department is investigating.

Federal and state authorities searched an abandoned New Hampshire property owned by a family marred by homicide and a recent death at sea on Thursday, a source confirms.

The Spofford property was owned by John Chakalos, the grandfather of the man who survived an apparent shipwreck and whose 2013 murder in Connecticut remains unsolved.

The Keene Sentinel reports there were at least a dozen people in "haz-mat style suits" and about 30 vehicles on the property during Thursday's search.

"The FBI's Evidence Response Team was assisting a multi-agency investigation. Due to the ongoing investigation, we're going to decline further comment," an FBI Boston spokesperson said in a statement on the property search.

Nathan Carman, 22, was found in a lifeboat near Martha's Vineyard in late September, eight days after an apparent shipwreck with his mother, Linda Carman. Linda Carman, who was Chakalos' daughter, was not found and is presumed dead.

Carman's Vermont home was searched shortly after he was found, and an affidavit shows authorities were looking for evidence in connection with his mother's presumed death. He also previously told the Associated Press that he had nothing to do with his grandfather's murder and didn't hurt his mother.

A 45-year-old Lisbon woman was killed in a crash on Route 2A in Preston on Thursday evening.

Police have identified the woman as Jenette Grabowski.

She was driving a 1992 Ford Tempo east on Route 2A and collided with the driver’s side of a 1999 GMC Sonoma heading west just before 5:30 p.m., according to state police.

Grabowski was transported from the scene in an ambulance and died before arriving at Backus Hospital in Norwich, according to police.

Police are investigating and ask anyone with information about the crash to call Troop E in Montville at 860-848-6500.

Two people overdosed on laced marijuana in an apartment in Danielson and police said a 5-year-old child was alone with them for around 20 minutes when they became unconscious.

State troopers responded to Danielson for a possible overdose just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday and gave Narcan to 23-year-old Maya Alexandria Almond-Lawson, of Willimantic, and 23-year-old Elijah Markkamau Collins, of Plainfield.

Police said both of them responded to the Narcan and were transported to Day Kimball Hospital.

A 5-year-old child was also present and residents of the apartment said they left for around 20 minutes and came back to find Almond-Lawson and Collins unconscious and breathing erratically, so they called 911, according to state police.

Almond-Lawson and Collins admitted to smoking marijuana before losing consciousness, according to police, who believe the marijuana was laced, possibly with an opiate.

After Almond-Lawson and Collins were released from the hospital, police charged them with risk of injury to a minor. Bond for both was set at $2,500 and police contacted the state Department of Children and Families.

Four kittens that were stuck in a storm drain at Quinnipiac University have been reunited with their mother and will be available for adoption.

Jen, a student, said a group of people were trying to help get the kittens from the storm drain on campus Monday and the kitten rescue continued the next day. 

Jen said Hamden police and fire told the students that they were "too busy" to respond Monday night.

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A Quinnipiac University spokesman told NBC Connecticut that school workers opened the storm drain grate and got the kittens out on Monday but the kittens went back inside shortly after. School officials said the kittens were not trapped and could come and go as they please.

Rescue group Super Paws Rescue Inc. told NBC Connecticut a student reached out to them Tuesday morning and that they were looking into the situation.

Police said the assistant animal control officer received a message at 7 a.m. Tuesday university public safety staff, responded and rescued two of the kittens. 

Because of rain, police contacted public works crews to obtain sand bags to keep the storm drains from flooding. Super Paws Rescue also provided a tarp and university staff set up a canopy over the storm drain.

A local contractor brought a camera to place into the drain and the two other kittens walked into netting and were rescued.

The kittens are at Super Paws in Fairfield and will be checked out and spayed or neutered. They will likely be available in five to six weeks. For information, call 203-578-6396.

On Wednesday, school officials said the mother cat was reuinited with the kittens at SuperPaws. 

See more pets available at Super Paws here.

Police have seized two roosters from the basement of a Bristol convenience store in connection with a possible animal fighting operation, but the owner of the market said there is no fighting ring.

Bristol police said the investigation started when personnel from the state Department of Revenue Service along with the Bristol Narcotics Enforcement Team responded to the Tropical Market at 152 School St. for a routine cigarette sales compliance inspection on Thursday. During the inspection police found evidence of a possible cockfighting operation.

Police obtained a search warrant and found two roosters in cages in the basement and items to care for the birds and treat possible injuries.

William Andujar, the owner of the market said police have the story wrong.

Andujar, who has a tattoo of a rooster, said he has the roosters because he loves them and they do not fight.

"I don’t know why he say that’s too small for the rooster.  One cage for one rooster, other cage for other rooster,” he said.

The roosters were taken to Bristol Animal Control.

Police said they also confiscated paraphernalia used to care for injured birds.

“When they found them it appeared there may have been some type of animal fighting going on,” Lt. Richard Guerrera, public information officer for the Bristol Police Department, said. 

Andujar said the fact that the spurs on the birds’ legs had not been replaced by the metal or plastic ones common in cock fighting is proof that he wasn’t using the birds to fight. 

He went on to say police are targeting him and have gone to his shop looking for drugs, but he does not have any. 

No arrests have been made and police continue to investigate.

State Rep. Betty Boukus, who represented Plainville and New Britain, has died, the Connecticut House Democrats announced Friday. Gov. Dannel Malloy's office said she died this morning and he's issued a directive for state flags to fly at half-staff in her honor.

No cause of death was given. Sources close to Boukus told NBC Connecticut that she had been fighting illness for some time. 

“My heart and prayers go out to Betty’s family, and they should know that Representative Boukus was one of the most beloved members of the General Assembly,” Rep. Brendan Sharkey, the outgoing Speaker of the House, said. 

Boukus had represented Plainville and New Britain in the 22nd House District for the past 22 years and she was a key member of the State Bond Commission, which approves school construction, capital investment, and transportation projects statewide. 

Boukus lost her reelection bid to Dr. William Petit in the Nov. 8 election. 

“She brought an unrivalled level of passion to the issues that she and her constituents cared about and worked hard to fight for what her district needed,” Speaker-Elect Joe Aresimowicz said. “There will never be another Betty Boukus.” 

Boukus was known simply as “Betty” around the halls of the State Capitol and the Legislative Office Building and she was a beloved member of the Plainville community that she called home. She was known for being a regular at local charity events with churches, firefighters, police, and civic clubs. 

“Betty Boukus was one of the most passionate and most energetic legislators in the history of the Connecticut General Assembly," Malloy said in a statement. "She loved being an elected official, specifically the opportunity to serve the people of her towns Plainville and New Britain in order to advocate for their best interests –  and she made sure everybody knew it."

The governor is asking that state flags be lowered immediately until sunset of the day of interment.

It’s been said in Plainville, “an event didn’t happen unless Betty was there.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal issued a statement about her death. 

“Betty Boukus was a dedicated public servant and a dear friend whose passing deprives Connecticut of her incomparable common sense, good humor, and boundless caring. She eschewed the partisan conflict so endemic today, and espoused a bipartisan fight for public good,” he said. 

A 20-year-old Enfield man who was hit by a car on Route 5 in Enfield early Friday morning is dead and police are searching for the driver who fled the scene.

Police said a vehicle struck and killed Jeremy Mercier, who was on a skateboard, on Route 5, or Enfield Street, near Orlando Drive, around 1 a.m.

Someone who saw Mercier lying on the side of the road called police, who said the local man was dead by the time officers arrived.

Police Chief Carl Sferrazza said police are trying to find the vehicle that struck Mercier.

“I sure wish I had something I could say to prevent tragedies from happening but it happened," he said. "Our prayers go out to the individual's family and now our job is to find out who’s responsible and make an arrest.”

Anyone with information should call Enfield Police Department.

Researchers have configured computers to predict the immediate future by examining a photograph, NBC News reported.

A program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has analyzed 2 million videos to see how scenes typically progress, and can generate a 1.5-second video clip predicting a scenario based on a photograph.

The MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory hopes to generate longer videos with more complexity in the future.

To create the program, the team relied on a scientific technique called deep learning, which uses mathematical structures to pull patterns from massive data sets. It could lead to computers making diagnoses from medical images, customer predictions or even operating vehicles.

Students at Jonathan Law High School in Milford were dismissed at 1 p.m. Friday after someone inadvertantly left something in a bathroom.

The items, which turn out not to be anything harmful, was found at 12:40 p.m.

School officials said students were evacuated to the football field and police and firefighters responded and crews determined that an adult left the item inadvertantly.

Crews cleared the school building to reopen at 1:25 p.m.  

A Hamden woman attacked another woman with a butcher knife after coming home to find a couple in her bed, according to police. 

Hamden Police said they responded to an apartment on Fitch Street Oct. 29 to investigate an assault and the victim, a 24-year-old Hamden woman, told police a man she was communicating with on social media invited her over. 

When the resident, 32-year-old Lenee Myers, came home and found the couple in her bedroom, she grabbed a butcher’s knife and “hit” the knife against the 24-year-old woman’s skin, then punched her in the eye, according to police. 

The victim sustained an eye injury and had cuts on her chest, arm and back, police said. 

On Nov. 30, Hamden police arrested Myers at her home and charged her with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct. 

She was held on a court-ordered $10,000.00 bond is due to appear in court in Meriden on Dec. 13. 

It’s not clear if she has an attorney.

Sandy Hook Promise, a group dedicated to preventing gun violence, has launched a new and powerful campaign about spotting the signs of gun violence, or missing them.

The cleverly done #KnowTheSigns video starts with the description, "as the school year winds down, one student finds himself starting an unexpected relationship." From there, you just have to watch it to see what it's about.

Did you spot the signs or did you miss them?

Sandy Hook Promise, based in Newtown, Connecticut, is made up of two nonprofits, and the group has been working together after the Sandy Hook school shooting to honor victims of gun violence and work toward gun safety legislation.

Twenty students and six staff members were killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.

A former Army Special Forces officer is accusing retired Marine General James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be defense secretary, of "leaving my men to die" after they were hit by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2001, NBC News reported.

Mattis has not commented publicly on the incident, which was chronicled in a 2011 New York Times bestselling book, "The Only Thing Worthy Dying For," by Eric Blehm, which portrays Mattis as stubbornly unwilling to help the Green Berets.

His actions, which were not formally investigated at the time, are now likely to get far more scrutiny during the retired general's Senate confirmation process.

Trump's transition team did not respond to request for comment from NBC News.

Mattis, whose 2013 retirement from the military means he would need a waiver from Congress to serve as the civilian Pentagon chief, did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

One person was killed in a crash on Route 39 North in New Fairfield on Thursday afternoon.

Police said a motorcycle and a Kia Optima were involved in the crash near Old Shortwoods Road at 2:22 p.m.

The motorcyclist was thrown after crossing over the center lane and colliding with the Kia, police said. The person, who has not been identified, died after being transported to Danbury Hospital.

The other driver sustained minor injuries, according to police.

State police are asking anyone with information to call the New Fairfield Resident Troopers Office.

Firefighters have responded to a three-alarm fire in Stamford that the fire department says has displaced at least six people.

The fire is at 38 Lockwood Ave. and seven engines, three ladder trucks, a rescue and command units have all responded to the scene, according to Tweets from the department.

A 2-year-old boy missing from Westport since Thursday afternoon has been found at a relative's home in Manhattan and he is OK.

Two-year-old Messiah Frazier was reported missing Thursday. Police said his  oy’s grandmother, who had custody, passed away Thursday of natural causes.

The boy’s biological uncle, Danny Frazier, who also lived in the home, took the child and was not answering calls from family or police, according to police.

Messiah and Danny were dropped off at a barber shop in Norwalk between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday and police said there were reports the uncle left the child unsupervised and went to a bank, a check-cashing store and a cell phone store in Norwalk. 

Police said they were concerned for the child’s safety because Danny Frazier has a known criminal background and is a known drug user.

Westport police said the boy was found around 2:30 p.m. Friday at a relative's home in Manhattan. He is being brought back to Connecticut and will be turned over to the state Department of Children and Families. 

The Michaels employee who became the target of a customer's now-viral tirade at a Chicago store said she is in "utter shock" at the donations strangers from across the country have made in an effort to show their support this holiday season.

In a letter to those that raised more than $32,000 for her, the store manager identified only as Holli wrote "you have all single handedly changed my life."

"You will be blessed for this act of unconditional kindness," she wrote. "I never thought my ginormous dreams would become a reality so soon and at the hand of others, but with your support I can now take the steps needed to build a better future. Because of you this dark world has a lot more light in it."

Supporters rallied around the Michaels employee after video of an incident at a location in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood the day before Thanksgiving went viral.

The footage, which had been viewed more than 590,000 times as of Monday afternoon, showed an angry customer yelling at an employee claiming she was discriminated against while checking out last week. By Tuesday morning, more than 2 million people watched the footage. In the video, the white customer is seen calling a black employee at the Lakeview store “an animal” and telling one employee to “shut your face.”

She claims an employee discriminated against her and mumbled that she must have voted for Donald Trump, but the employee is heard in the video denying that claim.

“And I voted for Trump, so there,” she said. “What? You want to kick me out because of that? And look who won. Look who won.”

The woman vows to report the employees to their corporate headquarters and yells at bystanders filming the incident before calling the police. An employee can be heard in the background telling the woman she was not discriminated against, but that the employee asked if she would like to buy a reusable bag.

"When I asked for my things to be bagged, and I don't care about the size of the bag, this other woman makes a big deal about it, coming around," she says in the video. "She's screaming at me from across the store, screaming at me."

Jessie Grady, who witnessed and filmed part of the 30-minute ordeal, posted the footage to social media and started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the employee targeted in the so-called rant.

Grady said the employees “did nothing to provoke this verbal attack and in fact treated all customers with professionalism and courtesy.”

“I was so shocked by this unprovoked attack that I captured 17 minutes of it on video on my phone,” Grady wrote on the GoFundMe page. “I am starting this gofundme [sic] because I’d like to do something to try to make it up to the employee who was the main target of this racist attack. I’d like to show her that many people are horrified by how this woman treated her, and that we stand with her and appreciate her hard work. She inspired me because despite the hateful words that were being hurled in her direction, she stood in that entranceway calm and unmoving to protect her staff and customers.”

Both the woman in the video and bystanders called police to report the incident. Police confirmed officers were called to the store Wednesday, but when they arrived, the woman was gone and no police report could be filed.

Michaels said in a statement it does not “tolerate discrimination or racism of any kind against our team members or customers.”

“We regret that our customers and team members were affected by this unfortunate incident and are grateful for the leadership of our store team in working to resolve it without further escalation,” the statement read.

The company also tweeted Monday, “We appreciate the outpouring of support for our Chicago-based team member.”

Grady said that she was "astounded" by how big her GoFundMe campaign grew.

"What started as a small gesture to let one person know that she is valued and important to her community turned into something I never imagined," she wrote on Facebook. "I never expected this to get past the neighborhood. Our country has been completely divided in the past couple years, but somehow this one story resonated with and united millions of people."

She noted that there were "hundreds of Trump supporters who donated and sent kind messages denouncing this behavior."

"Millions of you saw that this was about more than one incident," she wrote. "This was about treating workers with dignity and respect. This was about community and kindness and standing up against hatred. These are values Americans once believed in and other countries admired us for. Shine a mirror on it. This won’t solve all of our problems, but it’s one small step."

Read the manager's full letter below: 

A letter from Holli:

I'll start with this. I am in utter shock. You have all single handedly changed my life. Each of you have shown me that this world is worth living in. I have felt so misguided in a sense of why can't I get passed where I am. I've tried to be kind, I've tried to be fair, I've tried to share regardless if I was able to. I want others to smile when I smile back at them. Knowing deeply we all have a higher purpose. How can I help!!

For some time now, I've felt this overwhelming sense of failure. I want to make a positive change in this world. I know what I'm here for and that's to help others reach their higher potential. With your support I have been blessed with the opportunity to live and not just survive daily. I can properly provide for my family and meet all our children's needs. I will now have the ability to get my business up and running in order to provide a better future for us. And I can still give back to my community even more now. 

You have personally contributed to SO much more than you could possible know.

I ask that you please forgive me as I'm a little afraid to make a public video. Just know that from my soul to yours. You will be blessed for this act of unconditional kindness. I never thought my ginormous dreams would become a reality so soon and at the hand of others, but with your support I can now take the steps needed to build a better future. Because of you this dark world has a lot more light in it.

Not to preach at you or push spirituality at you. That being said I pray that you gain real fulfillment in your life. I don't know you but I love you. It's weird to some people but whatever, I believe we are one people so if I love myself therefore I love you. We've been taught that what we do unto others, we receive in return.

A great teacher of mine has said "All forms of pain, suffering, illness or financial chaos are there to promote spiritual growth and character change." We are the change. You are this change. We stand together side by side in truth and know love trumps hate. Blessings to you may your light continue to break through the darkness.

-Yours sincerely Jony AKA Holli