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Evening Snow Squalls Bring in an Arctic Chill

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Snow squalls will move through the state during the early evening hours. If a squall hits your town you can expect reduced visibility, high winds, and a quick coating to a half inch of snow.

The squalls will be short lived and should only last for 10 to 20 minutes. The squalls move out of the state later this evening.

We're in for a very chilly night with temperatures falling into the single digits for many locations.

Winds tonight will be out of the northwest at 15 to 25  mph. The gusty winds will continue through the day tomorrow. The winds will result in temperatures feeling even colder than they actually are.

We're forecasting wind chill values in the single digits above and below zero tomorrow, especially during the morning hours. 

The cold air sticks around for Sunday as well. Temperatures Sunday morning will be in the single digits statewide. High temperatures Sunday will rise into the middle 30s. 

The cold air quickly exits by Monday afternoon. We're expecting temperatures to go from the single digits Monday morning to the middle to upper 40s by the afternoon hours.


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New Yelp Feature Helps Users Find Gender-Neutral Bathrooms

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The effort to find gender-neutral bathrooms around town just became a little bit easier thanks to Yelp.

The San Francisco-based company on Friday announced its new service that allows users to pinpoint whether or not a business houses gender-neutral facilities.

Yelp classifies gender-neutral bathrooms as being "accessible to persons of any gender and are a locking, single-stall bathroom."

The latest addition to Yelp's platform will be put together via public and business input. Yelp plans to ask users to identify locations that have gender-neutral bathrooms, and businesses will be allowed to specify whether or not they offer gender-neutral facilities.

Prior to Friday's announcement, Yelp joined an amicus brief in support of Gavin Grimm, a transgender student in Virginia who was barred from using the boy's restroom as his school. 

"We believe it's important for the business community to speak up in support of equality for all," Yelp wrote in a statement.



Photo Credit: NBC, Getty Images

Pence: 'No Comparison' to Clinton on Use of Private Email

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Vice President Mike Pence said Friday there's "no comparison whatsoever" between his use of a private email account while governor of Indiana and Hillary Clinton's private server during her time as Secretary of State.

Pence used a private AOL email account to conduct some state business as governor, his spokesman confirmed to NBC News Thursday night.

"There's no comparison whatsoever between Hillary Clinton's practice — a private server, mishandling classified information, destroying emails when they were requested by the Congress and by officials," the vice president told reporters during a surprise stop at an Irish pub in Janesville, Wisconsin.



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Gov. Malloy Activating Severe Weather Protocol for the Weekend

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Governor Dannel Malloy is activating severe cold weather protocol starting Friday and ending Sunday. 

With temperatures expected to be in the single digits, the severe cold weather protocol will be activated from Friday at 5 p.m. to Sunday at 10 a.m., the governor tweeted. 

"The state severe cold weather protocol activates networks of procedures to ensure that the most vulnerable recieve shelther from cold temps," Malloy wrote. 

To locate shelthers and warming centers across Connecticut, you can call 211 or visit the website.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Bill Address When It's Appropriate to Seize, Search Students' Devices

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State lawmakers are again considering a bill about when is it appropriate for school officials to seize and search your child’s electronic devices.

Students at Hamden High School told NBC Connecticut they support this bill that defines the rules when school officials are allowed to confiscate personal belongings like phones, tablets and laptops.

“Teachers and administrators, they have the right if they think something is going on to protect other students in school, they should be able to have the right to search devices,” senior Mark Durwin said.

“I think that student’s privacy is important as well,” senior Dina Alissi said. “There definitely has to be some reasonable suspicion.”

According to ACLU of Connecticut Executive Director David McGuire, there have been questionable search and seizures in other school districts across the state.

“We’ve had students that have had their cell phones searched without any cause,” McGuire said.

The ACLU of Connecticut is backing the bill before the state legislature’s education committee that McGuire said strikes a balance between student privacy rights and school safety.

“Students cannot just be searched at will,” McGuire said. “Students do have privacy expectations in their electronics and that has been recognize by the Supreme Court, so we do think this is a need law to get everyone on the same page.”

According to the proposed bill, only school administrators can search for evidence on a digital device “if there is reasonable suspicion the student had violated education policy” or the student “poses a risk of imminent personal injury to such student or others.” The bill, called an Act Concerning Students’ Right to Privacy in Their Personal Mobile Electronic Devices, states the device has to be on school property.

“There should be like a strict protocol,” Hamden High School senior Briana Louis said, “like a way it’s done with every single student.”

The bill prohibits school employees from copying or sharing any information on the mobile device that is not related to the suspected violation or threat to other students.

“It requires school administrators to stop searching once they find what they’re looking for or are unable to find it and also they have to memorialize their reason for searching it in writing and give it to the parents after the search,” McGuire added.

The Connecticut Education Association joined the ACLU in testifying in favor of this bill at a public hearing on Wednesday.

Commissioner of the Department of Education Dianna Wentzell said in her testimony that existing federal constitutional law preempts this proposal.

“There is already a well-developed body of constitutional law addressing student search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment,” Wentzell said. “These legal principles trump state law and school officials and state and local police are already familiar with them. This proposal is also very vague and overly limits the ability of school personnel to conduct a reasonable search, or to take custody of a mobile device without searching it for reasonable periods of time to deal with disruption or distraction in the classroom.”



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Clinton on What She'd Do Differently: 'I'd Win'

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Hillary Clinton spoke at Wellesley College on Thursday and imagined what she would have done differently.

"I'd win," Clinton said in response to a student who asked the former secretary of state how she would change things if she were to run again.

Clinton went on to note her campaign had underestimated the effect that Russian hacking and FBI director James Comey's announcements about her emails would have on her campaign, witnesses told NBC News.

"There is only one other place I'd rather be," Clinton quipped, according to recent Wellesley grad Ashley Funk, who live-tweeted the event, which took place behind closed doors.

"You have to be willing to take a lot of unfair criticism," Clinton advised any would-be candidates, according to Funk. "Do not underestimate the value of stubbornness." 



Photo Credit: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Clinton Speaks at Harvard on Diplomacy as Secretary of State

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Hillary Clinton visited Harvard University Friday to talk about her time as secretary of state, according to the Harvard Crimson.

The former Democratic presidential candidate participated in an interview as part of the American Secretaries of State Project, a join venture of the Kennedy School, Law School and Business School.

Clinton also took part in a "Fireside Chat" with students from Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

Launched in 2012, the American Secretaries of State Project hopes to interview all living former U.S. secretaries of state about their experiences conducting international negotiations while in office, the Crimson reported.

Clinton served as secretary of state under former President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013.

It was Clinton's second speaking engagement at an instituation of higher education in less than 24 hours. She also stopped by Wellesley University, her alma mater, in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Thursday night.

Ashley Funk, who graduated from Wellesley College in 2016, told NBC News that Clinton reminisced of her time at the school and spoke "extensively" about the value of working in public service.

Funk said Clinton "encouraged us to stay resilient, stubborn, and grateful throughout our careers."

"One of my favorite quotes was 'Do not underestimate the value of stubbornness,'" she said. 



Photo Credit: AP

Jurors in Aaron Hernandez Murder Case Visit Shooting Scene

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Jurors in the double-murder trial of ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez ventured to several related to the 2012 slayings. 

On Friday, the panel of 15 people spent about two hours at the Cure Lounge in Boston, Massachusetts where prosecutors say one of the victims bumped into the former Patriots tight end, spilling his drink.

The jury also stopped at the Tufts parking garage, where the victims were seen in surveillance video leaving in a BMW. They were also taken to the site of the shooting scene and a Boston Police Department evidence facility where they were shown the Toyota 4Runner Hernandez and his former friend, Alexander Bradley, were allegedly in when the shooting occurred.

By Friday afternoon, jurors had returned to the court room to hear testimony from a Cure Lounge manager and review security footage of Hernandez's interaction with his alleged victims, Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu.

Hernandez's lawyer said during opening statements that Bradley is the real killer. Bradley is expected to be the prosecution's star witness against Hernandez.

On Thursday, the jurors were shown photos of a silver SUV with Rhode Island plates at a parking garage near the club, the site of the 2012 murders.

Hernandez is accused of gunning down Furtado and de Abreu from the SUV.



Photo Credit: NBC Boston

Glastonbury Schools Phishing Scandals Impacts 1,600 Workers

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A phishing scandal has hit another Connecticut school district. 

Glastonbury school's superintendent said the district became victim of the W-2 phishing scam that has impacted other districts in the country and Groton

Superintendent Alan B. Bookman said that 2016 employee W-2 tax form information was compromised for 1,600 workers. 

"With the exception of Food Service personnel, any Glastonbury Public Schools employee who was issued a W-2 for the 2016 tax year could be affected," a letter sent out to Glastonbury Public School employees said. 

Groton Public Schools reported a similar incident on Thursday. 



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SoyNut Butter Co. Recalls Butter Due to Possible Link to E. Coli

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The SoyNut Butter Co. has recalled the I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter in response to the Food and Drug Administration alerting the company about a possible link between the product and E. Coli outbreak.

Twelve people infected with E. Coli have been reported from five states: Arizona, California, Maryland, New Jersey and Oregon, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Six people have been hospitalized. Four people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure, and no deaths have been reported, said the CDC.

The recalled products are branded with the "Best By" date of Aug. 30, 2018, or Aug. 31, 2018.

The Illinois-based company advises consumers who have purchased the product to not consume it. The recall does not effect any other I.M. Healthy products except for the I.M. Healthy Original Creamy, the company said.

The CDC advises consumers to throw away the products even if they have consumed it and no one got sick.

For more information about the product, SoyNut Butter Co. can be contacted at 800-288-1012.



Photo Credit: SoyNut Butter Co.

Reported House Explosion in New Milford

Second Man Linked to East Hartford Shooting Charged

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A second person was arrested for allegedly shooting a 25-year-old man in East Hartford in January police said. 

Jesse Smith, 26, of Bloomfield, CT was arrested by warrant on Friday in connection with the shooting of 25-year-old at Krauszer's. Smith was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit assault, carrying a pistol without a permit and breach of peace. 

At the beginning at February, Alphonso Clarke, 26, of Hartford, was charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal use of a firearm, reckless endangerment, unlawful discharge and breach of peace

The victim, identified as Greg Beaufort of East Hartford, was shot outside of a convenience store on Main Street in East Hartford after accidentally bumping into the shooter inside the store, according to the victim's cousin. 

Police said the shooting took place just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday outside of Krauszer’s Food Store and the victim was rushed to Hartford Hospital.

Beaufort underwent surgery and remains hospitalized, East Hartford police said. 

NBC Connecticut spoke to the Beaufort's cousin, who said the victim accidentally bumped into the suspect inside the store and the suspect became angry and told Beaufort to go outside, then opened fire, shooting Beaufort four times.

Smith's bond was set at $750,000.



Photo Credit: East Hartford Police

GOP Tamps Down Sessions Criticism; Dems Ramp It Up

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Congressional Republicans are muting their criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions one day after a handful of key GOP officials broke ranks with him and President Donald Trump over Sessions' contacts with a Russian official.

Since Sessions' decision Thursday to recuse himself from investigations involving Trump campaign contacts with Russia, critical Republicans have either supported his decision or refrained from commenting, NBC News reported.

Democrats, meanwhile, are intensifying calls for accountability, demanding more answers about his and the administration's ties to Russia.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman was one of a handful of Republicans who called for Sessions to recuse himself on Thursday and now says he is satisfied with the decision.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is among those who say Sessions should step down.

Sessions planned to file amended testimony on Monday, a Justice Department spokesman said.



Photo Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

Trump Plans to Expand Immigrant Detention: Documents

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The Trump administration is planning to radically expand the program and facilities for the detention of immigrant families seeking asylum in the United States, according to documents obtained exclusively by MSNBC's "All In with Chris Hayes."

Last month, Asylum Division Chief John Lafferty said DHS had already located 20,000 beds for the indefinite detention of those seeking asylum, according to notes from the meeting obtained by "All In." This would represent a nearly 500 percent increase from current capacity.

The plan is part of a new set of policies for those apprehended at the border that would make good on President Donald Trump's campaign promise to end the practice critics call "catch and release."

"If implemented, this expansion in immigration detention would be the fastest and largest in our country's history," says Andrew Free, an immigration lawyer in Nashville who represents clients applying for asylum.



Photo Credit: Ricardo Arduengo, AP (File)

Police Seek 'Dangerous' Suspect Believed to be in Hartford

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Authorities are searching for a suspect wanted in connection with a violent attempted robbery who is believed to be in the Hartford area, according to Hartford police.

Hartford police allege that Daniel Duffy, 35, was involved in an attempted armed robbery where he stabbed the victim multiple times and hit the victim with a car jack. That incident happened in Bolton on Feb. 28.

Duffy is considered dangerous and has a history of violent crimes including assaults, robberies and kidnappings. Anyone who spots Duffy should not approach him and call police at (860) 707-2355.

Duffy was believed to be driving a white 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe with CT license plate AA 44231. That vehicle was found in Hartford on March 3. Duffy lives in East Hartford but frequents Elliot Street in Hartford and the Santa Fe was spotted multiple times in that area of the city.

Police said that Duffy is on parole for committing and armed robbery and kidnapping in 2008. He is also a suspect in several Hartford cases, and is believed to be a crack addict, police said.

Anonymous tips on Duffy’s location can be made online by clicking here.



Photo Credit: Hartford Police Department

April the Giraffe 'Progressing', Contractions Possible: Zoo

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Move over, Beyonce — there's a cute new baby bump in town.

Keepers at the upstate New York zoo say that April the pregnant giraffe is growing, as is her appetite (she's feeding a 6-foot, 150-pound calf, after all). They said she had a good, but active Friday night and appeared to contract.

"April, as many of you observed, had a good night but very active," the zoo wrote in its daily update on Facebook. "We must remember a 6 [foot] 150 [pound] baby is performing acrobatic routines inside!"

The mom-to-be enjoyed munching on morning treats Saturday, the zoo said. 

A photo posted to the zoo's facebook page shows April's rotund belly curving out and downward, a sign that she's nearing the home stretch of her pregnancy, says owner Jordan Patch.

"She's progressing well in her pregnancy," he said. "She's not in any pain, things are good."

Nearly 68,000 people tuned in to watch the gentle giant Saturday morning as she gazed out her window and trotted around her pen, at times peering over the dividing fence to catch a glimpse of her mate, Oliver.

 

April changed some of her behaviors overnight Friday; she choose new spots to stand and sleep and strayed off her usual naptime routine, the Animal Adventure Park said in a Facebook post Friday. Her caretaker, Alyssa, said that calf movements inside her belly are more visible with each day that passes, and added that the baby was particularly restless overnight Thursday.

The Harpursville zoo tantalized fans Thursday night, posting with excitement, "April is – without question – growing!” The zoo said keepers were able to “get hands on the belly” and “make contact” with April’s baby giraffe. 

The zoo also said April appears “a little more on edge” and is “not being as lovely as usual.” 

Cold weather could shake things up for the expecting giraffe, the zoo said. But snow and ice mean no outside time for the long-necked beauty and her mate. That means more enrichment activities, training sessions and extra attention from the team, the zoo said.

April has captivated tens of millions of people across the world who have been checking in on her via the live stream in anticipation of the birth of her fourth calf. Patch says the natural curiosity surrounding giraffes and their birthing process has been a huge factor in drawing crowds.

"I think the fact that she's a giraffe and she's a neat species that people are interested in, that's fostered a lot of the attention," he said. "The fact that you're gonna get to witness the miracle of birth from an animal that you really don't get to see give birth — that's neat."

He added that April's pregnancy is not just live entertainment, but a teachable moment and source for education.

April's pregnancy was catapulted into global headlines last week after YouTube briefly yanked the zoo's live stream following complaints by animal activists that it violated the site's policies concerning "nudity and sexual content." Thousands upon thousands of commenters voiced their frustration on Facebook and YouTube, and the stream was restored within an hour or so. 

Giraffe pregnancies last for 15 months. Labor lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Once April goes into active labor, zookeepers will go in to help her the rest of the way. The calf will be about 150 pounds and 6 feet tall at birth and up and walking in about an hour.

The zoo said it will hold an online competition to name the baby giraffe once it's born.



Photo Credit: Erica Davies
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Bristol Firefighters Battle Flames and Cold Conditions

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Weather conditions caused difficulties for crews battling a two-alarm house fire in Bristol Saturday morning.

Bristol fire officials responded to a home on Baldwin Drive around 7 a.m. When crews arrived on scene they found heavy fire and struck a second alarm.

Fire officials said a combination of downed power lines, windy conditions and bitterly cold temperatures all made it difficult to fight the fire. Despite the difficulties, fire officials said no serious injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.



Photo Credit: Bristol Fire Department

State Police Seek Westbrook Robbery Suspect

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Connecticut state police are searching for a suspect accused of robbing a Westbrook convenience store at gunpoint Friday night.

Police said that around 7:30 p.m. a man entered the EXTRA Mart at 130 Route 1, showed a gun, and demanded money from the clerk.

The suspect fled on foot. A silver four-door vehicle with loud exhaust and New York plates was seen in the area speeding north on Route 1 shortly afterward, police said.

No injuries were reported.

The suspect was described as male, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8, with a heavy build. He was wearing dark colored jacket over a light grey hoodie, a baseball cap with an orange brim covered by a green camouflage style knit cap, grey pants and tan work boots.

Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact Troop F at 860-399-2100 or text TIP711 with any info to 274637.



Photo Credit: Connecticut State Police

Multiple Departments Responding to Fire in Stafford

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Multiple departments are responding to a fire in Stafford, according to emergency dispatchers.

Tolland county dispatch confirms West Stafford fire is on scene on Clark Road for a reported chimney fire that may have extended into a structure.

Mutual aid has been requested from Stafford fire, Willington fire, Somers Fire, and Crystal Lake fire. Tankers have been called in for water supply.

Dispatchers said when crews arrived defensive operations were ordered.

Eversource has also been called to disconnect power in the area.

More information was not immediately available. Check back for updates.

Man Injured After 30-Foot Fall from Tree in Colchester

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Emergency crews are responding after a man fell an estimated 30 feet from a tree in Colchester, according to Colchester fire officials.

Fire officials said they responded to 184 South Main Street for a reported fall from a tree. The victim, identified as a 28-year-old male, fell an estimated 30 to 35 feet from the tree and suffered “significant” injuries.

According to fire officials, the victim was not wearing any kind of restraints when he fell.

More information was not immediately available. Check back for updates.



Photo Credit: NBC 5
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