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April the Giraffe Glares at Mate as Birth Frenzy Continues

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The pregnant giraffe at an upstate New York zoo peered calmly into the sun-swept pen of her handsome but younger mate Wednesday morning as tens of millions of people across the world checking in on her via live stream over the last few weeks continued to wait for the delivery of her fourth calf.

Nearly 60,000 people were watching the Animal Adventure Park's YouTube stream before 8 a.m. Wednesday as 15-year-old April stared at a kneeling 5-year-old Oliver, though it wasn't clear if her gaze carried affection or resentment -- or a combination. (Her belly is carrying a 6-foot, 150-pound creature, you understand.) By lunchtime, 100,000 had tuned in. 

Watch the livestream below.

April the now world-famous giraffe has been on edge for days, with agitation brought on by her kicking calf and the cold weather that’s kept her cooped up inside. Her handlers hoped to get her some outside time Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, vets have been monitoring April carefully and say they're pleased with her progression.

"Activity in the belly remains very visible to the eye - even through the web cam!" the zoo posted in its morning Facebook update Wednesday. "Slow and steady - mother nature has everything timed right. Keepers will be in shortly and any change will warrant an update!"

The keepers said there's been a "significant amount of belly movement and tail raising" lately from April and that she did get a bit spooked by the kicking calf over the weekend, but keepers later reported her spirits had improved.

"We completely understand her swings!" the zoo wrote on Facebook. "She is a big girl and getting bigger. Vet report is all positive and happy with progression."

The mom-to-be has grown significantly, visible in comparative photos from a week ago show. Wax caps are still present, though her back left teat appears to be shedding.

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

April's pregnancy was catapulted into global headlines late last month 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.

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.

Giraffe pregnancies last up to 15 months. Labor lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The calf, which will be the first born at Animal Adventure Park, 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.


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Missing 87-Year-Old From Chester Found Safe

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Police said an 87-year-old man reported missing from Chester has been found safe and is now home.

Robert Farrar was reported missing Wednesday morning and police issued a Silver Alert asking the public to help them locate Farrar.

Shortly before noon police canceled the Silver Alert. Troop F confirms he was found safe and is now home.



Photo Credit: Connecticut State Police

Teen Arrested in String of Old Lyme Vandalism Cases

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Connecticut state police have arrested a teen accused in multiple vandalism incidents in Old Lyme between September and January.

Victor Farrell, 18, of Lyme, was served 13 arrest warrants for various incidents from September 2016 through January 2017. Police allege that Farrell and several juveniles were involved in multiple criminal incidents at Lyme-Old Lyme High School, including breaking into a and damaging a storage shed and shooting arrows at a truck in October, knocking over a port-a-potty in November, and vandalizing walls, a shed and the sidewalk with spray paint in November.

Farrell is also accused in other incidents, including setting a dump truck and excavator on fire on September, spray painting vehicles in October and November, and smashing property at multiple locations throughout the time period.

Farrell was held on a total of $44,500 in bonds and scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Several juvenile suspects are also suspected in some of the cases but will not be identified due to their age.



Photo Credit: Connecticut State Police

Police Seek Suspect in Manchester Armed Robbery

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Manchester police are searching for a suspect who robbed a 7-11 store clerk at knifepoint early Wednesday morning.

Police said the robbery happened around 4:30 a.m. The suspect entered the 7-11 store at 253 Main Street, held the clerk at knifepoint, and took off with an undetermined amount of cash, according to police.

The suspect is described as male, 25 to 30 years old, 150 to 180 pounds, wearing a blue jacket with yellow lining, a black sweatshirt jeans and white sneakers with the letters “SC” on the back. Anyone with information on this crime is asked to call Manchester police at 860-645-5500.



Photo Credit: Manchester Police Department

Old Saybrook Town Offices Now Reachable from Verizon Phones

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Verizon Wireless customers were unable to reach town offices and departments in Old Saybrook Wednesday morning but the issue has been fixed, according to the police department.

Old Saybrook police said an unknown issue was preventing Verizon cellphones from reaching the department’s non-emergency dispatch number. 911 was working as usual.

Police said other town departments were also unreachable. Service has since been restored. It was not immediately clear what caused the problem.

NBC Connecticut has reached out to Verizon for comment.

Nike Debuts Hijab Pro Line for Muslim Women Athletes

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Nike announced its official launch of the Nike Pro Hijab line, a head cover designed for athletic Muslim women, after speaking with several top-tier female Muslim athletes across the world. 

The Nike Pro Hijab has been a year in the making and follows the brand's introduction to Middle Eastern stores, collections inspired by Nike’s roster of elite female athletes, women’s races, Nike Run Clubs and the Nike+ Training Club App in Arabic. 

At Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, top-flight athletes demonstrated performance problems associated with wearing a traditional hijab during competition, the company said. 

 

Amna Al Haddad, a female weightlifter from the United Arab Emirates, recounted how the garment’s weight, the potential for it to shift during action and its lack of breathability disrupted her focus. She also detailed her extreme difficulty finding performance hijabs; Al Haddad had only one competition-worthy covering, so she had to hand wash it every night during competitions. 

The Nike Pro team, responsible for creating base layers for athletes, examined how to make a performance hijab similar to Nike Pro’s other products: inconspicuous, almost like a second skin. 

The new garments were again tested by elite Nike athletes like the Emirati figure skater Zahra Lari and Nike+ Run Club Coach Manal Rostom. Other athletes from around the Middle East, including runners and cyclists, also gave feedback on the hijabs. 

The final, pull-on design is constructed from durable single-layer Nike Pro power mesh. Nike’s most breathable fabric, the lightweight polyester features tiny, strategically placed holes for optimal breathability but remains opaque, with a soft touch. The mesh is also stretchy. When combined with an elastic binding, it allows for a personalized fit that adapts to both the wearer’s head and her sport. Ice skating, for example requires a tighter fit for twirling. The back of the hijab is also elongated to ensure it doesn’t come untucked. Fluff threads were used at the neck to eliminate the rubbing and irritation that can occur when an athlete sweats. 

At the request of the athletes, the designers placed Nike's signature Swoosh just above the left ear to highlight the hijab’s pinnacle performance nature. The hijab’s debut colors: black, vast grey and obsidian, were similarly based upon the consulting athletes’ desire for dark neutrals. 

The Nike Pro Hijab will be available worldwide starting early in 2018.



Photo Credit: Nike
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Silver Alert Issued For Missing Elderly Thomaston Man

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Police have issued a Silver Alert for a missing 84-year-old man from Thomaston.

George Nedderman has been missing since Wednesday morning.

He is 6'3" tall and weighs 225 lbs.

Nedderman was last seen wearing a black and blue flannel shirt, black pants, a gray Nike sweatshirt and sneakers.

Anyone who spots him or has information on his whereabouts is asked to call Thomaston police at 860-283-4343.



Photo Credit: Thomaston Police

New Haven Police Seek Woman Seen at Cold Spring School

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New Haven police are trying to identify a woman after two suspicious encounters with staff at the Cold Spring School.

According to police, the woman entered the Cold Spring School on Chapel Street late Friday morning and was in the building for a few minutes before being confronted.

On Monday, the same woman came back and told staff she was there to pick up a particular student. When school employees asked her for identification, she took off.

Police stressed that there was no attempted abduction.

The woman in question is described as around 5-foot-6 and 180 pounds. Surveillance shows that on Friday she changed from teal pants, possibly scrubs, to black pants before entering the property, and was wearing her hair in a ponytail. On Monday her hair was covered with a scarf.

Police said that she was a passenger in a dark-colored older model Mazda with a sunroof with a chrome-framed front grill.

Anyone who recognizes this person is asked to contact New Haven police detectives at 203-946-6304.



Photo Credit: New Haven Police Department

MMCT Venture Releases Rendering of East Windsor Casino

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MMCT Venture, the joint company of the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes, have released a rendering of the proposed third casino in the state, planned for East Windsor.

The proposed site was the prior home of a Showcase Cinema and a Wal-Mart, off Interstate 91.

The East Windsor Board of Selectmen has approved a development agreement for the casino. The agreement states that MMCT will pay the town $3 million no later than 15 months before the gaming facility opens. MMCT would also pay the town $3 million annually on top of regular tax payments, which are expected to total approximately $5.5 million per year.

The tribes have said a third casino, located in central Connecticut, is essential to compete with a MGM facility slated to open in Springfield, Mass., in 2018.

Opponents of the casino held a meeting earlier this week where over 100 people attended. They cite concerns about traffic, crime and the societal impacts of gambling, and have started a petition calling for a town referendum about building the casino.

Lawmakers still have to approve a third casino and the governor would have to sign off on any bill that made it to his desk.



Photo Credit: Tecton Architects

Snow to Impact the Friday Morning Commute

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NBC Connecticut Meteorologists have issued a 'First Alert' for snow that will impact the state Friday morning.

Snow will overspread the state late Thursday night and continue into the first half of the morning.

The timing will likely lead to some impacts for the morning commute and could result in school delays and or cancellations.

We're forecasting one to as much as three inches of snow statewide. 

This really isn't a big storm but the timing is what will lead to issues. 

There's another chance of snow on Tuesday which could be more significant. 

Check back later this afternoon for updates.

Elevated Copper Levels Found in Sinks at Hartford School

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Elevated levels of copper have been found in sinks in classrooms in one Hartford school, district officers confirmed.

School district spokesman Pedro Zayas confirmed that six sinks at the Mary Hooker Environmental Sciences Magnet School tested high for levels of copper. The testing was done after blue discoloration appeared in the water in February, which can be a sign of copper contamination.

The sinks and water foundations in the school were tested. Ingesting high levels of copper can lead to a range of health problems, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

The sinks that tested high have been turned off until the district can determine a remediation plan.



Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut

Deep Budget Cuts Would Scrap EPA's Great Lakes Cleanup

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If President Donald Trump's proposed budget is passed in its current form, funding to monitor and clean up toxins in the Great Lakes would virtually disappear. 

In Trump's preliminary budget, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) would be slashed by 97 percent, dropping from $300 million to about $10 million. The Environmental Protection Agency is the single-largest financer of the GLRI. If the EPA funding is slashed as proposed, scientists’ ability to measure toxins in the water would be “greatly diminished,” said longtime Lake Erie researcher Jeff Reutter.

That money goes to programs like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Sea Grant College Program, which monitor toxin levels via satellite images and scientists' daily trips to buoys on Lake Erie.

“Federal funding has gone up and down over the years, but I’ve never seen anything of this scope,” Reutter said of the proposed cuts. He has been working on Lake Erie since 1971.  

Trump has vowed to roll back many environmental regulations enacted by former President Barack Obama. He proposed to cut about 25 percent of the EPA's budget and slash about 3,000 jobs, or 19 percent of the agency’s staff, according to the budget outline released in late February.

Environmental justice programs and the climate protection budget would be cut by 79 percent and nearly 70 percent, respectively.

Trump and his EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, have made skeptical comments about climate change. Trump once called climate change a "hoax." Before Pruitt became the EPA’s new leader, he sued the agency more than a dozen times as the attorney general of Oklahoma.

During his presidential campaign, Trump said that he is a proponent for clean water. On his campaign website, he called the need for safe drinking water one of the "real environmental challenges," as opposed to "phony ones." 

The Great Lakes make up about 95 percent of the U.S.’s freshwater supply, and about 20 percent of the world’s freshwater, according to the EPA. The lakes’ contamination could lead to economic and health consequences. 

“If we lose the U.S. EPA, if the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative goes away, if NOAA’s satellite program goes away, so does our ability to manage all of the fresh water in the country," Reutter said. "I would be very concerned for human and environmental health. We know how important it is to protect human health, environmental health, coastal citizens and jobs.”

Molly Flanagan, the vice president of Alliance for the Great Lakes, said that without funding multiple threats would arise: halted clean-up of the lakes and beaches, the inability to detect and warn people of water toxicity and the potential invasion of ocean-based aquatic species. 

The proposed budget cut to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is the worst possible scenario, carrying "devastating impacts," Flanagan said.

"If you were to see cuts, you would see a number of GLRI programs grind to a stop," she said. "Thirty million people depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water, jobs and recreation."

Despite this, she said she is hopeful that Congress will step in and fight for the restoration initiative, which has historically had bipartisan support.

Two senators from across the aisle are fighting the proposed budget cuts to the lakes, their offices told NBC.

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, was just named to a subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Safe Drinking Water Act and other critical issues. Sean Savett, a spokesperson for Duckworth, said she would fight the proposed budget cuts to the Great Lakes.

"Sen. Duckworth is urging the administration to prioritize funding for programs that protect the Great Lakes from pollutants and invasive species,” Savett said. “The Great Lakes are a vital source of clean drinking water for tens of millions of Americans and dismantling the EPA would jeopardize the safety of families across Illinois and the entire country.”

Republican Sen. Rob Portman, of Ohio, also plans to continue to fight for the Great Lakes funding.

“This initiative has been a successful tool in our efforts to help protect and restore Lake Erie, and Rob will continue to fight for it just as he did when the Obama administration proposed cuts to the program,” spokesman Kevin Smith said.

The EPA declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to NBC's request for comment. 

The EPA declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to NBC's request for comment. 

Former EPA leader Gina McCarthy said the cuts to the EPA prioritize the special interests of big businesses.

“It shows the Trump administration doesn’t hold the same American values for clean air, clean water and healthy land as the vast majority of its citizens,” she said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Scientists like Reutter worry that with a drop in federal investment, the country could see a return to the 1960s, 1970s condition of the Great Lakes, when they were contaminated with industrial waste.

The EPA, NOAA and the National Sea Grant College Program, like the one Reutter works for at Ohio State University, have provided information about toxic algae blooms that build up as a result of high levels of phosphorus in the water.

Most of the blooms that form today are from agricultural runoff, but historically they have also been caused by poor sewage.

The industrial waste from the 1960s and 70s, such as PCBs, mercury and metals, has seen improvements in recent decades, but the issue of blooms remains. According to Reutter’s estimates, to reduce the imminent threat caused by blooms, phosphorus levels in the lakes need to be reduced about 40 percent.

Next week, more than 100 Great Lakes advocates will make their annual trip to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress. This year, they will urge them to push back on the Trump administration's cuts. While the president proposes the budget, it is up to Congress to revise and pass it. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, 2017.

Flanagan said that they're ready to counter the threatening cuts.

"We're not gonna go down without a fight," she said.



Photo Credit: NOAA/inset: Jeff Reutter, OSU Sea Grant

Women Defrauded UI of Over $4,000: Stratford Police

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Stratford police have arrested a women accused of defrauding United Illuminating Company for utilities.

Kimberly Lawton, 43, was charged with third-degree larceny, criminal impersonation and third-degree identity theft.

According to police, Lawton used fake identities and social security numbers when applying for services from UI, then never paid the company for the services. She stole a total of $4,832, police said.

Lawton was arrested on Feb. 27 and released on a promise to appear. She is next scheduled to appear in court on March 28.



Photo Credit: Stratford Police Department

Obama 'Rolled His Eyes' at Trump Wiretap Claim: Source

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Former President Barack Obama "rolled his eyes" at President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that he wiretapped Trump Tower at the end of the 2016 election, a source close to the former president told NBC News.

The source, who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity and is familiar with the president's thinking, said Obama believes the claims "undermine the integrity of the office of the president," but don't undermine his own integrity, because "he didn't do it."

The source told NBC News the former president "is much more concerned by President Trump kicking people off their health insurance, not staffing the government, not being prepared for a crisis, rolling back regulations so that corporations can pollute the air and water and letting mentally unstable people buy guns with no problems whatsoever."



Photo Credit: AP

Move to Get Women in STEM Fields Needs Funding: Experts

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Two new bills that aim to promote women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields are a positive step forward, but they don’t quite cut it, experts say.

The bills, recently signed by President Donald Trump, authorize the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA to use existing programs and resources to recruit women.

But existing programs are underfunded, according to some women working in what are known as the STEM fields, and the two bills do not allocate funding toward the organizations they cover. And without appropriate funding, some say, the mission of the bills is diminished.

"It’s good to see backing of these programs, and to have both congress and the president support them, but the devil is in the details," said Dr. Alice Agogino, a professor of engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. "And so, it’s really important what the action item will be."

She questioned whether there would be a supplemental budget associated with the bills.

The first bill, H.R. 255 or the "Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act" was introduced by Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) and co-authored by Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) to "[authorize] the National Science Foundation to use its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world."

Following the bill’s signing, Esty, in a statement said, "No matter how contentious or passionate our political disagreements may get, as representatives for the American people, we must never stop working toward common solutions that will improve people’s lives."

She said that the passage of the bills will "help women from all walks of life break into fields where they have been underrepresented."

The second bill, H.R. 321, or the "Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers, and Explorers (INSPIRE) Women Act," was co-authored by Esty and introduced by Comstock.

The bill "calls on NASA to encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in aerospace. In particular, it directs NASA to encourage women to enter the STEM fields through three existing programs: NASA Girls, Aspire to Inspire, and the Summer Institute in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Research," according to a news release from Esty’s office.

Comstock in a statement said that young women will now have greater opportunities to pursue careers in STEM fields.

"The INSPIRE Women Act is bipartisan legislation that authorizes NASA to encourage young women to study the STEM fields and to pursue careers that will further advance America’s space missions and the Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act also promotes women and jobs in STEM fields," she said.

Both bills received bipartisan backing, and Committee on Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), voiced support for both measures following their signing.

"I believe the INSPIRE Women Act and the Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act will help encourage more talented young women to pursue their dreams, and change the world with their ideas," he said.

"It’s important that the president continues to support this bill, and that he recognizes that [we] do still need to keep working to increase the representation of women in the STEM fields," said Dr. Stefanie Kroll, an assistant research professor at Drexel University.

Kroll, who is also the project science director for the Delaware River Watershed Initiative at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, said that without specific grant programs or funding for programs, the bills won’t accomplish what they’re meant to do.

The White House and Esty did not immediately reply to requests for comment on whether there would be additional funding for programs aimed at promoting women in STEM.

In an emailed statement to NBC, NASA voiced support for the INSPIRE act.

"NASA has been and remains committed to encouraging more women to enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of study and employment," the statement said. "The agency supports the goals of the INSPIRE Act and will look to expand our existing successful external outreach activities. We also appreciate the growing number of private citizens who help share NASA’s exciting story of exploration and discovery."

According to a NASA spokeswoman, the organization already has programs aimed at promoting women in STEM, but she said there is no new plan yet in regard to the INSPIRE Women Act.

According to the text of the bill, the NASA Administrator must submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation "a plan for how NASA can best facilitate and support both current and retired astronauts, scientists, engineers, and innovators, including early career female astronauts, scientists, engineers, and innovators, to engage with K–12 female STEM students and inspire the next generation of women to consider participating in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to pursue careers in aerospace."

In an emailed statement, a spokesman for Comstock said, "We will get more info from NASA, and Congress will, of course, have the ability to seek more resources based on that report. The Congresswoman is in support of funding increases for NASA and in the STEM fields."

While signing the bills, Trump said it’s unacceptable that so many women have degrees in STEM fields, but aren’t employed. He said he thinks that will change, though.

"We need policies that help support women in the workforce, and that's really very much going to be addressed by my administration over the years, and to get more and more of these bills coming out, and address the barriers faced by female and those in STEM fields," Trump said. "We want American women who graduate from college with STEM degrees to be able to get STEM jobs that can support their families and help these American women to live out the American Dream, which they are so qualified to live out."

The NSF in a statement said it is committed to creating opportunities for women, and said the legislation reinforces current activities.

"One example of such NSF activities includes the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which seeks to transform scientific discovery into benefits for society by catalyzing the commercialization of innovations. SBIR fosters and encourages participation by women-owned small businesses," the statement said.

While signing the bills, Trump also commented on offshoring--when a business bases some of its services overseas for lower costs, or a more favorable economy--which he’s brought up repeatedly in the past in relation to U.S. jobs.

"Protecting women with STEM degrees, and all Americans with STEM degrees is very important, but it also means you have to crack down on offshoring, because the offshoring is a tremendous problem that displaces many of our best American workers and brains -- the brain power," he said.

The bills were applauded by many, including Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, who has been vocal about supporting women since her father first began his presidential campaign.

The Association of American Universities, which represents 62 different research universities in the United States and Canada, also praised the bills on Twitter.

Margaret Hart, a STEM Outreach Adviser at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, said legislation promoting or creating programs that encourage women to enter STEM fields is a great thing.

"Introducing young students to science and engaging and getting them really experience [it] is what’s going to help increase the number of women that go into, and hopefully stay in, STEM" she said.

Another issue brought up by Kroll is a lack of jobs in her field: environmental science.

"I think at the university level, and the masters level, I have seen a lot more women trained in the sciences," she said. "I think part of the problem now, at least in the environmental field, [is that] there have been hiring freezes and changes in agency policies."

On the other hand, Agogino said, "They are hurting for getting good women in STEM disciplines."

Experts said that the STEM fields have seen improvements throughout the years in regard to female involvement, however they believe there are issues that still need to be addressed.

Agogino discussed the idea of a "chilly climate" toward women in STEM, and said that it has to be tackled when trying achieve to goals of inspiring and encouraging women to work in STEM fields.

"What’s troubling is the almost renewal of explicit bias that we are seeing today," she said, pointing to sexual harassment as an example.

Hart, who works with young women in the Johns Hopkins’ Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program, said that she hasn’t heard feedback of women feeling awkward in the field, but said, "Hopefully the more young girls we can get interested in the field, it can help curb that."

Agogino, who has been honored with a lifetime mentoring award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said mentoring is vital when it comes to STEM.

"We also need to have the leadership that takes gender into consideration all steps along the way," she said.

Kroll has similar beliefs to Agogino. She said mentorship seems to be the thing that really gets women to stick with STEM professions.

"It’s the duty of most scientists to promote excellent students, both male and female," she said. But, they should keep in mind that mentorship of someone may encourage them to stay within STEM, Kroll added.



Photo Credit: Getty/Natali_Mis
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Waterbury Woman Accused of Tying Children's Hands With a Belt

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A Waterbury woman is accused of tying up two children's hands with a belt, Naugatuck Police said. 

On Tuesday, Naugatuck Police served an active arrest warrant on Ebonee Pittman stemming from an incident that happened on Jan. 27. 

Pittman was reported by the children's mother, who doesn't live with their father. The 36-year-old babysits for the children's father when he needs, police said.

No injuries were reported. Police said Pittman claimed she was playing a game. 

Pittman was charged with risk of injury to a minor. 



Photo Credit: Naugatuck Police Department

16 Hartford Gang Members Indicted for Multiple Offenses

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Federal, state and local officials announced a 31 count indictment against 16 defendants, including 8 members of the so-called Orange Street Killers, in Hartford on Wednesday. 

The gang was named because most of its activity was concentrated around Orange, Arbor and Cherry Streets in Hartford's Parkville neighborhood.

"These are neighborhoods. We are standing right in front of a playground where children are playing. Violence cannot and will not be tolerated in these neighborhoods," Deirdre Daly, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, said. 

The charges in the indictment include firearms, robbery and drug offenses, including the seizure of 1,200 bags of heroin.

"I want you to look at who got arrested," Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said. "This is not just the neighborhood people getting arrested. This is not just Hartford people getting arrested. This is people from around the entire region that are getting arrested. And the heroin problem is not just a Hartford problem, but a regional problem if not a national problem." 

The FBI and Hartford Police Department teamed up in the investigation, which also nabbed 3 members of other local gangs.

Names of 16 arrestees: 

RUBEN TORRES, a.k.a. “Rube,” “Ru,” and “T,” 25, of Hartford

ANTWANE WILLIAMS-BEY, a.k.a. “Buck,” 26, of East Windsor

MICHAEL CHAPMAN, a.k.a. “Nice” and “Mizzo,” 25, of New Britain

CHARLES TURNER, a.k.a. “Rell” and “CJ,” 26, of Hartford

TAYRENCE WILLIS, a.k.a. “T” and “T-Franklin,” 24, of Hartford

TYRRYQ RODRIGUEZ, a.k.a. “Ty,” “Little Ty” and “Tye Bangs,” 19, of Hartford

ERIC SMITH, a.k.a. “Hood,” 29, of Hartford

ADRIAN CRUZ, a.k.a. “Ray,” 28, of Hartford

BRENDAN SALMON, a.k.a. “One Eye,” 23, of Hartford

NOEL MONTANEZ, 18, of Hartford

JHOVANY VALDES, 40, of East Windsor

WILLIE DEAS, a.k.a. “Debo” and “Flee,” 21, of Hartford

MARCUS GARY, 33, of South Windsor

YOLANDA LOZADA, a.k.a. “Sexy,” 38, of East Hartford

JAMAL JOHNSON, 29, of Hartford

BUELL FRENCH, 36, of Hartford

Gerber Recalls 'Pasta Pick-Ups' to Clarify Egg Labeling

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Gerber Products Company is voluntarily recalling its Cheese Ravioli Gerber Pasta Pick-Ups product to clarify egg labeling to make it easier to identify foods that contain allergens.

The recalled products have "Egg" included in the ingredient list but was not listed in the "Contains" statement, according to Gerber.

The product's universal product code is 159070.

The New York-based company advises anyone with egg allergies to not consume the product.

All other Gerber products, including other Gerber Pasta Pick-Ups, are appropriately labeled, said the company.

If consumers have additional questions, they can contact Gerber any time at 1-800-510-7494 or email Gerber on the company's website.

Fact Check: How Many Jobs Has Trump Created?

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday took credit for ExxonMobil's announcement of a $20 billion, 47,000 jobs investment in the United States, but the investment isn't entirely new, NBC News reported.

Some of the spending on the $20 billion investment began in 2013, according to the company's press release. Still, this is not the first time Trump has taken credit for job creation and corporate spending that was in motion before he took office.

He said, for example, that he struck a deal with Carrier to preserve more than 1,100 jobs in the U.S. However, his deal actually saved 800 jobs or fewer, according to union officials. He also took credit for General Motors' announcement of a plan that would make for the creation or retention of 1,500 jobs, the return of 450 jobs and the addition of 5,000 jobs "over the next few years." GM Officials said that the decision dates back as early as 2014.

After a meeting with Trump in February, Intel pledged $7 billion to build a factor in Arizona, hiring at least 3,000 employees. While the company said Trump helped create jobs, the investment had been in the works (but delayed) since 2011.



Photo Credit: AP/Darron Cummings

Ex-Utah Governor Huntsman to Be Ambassador to Russia

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Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has accepted President Donald Trump's offer to be the next ambassador to Russia, a source confirmed to NBC News Wednesday.

It will be the Utah Republican's third ambassadorship in a long career of service. He previously served as Ambassador to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush and was later tapped to be President Barack Obama's Ambassador to China.

News of the Russian ambassadorship was first reported by Politico.



Photo Credit: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images
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