American workers ducking out to view Monday's total solar eclipse will cost employers at least $694 million, according to one estimate.

Reuters reported that a outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found workers will head out of the office for roughly 20 minutes a piece, though that may be a conservative estimate, according to a vice president at the Chicago-based firm.

"There's very few people who are not going to walk outside when there's a celestial wonder happening above their heads to go out and view it," Andy Challenger said.

But those hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity pale in comparison to the amount lost to other events, like March Madness and Cyber Monday.

A Wallingford man was attacked in Hamden Friday night while arriving to meet who he thought was a prostitute, according to police, and they said he sustained serious injuries. 

Police responded to Second Street at 8:30 p.m. after receiving reports of an unconscious person and learned the 56-year-old Wallingford man had scheduled to meet a prostitute on Second Street. 

She had told him to meet her behind a specific residence and two males assaulted him when he showed up, demanded his belongings and threatened to stab him, police said. 

They punched the victim in the head and the victim lost consciousness. 

He was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital to be treated for serious injuries. 

His cellular telephone and other personal items were stolen, police said. 

The Hamden Police Department Major Crimes Unit is investigating. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective William Onofrio at (203) 230-4040.

The man who police say has confessed to stabbing his 6-year-old sister and two young cousins Friday made a series of strange outbursts during a wild court hearing in which families had to be separated Monday.

As defendant Antonio Shareek Williams entered the courtroom, he yelled, "Andrena Kelley, that's my mom. That's my mom."

After he was seated, he said, "He's here. No, no, no, no!"

As the hearing got underway, Williams kept repeating, "I'm not the one you looking for. I'm not the one you're looking for."

Williams' hearing was halted after his outbursts, and the judge ordered a mental evaluation, saying it was obvious he was incapable of a hearing Monday.

As he was escorted out of the courtroom, his mother, Andrena Kelley, yelled out to him, "Mommy love you. I'm here. Mommy's here, baby."

The fathers then yelled across to the courtroom at her. One father yelled back, "Your daughter is the one who needed you," referring to her 6-year-old daughter Nadiara Janae Withers, the defendant's sister.

A brawl broke out, with sheriff's deputies holding the victims' fathers back from Kelley.

“One dad said, ‘She’s supposed to bury me,’ and he cannot yet understand how to move forward and bury the baby that he expected to be able to bury him,” Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said. “The mother in the case, of course, of the defendant, made comments that really did incite further pain.”

Williams, 25, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of the three girls. Police said their bodies were discovered around 7:30 a.m. Friday in a home in the 6400 block of Brooke Jane Drive in Clinton, Maryland.

Investigators said Williams was left in the home by his mother to watch over Nadiara and two cousins: 9-year-old Ariana Elizabeth DeCree and 6-year-old Ajayah Royale DeCree.

The DeCree sisters are from in Newark, New Jersey, and were in Clinton visiting for the summer. They are the daughters of the suspect’s mother’s cousin, police said.

When Kelley returned home from work early Friday morning, she discovered the girls in their beds, suffering from what appeared to be stab wounds.

The Prince George’s County Fire Department responded to the scene, but all three children were pronounced dead.

Police said they found a 2-year-old girl, who was unharmed, in the home when they arrived. She was another sister of the suspect.

Investigators said Williams was arrested and later provided a full confession of how he stabbed and killed the three girls as the kids shared a bed. They said he did not provide a reason for the attack.

Williams is in custody of the Department of Corrections on a no-bond status.

Nadiara's father and stepmother set up a GoFundMe page for the little girl's funeral.

Two people attacked a judge in Ohio who was walking to work at the Jefferson County Courthouse Monday morning, wounding him after gunfire broke out, NBC News reported.

Judge Joseph J. Bruzzese, Jr. fired back at the attackers, as did a probation officer, after at least one of the suspects opened fire, Steubenville City Manager James Mavromatis told reporters.

One suspect is dead while the other is in custody. Mavromatis said both had criminal records.

"Clearly looking at the one video, you see the attacker coming up toward him," Mavromatis said. "I'd say he was the intended target."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a multi-state outbreak of salmonella connected to backyard poultry and there have been nine reported cases in Connecticut.

The outbreak strains of Salmonella have infected a reported 961 people in 48 states and the District of Columbia, according to the CDC, 215 ill people have been hospitalized and one death has been reported.

In all, there have been nine cases in Connecticut. 

People become infected with Salmonella germs when they put their hands or equipment that has been in contact with live poultry in or around their mouth.

The CDC offers these tips to stay healthy with a backyard flock:

Always wash hands thoroughly with soap and water right after touching live poultry.

Do not let children younger than 5 years handle or touch chicks, ducklings, or other live poultry without adult supervision.

Read more about ways to stay healthy with backyard flocks. Read live poultry Q&A.

One person is dead and two others were taken to the hospital after a rollover crash on Powder Hill Road in Enfield Monday morning, according to local police.

The crash happened on Powder Hill Road near Abbe Road around 3:30 a.m. When first responders arrived, they found a Honda laying upside-down.

“When the officers arrived there were three occupants in the vehicle, unfortunately one was pronounced dead at the scene,” said Enfield Police Chief Carl Sferrazza.

Police confirmed that a passenger in the car that flipped was killed. The driver and a second passenger were taken to the hospital for treatment, one with serious injuries, the other with minor injuries. None of the victims have been publicly identified.

Neighbors who spoke with NBC Connecticut said the area is a busy stretch of road and not the safest area to drive.

"It is very curvy and hilly," said Sarah Fernald.

The police chief agreed that it was a windy road, but said that chronic crashes are not a problem in the area.

“People familiar with the area know you just have to use the proper speed, but isn’t where we’ve had a lot of serious injuries or fatalities,” Sferrazza said.

The road was closed in the area for about five hours while the accident reconstruction team investigated, but it has since reopened.

The crash remains under investigation.

A Hamden woman wanted on an attempted murder charge in Springfield, Massachusetts was arrested at her home Friday, according to police. 

Authorities responded to an address on Arch Street in Hamden at 5:15 a.m. Friday to serve an attempted murder arrest warrant on 24-year-old Susie Otero, of Hamden in connection with an incident in Springfield, Massachusetts on July 7, according to police. 

Otero was found hiding in a back bedroom and has been charged as a fugitive from justice. 

She was detained on a $250,000 and is scheduled to appear in court in Meriden on Aug 25.

The total solar eclipse crossing the country Monday promised to be one of the most photographed eclipses in history, thanks to the rise of smartphones and social media.

The eclipse has rocked social media with over six million tweets worldwide in the past 24 hours, according to Twitter.

Here are some of the best images people posted online, from the path of totality and beyond.

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Alaska Airlines is hosting an eclipse-viewing party over 35,000 feet above the ground.

The airline’s charter Flight 9671 departed from Oregon’s Portland International Airport at 10:15 a.m. ET and headed west over the Pacific Ocean to give invited guests, which included eclipse experts, contest winners, an astronaut and members of the media, a unique view of the total eclipse. Those on board the plane will also be among the first of millions to witness the phenomenon, Alaska Airlines said in a news release.

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"We'll be heading about 800 miles out off the coast of Oregon to catch the #Eclipse2017 from an @AlaskaAir Boeing 737. #TotalityAwesome," tweeted Tanya Harrison, director of research at Arizona State University, before the once-in-a-lifetime flight departed.

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The plane is expected to fly at 38,000 feet and could climb to 40,000 during prime viewing.

Astronomers have been working with Alaska Airlines pilots Capt. Steve Fulton and Capt. Hal Andersen over the past few months to chart the best flight path to "totality."

"The first reason relates to the high altitude of the sun," the airline explained in a statement. "In order to allow observers to see the Sun both from the window and adjacent middle seat, we need to fly from Portland International Airport to a preselected position approximately 815 nautical miles to the west-northwest over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean."

Several airlines will have regularly scheduled flights that are going right through the eclipse's path.

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A car crashed into a building in Norwalk and two people have been taken to the hospital, according to police.

Police said the vehicle struck 83 East Ave. and the injuries the two people transported from the scene sustained are not life-threatening.

No additional information was immediately available.

The U.S. Secret Service is facing money problems — but that's not President Donald Trump's fault, the agency's director said Monday, in response to a report that the Trump family is straining protective resources.

Secret Service Director Randolph "Tex" Alles said funding for roughly 1,100 agents working overtime in 2017 is not an issue "that can be attributed to the current Administration’s protection requirements alone, but rather has been an ongoing issue for nearly a decade due to an overall increase in operational tempo," NBC News reported.

His comments came after a report in USA Today that the agency's funding problems were partly caused by the president's large family and their multiple, oft-visited Trump properties in the U.S. and overseas.

Alles told USA Today the agency is handling an unprecedented number of White House officials who need protection. 

A college athlete from Indiana who is traveling the country and helping the homeless stopped by Hartford on Monday to make a difference. 

For 23-year old Keaton Hendricks, a basketball player and business school student, a box of socks is a sign that the sky is the limit. 

“Sky Footwear, our mission is to really inspire hope into the lives of the homeless,” Hendricks, the founder of Sky Footwear, said. 

The college senior is traveling to places such as Hartford Rescue Mission and Rev. Gregg Woods, executive director of the shelter, said he never expected to get a donation quite like this. 

“What a call … you want socks? Yeah, I'll take socks. Definitely so,” Woods said. 

The donation was a surprise, since Hendricks is a senior at Taylor University in Indiana. 

That’s where this story really begins. 

“This is out of our dorm room so. We have 7,000 pairs of socks that we pile high to the ceiling,” Hendricks said. 

The business major was challenged in class to come up with an idea like one you’d see on Shark Tank, the show in which inventors pitch business and product ideas to investors in the hopes of securing interest and funding. 

“From my experience volunteering at homeless shelters, we knew that socks are the number one requested item from homeless shelters and so, I also knew that socks were a huge trend,” Hendricks said. 

Therefore, he decided to pair the need and trend together with Sky Footwear. 

Hendricks and a friend created a buy one, give one business. He said that for every pair of socks that people buy, another pair is donated to a homeless shelter. 

“Our goal is to help supply every homeless shelter in the U.S. with socks,” Hendricks said. 

The business has been running for one year and, so far, Hendricks has donated to 12 shelters. The total donation in Hartford depends on how many socks are sold during the month of August. 

As of Monday, Aug. 21 Hendricks expected the total donation to be around 400 pairs of socks. 

Rev. Woods said receiving a gift like this, especially from a student, has a greater meaning. Small steps, in socks, healing the soul of a community. 

“That really is the root of what humanity is about,” Woods said.

If you would like to buy a pair of socks and, in turn, give a pair of socks to the Hartford Rescue Mission, head to Sky Footwear’s website and order before the end of the month. 

Corporate fallout over President Donald Trump's comments on the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Virgina, continues as two more charities announced this weekend they would cancel gala fundraisers at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach and Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society both dissociated from the Trump property this weekend, NBC News reported.

The moves follow a divisive press conference last Tuesday where Trump refused to draw distinctions between neo-Nazi ralliers and their counter-protesters, instead blaming "both sides."

In all, 14 have canceled and only two events remain: The Palm Beach Police Foundation's annual Policeman Ball and the Palm Beach County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner, according to reports. The departures could cost the Trump Organization $1.1 million in total, the Washington Post estimated.

A look at how Americans viewed the first coast to coast eclipse in nearly a century.

Crews are investigating a hazmat situation in New Haven. 

New Haven's fire chief told NBC Connecticut that the department responded to a wellness check at a house on Rosettee Street between Arthur and Button streets.

The fire chief said the man in the home was allegedly threatening to hurt himself.

When crews walked into the home they found potentially concerning liquid on the second floor and called for hazmat crews to respond. 

Firefighters are now heading into the home to see if the man is there and figure out what the substance is.

NBC Connecticut is at the scene trying to obtain more information.

Check back for details on this developing story. 

A construction worker was severely injured at a job site on a bridge in Willington on Monday. 

CT DOT said the construction site was at the 00982 Bridge on Route 74 over the Willimantic River.

Willington police said the worker got his leg pinned under the bridge and slipped when some of the reinforcement let go.

The man was then pinned under the bridge.

Officers and construction crews were able to free him using airbags and extricate. 

It was about 36 minutes between the accident and when the victim was taken to the hospital with a severe leg injury.

No other information was immediately available. 

On Monday night, in his first prime-time White House address, President Donald Trump is set to brief the country about the “path forward” in the U.S.’s ongoing war in Afghanistan.

The 16-year conflict has cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars, as NBC News reports, and it has now spread across three presidential administrations.

Then-President Barack Obama ended the combat mission “Operation Enduring Freedom” in 2014, but the two countries eventually agreed that the U.S. would keep some troops in Afghanistan even after the combat mission concluded.

Here’s a look at some of the numbers tied to the U.S. military’s involvement in the war.

Don’t get left in the dark on the solar eclipse. The moon will pass in front of the sun, around 2:45 p.m. today, temporarily blocking the sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface.

Check out your local solar eclipse viewing party and remember to be safe as you view this exciting natural phenomenon!

Great American Solar Eclipse Viewing
Where:  Amphitheater at Elm Ridge Park, Rocky Hill
When: 1 p.m. to  4 p.m.
Details: The Cora J. Belden Library is hosting the event and the first 1,000 registrants will get free eclipse viewing glasses. Eclipse-related activities will take place.

A Total Eclipse Celebration
Where: Connecticut Science Center, 250 Columbus Ave., Hartford
When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Details: Various activities include yoga with a certified children’s instructor, educational activities, and food trucks

Solar Eclipse at Van Vleck Observatory
Where: Van Vleck Observatory, 96 Foss Hill, Middletown
When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Details: Wesleyan University is hosting the event and telescopes will be open for public viewing and eclipse-safe glasses will be provided. The John Monroe Van Vleck Professor of Astronomy, Bill Herbst will be available for brief interviews and questions.

Solar Eclipse Viewing Party
Where: Horsebarn Hill Road, next to the UConn Dairy Bar in Storrs
When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 
Details: 150 solar eclipse glasses for first arrivals. There will be a tutorial on eclipses before the eclipse and a Q and A with an astrophysicist after the eclipse. A pin-hole making activity will take place for the kids.

Solar Eclipse at the Children’s Museum
Where: The Children's Museum, 960 Trout Brook Dr, West Hartford
When: 1:20 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Details: Telescopes will be open to the public and educators will be demonstrating how to view the eclipse with a pinhole projection. Eclipse viewing is included with general museum admission.

Partial Solar Eclipse @ LFOP
Where: The Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium, 355 Prospect St, New Haven
When: 1:25 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Details: Solar telescopes will be provided as well a eclipse glasses while supplies last. There will also be a live video feed of the eclipse from different vantage points in the country.

The Eclipse 2017 Observing Event
Where: Glastonbury Planetarium, 95 Oak St, Glastonbury
When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Details: Event will take place in the field next to the planetarium. The planetarium will provide solar viewers for guests as well as properly-fitted telescopes. There will also be a short presentation of the eclipse as well as a live stream of the eclipse from the planetarium’s dome. The planetarium recommends attendees bring blankets, lawn chairs, etc. for the event.

Solar Eclipse Viewing Party
Where: Ballard Park, Ridgefield
When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Details: Activities will take place throughout the day and glasses will be provided to attendees at the event.

Solar Eclipse Viewing at WAS
Where: Rolnick Observatory, 182 Bayberry Ln, Westport
When: 1:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Details: Viewing equipment and eye protection will be provided.

Solar Eclipse Viewing Party
Where: John J. McCarthy Observatory, New Milford High School, Route 7
When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Details: An assortment of protected telescopes and binoculars will be provided and volunteers will be demonstrating how to make pin-hole devices to view the eclipse safely.

“Howl at the Sun” Eclipse Party
Where: Pratt Street in downtown Hartford
When: Noon to 2 p.m.
Details: Register to win Wolf Pack prizes, receive promotional codes for the Wolf Pack’s October 6 home opener game, jump on the Wolf Pack inflatable, and meet “Sonar” the Wolf Pack’s mascot. Note, viewing the solar eclipse is not included in this event.

“Lights Out Across the USA”
Where: Treworgy Planetarium at Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic
When: Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Details: Interactive screens will display a display feed of the eclipse as it makes its way across the country. Free with regular museum admission. Includes informational programs throughout the day.

New Haven Free Public Library is hosting parties and will have stories and snacks at all branches. The event is 5 and up. Special glasses will be available while they last: 

• Fair Haven Library, 182 Grand Ave., 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. 
• Mitchell Library, 37 Harrison St., 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Stetson Library, 200 Dixwell Ave., 2:15 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Wilson Library, 303 Washington Ave., 2:15 p.m.  
• Ives Main Library, 133 Elm St., 3 p.m. 

One hundred thirty-nine of the state's 167 school systems will see either eliminated or reduced funds from the state as a result of Governor Dannel Malloy's executive order running the state in the absence of a state budget.

The contrast couldn't be more stark than between East Windsor and Glastonbury.

East Windsor is classified as an Alliance School District, which means it is underperforming by state standards and Glastonbury is considered to be a more affluent, high-achieving school system.

East Windsor's interim superintendent Christine DeBarge said since East Windsor is expecting to at least receive something from the state when it comes to education funding, the school board has not made any drastic decisions when it comes to spending or hiring.

"We’re going to open as we planned with services as we planned based on the town budget that we got and you know we’ll make changes if we need to at a later date," DeBarge said Monday. "The kids show up on the first day of school no matter what.”

East Windsor anticipates it will receive at least something close to $1.4 million in Education Cost Sharing funds in October, the same amount that was appropriate for the previous school year. Overall, the system received $5.66 million last year.

East Windsor school officials have not frozen spending or hiring.

The opposite has occurred in Glastonbury where both hiring and budget freezes were put into effect last Spring.

Alan Bookman, Glastonbury Public Schools' superintendent, said he understands the need for cuts, but said the manner with which the governor has made them isn't the right way of completing the task.

He said the blame should be placed on the entire State Capitol, and both Democrats and Republicans for their failure to approve a budget for the fiscal year. Instead, it's been 52 days and the General Assembly has not yet adopted a new two-year spending plan.

"We’re hopeful that they are going to pass a budget," Bookman said. "That doesn’t mean that we’re going to get all of the money that we got last year. It doesn’t mean that. But we hope it will be more reasonable and any cut that does come along would be more gradual than losing all of your ECS money in one year."

Glastonbury's education budget is just more than $100 million and depends on at least $3 million in cash from the state for operations, with the rest being used for town government.

That three percent disappearing, Bookman said, is what's led to freezes in spending and hiring, and said the budget could be frozen again if expenses are out of balance with costs.

Bookman warned, "There is no flexibility in this budget. If we get a bad winter and the heating season or the price goes up of gas for natural gas, we did not build in any money to accommodate that. We will be behind the eight ball and we will have to enact a budget freeze again."

He said everything when it comes to state aid remains unknown, but adds that the school system, like the others losing their funding, are going to have to make it work, so long as the uncertainty persists.

“We will be doing less and do the best we can for the students," Bookman said.