The troubled Barbour Garden Apartment complex in Hartford may soon have a new owner.

David McCarthy, president of Heritage Housing Inc. out of Norwalk, says he has signed a purchase agreement with the current owner, Martin Rothman of Adar Hartford Reality, LLC. McCarthy said the sale of the apartment complex is contingent on a new HUD contract.

Rothman’s been accused of pocketing the money instead of making badly needed repairs. When a HUD inspection garnered a nine out 100 for the property, HUD pulled Rothman’s contract.

Since then, the property has fallen into further disrepair. There’s even a warrant out for Rothman’s arrest, due to fire code violations. He’s failed to show up to court twice.

Mice, mold, sewage backups, and crumbling ceilings are just some of the problems that have plagued the property.

“To some extent our mission is to improve these kinds of properties,” said McCarthy. “You want to be part of the solution. You want to help.”

Heritage Housing, Inc, is a for-profit company. McCarthy admits there’s money to be made. However, he plans to turn only half of the units into Section 8 housing. So, he’d get less federal funding overall than Rothman received.

However, he expects to get more per unit to reflect the renovations he’ll make. He says he expects to receive between $900-$1,000 per unit per month, or about $40,000 per month and $480,000 per year. McCarthy plans to turn the other half of the units into affordable, income-based housing.

“We see it also as just an opportunity to turn this property around and make it habitable and livable again,” he said.

McCarthy’s referring to the major investment he has planned.

“We’re budgeting $7 million for repairs on the property, which is about $85,000 a unit,” he explained. “We would completely rebuild the bathrooms, the kitchens.”

He’s planning a top to bottom rehab, from the plumbing to the heating and even the entrances to the buildings. If the sale goes through, he’ll start the renovations next summer and hopes to have the buildings ready for new tenants by fall of 2021.

Current tenants say those repairs are badly needed.

“I’m ready to move. I’m ready to move. I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired,” said Yolanda Alexander.

Residents were given vouchers for a new place to live. To date, 43 of 69 families have been relocated, according to HUD. The rest have until September 30th to find a new place to live.

“I’m the only one in my building. Everybody else is gone,” she said.

When we met Alexander, her kitchen sink was backing up into her bathroom.

“I’m going to be here another two weeks with a clogged sink, with mold in my bathroom. So, at this point I’m fed up. I want to move,” said an exasperated Alexander.

Alexander expressed frustration and disappointment in the relocation process saying the one apartment HUD matched her with didn’t feel safe.

“We were told that we should not take anything that we was not comfortable with and we would not be happy with,” Alexander said of the outside contractor HUD is using to help move tenants to new apartments. “I didn’t take an apartment and now I feel like I’m being blackballed for not taking the apartment.”

She added that she’s been rejected from every apartment she’s expressed interested due to her lack of credit.

“I think they have rich people policies for low income areas,” said Alexander. “That leaves a lot of people out, out of the game.”

Barbour Gardens is the latest in a string of Hartford properties with landlords who have come under fire for not fulfilling their responsibilities to the tenants. State representative Brandon McGee says tenants wouldn’t be in this situation if municipalities had had more control over out of state landlords.

“This guy is responsible for millions of dollars that are not actually going to the place or being used for what its’ intended purpose is which is to make sure these units are quality units for residents to live in,” McGee said, referring to Rothman. “He just basically abused the resources, the process, and the money.”

McGee fought to close such loopholes during the past legislative session, sponsoring a bill that requires cities and towns to create a landlord registry. Harford is currently updating their housing code to comply with the law that was signed by Governor Ned Lamont in July.

“We can go directly to the source. We can fine violations up to about $1,000,” said McGee.

McGee believes the new law will create more accountability among property owners, particularly those who live out of state, like Rothman.

“It took almost like years to get to him. We knew the person but there wasn’t a process in place or enough teeth on the local side of things for the municipality to say you know what we ought to hold you responsible. We don’t even have to go to court for this,” McGee explained.

Alexander hopes the new law gives cities like Hartford more oversight.

“I think they really need to know who they’re dealing with. When you let somebody in your house, it’s in your city, and buying a property within Connecticut or Hartford you need to know who you’re dealing with,” she said.

NBC Connecticut reached out to Rothman’s attorney for comment but did not hear back.

There's a large police presence on a New Haven street on Monday night.

Multiple police cars and officers were seen in the area of Dixwell Avenue and Henry Street.

Crime scene tape can be see going across the road.

Officers have not released details about what the police presence is for.

NBC Connecticut has a crew at the scene and will update this story as details become available.

The Trump administration introduced a new rule Monday making it harder for low-income immigrants who receive food stamps or other forms of taxpayer-funded assistance to stay in the country legally, NBC News reports.

The rule would require immigrants applying for a change in immigration status (like a green card) or those seeking to come here to prove that they are unlikely to ever need public assistance, and can bar immigrants who had received assistance above a certain threshold from being approved.

Pressed on whether or not the rule would undermine the words emblazoned on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty — "give me your tired, your poor" — acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli disagreed.

"This rule will cover, for USCIS, almost 400,000 a year whose applications to become legal permanent residents will include a meaningful analysis of whether they're likely to become a public charge or not. I do not think by any means we're ready to take anything off the Statue of Liberty," he said.

West Nile virus has been detected in mosquitoes in East Haven and Stamford and the Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus have been detected in mosquitoes in Voluntown.

The Mosquito Trapping and Testing Report released Monday says three mosquitoes trapped on Kenneth Street in East Haven on Aug. 1 and three trapped on Intervale Road in Stamford on July 30 tested positive for West Nile virus.

EEE was found in mosquitoes trapped on Mt. Misery in Voluntown. The virus was found in 178 that were trapped on Aug. 7 and 77 that were trapped on Aug. 8.

See the full report here. 

What You Need to Know About West Nile Virus:

West Nile virus, which is spread to people through the bite of infected mosquitoes, is the leading cause of mosquito-borne illness across the United States, including in Connecticut, according to the state Department of Health. The symptoms you could experience from an infection range from none to severe. 

Severe symptoms include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis, according to the CDC, and you should see a doctor if you develop them. 

What You Need to Know About Eastern Equine Encephalitis

Eastern Equine encephalitis virus is also spread through bites from infected mosquitoes and the state Department of Health reports EEEV is rare in the United States with an average of seven cases reported each year. No vaccine is available.

Approximately one third of people who become sick from EEEV will die from the illness, according to the state Department of Health. They urge that early treatment can lower the risk of complications and death.

Find out what you need to know about the symptoms from the CDC. 

Prevention

The best prevention is to avoid getting bitten. Find tips here. 

A Manchester man is accused of recording men getting dressed and undressed at a gym in South Windsor, according to police. 

Authorities said gym members at L.A. Fitness on Buckland Road Sunday morning had found the cellphone set up to record in the men’s locker room and gym staff found the phone was recording men getting dressed and undressed. 

Police identified the suspect as 26-year-old Antonio Selby, of Manchester. 

They said he approached gym staff about the whereabouts of his phone and he was told to wait. 

Police soon arrived and interviewed Selby, according to police.

Selby was charged with voyeurism and was later released on $2,500 non-surety bond. He is scheduled to appear at Manchester Superior Court on Aug. 21.

Police are warning people to avoid part of Long Hill Road in Guilford because primary wires on the ground, there have been two large explosions and a pole is on fire. 

Long Hill Road is closed at Cricket Trail and people are asked to avoid the area and instead use Durham Road or West Lake to get to Route 80.

Firefighters are responding to Hunters Lane in Southington, where an underground propane tank was struck and leaking, according to the Southington Fire Department. 

No additional information was immediately available.

A car hit a home in Hamden Monday and one person from the vehicle was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital. 

A tweet from the Hamden Fire Department said firefighters responded to 45 Bowen St. after the crash and police said no one in the house was injured and the damage was limited to the porch, so the residents will not be displaced.

A New York City-based director apparently got a private jet experience as the only passenger on his flight, and chronicled his luck in a video that he shared online. 

Vincent Peone told The Washington Post that he landed the solo trip after his Delta flight operated by SkyWest Airlines was rescheduled last week. The flight from Aspen, Colorado, to Salt Lake City, Utah, was the first leg in his trip home to New York. 

"I didn’t know that I was the only person on the flight," he told the Post. "So I arrived at the airport, which is a very tiny airport, and at the desk, they were like, 'I don’t know if we even need to make the announcement, because it’s just you.' I was like, 'Oh, no. Do the announcement.' Obviously everyone really enjoyed playing along." 

Video that Peone posted Monday, which has since been shared thousands of times, shows an airline employee inviting "the only passenger on this flight" to "kindly board at this time." 

It then shows workers loading sandbags onto the aircraft, which Peone notes is so that the plane will meet minimum weight requirements. 

The video goes on to show Peone with a drink in hand and joking with pilots about being on a private jet. His video shows rows of empty seats. 

Peone told the Post that a flight attendant said he could sit wherever he wanted and no one had a problem with his filming. 

He said he was told the trip probably cost the airline $30,000 to fly him to Salt Lake City and speculated that the airline went along with it because "they had to fly there to pick people up and bring them back." 

NBC has reached out to Delta for comment. 

After Peone shared his video, Delta tweeted back, "that looks like an awesome experience."

Spin Doctors will be coming to Connecticut to perform at the Southington Apple Harvest Festival.

The band is known for 1990s hits including “Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and "Two Princes." 

The apple harvest festival will run Oct. 4-6 and Oct. 11-13. 

The Spin Doctors will perform on Saturday, Oct. 12.

Call her, maybe?

Singer Carly Rae Jepsen has been added to the list of acts playing at this Year's Big E.

The Canadian pop star became a household name with her massive 2012 hit "Call Me Maybe."

The song took off with the help of Justin Bieber, who appeared in a viral video lip-syncing to "Call Me Maybe" with Selena Gomez and Ashley Tisdale.

Jepsen will likely be performing "Call Me Maybe" along with songs from her new album, "Dedicated," when she performs at the Big E Arena on Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets go on sale Thursday and are $39 and $29.

Interstate 91 South is closed in Enfield after a crash.

State police said the highway is closed at Exit 47 W and they urge anyone traveling in or around the area to use an alternate route.

Charles Childress said he didn't think twice after hearing the screams of two terrified children.

The 56-year-old Moreno Valley man had just seen a bullet pierce the window of a car in front of him with the children and their mother inside during Monday's frightening shootout that killed a California Highway Patrol officer in Riverside.

In the chaos of unrelenting gunfire, Childress, determined to get the twins and their mother out of harm's way, got out of his car and made a low crawl to their vehicle. He found two children in car seats and their mother at the wheel.

"I told her that I'm going to take her and her kids out and try to get them to safety," Childress said. "So, I grabbed the two little boys, and I pulled them out of the car. I put them in a position behind the engine block of her car so that it would protect them."

Jennifer Moctezuma, 31, of Moreno Valley told the Los Angeles Times that she was driving home with her 6-year-old twins when the bullet flew through her front windshield. Childress said the round appeared to fly past her head. 

"The bullet went straight in the middle of my windshield, between my head and my two kids," Moctezuma told the Times. "I told my kids to get down and duck. But they couldn't. They had their seat belts on in their car seats. I had to unbuckle them, then we all got down."

Childress said he relied on his training as a Marine during the rescue near the 215 Freeway. Childress said he saw at least one person using a cell phone to record the shootout, then he started shouting for people to take cover during the gunbattle.

He and the family stayed low as bullets whizzed past overhead.

"Somebody needed help and there was no thinking about it," Childress said. "You hear those kids screaming, those kids needed help. They needed to get out of there. There was no thought about it. I just got out and did what I had to do."

They eventually made their way to the base of a freeway overpass and hid behind law enforcement vehicles.

"He's my hero," Moctezuma said.

The shootout followed a traffic stop in the area of Box Springs Boulevard and Eastridge Avenue, just west of Interstate 215. A CHP officer was doing paperwork to impound the pickup truck when the driver reached in, grabbed a rifle and fatally wounded the officer, authorities said.

The slain officer was identified as 33-year-old Andre Moye, who had been with the agency for about four years.

"It's just a tragedy all the way around," said Childress. "I'd like to give a 'thank you' to all these police officers who ran up to a gunfight without hesitation and started protecting the citizens. They're the real heroes."

It's not clear what prompted the officer to stop and impound the truck. Investigators didn't immediately know where the gunman came from or where he was headed.

A motive for the shooting was not immediately determined.

After the shooting, dozens of law enforcement officers gathered outside of the hospital in nearby Moreno Valley. Snipers were posted on the roof as a precaution.

Dozens lined up and saluted as the officer's flag-draped body was removed from the hospital and placed in a hearse. Motorcycle officers then led a procession as the hearse was driven to the county coroner's office.

Two other officers were wounded. 

The gunman also was killed. 

The timber rattlesnake is one of the two venomous species in this state and two of them were found in a backyard in Glastonbury.

Glastonbury police posted on Facebook that the animal control officer relocated the snakes from the back yard of a home on Moutainview Road.

Police said the timber rattlesnake is protected by the Connecticut Endangered Species Act and it is illegal to kill or collect them.

Anyone who sees one is urged to calmly and slowly back away from it and allow the snake to go on its way. 

Glastonbury residents concerned about rattlesnakes in their yards should call 860-633-8301.

Learn more here about timber rattlesnakes from the state DEEP site.  

Snakes in Connecticut

Fourteen species of snakes are native to Connecticut.

The only other venomous species found in Connecticut is the northern copperhead. 

See the state DEEP site to identify the types of snakes in Connecticut.

The snakes native to Connecticut inlcude:

• Common Gartersnake
• Northern Brownsnake
• Common Ribbonsnake
• Northern Copperhead
• Eastern Hog-nosed Snake
• Northern Watersnake
• Eastern Milksnake
• Northern Redbelly Snake
• Eastern Ratsnake
• Northern Ring-necked Snake
• Eastern Wormsnake
• Smooth Greensnake
• Northern Black Racer
• Timber Rattlesnake

A Winsted man who is accused of threatening to kill everyone at a Canton daycare last month has been arrested in Winchester, accused of making threats against police officers. 

David Ragozzine, 29, of Winsted, was arrested Tuesday on an outstanding arrest warrant charging him with threatening in the second degree and breach of the peace in the second degree.

Winchester police said details of the arrest are not available. The judge ordered the arrest warrant sealed.

Ragozzine was being held at the Hartford Detention Facility on unrelated charges stemming from threats he is accused of making to employees of Joni’s Daycare and Preschool in Canton on July 22.

According to court paperwork in that case, the manager of the preschool told police that Ragozzine is the husband of an employee there and that he called yelling, using profanity and threatneing language.

She also reported that Ragozzine said he was coming to come to the daycare and beat another employee and was going to kill everyone if they didn't stop interfering with his marriage.

Police said this also comes after a domestic disturbance in Winsted on July 27.

Bail is set at $350,000.

After three years of negotiations, CBS and Viacom are coming together to form a new $30 billion company, controlled by Shari Redstone and cementing her status as possibly the most influential woman in media, NBC News reported. 

The merger comes at a time when upheaval in the traditional pay-TV market and the rise of digital streaming services have changed the economics of the entertainment industry and pressured media companies to either grow larger or sell themselves off. With streaming video companies like Netflix now the leading story, CBS and Viacom are fusing their war chests to better compete in the rapidly morphing world of TV and film watching. 

But the combined company will still be far smaller that many of the media titans that it will need to compete with. 

The newly merged company will house a host of valuable media assets. Under CBS Corporation, the larger of the two companies, are the CBS broadcast network, local TV stations, the premium pay-TV channel Showtime, Network Ten in Australia, 50 percent of the CW Network with WarnerMedia, and the book publisher Simon & Schuster. Viacom owns Paramount Pictures, a variety of cable TV channels including as MTV and Comedy Central, Channel Five TV in the U.K., and Argentina's Telefe TV network. 

Both companies also have their own extensive content production units, which provide shows for outside parties, including the thriller “Jack Ryan,” starring John Krasinski, which Viacom made for Amazon.

A family is mourning after a man died following a shooting in Meriden Sunday.

Officers responded to a home on Allen Avenue around 11:45 a.m. on Sunday and found a man dead in the front yard.

The victim, 32-year-old Francisco Huertas, had suffered several gunshot wounds and passed away before officers arrived, according to police.

Neighbors in the area told NBC Connecticut they thought the gunshots were fireworks going off.

Police said the incident appeared to be isolated.

Allen Avenue was closed for several hours Sunday afternoon but has since reopened.

Anyone with information is asked to call Meriden Police at 203-630-6318.

Interstate I-91 South in Middletown is congested after a truck rollover, according to CT Travvel Smart.

The crash is between exits 22S and 20, according to CT Travel Smart.

Crews from the Cromwell and Westfield fire departments are responding.

In an effort to defend a new Trump administration rule aimed at making it harder for poorer legal immigrants to stay in the U.S., acting Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli offered a new take Tuesday on the poem attached to the Statue of Liberty, NBC News reports.

"Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge," Cuccinelli said during an interview with NPR's "Morning Edition."

The poem, titled "The New Colossus" and written by Emma Lazarus in 1883, reads: "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The interview followed the administration's Monday announcement of a rule that would make it more difficult for low-income, legal immigrants who receive public assistance to remain in the country legally.

Part of Park Street in Hartford is closed after a shooting.

Police said an 18-year-old man was shot in the leg in the area of 1572 Park St. and transported to Hartford Hospital.

He is in stable condition, according to police.

Park Street is closed between Hazel Street and Sisson/New Park Avenue.