It was a wedding 53 years in the making. Jack Evans and George Harris made their relationship official in the eyes of at least one church.

"The marriage of George and Jack is a sign of God's love and their love for each other and our love for one another," said Rev. Bill McElvaney, the minister officiating the marriage.

Hundreds of people witnessed the ceremony.

"In the name of God, I take you George to be my married life partner," said Evans as the couple exchanged vows. "In the name of God I, George take you Jack to be my married life partner," Harris followed.

And for at least one minister it was a call to change.

"It's sufficient to say George and Jack are offering a gift, an invitation and a challenge to the United Methodist Church to become... a fully inclusive church," said Rev. McElvaney. "And we thank them for that."

For now, the marriage will only stand in this church.

Last week, federal judge Orlando Garcia declared a same-sex marriage ban in Texas unconstitutional, but will allow the nation's second-most populous state to enforce the law pending an appeal that will likely go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Flames tore through a home in East Hampton Sunday evening, leaving it a total loss.

The fire broke out just before 7:30 p.m., at 1 Young Street.

According to a fire official at the scene, the homeowner made it out of the house safely.

Mutual aid from five surrounding towns responded, including Colchester, Marlborough, and Portland.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Embattled California State Sen. Ron Calderon on Sunday announced he will take a voluntary leave of absence from legislative duties nearly a week after pleading not guilty to federal corruption and bribery charges.

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Calderon, D-Montebello, was charged in a 24-count indictment with mail fraud, wire fraud, honest services fraud, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering and aiding in the filing of false tax returns.

• Calif. Sen. Calderon Pleads Not Guilty

"This is not a resignation since I still have my day in court," Calderon said in a statement released Sunday. "However, due to the nature and complexity of the charges, and the discovery materials that I will have to review, I expect this to be a lengthy period of absence continuing until the end of the session in August."

Sen. President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, accepted Calderon's request to take an indefinite leave of absence Sunday night.

• Sen. Ron Calderon Accused of Accepting $100K in Cash Bribes

Prosecutors said he accepted $28,000 in bribes from Michael D. Drobot, former owner of the now-closed Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, in exchange for supporting legislation that “delay or limit changes in California’s workers’ compensation laws relating to the amount of medical care providers are reimbursed for performing spinal surgeries.”

Calderon is also accused of paying his daughter $39,000 for a bogus office job and paying around $30,000 for his son’s schooling.

The 56-year-old legislator pleaded not guilty in an arraignment Feb. 24.

A Wesleyan University student was assaulted near campus on Saturday night while walking on Church Street in Middletown, according to a university spokeswoman.

The male student was walking near the science center just before 7:30 p.m. when he was approached by six to eight young men and hit in the face.

The student was treated for facial injuries at a local hospital.

University police or Middletown police are investigating.

Anyone with information is urged to call police.                      

Long Island police say they made two separate arrests on Sunday of parents who left their children unattended in cars.

Marcela Monaco was arrested in Huntington for leaving her 4-year-old son alone in a car while she went shopping. Witnesses said the child was left for 20 minutes inside a car that was not running while the temperature was 37 degrees. 

Monaco was charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Police say another couple was arrested in Patchogue after they allegedly left their three young children in a running, unlocked car for 20 minutes while they went shopping.

Witnesses said the three children -- a 6-month-old baby, a 5-year-old and an 8-year-old -- were left in the car for about an hour.

Donald Hayes and Sarah Hayes were arrested and charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

It wasn't immediately clear whether any of the parents had attorneys.

A mother has been accused of hindering an investigation after police say she tried to keep detectives from finding the person who sexually assaulted her 11-year-old daughter.

The mother, formerly of Massapequa but now living in Covington, Ga., is accused of refusing to cooperate with Nassau County Special Victims Unit investigators looking into claims that her daughter was sexually assaulted.

Police began their investigation after learning about the alleged assault from a state agency in 2013. While investigating, police say that the mother refused to give detectives information needed to find out who was responsible.

The mother also refused to bring the daughter to police so they could get a DNA sample; when she did go to police, investigators say she brought a different child for testing. Afterward, police say the mother went to Georgia and continued to duck police inquiries.

Police say they eventually connected the woman's husband at the time to the alleged assault. Police say she refused to tell investigators where the 30-year-old was while continuing to allow him to have access to the girl.

Authorities tracked down the 30-year-old in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he was arrested by U.S. Marshals. He was arrested and brought to Nassau County, where he faces predatory sexual assault of a child and first-degree rape charges.

The mother was arrested at her home in Covington and will be arraigned Monday in Mineola for hindering a prosecution.

The daughter has been placed in the care of relatives out of state.

Dallas police say a 9-year-old girl is in critical condition after a shooting on Saturday morning. The girl was taken to Children's Medical Center Dallas.

Officers took her 20-year-old neighbor into custody because he was target practicing in the yard next door. One bullet shattered a kitchen window at a home in the 400 block of West Yarmouth Street and struck the girl.

Dallas Police arrested Cristian Manzano. He is charged with a second degree felony: injury to a child-serious bodily injury. He is also charged with a misdemeanor: discharging in municipality greater than 100,000 residents.

On Saturday night, he remained booked at the Lew Sterrett Jail in Dallas.

Police are searching for the driver of a tractor-trailer that damaged utility poles in Bloomfield on Sunday evening.

Police believe the driver lost control of the truck Blue Hills Avenue in a crash around 6 p.m., hit a pole, kept driving and hit several others.

No serious injuries are reported, but this led to another crash that brought wires down on a car.

A spokesman from Connecticut Light and Power said six to seven poles were damaged and power was out for around 134 homes and businesses were affected.

Occupants in one of the vehicles that struck the pole in the roadway complained of non-life threatening head injuries, police said.

Power has since been restored.

Due to the utility pole damage, Blue Hills Ave between Old Windsor Road and West Dudley Town Road was shut down, but has reopened.

Police are asking for the public's help to identifying the evading driver.

The truck has a  white cab and white tractor trailer.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Bloomfield Police Department at 860-242-5501.

Firefighters are battling a fire at a more than 100-year-old home in Winsted.

The fire broke out just before 3:30 a.m. at 115 Prospect Street and the road is closed.

Police believe all the occupants got out OK.

Several fire department are providing mutual aid.

The six-bedroom home was built in 1900, according to assessing records.
 

Police are closing Coe Avenue at Bradley Avenue in Meriden after a head-on crash this morning.

Police could not say how many people were injured, but said the injuries are not life-threatening.

An NBC Connecticut crew is on the way to the scene.

More information will be posted once it is available.

The demand for 860 phone numbers is so high that they are expected to run out by the end of the year.

Later this year, the 959 area code will be available for your dialing needs, according to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

It will be available in the region that now uses 860.

If you already have an 860 number, you will not need to change it because existing numbers will not change.

The new area code goes into effect on August 30. After that date, customers asking for new service or an additional line will get a 959 number.

You will still have to dial the area code, then the telephone number for local calls and 1, followed by the area code and telephone number for long distance calls.

Local calling areas will remain the same and prices for calls and coverage areas will not change because of the so-called overlay number.

This will not affect three-digit service numbers, including 911, 211, 411 and 811.

If you have questions about the area code addition, call your carrier or check PURA's website for updates.

According to the North American Numbering Plan Administration, the 959 area code was reserved for Connecticut in 1999 but wasn't needed until now.

Ever wanted to have dinner with an Olympian? Tonight restaurant-goers at Pepe's Pizzeria had that chance as bronze medal snowboarder Alex Deibold made his way to New Haven.

Why Pepe's? Deibold is the nephew of Tony Rosselli, Frank Pepe's oldest grandson, and said his uncle would be "extremely disappointed" in the pizza in Sochi.

Deibold, originally of Branford, carved out some time Monday to stop by the New Haven establishment at 157 Wooster Street.

Excited to finally get some @pepespizzeria I'll be there from 5-7 tonight. Come by for high fives and the best pizza ever.

— Alex Deibold (@adeibold) March 3, 2014

"The support I've received from people who I haven't seen in years has been incredible," Deibold said of his welcome home. "I don't know if they really understand how much it means to me when people from high school ... reach out and say they've been watching and they've been cheering for me."

Deibold won the bronze in the men's snowboard cross last month. 

He'll drop the puck at the Bruins game in Boston tomorrow.

Milford police have charged a Bridgeport woman accused of leaving her handgun in the bathroom of a Red Robin on Saturday evening.

Police said Linda Hawkins, 56, left her handgun in the bathroom at the Red Robin in Westfield Connecticut Post Mall just after 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
 
An employee had found it inside a restroom and immediately reported it, police said.

Police took the firearm and later contacted Hawkins, the registered owner.

She was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, released on a promise to appear and is due in court on March 25.
 

A 22-year-old Ledyard man is facing DUI charges after crashing his car into a utility pole and fleeing the scene early this morning, according to police.

Police said Eric Grubbs was driving through Gales Ferry when he struck a pole on Washington Drive near Long Cove Road around 4:30 a.m. Monday.

Officers arrived on scene to find that Grubbs had gotten out and fled on foot. A state police K-9 unit brought in to track him found Grubbs lying in the woods, police said.

He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, evading responsibility, failure to drive right and driving without a license.

The Gales Ferry Fire Department and Connecticut Light & Power also responded to the scene.

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A 62-year-old woman is charged with trespassing after entering a Southington farm without permission and taking five goats she believed were rightfully hers, according to police.

Police said Sandra Brunoli began boarding two adult goats at the farm in August.

The goats had three kids while they were there, and Brunoli entered the property without permission last month to take them all back, authorities said.

According to police, Brunoli believed the arrangement was temporary, but the farm owner said Brunoli had given him the goats and that the five were now his.

Police said the goats are currently in Brunoli’s possession and will remain there.

Brunoli was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree criminal trespass. She was released after posting $500 bond and is due in court March 10.

Authorities are investigating after two mobile homes went up in flames in Naugatuck this evening.

Fire officials said a fire broke out in the bathroom of a mobile home at 139 Lewis Street in Naugatuck and spread to a neighboring home. It happened around 5 p.m. Monday.

The Naugatuck fire chief was in the area and arrived on scene to see heavy smoke and flames. Officials said the first arriving fire crew drove into overhead wires while entering the complex, pulling a wire down and onto the truck. No one was injured and the crew made it out safely.

All residents were evacuated and have found places to stay tonight, firefighters said. The mobile homes were old and burned quickly. Both suffered extensive roof damage and are unlivable.

Fire officials are investigating to determine the cause of the fire. 

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Five Vietnam veterans, including one from Connecticut, and three veterans’ organizations filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit today against the secretaries of the Navy, Army and Air Force for failing to amend the discharge status of tens of thousands of veterans suffering from PTSD before its diagnosis in 1980.

Conley Monk, 65, a New Haven resident and former Marine, says he still has nightmares about what he saw in Vietnam.

“We [were] getting shot at every day. I used to bring in the supplies, I used to bring in the troops and every time I came back, my truck would be full of holes,” said Monk.

When he came home in 1970, PTSD wasn't known to be a disorder associated with war. Monk was therefore given an other-than-honorable discharge, which meant he wasn't entitled to disability compensation or other benefits.

“We have people now that are working on alleviating the problems that the Vietnam veterans are having,” he said.

The lawsuit asks for the discharges to be reviewed and upgraded for those suffering from PTSD.

“The Secretary of Defense literally, today, could grant what this lawsuit seeks on his own authority, correct this injustice, give these Vietnam-era veterans what they deserve by granting reviews that recognizes Post-traumatic stress as a wound-of-war that they suffered before PTS was recognized,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, at a news conference in New Haven.

The Department of Defense said it would not comment on pending litigation.

School districts across the state are scrambling to get ready for new standardized tests and in just a couple weeks, students will use computers instead of pencil and paper.

“We hope they’re ready but we know there’s a lot of work to do,” said Anne Marie Cullinan, the Chief Administrative Officer of Waterbury Public Schools. “Still a lot of the technology is coming in and testing is starting so there’s a little bit of crunch time for us.”

Schools now have to follow a new higher educational standard in the Common Core curriculum, and districts are making major upgrades to follow the guidelines. They’ve brought in new computers and software so students can take the tests.

“There are a lot of concerns about technology skills and obviously the content knowledge to be successful,” Cullinan said.

Waterbury alone spent $2,500,000 in state grants on upgrades. This year is a pilot program for the tests; it’s optional for the districts and the scores won’t count. Next year, they will, and all schools will have to participate.

“We've provided $8,300,000 more in the state budget just for the Common Core just to help districts get there,” explained Education Commissioner Stephan Pryor.

Pryor said most districts are prepared and there is no reason for parents to worry.

“There are districts that are coming from behind, starting slowly,” Pryor said. “That's why we're being flexible.”

Back in Waterbury, school leaders said that, although the changes are a huge undertaking, students will benefit in the long run.

“We're getting them ready for careers and college and obviously this is a skill they'll need for our future,” Cullinan explained.

Testing will begin March 18.

A Meriden man has been arrested, accused of giving alcohol to a 15-year-old girl at Southington High School on Halloween.

Police said Steven F. Bucchieri, 26, of Meriden, gave the student alcohol on Oct. 31, when he was assigned as an intern at the high school.

The teen brought that alcohol to a party later that night, according to police.

Bucchieri was charged with sale or delivery of alcohol to a minor.

Police arrested Bucchieri at 2:25 p.m. on February 28.
Police said there was no physical relationship reported between the student and Bucchieri.

Bucchieri was placed on leave and is no longer an intern at the high school. Police said he was an intern from the University of Bridgeport.

Southington Police started investigation after the student spoke with a school administrator about the incident. The administrator then notified police.

Bucchieri posted a $10,000 court-set cash bond. 

He is scheduled to appear in Bristol Court on March 10.
 

As cold weather lingers into March, Gov. Dannel Malloy has reactivated the state's Severe Cold Weather Protocol.

Temperatures are expected to dip into the teens and single digits over the next few nights, and the protocol is effective through Wednesday morning.

While the protocol is in place, the state Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will use an emergency Internet system to share information about shelter capacity and conditions around the state.

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Anyone in need of shelter is urged to call 211.

Malloy also encouraged communities to open warming centers.

The following warming centers will be open in Bloomfield through Wednesday:

• Alvin & Beatrice Wood Human Resources Center at 330 Park Avenue, 860-769-3566
• Prosser Library at 1 Tunxis Avenue, 860-243-9721
• McMahon Wintonbury Library at 1015 Blue Hills Avenue, 860-242-0041

Send your winter weather photos to shareit@nbcconnecticut.com.