As violence continues to grip Chicago, area teens are presenting their ideas on how to curb the seemingly endless violence to city leaders Saturday.

• What some teens are saying about violence

Manchester Police are looking for a woman who is believed to have used a stolen credit card to buy thousands of dollars worth of gift cards.

Police said the suspect stole a customer's wallet from inside her purse at a Panera Bread restaurant on Deming Street and then used the victim's credit card to buy $16, 000 worth of gift cards at a Target Store in South Windsor.

If you have any information regarding the identity of this woman, police urge you to contact the Manchester Police Department at 860-645-5531 or Officer Decker at 860-645-5599 ext. 15172.
 

A police standoff that had one Fairfield neighborhood on high alert came to end after the suspect took his own life, according to Fairfield Police Chief Gary MacNamara.

A SWAT unit and police surrounded a home on Sunnyridge Ave just after 8:00 p.m., when a man barricaded himself inside after a domestic dispute with his girlfriend.

Police said the suspect hit his girlfriend over the head with a gun and threatened to kill her. She managed to escape a short time later and contact police.

According to police, the man had a significant amount of fire power, including 2 or 3 assault rifles, said Chief MacNamara.

Authorities evacuated more than 20 units at Colonial Garden Apartment Complex during the armed standoff.

Police said the barricaded man had been calling friends for help and officials were unable to make contact with the suspect.

"We never made contact with individual and he chose to take his own life," said Chief MacNamara.

Police are investigating. 

Shooting hoops is no problem for one otter at the Oregon Zoo.

Eddie the otter was trained by zoo staff to dunk a basketball in a small plastic hoop. However the exercise isn't simply for some playtime.

He is currently 15 which is pretty old for an otter, and with age comes ailments as with all creatures. His fur was once a rich brown color but now his coat is creamy white around his face and neck. He also has developed arthritis in his elbows. Dunking the basketball helps the balling animal's arthritic joints.

He usually sinks the ball with ease. But when he does miss, he hits the boards, grabs the rebound and goes up again until he scores.

Eddie makes most of his shots. But when he misses, he hits the boards, grabs the rebound and goes up again until he scores.

Sea otters have incredible dexterity which explains Eddie's talent, according to keeper Jenny DeGroot.

Driving around Connecticut might get more expensive as lawmakers consider bringing toll booths back to the state and that idea is not sitting well with many residents in Colchester.

“How much can the people pay?” Thomas Dombroski asked.

Colchester residents are paying particular attention to the issue because one proposal lawmakers are considering would put a toll booth on Route 11, which runs through there.

“No tolls — plain and simple,” Dennis Tozier said.

Other proposals would place tolls along the border and throughout the state.

Proponents argue that the tolls would bring money in to the state’s cash-strapped budget and reduce the gas tax.

Opponents aren’t so sure.

“I’ve never seen a tax go down, and I really don’t believe the gas tax would ever go down,” Tozier said.

He is also concerned that more toll booths would hurt working people.

“I work all over the state, and it would just be an added burden to myself and a lot of these companies that pay tolls for their employees," he said.

Others are concerned about the affect toll booths would have on traffic.

“It’s a waste of money. It’s a waste of gas … slows traffic. It’s not a good idea,” said Mike Sylvester.

However, many state lawmakers believe tolls are the best way to raise money for the state, and the transportation committee is holding a public meeting on Monday to hear different proposals on how to re-establish them.

The hearing will be held at 10:30 a.m. in Room 1E of the Legislative Office Building.

Toll booths were phased out of Connecticut in the 1980s after a tragic crash killed seven people near a toll barrier in Stratford.

The Town of Newtown will hold a community giveaway today for give Sandy Hook Elementary School families and Newtown residents a chance to look through boxes of donated items.

The goal is to distribute thousands of toys, stuffed animals, school supplies and more that were donated from around the world following the Dec. 14 shooting.

The event is open to Sandy Hook Elementary School from 12:00 p.m. to 3 p.m., and for all other Newtown families from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Reed Intermediate School cafeteria.

A 76-year-old Voluntown woman was killed in a crash in Griswold early Sunday morning.

Police said Gloria Barrie, 76, of Shetucket Turnpike in Voluntown, was traveling eastbound on Route 138 when she tried to pass a car turning left onto Bitgood Road just before 11:30 p.m.

Barrie hit the guardrail, then hit a utility pole and suffered fatal injuries, according to state police.

The other driver was unharmed.

The crash forced police to shut down the road for a while. The road has since been reopened.

Police in Stratford are investigating a stabbing that sent one man to the hospital Sunday morning.

Police say they received a call about an assault around 9:30 in an apartment complex at 41 Caanan Court in the parking lot.  When crews arrived, they found an 18-year-old male with multiple stab wounds.

The victim was taken to Bridgeport hospital where he is listed in stable condition.

Police said they received information that the suspect fled the scene on foot.

The suspect is described as a white male in his mid 20’s wearing a white t-shirt and possibly blue jeans. He has short black hair and it appears he has not shaved in a couple of days.

Detectives believe they have a possible suspect and are following up on leads.
 

On a Sunday, a day of worship, Bishop Ivory Wilson sees a shattered window of a building that serves as a church on the weekend and as a day care during the week.

There is the charred cafeteria where children would eat their snacks. A roof is now blackened with soot. It's just feet away from where students learn and play at the day care center.

"We worked hard to make this,” Wilson said. “The kids love us, the parents love us and we love them.”

Director Sandra Wilson said: “This just broke my heart, I couldn't stop crying.” 

They say they believe the fire was deliberately set, given the vandalism spray-painted on the walls: three large red swastikas. 

The owners of Little Leapers Childcare center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., say it’s a hate crime. In the last few weeks, employees say they also have been on the receiving end of a verbal threat. 

Three weeks before the fire, an anonymous someone phoned “and threatened us,” said Joyce Bryant, lead schoolteacher. The caller told staff to pack their bags and get out, Bryant said.

When that call came in, the bishop and his wife contacted police. Sunday, instead of singing and praising in the auditorium, they're tallying up items that were stolen: Cameras, music equipment and flatscreen TVs used to live-stream sermons.

"Here we've got parents that won't know where to take their kids tomorrow morning," Wilson said.

They've been present in the community now for more than four years. They can’t understand why they’ve been attacked.

"We think everyone should be able to run their own business without anyone trying to run them out," Bryant said.

The bishop said vacating the building is the last thing they'll do, unwilling to let hatred win.

"We're not going to run,” he said. “Whatever game they're playing doesn't frighten me.”

Use caution while driving on untreated roads on Monday morning.

Roads are wet from the snow showers last night and temperatures have fallen to just below freezing across most of the state this morning.

This is causing slippery conditions.

Crashes are reported on Interstate 84 in Plainville and Interstate 384 in Manchester.

Allow extra time for the morning rush hour.

A Hartford public school bus sustained some minor damage after a car struck the bus while it was stopped on Monday morning.

Eleven children heading to Grace Academy, a private school in Hartford, were on board when the crash happened. No injuries are reported. 

No additional information is available.


 

Interstate 384 West has reopened after being closed between exits 5 and 4 in Bolton because of icy road conditions in the area of Bolton Notch.

Several spin-outs and crashes were reported earlier.

The state Department of Transportation responded to sand the roads.

This is one of several incidents on the roads, and a special weather statement was issued because of icing on roads.

Emergency crews responded to a crash involving a school bus and a car in the area of 642 Broadview Terrace, Hartford. No injuries are reported,

Police are looking for a 16-year-old Woodstock boy who is considered an endangered runaway.

Cody Lamprey has been missing since around 6 p.m. on Sunday, when he walked away from his residence, according to a Silver Alert issued on Sunday night.

He was wearing a white long-sleeve T-shirt with a face and the letters RVCA on the front and tan denim pants.

Lamprey is 5-feet-9, weighs 150 pounds, has brown eyes and short brown hair.

He wears silver braces, according to the silver alert issued on Sunday night.

If you know where Cody is, call Connecticut State Police, Troop D in Danielson at (860) 779-4900.
 

Police are looking for a 23-year-old man who is believed to have stolen credit cards from a residential apartment at the University of Connecticut in Storrs Saturday night.

The suspect, Michael Moses Tarpeh, is a wanted fugitive in West Virginia and Massachusetts.

Tarpeh, a guest at an on-campus apartment, allegedly stole residents’ credit cards while they were asleep. The suspect and residents did not know each other.

Police describe the suspect as a heavyset black male who refers to himself as “Bigggggg Mike.” The suspect, whose last known address is in Virginia, is wanted in Morgantown, West Virginia for aggravated assault and attempted sexual assault. He is also wanted by Massachusetts State Police for armed carjacking, robbery and assault and battery of a motorist.

Tarpeh was indicted by the Stafford County grand jury in Virgina in January 2012 for a written threat to kill. He was also arrested in Harrisonburg, Virginia in March 2010 for several counts of burglary, home invasion and receiving stolen property.

Police believe the suspect is no longer on campus. His last known location was in Waterbury.

Anyone with information about the suspect is advised to call UConn Police at 860-486-4800 or email CrimeAlerts@uconn.edu.
 

The State Police Major Crime squad is investigating a police-involved shooting in Norwich on Sunday evening that left one man dead.

Police said they received a call about a man with a gun in a park at Lauren Hill Avenue and Center Street just after 7 p.m. on Sunday. When officers asked for more information, the caller hung up, according to a news release from police.

Police said the man was despondent. When officers tried to get the man to cooperate with them, he refused, said he had a gun and pointed it at officers, police said.

Officers opened fire in self-defense, according to investigators.

The man was shot several times and taken to W. Backus Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name has not yet been released.

The New London County State's Attorney's Office is also investigating.

Three people are dead after a car hit a tree on Route 2 in Norwich just before 8:30 a.m.

Five people were in the car when it crashed in the area of 102 Stonington Road, according to police.

One person was pronounced dead at the scene and two people died at Backus Hospital from injuries sustained in the crash, according to police.

The two survivors are suffering from serious injuries. No names have been released because officials have been reaching out to family members.

The road was closed for around four hours on Wednesday morning between Palmer Street & Route 2A after a car slammed into a tree, killing at least one person.

Police did not release the identity of those involved.  They continue to investigate the accident.
 

The Darrelle Revis saga plays on this week with the Daily News reporting that the Jets were "actively shopping" the cornerback during the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. 

That comes on the heels of another report that no one from the team met with Revis' representatives during the meat market, which is odd since every team seems to meet with every agent at a pre-free agency tampering convention disguised as a chance for scouts to watch players that they've been scouting for months or years run in a straight line. What's more, Rex Ryan has reportedly been left out of the process, leaving new G.M. John Idzik and owner Woody Johnson running the show. 

Naturally, this has been taken to mean that the Jets are hellbent on trading Revis. Ryan's the only one willing to go on the record and say he wants Revis on the team, but the narrative is that the others are doing an end run to ditch Revis as soon as possible. 

Maybe so, but these things can take a lot of twists and turns before reaching their final conclusion. That's especially true in cases like this one, where there are five distinct options for how things could wind up for the Jets and Revis.

Option 1 - Trade Revis before the draft: In a perfect world, this is the option that works best for the Jets since they would be able to get new faces in April that would help turn the page on the Revis era immediately. This isn't a perfect world, though. 

Revis hasn't been on a field since tearing his ACL, leaving teams to guess about his health and leaving the Jets to have to consider taking 75 cents on the dollar in a deal because they can't sell Revis' future by solely focusing on the past. Beyond that, this is a draft that's shaping up to be a fairly underpowered one so adding extra picks wouldn't necessarily do much to kickstart the rebuild in green. 

Option 2 - Trade Revis this summer: This option gives Revis time to get healthy and restore at least some of his trade value, although any return in a deal would not be realized until the 2014 draft. That's not a bad thing if it brings back more value, although it would send an early white flag on the season. 

Option 3 - Trade Revis during the 2013 season: Similar to the second option, although with the increased benefit of time on the field to sell himself to other suitors as well as the possibility that injury/ineffectiveness somewhere else would lead someone to pay even more than the sticker price to grab Revis for their secondary. Going this option runs the risk that Revis is a disgruntled figure on the team as well as the risk of another injury that could destroy any trade value whatsoever.  

Option 4 - Re-sign Revis: The Jets aren't showing much interest in this course of action, which makes sense given his injury and their dismal salary cap outlook. Not even paying lip service to the idea of Revis remaining with the team is a bit strange, and it suggests that we were probably heading for this kind of situation even if Revis hadn't gone down in a heap against Miami.

If Revis is back to being Revis, this is the best option because you don't win in the NFL by showing great players the door. If this is off the table, though, the Jets might as well make the trade whenever they get an offer that is even close because the final option isn't an option at all.  

Option 5 - Let Revis walk as a free agent without any compensation: This might not prove to be an option so much as a last resort, but it's where this will head if the Jets aren't able to pull either of the other triggers available to them. If it gets to this point, they'll deserve every bit of mockery they will surely receive. 

Josh Alper is also a writer for Pro Football Talk. You can follow him on Twitter.

Travelers at Bradley International Airport saw something that you don’t often see when an A380 Emirates flight from Dubai was diverted to the local airport.

The rather large 238-foot long Emirates airplane was heading for JFK, but air traffic to JFK and LaGuardia was grounded because of weather, so the flight was diverted to the local airport.

The plane is not your average aircraft. It is known for luxurious accommodations, including a shower spa, onboard lounges and private suites.

Bridgeport police are looking for the man who brought what appeared to be a hand grenade to the city hall annex, also known as the Margaret Morton Government Center at 999 Broad St., on Tuesday.

Just before 11 a.m., a man gave what appeared to be a disposable coffee cup to a city contractor outside the building and told him that the police internal affairs division was expecting it, according to state police.

The worker obliged and investigators from the office of internal affairs realized that the cup actually held what appeared to be a hand grenade, according to police.

Police evacuated the building for more than two hours.

The bomb squad responded, took the device and determined that it was not active, according to police.

Bridgeport detective have taken over the case.

“We are actively investigating this as a criminal act,” Police Chief Joseph L. Gaudett Jr. said in a statement from police.