A camp that’s been a resource to the disabled community has reopened after being closed last summer. Renovations are also underway.

For months, the doors of Easter Seals Camp Hemlocks at Oak Hill were closed after being open since the 1950’s.

“It ran into great financial trouble I mean that’s really what it came down to so it was really hard to see it close permanently.” Oak Hill CEO, Barry Simon, said state funding for a significant portion of its services were also precarious.

The news was devastating for Diane Hall, who’s been coming to the camp for about 25 years.

“I cried. I absolutely cried,” said Hall, who suffers from MS and has lost her eyesight.

Easter Seals Camp Hemlocks, an Oak Hill Center, reopened Sunday night after Oak Hill took over operations and finished major renovations there.

“This is my home away from home. I’m going to see my family and that’s exactly how it feels here,” Said Hall.

In the last 6 months, Oak Hill has taken on about $3 million in renovation costs: from a new heating, pool and fire system, new carpets and a new kitchen. Simon said Oak Hill will have to think ahead so the facility doesn’t close again.

“We’re going to be doing fundraising that comes back and also we’re trying to partner up with the local communities to see what we can do,” Said Simon.

Simon is hoping for the public’s help. To support the program with donations, contact Ruth Hayes, Chief Development and Communications Officer at 860-769-3834 or email ruth.hayes@oakhillCT.org.

Watertown police are looking for a man who robbed a bank in town Monday afternoon.

A large man demanded money from two Webster Bank tellers at about 2:14 p.m. Monday at 544 Straits Turnpike in Pioneer Plaza. He didn't display a gun, but he pulled a brown paper bag out of his waistband, police said.

He left the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash and it's likely the red dye pack exploded when he exited the bank, police said. He had the money hidden under his sweatshirt, so police said he may have been burned in his abdomen as a result.

The man was wearing a grey Nike hooded sweatshirt with Nike and the swoosh on the chest in neon green letters, a blue T-shirt, nylon wind pants, white sneakers, a black mask , a gold watch on his left wrist and tan work gloves with a blue palm, police said.

It's unknown what direction he headed in and whether he left in a vehicle.

Police ask anyone with information to contact the Watertown department at 860-945-5200 or CrimeStoppers at 860-945-9940. The public can report tips anonymously.

The robbery remains under investigation.

An elderly woman died after crashing her car into her garage in Glastonbury on Saturday afternoon.

She was pronounced dead at the scene after ramming her vehicle into the garage at her own home in the area of Marilyn Drive around 3:57 p.m., police said.

She was the only person in the car at the time.

Police ask anyone with information to call Officer Race at the Glastonbury Police Department at 860-633-8301.

The crash remains under investigation.

A South Florida woman who jumped off a bridge after taking flakka is sharing her story in hopes of warning others about the dangers of the new synthetic drug. 

"I had paranoia, I was scared, I was seeing things and hearing things," said Stephanie. The Broward Sheriff's Office is sharing her story in an effort to educate others about the designer drug, which has been blamed for at least 18 deaths in Broward County since September, according to the medical examiner. 

Stephanie said she’s been an alcoholic and a drug addict since age 13. After a recent relapse on flakka, she ended up at the the Broward Sheriff’s Office Equine Therapy Program. In the video she shares her story while standing next to a horse and Don Meanis, the director of the program. 

“It was the worst, scariest feeling I’ve ever had and I’ve done a lot of drugs in my life,” Stephanie said.

Like so many flakka users, Stephanie said didn’t even know she was smoking the drug. “I was given a marijuana joint and after smoking it I was told I smoked flakka,” she said.

While high on the drug she wound up at an abandoned house used for prostitution in Pompano Beach. 

"They were all hooked on the drug,” she said.

Flakka was used to keep the woman high and in a routine each night, she explained.

“They would give them some flakka and they would go out to the truck stop and prostitute and come back with money for more flakka,” Stephanie said.

If Stephanie and the other women didn’t return with the money, she said there were threats of bodily injury. 

Stephanie’s paranoia eventually caused her to run away and jump off a bridge.

“I wound up jumping off a bridge in Fort Lauderdale and once I hit the water I felt like I could breathe under water,” she said.

Somehow she was pulled out and woke up in the hospital. But her battle with the drug continues. 

“Since then I’ve had seizures while in the hospital and I have to take medication now to prevent them," she said. "And this has been 60 days since I used the drug flakka.”

Police hope people who hear Stephanie's story will be discouraged from taking the drug. 

Officials say the number of flakka cases continue to rise in South Florida. For frequently asked questions about flakka from Broward County, click here.

West Hartford police dog Jett and his K-9 handler Officer Tom Lazure have won the 2014 Daniel Wasson Memorial Canine Award for the second time and will be honored before a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway in Boston.

The award from the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association was presented to them Monday at the annual Connecticut Chiefs of Police Association meeting.

"We could not be more pleased with their efforts and hard work," West Hartford Police Lt. Ted J. Stoneburner said.

The Boston Red Sox will recognize Jett at a pre-game ceremony at Fenway, police said.

The K-9 unit took on many cases in 2014, helping to apprehend suspects and investigate narcotics activity, police said. They helped Hartford police find and apprehend a "dangerous armed felon" who was armed with a loaded 9-millimeter gun and ensure no officer was injured, police said.

This marks the fourth time a West Hartford Police Department K-9 unit won the award.

The Jack Evans Dallas Police Headquarters building reopened to the public Monday morning for the first time since Saturday morning's attack.

James Boulware, 35, was fatally shot by police after firing the shots, leading police on a chase and barricading himself inside an armored van for hours. Authorities and family members said Boulware showed signs of violence and mental instability for years before the attack. 

While police would not comment on any changes to security, a metal detector and extra officers greeted everyone who entered the lobby on Monday, which is a noticeable change from operations in the past.

Police allowed cameras inside the building for the first time to capture images of the damage. Numerous bullet holes pierced the area around the information desk, and paper covered two records department service windows.

The attack on headquarters led to renewed calls for more security at the facility as well as other police substations around the city.

The Dallas Fraternal Order of Police said it raised the issue back in 2013 when then-President Michael Walton drafted a letter entitled, "Have you ever wondered how much your safety was worth?"

In it, Walton makes the case for placing police behind bullet proof glass at headquarters and securing substation parking lots, which are currently open. And, in a January 2014 letter current Dallas Fraternal Order of Police President Richard Todd mentioned security concerns.

"The reality is we have known for some time our police facilities were lacking in security features," Todd said.

Todd said he's not surprised police screened people entering the lobby Monday.

"Doesn't surprise me one bit, because the city of Dallas is reactive," Todd said. "They don't go out and try to fix things when they see a problem. Things like this have to happen before they take it seriously, but that's sad because you have experts in your city as employees that told you years ago this needed to be done, this needed to be addressed, and they didn't do it."

Mayor Mike Rawlings said Monday in a tweet, "Our @DallasDP officers showed great courage on Saturday. We'll be taking a look at security upgrades in the weeks ahead."

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials responded to an Eversource substation in New London Monday afternoon after 500 gallons of mineral oil leaked from a mobile transformer, according to DEEP.

The mineral oil escaped from a leak in a hose from he transformer, which held 3,250 gallons total, according to Dennis Schain of DEEP.

An environmental contractor responded to clean up the mineral oil leak and remove "an impacted trap rock and soil" under DEEP's supervision, Schain said.

A federal judge in Chicago granted a request by prosecutors to keep secret some of the evidence in the case against former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, NBC News reported.

Federal prosecutors filed a motion Friday asking U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Durkin to bar Hastert's lawyers from disclosing any discovery the U.S. Attorney's Office provides them to anyone not involved in the case. 

Durkin — who is staying on the case even though he once donated money to Hastert's campaign fund — agreed Monday to seal some of the evidence in Hastert’s alleged hush-money case, which could include the identity of Hastert's alleged victim.

Hastert is accused of agreeing to pay $3.5 million to someone described in an indictment as "Individual A" to keep past misconduct secret. The 73-year-old former teacher and coach pleaded not guilty to charges of violating banking laws and lying to the FBI.

An NBC News source said the payments were intended to conceal claims of sexual misconduct from decades ago. 

Durkin scheduled a hearing for Thursday morning. Hastert, who is free on a $4,500 unsecured bond, is not required to attend.

There are now two complaints against two West Hartford middle schools saying students were sexually assaulted less than a year apart due to the failing of the schools.

A lawsuit filed Monday alleges a 13-year-old autistic student of King Philip Middle School in West Hartford was bullied, sexually assaulted, and harassed by a fellow student. It claims the district "allowed and/or permitted the actions and incidents described ... to occur on its grounds."

The lawsuit is filed against the West Hartford Board of Education, and the plaintiff is referred to as "Child Doe" and his family, while the classmate and accused is given the alias "John Smith."

After an incident in October of 2013 between the two, the suit says administration promised to separate them but that they were still allowed in the boys locker room unsupervised.

For weeks the lawsuit claims "John Smith" tried to sexually assault "Child Doe" in that locker room and finally did so in November.

The lawsuit says the school reacted to it by "covering up the negligence, failing to provide any explanation or information regarding the rape, and denying any responsibility."

It also mentions a separate lawsuit regarding Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford to claim a pattern of negligence within the district.

That lawsuit claims in April 2013, in an unsupervised boys locker room, three students allegedly yelled out "Let's rape [the student]" and they dragged the 8th grader "while he was kicking and screaming, into the unlocked closet" where he was sexually assaulted.

Included in the lawsuit's demands is for all West Hartford schools to have adult supervision in locker rooms and to fire anyone responsible for "Child Doe's" sexual assault.

We reached out to West Hartford's Board of Education and superintendent for comment but did not hear back by news time.

West Hartford police were unable to verify the accusations in the lawsuit regarding "Child Doe" Monday night.

Congestion is beginning to ease on Interstate 91 North in Wallingford after a truck fire early Tuesday morning.

The highway was closed between exits 14 and 15 just after 12:30 a.m. because of a tractor-trailer fire, according to an alert from the state Department of Transportation, and drivers caught in the traffic early this morning started turning off their engines to conserve gasoline.

One driver who attempted to avoid the backup by crossing the median ended up stuck in a ditch.

No injuries are reported in the fire and no fuel spilled, but crews from the state Department of Emergency and Environmental Protection responded.

As of 7 a.m., three lanes were moving by the charred truck and delays were easing.
 

The traffic lights are out on Route 1 from the center of Westport to the Norwalk after a tree came down and took out a power line and transformer, according to police.

The power went out around midnight and crews from Eversource said the tree came down in a location that is difficult to get to.

Police are directing traffic and power is out for more than 300 customers.

A crash temporarily closed West Street, between Spring and Curtiss streets in Southington.

The crash happened in the area of West Street, or Route 229, and Spring Street, according to police.

Traffic is now getting by.
 

Members of the Coast Guard helped rescue a large turtle stuck in a line off the coast of Long Island on Monday.

At 1:30 p.m., the Coast Guard's Long Island Sound command center received a report of an entangled leatherback sea turtle in Fort Pond Bay.

A boat crew from the Coast Guard's Montauk station arrived at the scene and found the turtle caught in a lobster pod line. They managed to cut the line and free the turtle.

"The turtle would have most likely died if the crew did not respond to assist," Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew Foster. "The line was around the turtle's neck and fin and was getting tighter."

The turtle showed no signs of injury and swam away.

Leatherback turtles are the world's largest turtle, and one of the largest living reptiles, according to the NOAA. An adult can weigh up to 2,000 pounds.

A fourth-floor apartment building balcony collapsed onto the sidewalk just blocks from the University of California, Berkeley campus early Tuesday, killing six young people celebrating a 21st birthday and leaving seven other people injured, police said.

Five of the victims were all 21-year-olds from Ireland. The final woman was identified by the Alameda County Coroner Sgt. JD Nelson as Ashley Donohoe, 22, of Rohnert Park.

The other five were identified as: Olivia Burke,  Eoghan Culligan,  Niccolai Schuster,
Lorcan Miller and  Eimear Walsh. Most were from Dublin.

A memorial of menthol Parliament cigarettes, flowers, lollipops and cards marked the fatal scene.

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"I was absolutely devastated to hear the news, particularly when one thinks of young lives that are the edge of so much and looking forward to futures that were very bright," Ireland's president, Michael Higgins told NBC News from a conference he was attending in Italy.

And in the United States, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Berkeley) tweeted she was "shocked" and "heartbroken."

At an afternoon news conference, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said he was "awestruck by this incredible tragedy. It's really a shocking set of events." He added that the city will inspect what happened and "get to the bottom of it."

Many of the injured were taken to at least four hospitals in critical condition with life-threatening wounds, police spokeswoman Jennifer Coats said. Witnesses at the scene said many of the young people, mostly in their 20s, were in California to work and study for the summer. Two young women said the gathering was for a female friend's birthday, who had just turned 21 and was working at a San Francisco restaurant. They were part of a Dublin-based group called USIT Ireland, which expressed on its website its "deepest sympathy and support" to the families involved in this "truly tragic situation."

Police officer Byron White said they received a noise complaint about a loud party about an hour before the 12:41 a.m. collapse, but they did not respond. Later, Police Chief Mike Meehan said that officers were busy dealing with shots fired in the southern part of the city. When officers arrived they found that the balcony on the fourth floor of the building, completed in 2006, had disintegrated. Meehan said at this point, Berkeley police are not conducting a criminal probe into the deaths.

NBC Bay Area's chopper flew overhead at 2020 Kittredge Street, showing a small balcony that had ripped off a pale yellow building and debris scattered in the street. As many as 13 or 14 people had been on the balcony, police and witnesses said. Police say all the other balconies in the complex were red-tagged Tuesday morning, too, as a precaution. A property restoration company arrived before 11 a.m. to take down the balcony altogether.

Mark Neville lives on the ground floor of the building and is also is Berkeley on a J-1 visa from his hometown in Longford County, Ireland.

"Everyone back home is in shock," he said. "My parents are personally in state of panic. My dad said it was worst hour and half of his life just waiting for the call back saying I'm safe."

Alfredo Durán, who does maintenance in the building and lives there, said that he heard a party, "a lot of music and noise," before the balcony collapsed. Though he did not go outside, he speculated that the party goers might have been jumping on the balcony.

“I’m scared and concerned for the building," he said. "I live here. Anything can happen."

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Early in the morning, before the victims were identified, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan asked anyone with such a visa call their parents at home to let them know if they were OK. These visas allow people to teach, study, research and be trained in the United States.

“My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the deceased and those who have been injured in this appalling accident,” Flanagan said in a statement. “My department in Dublin stands ready to provide all possible consular assistance to Irish citizens affected by this tragedy.”

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According to the Irish Times, more than 8,000 Irish students go to the United States on these visas, and 35 percent, or 2,800, travel to California, with the San Francisco Bay Area as their top spot.

Speaking at the afternoon news conference at Berkeley City Hall, Consul General of Ireland to the Western United States Philip Grant noted that this is normally a "formative" time for the "thousands" who come for the overseas exchange program. He said the deaths have left his "countrymen frozen in disbelief. We're a close tight-knit group. Very few of us have been left untouched."

The building is just two blocks from the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, which offers visiting students accommodation through a subletting service, the Times reported.

The building in question, Library Gardens Apartments, is owned by Blackrock Financial in New York and managed by the Houston-based Greystar. 

The company manages more than 400,000 apartments around the country, including five in Berkeley. On its website, the apartments are touted as the "premiere choice for convenient Berkeley" living, near "world class" shopping and restaurants.

No one answered the phone at the apartment complex in Berkeley early Tuesday morning, and no one immediately responded from the corporate office.

Coats said officers are still investigating and she doesn't have any information on how it occurred or what the people were doing on the structure at the time.

"We don't know what happened, " she said. "This was a traumatic scene. Our officers and paramedics responded very quickly. They did what they could to help as many people as they could. It's going to be a very sad day for a lot of these victims' families to get this kind of news."

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The deaths reignited a debate in Berkeley over the density of the city, and how much new housing should be added to the city.

Carrie Olson, who used to serve on the city's Design Review Committee, blamed many people, including the mayor, for allowing so many people to be "stuffed" into a building.

City councilman Jesse Arreguin wrote on Facebook that the property management company "had a history of not properly responding to tenant requests for repairs. This structural collapse makes us wonder if this whole tragedy could have been avoided with proper attention and maintenance."

The surviving victims were taken to these hospitals: John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek had two of the patients, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley had four of the patients, and Highland Hospital and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, both in Oakland, had the remaining patients.

Neighbor Gerald Robinson doesn't know the people who lived there well, but he did say that he knew that many of them were Irish, because of their heavy accents. He ended up taking some people to the hospital after two "desperate students" needed a ride. Robinson said the students he drove didn't know about the deaths at the time.

"The kids there have no idea what's happened," he said.

Later in the morning, the news had spread about the deaths. Dan Sullivan, who also is visiting Berkeley from Ireland, said the whole ordeal is quite shocking. "When you come out to work for the summer in California," he said, "you don’t expect a tragedy like this. It's just horrific."

NBC Bay Area's Allen Wedington, Shawn Murphy, Gonzalo Rojas, Yalda Rafie, Telemundo's Paola Reyes and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

The funeral for two children found dead in their East Haven home last week will be held today.

Police found the bodies of 6-year-old Aleisha and 7-year-old Daaron Moore when they responded to their Strong Street home on June 2.

Their mother, LeRoya Moore, 36, has been charged with their murders and is suspected of poisoning them, according to police.

Services will be held for the children at Varick Memorial AME Zion Church at 246 Dixwell Ave., New Haven on Tuesday. Visitation is from 10 to 11 a.m., followed by a funeral service, according to B.C. Bailey Funeral and Cremation Services.

Autopsies were performed on the children, but the exact cause of death is still pending toxicology results.

However, police found 46 bottles and boxes of medication, some of which were near the children, and believe the chidlren's death was the result of poisoning.

Police charged LeRoya Moore with two counts of murder and three counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree in connection with the deaths of her children.

The Department of Children and Families has investigated her since 1997 and DCF had removed the three oldest of her five children from the home by DCF, according to the arrest warrant.

However, Aleisha and Daaron were left with their mother.

Moore was placed on a $2 million bond and was arraigned on Wednesday afternoon. She has been placed on mental health watch and her next court date is June 23.

More information on the services for Aleisha and Daaron is available on www.bcbailey.com.

An employee at Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks was taken to the hospital after a chemical spill on Tuesday morning.

Crews responded to a hazmat incident at the aerospace company on Schoephoester Road just before 10 a.m.

Less than a gallon of ammonia hydroxide spilled from a container in one of the smaller buildings on the Hamilton Sundstrand campus, according to company spokesperson, Sylvio Albino.

There were only 15 people in the building at the time of the spill and the facilty was evacuated, Albino said.

One employee was taken to the hospital for evaluation, he said.
 

Waterbury Deputy Police Chief Christopher Corbett is being laid to rest on Tuesday morning and hundreds of police officers are paying their final respects.

Corbett, 40, died on Thursday morning and the medical examiner determined his death was a suicide.

The Waterbury native joined the city's department in 1997, serving first as a patrol officer. He them served on the department's accident reconstruction team, according to his obituary. In 2003 he was reassigned to the management team at the department, researching and writing a policy and procedure manual that was 1,000 pages long for the department, his obituary said. He was promoted to sergeant in 2004 and was assigned as the second-in-charge of the criminal investigation bureau and to serve as the department’s public information officer.

He continued to serve in both of those positions when he was promoted to lieutenant in 2006, then to captain in 2010, according to his online biography.  He oversaw the criminal investigation detective bureau, which was his favorite role at the department, according to his obituary. In 2013, he was appointed acting deputy police chief, according to his obituary.

Gov. Dannel Malloy. announced that the Connecticut state flag will fly at half-staff at the state capitol building today in Corbett's memory.

“Deputy Chief Corbett loved serving the department and devoted his career to ensuring the security and safety of the people of Waterbury,” Malloy said in a statement. “I join police officers and residents from throughout the State of Connecticut in mourning his loss. We thank him for his service to his community, and we send our thoughts and prayers to his family, friends, and fellow officers in the Waterbury Police Department.”

The funeral service is taking place at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on the Green in Waterbury, followed by a burial laying him to rest at the Mass at New Calvary Cemetery on East Main Street.

"The Waterbury Police Department has experienced a tremendous loss. We are in shock. The pain and grief that we are experiencing is indescribable. Deputy Chief Chris Corbett was a consummate professional and he will be dearly missed," Chief Vernon L. Riddick, Jr. previously said in a statement.

Corbett leaves behind his parents, Betty and Dave, his wife, Joanne, along with several aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, his obituary states.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to the Corbett family at this incredibly difficult time. Deputy Chief Corbett was committed to his family and to the City of Waterbury, working hard every single day to keep families safe. I am heartbroken by his passing,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy previously said in a statement.

In lieu of flowers, people are asked to make donations in his name either to The Police Activities League of Waterbury at 64 Division Street, Waterbury, CT 06704 or to Holy Land USA Waterbury at P.O. Box 828, Waterbury, CT 06720, according to his obituary.

A 21-year-old woman found at the base of a ledge in North Haven on Saturday afternoon is dead.

The medical examiner is trying to determine how the woman, Bria Gray, 21, died, but police said her injuries are consistent with a fall.

The land on Patten Road was being excavated for development and the owner of the small subdivision was showing a building lot to a perspective buyer when they discovered Gray lying on the ground and not moving, according to police.

North Haven Police and paramedics responded to the 911 call, which came in at 4:10 p.m., and found Gray, a resident of Patten Road, at the base of a rock ledge. Paramedics pronounced her dead at 4:26 p.m.

The Investigative Services Division of the North Haven Police Department and the Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime Squad responded to the scene Saturday afternoon and officials said her injuries are consistent with falling from the ledge.

The office of the chief medical examiner is in the process of determining the cause of Gray’s death.
 

A 25-year-old Norwich woman is dead and police are calling her death a homicide.

Police responded to an apartment at 16 Spaulding Street on Monday and found Casey Chadwick dead inside her home, police said.

There were obvious signs of trauma, according to police who have not said how Chadwick was was killed.

Neighbors said police responded to the area of Spaulding Street and Freeman Avenue around 2 p.m. on Monday and cordoned off the area.

Detectives believe this is an isolated incident and said they are following several leads.

The Connecticut State Police and the New London County States Attorneys office, are also assisting in the investigation.

Anyone with information about the case should call the Norwich Police Department at (860) 886-5561 or the anonymous tip-line at extension 500.

A 25-year-old man with gunshot wounds was found dead in Hartford early Tuesday morning and police are investigating the city's 13th homicide this year.

Police patrolling the area of Lawrence and Grand streets at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday found the body of a man with gunshot wounds lying partially on the sidewalk and partially in the street, authorities said.

An ambulance was called, but EMTs pronounced the man dead at the scene at 1:43 a.m. The victim's name has not been released, but family members identified him as Angel Feliciano and said he just turned 25.

Police said they did not receive any 911 calls reporting the shooting or the man.Detectives from major crimes are investigating.