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I-95 reopens in Connecticut after gas tanker fire damaged Norwalk overpass – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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I-95 reopens in Connecticut after gas tanker fire damaged Norwalk overpass – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


(CNN) — A busy stretch of Interstate 95 in southwestern Connecticut reopened to traffic this weekend, just a few days after a gasoline tanker fire damaged an overpass and forced the highway to close in both directions.

Traffic was back up running in both directions Monday morning “at full capacity” in Norwalk – some 40 miles northeast of New York City – CNN affiliate News 12 reported.

“It is truly amazing that in less than 80 hours from that fiery crash Thursday that shut down traffic in both directions, the highway again is fully open,” Gov. Ned Lamont – who is expected to hold a news conference Monday morning – said Sunday in a news release, praising state agencies involved in the cleanup, demolition and rebuilding.

“I am impressed by these efforts and thankful for the dedication, skill, and labor of everyone who has been involved,” he said.

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Northbound lanes of I-95 in Norwalk had been expected to reopen by 8 p.m. Saturday, according to Lamont’s office, while the southbound lanes had been anticipated to open by Sunday at 10 a.m.

While the highway has reopened, work continues to replace the Fairfield Avenue Bridge, which was demolished after sustaining “significant damage” in Thursday’s crash, Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said in the news release.

The governor declared a state of emergency in response to the accident, saying Thursday the interstate would be closed “at least through the weekend.” Motorists were encouraged to avoid the area – a tall order, given Norwalk, home to about 90,000 people, is about 30 miles southwest of New Haven, Connecticut, and in the New York metro area.

The bridge was demolished by 12:30 p.m. Saturday, according to a news release that day from the governor’s office. Crews then cleaned up debris and began repairing the highway before reopening northbound lanes.

The southbound lanes remained closed until Sunday because the damage was so severe “that those lanes need to be milled and repaved,” the release said.

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Connecticut

State police investigating suspicious incident in Burlington

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State police investigating suspicious incident in Burlington


BURLINGTON, Conn. (WFSB) – Connecticut State Police are investigating a suspicious incident at a residence on Case Road in Burlington.

Multiple state troopers and police vehicles were seen at the home conducting an investigation. A viewer reported seeing nine police cars and numerous troopers at the scene.

State police said there is no threat to the public at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

No additional details about the nature of the suspicious incident have been released.

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Ecuadorian national with manslaughter conviction sentenced for illegally reentering United States through Connecticut

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Ecuadorian national with manslaughter conviction sentenced for illegally reentering United States through Connecticut


NEW HAVEN, CT. (WFSB) – An Ecuadorian national with a manslaughter conviction was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for illegally reentering the United States through Connecticut after being deported.

40-year-old Darwin Francisco Quituizaca-Duchitanga was sentenced and had used the aliases Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca and Juan Mendez-Gutierrez.

U.S. Border Patrol first encountered Quituizaca in December 2003, when he used the alias Juan Mendez-Gutierrez and claimed to be a Mexican citizen. He was issued a voluntary return to Mexico.

Connecticut State Police arrested him in March 2018 on charges related to a fatal crash on I-91 in North Haven in March 2017. He was using the alias Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca at the time.

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ICE arrested him on an administrative warrant in Meriden in August 2018 while he was awaiting trial in his state case. An immigration judge ordered his removal to Ecuador in September 2018, but he was transferred to state custody to face pending charges.

Quituizaca was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in January 2019 and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

After his release, ICE arrested him again on an administrative warrant in Meriden in August 2023. He was removed to Ecuador the next month.

ICE arrested Quituizaca again on a warrant in Meriden on June 28th, 2025, after he illegally reentered the United States. He pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry on July 30th.

He has been detained since his arrest. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the case.

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The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations.



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Justice Department sues Connecticut and Arizona as part of effort to get voter data from the states

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Justice Department sues Connecticut and Arizona as part of effort to get voter data from the states


HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Officials in Connecticut and Arizona are defending their decision to refuse a request by the U.S. Justice Department for detailed voter information, after their states became the latest to face federal lawsuits over the issue.

“Pound sand,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes posted on X, saying the release of the voter records would violate state and federal law.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced this week it was suing Connecticut and Arizona for failing to comply with its requests, bringing to 23 the number of states the department has sued to obtain the data. It also has filed suit against the District of Columbia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the department will “continue filing lawsuits to protect American elections,” saying accurate voter rolls are the ”foundation of election integrity.”

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Secretaries of state and state attorneys general who have pushed back against the effort say it violates federal privacy law, which protects the sharing of individual data with the government, and would run afoul of their own state laws that restrict what voter information can be released publicly. Some of the data the Justice Department is seeking includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

Other requests included basic questions about the procedures states use to comply with federal voting laws, while some have been more state-specific. They have referenced perceived inconsistencies from a survey from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Most of the lawsuits target states led by Democrats, who have said they have been unable to get a firm answer about why the Justice Department wants the information and how it plans to use it. Last fall, 10 Democratic secretaries of state sent a letter to the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security expressing concern after DHS said it had received voter data and would enter it into a federal program used to verify citizenship status.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, said his state had tried to “work cooperatively” with the Justice Department to understand the basis for its request for voters’ personal information.

“Rather than communicating productively with us, they rushed to sue,” Tong said Tuesday, after the lawsuit was filed.

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Connecticut, he said, “takes its obligations under federal laws very seriously.” He pledged to “vigorously defend the state against this meritless and deeply disappointing lawsuit.”

Two Republican state senators in Connecticut said they welcomed the federal lawsuit. They said a recent absentee ballot scandal in the state’s largest city, Bridgeport, had made the state a “national punchline.”



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