Connecticut
Large bear lumbers into Connecticut bakery, feasts on 60 cupcakes
That’s not bear-y sweet.
Employees of a Connecticut bakery were left shaken after a black bear strolled into the store on Wednesday morning and made off with dozens of cupcakes.
The unexpected encounter at Taste by Spellbound in Avon happened as a worker was loading up the last bit of tasty treats into a van for deliveries when she saw the bear staring right at her, the shop’s owner said in a social media post.
“All of the sudden we hear her screaming bloody murder and then yelling ‘there’s a bear in the garage!’” the store owner said in an Instagram post.
Footage obtained by WTNH shows the bear creeping into the garage after laying low near a dumpster.
Calling the encounter “a little shocking,” worker Maureen Williams told the news station she screamed at the bear, but the animal came back three times before she could close the garage door.
“At that point, I knew I wasn’t going to shut the door. He was too close. So, I backed myself out and ran,” she said.
Video shows the bear at one point carrying out a box of cupcakes and then feasting on about 60 of them just outside the garage.
The bakery finally got the bear to fully retreat in peace when one of the bakers got in their car and drove around back, Williams explained to WTNH.
“And found him sitting there eating all of our stuff,” she said.
“[They] honked on the horn quite a bit to get him to go away, and finally he went away.”
“There have been many instances over the past three years being at this location that we’ve started to go outside and literally have to run back in because there’s a bear in the trash, and we always joked about one coming in,” store owner Miriam Stephens told CT Insider Thursday.
“But that was a joke. Until yesterday…it decided to.”
Matt Dean, of nearby M&R Liquors, told WTNH he found a bear behind the dumpster one day as he was throwing trash out.
“I will think twice any time I put trash out late at night, that is for sure,” he said.
Bear encounters are not uncommon in the area.
Last month, an Avon woman was bitten by a bear while she was walking her dog on a trail, according to NBC CT.
“Just here,” the unidentified woman told an Environmental Conservation police officer as she pointed to her leg, according to body camera footage obtained by the station.
“Little bite here.”
Another bear earlier this month tried to break into an Avon home to reach a bird feeder inside, WTNH previously reported.
There have been more than 2,900 bear sightings in Connecticut this year alone, according to state data.
Connecticut
Smoke from MA fire noticed from Southington to New Haven
GREAT BARRINGTON, MA (WFSB) – Smoke from a large fire in Massachusetts wafted into Connecticut.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said on Tuesday morning that smoke from the fire in Great Barrington traveled south into the state.
“Many residents from Southington to New Haven and beyond may be noticing a strong smell of smoke and haze [Tuesday] morning,” DEEP said.
DEEP said that Tuesday’s weather conditions caused smoke to spread widely and stay close to the ground. That’s what made it more noticeable.
“Local officials are monitoring the situation,” it said. “If you’re sensitive to smoke, consider staying indoors and keeping windows closed until conditions improve.”
More on the forecast can be read in the technical discussion from Channel 3’s meteorologists here.
Copyright 2024 WFSB. All rights reserved.
Connecticut
Serious crash in downtown Stamford causes road closure
A serious car crash closed a busy road in downtown Stamford on Monday night.
The police department said Washington Boulevard is closed at the intersection with Bridge Street because of a serious crash.
Drivers are being asked to stay away from the area.
No additional information was immediately available.
Connecticut
Immigration advocates vow to fight Trump deportation plans
Immigration advocates say they’ve already been preparing for President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to ramp up deportations once he returns to the White House.
“We anticipate that they’re going to be very quick, very rapid, very massive efforts to grab as many people as possible and deport them,” National Immigration Law Center President Kica Matos said during a rally outside the Capitol on Monday.
Matos said hers and other organizations began considering possible actions earlier this year in case Trump won.
Now, Trump is promising to deliver on his campaign pledge, taking to his Truth Social platform earlier in the morning to confirm he plans to declare a national emergency.
He also intends to try and use the military to support his deportation effort, his post confirmed.
Advocates said they’re trying to assume undocumented immigrants in Connecticut that their organizations will offer support.
“If families have to be separated, it defeats the point completely because people are trying to get to the United States to be with their families,” said Tabitha Sookdeo, executive director of CT Students For a Dream.
Sookdeo said her family came from Guyana when she was a teenager and her grandmother, who was a U.S. citizen, was trying to help them also get permanent legal status.
Her grandmother died during the process, though, leaving Sookdeo’s family in limbo.
“Immigration is pretty complicated,” she said.
Democrats, meanwhile, said they won’t support federal deportation efforts.
Attorney General William Tong (D) pointed to the state’s Trust Act, which bars local and state agencies from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
“Connecticut is going to care for our immigrant families and immigrant neighbors and friends,” Tong said.
There are some exceptions, including when an undocumented immigrant is convicted of a Class A or Class B felony. Tong wouldn’t say if that means Connecticut has to notify federal authorities of such a conviction.
“I’m not going to issue a legal opinion on the fly from this podium,” Tong said.
Connecticut Republicans were critical of Democrats, though, saying their policies don’t reflect what voters want.
Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-Minority Leader) said Connecticut spends too much money supporting undocumented immigrants, including with Medicaid, education and other assistance.
He also said voters are worried about public safety.
“It’s really out of step, I think, with what the residents and America wants, and that is, you know, safe borders, public safety and we have to get the cost of immigration under control,” Candelora said.
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