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Vice President Kamala Harris has asked Gov. Ned Lamont how the state could help accommodate migrant children who are entering the country at the Rio Grande Border. Lamont said Thursday his administration is looking into ways to transform the former juvenile training facility in Middletown into a healthy, safe environment for these now homeless children.

One of the owners of Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana has died. Gary Bimonte, the grandson of founder Frank Pepe, was a huge presence in New Haven's storied pizza world.

The family says the Wooster Street restaurant will be closed Thursday as a mark of respect.

New Haven mayor Justin Elicker issued a statement sending his condolences to the family.

Eversource will have a new CEO. Jim Judge is stepping down from the top job at the state’s largest utility company. He’ll be replaced from within by Joe Nolan, the man who has been heading up Eversource’s efforts to build out wind power in recent years. Judge, who helmed the company through recent heavy criticism over its handling of power restoration following Tropical Storm Isaias, will remain as chair of the board of directors. The change is effective early next month.

The contamination of 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine will have a knock-on effect on supply in Connecticut from next week, the office of Gov. Ned Lamont said Wednesday.

No vaccine that's already been shipped to the state has been recalled, and the administration says none of the J&J product currently in Connecticut is compromised in any way. But the allocation of fresh J&J doses arriving next week will be just 6,400. Last week the state's allocation was 53,900.

The nation's longest continuously operating amusement park is hoping to capitalize on eased COVID restrictions as it approaches a milestone year. Lake Compounce in Bristol says it has pushed up its opening date three weeks, to May 8. The park is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. Officials say some changes will be noticeable, like new lighting and new main gate area. Face coverings, social distancing and temperature checks will be a part of the experience, and Plexiglas has been installed in some areas.

Hartford will continue hosting community pop-up clinics this week in an effort to vaccinate as many residents as possible. The first clinic will be on Tuesday at the Swift Factory in the North End. The second will be on Wednesday at the Free Center. Both clinics require no appointments and are for Hartford residents 18 years old and over. Hours of operation will be 2 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., or until vaccines run out.

Each clinic will vaccinate 200 people and volunteers will help residents make appointments for other clinics if vaccines are no longer available. 

The University of Connecticut Women’s Basketball team’s game against Arizona Friday at 9:30pm will mark the team's 13th consecutive Final Four. For coach Geno Auriemma’s it’s his 21st. In a pandemic, he says this one is unlike any other.

“There’s been more time for the team’s to kind of get their breath, settle in, and kind of just stay in the routine that they were in," he said, "so in that sense, it doesn’t feel like you’re flying in and all the hoopla of the Final Four.”

Gov. Ned Lamont says about 100,000 appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations were expected to be made on Thursday, the first day that anyone 16 years and older is allowed in Connecticut to sign up to get a shot. Lamont said the state has a good supply of vaccine, despite news that a batch of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine failed quality standards and can't be used.  Lamont's administration announced late Thursday it estimates the state's vaccine supply will exceed demand by late April. 

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong's office says federal officials are not honoring an agreement to accept the validity of state pardons and are still trying to deport people pardoned by a state board because of their crimes. Tong's office sued the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies in 2019, saying they were refusing to honor state pardons in deportation cases. Federal officials at the time argued pardons must come from the president and state governors, not state boards. A tentative settlement of the lawsuit was reached last year.

Insurance company Travelers has announced it will continue sponsoring the PGA Tour Travelers Championship until 2030. The news makes Travelers the longest-running title sponsor in the Connecticut event’s history. And comes as the tournament plans to welcome some fans back to Cromwell in person this June. Since Travelers became title sponsor, the event has raised more than $20 million for about 800 nonprofits.

Two people were arrested and one ticketed following a large house party in Mansfield over the weekend. Connecticut State Police say they arrived at the scene on a noise complaint and found about 100 people gathered inside the residence not following COVID social distancing rules. The 21-year-old homeowner was arrested on charges of violating gathering restriction and permitting minors to possess alcohol. A second arrest was made on charges of disorderly conduct and possession of alcohol by a minor after a party goer threw a can at a trooper.

The new mayor of Boston has connections to Connecticut. Kim Janey's grandparents lived in Connecticut. She studied at Greater Hartford Community College, now called Capitol Community College in Hartford. Janey was raising a young daughter at the time. She tells the Boston Globe that that period of her life forced her to grow up pretty fast. Janey will hold the job of mayor for at least seven months. She moved to the mayor's office from her position as city council president after Martin Walsh left during his term to join the Biden administration.

Yale student Nathan Chen is taking part in the World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Sweden this week. He has won two world championships in the past, and he won a bronze medal at the Olympics. NBC Sports has reported that he is expected to take a year off from competitive figure skating after the next Olympics to complete his education in New Haven.

Connecticut's two senators are proposing $300 million in federal funding to help people and businesses with crumbling foundations. If the plan is approved, half of the money would be provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The rest of the funds would go to states like Connecticut that set up nonprofit organizations to help homeowners pay to replace the foundations of their houses and condos. Tens of thousands of foundations in eastern Connecticut were built with concrete that was contaminated and which corrodes over time.

The board of directors of Connecticut insurer The Hartford has unanimously rejected an unsolicited takeover bid from rival Chubb. The Swiss based insurance company had made an offer that valued The Hartford at around $23 billion. But The Hartford says such a deal is not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.

A draft report critical of a utility’s response to Tropical Storm Isaias has Connecticut lawmakers again calling for accountability.

The report released late Friday by the state’s Public Utility Regulatory Authority concluded that Eversource’s preparations and response were inadequate and said fines and penalties will be considered under state law, thought it didn’t specify what those might be.

Gov. Ned Lamont has said he doesn’t support a push by Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney to raise taxes on high-end homes. Looney has proposed what he’s calling a mansion tax to increase property tax on homes worth over $430,000; the money could go to supporting struggling cities. But Lamont told the Connecticut Business and Industry Association Tuesday that he won’t back new taxes and he doesn’t think the bill is going anywhere.

The state of Connecticut is warning residents to watch out for scams related to COVID-19 vaccines. Connecticut officials say they’ve recently learned of a scheme in which fraudsters sent a fake survey offering rewards for opinions about the vaccine. But, to get the reward, consumers have to give their credit card information. It’s one of three scams the state is flagging. Officials say that residents should be on alert, that they shouldn’t pay anything to sign up for the vaccine, and that they should beware of unsolicited ads or texts related to the vaccine.

A wrongful death lawsuit accuses Stamford Police of using excessive force on a mentally ill man and failing to immediately get him emergency medical care after he was taken into custody in October 2019. Steven Barrier died on his 23rd birthday after becoming unresponsive in a police cruiser. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Barrier's mother and the Connecticut Legal Rights Project. Body camera video shows officers making jokes as Barrier lay unconscious in a holding room. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The medical examiner says Barrier died of a heart attack.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated data over the weekend that originally incorrectly logged tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccine shots in Connecticut. The fix now places the state ahead of the national average on two key COVID-19 vaccination metrics. 

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has received his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and and is urging residents to sign up for their shots when they become eligible. The 67-year-old received his second dose on Friday at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. He was administered his initial shot on Feb. 16.

Connecticut is at an increased risk for forest fires -- but the red flag warning issued this weekend is over. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said several brush fires broke out last week. That includes one in Southbury that was about 30 acres in size. That fire was contained Friday evening. DEEP says that on average, about 500 acres are burned in a year.

Quinnipiac University announced that it plans to hold outdoor commencement ceremonies in May for both the class of 2021 and the class of 2020, which had its in-person commencement postponed because of the pandemic. University President Judy Olian said students will be allowed to bring two guests to each commencement. The 2021 ceremonies are planned for the weekend of May 8 on the Quad of the Mount Carmel Campus. The 2020 ceremonies are planned in the same location for the weekend of May 15. Students who wish to attend the 2020 ceremonies are asked to register by March 20.

Connecticut reached an agreement with United Illuminating to provide rebates to the electric utility’s customers as part of the state’s COVID-19 relief efforts. The state’s second-largest electricity distributer agreed to offer credits totaling $46.5 million and to keep base distribution rates unchanged until at least 2023, the governor’s office announced Wednesday.

The Chief States Attorney and all thirteen of the states attorneys in Connecticut have signed on to a letter praising the independence of their offices. The letter was released late Friday. It’s a response to a proposal in the General Assembly that would set a range of new rules for the state prosecutors to follow. The bill would also move the states attorneys from the Division of Criminal Justice, to the executive branch of state government. That might give a governor more influence over the office.

Three people received tickets after they hosted a party with more than 100 people Saturday night near the University of Connecticut campus, state police said. State police said they received reports of a loud party in Mansfield, about a mile from the campus. They arrived to find 150 to 200 students leaving a home and not wearing masks or following social distancing guidelines. Connecticut currently limits private gatherings in homes to 10 people or fewer. “No PPE, such as mask wearing, or social distancing were adhered to during this large party,” state police said.

Federal officials say more than 200 inmates at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, have declined to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

A package of tax changes, including a plan to prevent 110,000 Connecticut commuters with out-of-state jobs from being double-taxed because they’ve been working at home during the pandemic, received final legislative approval on Monday.

Thousands of people were without power in Connecticut on Tuesday as winds reaching 50 mph or more knocked down power lines across the region.

Fallen wires forced police to close more than a dozen roads, including streets in Windsor, Wethersfield, Farmington and Burlington. More than 17,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning.

Blackouts were affecting 30,000 customers across Massachusetts including in Boston, where high winds toppled scaffolding at the site of a seven-story building under construction late Monday night.

A new legislative proposal introduced by Gov. Ned Lamont would give prospective home buyers or renters the ability to see their new property’s energy efficiency rating, or the last 12 months of energy bills.

Property owners listing homes for sale or lease would have to provide prospective buyers and tenants with a home Energy Label, a number generated during a home energy audit that summarizes the property’s energy efficiency.