To help keep you informed on the most shared and talked about stories, each Saturday and Sunday we'll revisit five stories from the previous week, including the most recent updates.
Invasive Insect
The spotted lanternfly has been found in Connecticut for the first time. The invasive insect was located in Southbury. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station warns that the spotted lanternfly has the potential to severely impact Connecticut’s farm crops, particularly apples, grapes, hops and a number of tree species, including maple. The bugs have been wreaking havoc in Pennsylvania since 2014. See why homeowners there are also being driven crazy by the lanternflies.
Powerful Congressman Passes
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings died Thursday of complications from longstanding health problems. He was 68. Cummings was a sharecropper's son who rose to become a civil rights champion and the chairman of one of the U.S. House committees leading an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. For more on Cummings' life and death, click here.
Local
Military Honor
Hundreds of people showed up Thursday for the funeral of an Army veteran who did not have any surviving family members. Private First Class Matthew Lawrence Williams, 63, served in Vietnam. The American Legion in Connecticut posted a request on Facebook Wednesday night asking people to help honor Williams at his service in Willimantic. Twelve hours later, more than 300 people came to the cemetery to honor Williams for his service to the U.S. See more on the amazing outpouring of support here.
Baby Powder Recall
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. said it was voluntarily recalling a single lot of its Johnson's Baby Powder in response to a federal test indicating the presence of "sub-trace" levels of asbestos. The company said it is fully cooperating with the FDA and is working with federal authorities to determine the integrity of the tested sample and the validity of the test results. See details on the lot being recalled here.
Hugging Suspension
A 12-year-old student in Worcester, Massachusetts, has been suspended for hugging a gym teacher. The student admitted to fooling around in class and being told to sit out of a game. He said he then walked up to the teacher and hugged her, asking to be allowed to return to the activity. He was suspended for 10 days and given a record of physical assault on a teacher. The boy's foster mother says the school handbook says nothing about hugging and she wants change at the school. For details on what the school did after the foster mother complained, click here.
