Connecticut

Fairfield Hills Psychiatric Hospital in Newtown, Connecticut, was open from 1931 until 1995 and housed criminally insane patients from all over the state.

When Maren Sanchez, 16, turned down a prom request from a boy she knew, he allegedly strangled her, shoved her down the stairs and fatally stabbed her.

There is nothing anyone can do to take away the pain the community of Newtown, Connecticut is going through right now. But a charity group from Illinois is using man's best friend to provide a little comfort to those who are mourning the loss of life from last Friday's mass school shooting.

It is impossible to put into words the sorrow I feel about the heinous act committed in Newtown, Conn.  If there's one place we want to feel our children are safe, it is in school.  Couple that with the fact that this was an elementary school and it is next to impossible to wrap my mind around it.  26 people lost their lives and nobody will ever be able to make sense of it.

In the wake of the horrific killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School last week, Americans across the country are wondering how they can aid the families of the victims. There are numerous methods to donate money, but you also can help in other ways, such as volunteering your time, writing a card or letter, or sending a teddy bear to a child in Newtown.

How do you explain the unexplainable to children? Today, parents across the country, including myself, were faced with this  -- fumbling over words while explaining the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown - located only 20 miles away from my own daughter's elementary school.