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A car driven by a 77 year-old woman has crashed into the CVS Pharmacy on Broad Street in Milford, shattering windows and knocking over a cash register.

The driver suffered only minor injuries, police say. City building inspectors are on the scene.

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Law enforcement sources say it’s unlikely the University of Bridgeport student, who gave birth to a stillborn fetus and then disposed of it in the garbage can in her dorm, will be charged with any crime. Under state law they said the fetus is not considered a human being and therefore no crime can be committed against it.

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Governor M. Jodi Rell today ordered a partial activation of the state Emergency Operations Center and directed state emergency management and public safety agencies to coordinate with local and federal partners and Connecticut utilities as the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole brings heavy rains and high wind gusts to the state.

“Combining steady, soaking rain with wind gusts as high as 60 mph means the potential is especially high for urban flooding as well as downed trees and power outages,” Governor Rell said. “That risk is aggravated by the fact that most trees still have their leaves and will ‘catch’ the wind more effectively as a result. I have therefore asked all of our local and regional partners to gear up for a quick response to downed power lines, high water, blocked roads and damage caused by loose tree limbs or uprooted trees.

“Both of the state’s major electric utilities are opening their own Emergency Operations Centers and putting dozens of tree and restoration crews on standby,” the Governor said. “We have held two conference calls today – a statewide meeting and a smaller session with emergency officials from Fairfield County – to discuss preparations and coordinate responses. And we will continue to monitor the situation closely throughout the afternoon and into the night.”

A large band of heavy rain stretches all along the East Coast of the country. Winds gusts as high as 40 mph are expected along the coast by early afternoon and gusts could reach as high as 60 mph by mid-evening in southwestern Connecticut and late evening in southeastern Connecticut. Statewide, rainfall amounts are expected to be 1 inch to 2 inches, but some areas could see as much as 6 inches.

The partial activation of the state’s EOC – located at the William A. O’Neill Armory in Hartford – brings together officials from critical state agencies such as the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation and Military Department.

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That’s the question people are asking when on the same day she chastized two dozen state judges for not taking a voluntary furlough day she nominated four people, including a former Pakistani warlord to be new judges. Cost of 26 judges not taking a furlough day: about $13,000. Cost to hire four new judges: about $400,000.

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Republican candidate for governor Tom Foley, once substantially behind in the governor’s race, now has 42 percent to Democrat Dan Malloy’s 45 percent, making the race too close to call, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

This compares to a 50-41 percent Malloy lead in a Sept. 15 likely voter survey by the independent poll, conducted by live interviewers.

The poll results were the latest that show Republicans making huge inroads among voters in normally reliably-Democratic Connecticut. Republican Linda McMahon has pulled to within 3 points of Democrat Richard Blumenthal in the U.S. Senate race.

In the latest survey on the governor’s race, 12 percent of likely voters are undecided and 22 percent of voters who name a candidate say they could change their mind by Election Day. Malloy leads 86-8 percent among Democrats. Foley leads 82-9 percent among Republicans. Independent voters shift from a 42-44 percent split September 15 to 44-38 percent for Foley today. Women back the Democrat 52-34 percent while men back the Republican 49-38 percent.

Voters who say they are “angry” with state government support Foley 60 – 29 percent.

“Ever since the popular Republican Governor Jodi Rell decided not to seek reelection, Democrats have been very excited about their prospects of winning this open seat in blue Connecticut. Yet despite a bruising primary victory, Republican businessman Tom Foley has made this a very tight race with Democrat Dan Malloy,” said Quinnipiac University poll director Douglas Schwartz.

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NEW HAVEN (AP) — Prosecutors and defense attorneys have rested their cases in the trial of a man charged with murdering a mother and her two daughters during a 2007 home invasion in Connecticut.
Defense attorneys called two witnesses and read a statement from the mother of defendant Steven Hayes.
Earlier Tuesday, a prison officer testified he heard Hayes tell another inmate he killed the woman who died in the attacks. Prosecutors have said Jennifer Hawke-Petit was strangled and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, died of smoke inhalation.
Prison guard Jeremiah Krob said Hayes recounted that another defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, told him he had to kill Hawke-Petit. The officer testified Hayes said he didn’t know if he could, but did kill her when he saw police cruisers outside the house in Cheshire.
Komisarjevsky is awaiting trial.

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This just in… One of the state’s longest-serving higher education leaders, Connecticut State University System (CSUS) Chancellor David G. Carter, 67, announced today that he will be retiring no later than September 1, 2011. Carter oversees Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Connecticut State University. Before becoming chancellor in 2006, Carter was president of Eastern.