Thieves crash cars into Family Dollar stores

Early Wednesday morning, thieves crashed cars into the front windows of two Family Dollar stores and made off with the stores’ safes. One of the stores is in Hamden and one is at 730 Church St., less than two blocks from Old Campus. Police later recovered a stolen green Plymouth Voyager from the scene of the New Haven robbery and are investigating whether the same vehicle was used in both robberies.

—Colin Ross

Fair Haven building featured in new novel

The city’s industrial history is gaining attention due to a new novel, “True Confections,” by Elm City resident Katharine Weber. In the fiction book, candies are produced at the Bigelow Building in Fair Haven, which still stands. City officials have said they hope to turn the building into office, studio and retail space. The revival of the 25-acre factory district where Bigelow is located is part of a city initiative to create jobs, they said.

—Egidio DiBenedetto

New Haven state officials to work on regionalism

Three New Haven state representatives were appointed to a commission that will try to find more ways to work with other municipalities to save money. The commission will make recommendations during the 2010 legislative session, according to a press release about the appointment.

—Esther Zuckerman

Would-be hitchhiker slashed at stoplight

A man standing at the bus stop in Wooster Square on Thursday morning was slashed by the passenger of a car that stopped at a nearby red light. The man asked the people in the car for a ride downtown when suddenly the car’s passenger got out and demanded his money. When the man said he did not have any, the passenger lunged at him with a knife. The man sustained a large slash on his left hand and was taken to the hospital.

—Colin Ross

Delivery man robbed near Science Park

Detectives are investigating a robbery at gunpoint in the Dixwell neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. Around 1:30 p.m., three black males all wearing black ski masks stole $53 from a Chinese delivery man, police said. The robbery occurred in the area of Shelton and Argyle streets, just a block away from the Yale offices at 25 Science Park.

—Colin Ross

Frisky state birds

In a study to be published in the April issue of the ornithological journal “The Auk,” scientists from the University of Connecticut have found that saltmarsh sparrows, natives to Connecticut, are the most promiscuous birds in the world. The scientists said the sparrows reach “extreme levels of multiple mating” — at least 57 of the 60 females studied had at least two chicks with different fathers, and at least 97 percent of females mated with more than one male.

—Yale Daily News