CLINTON, Conn. (AP) A Connecticut man is accused of asking other people for breath samples so he could bypass a DUI ignition device installed in his car after he was convicted of drunken driving.

Clinton police charged 67-year-old Kenneth Palifka of Westbrook on Monday with avoidance of an ignition interlock device, which requires an alcohol-free breath sample to start a car.

Police say Palifka and a friend went boating on Long Island Sound and drank alcohol Monday. Authorities say when the two men returned to a marina, Palifka couldn't start his vehicle and asked others for breath samples.

A phone message seeking comment was left at Palifka's home Tuesday. It's not clear if he has a lawyer.

Court records show Palifka is serving two years of probation for two DUI convictions.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Connecticut drivers can now skip the line at the DMV by checking in online from a laptop, smartphone or tablet computer.

The DMV last week launched a new online portal which enables customers to check in before heading to a local service office in person.

The services available for online check-in include registering a vehicle, obtaining a license or handicap parking permit, getting copies of records, requesting a duplicate title, and making changes to the name on a registration or license.

The site shows waiting times and allows customers to choose which office they want to visit. The DMV says the online times are within 10 minutes of the wait times generated by an automatic computer system in its local offices.

LAS VEGAS (AP) A 25-year-old contestant from Connecticut has won the title of Miss USA in Las Vegas.

Erin Brady won the beauty pageant at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino last night after strutting in a white sparkly gown and answering a question about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding widespread DNA tests. Asked if she agreed with the decision, Brady said she did.

The Central Connecticut State University finance major could not contain her excitement at the prospect of telling her bosses at Prudential Financial she wouldn't be coming in today. Brady gets the crown and a New York apartment for one year.

She is expected to spend her title reign on a nationwide speaking tour and raising breast and ovarian cancer awareness, the organization's official cause.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) A Connecticut woman disfigured in a chimpanzee attack was denied permission Friday to sue the state for $150 million.

The state is immune to lawsuits unless they're allowed by state Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr., who denied permission and announced his decision in a news release.

Nash was blinded, lost both hands and underwent a face transplant after being mauled in Stamford in 2009. She reached a $4 million settlement last year with the estate of chimp owner Sandra Herold, who died in 2010.

Her lawyer said the state should be held responsible for not seizing the animal before the attack, because it was warned the animal was dangerous. State Attorney General George Jepsen said the state shouldn't be held liable for the mauling.

Nash, 59, had gone to Herold's home on the day of the attack to help lure her friend's 200-pound chimpanzee, Travis, back inside. But the chimp went berserk and ripped off Nash's nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being shot to death by a police officer. Nash now lives in a nursing home outside Boston.

Travis had starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola when he was younger and made an appearance on "The Maury Povich Show." The chimpanzee was the constant companion of the widowed Herold and was fed steak, lobster and ice cream. The chimp could eat at the table, drink wine from a stemmed glass, use the toilet, and bathe and dress itself.

Travis had previously bitten another woman's hand and tried to drag her into a car in 1996, bit a man's thumb two years later and roamed downtown Stamford for hours in 2003 before being captured after escaping from Herold's home, according to Nash's lawsuit against Herold.

The $4 million settlement covers a small fraction of Nash's medical costs, according to her lawyers, who have said she requires care and supervision around the clock. She is facing another surgery for hand transplants and will need to be on antibiotics for the rest of her life.

Nash holds the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection responsible for not seizing the animal before the attack despite a state biologist's warning it was dangerous.

"I hope and pray that the commissioner will give me my day in court," Nash told reporters following a hearing last year before Vance. "And I also pray that I hope this never happens to anyone else again. It is not nice."

State Attorney General George Jepsen has said the state should not be held liable for the mauling. He has acknowledged that a state biologist had warned that the chimp was "an accident waiting to happen" before the attack. But Jepsen said state law on the issue was ambiguous and difficult to enforce, and there was no guarantee a court hearing would have led to a seizure order.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) Four U.S. senators are asking Nickelodeon to ban ads targeted at children that promote and sell junk food and sugar.

Joining West Virginia's Jay Rockefeller in the letter sent this week to Nickelodeon and its parent company, Viacom, were Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Tom Harkin of Iowa. Rockefeller says the letter is aimed at taking steps to ensure kids can live healthy lives.

Nickelodeon says in a statement it is committed to fighting childhood obesity but will ``leave the science of nutrition to the experts.''

Last June, the Walt Disney Co. banned junk food ads on its television channels, radio stations and websites.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 percent of West Virginia children are considered either obese or overweight.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) The mayor of Hartford, Conn., is allowing a barber to continue giving haircuts in a city park despite orders for him to leave from police and health officials.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Pedro Segarra says he is granting Anthony ``Joe the Barber'' Cymerys a special dispensation in light of his years of charitable work. The spokeswoman, Maribel La Luz, said Thursday the city will help Cymerys obtain a state barber's license if he likes.

The 82-year-old Cymerys has been giving free haircuts to the homeless in exchange for hugs for 25 years at Bushnell Park. He says officials confronted him this week and ordered him to leave because he did not have a permit.

City officials say residents had expressed concerns about sanitation.

MILFORD, Conn. (AP) A 53-year-old man serving time in a federal prison in Oklahoma has been extradited to Connecticut to face murder charges.

The New Haven Register reports Luis Rodriguez was presented in Superior Court Wednesday morning, charged in the May, 2001 strangulation of 28-year-old Kelsey Monahon.

Monahan, who was one month pregnant, was found bound, gagged and unconscious by her husband in their Milford apartment on May 25, 2001.

She died three days later at Bridgeport Hospital.

Prosecutors identified Rodriguez as a suspect in 2011, but he was already behind bars, serving time in Oklahoma on an unrelated weapons charges. They have not said what led them to Rodriguez.

He was extradited to Connecticut on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if he has obtained an attorney.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) A New Haven mother has been arrested after her 2-year-old was found wandering naked in the street.

Police tell the New Haven Register the girl was wandering near the intersection of Chapel Street and Ellsworth Avenue Monday when neighbors pulled her to safety and called police.

They charged 23-year-old Amada Sellers with risk of injury.

Police say Sellers told them she had fallen asleep and that her daughter knew how to let herself out of their apartment. Police say they found the apartment door open and the common door to the building unlocked.

Sellers could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A phone listed for her residence had been disconnected.

Authorities say the Department of Children and Families has placed the child in the care of a relative.

STRATFORD, Conn. (AP) A tutor at a Stratford elementary school is accused of offering children money and prizes in exchange for kisses.

The Connecticut Post reports William Stewart was charged Monday with risk of injury to children and disorderly conduct.

He is due in Superior Court on June 20.

Police say they began investigating the 39-year-old tutor in March after two 11-year-old female students at the Chapel Street Elementary School, complained.

Police say students described a game they say Stewart played, which involved spinning a piece of paper and offering them up to $250 to kiss him.

They say he offered one girl an iPod in exchange for a kiss. Stewart's family isn't commenting on the charges.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) A Connecticut woman is accused of killing her former boyfriend by pinning him against a garage wall with a car and crushing him.

The Connecticut Post reports that 21-year-old Cherelle Baldwin of Bridgeport was arrested Monday and charged with murder in the May 18 death of 24-year-old Jeffrey Brown.

Police say Baldwin accelerated as she drove 100 feet into Brown, crushing him between the car and a cinder-block wall at the rear of a garage.

Police spokesman William Kaempffer says the impact pushed the wall back more than 10 inches.

Baldwin is being held in lieu of $1 million bond and couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Police say she has given several accounts of the crash, but her version was not substantiated by the evidence.