SACO

Portland man arrested on crack cocaine charges

A Portland man was being held in the York County Jail on Wednesday night on drug trafficking charges after his arrest Tuesday by undercover drug agents and local police.

Bail for Noor Ahmed Mohamed, 22, was set at $10,000 cash, according to jail officials.

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency said agents seized 32 grams of crack cocaine from a Saco home on Monday. That led them to Mohamed, who was seen Tuesday leaving a home in Biddeford with a black bag.

Mohamed fled when the officers approached him but was taken into custody following a brief foot chase. During the chase, he allegedly discarded a baggie containing five grams of crack cocaine.

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Drug agents said they found three handguns in the black bag that included a semi-automatic weapon and two revolvers. Those handguns had been reported stolen earlier in the day from a home in Saco.

Mohamed has been charged with aggravated trafficking in crack cocaine.

DOVER, N.H.

Ex-bus driver gets 50 years for sex assaults on boys

A former bus driver in New Hampshire and Maine already sentenced to prison for sexually exploiting children has been sentenced to 50 years for sexually assaulting children on his bus.

John Allen Wright, who lived in Milton, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two young special needs boys in his care. Fosters Daily Democrat reported that he was sentenced on Monday.

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In February, Wright was sentenced to 160 years for one count of possessing child pornography and five counts of sexual exploitation after he was arrested in September 2011 and charged with filming child pornography on the bus using cameras hidden in glasses and pens.

Authorities started investigating after they say Wright, who had worked for Provider Bus Service since 2008, traded child pornography images on the Internet.

AUGUSTA

Bill opposed to ethanol gets initial OK in House

The Maine House has given initial approval to bills that would ban the sale of ethanol in Maine or limit its use to a 5 percent blend.

The bill’s passage on Tuesday followed brief debates in which supporters said using corn-based ethanol is essentially putting food in fuel tanks. They also said ethanol damages small engines.

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Opponents argued that restricting the sale of 10 percent ethanol fuel would put Maine out of compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

The first bill, L.D. 115, prohibits the sale of fuel that contains corn-based ethanol if at least two other New England states pass a similar prohibition.

The second bill, L.D. 105, allows a distributor, blender or retail dealer to sell gasoline containing only 5 percent ethanol.

The bills face further House and Senate votes.

Active duty military may get break on fishing licenses

A bill in the Legislature is proposing that fishermen who are called to active duty not be required to pay any fees on their fishing licenses while they are serving.

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Lobster fishermen and veterans are expected to speak in support of the proposed law when the Marine Resources Committee holds a public hearing Wednesday.

Under current law, fishermen who are members of the military and are called to active duty must pay fees to keep their licenses active while they are serving or risk forfeiting their licenses, even though they’re not fishing.

The proposed law, L.D. 1488, would allow active-duty service members to maintain their licenses while serving without paying license fees so they can continue working as a lobsterman or other harvester once they return

FREEPORT

L.L. Bean announces lineup for summer music series

Nationally known singer-songwriters Matt Nathanson, Tristan Prettyman and Joshua Radin, along with folk-pop band The Head and The Heart are among the announced headliners at this year’s L.L. Bean Summer Concert Series.

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The schedule so far includes:

July 4: Matt Nathanson, followed by fireworks

July 6 : Amy Allen, Endless Interstate and Pete Kilpatrick Band

July 20: North of Nashville and Lake Street Dive

Aug. 3: The Head and the Heart

Aug. 10: Guster

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Aug. 17: Tristan Prettyman

Aug. 31: Joshua Radin

The free concerts will be held in Discovery Park near the L.L. Bean main store. All start at 7:30 p.m

PARIS

Man pleads not guilty to sexual assault charges

A Buckfield man charged with sexually assaulting two young girls has pleaded not guilty.

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The Sun Journal reports that Gary Noyes was freed on $25,000 cash bail and ordered to have no contact with the alleged victims or any children under 16 years of age at an appearance Tuesday in Oxford County Superior Court.

According to an affidavit by a Maine State Police detective, one of the alleged victims reported in November that Noyes had sexually assaulted her and another girl from 2007 to 2011, when both were juveniles.

Noyes, 43, was arrested last month on charges including gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact and domestic violence assault.

ENFIELD, Conn.

Board of Education members have plan to open gun store

Two Republican members of Enfield’s Board of Education are planning to open a gun store.

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The Journal Inquirer of Manchester reports board members Tom Sirard and Kevin Fealy along with a third man, Michael Brennan, plan to open the store, called “A Call to Arms” on Memorial Day weekend.

Sirard told the newspaper he understands the timing appears awkward, coming five months after the fatal shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, but says the decision had nothing to do with that tragedy. He says plans for the store have been in the works for two years.

He says the store will sell handguns, long guns, ammunition, and accessories and will have a section dedicated to products made in the U.S. It will not include a range.

BARNSTABLE, Mass.

Ex-camp counselor in court over 1981 sex-assault charges

A Pennsylvania man charged with sexually assaulting youths at a Cape Cod camp while he was a counselor in 1981 has appeared in court with his new lawyer.

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The Cape Cod Times reports attorney Allison MacLellan said outside court Wednesday the case against her client isn’t open-and-shut. She said authorities were under pressure to arrest someone, since other suspects had died.

Sixty-five-year-old Richard P. Smith of Media, Pa., pleaded not guilty last month to charges including rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Prosecutors began investigating alleged abuse at Camp Good News in Sandwich two years ago after then-Sen. Scott Brown wrote in a memoir he’d been molested at a Christian summer camp in the 1970s. Camp Good News later confirmed Brown attended there and apologized.

— From staff and news services


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