BANGOR

Veazie man arrested in gunpoint hotel robbery

Bangor police say they’ve arrested a man in connection with an armed robbery in a hotel there last week.

Police arrested 31-year-old Jeffrey Denis of Veazie at his home. He’s charged with robbery stemming from Wednesday’s holdup at the Fairfield Inn, where a lone suspect robbed the clerk at gunpoint. The robber was given cash and he fled on foot.

Denis was in the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor Tuesday.

Police arrest Bangor man in stabbing at apartment

Bangor police say a 28-year-old man is in jail following a stabbing. Police say they were called to an Ohio Street apartment Monday for a reported assault.

A 29-year-old man visiting his brother’s apartment was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor with a stab wound to the arm.

Police say 28-year-old Arthur Greene of Bangor came to the door of the apartment and the brothers told him to leave. Greene allegedly became angry, drew a weapon and stabbed one of the brothers before running away. The victim’s name was not released.

Greene was later arrested and charged with aggravated assault and criminal threatening.

FORT KENT

LePage holds workshop on state budget proposal

Gov. Paul LePage was in Aroostook County on Tuesday to attend a public workshop on his supplemental state budget proposal, which includes major cuts in Medicaid.

Tuesday’s workshop, plus two others this week in Houlton and Presque Isle, were organized by the Aroostook Area Agency on Aging.

LePage planned to listen to residents’ concerns and explain his budget proposal, which he says is needed to balance the state budget and trim a program that’s grown beyond the state’s means to pay for it. Under his proposal, 65,000 people could lose Medicaid benefits.

The governor says his plan would save Medicaid for 290,000 people.

SOUTH PORTLAND

SMCC math professor wins Teaching Excellence Award

A professor at Southern Maine Community College is one of six instructors nationally to receive the 2011 Teaching Excellence Award from the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges.

Florence Chambers came to SMCC in 2001 and has taught at colleges throughout the Northeast and Midwest for 43 years, according to a news release. The association presents the award every two years to math instructors at two-year colleges who display excellence in the classroom, superior professional development and outstanding leadership qualities.

Nominated by her peers in SMCC’s math department, Chambers developed the college’s finite mathematics curriculum shortly after arriving. She teaches a range of courses from developmental mathematics to calculus.

“The SMCC community is fortunate to have a professor of Florence’s caliber,” said SMCC President Ronald Cantor. Chambers has won other awards for teaching excellence, spoken widely at professional conferences and workshops and produced 11 technology supplements to textbooks.

“Teaching has always been my passion,” Chambers said. “I thoroughly enjoy working with students, particularly at the community college level, and am honored to have the opportunity to play a role in their education.”

AUGUSTA

Conservation officials push hikes to welcome new year

Many people will spend New Year’s Day watching football games and eating, but Maine conservation officials are encouraging residents to take a hike to ring in the new year.

The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands is offering four guided “First Day Hikes” on Jan. 1, joining an initiative among all 50 states to get families outdoors for the holiday. This is the first time all U.S. state park systems have joined to sponsor the event.

In Maine, guided hikes are being offered at Aroostook State Park in Presque Isle, Cobscook Bay State Park in Edmunds Township, Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park in Freeport, and Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg.

More information is available on the agency’s website, at www.parksandlands.com.

MEXICO

Maddy’s Pizza, longtime restaurant, forced to close

A landmark Mexico restaurant has closed after more than four decades in business.

The owners of Maddy’s Pizza say the tough economy, competition from chains and a serious illness in the family all contributed to the closure Friday.

Greg and Norma Arsenault have owned Maddy’s for 17 years. They took over from Norma’s mother, Maddy Lauzier, who opened the eatery in December 1970.

Norma Arsenault tells the Sun Journal that her husband was recently hospitalized for what doctors believed was toxic shock syndrome. He was on life support for three days but is now expected to recover.

Greg Arsenault was also the town’s recreation director and lost his health benefits when the town reduced the job from full-time to 20 hours per week.

GLENBURN

Woman, 22, killed in two-car crash that injures two others

A 22-year-old woman has died and two other people have been hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in Glenburn.

Police say the Hudson woman was driving north on Pushaw Road at about 1 p.m. on Monday when she apparently lost control and crossed the center line, where her car was struck by a pickup truck.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver and the passenger in the truck, both 20, were treated at hospitals.

No names were immediately released.

The crash remains under investigation but police say speed and slick roads may be factors.