BATH

Police arrest teen with toy gun in robbery of convenience store

A teenager armed with a toy gun put himself in danger after he allegedly robbed a convenience store in Bath, police said.

Bath Police Chief Michael W. Field said officers were called to the One Stop Food & Ice convenience store at 624 Washington St. around 7:30 Sunday night to investigate an armed robbery.

Sgt. Daniel Couture, who was patrolling the area when the call came in, spotted a male suspect matching the description. He chased the teenager on foot before cornering him on a walking path behind a Middle Street home.

Bath Officer Michele Small and Sagadahoc Deputy Matt Shiers arrived a few moments later. The suspect sat down in tall grass and refused to get up.

When the officers took the 15-year-old into custody they found a toy hand gun concealed in his pant leg.

The juvenile was also a suspect in a Saturday night theft in which he allegedly ran from a taxi after refusing to pay a $55 fare. He was taken to the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.

“The juvenile put himself in serious danger using a toy gun during the robbery and by not following the officers’ orders when he was cornered. This incident could have had a tragic ending for the young man,” Field said in a prepared statement.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Public works crews dispose of minke whale that washed ashore

A dead minke whale that washed up on Pine Point Beach in Scarborough on Sunday was disposed of after strong winds and high tides moved its carcass to Old Orchard Beach.

Lynda Doughty, executive director of Marine Mammals of Maine, examined the whale Monday morning

before Old Orchard Beach public works crews used a front-end loader to lift the 8,000 pound whale into a dump truck.

The whale, which likely died at sea weeks ago, was transported from the popular beach to an unidentified burial site, Doughty said. 

HARPSWELL

Forest Service says winter moth infestation has been identified

A new invasive pest that can damage hardwood and fruit trees has been discovered in Maine.

The Maine Forest Service says a 400-acre area in Harpswell has been infested by winter moths – small tan moths that bear hungry caterpillars that eat the trees’ leaves.

Entomologist Charlene Donahue said it’s the first time that a winter moth infestation has been found in Maine.

She said the moth has been found in eastern Massachusetts for the past 20 years, and probably came to Maine on landscape plants from Massachusetts.

The caterpillars have been known to weaken and kill a number of tree species – including, oak, maple, elm, ash, birch, apple, cherry and blueberry – by eating their leaves.

LEWISTON

Somalia-born Lewiston grad picked as motivational speaker

A Somalia-born Lewiston High School graduate who went on to Columbia University has been chosen as this year’s motivational speaker for city middle school students.

Hossain Naji is scheduled to speak Wednesday as the 2012 “START Star” at the Lewiston Middle School.

Project START, which stands for Steps for Accomplishing Real Life Transitions, is a program to help middle schoolers understand how the choices they make in high school affect their future.

Middle School Career Aspirations Director Billy Jo Brito told the Sun Journal that Naji is a good role model.

Naji helped create a video in 2008 in high school to warn students about the dangers of alcohol.

He graduated in May as a film major from Columbia and plans to pursue a career in the film industry.

PORTLAND

Washington Avenue traffic to be affected during gas line installation

The installation of a natural gas line, which was scheduled to start Monday, will affect traffic along Washington Avenue for the next two weeks.

Natural gas lines will be installed on Washington Avenue, from Veranda Street to Ocean Avenue, the city said in a press release. Outbound traffic will be reduced to one lane from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the project.

Natural gas lines are now being installed on Congress Street, from North Street to Washington Avenue.

That work, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., is expected to continue through June 15. Two-way traffic will be maintained.

Commuters are advised to seek other routes.

BANGOR

Victim in hit-and-run identified; police have car that was involved

Police have released the identity of a man who was killed by a hit-and-run driver over the weekend.

Bangor police said Monday that Joshua Constantine, 37, was killed about 10:30 p.m. Saturday when he was hit by a car while crossing Main Street near an entrance to a Shaw’s supermarket. Officials said the vehicle that hit Constantine sped off without stopping.

Constantine’s death has been ruled an accident.

Investigators say they have the vehicle that was involved and identified a Brewer woman as the driver. Charges have not been filed.

Transient arrested in early-morning stabbing at convenience store

Police arrested a transient after a stabbing early Monday morning near a convenience store in Bangor that sent the victim to the hospital.

Police said they charged Daniel Bolden, 23, with elevated aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing a 69-year-old Bangor man in the back about 6:30 a.m. Monday in an alleyway across from Leadbetter’s Mini Stop on Ohio Street.

The victim was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Police aren’t releasing his name.

Police said Bolden was living in a homeless shelter after recently moving to Bangor from Georgia.

HARMONY

Two bridges renamed to honor victims of domestic violence

Two bridges in Harmony have been renamed in honor of victims of domestic violence.

A ceremony was held Saturday to rename a bridge on Route 150 the Amy-Coty-Monica Memorial Bridge in honor of Amy Bagley Lake and her children.

The Harmony native and her children, 13-year-old Coty and 12-year-old Monica, were shot to death by their husband and father in June 2011 in the town of Dexter. Stephen Lake then killed himself.

WABI-TV reported that Amy Bagley Lake’s parents, Linda and Ralph Bagley, said the bridge dedication means that their daughter will forever remain in Harmony.

A bridge a few miles away on Route 154 was renamed the Remember Me Bridge, in honor of all victims of domestic violence.

EXETER, N.H.

Officials say one of hepatitis C patients is a hospital employee

New Hampshire health officials say one of the four patients infected with hepatitis C was an employee of Exeter Hospital.

Dr. Jose Montero, the state public health director, said Monday that all four individuals had been treated at the hospital.

He said the discovery doesn’t mean that the hospital has identified the worker as a source or cause of the outbreak.

New Hampshire’s public health department has allowed Exeter Hospital to reopen its cardiac catheterization lab for normal operations today while it continues to investigate the outbreak.

The lab was closed May 25 after four patients who had been treated there were all diagnosed with the liver-destroying virus. The hospital has asked 651 other people who have been treated at the lab since August to get tested.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.

Officer fatally shot by man who wounds girlfriend, kills himself

A local police officer responding to a domestic violence call was fatally shot Monday by a New York City correction officer who critically wounded his former girlfriend before taking his own life, authorities said.

Officer Kevin Ambrose went to the woman’s Springfield apartment around 1 p.m. after she called 911 to say her former boyfriend, against whom she had just obtained a restraining order, was nearby and she feared for her life, Springfield police Commissioner William Fitchet said.

Ambrose arrived in a one-man patrol car and found 29-year-old Charlene Mitchell and 35-year-old Shawn Bryan of Hempstead, N.Y., outside, Fitchet said.

They went to Mitchell’s apartment, where, Fitchet said, Bryan pushed Mitchell inside, followed her and slammed the door against Ambrose, who tried to get inside.

Bryan shot Ambrose through the door, opened it and fired at him again, then shot Mitchell, Fitchet said.
Fitchet said Bryan, who worked at the Riker’s Island correctional facility, apparently shot himself in the chest in his car outside Mitchell’s apartment building.

Officers arriving to back up Ambrose found all three.

Fitchet said Ambrose and Bryan were pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center and Mitchell was in critical condition there late Monday after undergoing surgery.