PORTLAND

South Portland man charged after fleeing police naked

A South Portland man faces several felony charges after he tried to escape from police early Monday by smashing through a second-floor apartment window, then running naked down Warren Avenue.

Jeffry Matthews, 22, jumped through the closed window, landed on an awning and then hit the ground, police said. Officers trying to restrain him were left holding his pants. Officers caught up with Matthews at 253 Warren Ave. and used a Taser to subdue him, police said.

Police were called to the second-floor apartment at 313 Warren Ave. for a domestic violence complaint at 1:17 a.m. They found Matthews hiding in a closet.

Matthews faces charges of domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening, reckless conduct, tampering with a witness and failing to submit to arrest. He also was charged with warrants for a previous domestic violence felony and violating probation, police said.

An officer, Charles Ames, was treated and released for injuries from the broken glass. He will be on light duty until the injury heals, police said.

Neighborhoods’ residents invited to share memories

The city is collecting stories about four Portland neighborhoods as part of a project documenting the history of those neighborhoods.

The project, called Meeting Place, is aimed at increasing pride, awareness, participation and diversity in neighborhood organizations.

The Maine Historical Society, a project partner, will host four workshops and present historical images and details from each neighborhood. Portland residents and former residents will be invited to share their own memories and photographs. The workshops are:

• West End: today, 6 to 8:30 p.m.

• Bayside: Wednesday, 6 to 8:30 p.m.

• East Bayside: July 31, 6 to 8:30 p.m.

• Libbytown: Aug. 1, 2012, 6 to 8:30 p.m.

All workshops will be held at the historical society, 489 Congress St.

The gathered stories will be linked to other neighborhood art projects and will be displayed in the neighborhoods in September.

CAMDEN

Police looking for man who tried to rob Rite Aid

Camden police are calling on the public to help locate a man who attempted to rob a Rite Aid Pharmacy on Saturday.

Detective Curt Andrick said the suspect entered the Elm Street pharmacy and demanded drugs.

Due to enhanced security measures that had been put in place, the suspect was not able to obtain any drugs, Andrick said. He then fled on foot.

The suspect is described as being 30-40 years old and 5 foot 8 inches tall with a medium build.

He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and had a blue bandana covering his face. He was wearing blue jeans and work boots. Anyone with information is asked to call Andrick at 236-3030.

SOUTH PORTLAND

Police find elderly woman with dementia in bushes

South Portland police were able to locate a 76-year-old woman who went missing from her Kaler Road home Monday afternoon.

Lt. Frank Clark said the woman has dementia and has wandered from her residence in the past. Clark said Mitchell’s home is off Route 77 near the Cape Elizabeth town line.

A family member reported her missing around 4:15 p.m. Clark said South Portland police officers searched the surrounding neighborhood with no success.

But around 7:30 p.m. Monday, police found the woman in bushes off Sawyer Street. Clark said she appeared to be unharmed.

Several hundred property owners in that neighborhood were electronically notified that she had gone missing.

AUGUSTA

DHHS avoids nearly all of expected shortfall

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services avoided nearly all of an expected $12.5 million shortfall that could have disrupted payments to providers at the end of June, the department announced in a news release today.

Commissioner Mary Mayhew warned lawmakers in May about a looming shortfall in the state’s Medicaid program, called MaineCare. The shortfall was the result of higher-than-expected costs in a handful of areas, including prescription drugs, the department had said.

Mayhew told lawmakers on Friday the department eliminated nearly all of the shortfall in the last five weeks of the fiscal year that ended June 30 and only had to defer one small payment to a nursing facility until July 2, the first business day of the new fiscal year.

Mayhew said the department was able to nearly eliminate the shortfall in part because of lower-than-expected costs, reimbursements from other parts of state government and increased drug rebates.

Crews start annual effort to paint highways’ stripes

Crews are hitting the road this week to kick off the state’s annual effort to paint stripes on highways throughout Maine.

The Department of Transportation says striping crews will lay down fresh paint on the center lines, edge lines and the on and off ramps on interstates 95, 295 and 395.

Motorists are being advised to keep their distance from paint trucks. Although the paint is fast-drying, officials say some drivers inevitably end up with white or yellow paint on their vehicles.

The striping initiative is expected to last until mid-August.

MAPLETON

FAA investigating crash of small plane in field

An investigator from the Federal Aviation Administration was expected to visit the site of a small-plane crash in Mapleton.

Patrick Driscoll, 39, tried to land the pontoon-equipped, single-engine plane on Hanson Lake on Sunday evening but the engine failed and he crashed in a field off Route 227. Driscoll walked away from the crash uninjured.

The plane, a Cessna A185F, sustained damage to at least one float, the fuselage, propeller and right wing.

PELHAM, N.H.

Standish man charged with assault in stabbing

A Maine man has been arrested in connection with a stabbing at a party in New Hampshire.

Police say 27-year-old Brian Simpson of Standish, Maine, was charged with first-degree assault. He was accused of stabbing a man during an argument at the party in Pelham on Sunday.

The Telegraph of Nashua reported the man was found with a “significant stab wound” to his left leg by officers. He has been hospitalized in stable condition.

Simpson was scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

CONCORD, N.H.

Police solve 1990 murder but suspect died in 2004

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said the 1990 murder of a Salem man has been solved, but there will be no charges because the suspect died in 2004.

John Pond was found stabbed to death in his home on Sept. 19, 1990. Police believed at the time that a man named Mark Craig was responsible, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Salem Police reopened the investigation in 2009, and in 2010, the attorney general’s Cold Case Unit joined them.

On Monday, authorities said they are confident that Craig, who died of a drug overdose in 2004, was the killer based on tests showing that his blood was found at the scene. Officials say Craig was angry that his girlfriend was getting back together with Pond’s brother.