National Guard unit returns from Wisconsin

SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) — Dozens of members of the Maine National Guard’s 265th Combat Communications Squadron are back home.

Official say the 76 soldiers from Maine returned home Tuesday after joining more than 6,500 personnel participating in the Global Lightning training exercise last month at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.

The exercise provided practice in initial patient evacuation from the field through final placement within a treatment facility using helicopters and airplanes. The training exercise included members from the Air Force Reserve, Army Reserve and Navy, along with British, Saudi and Canadian forces.

The 265th provided communications equipment utilizing radio and radio networks at five forward operating bases. The soldiers set up and managed networks and even configured laptops.

Man pleads guilty to child pornography

PORTLAND (AP) — A 29-year-old Portland man is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges.

The Portland Press Herald reports federal agents said William Roscoe tried to blame hackers and his girlfriend’s son when they caught him downloading child pornography in April. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal possession charge.

Roscoe appeared in federal court in Portland and waived his right to have his case presented to a grand jury.

Authorities say Roscoe repeatedly told them someone either hacked into the computer he was using or broke into the apartment and accessed it that way. He also said his girlfriend’s 13-year-old son may have been looking at child pornography.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 7.

Man expresses

remorse for stabbing

BANGOR (AP) — An Orono man who pleaded no contest to stabbing and blinding his mother’s boyfriend has apologized in court and asked a judge for leniency.

Twenty-two-year-old Dorian Guerin pleaded no contest earlier this month to a charge of elevated aggravated assault in the December 2013 stabbing of 50-year-old Mike Dow. Prosecutors say Guerin stabbed Dow multiple times during a fight in an Orono rooming house. Dow is permanently blinded and needs round-the-clock care.

In exchange for Guerin’s plea, prosecutors dropped an attempted murder charge.

Prosecutors are seeking 15 years behind bars for Guerin. His lawyer is asking for an eight-year sentence.

Guerin, who has mental health and substance abuse issues, said at Tuesday’s hearing that he is remorseful.

The judge is expected to rule Thursday.

UNE, Maine Army National Guard to swap Portland armory

PORTLAND (AP) — The University of New England and Maine Army National Guard are swapping properties in a deal that the two parties say has been in the works for years.

The guard is granting the university ownership of a 65,000-square-foot armory building on Stevens Avenue that is adjacent to the school’s Portland campus. The school and guard say the university took the deed to the property last week.

The university is giving the guard 29 acres of land in Saco in exchange for the facility. The parties say the guard can build a modern “readiness center” on the Saco land.

The parties say it will take several months for the guard to transition out of the Stevens Avenue armory and for the university to move in.