CAPE ELIZABETH

School Board ready to start superintendent interviews

The School Board will begin interviewing superintendent candidates within a week.

Fifteen candidates from nine states have applied for the position. The timetable for the search calls for semifinalists to be interviewed this month before the field is narrowed further. The School Board hopes to announce the finalists in mid-April.

The 11-member ad hoc Superintendent Credentials Review Committee is assisting the School Board in evaluating applicants. A hired consultant, Jackie Roy of Dennisport, Mass.-based J.A. Roy Associates, is also working on the search.

Ken Murphy, a retired Yarmouth superintendent, is serving as interim superintendent. Alan Hawkins retired as superintendent in December after serving for five years in Cape Elizabeth’s top school post.

BIDDEFORD

Town bicycle center receives $6,000 United Way grant

The Community Bicycle Center has received a $6,000 grant from the United Way of York County.

The one-year grant will be used to help teach life skills to young people through bicycling.

The center offers after-school and out-of-school programs, including drop-in bike maintenance, a girls-only riding group, seasonal mountain bike and road races, using bicycle parts to create art, and formal bike repair training groups.

The United Way of York County was able to invest in 78 community programs in the past year, serving children, youths, adults and families.

For more information, visit www.communitybike.net.

BELFAST

Man found hiding at home of woman he attacked in 2010

Police say a man jailed for attacking his girlfriend’s 78-year-old mother is back in custody after being caught hiding in the basement of the elderly woman’s home.

Police say Mark Belleisle, 53, was arrested about 5 a.m. Monday and charged with violating a protection order.

Belfast police say the woman fled her home after hearing Belleisle. But she ended up waiting barefoot in the snow before she could get help from a neighbor.

The Bangor Daily News reported that Belleisle was convicted of assaulting the same woman so badly in February 2010 that she needed to go to a hospital for treatment.

AUGUSTA

Coast Guard warns fishermen to pull shacks from river ice

The Coast Guard is warning fishermen to move their ice shacks from the Kennebec River as officials prepare to break up the ice.

The Coast Guard says ice-breaking operations could begin as soon as today because of forecasts for heavy rain, which will increase the possibility of ice jams and flooding.

Once under way, the ice breaking will begin in Merrymeeting Bay and proceed north to Gardiner. The Coast Guard plans to use four cutters and ice-breaking tugs.

PORTLAND

Group says home solar units could sharply reduce oil use

An environmental group says off-the-shelf solar hot-water technology could save millions of gallons of oil in Maine at a time when oil prices are rising.

Environment Maine released the report Thursday outside the Portland home of Sen. Justin Alfond, who has a rooftop solar hot-water system.

Phil Coupe, owner of ReVision Energy, which installs solar systems, says Maine gets 33 percent more sun than Germany, the world’s leader for solar installations.

Nathaniel Meyer from Environment Maine says the state needs to become more energy efficient and to begin moving to renewable energy sources.

LEWISTON

Woman charged in theft of $28,000 as housekeeper

A Lewiston woman has been charged with stealing $28,000 from a man who had hired her as a housekeeper.

Jennifer Ames, 34, was indicted Wednesday on a charge of unauthorized taking.

Terry Lowell of Auburn told the Sun Journal that Ames stole the money after he hired her to take care of his home while he tended to his wife, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Lowell said he discovered the money was missing when he and his wife returned home from a trip to Brunswick in January.

He said he had put the money aside to pay a previous caretaker.

PARIS

Ex-Rumford employee sold town aerator, kept money

The former parks superintendent in Rumford has pleaded guilty to charges he sold a piece of town equipment and kept the money.

Timothy Gallant, 53, of Roxbury acknowledged he sold a mechanical turf aerator in July 2007 after the town had purchased a new aerator.

Oxford County prosecutors say Rumford Town Manager Carlo Puiia noticed the discrepancy when looking through town records and referred the case to Rumford police.

In court on Wednesday, Gallant was required to pay the town $3,500 in restitution and was ordered to pay $20 a month for a year.

The Sun Journal reported that if Gallant meets the court’s conditions, the charges against him will be reduced. If he violates the conditions, he could get five years in prison.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Pingree asks House leaders to go back to ‘green’ plates

Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree says she’s unhappy with a switch to non-recyclable plastic foam plates and flatware in U.S. House cafeterias.

Pingree is sending a letter to House Republican leaders stating her objections to the switch. The 1st Congressional District representative says it may seem like a small thing, but it sends a terrible message.

Pingree says she can’t understand why House leaders would go out of their way to abandon environmentally sound practices when they should be focusing on jobs and the economy.

Two years ago, Democratic leaders led an initiative to compost food waste and use recyclable, biodegradable flatware in the cafeteria. Pingree says those “green” initiatives were paid for with the cafeteria system’s profits.