KENNEBUNK

Town gives CMP green light to upgrade the power grid

Central Maine Power Co. has received approval from Kennebunk to upgrade the power grid, the last major hurdle in municipal permitting for the massive project.

The 5.5 miles of 345,000- and 115,000-volt electrical lines in Kennebunk will be part of the $1.4 billion Maine Power Reliability Program, which involves 450 miles of transmission lines.

The Journal Tribune said Kennebunk granted approval last week. The only other town that has not granted approval is Bowdoin, and spokesman John Carroll said CMP is delaying its permit request there because it’s good only for one year and the work is not scheduled to begin until later.

The project aims to double the capacity of the backbone of the state’s power grid when it’s completed in 2015. Carroll said the project is currently providing 2,200 jobs.

DEXTER

Boston man accidentally shoots himself in the leg

A Massachusetts man has been hospitalized after police say he accidentally shot himself in the leg while visiting Maine.

Dexter Police Chief Jim Emerson said Paul Lalicata of Boston was getting out of his vehicle just after 4 p.m. Saturday when he decided to unload his shotgun. The gun went off and shot Lalicata in the calf.

Emerson said there was a lot of blood but that Lalicata, from Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood, is expected to survive.

The Bangor Daily News reported that he was listed in fair condition at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor on Monday.

Emerson said the gun was inspected but police found no mechanical problems.

JAY

Police respond to burglary call, then arrest homeowner

A Jay man who called police to report a burglary at his garage got in trouble himself when responding officers uncovered what they called an elaborate marijuana-growing operation at his home.

Police said Earl Williamson, 49, was arrested Sunday on charges including cultivation of marijuana.

Two officers responded to Williamson’s home after he reported people trying to break into his garage.

The responding officers detected a strong smell of marijuana.

After an investigation, it was determined there was a growing operation in the upstairs of the garage.

The Sun Journal reported that police seized about 25 pot plants, several of them fully matured, and about 14 ounces of processed marijuana. Growing equipment was also seized.

Williamson was released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

FALMOUTH

Town delays announcement on plans for school properties

Town officials are making progress in reviewing multiple proposals to reuse or redevelop the former Plummer-Motz and Lunt school properties.

Town Manager Nathan Poore had planned to make an announcement about the proposals Tuesday morning, if the Town Council gave him the OK during an executive session Monday night.

The announcement has been postponed until Jan. 17, said Theo Holtwijk, Falmouth’s long-range planning director.

The council asked town staff to work out several details that require consultation with the town’s attorney, Holtwijk said in an email to The Portland Press Herald.

The council plans to hold a public hearing Jan. 23 on the pending disposition of the 20-acre school complex on Lunt Road, Holtwijk said.

The town likely received at least two proposals in November, though town officials have discussed none of them publicly. One was expected from OceanView at Falmouth, the 60-acre retirement community next to the school complex.

Redfern North Atlantic, a group of local development and design professionals, also submitted a proposal to redevelop the complex into a variety of residential, commercial, community and school uses.

PORTLAND

Maine program recognized for fostering higher education

The New England Board of Higher Education is honoring a Maine program that targets high school students who are undecided about higher education but who have the potential to succeed in college.

The board said Early College for ME will be awarded its Maine State Merit Award at the10th annual New England Higher Education Excellence Awards on March 2 in Boston.

Early College for ME serves more than 1,700 high school students a year, providing support and guidance throughout the college planning process.

Students also get to take up to two community college courses during their senior year, and scholarships of up to $2,000 to the community colleges.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Maine DOT gets federal funds to fix storm-damaged roads

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded nearly $3 million to the Maine Department of Transportation to repair or reconstruct federal aid highways and roads on federal land damaged during Tropical Storm Irene.

The money was granted under the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief program.

The department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awarded a $650,000 formula grant to the Maine Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Highway Safety to support the state’s highway safety programs.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both R-Maine, said in a joint statement that the money will keep the highways safe and accessible.

PHOENIX

Investigators confirm link in violence to N.H. couple

Investigators said Tuesday they believe the same man who fatally shot a New Hampshire couple near a scenic northern Arizona resort town also killed a sheriff’s deputy several days later in Phoenix.

Ballistics experts confirmed that the rifle casings found at the scenes of both crimes last weekend came from the assault rifle used by Drew Ryan Maras, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. Maras, 30, was killed by sheriff’s deputies in return fire.

Arpaio described Maras as a Marine Corps reservist who briefly attended Arizona State University, recently lost his maintenance job in nearby Peoria and was living out of his van.

The deaths of the New Hampshire couple had baffled authorities over the weekend. The bodies of James Johnson of Jaffrey and Carol Raynsford of Nelson were found in a sedan at a remote highway turnout. Investigators said they found six shell casings on one side of the car, and two on the other side.

GOULDSBORO

Authorities identify body as that of missing Sullivan man

Officials say a body found on an eastern Maine island Jan. 4 was that of a 57-year-old man who was reported missing last month.

The state Medical Examiner’s Office said that the body found on Stave Island in Gouldsboro was that of Wayne Hodgkins of Sullivan.

Police told the Bangor Daily News that the cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.