PORTLAND

Ayla’s mom says she wasn’t able to finish lie detector test

The mother of a toddler reported missing from her father’s Waterville home a month ago says she was unable to finish a lie detector test because of a medical condition.

Trista Reynolds, the mother of 21-month-old Ayla Reynolds, said in a message posted on a website dedicated to finding the little girl that she started taking a polygraph test on Wednesday but was told by the test administrator that she could not finish because of the undisclosed condition.

Trista Reynolds said she would be willing to complete the test after treatment by a doctor, but added that investigators were content with the results of the incomplete test.

The toddler’s father, Justin DiPietro, previously took a polygraph test but has said police did not show him the results. State police said they did give DiPietro the results, but wouldn’t release them to the media. The girl’s parents do not live together.

Police say missing Occupy signs taken by an Occupier

Portland police say they’ve figured out what happened to the Occupy Maine signs that disappeared from the group’s encampment in the city.

As many as 40 signs were reported missing from the encampment at Lincoln Park last weekend. Deputy Chief Mike Sauschuck said Thursday it turns out that they were removed by an Occupy member.

A Portland Occupy member who is not being identified told police he removed the signs with the intention of helping clean up the park. Apparently other Occupy members weren’t aware of that and reported the signs missing.

Sauschuck says no one’s been arrested or charged. Police gave the name of the person who took down the signs to Occupy’s attorney so a decision can be made whether to pursue charges.

SACO

Police hunt man who robbed pharmacy of drugs

Police are looking for a man who handed a pharmacy clerk a threatening note Thursday morning and escaped with prescription medication.

Police were called to the Community Pharmacy at the corner of Main and Pleasant streets at 10:49 a.m. The man did not show a gun but said he had one. Nobody was injured.

The man escaped out the rear door of the pharmacy onto Pleasant Street.

The man was in his mid-20s to mid-30s with short dark hair, 5-foot 8-inches tall, and weighing 180 to 200 pounds, witnesses told police. He was wearing a navy blue zipper-style hooded jacket with a white emblem on the left side of the chest, jeans, white-and-red tattered sneakers and sunglasses, police said.

Police asked that anyone with information about the incident call 284-4535.

SOUTH PORTLAND

Cape woman charged with hitting police cruiser’s door

A Cape Elizabeth woman is charged with driving drunk and leaving the scene of an accident after she hit the door of a police cruiser with its emergency lights on, then drove off, police said.

South Portland police say Officer Rocco Navarro had pulled over a car on Broadway near Scammon Street at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

He was just opening his door after checking the driver’s license and registration when Elizabeth Hunt, 55, drove a Jeep Wrangler into the door, yanking it out of Navarro’s hand. She then pulled in front of the cruiser, veered left to avoid the stopped car and drove off.

She was pulled over a short time later by another officer. Navarro was checked out by rescue workers and was not injured, police said.

In 2010, Navarro had stopped his cruiser on the Casco Bay Bridge behind a disabled motorist when his cruiser was hit from behind by a man who was distracted by his cellphone, police say. Navarro was out of work for months and had a lengthy and painful rehabilitation.

Police say it is a civil infraction to fail to move to the left when passing an emergency vehicle, punishable by a $250 fine.

BANGOR

Sheriff defends decision to tell friend of investigation

The Penobscot County sheriff is defending his decision to tell his friend and longtime area activist the Rev. Robert Carlson that he was under investigation by Maine State Police, Carlson committed suicide hours later.

Sheriff Glenn Ross told the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday that he felt compelled to tell Carlson he was under investigation for suspected child abuse because Carlson was on the Penobscot County Jail’s board of visitors and Ross wanted to limit his access to the jail. Carlson was the jail’s chaplain.

Ross denied any ethical breach.

Results of a Waldo County sheriff’s department investigation into Carlson’s death were released Wednesday.

The two knew each other for decades and Ross said he was heartbroken by Carlson’s death.

Carlson jumped to his death off a Bucksport bridge on Nov. 11.

LEWISTON

State gets another allotment of low-income energy aid

Maine has received nearly $10 million in heating aid under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The latest allotment released by the federal government brings Maine’s total this year to nearly $40 million this winter, down from $55.6 million last year.

Rep. Michael Michaud said he recently sent a letter to President Obama asking him to request $5.1 billion for LIHEAP’s national budget next year, a level that would represent full funding for the program.

DEDHAM

Cause of crash that killed Massachusetts man unknown

Police say the cause of a head-on crash in Dedham last month that claimed the life of a Massachusetts man remains a mystery and may never be known.

Dallas Whatley of Taunton, Mass., was killed in the Dec. 20 collision when his car crossed the centerline of Route 1A near Dedham Town Office and struck a pickup.

The 39-year-old Whatley was visiting friends in the area and died at the scene. The pickup’s driver suffered a leg injury.

Police told the Bangor Daily News that they have ruled out cellphone use as a cause and do not believe alcohol was involved.

Toxicology tests are pending.

AUGUSTA

Ex-Patriot coming to back head injury safety measures

Former New England Patriots linebacker Andre Tippett will be at the State House next week to support a legislative proposal to better manage concussions in youth sports.

Tippett is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is now the Patriots’ executive director of community affairs. He was drafted in 1982 and led the New England defense his entire career before retiring in 1993.

Tippett will come to Augusta to support LD 98, which would direct the Maine Commissioner of Education to adopt guidelines for identifying head injuries and safely returning injured students to school and athletics. The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee is expected to take up the bill Wednesday afternoon.

In addition to the Patriots’ support, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NCAA President Mark Emmert wrote a letter to Gov. Paul LePage last week asking him to support the proposal.

State gets lower grades on anti-smoking programs

Maine’s latest report card on tobacco use shows a continuing slide in the state’s grades.

The American Lung Association of Maine, whose report card was released Thursday, gave Maine an A for protecting people from secondhand smoke and a B for helping smokers quit.

But Maine gets a C for not raising its cigarette tax beyond the current $2 per pack. The anti-smoking group gives Maine a D, its first ever, for funding tobacco-prevention programs at less than the federal government’s recommended figure.

The lung association’s Ed Miller says the A, B, C and D grades reflect a downward slide from 2005 when Maine got straight A’s.

The group favors a cigarette tax increase and continued Medicaid reimbursements for smoking cessation programs.

HARTFORD, Conn.

Regents panel backing former UMaine president

The new Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education is advising the governor to appoint its interim president, a former president of the University of Maine, to the permanent position.

The regents voted Thursday to ask Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to appoint Robert A. Kennedy to the board presidency, a spot he has held on an interim basis since September.

Since Malloy had originally nominated Kennedy to that interim position, it’s expected he will approve the regents’ recommendation to make it permanent.

The regents oversee the state’s 12 community colleges, the online Charter Oak State College and the four regional state universities: Eastern, Western, Southern and Central Connecticut state universities.

About 95,000 students attend those schools.