ALFRED

Guard knocked unconscious in skirmish with jail inmate

A corrections officer suffered a concussion in a skirmish at the York County Jail.

Sgt. Jill Brooks was injured after a maximum-security unit inmate refused to return to his cell around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office. She and another officer were summoned to help physically return the inmate to his cell, according to the sheriff’s office.

Brooks and the inmate, whose name was not released, fell to the ground, with Brooks striking her head and losing consciousness momentarily, according to the sheriff’s office.

Brooks was treated at Goodall Hospital in Sanford and released later in the evening.

The inmate was returned to his cell after additional officers got involved. The inmate was not injured, according to the sheriff’s office.

The jail was locked down as a precaution. Arrangements are being made to transfer the inmate, who is being held on charges of possession of a weapon by a felon and violating conditions of release.

Correctional Investigator Daniel Bean will present information to the district attorney to consider possible prosecution.

Authorities said they could not release the inmate’s name because he has not been charged in connection with the incident.

NAPLES

Grand jury indicts man in connection with ’06 break-in

A grand jury has indicted a man on charges connected to a break-in at a Naples home in 2006 just a month before the statute of limitations would have run out on the investigation.

State police say Brandon Libby, 29, was indicted this month on the charges of burglary and aggravated criminal mischief stemming from the March 2006 break-in.

Police tell WMTW-TV numerous items were stolen and the million-dollar home sustained more than $140,000 worth of damage to granite countertops, windows, doors and walls.

DNA evidence was recovered from the home in 2006 and submitted it to the state crime lab. But it wasn’t until July 2011 that the DNA was matched to Libby, officials said.

BANGOR

Maine gig on the schedule as Beach Boys get around

Good vibrations are coming to Maine this summer.

Waterfront Concerts promoter Alex Gray told the Bangor Daily News that the Beach Boys are scheduled to perform in Bangor this summer as part of their 50-state 50th anniversary tour.

It will be the first time in two decades that the three surviving members of the band will perform together with two other longtime members.

Bangor is scheduled to host the kings of summer beach music on June 22, at the Bangor Waterfront Pavilion. Tickets will go on sale on Feb. 24.

The Beach Boys have had 13 top 10 U.S. hits, including four No. 1 singles.

YORK

Standoff with suicidal man ends peacefully, police say

A York man was taken to the hospital for evaluation after a three-hour standoff with police before dawn Wednesday morning.

Police were called to a home on Peter Weare Road at 12:42 a.m. for a report of a 23-year-old suicidal man who had barricaded himself in the basement with a loaded gun.

Two other people who were home at the time were evacuated from the house, and a police negotiator and family members were able to persuade the man to come out peacefully, according to a news release. The release did not identify the man.

FARMINGTON

Residents thwart invaders at home; police investigate

Police are investigating an attempted home invasion in which the residents chased away two men who were trying to break into their home.

David Nelson III and his girlfriend awoke to someone knocking on their front door at 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Nelson told the Morning Sentinel that he yelled out that he was calling police. He said he saw a man with a rifle. The men tried to pry open the front door, then smashed a window.

As the men tried to climb through the window, Nelson and his girlfriend, Holly Norton, screamed that police were on the way. The men fled.

Police say one of the men cut his hand on the broken window, and police are comparing DNA from his blood to a criminal DNA database.

CONCORD, N.H.

Senators say another round of base closures unjustified

New Hampshire U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte are questioning the Department of Defense’s request for another Base Realignment and Closure round.

During a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting Tuesday, Shaheen expressed misgivings about the lack of investment in the nation’s public shipyards. Ayotte expressed skepticism that spending tens of billions of dollars to initiate a new BRAC round can be justified.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reaffirmed the department’s support for public shipyards, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Shaheen said the shipyard was removed from the last BRAC round because of its effectiveness, and mentioned it just delivered the USS San Juan attack submarine eight days ahead of schedule.

Ayotte pointed to a November 2009 Government Accountability Office letter that revealed the 2005 BRAC process cost significantly more than anticipated.

OTISFIELD

Friend from ‘across the pond’ helps with historic renovation

Efforts to save a historic building in Otisfield are getting a boost from an unlikely source thanks to an international friendship forged a half-century ago.

Otisfield Historical Society President Henry Hamilton says he has received word from London banker and lifelong friend Mian Ershad Zaheen that he will offer a $10,000 matching gift to the society to help pay for a $60,000 renovation project for the 1905 Town House.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Hamilton told the Sun Journal he first met Zaheen in the mid-1960s when he was 21 and serving with the U.S. Air Force in Pakistan. Zaheen, then 16, wanted to improve his English.

Zaheen was the best man at Hamilton’s wedding and the men have made frequent trans-Atlantic trips to visit each other.

VERONA ISLAND

Removal of defunct bridge set to begin this summer

The 86-year-old Waldo-Hancock Bridge, which spans the Penobscot River in the shadow of its modern replacement, will come down later this year.

Maine transportation officials say removal of the suspension bridge linking Verona Island and Prospect is expected to begin in the late summer, more than five years after the Penobscot Narrows Bridge opened.

The $7.6 million removal project is expected to take nearly a year, with the bulk of the deconstruction occurring next fall and winter in order to minimize effects on endangered fish and birds that live and breed on or below the bridge.

Douglas Coombs, assistant project manager with the Maine Department of Transportation, told the Bangor Daily News that the agency plans to solicit bids for the project in mid-June, with preparatory work beginning by mid-August or early September.