PORTLAND

Police ask DA to charge aide who brought gun to school

Police asked the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office on Monday to charge a teacher's aide who mistakenly brought a handgun into Riverton Community School last week.

Capt. Ted Ross said detectives completed their investigation of Wednesday's incident and submitted a report to the district attorney.

Possession of a firearm on school property is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum six-month jail sentence.

School officials haven't identified the aide because it's a personnel matter. Police won't identify the aide unless she is charged with a crime.

The aide told police and school officials that she didn't realize the gun was in her swim bag, where students noticed it. She said the gun wasn't loaded.

She said she immediately removed the bag from the elementary school, put it in her car and reported the incident to the principal. She was put on paid leave pending an investigation by school officials.

Discipline could range from a verbal warning to dismissal.

School department fires custodian accused of assault

A custodian in a Portland school who was accused of assaulting a student was fired on Thursday.

Superintendent Jim Morse declined to provide further information but said it wasn't sexual assault.

Morse said he notified police of the incident. No report of the crime had been filed with police as of Monday afternoon, said Capt. Ted Ross.

Ross said Maine law defines assault as intentionally causing bodily injury or unwanted physical contact, such as pushing, grabbing or punching.

It's a misdemeanor that carries a sentence of as much as a year in jail.

Police cite arson in blaze at B&M plant warehouse

Police say the fire that damaged a vacant warehouse at the Burnham & Morrill baked bean factory was arson.

The fire, reported at 3 a.m., damaged part of the building before firefighters extinguished it, authorities said. Nobody was injured.

Police did make an unrelated arrest, said Capt. Ted Ross, head of detectives. Police arrested Joshua Welch, 31, of Portland on a charge of criminal trespass. He was found within a fenced-in area at the plant, Ross said.

Hearing for man accused of torching cars postponed

A plea hearing was postponed Monday for a Portland man who is accused of setting nearly a dozen cars on fire over 2 hours last year.

Thomas Cassidy, 20, was due in Cumberland County Superior Court to face multiple counts of arson and other charges stemming from a series of fires in which 10 cars burned between about 4 and 6 a.m. on April 11, 2008. Three of the fires spread to nearby buildings. No one was hurt.

Cassidy is also accused of vandalizing or burglarizing at least nine parked cars. His attorney said last month that his client has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a prison sentence of no more than 10 years.

WESTBROOK

Pike Industries seeks delay of Dec. 7 rezoning hearing

Pike Industries wants to slow the city's effort to rezone the Five Star Industrial Park.

The company's attorneys will deliver a request to Westbrook City Hall this morning, asking that the City Council postpone its Dec. 7 public hearing on the rezoning proposal.

If the park is rezoned to light industrial, Pike Industries will not be able to operate in the park.

Westbrook's planning board voted 5-1 this month to recommend that the park be rezoned.

Pike Industries, in a statement released Monday, called the Dec. 7 hearing "premature" and said it wants to reschedule the hearing to a date that allows a "fair hearing and thoughtful action."

AUGUSTA

Black bear teeth yield facts about state bear population

Teeth...