Central Maine News: January 25, 2016

These are some of the stories central Maine is talking about today.

(KJ) — The time limit for parking spaces on most of Water Street in Downtown Augusta has been raised to two hours from the previous one-hour limit. Officials hope the change will give shoppers and diners more time to spend in downtown shops and restaurants and said it is more in line with parking restrictions elsewhere. Some merchants support the change while others say it won’t benefit most downtown businesses and fear it could make finding a place to park harder because spots will be occupied for longer periods of time.

(AP) — The LePage administration is trying to address chronic staff shortages at the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta, but say the hospital still struggles to recruit and retain qualified staff. Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew told the Government Oversight Committee yesterday that allowing employees to work three 12-hour shifts and receive full benefits would help rebuild the staff.

(AP) — State police have charged a 20-year-old Fairfield woman with murder in connection with the death of her newborn son. Police say they arrested Kayla Stewart at her home on Friday without incident. The infant’s body was found in the detached garage of her mobile home on January 11.  Her first court appearance is scheduled to take place on Monday in Skowhegan.

(AP) -- A Minnesota-based aircraft development company has chosen Maine's Brunswick Landing as the site where it will develop a new amphibious aircraft.  The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority announced the lease with MVP Aero on Friday. The Authority is in charge of redevelopment at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. MVP company officials say the new aircraft's wings will be able to be folded, allowing it to access marinas, boathouses and other tight quarters. The aircraft's design will also allow it to be trailered and stored off site.

(AP) -- The Maine Association of Realtors says sales of existing single-family homes increased 11 percent last year compared to 2014. The association says the median sale price also rose 3.1 percent and that 15,672 homes were sold in the state over the course of the year. The median price was $180,500. National sales were up 7.7 percent compared to 2014. Maine’s existing home sales in December were up 15.6 percent from a year earlier. The median price fell by 2.2 percent to $177,750 in that time.

(AP) — For some people on the East Coast, the weekend is extending into Monday because of closed schools and government offices. Roads are still slippery, transit service is spotty and cars are still buried in snow. The weekend blizzard dropped snow from the Gulf Coast to New England, with near-record snowfalls tallied from Washington, D.C. to New York City. At least 30 deaths are blamed on the weather, with some people suffering heart attacks while shoveling snow.

(AP) — Federal authorities are offering $50,000 in rewards for information leading to the recapture of three inmates who escaped from a maximum-security jail in Southern California. Twenty-year-old Jonathan Tieu, 43-year-old Bac Duong and 37-year-old Hossein Nayeri were each awaiting trial for violent crimes. Somehow, the men obtained tools that allowed them to cut through the quarter-inch-thick grill on a dormitory wall and escape through plumbing tunnels early Friday.

(AP) — A new video released by the Islamic State group shows the extent of planning that went into the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris. The video shows the nine attackers committing atrocities in IS-controlled territory while plotting the Paris attacks that left 130 people dead. The video is likely to serve as a recruitment toll to rally followers. All nine attackers are dead.