Central Maine News: January 28, 2016

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

(AP) — One day Maine's governor is commented about using the guillotine on drug dealers. The next, he's talking about using guns. Gov. Paul LePage told reporters Wednesday that Mainers are allowed to carry concealed handguns and added: "Load up and get rid of the drug dealers." LePage later said he wasn't suggesting vigilantism and yes he was joking.  His comments during a visit to Lewiston come a day after he joked about using the guillotine on drug dealers. The Republican governor has voiced frustration over out-of-state drug dealers he blames for fueling Maine's heroin epidemic. He said he supports charging them with a homicide if their drugs are linked to an overdose death. He also said Maine should bring back the death penalty.

(AP) — Lewiston and Auburn already share some consolidated services, but Gov. Paul LePage wants them to go further. He wants them to merge into one city straddling the Androscoggin River. LePage made the comment Wednesday when he met mayors. LePage told the mayors that the combined city could become "the next economic engine" and the "next Portland" with a population of 150,000 within five years. LePage also offered to come back and meet with city councilors on both sides of the Androscoggin River to discuss the issue.

(AP) — Gov. Paul LePage wants to reduce overcrowding in Maine's jails by allowing nonviolent inmates to serve their time at home while wearing electronic monitoring bracelets. LePage mentioned the issue this week during a televised forum in Bangor, saying nonviolent offenders and people struggling with addiction and mental illness should be allowed to serve their sentences outside of prison so they can access treatment. He said the proposal will be part of a comprehensive package aimed at addressing Maine's overcrowded correctional system. LePage's comments on electronic monitoring came on the same day he re-affirmed his support for capital punishment for drug dealers.

(AP) — A woman charged with murder in connection with the killing of a man in Augusta died on the way to the hospital after she was found hanging in her jail cell in an apparent suicide. State police say a corrections officer found 27-year-old Zina Fritz hanging by a bed sheet Wednesday. She died on the way to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta. Police say Fritz's body was transferred to the State Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy. Fritz and two others were charged in the death of 31-year-old Joseph Marceau of Augusta. His body was found by police while responding to a report of a disturbance in an apartment building on Nov. 23.

(AP) — A UPS driver who pleaded guilty to stealing prescription drugs intended for military veterans has been sentenced to two years' probation. Jeffrey Wheeler Jr. was also ordered Tuesday to pay nearly $1,400 in restitution. Prosecutors said the 31-year-old Sebago man stole several shipments of prescription narcotic medications worth almost $1,000 that were shipped via UPS between December 2013 and February 2014. He pleaded guilty in September to theft from interstate shipments of goods. The packages were shipped from a Veteran Affairs medical facility in Togus to a UPS distribution facility in Massachusetts before being returned to Maine.

(AP) — Colby College has purchased its fifth building in downtown Waterville as officials seek to revitalize the heart of the city. The building is on Main Street building located near a building the college bought last summer. The City Council voted last week to authorize City Manager Michael Roy to begin talks with the college to sell a city-owned lot. The school wants to build a student and faculty dormitory there. The plans are part of Colby's ongoing effort to redevelop the downtown area with new and refurbished buildings.

(KJ) -- Waterville Police are searching for a gun-wielding man who reportedly accosted a woman on The Concourse and demanded she let him into her car. She activated her car security alarm and the man started to back up. According to the KJ, he said, ‘I’m homeless. I’m sorry,’ and he took off south on The Concourse.

(KJ) -- The girlfriend of a man who died after he was pepper-sprayed in 2014 at the Somerset County Jail and the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office have agreed to settle a lawsuit that could pay her and her son close to $2 million. According to the KJ, Pamela Swett charged in the suit that her boyfriend, Joseph Daoust, was denied proper medical treatment while he was waiting to go to court and that negligence by corrections officers led to his death. A judge ruled in November that the case will be settled. The details are scheduled to be finalized by early February.

(AP) — The leader of the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon is telling followers to go home. An attorney for Ammon Bundy read a statement after Bundy made his first court appearance in Portland Wednesday. Bundy and seven others were taken into custody Tuesday, and three more people suspected of being linked to the armed occupation surrendered Wednesday.

(AP) — A new analysis finds that more white Americans now share the view that racism is a national problem and should be confronted. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Northeastern University School of Journalism reviewed recent public opinion polling and found that a majority of Americans across racial groups think more should be done to end racism, an opinion long held by minorities.