AUGUSTA — City councilors spent nearly two hours Thursday grilling officials about a state plan to move patients who have committed criminal acts off state property.

A Fayette teenager has been summoned on a charge of arson in connection with a fire that destroyed a vacant home in Mount Vernon last month.

The use of robo calls to influence voters on the Regional School Unit 18 budget referendum vote may be unusual, but there’s nothing illegal about them, according to state officials.

CAPE ELIZABETH — Most tourists who come to Maine aren’t about to go home without eating lobster — and they’re not going to be deterred by high prices.

AUGUSTA — A Sidney man charged with raping a 4-year-old girl was among the more than three dozen people indicted this week by a grand jury in Kennebec County Superior Court.

AUGUSTA — After struggling to recruit and retain an executive director, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Kennebec Valley has closed its capital city office and a Rockland-based organization is seeking to take its place, group officials said Thursday.

Sgt. Ken Grimes of the State Fire Marshal’s Office said investigators closed the case Thursday. The fire was deemed accidental, but the exact cause is unknown.

“The fire originated in the attic near several electrical conductors. Something went wrong with the electrical system itself,” he said.