AUGUSTA — Maine’s Medicaid shortfall will be the dominant and most pressing issue as lawmakers return to the State House today to begin their 2012 session.

WATERVILLE — Mayor Karen Heck’s inaugural ball is scheduled for 8- 11 p.m. Saturday at Champions Fitness Center, at Elm Plaza.

WATERVILLE — The city’s new mayor, Karen Heck, called Tuesday for the safe return of Ayla Reynolds.

AUGUSTA — Republican lawmakers have rejected the most controversial piece of Gov. Paul LePage’s plan to balance the Department of Health and Human Services’ budget, which would have cut funding for homes that serve the elderly, the mentally ill and people with substance abuse problems.

WATERVILLE — It’s not unusual for police to advise people against speaking to the media.

PORTLAND — The trustees of the Cumberland County Civic Center have chosen a new architectural team to develop building plans for the center’s $33 million renovation, replacing the firm that developed the project’s concept design.

The drunken-driving case against Scarborough Town Councilor Judith Roy is scheduled to go to trial, though prosecutors and her attorney said a trial remains unlikely.

IN FAIRFIELD, Friday at 11:54 a.m., a 911 hang-up call was investigated on Center Road.

CHINA — Selectmen had planned to require financial audits from the three fire departments and China Rescue as a condition of their 2012 budget requests.

FAIRFIELD — A Norridgewock man was arrested on a cocaine possession charge after the vehicle in which he was a passenger struck a utility pole Saturday morning on Route 139.