D5 Business D1 Classified Comics Puzzles D2 B5 Community Entertainment C4, D3-4 Heloise Horoscope D2 B3-4 Obituaries A3 Opinion C1-3 Sports TV Crossword C4, D3-4 INDEX Former South Portland standout shows potential at Tennessee C1 BASKETBALL RECALL FAILS Rain, snow mix WEATHER, D6 Pittston votes to keep Selectman Joe Caputo after controversy B1 Wednesday, March 20, 2024 Founded in 1904 Copyright 2024 $2.50 Morning Sentinel centralmaine.com Volume 121, Number 69 An edition of Central Maine Sunday BY AMY CALDER Morning Sentinel WATERVILLE The man arrested last week by the FBI after allegedly making online threats to kill President Joe Biden, other politicians and immigrants, suffers from mental illness and likely hurt anyone according to both his partner and mother. Benjamin Brown, 45, of 10 Spring Waterville, was arrested by the FBI on Contributed photo March 11 and charged with transmitting a threatening photo taken in California, according to partner. Both interstate communication in violation of federal law. He made an initial appear- ance on Tuesday, March 12, in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
Officials say what was seized in a search of apartment the day of his arrest, but his partner of 14 years said authorities took their com- puter, computer and tablet and couple of USB part- ner, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing her job, said Brown had no firearms or explosives. His mother, Rita Koyoumjian of Delaware, said she had nev- er known him to own guns or explosives. all she said. never known him to be in a fight. never known him to hurt anyone.
His medical background is ex- tensive and noncom- pliant with medication and A retired nurse, Koyoum- jian acknowledged that her son has had a long history of mental health issues from the time he was 2 years old. When she saw news reports of his being arrested in Wa- terville, she was disheart- ened that his mental health was not mentioned. Brown was diagnosed at Family speaks out on man arrested by FBI BY KEITH EDWARDS Kennebec Journal AUGUSTA A propos- al to require landlords to register their rental units so they could be inspected to ensure they meet safety codes appears to be dead. City councilors held a straw poll at their March 14 informational meeting on whether to continue for- ward with the ordinance. With councilors deadlocked at 4-4, Mayor Mark broke the tie, voting no.
The vote comes after the council heard from numer- ous landlords, and a few tenants, who complained the rental inspection ordi- nance, more than a year in the making, was an in- upon their fringement rights. It likely dooms the proposal, which was a wa- tered-down version of a rental inspection ordinance city staff offered in 2023 as a way for them to gain ac- cess to apartments and oth- er rental units and ensure they met safety codes. wondering out loud, having seen this and hear- ing the input tonight and throughout the process, whether or not the council is still interested in doing a registration process at said before the informal straw poll. if a majority of councilors interested in doing a registration process, which provides the foundation for an inspection program, then some of these details we have to spend time on, if not going to pursue the ordinance to begin Some councilors said the AUGUSTA Rental unit inspection proposal likely dead BY MIKE MANDELL Kennebec Sentinel You see teams; Sheldon Jacobson sees numbers. Before the 68-team NCAA basketball tournament field was even unveiled Sunday, a computer science profes- sor at the University of Illinois had already run roughly 3 million bracket simulations.
Where the teams would actually end up in that field? To Ja- cobson, that really matter. really care where the teams slot in; we just care about the structure of the brack- said Jacobson, who runs the simulations for his website, bracketodds. com. the (field is announced), score those throughout the tournament and report the results. very coun- terintuitive, but the fact is that the numbers do not Hidden in the seeds, Jacobson and many of his fellow statisticians believe, are patterns that unlock the key to success- ful NCAA tournament brackets.
A combination of identifying the optimal pathways and the right amount of luck, then, could be key to topping your pool this March. The NCAA tour- nament began Tuesday NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT Can science help predict winning bracket? BY RANDY BILLINGS Portland Press Herald Republican lawmakers said Tues- day that an interim report about the mass shooting in Lewiston confirms there is no justification for any of the new gun safety laws being proposed by Democrats. A commission investigating the mass shooting issued an interim report Friday afternoon that criti- cized the Sagadahoc County Sher- iff Office for not using existing laws to take the shooter, Robert Card into custody and remove his firearms months before the tragedy, after his family expressed concerns about his mental health and he assaulted a colleague and made threats. Card killed 18 peo- ple at two locations in Lewiston in October. In response to the mass shooting, Democrats have proposed a suite of bills, including a 72-hour waiting period and expanded background checks for firearm purchases and banning bump stocks and other devices intended to make semi-au- tomatic weapons fire more like an automatic.
Similar proposals were defeated in the Democratic-con- trolled Legislature last session. is no justification at this point for these bills seeing the Democrats put forward again, even through they already killed them (last year) in an attempt to restrict your Second Amendment Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, said during a brief news conference at the State House. Stewart noted that the Maine Constitution says the right to bear arms never be here we Stewart said. some folks are using a horrific tragedy to try to Maine GOP uses interim mass shooting report to argue against reforms Anna Sentinel Members of the UMaine basketball team pose Friday with the America East championship trophy after defeating Vermont in the confer- ence title game in Orono. Statisticians: Certain strategies, patterns in numbers can give edge Rich Sentinel Jim Scott, the chair of statistics and an associate pro- fessor of statistics at Colby College, poses by a student work space Tuesday at the Davis Science Cen- ter.
Scott taps into his knowledge of data and statistics to fill out his NCAA basketball tournament bracket. Benjamin Brown of Waterville is shown in a December 2023 she and mother say he suffers from mental illness and likely hurt anyone. Waterville man allegedly threatened violence online; relative says he suffers mental illness all mouth. never known him to be in a fight. never known him to hurt anyone.
His medical background is extensive and noncompliant with medication and treatment. RITA KOYOUMJIAN MOTHER OF BENJAMIN BROWN FBI, PAGE A4 he NCAA tour- nament began Tuesday night with two First Four games. INSPECTION, PAGE A4 PREDICT, PAGE A4 Commission faults office for not using existing laws to seize guns from shooter I response to the mass shooting, Democrats have proposed a suite of bills. REFORMS, PAGE A4.
