MACHIAS (AP) – A Machias man accused of murdering his former girlfriend and another man has changed his plea to guilty and now faces a Feb. 27 sentencing.

Twenty-seven-year-old Richard Widdecombe Jr. of Machias last year confessed to shooting and killing Katie Cabana, 29, and Aaron Settipani, 41, at Cabana’s home in Marshfield on Jan. 23, 2008. In April, he entered a plea of not guilty and not criminally responsible by reason of mental defect.

On Monday, Widdecombe appeared in Washington County Superior Court and changed his plea to guilty.

Widdecombe showed no emotion as he answered the questions of Judge E. Allen Hunter. Widdecombe faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison on each count.

Masked men steal guns, cash at store

BENTON (AP) – Police say two masked men took cash and 10 handguns in a late-night robbery of a country store in central Maine.

Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty says two men – one with a baseball bat, the other with a metal pipe – entered Bob’s County Store in Benton at about 10:10 p.m. Sunday and ordered the clerks to hand over the money from two cash registers.

After receiving the cash, the men smashed a display case and took handuns that were on display. The stolen firearms were valued at $6,000.

Liberty says the stolen guns included a Walther P22, a Taurus .25, a Ruger Super RedHawk .454 and a Beretta 92FS.

Texting costs teen her driver’s license

WATERVILLE (AP) – A Maine teenager who told police she dozed off when she slammed into another car on Interstate 95 has lost her license – for texting while driving.

Trooper Jeff Beach checked the girl’s cell phone after her car crashed into the rear of a second vehicle, causing minor injuries, last August in Sidney. He discovered that the 16-year-old girl had been trading text messages at the time of the crash.

The teen was fined $137 last week and her license was suspended for six months.

Maine law prohibits any driver under the age of 18 from using a cell phone or other hand-held electronic device while driving.

Ice sends cars pinballing on I-95

MEDWAY – Icy road conditions Saturday night on Interstate 95 near the Medway exit led to four separate crashes, involving at least nine cars. One wreck was serious enough to send a New Brunswick man to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor by LifeFlight helicopter.

State Police Trooper Barry Meserve said a brief rain shower created glare-ice conditions on the northbound side of the highway, causing some vehicles to slide off the road into a snowbank. The incidents all happened within about 250 yards in the area just before the bridge over the West Branch of the Penobscot River.

– Bangor Daily News

State police started to receive calls about the wrecks at about 8:20 p.m.