KITTERY

Young girl found in woods with Ohio sex offender

Police say a young girl has been placed in the care of the state’s child welfare agency after being discovered with a sex offender from Ohio.

Kittery Police Chief Paul Callaghan said an officer noticed the man and the girl walking in woods Thursday night near the Rex Motel, and recognized the man from a notification from Ohio authorities. Callaghan said the man, the girl and the girl’s mother were all interviewed by police.

Callaghan told the Portsmouth Herald that authorities will investigate whether the girl’s mother gave permission for the girl to be alone with the man. He said the man, who was not identified, had not registered as a sex offender in Maine but still had time to do so without being penalized.

PRESQUE ISLE

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Disruptive woman thrown off plane in Presque Isle

Presque Isle police say a woman was kicked off a flight that was preparing to leave Northern Maine Regional Airport after she caused a disturbance on the plane.

Police said that Marangely Torres, 21, of Brockton, Mass., “became disruptive” before boarding the Boston-bound plane Saturday. They said that she eventually calmed down and was allowed on the flight, but then started causing problems again.

Police said the pilot brought the plane back to the gate, where an officer boarded the plane and removed Torres.

The Bangor Daily News reported that Torres was summoned for disorderly conduct and released. She is due in court June 20.

A telephone listing for Torres was out of service Saturday.

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According to an online flight status report, the plane was delayed for about 25 minutes.

PORTLAND

Housing outlook brightens for New England region

The latest housing report from RE/MAX of New England has some good news for the region.

The report shows double-digit growth in home sales in March compared to the year before in all six New England states, but prices remained flat or even lost ground in some cases.

The monthly report said home sales jumped 25.6 percent in Rhode Island and 25 percent in Vermont. The increases were less dramatic in the other four states in the region: 15.4 percent in Connecticut, 14.3 percent in Massachusetts, 12.3 percent in New Hampshire and 12.1 percent in Maine.

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Median sale prices were flat in Maine and Massachusetts but lost ground in the other four states. Nonetheless, Jay Hummer of RE/MAX of New England said median home prices are stabilizing.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.

Memorial Bridge section ready for journey south

The final section of the Memorial Bridge that used to connect New Hampshire and Maine has been removed.

Officials said the north span that connected the bridge to Badger’s Island in Kittery was removed by barge Saturday. More than 50 onlookers, many with binoculars, watched from Prescott Park and other waterfront locations.

The Portsmouth Herald reported that the barge will spend the weekend near Prescott Park; next week, it’ll travel to a Massachusetts recycling center where it’ll be cut up for scrap.

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Work crews began dismantling the nearly 90-year-old bridge earlier this year. A new one is planned connecting Portsmouth to Kittery next year.

AUGUSTA

Holocaust center to mark Day of Remembrance

The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine is holding an observance to remember the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust.

Today’s event includes a brief service featuring cantor Deborah Marlowe of Temple Beth Israel in Waterville, music, refreshments and the viewing of an award-winning film.

The Day of Remembrance was started in 1953 to honor the 10th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.

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The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine is based on the University of Maine at Augusta campus.

Work on main runway grounds commercial flights

Work on the main runway will ground commercial flights for two months at the airport in Maine’s capital city.

Cape Air will suspend operations while the Augusta State Airport’s main runway is closed for reconstruction during most or all of May and June.

The airport will remain open with a shorter 2,700-foot runway for smaller aircraft and charter flights. But Andrew Bonney of Massachusetts-based Cape Air said its aircraft need at least 3,200 feet of runway for daily flights between Augusta and Boston.

The Kennebec Journal reported that the $7.5 million improvement project at the airport, which is owned by the state but run by the city, began last fall. Cape’s Augusta flights will remain suspended until the 5,100-foot main runway reopens by June 1.

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BANGOR

Low water doesn’t stop participants from racing

Low water didn’t stop canoeists and kayakers from participating in Maine’s 46th annual Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race. Participants simply had to carry their watercraft past obstacles exposed by low water.

Veteran kayaker Trevor MacLean of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, took first place Saturday, but he was more than an hour off his 2011 winning time because of the less-than-ideal conditions caused by the hot, dry spring.

The Bangor Daily News reported that MacLean had to portage past competitors who either ran aground or were slowed after hitting rocks just a few hundred yards from the starting line.

The 16.5-mile event starts in Kenduskeag village and winds up in downtown Bangor. There were 278 watercraft at the starting line, representing the smallest number of participants since 1985.

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Wind energy developer handed defeat by LURC

Maine’s largest wind energy developer has been handed a defeat in its proposal for wind turbines on Bowers Mountain, but hopes to return with a scaled-back proposal.

The Land Use Regulation Commission voted 5-0 Friday to reject First Wind’s proposed 27-turbine project.

The project was opposed by hundreds of nature guides and others in tourism-based industries. David Corrigan, a registered Maine Master Guide, said the agency’s decision “sets a precedent as far as how these projects should be scrutinized and what the results should be.”

First Wind said it plans to come back with a scaled-back proposal. And the news wasn’t all bad Friday. The Bangor Daily News reported that the company announced it has financing to proceed with a 34-megawatt, 19-turbine project in Hancock County near Eastbrook.

— From news service reports


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