PORTLAND

Minnelli will perform at Merrill on Sept. 29

Stage and screen star Liza Minnelli is coming to Portland.

Minnelli, daughter of actress Judy Garland, will open the Portland Ovations’ 2010-11 performance season.

She will sing at Merrill Auditorium in Portland on Sept. 29, appearing with a quartet led by jazz pianist Billy Stritch. Minnelli will perform American standards.

Members of Portland Ovations will get the first shot at tickets beginning June 7. Tickets to the general public will be available beginning June 21.

Portland Ovations will preview its season with an event June 2 at the Portland Public Library. Ticket prices have not been set yet.

The other performance in the Portland Ovations’ season that has been announced is Bill Cosby, who will perform in Portland on Oct. 16.

Cosby tickets are on sale. Minnelli has won an Oscar, an Emmy, two Golden Globes, multiple Tony Awards and numerous other awards. 

Red Claws season tickets on sale for 2010-11 games

Season tickets for the 2010-11 Maine Red Claws season are now on sale.

Ticket prices will remain the same as they were for the inaugural season, which saw the Red Claws sell out all 24 home games at the Portland Expo. Season tickets will range from $240 to $600 for the regular season, with a limited number of premium seat packages available.

Season ticket holders will have the option of buying either the traditional paper tickets or receiving a season ticket card.

Individual game tickets, including the end zone seats, will go on sale in November.

For more information or to purchase season tickets, call 210-6655 or go to www.maineredclaws.com. 

Franklin’s inbound lanes closing Monday morning

The inbound lanes of Franklin Arterial from Congress Street to Middle Street will be closed between 7 and 11 a.m. Monday while construction equipment is moved into place near the Police Department.

The city will detour traffic from Congress Street to Pearl Street to Middle Street. Commuters may want to seek an alternate route to avoid traffic. 

Man facing 10 years to life in prison for drug trafficking

A Georgia man faces between 10 years and life in prison after a jury in federal court this week convicted him on drug trafficking charges.

Leonard Jones, 30, was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and Ecstasy.

Jones transported the drugs from Georgia to the Lewiston area between 2006 and April of 2008, according to Paula Silsby, U.S. Attorney for Maine. Jones made at least 14 trips to Maine. He and local dealers trafficked drugs out of seven different apartments in and around Lewiston, Silsby said in a media release.

A sentencing date has not yet been set. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Lewiston Police Department, the Maine State Police and the Central Maine Violent Crimes Task Force.

AUGUSTA

State offices are closing for holiday, furlough day

State offices will be closed Monday and Tuesday as the state celebrates Patriots Day and adds a furlough day designed to save money.

Maine parks will be open for both the holiday and the furlough day, according to the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.

Some Maine state campgrounds are open, including Sebago Lake, Bradbury Mountain, Camden Hills, Lake St. George, and Cobscook Bay, according to a statement from the bureau. Visitors should call ahead.

Maine forest rangers also will be on duty.

However, most state offices will be closed for the state’s ninth furlough of the biennium.

The last furlough day this fiscal year for state agencies and offices will be Friday, May 28. 

State attorney general rules trooper justified in shooting

Maine Attorney General Janet Mills says a state trooper’s shooting of a Searsport man last December was justified.

Mills says Trooper Corey Smith acted within the law when he shot and wounded 24-year-old Matthew Sylvester in the arm.

Police say the shooting happened early in the morning after Sylvester allegedly shot another man with whom he had been fighting. Smith was investigating the shooting.

Mills says an investigation concluded that Smith reasonably believed that unlawful deadly force was threatened by Sylvester and that the shooting was necessary.

BANGOR

Man found guilty of cashing dead mom-in-law’s checks

A Maine man faces up to 10 years in prison for cashing his dead mother-in-law’s retirement checks.

A federal court jury on Thursday convicted 61-year-old David Young, of Caribou, of conversion of government money and three counts of income tax fraud.

According to federal prosecutors, Young stole and cashed Civil Service Retirement System checks in 2004 and 2005 that were made out to his mother-in-law, who was deceased.

Prosecutors said Young then lied on his federal tax returns when he failed to report the income.

Woman gets five years in drug death of brother

A federal judge sentenced a Rockland woman to five years in prison Friday in connection with her brother’s death five years ago.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced Rochelle Kenney, 51, to nearly twice the recommended sentence at the high end of the federal sentencing guidelines.

Kenney pleaded guilty on June 9 to health care fraud and distribution of methadone. She admitted giving her brother, John Kenney, 43, of Rockland some of her take-home dose of liquid methadone on April 26, 2005, which is the day he died.

In addition to prison time, Woodcock sentenced Kenney to three years of supervised release after she completes her prison term. He also ordered her to pay nearly $161 in restitution to MaineCare for the methadone dose she shared.

STEUBEN

Search halted for second of two missing brothers

The U.S. Coast Guard says the search has been suspended for one of two Maine brothers who disappeared in the ocean off Steuben.

Alton Jellison, 44, and Jack Jellison, 43, both of Milbridge, headed out Saturday to visit an island in a small boat.

On Wednesday a fisherman discovered an overturned boat and the Maine Marine Patrol discovered a body believed to be that of one of the brothers on the island that they had planned to visit. Officials did not publicly identify the body.

Three Coast Guard boats and a Jayhawk helicopter searched an area of 100 square miles for about 32 hours along with the Maine Marine Patrol and others.

BOSTON

Accomplice gets five years for theft of Hannaford data

A man who helped the ringleader in the Hannaford credit card theft case has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Prosecutors said Damon Patrick Toey, who lived in Miami and Virginia Beach, Va., sold stolen credit and debit card numbers and used some of them to withdraw money from automated teller machines.

The 25-year-old Toey was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He also received a $100,000 fine.

Authorities said Toey worked for Albert Gonzalez, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month for stealing millions of credit and debit card numbers from Hannaford Bros., TJX Cos., BJ’s Wholesale Club and other large retailers.

 

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