NAPLES

Dive team recovers body after call to Brandy Pond

The body of a male was pulled out of Brandy Pond on Wednesday after an apparent drowning.

The victim was found submerged in about 6 feet of water at the end of a private dock at 36 Golf Club Road, said Capt. Jeff Davis of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s dive team recovered his body. The incident remains under investigation.

The victim’s name was not released Wednesday night, pending notification of his relatives.

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The sheriff’s office was called around 6 p.m.

LEBANON

Confrontation over trash leaves man with ‘road rash’

A 25-year-old Lebanon man was taken to a hospital Wednesday night after an altercation with the occupants of a pickup truck, who the man claimed were dumping bags of trash on his land.

The victim confronted the pickup truck’s driver around 6 p.m, said Jason Cole, Lebanon’s assistant rescue chief. His clothing got entangled in the truck’s door or window and the man was dragged along the ground for about 100 feet.

The driver fled the property, near River and Flat Rock Bridge roads.

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State police are handling the investigation.

Cole, who did not release the man’s name, said he was taken to Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.H., where he was treated for “road rash” and pain.

PORTLAND

Girl injured by falling tree in critical condition again

The condition of a 10-year-old girl who was injured when a tree fell on her tent in a campground in Lebanon was downgraded Wednesday from serious to critical, according to Maine Medical Center.

Emily Malewitz of Millis, Mass., a quadruplet, was camping with her family at the Flat Rock Bridge Family Resort when a powerful thunderstorm blew through the campground Monday night, toppling trees and hurling debris.

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One tree landed on the family’s Toyota van and their tent, pinning the girl for about 10 minutes.

Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole said surgeons removed a 10- to 12-inch-long stick that barely missed vital organs, including her heart.

Late Tuesday evening, Malewitz was conscious and talking with her family, Cole said, but her condition changed on Wednesday.

No further details are available.

Visit by luxury cruise ship scheduled for October 2012

The World, a luxury cruise ship, will make its first visit to Portland in October 2012 and be berthed at the soon-to-be-built deep-water pier at Ocean Gateway, city officials said Wednesday.

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The ship has 165 units, from apartments to studios. It cruises around the world, providing vacation homes for several hundred people from 45 countries.

The World, operated by ResidenSea, is now berthed in the Port of Cobh, on the southern coast of Ireland.

A record-setting 73 ships, carrying 75,731 passengers, are scheduled to dock in Portland this season. To date, 37 ships with nearly 50,000 passengers are booked for the 2011 cruise ship season, including the Cunard ship Queen Elizabeth. 

Injured skydiving instructor remains in critical condition

A veteran skydiving instructor who was injured during a jump remained in critical condition Wednesday night at Maine Medical Center.

Paolo Difini, 48, went off course and hit a tree as he was landing Tuesday morning at Skydive New England in Lebanon.

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According to Skydive New England’s website, Difini is a seasoned instructor who has completed more than 10,000 jumps during his career. 

Toxics Action Center releases report on BPA

An environmental group has released a report that it says documents the dangers of the chemical bisphenol A.

The Toxics Action Center released the report in Portland on Wednesday, eight days before the Maine Board of Environmental Protection plans a public hearing on a proposed ban on the use of bisphenol A in reusable food and beverage containers.

The report is a compilation of studies published from January to July. It says 75 of the 81 studies indicated that BPA is associated with health problems from diabetes and memory loss to liver damage and cancer.

BPA is commonly used in making plastics shatterproof and to line food cans.

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WARREN, Pa.

Maine sex offender charged in rape at national forest

Pennsylvania State Police have charged a convicted sex offender from Maine with raping a woman in the Allegheny National Forest last week.

State police say Mike Beaulieu, 35, of Anson, Maine was arrested by Royal Canadian Mounted Police in New Brunswick on Tuesday.

State police had filed a criminal complaint saying the alleged victim identified the suspect from a photo lineup, as did witnesses who saw him near the forest in northwestern Pennsylvania on Aug. 2, the day before he allegedly raped the woman at gunpoint.

Police traced his pickup to Fort Kent, where they believe the suspect crossed the river into Canada. Maine authorities say Beaulieu served four years after he was convicted in 2005 for gross sexual assault.

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LEWISTON

Investigators seek cause of pair of industrial fires

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of two fires reported in Lewiston.

Around 11 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters were called to the Bates Mill for a fire in an elevator shaft. It took about two hours to get the fire under control.

About 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, firefighters were called to a fire at a warehouse on Holland Street. No injuries were reported in either fire.

BANGOR

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Sex-offender restrictions OK’d by council committee

City officials are considering a plan to regulate where sex offenders can live.

The city council’s Government Operations Committee voted 2-1 Tuesday in favor of prohibiting people with felony convictions for offenses against young children from living within 750 feet of schools, parks or any other area where children are the primary users.

The Bangor Daily News said the proposal is based on a state law that allows municipalities to impose such restrictions. The idea was first proposed by a resident, Angela Hoy.

Bangor police say more than 200 sex offenders live in the city. If the ordinance change is approved, about a third of the city will be off-limits to sex offenders.

AUGUSTA

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Website on health care law contains information, links

State health officials have a new online tool to inform residents about the federal health care reform law passed earlier this year.

The Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance says the website provides up-to-date information about the Affordable Care Act and how it affects Maine.

The site, www.maine.gov/healthreform, includes a summary of the law and links to federal and state agencies, the Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Health Reform and other information sources.

MACHIAS

Lobsterman cited for OUI after his boat strikes kayak

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Police say a lobsterman who allegedly hit a sea kayak with his fishing boat and then fell overboard has been charged with operating a watercraft under the influence.

The Maine Marine Patrol said Glenn Preston, 46, of Roque Bluffs was arrested Tuesday after a sailboat crew reported that he had hit an unoccupied kayak that was being towed behind the sailboat.

Marine Patrol Officer Jason Leavitt told the Bangor Daily News that a Coast Guard crew later found Preston hanging from the side of his boat. He said Preston apparently fell overboard while trying to moor his vessel.

Leavitt said Preston was arrested two weeks ago, charged with threatening another fisherman.

BOSTON

Maine software worker charged with mail fraud

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Federal prosecutors have charged a former software company employee from Maine with diverting more than $1 million in company funds to his own use.

Joseph P. Boldiga, 68, of Eliot was charged Wednesday with three counts of mail fraud. Prosecutors say he carried out the fraud over more than a decade while he worked as a collections specialist for Iona Technologies Corp., based in Waltham, Mass.

They allege he put payments to the company into his own bank account.

A message left Wednesday at a home telephone listing for Boldiga was not immediately returned. The charges carry a possible 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

 


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