SCARBOROUGH

Emergency personnel treat 20 at Downs’ hip-hop festival

Rescue workers treated about 20 people for exhaustion, dehydration and intoxication Tuesday night at the “Under the Influence of Music” concert at Scarborough Downs, featuring Wiz Khalifa.

Police said they made a few arrests and some people were told to leave, but four hours into the show there had been no major incidents and the concert was largely trouble-free.

The number of people who needed medical attention overwhelmed the rescue personnel initially stationed at the concert, which drew about 6,000 fans. Officials called in additional rescue workers and activated a task force that supplied ambulances from neighboring communities, said Fire Chief Michael Thurlow.

Seven people were taken to the hospital for additional treatment, he said, though none appeared to have serious conditions.

The show was the first in the “Music at the Track” series at Scarborough Downs. Khalifa was to be joined by rappers Chevy Woods, Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar and Chiddy Bang.

NAPLES

Weather service confirms funnel cloud over Sebago

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a funnel cloud formed over Sebago Lake last weekend.

A meteorologist with the weather service based in Gray says photographs taken by James Sinko, a student at Lyndon State College in Vermont, showed a funnel cloud forming Sunday off the beach at Sebago Lake State Park in Naples.

Sinko says the funnel cloud lasted about eight minutes.

Nancy Jean, a regular visitor to the lake, also took pictures of the funnel cloud.

She says she’s never seen anything like it before at the lake.

If the funnel cloud had made landfall, it likely would have been classified as a tornado.

BIDDEFORD

Council approves purchase of waste-to-energy plant

The City Council voted 8-1 Tuesday night to buy and close the Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash-to-energy incinerator by next year.

The council gave initial approval to the plan July 17. Councilor Melissa Bednarowski opposed the purchase.

The votes came after sixth months of negotiations between city officials and Casella Waste Systems, the Vermont-based parent company of MERC.

The city will buy the plant – long a source of odor complaints – for $6.65 million over the next 20 years.

The plant will stop operating within six months of the purchase, which is expected to be complete by November. The facility will be dismantled six months later, leaving only the smokestack, to hold cellphone towers.

Revenue from the cellphone towers and a tax-increment financing district at Biddeford Crossing will cover most of the purchase cost. The rest will be paid with small tax increases, beginning with an additional 1.8 cents on the property tax rate in 2012-13.

Mayor Alan Casavant said Tuesday’s vote was a historic moment for the city and will help the economic redevelopment of the downtown and mill district.

TOPSHAM

Woman charged in robberies at Rite Aid and Hannaford

Police have arrested a woman they say is responsible for a pair of pharmacy robberies in town last month.

Police say Sarah Wilson, 29, with a last known address in Richmond, was arrested last week and charged with two counts of robbery in connection with July 18 robberies at the Rite Aid and Hannaford pharmacies.

Police say the suspect entered the drugstores within minutes of each other and passed the pharmacists a note demanding prescription painkillers.

The note made reference to another person with a gun. No weapon was displayed and police did not recover a weapon or see a weapon displayed on surveillance footage.

The Times Record reports that police tracked down Wilson with the help of surveillance video. She was held on $100,000 bail.

FARMINGTON

Man accused of stealing boats, selling them on radio

Police say a Farmington man is charged with stealing boats and selling them on a radio station’s flea market program.

Police say Daniel Dustin, 22, was charged after a man recognized his stolen canoe in the possession of someone who had bought it on the radio show.

Authorities say Dustin, with bolt cutters in his vehicle, drove around looking for opportunities to steal canoes, kayaks and, in one case, a paddle boat.

Detective Mark Bowering told the Morning Sentinel that Dustin could face charges in Franklin, Kennebec and Androscoggin counties for the thefts of at least nine small vessels.

Police say that after stealing a boat, Dustin would call a Farmington radio station and try to sell it during Phone-Mart, a 10-minute on-air flea market broadcast three times daily.

PRESQUE ISLE

Ex-pharmacy employee charged with stealing drugs

A pharmacy technician in northern Maine has been charged with stealing drugs from the pharmacy where she worked.

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency said Julie Condon, 46, of Easton is accused of stealing the painkiller hydrocodone and the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam from a Rite Aid Pharmacy in Presque Isle.

Officials say Condon was seen selling hydrocodone to a police informant last month, and that an audit by Rite Aid has since revealed that several thousand units of hydrocodone and alprazolam were missing.

Drug agents allege that Condon stole the drugs and sold them.

SOMERSWORTH, N.H.

Two N.H. men arrested after police chase into Maine

Police say two men are suspected of robbing a gas station in New Hampshire, then leading officers on a chase into Maine.

Police arrested Patrick Saunders, 18, of Somersworth and Allan Nicholson, 30, of Milton early Monday after their vehicle crashed in North Berwick, Maine. An officer with a police dog found them in the woods.

The men face charges in Maine of aggravated reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, eluding a police officer and fugitive from justice.

Foster’s Daily Democrat reports Maine officials said when the two men are returned to New Hampshire, they will face additional charges there. Police said they are suspects in a robbery at a gas station in Somersworth.

Both men are being held at York County Jail.

PORTLAND

Submarine fire suspect to appear in federal court

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard worker who is accused of setting fire to a nuclear submarine is due in federal court Wednesday.

Casey James Fury, 24, of Portsmouth, N.H., is charged with two counts of arson in the fire May 23 at the shipyard in Kittery.

Fury will face as much as life in prison if he is convicted.

He is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge John Rich on Wednesday for hearings that will address bail conditions and whether the government had probable cause to arrest him.

The fire caused an estimated $400 million worth of damage to the USS Miami, which was in the midst of a 20-month overhaul.

Seven people were injured in the blaze, which was put out by firefighters from three states.

Navy investigators identified Fury, a painter and sandblaster, as a suspect after a second fire at the shipyard, on June 16. That fire involved alcohol cleaning wipes on dry dock scaffolding supporting the submarine.

Amtrak eTickets go national after Downeaster success

Amtrak says it’s launching its eTicket program, which started as a pilot on the Downeaster, to all trains within its national network.

The eTickets enable passengers to skip the line at the ticket window and go straight to the gate by printing their tickets anywhere or by using a smartphone to present the eTicket to the conductor.

Lines where eTickets can be used include the Northeast Corridor, state-supported routes and long-distance services.

Amtrak piloted eTickets on five routes, including the Downeaster, last year before Monday’s national rollout and it quickly exceeded expectations.

It resulted in shorter lines at ticket counters, fewer tickets sold on trains and fewer claims of lost tickets.

The Downeaster travels between Portland and Boston, with stops in New Hampshire.

ROCKPORT

Magazine, book publisher resigns from Down East

The publisher for the company that owns Down East magazine has resigned.

Down East Enterprise Inc., based in Rockport, announced Tuesday that John Viehman has left the company after six years.

Bob Fernald, the company’s president and chief executive officer, will also take on the role of publisher, and there are no immediate plans to replace Viehman, according to a press release from the company.

Fernald called Viehman “a forward thinker and outstanding brand manager” who “worked tirelessly” for the company, which also publishes books and the magazines Shooting Sportsman and Fly Rod & Reel.

– From staff and news services

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