PORTLAND (AP) — An organization launched by activists including U2 singer Bono to fight poverty and disease around the world is taking an interest in the U.S. Senate race in Maine. The ONE Campaign kicks off its ONE Vote 2012 today with an event at the Maine Historical Society. Mike Salamon, East Coast field organizer, […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — The Finance Authority of Maine has approved financing for Portland-based Apothecary by Design LLC, allowing the company to create and retain 38 jobs. The action by FAME’s board will help the company to make upgrades at its existing headquarters and to fund improvements at an additional facility. FAME has supported the company […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — The Maine Department of Health and Human Services has given some child protective services caseworkers raises of as much as 9 percent despite a wage freeze for state employees that dates to 2009. According to internal emails, the raises for 135 employees handed out last week were meant to boost morale and […]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Militants fired rockets into a U.S. base in Afghanistan and damaged the plane of the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff while he was on a visit, but the general was not near the aircraft, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition said today. The rocket strike that hit […]

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq is fast becoming an oil producing powerhouse, but you’d never know that by looking at the faded Unknown Soldier gas station in downtown Baghdad. There’s no repair garage or mini-mart, just a cramped office with tattered vinyl couches. Horns blare as a string of waiting cars backs up into busy Sadoun […]

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president today unveiled an upgraded version of a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile just weeks after it was test-fired, the country’s state-media reported. At the ceremony for Fateh-110, or Conqueror, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a group of defense officials that Iran wants to advance its defense technology “not in an aggressive context, […]

MANTON, Calif. (AP) — Aided by a shift in wind direction, firefighters made a stand against a huge lightning-sparked wildfire burning on the edge of three small Northern California towns. The blaze, which grew to more than 25 square miles late Monday continued to threaten thousands of homes, as fearful residents sought safety miles away […]

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) — Authorities outside Baltimore say a CSX train hauling coal has derailed in downtown Ellicott City and two people have been killed. Howard County officials say 21 of the train’s 80 cars flipped over and fell from a bridge just before midnight Monday. County Executive Ken Ulman says some of the […]

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Grab your camera and binoculars: There’s rarely been a better time to go whale watching off the California coast. Tourists from around the world have been flocking to Monterey Bay to catch a glimpse of the massive marine mammals, including impressive numbers of blue whales, the largest animals on earth. […]

HOWLAND (AP) — Four men accused of participating in the brutal beating of two other men in Howland have been ordered held on $10,000 bail each. Authorities say Brandon Summerson of Enfield, as well as John McKinnon, Henry McKinnon, and Charles Gardner, all from Howland, were in court Monday to face charges of aggravated assault […]