AUGUSTA ( AP) — A 13- year-old Augusta girl is facing charges in connection with a fire inside a Cony middle school bathroom. Police say the girl was charged with arson and criminal mischief in connection with the fire earlier this week. Her name has not been made public because of her age. The police […]

PORTLAND ( AP) — The University of Southern Maine’s president has rescinded the raises of two top administrators in the wake of revelations that the school gave out large pay hikes to dozens of employees at a time of financial uncertainty. President Selma Botman announced Wednesday she pulled raises given last summer to her chief […]

SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) — Preparations are under way for a visit by President Barack Obama to Maine. The president on Friday will attend a pair of fundraisers, the first at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, where it was moved to accommodate more supporters. Later, a private event with tickets starting at $5,000 will […]

GORHAM ( AP) — A web camera has recorded a bald eagle laying its first egg of the season in eastern Maine. Biologists at Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham said the egg was laid on Monday in a tree in Hancock County. The egg is expected to hatch in about 35 days. The institute monitors […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine first lady Ann LePage and the Portland Regional Chamber are launching a “Hire a Veteran” initiative. They plan to announce a new Portland Veterans Network today in the boardroom of the Portland chamber. The program is to address the needs of veterans returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. […]

DOVER-FOXCROFT (AP) — The Piscataquis County Sheriff ’s Department and Maine Warden Service are searching for an Austrian tourist who disappeared on an extended motorcycle trip. Officials say 25- year- old Johannes Stummer was last seen on March 22 in Big Moose Township, north of Moosehead Lake. He was reported missing Friday after he failed […]

GRAY (AP) — Police say a 26-year-old woman has died as a result of a crash with another car on a slushy road in Gray. The Cumberland County Sheriff ’s Department says Elizabeth Polletto of Portland was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland after Wednesday morning’s crash. Polletto was pronounced dead at the hospital. […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dropped last week, the latest evidence that the job market is strengthening. The Labor Department said today weekly unemployment benefit applications fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 359,000. That’s the smallest number of applicants since April 2008. The four- week average, a less volatile […]

St. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — A snowplow driver and his wife went to great lengths to dispose of the body of a popular teacher they had just beaten and strangled, putting her nude body on a tarp, pouring bleach on it, weighing the corpse down with concrete blocks and tossing it into the Connecticut River, […]