PORTLAND (AP) — A conservative advocacy group has fired a reporter for its newly established online news service after he was accused of having a history of making racist comments. Maine Heritage Policy Center Chief Executive Officer Lance Dutson released a statement to a political blog, “ The Tipping Point,” announcing that reporter Leif Parsell […]

PRESQUE ISLE ( AP) — The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency says its investigation into a meth lab in Presque Isle has led to two arrests and a warrant for a third suspect. On Wednesday, police arrested 28-year-old Leland Alger of Presque Isle and issued an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Ronald Lewis of Littleton for trafficking […]

WATERBORO (AP) — Bail has been set at $250,000 for a 23- year- old Maine man accused of robbing a supermarket and suspected of several other robberies. Sheriff ’s detectives arrested Christopher Dimastrantonio of Gorham on Tuesday. Police say a masked man walked into a Hannaford Supermarket in Waterboro and told employees he had a […]

BEIRUT ( AP) — Syrian authorities have released more than 500 prisoners accused of involvement in anti-regime activities, state TV reported today, in what appeared to be another gesture to comply with the Arab League plan to end the regime’s 9-month-old crackdown on dissent. The plan, being monitored by about 100 Arab League observers now […]

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Armed men kidnapped a British Red Cross worker from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta today, highlighting the fragile security situation in the country, police said. The incident took place hours after Islamist militants elsewhere in the country killed 15 Pakistani security officers they had seized last month close to the […]

CAIRO ( AP) — The chief prosecutor in the Hosni Mubarak trial said today he holds the ousted leader “politically and legally” responsible for the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising that toppled his regime last year. Mustafa Suleiman also told the court that Mubarak did nothing to stop the killings and that he […]

DETROIT (AP) — Fiat has added 5 percent to its majority ownership of Chrysler. The Italian automaker got the added stake by making a car in the U. S. that gets 40 miles per gallon of gas. With the added shares, Fiat now owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler. The U. S. government, which bailed out […]

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Gunfire erupted as anti- drug police served a search warrant in an Ogden neighborhood, fatally wounding one officer and injuring five other police and a suspect, authorities said. The shots rang out before 9 p.m. Wednesday as police converged at a residence on Jackson Avenue, police spokesman Lt. Tony Fox said. […]

BROWNING, Mont. (AP) — Two wildfires raging on Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation early today burned thousands of acres, forced scores to evacuate and destroyed several buildings, officials said. Fueled by strong winds, the two blazes started around sundown Wednesday and together had grown to at least 45,000 acres by 4 a. m. MST today. One […]

WICHITA, Kan. ( AP) — Faced with defense budget reductions, the Boeing Co. announced Wednesday it will close its defense plant in Wichita by the end of 2013. The closure will cost more than 2,160 workers their jobs and end the firm’s presence in a city where it has been a major employer for generations. […]