WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 343,000 last week, a sign that layoffs remain low and companies are adding a modest number of jobs. The four-week average, a less volatile figure, dipped just 750 to 345,500, the Labor Department said today. The average has fallen […]

LEBANON, N.H. (AP) — Gov. Maggie Hassan declared a state of emergency in New Hampshire today after flashflooding left a number of washed out roads in the state. She said the state has received nearly 4 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and the ground is saturated. State and municipal roads are affected, […]

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — There are brothers in arms and bands of brothers, and now there are Noah, Sumner and Cole Ogrydziak, three Texas brothers who began their cadet training together at West Point this week. For one of the few times in its long history, the U.S. Military Academy accepted three siblings into […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — A Maine man and two New York City residents have been arrested on drug charges in Augusta. The men were arrested this week at an Augusta apartment. Matthew Jepsen, 29, of Augusta, as well as Kenneth Floyd, 21, and Robert Lonnie Dixon, 34, of Bronx, N.Y., were all charged with trafficking in […]

ELLSWORTH (AP) — Police say a 22-year-old Surry man has been killed in traffic accident in Ellsworth. Police say Peter Dickinson’s vehicle was traveling east on the Bucksport Road at about 11:30 p.m. Monday when his car crossed into the opposite lane and collided with another vehicle. Dickinson was pronounced dead at the scene. The […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine’s highest court has denied the appeal of a Limington man convicted of fatally shooting his wife. Patrick Dapolito was sentenced to 55 years behind bars after being found guilty last year in York County Superior Court of murdering Kelly Winslow in March 2010. The 43-year-old Dapolito said his wife was killed […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine lawmakers plan to return to the State House this fall to consider bond proposals. The Democratic-led Legislature is set to adjourn this month. But the Democratic leadership said on Tuesday that they will return this fall to take up bond proposals, instead of waiting until January. The date of their return […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage is directing $50,000 from his emergency contingency fund to a drug treatment center in Ellsworth. LePage said Tuesday he made the donation to the Open Door Recovery Center, which provides treatment for clients and their families in Hancock, Washington and Penobscot counties. Open Door provides treatment regardless of the […]

VEAZIE (AP) — The removal of the Veazie Dam is set to begin later this month. The breaching of the dam, one of the final impediments to a free-flowing Penobscot River, is set to begin on July 22. Sargent Corp. has been hired to remove the dam, which spans the river between Veazie and Eddington. […]

BANGOR (AP) — A martial arts instructor who admitted producing and possessing child pornography, including images of him abusing two young boys, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in federal prison. Robert Hoover, 35, of Augusta, was sentenced after offering an apology and telling the judge that he didn’t deserve forgiveness from his victims or […]