QUETTA, Pakistan – A series of bombings killed 115 people across Pakistan on Thursday, including 81 who died in twin blasts on a bustling billiards hall in a Shiite area of the southwestern city of Quetta. Pakistan’s minority Shiite Muslims have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics, and a militant Sunni […]
2013
Posted inNation & World
Pentagon to prepare for drastic fund cuts
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon will begin taking steps to freeze civilian hiring, delay some contract awards and curtail some maintenance to prepare for drastic budget cuts if Congress can’t reach an agreement on a final spending plan, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday. Speaking to reporters, Panetta said that department officials must also develop detailed […]
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Posted inNation & World
Around 40,000 to pack inauguration night balls
WASHINGTON – Inaugural revelers hoping to get close to President Obama at a ball are going to have a lot of competition, with around 40,000 expected to pack the pair of parties. While Obama has cut the number of inauguration night balls lower than any president since Dwight Eisenhower was first sworn into office in […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Letters to the editor: State coyote hunt poorly thought out
In a year that saw hunters take an increased number of deer, thanks to a mild winter, I am concerned that the previous speculation of deer population declines due to coyote predation has not been re-evaluated. Irresponsible control of a poorly studied species without any core or long-term understanding of their ecological role within a […]
Posted inNews
Labor panel backs 4.5 percent raise for UMaine faculty
The faculty has gone without a salary increase since March 2009, in part because the University of Maine System has been working to recover from fiscal problems brought on by the economic crisis of 2008-09.
Posted inNation & World, News
Student tells teacher: ‘I don’t want to shoot you’
The teacher and another staffer then talk the armed teenager into putting down a shotgun and giving himself up.
Posted inBusiness
Auto gadgets may get app makers’ help
LAS VEGAS – Googling the nearest gas station, sending email from your smartphone, or booking a table at a restaurant: Those are all things you shouldn’t do while driving. But so many drivers have grown accustomed to their on-the-go tasks that automakers are increasingly trying to make those things easier to pull off with both […]
Posted inBusiness
Warner Bros. wins fight over Superman
SAN FRANCISCO – Warner Bros. has won another significant victory in its epic legal struggle over the commercial rights to the Superman comic franchise. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the heirs of Superman’s co-creator Jerome Siegel must abide by a 2001 agreement they made with the studio. The ruling overturns […]
Posted inBusiness
Virgin Galactic to pay rent for N.M. spaceport
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Virgin Galactic said Thursday it will make the first-ever rent payment this month for use of Spaceport America in New Mexico as long as all the terms of its lease agreement have been met. State officials have said the company will pay $85,833 monthly, according to a calculation based on information […]
Posted inNews
Feature Obituary: Jeffrey Bartlett, 62, fought ‘early-onset’ Alzheimer’s
FREEPORT — It was a long goodbye for Jeff Bartlett, who was diagnosed with “early-onset” Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 58. Mr. Bartlett, who died Wednesday at age 62, was the subject of a Bill Nemitz column in the Portland Press Herald in 2008 that chronicled his illness and the ensuing journey that took […]