AUGUSTA (AP) — As candidates gear up for next month’s primary election, Maine’s secretary of state is urging residents to take advantage of absentee ballots. Registered Maine voters can submit an electronic absentee ballot request online up to three days before Election Day, which is June 10. Exceptions will be made under certain circumstances after […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine schools will find out their grades when officials release their new report cards this week. The new A-F grading system for schools implemented last year under Republican Gov. Paul LePage is designed to bring transparency and accountability to the state’s public school system. Grades are based on student proficiency and how […]

WASHINGTON The prohibition on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military “continually should be reviewed,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Sunday. Hagel did not indicate whether he believes the policy should be overturned. However, he said “every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications […]

AUGUSTA — Due to a peak year for winter ticks and their impact on the moose population this winter, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is reducing the number of moose permits available to hunters this fall. The department will issue 3,095 permits statewide, down from the 4,110 that were available last year. The […]

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The Ethiopian jail guard suspected of torturing and maiming political prisoners during that country’s “Red Terror” era came to the United States in 2004 under a false identity, seeking asylum and claiming he would be persecuted if he returned home. He lived comfortably in Denver until one day in 2011 when […]

EUREKA SPRINGS (AP) — The state’s top lawyer will ask the Arkansas Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision to overturn a 2004 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced his intent to appeal to the high court late Saturday night, but not before 15 licenses were issued for same-sex couples […]

DONETSK, Ukraine The Kremlin made it clear today that it has no intention to try to annex Ukraine’s eastern provinces after the controversial referendums where the majority of voters allegedly said they backed sovereignty for their regions. In a statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s office urged the Ukrainian government to engage in talks with representatives […]

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The president of Nigeria for weeks refused international help to search for more than 300 girls abducted from a school by Islamic extremists, one in a series of missteps that have led to growing international outrage against the government. The United Kingdom, Nigeria’s former colonizer, first said it was ready to […]

BAGHDAD (AP) — Fighting in Iraq’s western Anbar province, now in its fifth month, appears to have bogged down, with government forces unable to drive out Islamic militants who took over one of the area’s main cities. But the impact is being felt much further, with the repercussions rippling through the country’s economy to hit […]

The Times Record reserves this space to correct errors appearing in our news columns. We ask readers who are aware of factual errors to telephone Managing Editor Rob Montana at 504-8209. On Page A2 of the Jan. 24 issue of The Times Record, a photo showing winners of Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber’s Nonprofit Business of […]