LEWISTON

Woman rushed to hospital after overdosing on heroin

Police are investigating a spate of heroin overdoses in Lewiston.

Police say a 31-year-old woman was rushed to the hospital Friday morning after overdosing.

An ambulance crew administered the drug Narcan, used to counter the effects of an opioid overdose, the Sun Journal reported. The woman is expected to fully recover.

Police are investigating to determine if the drug came from the same source linked to four heroin overdoses earlier in the week.

A medical official said some of the heroin in the area is mixed with fentanyl, a pain reliever that also acts as a muscle relaxant. The mixture has caused 100 deaths around the country since late last year.

JEFFERSON

Travis Mills nonprofit to host 6 veterans’ families in Maine

A nonprofit organization led by a soldier who was critically wounded in Afghanistan will host six veterans’ families in Maine this summer.

Travis Mills founded the Travis Mills Project-National Veterans Family Center as a way to help serve the recreational and reintegration needs of combat-wounded veterans and their families. Mills, a retired Army staff sergeant, lost portions of both legs and arms when an improvised explosive device exploded while he was on a routine patrol.

Mills’ organization will welcome the six families to Camp Kieve-Wavus on the shores of Damariscotta Lake in Jefferson from Aug. 25 to 29. Mills and his family are moving to Maine this summer.

PORTLAND

Groups getting $351,583 to create, maintain trails

The Corporation for National and Community Service is awarding $351,583 to the Maine Conservation Corps to work with communities to create and maintain trails in Maine State Parks and on public lands.

The money is part of $1.29 million the corporation is giving to three Maine AmeriCorps organizations. The Maine Conservation Corps is part of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Department Commissioner Walt Whitcomb said the money will “help build infrastructure in our public places that generations of visitors can enjoy.”

AmeriCorps national service members plan to work on summer trail projects in Vaughan Woods State Park in South Berwick, Tumbledown Mountain in Weld and Schoodic Woods in Winter Harbor, among others.

GrowSmart Maine receiving $45,000 for inventory plan

The conservation organization GrowSmart Maine is set to receive $45,000 toward its plan to create a statewide inventory of community revitalization tools.

The group is working on a tool called Making Headway in Your Community that is says will be a “searchable, GIS-based inventory of smart growth tools” that connects Maine residents to local resources. GrowSmart describes the tool as a “concierge service for community revitalization.”

The grants are from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation Fund of the Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund, the Horizon Foundation, the MCF Fund and the Kay E. Dopp Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

– From news service reports