AUGUSTA (AP) — Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration has ordered a hiring freeze throughout the executive branch. Mary Anne Turowski of the Maine State Employees Association shared a July 8 memorandum saying vacancies would only be filled if approved by LePage himself. LePage couldn’t immediately be reached Monday evening. The Portland Press Herald last week […]

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Republican Gov. Paul LePage says his long-running dispute with Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves should be settled in the political arena, not in court. In Friday filings in the U.S. Court of Appeals, LePage said he was exercising his executive budgeting activity when he said he’d withhold $1 million in “discretionary […]

PORTLAND (AP) — An ex-cop and former bank manager of the Portland Police Federal Credit Union was sentenced to serve one year and a day behind bars for embezzling more than $530,000. The Portland Press Herald reports 69-year-old John Barry was sentenced Monday in Portland federal court after pleading guilty last November to charges of […]

YORK (AP) — Selectmen in York have approved a $1.7 million contract to transform a former American Legion Post into the Maine town’s next police station. The Portsmouth Herald reports the select board hired Westbrook-based Benchmark Construction for the project and additionally approved a contingency of $200,000. The “bare bones” contract does not include a […]

PORTLAND (AP) — A grant program designed to support business and grow the creative economy in Maine’s largest city is accepting applications. A spokeswoman says the Portland Economic Development Plan provides matching grants of up to $15,000 to nonprofit groups to help pay for things like planning studies and costs associated with implementing projects to […]

BERWICK (AP) — The Maine Department of Public Safety says a Berwick man who died in an early morning fire at his home poured gasoline throughout the house and blocked the doors before setting the fire. Officials say the fire that was reported around 2 a.m. Monday on River Street in the York County town […]

PARKMAN (AP) — Authorities say a Maine couple was killed in a weekend crash in Piscataquis County. The Piscataquis County Sheriff ’s Office says 27-yearold Pamela Burns and 36- year-old Russ Silva, both of Parkman, were killed early Saturday when their pickup truck missed a corner, hit a large boulder and flipped over in Parkman. […]

AUGUSTA A Maine natural gas company that faced a $250,000 fine this year following a potentially “catastrophic” gas leak is asking the state to dissolve an affiliate. On Friday, Summit Natural Gas of Maine asked the state Public Utilities Commission to dissolve Natural Gas Conversion Company, which launched in 2014 to help Mainers convert home […]