The following are excerpts from The South Portlander, a daily blog by Current reporter Linda Hersey. Find it at www.southportlander.com:

(Posted Dec. 12)

General Growth Properties announced that it refinanced $896 million in mortgage loans. The cash-strapped mall owner will have five to seven years to pay back the debt. It had been facing a December deadline on the payments.

The refinancing may allow the Maine Mall owner to avoid filing for bankruptcy, as it has warned shareholders this fall. GGP still has loans on two Las Vegas malls due Dec. 12, and is negotiating extensions of them.

Military museum eyes expansion

Lee Humiston, who runs the new Maine Military Museum in Mill Creek Park, has asked the City Council to consider allowing an expansion of the building in Mill Creek Park.

Humiston gave the Council a tour of the tiny museum on Monday night and asked members to consider allowing him to increase the building size by 2,000 square feet.

The museum is currently located in an electrical building with 1,400 square feet of floor space. Most of the items on display are Vietnam-era artifacts that Humiston has collected from the families of former prisoners of war.

Humiston is estimating he would need to raise about $500,000 to allow for the expansion.

Meanwhile, the Friends of Mill Creek Park has asked the City Council not to allow any more changes at the park until it can complete a master plan for its future.

(Posted Dec. 10)

Office Depot closing in SoPo

Office Depot will close its Maine Mall Road store in the next 90 days, as part of a nationwide shutdown of 126 stores. An employee at the South Portland store confirmed that the Maine Mall-area store is among the ones targeted. He said the store will launch sales starting Thursday to get rid of inventory.

Office Depot’s announcement follows news of shutdowns by two other big-box stores in the mall area: Tweeter and Linens N Things. Circuit City, located near the mall on Payne Road, has filed for bankruptcy but has not announced plans to close the Maine store.

Office Depot, 301-303 Maine Mall Road, is located at the corner of Gorham Road and Maine Mall Road, next to Toys R Us and behind Tim Hortons. The property is owned by Tru Realty of New Jersey, according to city records.

Police expand notification system

Here is a press release on an expanded emergency notification system that South Portland police are offering to residents who sign up:

“CityWatch is a web-based computerized system allowing the city’s public safety agencies to send mass emergency or informational messages to a large, targeted population. It can be used to facilitate evacuations, locate missing children, advise citizens of traffic or safety hazards areas, and notice residents of neighborhood watch and / or crime trends and alerts.

The technology has ready access to the FairPoint landline 911 database, but more and more people today rely less on landlines and more on other electronic technologies, such as cellular phones and e-mail. South Portland is now building and broadening a database that will allow the department to include cellular phones and e-mail users as part of a citywide emergency notification. The police department is also currently working with the South Portland School Department to create databases that will allow the department to notify certain staff members within the city’s schools of any emergency that may impact the safety of their staff and/or student bodies.

(Posted Dec. 9)

Lawmaker to introduce bill requiring CO detectors

Sen. Bill Diamond of Windham plans to introduce legislation requiring carbon monoxide detectors in apartment buildings.

That is the message from South Portland Fire Chief Kevin Guimond in Augusta, meeting with officials at the Fire Marshal’s Office.

Current law requires smoke detectors in apartment buildings, but not carbon monoxide detectors.

The dangers and risks of carbon monoxide in the home were underscored this week, when a mother and her 10-year-old son in South Portland were found unconscious in their Hill Street duplex, apparent victims of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The fire department is not releasing the names of the victims, who are being treated in Boston. The new apartment building did not have carbon monoxide detectors, though it was heated with propane. Tulasi Meduri, a tenant who lives in the next-door apartment with her husband and son, said the landlord told her later that he met all the city’s requirements for fire safety. She and her 3-year-old were treated for headaches and nausea after being evacuated from the building.

Guimond said Tuesday that the cause of the carbon monoxide leak in the building was a disconnected vent pipe on the basement unit.

“In the state there is not a requirement for CO detectors. We have adopted a smoke detector requirement at the local level and the department enforces it in every 3-unit and larger complex,” Guimond said by e-mail.

“The firefighters did a great job detecting the CO with their meters, and rapidly entering and removing the victims. The patients were at Maine Medical within 10 minutes.”

Since the carbon monoxide leak was discovered at 120 Hill St., the landlord has installed carbon monoxide detectors in both units of the duplex.