SOUTH PORTLAND – Just in time for the July 1 start of the new fiscal year, the South Portland City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve an $88.93 million spending plan that is expected to drive local property taxes up 2.12 percent. After other revenues, the need from taxes will rise $1.17 million, or 2.1 […]
Current
Posted inCurrent, The Forecaster
Town announces firefighter changes
SCARBOROUGH – On Monday the Scarborough Fire Department held a swearing-in ceremony for new and reappointed officers in the town’s call company, the pay-per-incident volunteers who augment the department’s full-time staff. The retirement of Capt. Hank Foster after 23 years will see Brian Smart re-appointed as captain, a position he held for several years before […]
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Posted inCurrent, Southern Forecaster
Board OKs land for Otto Pizza
SOUTH PORTLAND – The South Portland Planning Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend the city sell 1,500 square feet of land belonging to the main branch of the public library to a nearby pizza place. Otto Pizza, a popular Portland-based chain with five locations in Maine and Massachusetts, is scheduled to open in August […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Current, Lakes Region Weekly, Northern Forecaster
GUEST COLUMN: Small-business owners should diversify
Regarding the closing of Sam’s Place (June 13 Sun Chronicle), it is no mystery why the downtowns of Saco and Biddeford (along with other towns) are struggling. 1. The local governments approve the construction of the shopping centers with the big box stores while failing to address the issues that keep shoppers and large anchor […]
Posted inCurrent, Forecaster Opinion, Southern Forecaster
LIFE IN THE SUBURBS (in 140 character or less) – What I have learned from Father’s Day
Father’s Day is not just a day for receiving Brut cologne, Steak-of-the-Month Club certificates, or sweater vests that (sorry!) are NOT exactly either brown or green. Father’s Day should also be a time for quiet reflection. More specifically, the day is an occasion to ask, after 20, l8, l6 years of doing this parenting thing, […]
Posted inCurrent, The Forecaster
Trout Brook cleanup awarded $70K grant
SOUTH PORTLAND – South Portland last week received a $20,000 grant from the Royal Bank of Canada’s Blue Water Project to help protect the Trout Brook watershed. According to South Portland’s stormwater program coordinator, Fred Dillon, Trout Brook and its tributary Kimball Brook do not meet state water quality standards primarily due to impacts from […]
Posted inCurrent, Southern Forecaster
‘The Lobbyist in the henhouse’ DEP series
Stories by COLIN WOODARD Staff Writer A seven-month Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram investigation has found Patricia Aho, a former industrial and corporate lobbyist who became commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection in 2011, has scuttled programs and fought against laws that were opposed by many of her former clients in the chemical, […]