YARMOUTH — The space – and money – aren’t yet available, but Merrill Memorial Library trustees have a $1.4 million vision in mind for the future of the 107-year-old building. That is a preliminary estimate for a top-down project presented in a Town Council workshop last month by Gro Flatebo, a vice president of the library board […]

CHEBEAGUE ISLAND — Residents will vote on a $2.88 million combined town and school budget Saturday at Town Meeting. If approved, the town side of the fiscal 2013 spending plan would be $1.96 million, a decrease of $5,000 from the current year, Town Administrator Eric Dyer said last week. The budget includes a new part-time […]

PORTLAND — The entire City Council for the first time Monday tackled a proposed change in the way the funds for upcoming sewer and storm-water runoff infrastructure improvements are generated. Some councilors expressed misgivings about the fairness and design of the proposal, which would create a new storm-water runoff fee for properties with any impervious […]

CUMBERLAND — The Town Council unanimously enacted a new road acceptance ordinance Monday evening. The ordinance was prompted by the expense of maintaining and improving the town’s existing roads. That burden caused the council to investigate options to limit the number of new public roads it will accept. The ordinance stipulates that private roads, which […]

LEWISTON — A proposal to increase tolls to generate an additional $26 million a year for the Maine Turnpike was presented to Gov. Paul LePage on June 1. It will be rolled out to the public in a series of meetings starting June 19. Peter Mills, executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority, said the […]

PORTLAND — A pair of orders generated unexpected City Council debate Monday night. The meeting was dominated by discussion of a City Charter amendment that would create a temporary four-year at-large council seat, and an amendment that reduces costs and streamline the licensing process for flea-market vendors. The amendment would also backstop the Police Department’s […]

PORTLAND — Concern over chemicals in products and foods prompted about two dozen Maine women to get on a bus recently and take their cause to Washington, D.C. The bus left Maine the morning of May 21, collecting other women along the way in other New England states to join a “Safe Chemicals Brigade” on […]

PORTLAND —The 39th Old Port Festival will take place Sunday, June 10, with a focus on getting people to travel to the event by bicycle, and a performance by a former “American Idol” contestant. The one-day festival is northern New England’s largest of its kind, organizers said, attracting an average of more then 30,000 people […]

PORTLAND — Voters who head to the polls for the Democratic, Republican, and Green Independent primaries on Tuesday, June 12, will make choices that determine several candidates in the November general election. They include primaries for U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, state Legislature, Cumberland County commissioner and county register of probate. Other candidates are […]

Cindy Packard, center, pins a new badge onto the shirt of her husband, Vern Malloch, who was sworn in as Portland’s new assistant police chief June 1 in a packed ceremony at police headquarters. Malloch, a 27-year veteran of the department, is one of six officers who received promotions on Friday. Sgts. Jeffrey Calloway, left, […]