BRUNSWICK — Gov. Paul LePage has been an outspoken proponent of business-friendly initiatives and economic development. But when he vetoed of a popular pro-business initiative on the Friday before Memorial Day, he touched off criticism from businesses around the state. The Legislature gave wide bipartisan support to LD 225, a bill that would have asked […]

TOPSHAM — Next year’s $33.4 million School Administrative District 75 spending plan received strong support at a district budget meeting last week. The May 24 meeting, which ran a little more than an hour, drew fewer than 50 registered voters from SAD 75’s four communities – Topsham, Harpswell, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham – leaving many seats […]

BATH — Looking to start a new direction in life after a recent personal loss, Peter Kahl, Morse High School’s principal since 2007, plans to resign next year. The Regional School Unit 1 Board of Directors accepted Kahl’s resignation Tuesday, Superintendent Patrick Manuel said Wednesday. The resignation is effective July 31, 2013. “I appreciate all […]

A U.S. Marines honor guard crosses the Frank Wood bridge between Topsham and Brunswick during the Memorial Day parade on Monday, May 28.Grand Marshal Juanita McCauley, left, and Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers place a memorial wreath at the momument at Topsham Town Hall at the start of the Topsham Brunswick Memorial Day parade.

SCARBOROUGH — A local man will spend six months in jail for stealing $50,000 from an American Legion post in York. Ryan J. Byther, 36, was sentenced Tuesday by Justice John O’Neill in York County Superior Court to five years in jail, with all but six months suspended. A jury in February found Byther guilty of Class […]

HARPSWELL — For sale: Lighthouse, free to a good home. You might not see that posting on Craigslist, but the Halfway Rock Light Station, off the coast of Harpswell, is up for grabs for the first time since it was built in 1871. There is a catch, of course. The federally owned lighthouse, on a […]

BATH — Residents in Regional School Unit 1 will vote next week on a $26 million spending plan for fiscal 2013. The district budget meeting will be held at the Bath Middle School gymnasium at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 5. Residents will vote again in a budget validation referendum a week later. If approved, the […]

FALMOUTH — Town Council candidate Bryan Dench says people who oppose his personal beliefs are waging a coordinated attack against his candidacy. Responding to claims by some residents that his views on state and national issues are too extreme for the Town Council, Dench said there is no reason these opinions should be part of a […]

YARMOUTH — Matt Chappell has a fresh idea for downtown dining, but it is one that has left a sour taste in the mouths of some Main Street residents. Chappell would like to open an 80-seat restaurant at 189 Main St., in the former Masonic Hall. The building, across the street from the American Legion […]

YARMOUTH — Spend it or amend it. Those are the choices for voters at Town Meeting on Tuesday, June 5. With a 31-item warrant up for discussion, residents can parse through more than $32 million in school and municipal fiscal year 2013 spending requiring $26.22 million in property tax revenues. If passed as presented, the […]