SOUTH PORTLAND — Voters on Tuesday approved the nearly $40 million operating budget for the School Department’s 2013 fiscal year in a 413-277 vote. The budget represents a nearly 1.8 percent increase in operating costs, or about a 4.4 percent increase in property taxes paid by residents. City Councilors have not approved the municipal side […]

FREEPORT — Divest or apply. That was the message to Town Manager Dale Olmstead Jr. from Maine Department of Environmental Protection Project Manager Lisa Vickers regarding town-owned land between Hunter and Pownal roads to the west of Interstate 295. If the town is amenable to transferring ownership of the athletic fields on Pownal Road to […]

BRUNSWICK — The tracks are laid. The plans are complete. And, as of Monday, the train platforms at Brunswick and Freeport are officially ready for Amtrak’s Downeaster, which will begin making regularly scheduled trips in November. Hundreds of people gathered in both towns to welcome the arrival of an Amtrak train, see a ribbon-cutting ceremony, […]

AUGUSTA — Projects in Falmouth, Yarmouth and Topsham are among eight along the coast that will receive part of $170,000 in state grants. The land use team and Maine Coastal Program at the State Planning Office announced the grants, which are meant to enhance coastal habitat restoration and public access to the shore, as well […]

YARMOUTH — Merging the town’s past and future will take a step forward at 11 a.m Friday, May 18, with the groundbreaking for the new Yarmouth History Center at 118 East Elm St. The center is named for Barbara Bean Gorman, a founder of the Yarmouth Historical Society. The new museum and offices for the society […]

PORTLAND — Residents are now able to put large items out for street-side garbage collection with a special tag from the city. The city’s new Tag It-Bulky Item Pick-Up program allows residents to order tags from www.recycle.portlandmaine.gov. Tags are available for free for bulky items weighing less than 30 pounds, like chairs, cribs, or toys. […]

Members of the Rotary Club of Casco Bay Sunrise painted a 20-by-30-foot map of the U.S. outside at Reiche Elementary School in Portland on Saturday to provide an amusing and educational playground focal point for students.

CUMBERLAND — Going to the prom in a beautiful dress is the dream of many high school girls. But for some, it can be a prohibitively expensive fantasy. Rachael Kurland, an 18-year-old from Cumberland, saw to it that many girls who might not otherwise have dresses would be able to attend this year’s proms in […]

CUMBERLAND — A month after it approved an amended impact fee ordinance, the Town Council on Monday sent a new proposed change to the Planning Board for a recommendation. The town’s Ordinance Committee recommended language be added that would waive the fee on a building permit for a house rebuilt after being destroyed by a […]

SCARBOROUGH — The early arrival of soft-shell lobsters along the southern Maine coast has industry insiders scratching their heads about what the unusual spring landings mean for the rest of the season. At Pine Point, third-generation Scarborough lobsterman Dennis Violette, pulled two big crates full of lobster from his early season catch and picked one […]