YARMOUTH — Water will become a more expensive commodity July 1 with an increase in Water District usage rates. Residential customers of the district, which serves North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, will see the basic quarterly rate for 1,200 cubic feet of water used increase from $32.83 to $37.43, district staffer Jason Blake said. Customers who […]

NORTH YARMOUTH — Stephen Gorden, seeking a second term on the Yarmouth Water District Board of Trustees, faces a challenge next month from former Trustee Guy Watson. This will be the second time the two North Yarmouth residents have squared off at the polls. Watson, who was elected in 2006, lost his re-election bid to Gorden […]

PORTLAND — Port officials and legislators are optimistic, despite the city’s latest break-up with a maritime shipper. On May 4, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, joined Maine Port Authority Executive Director John Henshaw and U.S. Maritime Administrator David Matsuda at the International Marine Terminal on Commercial Street, where shipping operations were shut down just days […]

PORTLAND — A proposed $94.2 million school budget is in voters’ hands after the City Council approved it for a May 15 referendum. Even after the council’s Finance Committee reduced the city and school budgets’ combined tax rate increase from 3.2 percent to 2.9 percent, in part by chiseling $175,000 from the school budget and […]

BRUNSWICK — Completion of the platforms needed for Amtrak Downeaster service to mid-coast Maine will be marked with ribbon-cutting ceremonies Monday in Freeport and Brunswick. The ceremonies begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Depot Street station in Freeport, when a ceremonial Downeaster train is scheduled to arrive from Portland. Aboard the train will be special […]

FALMOUTH — On June 4, after months of meetings, legislative hearings and the governor’s signature, the state Department of Education will file a new version of its rule governing the use of restraints and seclusion in schools. Five days later, the rules will take effect. But for Deb Davis, a Falmouth mother of two who […]

YARMOUTH — When town councilors meet May 17, part of their agenda will focus on a bread-and-butter issue coming up in many towns that have conducted health inspections of local restaurants. A change in Maine law now requires all local health inspectors to have delegated authority from the state for inspections of restaurants, campgrounds, lodging […]

PORTLAND — City schools are expected to be healthier places in September when new nutrition policies, approved by the School Board last month, take effect. The new policies, some of which have been in development for five years, represent a change in the way schools around the country feed students and teach them about nutrition. While […]

SOUTH PORTLAND — Veterans Memorial Bridge will be closed from 7 p.m. Thursday, May 10, to 6 a.m., Friday, May 11. The shutdown will allow construction workers time to install drainage pipes across the bridge, which will be replaced this summer by a bridge now under construction. Detour signs will be posted to alert drivers of […]

PORTLAND — For 10 years, through the administrations of three school superintendents and an era of shrinking budgets and a rapidly diversifying student population, Susan Ward has cheerfully occupied a key desk in the School Department’s Central Office.  A steadying force regarded around the district as the “go-to” person for information on nearly any school-related […]