PORTLAND — The Fire Department will receive more than $80,000 in grant funding from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced Monday.  The grant, which will cover training, equipment, wellness, fitness, and facility modifications, is awarded through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.  The program has given more than $54 million […]

PORTLAND — The five-month search for a new police chief ended Tuesday when City Manager Mark Rees announced acting Chief Michael Sauschuck will head the department in a permanent capacity. The appointment must be confirmed by the City Council at its Feb. 6 meeting. Sauschuck will be the city’s 19th police chief, Rees said in […]

FREEPORT — Johanna Hanselman knows first-hand how cuts to the federal Low Income Heating Assistance Program are hurting Mainers. As the general assistance administrator for Freeport and Yarmouth, Hanselmen has heard from people who barely received enough money from LIHEAP to cover the bottoms of their oil tanks. “I’ve never heard of so many people […]

PORTLAND — A company in the not-yet-competitive domestic kelp farming industry has received approval for an experimental aquaculture lease in Casco Bay. Ocean Approved LLC, which owners say created the first kelp farm in America in 2009, also in Casco Bay, received approval Jan. 24 from the Department of Marine Resources for a three-year lease […]

PORTLAND — Last year, when talk of a double-dip recession was in the air, Alex Steed got nervous. He and his partners were looking to fund “Food Coma TV,” a Web-based show about the untold food stories from “the rest of Maine” – places outside the foodie destinations of Portland or Mount Desert Island. Imagine […]

PORTLAND — Capisic Pond Park, no stranger to controversy, goes under the spotlight again when city officials and park neighbors gather Wednesday night to discuss the park’s future. The meeting, to be held in the Deering High School cafeteria at 7 p.m. and led by City Councilor Ed Suslovic and officials from the Department of […]

PORTLAND — After her brother died of a heart attack at 34, Westbrook resident Pat Gallant-Charette decided something needed to be done to raise awareness for heart health. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of Americans. With her event, “Swim for your Heart,” Charette hopes to […]

PORTLAND — With assistance from students at Maine College of Art, a weekly writing program at The Telling Room is helping young students tell their stories in a Portland Public Library after-school program. “It started with collaboration between the library and the Telling Room,” said Justin Hoenke, the library’s teen librarian. “We have a regular […]

PORTLAND — The School Board has hired a consulting firm to do the groundwork in finding a new superintendent, and held a meeting to begin that search Monday evening. The board retained Proact Search, an Illinois-based company that specializes in recruiting education administrators. Six of the nine board members, including the three that make up […]

PORTLAND — Two long-time Cumberland County nonprofits made their merger official on Jan. 27, announcing the creation of a single, sleeker, agency in a press conference at the Parkside Neighborhood Center. The Peoples Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) and Youth Alternatives Ingraham had been working towards the merger for a year and a half, and finally […]