WASHINGTON – Three new planets have been discovered in other solar systems and are the closest ever found to Earth in size, marking an important step in the search for planets that could support life elsewhere in the universe, scientists have announced. The new planets… Read More
    BAILEYVILLE – Police in this Washington County town interrupted a juvenile tattoo ring that led to a 17-year-old being questioned and authorities on the lookout for anyone who may have been marked by a crudely built tattooing machine. A few months ago, a mother discovered… Read More
    BURNHAM – When it comes to presidential politics, this is no party town. Those in this small, Waldo County village of just over 1,000 people aren’t prone to pick sides before Election Day, having the highest percentage of independent, or so-called “unenrolled,” voters in the… Read More
    A story published Tuesday on the State page about the first court appearance of a New Hampshire man charged with stabbing a Brewer man requires clarification. Larry Wilfred Gagne Jr., 28, of Enfield, N.H., had been staying at Hope House, which houses the Acadia Recovery Community, a residential… Read More
    PORTLAND – There was a time when Maine’s tourist season ran roughly from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In recent years, though, September and October have come on as strong tourism months as well. Lodging revenues last year in September and October nearly equaled income… Read More
    SHAPLEIGH – For the past decade, a bikini-clad Katharine Schultze has parked her 1953 Ford pickup at the corner of Routes 11 and 109, where she hawks hot dogs and lemonade from a small red-and-white cart. She may not be back next summer. The town… Read More
    BANGOR – Concerned that businesses might be questioning whether their workers are entitled to overtime pay under new federal rules implemented last week, the Baldacci administration on Tuesday released draft rules that state which classifications of workers are not. The intended purpose behind the four… Read More
    WASHINGTON – The Justice Department’s antitrust division has reached a settlement to allow the proposed acquisition of fish processor Bumble Bee Seafoods LLP by Connors Bros. Income Fund, the world’s biggest producer of canned sardines. Under the settlement announced Tuesday, Connors Bros., based in Blacks… Read More
    AUGUSTA – The Public Utilities Commission is fining a telecommunications company $750,000 and revoking its license to operate in Maine following slamming complaints. The PUC said Tuesday that Business Options Inc., headquartered in Merrillville, Ind., is responsible for nearly 200 unauthorized changes of Maine consumers’… Read More
    Regarding the article, “Marine Patrol finds illegal haddock” (BDN, Aug. 24), it is truly alarming that such huge numbers of juvenile haddock are ending up in the nets of large herring trawlers this summer. It is even more troubling that many fishermen from Calais to Cape Cod have… Read More
    For the tiny slice of the American public that cares whether neoconservatives stand as one or are, to a degree, divided on the war in Iraq and its effects, the recent disagreement between neocons Charles Krauthammer and Francis Fukuyama is hot dinner-party conversation. For the other 99 percent… Read More
    As members of Congress return from their summer recess this month they will consider landmark Senate-passed legislation that will give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. The FDA jurisdiction, which is tied to a tobacco grower buyout and is part of a larger corporate… Read More
    On July 20, I visited the Bureau of Motor Vehicles at the Airport Mall in Bangor in order to get a new driver’s license. (I recently moved back to Maine after living in New Mexico for 13 years.) I noticed a sign saying that one could also register… Read More
    As a property owner in Pembroke, I am appalled at the consideration of a liquefied natural gas plant at Pleasant Point on Passamaquoddy Bay. The heavy industry pollution and danger of an LNG facility would be an irreparable assault on the land, ocean, wildlife and… Read More
    I am tired of all the hype over 527 ads. This appears to be a vast left-wing conspiracy to draw attention away from the real issues of the presidential campaigns. That is – what the two candidates have done in the recent past. The truth… Read More
    I can’t tell what I hate most about this election season: Loyalty oaths to see your president or vice president speak? Fenced-in, remote, technically accurate but cynically labeled free-speech zones? Organized hooligans hired to heckle and disrupt public events? Armed investigators stalking or visiting the… Read More
    My wife, a U.S. Navy veteran of both World War II and the Korea campaign, died at our home in Franklin on Jan. 25. At her request and with prior arrangement, she was buried at the Maine Veterans Cemetery on Jan. 30. On Memorial Day… Read More
    A press conference designed to highlight the bear hunting practices that a citizens’ group hopes to ban with a November referendum was overshadowed this week by allegations that one of the primary spokesmen for the ban has a history of violating state fish and wildlife laws. Read More
    BANGOR – Maine’s SAT scores for the high school Class of 2004 showed some positive trends despite falling short of the national average, according to the head of assessments for the Maine Department of Education. The average verbal score of 504 in Maine is up… Read More
    DEER ISLE – After a daylong search in the waters of Billings Cove, divers on Tuesday recovered the body of a 21-year-old Deer Isle man. Divers found the body of Roger Hardy a short distance from where he and a companion, Barry Lee Jones, no… Read More
    MADAWASKA – Environmental workers continued to change the fiber cloths on booms in the St. John River on Tuesday, still cleaning up a waste-oil spill that occurred Saturday night into Sunday morning. An oils and hazardous materials specialist from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection… Read More
    PITTSFIELD – Last week it was a coyote. This week, it’s a cow. A big cow. A big white cow with horns. The forces of nature are causing havoc on Interstate 95 in Pittsfield. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
    DOVER-FOXCROFT- A Sebec woman lost control of her vehicle Tuesday on Summer Street and hit a utility pole. Jane Ambler, 72, the driver of a 2003 GMC Yukon, was taken by ambulance to Mayo Regional Hospital where she was being held overnight for observation, according… Read More
    WESTFIELD – Local officials are regrouping after a second attempt to sell the town’s former school building failed last week. The town came up empty-handed after a bidder withdrew the bid for the Westfield Consolidated School building that officials already had accepted, said Richard Watson,… Read More
    PRESQUE ISLE – Classes are under way at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and, with new student enrollment figures on the rise and total student enrollment peaking at more than 1,600, university officials are calling it a good year. New student enrollment is… Read More
    MILO – Town Manager Jane Jones has issued a challenge to supporters of the Palesky tax cap initiative, even Carol Palesky herself: Come to Milo and show her in black and white how the town can operate on 10 mills, or $10 per $1,000 valuation. Read More
    BREWER – Police found drugs Monday hidden at the home of a local couple who let a woman use their bathroom after a car accident earlier that day. Lynn Martin, 27, of Bangor was allowed into the North Main Street home after she was involved… Read More
    ELLSWORTH – A Bangor man who served a 20-month prison term after he was convicted of a hit-and-run accident in Tremont is going back to jail for another six months, according to court documents. Frederick Ward, 24, was convicted two years ago of striking a… Read More
    CARMEL – For five years, educator Candy Devlin has spearheaded curriculum development in the Carmel area. This year, as principal of the Carmel Elementary School, she’ll begin implementing some of the things she helped develop. “I had to see what the impact of this was… Read More
    ROCKLAND – A longtime state jail inspector has accepted the top administrative post at Knox County Jail. Sheriff Daniel Davey said Tuesday that John Hinkley of West Gardiner would begin as jail administrator on Sept. 20, earning $38,970 during the first six months. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
    WARREN – The planning board meets Thursday for an initial look at a proposal to open a 5-acre gravel pit on a 41-acre parcel off U.S. Route 1 near Falcon Lane. The land is owned by Edward Spear of Bangor. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
    ROCKLAND – An elevator inspector became trapped inside an elevator Tuesday at the downtown building housing Second Read Books & Coffee Shop on Main Street. The telephone inside the elevator worked, the inspector reported. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
    PLEASANT POINT – Tribal police are investigating a report that a mailing list that belonged to foes of the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal was stolen over the weekend. John Wilson of Machiasport notified police of the incident around 3:30 a.m. Monday. He said the… Read More
    Rockland District Court Cases Aug. 23-27, 2004 googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
    LIBERTY – An Albion logger remained in critical condition Tuesday after being impaled by an oak branch while cutting trees in Waldo County. Allen N. Shores, 47, of Shores Logging Co. was working Monday in woods off the Lampson Road when a branch fell and… Read More
    PORTLAND – The Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously affirmed Tuesday a decision that ordered a Levant landowner to refill a section of her property and pay fines, court and legal fees of more than $12,000 for violating the town’s land use ordinance. The legal saga… Read More
    BANGOR – A former Holden elementary school teacher and foster parent has pleaded guilty to charges of distributing child pornography. Christopher Reardon, 34, now of Houlton, entered his plea on Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years… Read More
    Thousands of acres of forestland along the Appalachian Trail could be vulnerable to logging, road construction and even mining if a proposal to remove Clinton-era restrictions in national forests is approved, conservation groups said Tuesday. In the White Mountains National Forest, located primarily in New… Read More
    ORONO – A freshman at the University of Maine was arrested on the second day of classes for alleged possession of more than 100 OxyContin pills and stolen property. Kailie A. Brackett, 20, of Perry was arrested and charged Tuesday with possession of a Schedule… Read More
    AUGUSTA – Based on the success of a wildlife rabies control program begun in 2001, Maine and New Brunswick public and animal health officials have scheduled a border airdrop of vaccine-laden bait. All this week, more than 100,000 baits are expected to be dropped, according… Read More
    GREAT CRANBERRY ISLAND – When Wini Smart looks at the former Mountain View Inn, she sees past its crooked wood panels, its weather-beaten windows and its sagging porches. Instead, she sees a building as hardy and durable as the people who make Great Cranberry Island… Read More
    MACHIAS – The two Down East law enforcement officers who competed last weekend in a national shooting contest in Montana performed well enough to earn a trip back to the exclusive finale on Sept. 11. Rodney Merritt of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and Jason… Read More
    This isn’t your father’s “Five-0.” “Hawaii,” debuting at 8 tonight, isn’t like any past crime show set in the islands. It’s Hawaiian shirts instead of suits. It’s soul patches in place of bushy mustaches. In TV exec-speak, it’s “Miami Vice” goes aloha, full of the… Read More
    ORONO – The University of Maine football team has worked hard to establish an identity as one of the premier programs in the Atlantic 10 Conference and in the nation. The Black Bears’ “Pound the Rock” offensive philosophy and its swarming “Black Hole” defense have… Read More
    ORONO – It would have been the unthinkable, as University of Maine field hockey coach Terri Kix put it. And it nearly became that, as the Black Bears took the University of Michigan into overtime in Tuesday afternoon’s game at Alfond Stadium. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
    PRESQUE ISLE – Nate Carter recorded two goals and an assist as the Presque Isle boys soccer team earned a 4-0 victory over rival Caribou Tuesday night in high school action. Sean Daigle and Josh Gonsorioski chipped in with one goal apiece and Brad Baker… Read More
    High School At Edmunston GC, googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
    Marcus Williams, a senior tailback for the University of Maine, is among 16 players and the only member of the Atlantic 10 to be placed on the first “Payton Watch” list compiled by The Sports Network. The two-time 1,000-yard rusher was a finalist last season for the Walter… Read More
    The end of Ricky Craven’s run as driver of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nextel Cup ranks could be imminent. According to reports Tuesday in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer and its Web site, ThatsRacin.com, PPI Motorsports is set to put the driver… Read More
    AUGUSTA – Independent presidential hopeful Ralph Nader might have secured enough signatures to place him on the Maine ballot, Democrats challenging his candidacy conceded Tuesday. But potential problems with the paperwork nevertheless should disqualify the consumer advocate from running in Maine, lawyers for two Maine… Read More
    NEW YORK – The way Mark Ellis figures it, he didn’t wait half the year to become a delegate to the Republican National Convention only to be run off by a bunch of left-wing demonstrators. While tensions heightened Tuesday between protesters and delegates, the Augusta… Read More
    NEW YORK – Jerry Hudson of Brewer, an alternate delegate attending the Republican National Convention, was only too happy to roll up his sleeves and get down in the dirt on Tuesday. Hudson was among a dozen or so Maine delegates and alternates who donned… Read More