BAGHDAD, Iraq – Hostage American reporter Jill Carroll appeared in a silent 20-second video aired Tuesday by Al-Jazeera television, which said her abductors gave the United States 72 hours to free female prisoners in Iraq or she would be killed. The tape showed the 28-year-old… Read More
AUGUSTA – Members of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee made it clear to the state’s top cop Tuesday that not enough is being done to investigate child sexual predators who are using computers and the Internet to commit crimes. “We have to do something about… Read More
AUGUSTA – Deadlocked at 6-6, a legislative panel attempting to craft a bill denying driver’s licenses to illegal aliens adopted a compromise amendment Tuesday offered by Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap to move the legislation to the House floor for debate. With four members… Read More
PLEASANT POINT – Family members, friends, tribal members and politicians paid tribute Tuesday to Passamaquoddy Gov. Melvin Francis, 60, who was killed last week when his pickup truck collided with an oil truck on Route 9 in Amherst in Hancock County. During a moving funeral… Read More
BAR HARBOR – Dr. Dave Serreze of The Jackson Laboratory thinks that he and his research team may have discovered the key that will unlock some of the genetic mysteries of type 1 diabetes. The scientists have figured out a way to fix defective, diabetes-causing… Read More
BREWER – A Pennsylvania company that delivers packages for global shipping giant DHL is being sued by the state for allegedly failing to pay overdue overtime to about two dozen of its workers in Maine. The company, Harrisburg, Pa.-based Rydbom Express Inc., was hired by… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – Officials with Maine Public Service Co. announced Tuesday that they will seek regulatory approval to increase the average retail electricity rates by about 4 percent, making a total revenue increase of about $2.7 million. The company notified the Maine Public Utilities Commission… Read More
When the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce convenes tonight for its 95th annual dinner, it will honor members of a Bangor family that has operated a major business in the city for 110 years. Richard J. Warren and his wife, Elizabeth, will receive the Norbert… Read More
AUGUSTA – State Rep. Nancy E. Smith, D-Monmouth, will host the South African Consul General, Fikile Magubane, at the State House today to discuss potential trade opportunities. The consul general also will be touring businesses throughout the state and speaking with officials about expanding trade… Read More
BANGOR – An agreement that seeks to expedite regulatory reviews will enable Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. to proceed with plans for an 85-mile power transmission line from Orrington to Baileyville, Maine’s two U.S. senators said Tuesday. Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins said the agreement… Read More
Maine’s anti-smoking efforts are getting results and getting noticed. High cigarette taxes, dedicated money for programs to prevent tobacco use and harsh ads have worked to cut the state’s adult smoking rate by a third and cut the teen smoking rate more than in half. It is a… Read More
American presidents often run into trouble if they succeed in getting re-elected to a second term. Richard Nixon had his Watergate. Ronald Reagan had his Iran-Contra scandal. Bill Clinton had his Monica affair. And now President Bush has a prolonged war on his hands, as well as controversies… Read More
The municipal decision to decline an Orono night club’s liquor license renewal has generated a good deal of public and news media discussion. Some of the public comments could serve to create an erroneous perception of what is truly important to University of Maine students. Read More
So you think liquefied natural gas is a good idea? So you think it will save us from the depth of poverty and bring smiles to the faces of our children that will be getting all these great high- paying jobs? Now out of dream… Read More
I have learned over my lifetime to be suspicious if anything politician do, especially if they make a big thing out of it being for the good of the citizens. It seems most of what they do is in some way a benefit to them. Read More
In the letter, “Time has come to act” (BDN, Jan. 13), author Steve Cartwright is correct, but it serves little purpose for the call for impeachment to go out from us “little” people. The call must sound loud and clear from our “big” people, those… Read More
The Jan. 9 BDN editorial discussed recent predictions of James Hansen who claims that global warming will melt enough glaciers to cause the oceans to rise 80 feet. Other few scientists, mostly paid by the oil and gas corporations, claim global warming is a hoax. Read More
The present impasse between the Bangor school administration (superintendent and school committee) and the teachers’ union, the Bangor Education Association (BEA), has caused this resident, property owner and taxpayer to become concerned, not only for myself, but for the people of Bangor and our city. Read More
AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci’s choice for commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday that restoring public trust in the agency would be his top priority if appointed to the cabinet post. Acting DEP Commissioner David Littell inched closer to taking over leadership… Read More
OLD TOWN – Councilors are expected to vote Thursday at a special meeting on how to spend money given to the city through the host-community agreement that provides the city some benefits for playing host to the Juniper Ridge Landfill. The agreement is estimated to… Read More
WISCASSET – Two men from southern Maine suspected of robbing a bank in Newcastle on Tuesday morning and then fleeing in a pickup truck, were apprehended after an hour-long chase through several Lincoln County towns that ended with two officers injured and four cruisers and two civilian vehicles… Read More
ORONO – A Fogler librarian who hopes to compile a collection of University of Maine historical records was elated recently to discover some long-lost minutes from a trustees meeting that took place 140 years ago when the flagship campus first was created. “You couldn’t find… Read More
ORLAND – Six months have passed since Brian Allen was found dead in his brother’s trailer, and police say they are still looking into the circumstances surrounding the 46-year-old blueberry worker’s death. “We are still following up leads,” Detective Sgt. Stephen Pickering of the Maine… Read More
BANGOR – An Aroostook County doctor was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court for obstructing a federal investigation and falsifying patient records. Dr. Osama El-Sayed Abdella El-Silimy, 61, of Caribou pleaded guilty in May 2005 to three charges listed in a 118-count indictment. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
BANGOR – Penobscot County officials were scrambling Tuesday to avoid losing a transmitter used by volunteer fire departments and ambulances, although a temporary fix made the same day provided some breathing room. “Due to the age of it, it’s likely to fail sometime soon,” Chip… Read More
FORT KENT – Road crews, local and state, are being tested one more time this week by the worst that winter can bring to the northern reaches of the state. The end of December and early January brought snow to the area, and last weekend… Read More
EAST MACHIAS – A group of 21 volunteers from Washington County spent the week after Christmas living out a dream – Jeannie Voss’ dream. The 57-year-old widow living in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, La., Voss’ home was destroyed by 5 feet of standing… Read More
Belfast District Court Cases Jan 9-13, 2006 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
PRESQUE ISLE – Aroostook Winter, an exhibition being held in conjunction with the IBU 2006 Biathlon Youth-Junior World Championships, is on display in the Reed Art Gallery at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. The artists, from Fort Kent to Houlton, present their interpretations… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – The continuing education division at Northern Maine Community College is offering Introduction to Computerized Photography, a course focusing on the basic use of digital cameras, from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 21, at the college. Bring digital camera and adapters to the class. The… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – The Northern Maine Community College Foundation will join the Northern Maine Fair Association for a fundraising concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, at Presque Isle Middle School. Country Generations, a 10-member band, has recorded four albums in Nashville, Tenn. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – Plans for the opening of the Caroline D. Gentile Hall for the public has been scheduled at the University of Maine at Presque Isle from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Gentile Hall features a large multipurpose court, fitness center,… Read More
BANGOR – The school department likely will need to expand the services it provides for students with autism next year because the number of children diagnosed with the developmental disorder is increasing at a significant rate, the director of pupil services said Tuesday at the department’s regular meeting. Read More
BANGOR – Water district trustees Tuesday reviewed a budget plan for the coming year that won’t require a rate increase. The district’s most recent rate increase, a 4.5 percent adjustment that kicked in last May, was its first since 2001. It resulted in a 2-cents-a-day… Read More
A Bangor teenager was arrested for criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon after police alleged that he went to the residence of a former friend and tried to swing a tire iron at him. Ransford Bubar, 19, and another man began arguing outside a Deer… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – Kathia Valdez is bringing a little bit of her home to northern Maine with the opening of El Gallito Feliz. Valdez, 36, of Fort Fairfield, plans to open the Mexican eatery at the Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle within the… Read More
EDDINGTON – By a vote of 5 to 1, the handful of residents who attended a special town meeting Tuesday approved moving $60,000 from reserve accounts to pay for road projects finished last summer. Residents approved moving $15,000 from the town road reserve account and… Read More
ORRINGTON – Newly hired Town Manager Carl Young and his wife, Pearl, with a map in hand, spent part of last weekend learning the town’s roads and looking for a new home. “We spent the weekend driving around,” he said Tuesday during his first day… Read More
The planning board approved Tuesday night revisions to the final plan for a subdivision being built off Essex Street and plans for construction of an office building and shop on a parcel straddling the Bangor-Hampden line. Walden Parke LLC, a local partnership, needed to revise the subdivision plan… Read More
John Everett, 24, of Levant, rolled his vehicle over just after 6 a.m. Tuesday on Mullen Road, according to police. Though Everett’s injuries were not life-threatening, he was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Newport Police Chief Leonard Macdaid said. State police, Newport Rescue and Fire… Read More
A garage fire that broke out just after noon Tuesday on Seventh Street damaged several thousand dollars worth of tools and an all-terrain vehicle, but did not spread to the house. Bangor fire Capt. Ken Wicks said later Tuesday that the garage at 139 Seventh St., which was… Read More
CAMDEN – Camden Police Chief Phil Roberts reluctantly recommended ending the town’s 24/7 police dispatching services, at least through June 30. Roberts told the Select Board Tuesday night that one of the department’s four full-time dispatchers has been unavailable for work and may not be… Read More
THOMASTON – A 17-year-old Waldoboro woman was injured Tuesday in a two-vehicle accident on Buttermilk Lane when she rear-ended a sport utility vehicle that had stopped to let a truck pull out of Chemrock Corp., a perlite-manufacturing plant, police said. Brittany Neubauer, 17, was taken… Read More
COOPER – Taking all the steps that the state Legislature requested last spring, the town will explore – perhaps for the last time – alternatives to deorganizing during a meeting tonight. The meeting, called by the Washington County Council of Governments in coordination with the… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – The star confetti stayed in cups at the University of Maine at Presque Isle Tuesday afternoon as a group of people who came to celebrate the launch of an unmanned NASA spacecraft instead only got to see a series of launch delays. Read More
BANGOR – A Garland man was ordered held Tuesday on $3,000 cash bail after his initial appearance in 3rd District Court in Bangor on a child pornography charge. The bail also would allow Randy Lee Clark, 41, to post $25,000 in property to be released,… Read More
ELLSWORTH – City workers this week started demolishing the Knowlton School’s 20-year-old playground to make way for new recreational equipment. Crews began tearing down the wooden labyrinth of ladders, slides and bridges in front of the State Street school early Tuesday morning and will work… Read More
Cold got you down? Want to do something that makes you feel warm and toasty? Leslie Poake and everyone associated with Project Atrium urge you to get out your beach attire and attend the Project Atrium Beach Party from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Jan. Read More
DOVER-FOXCROFT – An Abbot couple charged in October with trafficking in marijuana after police found a “secret” growing room in their Pond Road home have been sentenced in 13th District Court. Andrew Grant, 31, recently pleaded no contest to unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs and… Read More
DEDHAM, Mass. – A prosecutor said Tuesday that a dominatrix waited too long to call for help as a client died of a heart attack during a bondage session, then dismembered and disposed of the body rather than report the death. But the woman’s lawyer… Read More
MADAWASKA – Despite a late start, organizers of the International Snowmobile Festival say that plans are jelling for the first weekend in February, when snowmobiling will be the number one activity in northern Maine and northwestern New Brunswick. This year marks the 10th anniversary of… Read More
In the spring, a young man’s fancy does indeed turn to baseball. But in winter’s growling, howling days, everyone’s fancy turns to pies. Naturally, National Pie Day, sponsored by the National Pie Council, was set for the middle of the white season, on Jan. 22. Read More
Wine and dine Celebrate some of the world’s finest vintages at the 15th annual Wine Expo at the Seaport World Trade Center and Seaport Hotel in Boston. The event will take place Jan. 28 and 29, and includes a grand tasting featuring 1,800 different wines… Read More
A 10-member search committee headed by oceanography professor David Townsend has begun working to find the next athletic director for the University of Maine. UMaine has embarked on a national search to replace Patrick Nero, who resigned the position in June and in July became… Read More
HERMON – Five days after a disappointing loss, the Dexter girls basketball team rolled to a big win. It took the Tigers a quarter to get into a rhythm, though. Once they did, Mallory Ames’ 18 points and a big second-period run were the keys… Read More
As the Genie portable lift elevated a member of the Dexter High custodial staff toward the ceiling of Guiski Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon to contain a leak in the roof, the flashbacks were inevitable. Twenty years earlier, a similar lift was brought in to deal… Read More
Former University of Maine goalie and NHL veteran Garth Snow, who plays for the New York Islanders, could be the poster child for hockey goalies and their unique personalities. He has always possessed a great sense of humor and, in fact, former teammate Michael Peca… Read More
BANGOR – The Mount Desert Island boys basketball team usually has been either comfortably ahead or battling from behind in its games so far this season. That made the Trojans’ 66-60 Big East Conference Class B victory over John Bapst at the Bangor Auditorium on… Read More
BANGOR – Judging from the questions asked and the tone they were asked in, the honeymoon for Boston Red Sox fans may be over. Unlike the previous two installments of “An Evening with Joe and Jerry,” a baseball hot- stove session presented by Bangor all-sports… Read More
CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Farmington native and 2004 U.S. Olympian Kevin Eastler walked away from a field of 14 world-class racewalkers to win the 30-kilometer National Racewalk Championship held at the Olympic Training Center on Sunday. Eastler, an Air Force captain, broke the American record… Read More
HIGH SCHOOL Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance 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… Read More
HIGH SCHOOL Official standings for boys and girls basketball and hockey as reported by the Maine Principals’ Association. 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++)… Read More
COLLEGE Patricia Gagnon 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]… Read More
Woodland High School senior Michelle Ferry has been named the Gatorade Maine Volleyball Player of the Year. Ferry, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, is a four-year varsity starter who led the Dragons to four Downeast Athletic Conference titles, four state semifinals, and a state championship in… Read More
Sarah Konrad of Laramie, Wyo., who earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic biathlon team earlier this month in Fort Kent, was named to the U.S. Olympic cross country ski team Tuesday. Konrad, 38, finished fourth overall at the Olympic biathlon trials at the 10th… Read More
MAINE vs. NEW HAMPSHIRE Time, site: Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Lundholm Gymnasium, Durham, N.H. 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… Read More
When three senior members of the Bangor High School girls basketball team decided during the summer to spruce up their warmup uniforms for the winter season, they turned to Andy Nickerson. Nickerson owns Wight’s Sporting Goods in Bangor and handles uniform orders for schools all… Read More
LEWISTON – Rob Stockwell tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bates College men’s basketball team to a 68-54 victory over St. Joseph’s of Standish Tuesday. Bryan Wholey added 16 points and Zak Ray 10 for the winners. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
BANGOR – The John Bapst Crusaders limited the Mount Desert Island Trojans to four fourth-quarter points while overcoming a four-point deficit after three quarters to earn a 40-35 schoolgirl basketball victory Tuesday. Hillary Laferriere scored six of her 14 points in the fourth quarter for… Read More
NEW ORLEANS – Progress rebuilding the Gulf Coast is still overshadowed by the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina, senators said Tuesday, promising more federal help as they viewed broken levees and the shattered homes of victims trying to restart their lives. Four months after the… Read More