CAPE ELIZABETH

Town’s Democrats nominate House District 121 candidate

The town’s Democratic Committee nominated Kim Monaghan-Derrig on Thursday night as its candidate in a special election next month to fill a vacancy in Maine House District 121.

Monaghan-Derrig, a lifelong Cape Elizabeth resident, works in the marketing field, serves on the town’s school board and has a background in economic development. She is pursuing a master’s degree in public policy at the Muskie School of Public Service in Portland.

She will run against Republican Nancy Thompson, an insurance agent and a 25-year resident of Cape Elizabeth who has a record of community service.

The special election on Aug. 16 will fill the seat vacated by Cynthia Dill. The Democrat left her House seat to run for an open state Senate seat, to which she was elected in May.

NORRIDGEWOCK

Man sought in Florida death arrested, charged as fugitive

The U.S. Marshals Service says a man who was wanted in connection with a Florida homicide has been arrested in Norridgewock.

Thirty-three-year-old Shaun Corson was wanted in connection with the June 26 killing of a Jacksonville woman. Jacksonville authorities asked for assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service in locating Corson, who is originally from Madison.

While conducting surveillance Thursday, investigators saw Corson driving away from a home in Madison, which borders Norridgewock.

Authorities stopped the vehicle and arrested Corson without incident. Corson was being held as a fugitive from justice at the Somerset County Jail in Skowhegan.

AUGUSTA

Maine getting $2.1 million to stem illegal cigarette sales

Maine is getting a $2.1 million, three-year grant to crack down on the sale of cigarettes to minors.

Maine’s attorney general says the formal announcement of the funding from the Food and Drug Administration will be made Monday at the Calumet Club in Augusta, where a forum on tobacco compliance will be held.

Participants will include Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, Maine Attorney General William Schneider and Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew.

BANGOR

Two folk singers charged in border-crossing attempt

A Canadian folk singer and her backup vocalist are facing federal charges for allegedly lying when attempting to cross from Canada into Maine.

Michele Marie Bahrynowski, who performs under the name Michelle Joly, and Carrie Ann Sadler, both of Red Deer, Alberta, are charged with making false and misleading representation.

According to an affidavit, border agents in Calais turned back the pair at 2 a.m. Monday because they didn’t have the necessary work or performance visas. The pair was arrested the next morning at another Calais border station after allegedly telling agents they were crossing the border to visit friends.

The affidavit says Bahrynowski later acknowledged she was scheduled to perform in New York, Illinois and Minnesota. Agents found 459 Michelle Joly CDs and other merchandise in the pair’s van.

BROOKSVILLE

Quake vibrates peninsula, but no damage reported

A small earthquake across Maine’s Blue Hill peninsula prompted a handful of calls to law enforcement officials, but no damage was reported.

According to the Weston Observatory at Boston College, the magnitude 2.3 quake happened at 5:23 a.m. Thursday and was centered in the small town of Brooksville.

By late Thursday afternoon, 36 people had recorded on the U.S. Geological Survey website that they felt the quake, some as far away as Bar Harbor, Lincolnville and Warren.

WASHINGTON

Caribou chosen as pilot site for veterans care project

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has chosen the Cary Medical Center in Caribou as one of five pilot locations nationwide for a program dubbed Project ARCH, for Access Received Closer to Home. The VA hospital in Togus will oversee the Caribou site.

Maine lawmakers lauded the announcement, with Rep. Mike Michaud, D-2nd District, noting that he worked to pass legislation in 2008 that authorized the remote care pilot program and has been pushing the VA to put the initiative into effect.

“For too long our veterans have struggled with the unacceptably long drives to Togus or Boston. It’s my hope that this pilot will be expanded after the VA sees how important getting care locally is for these Maine veterans.”

It will be about two months before the center in Caribou is ready to offer health care services to veterans, Michaud said.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the new program will help veterans in Aroostook County stay closer to home while still receiving medical care.

Michaud’s office said veterans wanting more information about the program in Caribou can contact Ryan Lilly at Ryan.Lilly@va.gov or 623-8411.

SWANS ISLAND

New library opens, replacing one destroyed by lightning

A new library has opened on Swans Island three years after lightning destroyed the old one.

The old library on the eastern Maine island burned to the ground after being struck by lightning in July 2008. The building had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The new, 3,500-square-foot library opened during a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday. Funding for the building was helped by a $398,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

Swans Island has about 350 year-round residents, and a summer population of about 1,000.

KITTERY

Maine-based cutter helps in Gulf of Mexico rescue

The U.S. Coast Guard says a Maine-based cutter helped rescue a disabled sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico.

Crew members of the Maine-based U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma, aboard the cutter’s small boat, approached the disabled boat 190 miles west of Key West, Fla., on Wednesday to rescue a 70-year-old man after the boat’s mast broke.

The Tahoma is now towing the vessel to the nearest safe port in its operating area.

The Coast Guard says the Tahoma was en route to regular law enforcement patrol in the Caribbean when the call came in.

BEDFORD, N.H.

Former Episcopalian priest arrested in sexual assaults

A former Manchester, N.H., Episcopal priest is facing felonious sexual assault charges involving two incidents with a child under age 13.

Bedford police charged 78-year-old Franklin Huntress of Marblehead, Mass., after a two-month investigation into incidents in the 1980s. Police say Huntress was arrested on June 30 and extradited to New Hampshire, where he was arraigned Wednesday in Hillsborough County Superior Court. He was released Thursday on $25,000 cash bail.

At the time of the incidents, Huntress lived out of state but was invited back for a community function.

Police said Huntress served at Grace Church in Manchester from 1971 to 1975.

Police declined to elaborate on the crimes or victims.

— From staff and news services