PORTLAND

Police suspect local man in robbery of credit union

A 40-year-old Portland man is wanted in connection with a robbery Monday morning at a credit union.

Police Lt. Gary Rogers said surveillance cameras at the TruChoice Federal Credit Union, at 272 Park Ave., identified Sean Dolstad as the suspected robber. Rogers said Dolstad is known to police.

Police said Dolstad entered the credit union around 9:30 a.m., handed the teller a note demanding money and left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The man did not display a weapon. There were no customers in the credit union at the time.

The suspect ran away and was last seen going south on Forest Street. He was wearing a black baseball cap, a black shirt and dark pants.

GLOUCESTER, Mass.

Police identify body found in harbor as Maine sailor

Police have identified the body found in Gloucester Harbor during the weekend as a Maine man.

Authorities said the body of David Kendall, 48, of Yarmouth was found about 3 p.m. Saturday.

Police said Kendall apparently had stopped in Gloucester while sailing his 44-foot sailboat, Querencia, from Bermuda back to Maine.

Police told The Gloucester Daily Times that it is unclear how Kendall ended up in the water. The death remains under investigation but is not considered suspicious.

Authorities said Kendall’s death does not appear to be connected to a mayday call the Coast Guard received late Thursday night from someone who said their boat was going down “20 to 40 minutes” out of Gloucester with two people aboard.

BRUNSWICK

Drowning victim identified as 39-year-old Bath man

The Bath man who drowned while fishing Sunday in the Androscoggin River was identified by Brunswick police Monday as 39-year-old William Clark.

Clark’s body was recovered Sunday night by divers from the Maine State Police dive team. Police withheld his name initially, pending notification of his relatives.

Officials said Clark and a woman were fishing from a sandbar near Frye Island, just south of Baybridge Landing in Brunswick, when he slipped and fell into the water.

A strong current swept him away despite his friends’ efforts to rescue him. The woman was rescued by a kayaker who was paddling nearby.

Eleven departments were involved in the search for Clark’s body, including the Maine Marine Patrol and one of the agency’s airplanes. Clark’s body was recovered around 7 p.m.

FALMOUTH

Council to review policies on employee endorsements

Town councilors discussed the possibility Monday night of tightening municipal policies on political endorsements and signs in elections.

Councilors directed Town Manager Nathan Poore to review policies on town employees endorsing candidates or causes and using the town’s computer and email systems to transmit such endorsements.

They sought Poore’s action in the wake of concern that school administrators sent emails endorsing School Board candidates in the June election.

Poore said town policies prohibit municipal employees from advocating for issues or candidates. Still, councilors asked Poore to coordinate his review with the school district’s reconsideration of its policies.

Councilors also called for a review of municipal policies on whether town committees can endorse candidates or causes and how many signs may be displayed by a political campaign.

Councilor Fred Chase suggested a limit of 100 signs per candidate because there were so many signs before the June election .

PORTLAND

Downeaster ridership tops 500,000 a year for first time

Annual ridership on Amtrak’s Downeaster has topped 500,000 for the first time, with ridership more than doubling since 2005 on the rail service between Portland and Boston, officials said Monday.

The milestone was reached in the fiscal year that ended June 30; ridership grew 8 percent and ticket revenue grew 7 percent during the period, said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which oversees the service.

The Downeaster will mark its 10-year anniversary in December. So far, more than 3.5 million passengers have used the service.

Factors behind the increase in ridership  include increased service, track improvements that have shortened the trip, and high gas prices.

Last summer, work began on a $35 million track extension to Brunswick. The extension is expected to be completed by the fall of 2012, bringing in another 30,000 to 50,000 riders a year.

BANGOR

Board will decide funding for conservation projects

A state board will decide which of almost 40 land conservation proposals to fund with the $9.25 million it has available through the Land for Maine’s Future program.

The board’s meeting today will all but deplete the land conservation fund, which comes from voter-approved bonds.

No bond proposals will appear on Maine ballots in 2011, so it could be a year or two before the politically popular program has more funding for conservation projects.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.

Memorial Bridge will close for northbound traffic only

The Memorial Bridge between Portsmouth, N.H., and Kittery, Maine, will be closed to northbound traffic for repairs for at least a week.

Officials said drivers would have to find alternative routes starting at
7 p.m. Monday. The bridge will remain open to southbound traffic from Kittery to Portsmouth.

Mark Richardson, administrator of the Bridge Design Bureau, told the Portsmouth Herald that the decision to partially close the bridge was based on the deterioration of parts of the fixed-truss span on the downstream side of the bridge.

ORONO

UMaine creates new school for computing information

The University of Maine has merged its Department of Computer Science and Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering to create a School of Computing Information Science.

The new school became an official academic unit on July 1.

University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude has stressed the importance of providing computing and information degree programs that respond to Maine’s work force needs.