PORTLAND

Vigil remembers victims from U.S. gun violence

About 75 people gathered Sunday on the steps of Portland City Hall to participate in a vigil aimed at remembering the victims and survivors of gun violence.

Similar vigils, which were organized by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, took place in Augusta and Waterville, as well as in cities across the country.

Sunday also marked the first anniversary of the Arizona shooting that killed six people and injured 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Tom Franklin, president of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, said the gathering featured several speakers, including Dayna Klein of Portland.

Klein told the crowd that she had been working at a Jewish community center in Seattle several years ago when a gunman entered the center and opened fire.

The man killed her friend and colleague and wounded Klein, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Three weeks later, she gave birth, though the bullet narrowly missed her womb.

LEWISTON

Lewiston man charged with child endangerment

Police in Maine’s second-largest city have brought child endangerment charges against a man whose 3-year-old son overdosed on a prescription painkiller.

Lewiston police launched an investigation after 28-year-old Michael Roy’s son was hospitalized Friday. Police said it appeared that the boy had found a pill inside the Lewiston apartment where he lives with his father.

An official at the Androscoggin County Jail said Sunday that Roy was being held on $2,000 bail for child endangerment and violating conditions of bail.

ELIOT

Retailers seem in no rush to sell legal fireworks

Maine retailers apparently aren’t in a rush to sell fireworks, which became legal as of Jan. 1.

Richard Taylor of the state Fire Marshal’s Office said the agency anticipated applications for the sale of consumer fireworks. But so far, there have been no applications, and more than a dozen communities have enacted local bans on fireworks.

Under Maine’s new law, anyone wishing to open a retail store or add fireworks to their inventory must first request a permit from the Fire Marshal’s Office.

SOUTH PORTLAND

Coast Guard will reopen comment period on lanes

The Coast Guard is seeking comments from mariners, fishermen and recreational boaters as it evaluates potential modifications of shipping lanes from Maine to Florida.

The Coast Guard is examining existing shipping routes as it considers the possibility of other uses such as offshore wind farms on the outer continental shelf.

The original notice last May resulted in only 26 comments, so the Coast Guard is reopening the comment period to ensure that its Port Access Route Study is comprehensive. The Coast Guard encourages the public to submit comments and related materials by Jan. 31.

BANGOR

Suspect charged in attempt to set fire to police cruiser

Police said a man is behind bars after trying to set fire to a Bangor police cruiser parked outside the station.

Lt. Steve Hunt said 61-year-old Ian Bodger was charged with felony arson after a fire was set under the cruiser Saturday.

Hunt said an officer was heading into work when he saw the suspect crouched down by one of the cruisers. When the officer asked what he was doing, the suspect said he going to burn the car. A small fire had already been lit.

Hunt said the car was moved before major damage occurred and the fire was extinguished.

Bodger was taken to the Penobscot County Jail. He faces up to 30 years if convicted.

Bangor airport gets more flights to Washington, D.C.

Bangor’s airport is getting additional flight service to Washington, D.C.

US Airways said it will expand service at Bangor International Airport with daily non-stop flights to Washington’s Reagan National Airport beginning March 25. The airline will also add a fourth daily flight to Philadelphia beginning the same day. US Airways now operates only weekend service from Bangor to Washington.

The airport said US Airways will stop offering its Bangor flights to New York’s LaGuardia Airport sometime this year as it focuses on its core service areas of Washington, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C. Delta Air Lines also offers Bangor-to-LaGuardia flights.

MILLINOCKET

Campers can soon make reservations for park

Campers will soon to be able make reservations for the 2012 camping season at Maine’s Baxter State Park.

Park officials said people who show up at the park’s Millinocket headquarters on Jan. 17 can make up to two reservations for any time from May 15 to Oct. 15.

The park will also begin its rolling reservation system on the same date, allowing campers to use the park’s website to reserve lean-tos, tent sites and cabins up to 120 days in advance.

— From staff and news services