Mainers head for N.Y.

AUGUSTA – A volunteer team of emergency operations specialists from Maine is headed to Brooklyn, N.Y., to help with relief efforts from Superstorm Sandy.

The group of more than a dozen includes personnel from the Air and Army National Guard, the Maine departments of Public Safety and Transportation, and the Maine Emergency Management Agency. A Maine fire chief and private sector energy expert are also joining the effort.

The team will report to the New York City emergency operations center.

Union-shy workers balk

DECATUR, Ala. – An Alabama utility crew heading to New Jersey has returned home, claiming it had to affiliate with a union to help with the recovery effort after Superstorm Sandy. But union officials, a New Jersey utility company and the governor say they are mistaken.

The general manager of Decatur Utilities, Ray Hardin, said a six-member crew left for Seaside Height, N.J. It got as far as a staging area in Virginia before returning home. Hardin said documents from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers implied the non-union workers had to agree to union affiliation.

A spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said he doesn’t know what papers the crew was given, but union and non-union crews are working in New Jersey. He calls it a misunderstanding.

Hiker out of the woods

GATLINBURG, Tenn. – An Appalachian Trail hiker has been rescued from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park after calling 911 to say he didn’t think he’d be able to make his way out because of snowdrifts up to 5 feet high left by Superstorm Sandy.

Park service spokeswoman Molly Schroer said rescuers used two helicopters Friday to pick up 56-year-old Steven Ainsworth, of Washington, N.C. Schroer said Ainsworth’s condition is being assessed at an airport in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

Casinos back in action

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Atlantic City’s casinos were given the OK to reopen by Gov. Chris Christie on Friday, five days after the approaching Superstorm Sandy forced them to close their doors, and several of the gambling halls moved to quickly start recouping losses.

The Golden Nugget opened 90 minutes after the governor’s order and four others prepared to open later in the day as the struggling gambling industry scrambled to restart after a second forced shutdown in two years.

Christie issued his order at 10 a.m., also allowing roads to the seaside resort to reopen.

Golden Nugget Atlantic City was the first casino back in business, before noon. The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the Tropicana Casino and Resort and the two Trump casinos planned to open at 4 p.m.