1 min read

KENNEBUNKPORT (AP) — The water search has been suspended for two Maine students who went missing last week, with the only evidence being some clothing discovered on an island off Kennebunkport.

Police Chief Craig Sanford says divers completed their search operations on Wednesday, and that searches would resume only if there’s new information.

Zachery Wells, 21, of Burlington, Vt., and 23-year-old Prescott Wright of Barnstable, Mass., were last seen drinking with friends a week ago at Wells’ home near the Cape Porpoise pier. Both are students at The Landing School, a boat building and yacht design school in Arundel. Thursday cutting state spending by $35.5 million.

The order has been anticipated since November, when revenue forecasters downgraded estimates for the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2013. The spending cuts are necessary to ensure the state finishes the fiscal year with a balanced budget, as required by the Maine Constitution.

LePage said it’s time for legislators to address structural problems with Maine’s state budget rather than simply putting a Band-Aid on it year after year.

“Not unlike Washington, we must rein in spending before Maine falls off its own fiscal cliff,” he said in a statement.

The Department of Health and Human Services is taking the biggest cut, $13.4 million, followed by the Department of Education, which is facing a $12.6 million reduction in state assistance to local schools across the state. The Portland School District faces the biggest cut in school aid at $870,000.



Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.