PORTLAND — The School Committee is lobbying the City Council to create an account separate from the city’s for funding school facility improvements. School facility improvements are now included in a single line item in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, a $10 million allocation typically funded through bonds. But school officials would like to create […]

PORTLAND — Black and red ribbons outline the cream-colored antique lace hand-stitched onto each of the 11 dancers’ costumes hanging from a ballet bar in the back room of Portland Ballet’s Forest Avenue studio. In the hallways, on the dance floor and in the dressing rooms, there’s a flurry of activity as costumes are fitted, […]

PORTLAND — Five southern Maine municipalities are receiving more than $600,000 in federal and state transportation funds through the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System. The organization last week announced the money is going to Portland, Falmouth, Cumberland, Cape Elizabeth and Biddeford, municipalities spending 100 percent of local funds on state roads. PACTS said the buying […]

Fourth in a series by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting about the state’s debt to teachers and state employees for their pensions and retiree health care. A widely-respected think-tank calls the $4.2 billion that taxpayers owe to Maine’s retirement system a “ticking time bomb” that should dominate any discussion of the state’s finances. […]

NATICK, Mass. — The Forecaster was one of six weekly newspapers in the region honored with a Publick Occurrences award for Outstanding Journalism by the New England Newspaper & Press Association at its annual fall conference on Oct. 21. The Forecaster’s award was for coverage of Oxford Aviation’s ultimately failed attempt to establish an aircraft […]

Cape Elizabeth Town Councilor Sara Lennon, left, snips the ribbon as horticulturist Rick Churchill steadies the tape on Oct. 16 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially start an invasive plant species-cutting event at Fort Williams Park. The day marked the beginning of volunteer efforts to restore the historic park’s natural landscaping by replacing non-native plants […]

Kathleen Strickland, a breast cancer survivor, had the honor of cutting the ribbon to start the Making Strides Against Cancer Walk in Brunswick on Sunday, Oct. 17, because she was the largest online fundraiser. The 15th annual walk attracted about 250 participants and raised more than $40,000 for the American Cancer Society.

An Oct. 8 candidate profile of Howard R. Farr Jr., the Republican candidate in South Portland’s House District 122, should have said he volunteers twice a month at the Preble Street Soup Kitchen in Portland.

SOUTH PORTLAND — In a sign of how the recession is affecting local residents, the South Portland Housing Authority reported a record number of families and senior citizens seeking subsidized housing. The agency opened its waiting list for public housing and Section 8 vouchers for five days, from Oct. 4-8. More than 920 people responded, […]

CAPE ELIZABETH — In anticipation of a large number of write-in ballots for a seat on the School Board, Town Clerk Debra Lane said she may not have the results of the municipal election on Nov. 2. “My sense is that there are going to be a tremendous amount of write-ins,” she told the Town […]