YARMOUTH — The Energy Savers Committee is nearing the end of a two-year project to reduce street lights as a way to save money, energy and reduce light pollution. Marge Titcomb, YES chairwoman, said the town’s nearly 650 streetlights have been mapped and reviewed, and the committee recommends turning off 110 lights. The recommendation has […]

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap’s job is to run elections, oversee the state archives, ensure compliance with corporate incorporation filings and administer the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. But Dunlap, who is paid more than $83,800 by taxpayers to represent their interests, also represents the interests of one of the most powerful special interest groups […]

PORTLAND — The committee in charge of recommending federal funding for social service agencies will offer the City Council three options on March 22 – two weeks after the council criticized the original recommendations and the method by which they were reached. Exactly how the three options were developed remains unknown, however, because the committee […]

CUMBERLAND — The superintendent’s draft fiscal 2011 budget would eliminate the jobs of up to 30 employees in School Administrative District 51. Residents of Cumberland and North Yarmouth stood wall to wall and sat on the floor in a packed Town Hall Council Chambers on Monday night for the budget presentation to the School Board by […]

PORTLAND — A project that began a couple of years ago with the goal of mapping out sites of significant Irish history in the city is expanding to the suburbs. The Maine Irish Heritage Trail includes 58 Portland sites – ranging from cemeteries to the boyhood homes of some of the city’s prominent Irish figures […]

PORTLAND — Persistence may have paid off for activists who have been lobbying for more than a year for a connection between Marginal Way and the Back Cove trail. The state Department of Transportation has now agreed that when it begins improvements at Interstate 295 Exit 7 this spring, it will include space for a […]

PORTLAND — Riverton Elementary School is one of 10 in Maine eligible for federal grant funding under a new program that seeks aggressive change in the nation’s worst-performing schools. Riverton could receive up to $2 million annually over the next three years, according to Superintendent of Schools James C. Morse Sr. Morse began meeting with […]

PORTLAND — The latest proposal to build a hotel, condominiums and a restaurant at the former Jordan’s Meats property on India Street will be the subject of a neighborhood meeting Thursday. Old Port Hospitality went before the city Planning Board March 9 for preliminary review of its proposed 97,000-square-foot development, which includes a six-story building […]

PORTLAND — The School Department says a reorganization of administrators is expected to save nearly $100,000 a year, provide more consistent educational programming and increase accountability. The reorganization, part of the proposed $89.3 million budget now working its way through the school Finance Committee, is part of the superintendent’s effort to move away from site-based […]

PORTLAND — Maine’s annual celebration of Jewish film will feature talks with visiting directors and a larger venue this year. The 13th annual Maine Jewish Film Festival begins Saturday, March 20, with a reception at Greenhut Galleries followed by a screening of the Oscar-nominated film “Ajami” at the Patriot Cinemas Nickelodeon on Temple Street. “Ajami” […]