Susan Steele, Portland School District’s Safe and Drug Free Schools coordinator, reads to students Tuesday morning at Hall Elementary School as part of Read Across America Day, a program to promote literacy. Steele was among 17 guest readers at Hall, which included Portland Police Chief James Craig and Mayor Nick Mavodones. Although Read Across America […]

PORTLAND — Mug shots of food industry workers who broke the law will be on display at Rabelais beginning Friday. And on Tuesday, the editor behind Julia Child’s many cookbooks, speaks about her experience in the food world. The collection of mug shots features cooks, chefs, bartenders, waiters and butchers who worked in the food […]

PORTLAND — City Manager Joe Gray will begin meeting this week with department heads in an attempt to close a projected $8 million budget gap. For the third year in a row, Gray said jobs and services will have to be cut. In the 2009 budget, major departments were merged or eliminated and 90 positions […]

PORTLAND — Cutting middle school athletics and eliminating nearly 100 jobs were expected to be part of the superintendent’s proposed budget presentation to the School Committee on Wednesday. Meanwhile, increased staffing for multi-lingual students is also being proposed, along with a reduction in special education staff. Superintendent James Morse Sr. said Monday that figures were […]

PORTLAND — Composting food and yard waste can reduce how much households spend on those special blue garbage bags each year, and for the next two months the city is offering residents incentives to do just that. For the third year, the city’s Public Services Department is offering discounts on compost bins, kitchen scrap pails, […]

YARMOUTH — The Town Council voted unanimously to turn over town emergency dispatch services to Falmouth following a public hearing on Monday. Councilor Kent Peterson was not in attendance. The council approved a proposal from Falmouth to provide dispatch services on a contractual basis. In addition, the council authorized the expenditure of $70,000 from police equipment […]

Washington Avenue resident Ron Gan opened a new barbecue cart this week. Skinny Cart BBQ is located at 202 Washington Ave., in front of a dilapidated garage Gan painted bright green and yellow last fall. The offerings are simple – you can get a barbecuish, based on a beef barbecue sandwich recipe Gan’s Russian grandmother […]

PORTLAND — The committee in charge of reviewing which agencies and projects should get federal community development money will present its final recommendations to the City Council March 8. The city expects to dole out about $2.1 million in Community Development Block Grant money for the 2011 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Of that, […]