FREEPORT — After receiving grants to develop a strategic plan for the district, Regional School Unit 5 is gathering information from students, staff and community on how to strengthen its schools. The grant was provided by Great Schools Partnership and the Department of Education to all consolidated units. While the money could have been used to […]

SOUTH PORTLAND — On Election Day, residents will decide whether to severely limit dogs on Willard Beach. The referendum facing voters on Nov. 3 would ban dogs from the beach from April 15 to Oct. 15 and only allow them between Oct. 16 and April 14 if they are leashed. Existing law allows dogs to […]

SOUTH PORTLAND — There are three candidates vying to replace incumbent City Councilor Jim Soule in District 3, while incumbent Councilor Maxine Beecher is running unopposed in District 4. The race for District 3 (the area between Cape Elizabeth, Pleasantdale, Lincoln and Evans streets, and Cottage Road, Boothby Avenue and Ocean Street) will present voters […]

PORTLAND — The four remaining city-sponsored flu clinics have been postponed because shipments of the vaccine have been delayed. The postponed vaccination clinics were scheduled for Oct. 22 at St. Pius X Church, Oct. 26 at the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church, Oct. 27 at Harbor Terrace on Danforth Street and Oct. 28 at the […]

FALMOUTH — With the looming possibility of more state funding reductions and a further curtailment that would squeeze the pared-down school budget, the School Board will begin a series of dialogs with the public to determine what programs and activities are most important to the community. “Our challenge is how to find ways to continue […]

FALMOUTH — The only area on which the Falmouth Town Council appears to agree when discussing a proposed Economic Development Committee is the need for better definition of its purpose and function. During a workshop at last week’s meeting, Councilor David Libby requested the go-ahead from councilors to pursue creation of a council-appointed committee of […]

PORTLAND — Sentencing was postponed Monday for the man who admitted starting multi-million-dollar office fires in Yarmouth and York last January. Sentencing is now scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12, at 10 a.m. in Federal District Court. Everett S. Stickney of Exeter, N.H., pleaded guilty on June 14 in federal court on two counts of arson. […]

CHEBEAGUE ISLAND — Only 10 miles from Maine’s largest city, Chebeague Island remains wanting when it comes to broadband Internet service and cell phone access, David Hill said Monday. Hill and sister-in-law and fellow Chebeague resident Beverly Johnson founded chebeague.net a few years ago and brought broadband service to the island, an upgrade from dial-up service. […]

CUMBERLAND — What do President Barack Obama, Princess Diana, Martin Luther King Jr. and the former manager of the Greely High School varsity boys basketball team have in common? Patrick Thibodeau, the former team manager, is featured with those luminaries in Bon Jovi’s new music video for the song “We Weren’t Born to Follow,” a four-minute […]

Elliot Heeschen combs through the reeds bracketing Capisic Brook on Oct. 17, looking for trash and other debris that pollute one of Portland’s largest streams. The city resident joined about three dozen other volunteers, including most of the Cheverus High School boys soccer team, in a clean-up effort organized by the Department of Environmental Science […]