PORTLAND — The School Department is installing computerized cafeteria terminals that will make it easier to track cash transactions – a need highlighted by an audit of the 2008 budget. The system is being installed at all mainland and island schools. The cost of the hardware and software totals more than $75,000, according to food services […]

PORTLAND — Someone has killed seven birds, including a blue heron, at Evergreen Cemetery in the past month. Cemetery workers were first alerted to the dead birds about three weeks ago, said Joe Dumais, the Parks, Playgrounds and Cemeteries coordinator for the city. He said a man came to the cemetery office and reported several […]

PORTLAND — The Democratic City Committee has a new executive board and is hoping the new composition attracts more involvement from rank-and-file Democrats. Although nearly half the city’s enrolled voters are Democrats, the local committee has struggled to find members during the past few years and all but disappeared after the November 2008 elections. Of Portland’s […]

PORTLAND — After months of wrangling over zoning, two wind power tests in the city will be delayed until a Public Utilities Commission program chooses its next round of recipients for free testing equipment. A test proposed at the East End Community School by the School Department will be delayed until next year so the […]

PORTLAND — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Sept. 9 released expanded recommendations for who should receive the seasonal influenza vaccine, and local organizations and businesses are responding by launching seasonal flu clinics throughout southern Maine. The CDC recommends the vaccine for people who are at risk of complications from influenza, which now includes […]

PORTLAND — When worshippers attend services for the new Jewish year this weekend at Etz Chaim synagogue, they will bear witness to a vision that has been discussed for the last five years. That long-term vision is to return the 1920s synagogue to its original luster and establish a museum of Maine Jewish history, art and […]

CUMBERLAND — John Simpson envisions a one-stop Web site in which a researcher can access land records from across the state. The Cumberland company for which he serves as general manager, MacImage of Maine, plans to expand its registryofdeeds.com Web site from its current offering of Hancock County records to include deeds, liens and mortgage records filed […]

PORTLAND — The hallmark of Ramadan, the month-long Muslim religious observance, is daytime fasting. But another important part of the holiday, which takes place the ninth month of each year, is giving back to the community. For the past three years, community leader Pious Ali has taken a group of local Muslim teenagers to the […]

PORTLAND — A private school in the city’s West End is looking for approval from the city to create a zone for future growth. The Waynflete Overlay Zone would include the existing school campus and three residential buildings the school could acquire in the future. It also would include regulations for how the Waynflete School […]

FALMOUTH — The Police Department is cautioning residents to be on alert because of a recent increase in burglaries. In the past three weeks, the department said in a press release Friday, there has been an increase in home burglaries, especially between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., and car burglaries, particularly during the early morning […]