WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared Friday he could keep parts of the government shut down for “months or even years” as he and Democratic leaders failed in a second closed-door meeting to resolve his demand for billions of dollars for a border wall with Mexico. They did agree to a new round of weekend […]

BIDDEFORD — Maine Community Bancorp, the mutual holding company that owns Biddeford Savings Bank and Mechanics Savings Bank, has announced that the minimum wage for full-time employees has increased to $15 per hour. According to a press release from Maine Community Bancorp, the wage increase, which took effect Jan. 1, is part of the company’s […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — With President Donald Trump warning that it “could be a long time” before the partial shutdown of the government ends, concerns are rising about potential economic damage given that the shutdown is coinciding with other threats. Most analysts don’t regard the shutdown alone as severe enough to imperil an economic expansion that […]

Maine State Police arrested a Peru man Thursday in the slayings of his former girlfriend and her current partner, who were found dead Tuesday night inside their apartment in South Paris. Mark Penley, 49, was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Heather Bickford of Paris and Dana Hill of Canton, both […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — On their first day in the majority, House Democrats have passed a plan to re-open the government without funding President Donald Trump’s promised border wall. The largely party-line votes Thursday night came after Trump made a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room, pledging to keep up the fight for his […]

Portland police are investigating a bank robbery that occurred Thursday morning near Monument Square. Lt. Robert Martin said a man entered the Bank of America branch at One City Center shortly after 11 a.m. He passed the teller a note demanding money, and he left with an undisclosed amount of cash. Martin said he was […]

SANFORD — When the community learned that someone had broken into the Salvation Army headquarters on Main Street sometime between mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve and early on the day after Christmas, prying open a safe and stealing $1,700, people responded. Once word got out, said Salvation Army Capt. Erin Smullen, the phone started ringing. People […]

ALFRED — Among the decisions on meal reimbursement rates, how much the county will charge for accident reports and notarizing documents, York County Commissioners on Wednesday voted unanimously to ban mileage reimbursements for any elected York County official for travel within the county’s boundaries. The vote came in the first business meeting of the year. […]

ALFRED — York County’s new treasurer Bobby Mills asked county commissioners on Wednesday to consider increasing his salary from $500 annually to the amount paid to the former treasurer. The five-member panel took no action. Undaunted, Mills, of Biddeford, said after the meeting that he would approach the board again, at a later date. “We […]

A group of Cape Elizabeth residents has submitted a petition signed by 911 registered voters seeking an ordinance change that would require at least five town councilors or a town referendum to approve the sale or release of shoreland property rights held by the town. Currently, a simple majority of seven councilors may approve a […]