BANGOR ( AP) — The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency says it’s made three arrests for trafficking in bath salts and other drugs following raids in the Bangor area. Commander Darrell Crandall says drug agents and police disrupted an organization responsible for importing and distributing large quantities of the synthetic hallucinogen known as bath salts and […]

GILEAD (AP) — Town firefighters and Maine Forest Service rangers battled a fiveacre wildfire in the mountains in Gilead. Officials say the fire burned in an area off U.S. Route 2 in an area that’s hard to get to. Firefighters from Greenwood, Gilead and Bethel had to use ATVs to get to a forest clearing […]

AUGUSTA ( AP) — The House has rejected a bill allowing the governor to keep more written records private, a proposal that drew opposition from open records advocates. By a 98-47 vote Thursday afternoon, representatives rejected a bill that would create an exception in Maine’s public records law for proposed legislation, reports and working papers […]

AUGUSTA ( AP) — The Maine House has approved a bill to reduce the state’s income tax rate to a flat 4 percent. After a lengthy debate, representatives voted 74- 71 Thursday to approve a Senate amended bill calling for the reduction. It relies on revenue surpluses initially to pay for the reduction. The bill […]

LEWISTON ( AP) — A developer in the Lewiston- Auburn area has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for theft of public money and making false claims to the government. Prosecutors say 47-year-old Travis Soule was sentenced on Thursday and ordered to repay $180,000. The government said Soule lied on Department of […]

PORTLAND ( AP) — The former Maine Turnpike executive director who stole tens of thousands of dollars of turnpike funds is seeking a sentence that’ll put him behind bars for a year or less. Paul Violette, who will be sentenced today in Cumberland County Superior Court, is requesting a term of 30 months but with […]

PORTLAND (AP) — Thirtyeight people are being naturalized as new U.S. citizens at a special ceremony at Lyman Moore Middle School in Portland. The candidates originate from locations as far flung as Argentina and Cameroon, India and Ireland, Somalia and Sudan, and Pakistan and Iraq. During today’s ceremony, students will sing the Star Spangled Banner, […]

AUGUSTA ( AP) — A law that clears the way for members of Maine’s law enforcement community to raise money for officers and their family members who are struggling with a serious illness has been signed by Gov. Paul LePage. The Republican governor signed the law Thursday after it received final passage in the House […]

AUGUSTA ( AP) — Two men who pleaded guilty to their roles in an armed home invasion in Manchester in which a woman was awakened by a man holding a knife to her throat have received lengthy prison sentences. Michael Jo Ruth of Augusta was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison, with all but […]

FAIRFIELD (AP) — Police say one person suffered serious injuries and another received minor injuries in a three- vehicle crash at the intersection of U.S. Route 201 and Route 23 in Fairfield. Police say 44-year-old Michael Fernald Jr. was flown to a Lewiston hospital after the crash Thursday afternoon. His son, 18-year-old Michael Fernald Jr., […]