TOPSHAM — Developers are exploring the possibility of opening a consumer fireworks store on Topsham Fair Mall Road. Meanwhile, the Board of Selectmen will ask voters in a referendum to decide whether to enact municipal rules guiding the sale and use of fireworks in Topsham. Unless and until the town establishes its own rules related to […]

LEWISTON — The University of Maine Cooperative Extension is once again sponsoring Maine Garden Day on April 14 at Lewiston High School. Registration is $50, which includes breakfast and lunch, a trade show and an opportunity to take up to four workshops. Limited scholarships are available. This year, in response to increased demand for information […]

When I read a new gardening book I generally read it with a pen in hand. If I see something of special interest, I make a check mark in the margin. If I read something I agree with, and want to pass on to others, I underline. When I learn something important, I make a […]

I’ve been worried about baseball season ever since Dustin left in November. Basketball season was one thing. School plays, family nights and art shows have all been similarly manageable. But baseball without Dustin? I just couldn’t picture it. Dustin loves baseball like I love chocolate frosting (Dustin might call “Better Than Sex Cake” something like, […]

NEW YORK — Today’s little girls are probably the wrap-dress wearers of the future, so why not just start them young? Gap tapped Diane von Furstenberg, who has built her business on easy-to-wear, cheerful wrap dresses, for a limited-edition girls collection that arrives in U.S. stores this week. It’s another designer label for the kids’ closet, […]

NEW YORK — Kelly Cutrone knows how it works: She’s supposed to bring the “reality” to fashion reality TV. That’s what she did it on “The Hills,” “The City” and “Kell on Earth.” Now it’s “America’s Next Top Model,” where once again the truth can hurt. Cutrone’s unflinching on-screen rep doesn’t bother her a bit. The […]

NEW YORK — The stakes are high. The judges are brutal. The challenges are difficult. And the contestants are determined to be the next Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren. Sound familiar? NBC’s “Fashion Star,” a reality TV show that debuts today, is similar to Lifetime Television’s “Project Runway” except that the wannabe designers won’t have to […]

LONDON (AP) — British police made six arrests early today in the British media’s phone hacking scandal, including Rebekah Brooks, the former top executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, The Associated Press has learned. Police did not identify those arrested, but a person who had been briefed on the details said Brooks and her husband, […]

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel halted its airstrikes against Gaza Strip militants early today and rocket fire from the Palestinian territory ebbed as a cease-fire ending four days of clashes appeared to be taking effect. Both sides had indicated they have no interest in seeing the fighting spiral into allout war, and an Egyptian security official […]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Mitt Romney is working to seal his status as the Republican presidential front-runner with a thus-far-elusive victory in the Deep South. Closely fought primaries in Alabama and Louisiana offer the former Massachusetts governor a key opportunity in a region that has been slow to embrace him. Today’s primaries are also poised […]