AUGUSTA ( AP) — Hypodermic needle exchange programs in Maine, which collected more than a quarter million syringes during the year ending last Oct. 31, are in serious financial straits. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention says 260,050 syringes were collected and disposed of through the state’s four certified exchange programs, based in […]

SKOWHEGAN ( AP) — Moose, bear, deer and bison dishes are on the menu at a Skowhegan church’s annual game dinner. Today’s fifth annual wild game dinner at the Skowhegan First Church of the Nazarene features a buffet of marinated venison steaks, moose chili and sloppy joes, bison meatballs, bear meatloaf, partridge lo-Maine and a […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — The LePage administration says the state has received federal grants totaling $8.7 million to conserve two forest properties in western Maine. Most of the money from the U. S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program, $7 million, will purchase 11,800 acres on Crocker Mountain in the town of Carrabassett Valley. The lands are […]

LEWISTON (AP) — Maine has received nearly $10 million in heating aid under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The latest allotment released by federal government brings Maine’s total this year to nearly $40 million this winter, down from $55.6 million last year. Rep. Michael Michaud said he recently sent a letter to President […]

PORTLAND (AP) — Portland police say they’ve figured out what happened to the Occupy Maine signs that disappeared from the group’s encampment in the city. As many as 40 signs were reported missing from the encampment at Lincoln Park last weekend. Deputy Chief Mike Sauschuck said Thursday it turns out that they were removed by […]

SOUTH PORTLAND Fishery regulators Thursday increased the amount of Gulf of Maine shrimp that can be caught this season, but Maine fishermen and processors said the higher limit won’t make much difference. More than 150 fishermen and processors packed a meeting room in South Portland, where a committee of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of suicides among soldiers has been leveling off but there’s been a dramatic jump in domestic violence, sex crimes and other destructive behavior in a force that has been stressed by a decade of war, a new Army report said Thursday. Suicides among soldiers in the active duty, Guard and […]

Navy Seaman Apprentice Casey Becker, son of Rebecca Freeman of Bowdoinham, recently completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. During the eight-week program, Becker completed a variety of training that included classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety. […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is preparing a series of new initiatives to try to curb sexual assaults in the military, the defense chief said Wednesday, calling the problem a stain on the honor of the armed forces. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said there were 3,191 sexual assaults reported in the military last year, which […]

The armed forces have enlisted nearly 70,000 non-citizens since the attacks of 9/11 and, as a group, their washout rate is much lower than that of American citizens who enlist, according CNA, a think tank that studied attrition data gathered by the Defense Manpower Data Center. Within three months of entering active service, 8.2 percent […]