DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler says its U.S. sales rose 26 percent last year as its turnaround gained traction. The company ended the year with a 37- percent increase in December sales on strong demand for the Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler 200 sedan. Chrysler is among the first carmakers to report sales today. Chrysler says it […]

AUBURN ( AP) — The Androscoggin County sheriff says he has sent two inmates to jails elsewhere in the state after uncovering a plot to escape the county lockup. Sheriff Guy Desjardins said Tuesday that officials received a tip just before Christmas that two inmates intended to escape through a broken window. Desjardins tells the […]

CAMDEN ( AP) — Camden’s economic development director is being investigated for allegedly impersonating a state official whose job he once held. According to court documents, Brian Hodges is being investigated by state police after they found emails to state officials that were supposedly from Deb Neuman, the state’s deputy commissioner of economic development. The […]

SCARBOROUGH ( AP) — Prosecutors and defense lawyers say the drunken driving case against a Scarborough town councilor is likely to be settled through a plea agreement before it goes to trial. A lawyer for Councilor Judith Roy met with a prosecutor Tuesday to discuss a plea deal, although no agreement was reached. A motorist […]

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — The nearly 90- year- old bridge connecting New Hampshire and Maine is closing to all pedestrian and bicycle traffic on Monday as contractors get ready to demolish it for a replacement. Electronic message boards are in place at the bridge advertising the pending closure. The bridge was closed to motor vehicle […]

PORTLAND (AP) — A New Hampshire man convicted of strangling his fiancee in her Maine home has asked a judge to grant him a new trial based on “newly discovered evidence.” An attorney for Jason Twardus filed a motion Tuesday in York County Superior Court saying the state failed to provide his client with evidence […]

AUGUSTA ( AP) — The Maine Department of Labor is ramping up for a rush of post-holiday, seasonal layoffs. Officials are reminding laid-off workers that the best and quickest way to apply for unemployment is to file online at the Labor Department website at www.file4ui.com. The year 2011 ended with significantly fewer unemployment claims than […]

PORTLAND (AP) — Maine is one of 13 states receiving grant money from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for coastal wetland properties. The agency’s 2012 National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grant Program is giving out a total of $20.5 million for 24 projects. In Maine, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is getting […]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — With a plane circling overhead and police on the ground, Logan McFarland and Angela Atwood ended an intensive four-day manhunt by telling officers, “We give up.” McFarland, 24, and Atwood, 25, surrendered Tuesday in a desolate part of Nevada on suspicion of killing an elderly Utah couple, driving to Nevada […]