PORTLAND (AP) — Fishery regulators have approved a 180-day northern shrimp season for New England fishermen.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's shrimp committee, meeting in Portland on Thursday, approved a season that will run from Dec. 1 through May 29, the same dates as last year's season.

Scientists say the resource is in good shape, but there are concerns about what sort of market there is for the small, sweet shrimp.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Stranded with a sprained ankle on a snow-covered mountain, Eagle Scout Scott Mason put his survival skills to work by sleeping in the crevice of a boulder and jump-starting evergreen fires with hand sanitizer gel.

He put plastic bags inside his boots to keep his feet dry as he sloshed through mountain runoff hidden beneath waist-deep snow. After three cold days last April, rescue crews spotted him hiking toward the summit of Mount Washington, the Northeast's highest mountain.

Researchers will introduce 79 healthy little brown bats to two hibernation sites in Vermont hit hard by the fungus, which may have killed as many as 500,000 bats in the eastern United States over several winters.

The company said it voluntarily filed for bankruptcy after agreeing on a deal with key lenders that will help lower its debt by about 62 percent.

Kyle Ellis of Portland was stopped just south of the Hampton, N.H., toll plaza late Saturday night after a state trooper forced his vehicle to spin out.

Police reports say Maine State Police troopers tried to stop the car on Interstate 95, but the car, later determined to be driven by Ellis, refused to stop.

FairPoint spokeswoman Rose Cummings says company and union officials representing about 3,000 workers have met regularly in recent months to discuss ways FairPoint can reduce costs. Another closed-door meeting was scheduled Thursday in Boston.

MORRISVILLE, Vt. (AP) - Forget David and Goliath. This fight's between Matt and Monster.

The maker of Monster energy drinks has taken aim at a Vermont brewery that sells a beer called "The Vermonster," ordering it to stop selling, advertising and promoting the craft brew because it could confuse consumers.

The energy drink-maker, Hansen Beverage Co., wants tiny Rock Art Brewery to stop using the name "Vermonster" on the barley brew and to compensate it for its attorneys' fees.

The University of New Hampshire, Middlebury College in Vermont and the College of the Atlantic in Maine all received A- scores on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's annual report card.

DERBY LINE, Vermont (AP) — For decades, the towns of Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, have functioned as one community.

Located on either side of the border, they share a sewer system, emergency services, snowplowing duties and the border-straddling Haskell Free Library and Opera House, where a skinny black line across the hardwood floor of the reading room marks the international border running through the property.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Under fire for its poor performance, the FairPoint Communications telephone company told Vermont regulators Thursday it has reduced wait times for consumers who contact call centers and has sharply cut the number who give up before they ever speak to an operator.

The company, which had been given a Sept. 10 deadline to explain why it should be allowed to keep its Vermont certificate of public good, filed for and received a one-week extension for formally responding to a "show cause" petition filed July 14 by the state Department of Public Service.

A federal affidavit indicates 49-year-old Gary J. Moody of Pittson confessed to repeating his previous act on Memorial Day. Federal agents sought Moody out after a 9-year-old boy saw him climbing out of a toilet at the Hastings Campground. Two witnesses saw him walk away from the outhouse.

The 2009 Ecosystem Status Report says fish populations in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean have been moving from their traditional home grounds over the past four decades because of changes in the ocean ecosystem.

The loans are available in Carroll, Rockingham and Strafford counties because they are contiguous to one or more Maine counties named in a disaster declaration. The New Hampshire counties border York, Cumberland and Oxford counties in Maine.

Massachusetts authorities said their case was narrowly focused, but others saw broader implications. Massachusetts recently raised its sales tax; New Hampshire has none.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said Jason Phair of Gorham died early Monday at Conway Memorial Hospital.

FairPoint has been hit with unprecedented numbers of consumer complaints ranging from billing errors and service order delays to long waits on call-in complaint lines since it took over Verizon's phone networks in the three states Feb. 1.

The first is a $69 million rehabilitation of the existing Connecticut River rail line. When finished the Amtrak Vermonter service will be rerouted to this line providing restored access to Northampton and Greenfield. The money will help pay for final design and construction.

Warren Bamford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the FBI is staying in close touch with Somali leaders in Boston and Lewiston, Maine, where there are large Somali populations.

Bamford said Tuesday there is no evidence of recruitment going on in the Northeast.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - The first hurricane of the Atlantic season loomed far out in the ocean Tuesday, gaining power and moving on a track that forecasters said could take it close to Bermuda by the end of the week.

Warren Bamford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, tells The Associated Press the FBI is staying in close touch with Somali leaders in Boston and Lewiston, Maine, where there are large Somali populations.

Bamford said Tuesday there is no evidence of recruitment going on in the Northeast.