Maine jobless rate drops

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman says the state's jobless rate dropped by 0.3 percentage point in October to 8.2 percent

October's rate also was 2 percentage points below the national rate for the month, 10.2 percent.

Fortman says Maine's lower unemployment rate is due mostly to a declining labor force and is not an indication that workforce conditions have improved much.

CDC: Swine flu cases seem to be dropping nationwide, though increasing in Maine

ATLANTA (AP) - Health officials say swine flu cases appear to declining throughout most of the U.S., but the specter of Thanksgiving gatherings makes it hard to predict what will happen next.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that reports of swine flu illnesses were widespread in 43 states last week, down from 46 the week before.

Cops say Topsham girl found after 2 days in ravine

TOPSHAM, Maine (AP) - Topsham police say a local teenager missing for two days was trapped in her car in a ravine.

Reports say Officer Troy Garrison found 17-year-old Kourtney Thibeault over an embankment early Friday after he noticed what appeared to be fresh damage to a large tree off Roberts Hill Road in Topsham.

Police later found Thibeault inside the vehicle. She was alert and immediately began speaking to Garrison.

Baldacci orders $63M in department cutbacks

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Gov. John Baldacci ordered Maine state departments Friday to curtail spending by $63 million to make sure the budget is balanced.

Baldacci issued the order for the fiscal year ending in mid-2010 as preliminary estimates showed an approaching shortfall in the two-year $5.8 billion budget of $400 million, or nearly 7 percent.

Education and Health and Human Services are the hardest-hit departments, accounting for about 80 percent of the cuts.

Swine flu vaccine need widens in Maine

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine's health director says the need for swine flu vaccine is widening as the disease spreads throughout the state.

Dora Ann Mills of the state Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the shortage is very frustrating for those who want the vaccine. Mills says there's only enough vaccine for less than two-thirds of high-priority people who need it, including pregnant women and children.

Maine author wins National Book Award

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A Portland, Maine, author has won a National Book Award for his book about a civil rights pioneer whose refusal to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white woman helped set the stage for desegregation of public transportation in the South.

Phillip Hoose won the young people's literature award for "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice." The 60th annual National Book Awards were held Wednesday night in New York.

NY court: Married gay couples entitled to benefits

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's top court on Thursday rejected a Christian legal group's challenge to some government benefits provided to same-sex couples legally married elsewhere and now living in New York.

But the court avoided declaring that same-sex couples are entitled to all the rights of other married couples.

In a 4-3 decision on the narrow question of benefits, the Court of Appeals did not address whether the state must recognize same-sex marriage. The case was pushed by the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Maine homicide suspect held at state hospital

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Officials say a Portland man facing charges he killed his girlfriend and then tried to kill himself is going to be held at the state of Maine's Riverview Psychiatric Center.

Fifty-one-year-old William Hanaman made his first court appearance Wednesday on charges that he killed 47-year-old Marion Shea at his apartment.

Maine insurers push swine flu prevention

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine health insurers are taking steps to encourage swine flu shots to prevent spread of the disease, which has already contributed to five Maine deaths.

Officials for Aetna, Anthem, CIGNA, Harvard Pilgrim and United Health Care outlined those efforts Wednesday at a news conference with state health Director Dora Mills.

Group rallies for Maine paid sick leave bill

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Supporters of draft legislation forcing Maine companies to give employees paid sick days off marched to the offices of the Portland Regional Chamber to urge the business group to support their cause.

Following a press conference, members of the Maine Work and Family Coalition delivered a report that cites the positive public health impact of paid sick leave.

Bait shortages feared after herring catch cut back

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - New England lobstermen are bracing for potential bait shortages next summer after fishery managers voted to slash the amount of herring that can be caught next year.

The New England Fishery Management Council on Tuesday voted to reduce the 2009 catch limit by 45 percent because of the uncertain outlook of the herring population. The meeting was in Newport, R.I.

Fishermen say such steep cuts will give herring fishermen less fish to catch, thus reducing supply and driving up the price of herring that lobster fishermen use as bait.

Vt. woman charged in crash that killed Lewiston woman

LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) - A Vermont woman is facing negligent homicide charges stemming from an accident last summer on U.S. Route 2 in Randolph that killed her mother and daughter and a Maine woman.

The Berlin Daily Sun says a Coos County grand jury indicted 41-year-old Diane Silsby of Lunenburg saying she was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the July 3 crash.

The crash killed Silsby's mother, 83-year-old Leona Dunn of Lancaster, and 15-year-old Nicole Silsby. Twenty-six-year-old Rachel Metivier of Lewiston, Maine, was killed in the other vehicle.

Maine machete attack suspect asks to withdraw plea

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - A 19-year-old Augusta man wants to withdraw his guilty pleas in a vicious machete attack on a father and daughter in their rural Pittston home.

Leo Hylton pleaded guilty in May to three counts of attempted murder and other charges in connection with the May 2008 home invasion and attack on William Guerrette Jr. and his 10-year-old daughter. Hylton's co-defendant has pleaded not guilty.

Maine service cuts called likely

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - A Baldacci administration official says social services in Maine will have to be cut again to account for plunging revenues.

Health and Human Services Commissioner Brenda Harvey told a committee that oversees her department that it's not clear yet exactly which services will be cut or how deep the reductions will be.

The Portland Press Herald says lawmakers must cut $30 million from the current budget, and human services must absorb $9 million of that total.

Petitions for Maine tax vote challenged

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - An Augusta businessman is challenging the petitions leading to a people's veto vote over the tax reform law enacted by the Maine Legislature last spring.

The Kennebec Journal in Augusta reports that Charles "Wick" Johnson III, owner of Kennebec Technologies in Augusta, filed the challenge in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Crews working to clean up Maine chemical spill

MEDWAY, Maine (AP) - Crews from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and a contractor are working to clean up the chemicals that spilled after a truck accident along Interstate 95 in Medway.

Officials say 12 plastic totes that can each carry 330 gallons of chemicals leaked after the Sunday crash.

The Bangor Daily News says 10 of the totes were empty after the crash. So far a total of 1,200 gallons of hazardous liquids have been recovered from the site.

The truck was carrying paper making chemicals destined for a mill in Bucksport.

Maine man charged with killing girlfriend

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A 51-year-old carpenter is being charged with killing his girlfriend in her Portland apartment.

The Portland Press Herald says William Hanaman of Portland was arrested Tuesday afternoon on charges he killed 47-year-old Marion Shea last week.

The body of the mother of five was found Nov. 11 in the Portland apartment she was sharing with Hanaman.

Hanaman is being held without bail. He is expected to make his first court appearance on Wednesday.

Maine swine flu announcement due

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine's health director and major insurers in the state plan to make an announcement about swine flu coverage.

Dora Mills of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Superintendent Mila Kofman of the Maine Bureau of Insurance and representatives from four private health insurers will hold a news conference Wednesday in Portland to discuss actions being taken by insurance companies to address coverage for H1N1 vaccination and treatment.

Maine islands get power from wind

VINALHAVEN, Maine (AP) - Vinalhaven and neighboring North Haven are now getting their electric power from three windmills in what's billed as the largest community-owned wind farm on the East Coast.

The project was dedicated Tuesday by Gov. John Baldacci and other officials as a large crowd of island residents watched.

The Fox Islands Wind Project is expected to stabilize power supplies and lower energy costs for residents of the two islands, which are about 12 miles off the coast and have a combined year-round population of around 1,600.

Old Orchard deaths investigated as murder-suicide

OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) - Maine state police say they are investigating the deaths of a husband and wife found shot to death in their home in the seaside town of Old Orchard Beach as a murder-suicide.

Sgt. Chris Harriman said a family friend found 55-year-old Bruce Savoy and 50-year-old Stacey Savoy inside their Pleasant Street home shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday. Nobody heard gunshots, but police think the shootings took place Monday around 6 p.m.

New Maine-New Brunswick border crossings open

CALAIS, Maine (AP) - A new border crossing complex in Maine and New Brunswick is open for business.

The 54-acre, $125 million project in the United States and Canada opened on Monday with little fanfare.

The Bangor Daily News says a formal opening ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 23.

The project was paid for by the two national governments and the state of Maine and province of New Brunswick.

The new U.S. facility is located on 53 acres, while the Ferry Point port is just more than an acre.

Ga. couple give UMaine $2 M

ORONO, Maine (AP) - The University of Maine has received a $2 million donation from an engineering graduate and his wife.

Alston "Pete" Correll and Ada Lee Correll, who live in Georgia, directed that their gift be used for specific programs at UMaine. One calls for recruitment of a leading national expert in offshore wind and tidal energy development to advance Maine's position as an international leader in the field.

The Corrells of Atlanta, are highly respected community leaders and philanthropists in Georgia.

Northern Maine firefighter charged with arson

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (AP) - An on-call firefighter has been charged with arson for allegedly starting a fire that destroyed a warehouse in northern Maine where large rolls of paper, plastic bags and drums of ink were stored.

The state fire marshal's office said 23-year-old Timothy MacFarline of Easton faces charges for the Friday night fire that burned down the Northeast Packaging Co. storage warehouse in Presque Isle. More than 50 firefighters from at least six towns worked more than 13 hours to put out the fire.

Maine to receive $45K in Vonage settlement

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine's attorney general says the state will be receiving $45,000 as part of a $3 million multistate settlement with Vonage Holdings Corp., an Internet-based telephone company.

Janet Mills said Monday that Maine and 31 other states had reached a settlement that calls for Vonage to make changes in how it markets its service and how it handles consumer cancellation and refund requests.

Abused wife pleads guilty in husband's shooting

ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) - A 31-year-old woman faces no more than a year behind bars after pleading guilty to domestic violence manslaughter for fatally shooting her sleeping husband in their home last December.

Amber Cummings will be sentenced in January after pleading guilty Friday in Knox County Superior Court to shooting 29-year-old James Cummings twice in the head while their 9-year-old daughter was at home. She told police she was abused mentally, physically and sexually by her husband.