PORTLAND (AP) – Trustees for the Cumberland County Civic Center on Wednesday unanimously endorsed a proposal by a committee of business leaders and public officials to build a new 10,000-seat area.

“The people of Cumberland County and the entire state deserve nothing less,” Trustee Chairman Tom Bartell said after the 6-0 vote.

While the preferred location is Portland and the anticipated $50 million to $60 million price tag would be paid with public and private money, trustees did not decide on a specific location or funding mechanism.

Further consultation with city and town officials, business and civic leaders and others will be needed before a final decision is made, officials said.

New charges in slaying case

PORTLAND (AP) – A woman accused in last summer’s slaying of a Canadian tourist in Old Orchard Beach pleaded innocent Friday in Cumberland County Superior Court to charges of murder and perjury.

After a brief arraignment, Angela “Kelly” Humphrey, 29, was returned to the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where’s she’s being held on a probation violation in a separate case.

Humphrey’s brother, Benjamin, had been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and was handed a five-year sentence.

The Humphreys were accused in the asphyxiation death of Derek Rogers, a musician with the Canadian armed forces band.

Rogers encountered the pair as he was out for a late-night stroll. Angela Humphrey, who said her brother got into a fight with Rogers, is accused of shoving sand in Rogers’ mouth and lying to a grand jury.

Committee endorses O’Mara

AUGUSTA (AP) – A legislative committee on Wednesday cast a solid vote in support of Bernard O’Mara of Easton, Gov. John Baldacci’s nominee for the state District Court bench in central Aroostook County.

The Judiciary Committee’s 9-0 vote, with four absent, followed testimony by the Maine State Bar Association, Maine Trial Lawyers Association and others praising the qualifications of O’Mara, who operates a small law practice.

Wednesday’s vote bolsters O’Mara’s chances of confirmation by the state Senate when it meets Thursday. Also up for a Senate confirmation vote is John “Jack” Cashman of Old Town, a Baldacci aide.

who won committee support for appointment as commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development.

The 55-year-old O’Mara is a graduate of Gardiner Area High School, the University of Maine and the UMaine School of Law.

He is a former Pine Tree Legal Assistance lawyer and also worked as a corporate lawyer for Vahlsing Inc. in Easton during the 1970s.

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Maine-New Brunswick conference set for October

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – Maine and New Brunswick officials on Thursday announced a fall conference to take up issues of interest to the state and its neighboring province.

Maine state Rep. Ross Paradis, D-Frenchville, and Percy Mockler, New Brunswick’s minister of intergovernmental and international relations, said the conference will be held Oct. 29-30 in Van Buren and Madawaska in Maine and St. Leonard and Edmundston on the Canadian side.

Maine Gov. John Baldacci and New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord are both scheduled to attend.

The theme of the conference is “two countries, one community.”

Paradis said the purpose of the conference is to forge a spirit of partnership and cooperation between the two jurisdictions. Issues of common concern include trade, border security, transportation, business linkages and education.

Similar conferences have been held in the past. A memorandum of cross-border cooperation was issued following last year’s conference.

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