ORONO (AP) – Maine’s wild blueberry growers are cautiously optimistic about prospects for a healthy crop this year.

University of Maine experts expect an average or slightly above average yield of 80 million to 100 million pounds of berries, thanks to adequate rain in May and June.

Blueberry specialist David Yarborough says the hot, humid, but largely dry, first few weeks of July stressed crops to some degree. But he says recent showers are refreshing them.

The blueberry harvest begins this week in southern Maine, next week in the mid-coast area and the first week of August in the extensive blueberry barrens Down East.

Man pleads guilty in business scams

PORTLAND (AP) – An alleged con artist who bilked his victims of $205,000 has pleaded guilty in Portland to felony theft and violations of state laws governing investments.

Jonathan Carroll Rosenbloom admitted Friday to stealing money given him by business partners whom he lured into phony Italian real estate deals and by investors whom he hoodwinked by posing as a day trader.

As part of a plea arrangement, the 49-year-old Rosenbloom faces up to four years in prison, but his sentence will be capped at two years if he can pay back $155,000 to several victims in the coming months.

Rosenbloom is a nephew of the late Carroll Rosenbloom, former owner of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams.

Maine home-sale slump continues

SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) – Existing home sales in Maine fell last month by nearly 25 percent from June 2007 and the median sales price dropped by nearly 6 percent over the one-year period.

The figures were announced Friday by the Maine Real Estate Information System, which monitors home sales throughout the state.

Realtors sold 996 homes last month, down from 1,316 in June of last year. During the past 12 months, the median sales price of an existing single-family Maine home fell from $199,950 to $188,000.

Rockland driving test ends in crash

ROCKLAND (AP) – A state driving examiner was injured when a student crashed the car during her test. Police say no charges were filed but the student, 18-year-old Desirea York of Port Clyde, did not get her license.

State Department of Motor Vehicles examiner Linda Norton complained of neck pain after the crash and was taken by ambulance to a hospital.

Police say Norton was administering a driving test to York when York made a left-hand turn into the path of an oncoming Mercedes Benz. Police say the Mercedes T-boned the passenger side of Toyota driven by York.

Total damages are estimated at $6,000.

2-week ‘downtime’ announced for mill

BUCKSPORT (AP) – Verso Paper Corp. is cutting back at its Bucksport mill for two weeks later this summer.

Verso, based in Memphis, Tenn., announced Friday that the “downtime” at the mill would begin Sept. 8.

In a statement, the company said it was cutting back to keep its “supply and demand in balance.”

According to Verso’s Web site, the mill has about 795 employees operating four paper machines. Verso also owns a mill in Jay.

Man accused of embezzlement

PORTLAND (AP) – A nonprofit agency that serves people with mental disabilities has filed a civil lawsuit accusing its former bookkeeper of stealing $479,000.

The Peregrine Corp., which does business as the Project for Supported Living, filed the lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court against 39-year-old Kristin Johnson of Windham.

According to court records, an internal review turned up evidence suggesting that Johnson had been stealing from the agency since 1999.

Johnson, who stepped down in April to take another job, was the agency’s bookkeeper since the early 1990s and was its finance director in recent years.

Portland police are investigating the case.