PORTLAND (AP) – Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and its foundation hope to transfer experience gleaned from business health plans to school districts.

Officials say health coaches will work one-on-one with school teachers and staff to reduce health risks and thereby improve workers’ health and lower health care costs in school districts in Gardiner, Hampden, Readfield and Topsham.

The two-year project is open to teachers and other district staff who have elected to take the health insurance benefit offered by their school district.

Laid off mill workers get boost

MILLINOCKET (AP) – Rep. Mike Michaud says the U.S. Department of Labor will award a $527,000 emergency grant to help workers laid off from Katahdin Paper Co.

The Maine Democrat says the funding will provide workers with access to an array of services, including skills assessments, training and career counseling. It’ll also supplement services already being offered through Trade Adjustment Assistance.

About 200 people were put out of work because of the mill’s shutdown Sept. 2.

FairPoint ready to close Verizon deal

PORTLAND (AP) – FairPoint Communications Inc. says it’s ready for the final step of completing its takeover of Verizon’s land lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The so-called “cutover date” on which FairPoint assumes full responsibility for Verizon’s wired telephone and Internet business in the three states has been delayed several times since last March, when the $2.3 billion financial transaction was completed.

A status conference with the Vermont Public Service Board is scheduled for Friday; Maine and New Hampshire regulators will meet on Nov. 17 in Kittery, Maine.

Nap on church organ damages it

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) – The restoration of a 130-year-old Massachusetts church organ was dealt a setback when a homeless man took a nap on four of its pipes.

Officials at First Churches in Northampton said the man’s weight severely damaged the delicate, 18-foot pipes, that were among about 50 stored in the basement during a $2 million restoration of the historic sanctuary.

The man, who had been there for a job counseling meeting, apparently mistook them for rolled up rugs.

The Rev. Peter Ives said the untimely snooze Tuesday occurred one day before contractors were to begin putting the pipes back in operation.

Ives estimates the damage at close to $15,000, but says the organ can still be played without the pipes.

He says the church will not press charges.

The congregation traces its history to the 17th century, and was home to the famous 18th century preacher Jonathan Edwards.

Banker charged in $300,000 scam

BOSTON (AP) – A Boston bank employee has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of larceny after prosecutors said he tried to steal more than $300,000 from an ill, 91-year-old man.

Police said Rodolfo Bonilla allegedly gained control of Michael Kostecki’s finances when he was hospitalized. Bonilla was the man’s longtime personal banker at a Citizen’s Bank branch in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

The 44-year-old was arraigned Wednesday in West Roxbury District Court and held on $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors said Bonilla withdrew or transferred more than $300,000 from the man’s bank account over the summer. Bonilla has been fired from the bank, which notified authorities when it became aware of the scheme.

Sarah McClean, an attorney for Bonilla, said the checks were not in Bonilla’s name and he did not benefit from the money.

Prosecutors said they also plan on charging a girlfriend of Bonilla in the case.

AP-ES-11-12-08 1715EST