PORTLAND (AP) – A European-style car-sharing program is making its debut in Portland, and motorists thinking of taking part will be able to get their first glimpse of the vehicles Friday.

The city and a division of U-Haul are launching the program. Members pay an hourly rate for vehicle use, while U Car Share takes care of fuel, insurance and maintenance costs.

The two PT cruisers will be parkedCommercial Street, near the Maine State Pier. The city has earmarked parking spots near Monument Square in the downtown area for two additional vehicles.

Victim had MP3 player on when hit

BIDDEFORD (AP) – A mother says the young man hit by Amtrak’s Downeaster in Maine was listening to an MP3 player and didn’t hear the train.

Police say 19-year-old Gary Bussell was struck by the train Wednesday morning at the Main Street crossing in Biddeford as he was walking to school. He suffered a broken leg, broken elbow and broken pelvis.

His mother, Laura Gerry, says he’d received the MP3 player for Christmas.

Bush critic plans shoe-tossing event

KENNEBUNKPORT (AP) – A longtime critic of President Bush who led demonstrations in Kennebunkport is planning one final poke before he leaves office.

Jamilla El-Shafei is organizing a shoe-tossing event outside the White House on Monday. Her goal is to get people to toss shoes at the White House fence, and she says she expects there to be some combat boots from war veterans among the shoes.

El-Shafei says she’s organizing the event in the spirit of Iraqi Journalist Mutadhar Al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at Bush.

She doesn’t mince words. She says Bush “acted like a reckless madman” and says “people of conscience” regret the war in Iraq.

DEP rejects plan to rebuild dam

PORTLAND (AP) – The state Department of Environmental Protection has rejected a plan by historic preservationists to restore a 160-year-old sawmill by rebuilding a dam on the Crooked river in Harrison.

The agency had issued a preliminary ruling against a new Scribner’s Mill dam in October and came out with its final denial Thursday.

The DEP said restoration of the mill was a worthy goal but the dam poses too great a threat to the landlocked salmon fishery in Sebago Lake.

Artist is named to national post

PORTLAND (AP) – A Maine artist has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the advisory body of the National Academy of the Arts.

New York native Barbara Ernst Prey, who has a studio in Tenants Harbor and runs a gallery in Port Clyde, will serve a six-year term on the National Council of the Arts. She was nominated to the post by President Bush.

Prey is a painter who specializes in watercolor. Her work is in the collections of the White House, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Farnsworth Museum of Art in Rockland.

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