PORTLAND — U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and a businessman who plans to challenge her in next year’s Republican primary traded barbs Tuesday over the role Snowe’s husband plays at a publicly traded education company that is being sued by former employees. Scott D’Amboise called on Snowe to resign from the Senate over a whistleblower lawsuit […]

AUGUSTA — The state of Maine is getting federal help to install signs to help people flee the coast in the event of a tsunami or other emergency. The Department of Transportation is installing more than 100 signs with the help of a $30,000 tsunami preparedness grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Few […]

PORTLAND — Seafood eaters who love lobster but hate the mess can take heart in a newly developed platter that captures the unwanted liquid from Maine’s king of seafood. The “Platter Ensemble” consists of a plastic slotted oval plate placed over a deep-dish platter that captures the juices that can squirt out. It was unveiled […]

AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has signed a bill that allows Maine wineries to charge for samples. Under the bill LePage signed Monday, farm wineries charging for samples must notify state liquor licensing officials and maintain a record of samples. Each sample poured is subject to Maine’s 7 percent sales tax on alcoholic beverages. Most […]

ROCKLAND — Two Maine lobstermen from remote Matinicus Island have settled a civil lawsuit stemming from a 2009 shooting in a feud over lobster traps. Christopher Young initially asked for $4 million from Vance Bunker for potential lost income and other damages after Bunker shot him in the neck on July 20, 2009, on the […]

PORTLAND — Maine’s highest court has overturned a lower court ruling that denied a Dexter man’s petition for DNA testing of items belonging to an alternative suspect in connection with his 2002 murder convictions for killing his ex-girlfriend and a toddler she was baby-sitting. Jeffrey Cookson is serving two life sentences for the 2001 execution-style […]

AUGUSTA — Maine’s high school graduation rate grew by more than 2 percentage points in one year, but Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen warned Thursday that there’s still more to be done in a state where nearly 20 percent of students fail to graduate in four years. The graduation rate for publicly funded high schools grew […]

SOUTH BERWICK — The Maine Forest Service says it will release more than 1,000 predator lady beetles at a state park so they can feast on insects that kill hemlock trees. The tiny hungry beetles will be released Thursday at Vaughan Woods State Park in South Berwick in an effort to eradicate the hemlock woolly […]

PORTLAND — The first woman nominated for a federal judgeship in Maine has told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she would focus on facts and higher-court precedents if confirmed as a judge. Nancy Torresen was one of five federal judge nominees who appeared Wednesday before the committee in Washington. The Portland Press Herald says if […]