The 25th annual Kids Count report released Tuesday shows Maine kids are healthier, going to school earlier and more are graduating high school on time, but increasingly home life is a struggle. The figures, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, show one-third of children live with parents who want to work full time but […]
Maine
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Report: National Park Service visitors spent $8.5 million less in Maine in 2013
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK — Visitors to Maine’s only national park are estimated to have generated $191.5 million for the state’s economy last year, according to the federal agency that runs the park. A new National Park Service report also indicates spending by visitors to Acadia and to the Saint Croix Island National Historic Site in […]
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Gas prices fall nearly four cents in Maine
PORTLAND (AP) — Average gas prices in Maine have fallen 3.7 cents per gallon in the last week. The average price of a gallon of gas in Maine on Monday was $3.68 a gallon — down 4.8 cents from one month ago, according to gasbuddy.com. The average price for a gallon of gas nationally is […]
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Riverview workers speak out about conditions at Augusta hospital
AUGUSTA (AP) — Several former and current workers at the state-run Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta are speaking out about what they describe as staff discontent at the facility. Two women who work as social workers at the 92-bed hospital told the Kennebec Journal (http://bit.ly/1jRuLnY ) they formally complained that they were subject to a […]
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As numbers of gray seals rise in New England, so do conflicts
The once-thriving New England gray seal population was decimated by the mid-20th century because of hunting, with Massachusetts keeping a seal bounty on the books until the 1960s. But scientists say conservation efforts, an abundance of food and migration from Canada combined to revive the population. Environmentalists cheer the resurgence, saying the gray seal boost […]
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In preliminary count, FairPoint strike authorized
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Unions representing FairPoint Communications workers in northern New England say preliminary vote counts suggest an overwhelming majority of members support authorizing a strike. Negotiations began in April on a contract that expires Aug. 2. Workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont recently held meetings to vote on whether to authorize a […]
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Racers rally for Lincoln Homecoming’s ‘Redneck Regatta’
LINCOLN — After having his family’s entry into the 2014 Lincoln Homecoming Festival’s “Redneck Regatta” sink about halfway through the 300-foot race course, Lucas Vanadestine said he already knows what next year’s entry will need: More duct tape. “We tipped it over right at the (starting) line because it was very tippy and as soon […]
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Gubernatorial candidates see eye to eye — mostly — on Maine’s proposed east-west highway
AUGUSTA — Areas for agreement between the three major candidates for governor will likely be few and far between, but here is one: Neither Republican Gov. Paul LePage, Democrat Mike Michaud or independent Eliot Cutler is sold on the proposal to build a private east-west highway. There’s just not enough information available — about the […]
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Senate hopeful Bellows begins walk across Maine
HOULTON — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Shenna Bellows began a 350-mile march across Maine on Sunday. Bellows is hoping to raise her profile in the race against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Her trip, which she has dubbed “a Walk with Maine for Jobs and the Economy,” started in Houlton. She plans to visit 63 […]
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Camper rollover forces partial shutdown of I-95 in Fairfield
FAIRFIELD — A largely wooden 32-foot camper rolled over on Interstate 95 and jammed southbound traffic for 5½ hours on Sunday and broke apart when rescue workers tried to move it, officials said. An elderly Brunswick man was towing an apparently brand-new Hornet camper with a pickup truck in the southbound lane near mile marker […]