AUGUSTA — Maine Gov. Paul LePage has signed into law a measure targeting synthetic drugs known as “bath salts.” LePage signed the bill on Wednesday after conferring with Public Safety Commissioner John Morris. The bill establishes a $350 fine for possession of the substance. It also establishes penalties for trafficking that can carry jail time […]

CARIBOU — For the fifth year in a row, an Aroostook County hospital has been recognized by a national health care organization for excellent patient care. Officials with Cary Medical Center announced Tuesday that the hospital had once again secured Avatar International’s Exceeding Patient Expectations award. Avatar International is an industry leader in health care […]

BREWER — A serious two-vehicle crash late Tuesday morning on the eastbound I-395 offramp to South Main Street left a woman with serious injuries and sent her husband and another man to the hospital. Brewer police said a silver Toyota Tacoma pickup and a Jeep collided on the interstate, flipping the truck onto its roof […]

BVote expected today on interim OR superintendentP DURHAM – The Oyster River School Board is down to two final candidates for the interim superintendent position and is expected to vote this afternoon on a possible selection. On Tuesday, board members held public interviews with Michelle Langa and Leon Levesque. Langa was superintendent for SAU 61 […]

BANGOR (AP) — Two Maine men are facing federal charges for allegedly hiring a third man to transport 475 pounds of marijuana from Arizona to Maine in a 31-foot RV. Forty-seven-year-old Gerald Rich Jr. of Frankfort and 46-year-old Mark Wolosko of Kennebunkport are free on personal recognizance after being arrested last week on marijuana distribution […]

PORTLAND (AP) — A Maine geologist says two chance encounters with well-preserved wood offer a glimpse of the state’s forests 13,500 years ago. Woodrow “Woody” Thompson of the Maine Geological Survey says he first found a clue in 1976 when he found fragments of logs and branches, some of them with intact cones and needles […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — A home bomb shelter built in the 1950s to protect a Maine man and his family from a nuclear attack is being threatened by an Augusta sewer project. Eighty-six-year-old Donald Tuttle, who drove a concrete truck for 30 years, built the underground, concrete bomb shelter behind his Mount Vernon Avenue home. The […]

ROCKLAND (AP) — A news company that publishes four weekly or semiweekly newspapers in Maine is outsourcing is printing operations and laying off 17 employees. Village NetMedia CEO Richard Anderson said the company closed its printing plant in Rockland effective Tuesday and will have its papers published at the Sun Journal Media Group printing facility […]