PORTLAND - A Thorndike woman remains in critical condition after her SUV collided with a tractor trailer on the Unity Road in Benton Tuesday afternoon, according to a release from Maine Department…
Maine
"It's still surprising when the musicians sign up and people start buying passes"
BELFAST - Organizers of the Belfast Free Range Music Festival on Friday…
Updated - annual town meetings in Waldo County March 16 - 30
WALDO COUNTY - Democracy is messy as the adage goes, and the kind practiced at annual town meetings around Maine is no exception. Some towns have become known for hot debates on a particular issue…
Town meetings
SEARSPORT - A vote Saturday on what was arguably the biggest item on the warrant at Searsport's annual town meeting — an allocation of up to $762,000 for a new North Searsport fire station — had…
It's official: bid for open seat decided by one vote
SEARSPORT - Tallies from municipal elections held Tuesday showed Meredith Ares besting Travis Otis in a race for a vacant seat on the town's select board, but only by two votes. A recount held…
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!
UNITY - Jere Humphey, owner of Last Chance Racing Supplies & Race Fuel announced he has signed a lease to operate Unity Raceway for the 2013 season.
In…
Notes from abroad: BELFAST—BELGIQUE
I have experienced my fair share of predawn excursions over the course of my exchange. While living with my first host family, I fled Belgium under starry skies for Paris, England, and the…
Some residents feel betrayed, board sees no alternative
STOCKTON SPRINGS - The Regional School Unit 20 board of directors on Tuesday approved a plan that would relocate Stockton Springs Elementary School students to Searsport and open the school…
Opponents say testimony was cut short
SEARSPORT - Public hearings by the planning board on a proposed propane terminal officially came to a close on Monday night but not without a fight from opponents who protested with shouts and…
Belfast's first same-sex marriage held at City Hall
BELFAST - Gabrielle Eiholzer and Opal Ash were about to relax after a round of photos in the Council chambers at City Hall, when a woman's voice could be heard urging them to stay for a few more…
Make that 485 tons
BELFAST - Front Street Shipyard supersized its plans for a new travel lift this week, upgrading from a 300-ton to a 485-ton (440-metric ton) model.
The hoist is part of a planned expansion,…
Contact Sheet
BELFAST - There's a building just south of Belfast's central intersection best described as home to High Street…
Richard Clarke's anticipated appearance cancelled for second time
SEARSPORT - Mike Lucy, of the security consulting firm Good Harbor offered a glimpse into the mind of a risk assessment expert on Monday night as he tried to focus a laser pointer on a video…
Richard Clarke scheduled to appear at public hearing Monday night
SEARSPORT - Former national security advisor Richard Clarke is expected to testify before the Searsport Planning Board Monday, Feb. 11, as hearings on a proposed large-scale propane terminal…
The food entrepreneurs of Coastal Farms
BELFAST - Julie Romano may not have been the first to ink a deal with Coastal Farms Food Processing, but when the facility's commercial kitchen opened last summer, she was quick to get in the door…
Improvements to dangerous intersection, RSU 20 withdrawal and Harbor Walk
BELFAST - Front Street Shipyard may start work as soon as today on a series of marine improvements, according to Shipyard President JB Turner, who confirmed…
Juke Rockets singer wants those Memphis blues again
BELFAST — Carlene Perkins Thornton of Liberty had been singing lead vocals with the Juke Rockets for a little over a year when the band won a statewide competition last fall and a trip to the 29th…
Keeping up with Canada
BELFAST — For years Maine lobster fishermen have felt caught in a system governed by big seafood processors in Canada. Maine Maritime Products…
Made you smile
BELFAST - During his 28 years at the U.S. Postal Service's Belfast office, Steve Clark, who is retiring this week, developed a memorable style of customer service.
It wasn't the way he…
The food entrepreneurs of Coastal Farms
BELFAST - It was on a break from college, visiting the family of his future-wife, that Brian McCarthy tasted dilly beans for the first time. His thought at the time was: why have I never had these…
BELFAST – Jan Anderson was serving on the City Council in 2009 when she first shared her vision of Belfast becoming a regional storage and processing hub for farmers and food entrepreneurs. Her…
Post-consolidation contract spans 2012-2014
STOCKTON SPRINGS - After four years of negotiations and three years of no contract, teachers and staff from Regional School Unit 20 reached an agreement with the district's board of directors on a…
Armistice Group waiting in the wings, with benches
BELFAST - A grant proposal to fund new seating and lighting on the footbridge…
Working in Vacationland
MORRILL - Two years ago, Russell Manton was on the verge of making the kind of business decision that might have earned him an invitation to a state functions as an example of Maine, or maybe…
'ADA-compliant goat path' nixed as too extravagant
BELFAST - A recreational rail trail along the Passagassawakeag River continued to take shape on Tuesday night as the City Council reviewed a feasibility study…
Notes from abroad: BELFAST—BELGIQUE
My first host family's van held a special place in my exchange. The seven-seat Citroen had taken us to the wide…
MIDCOAST - Gusty winds and and a fallen tree were to blame for power outages in four towns in Knox County this morning, according to Central Maine Power Spokeswoman Gail Rice.
Rice said 5,…
Graphics: What they were showing us
BELFAST - At the end of his first year on the job, Harrie D. Eckler, Belfast's first city manager, summed up the perennial public relations puzzle of government officials in a single sentence,…
$293 million deal to close in second quarter
WATERTOWN, Mass. - Athenahealth, the web-based medical billing services provider, announced today an agreement to acquire…
Islesboro looks to learn from special deer hunt results
ISLESBORO - Islesboro hunters killed 49 deer during a three-week, special deer reduction hunt in December according to figures tallied by the town and presented to officials from the Maine…
'Credit enhancement'
BELFAST - Should the city give tax breaks to big businesses that want to open shop in Belfast, or to established ones hoping to expand? The question was the topic of a City Council work session on…
Happy New Year 2013!
BELFAST - New Year's by the Bay, the city's alcohol-free first night celebration, marked its sixteenth year last night. Judging from packed houses at the dozens of concerts and performances…
Notes from abroad: BELFAST—BELGIQUE
Belgium is a divided country. One need only look at a map to see the black line that snakes across the little country, cutting it in half. To the North lies Flanders and its Dutch-speaking…
Start dates vary widely according to town office hours
Same sex marriage becomes a legal option for Maine residents Saturday, Dec. 29. And while Midcoast towns are unlikely to be issuing them at midnight as is planned in Portland, some Waldo County…
10-percent of your tax bill
MIDCOAST - County government expenses, including the sheriff's department, corrections facilities, emergency management and 911 dispatch centers, account for around 10 percent of property tax…
'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all'
CAMDEN — Camden's Select Board tended to a slew of business at its Dec. 18 meeting, including the acceptance, with regret, of longtime volunteer Sidney Lindsley's…
Bonus video: what are all those building numbers about?
(Editor's note: Questions from residents about building numbers referred to at the Shipyard led City Councilor Mike Hurley and BEL-TV's Ned Lightner to film a short video tour of the property…
Who's angry?
BELFAST - The thought of adding seats and lighting to the footbridge (a.k.a. Armistice Bridge) brought an angry contingent of veterans to City Hall last month. When the topic came up again on Dec…
Why the city's gone three months without a Parks director
BELFAST — The city manager, in his Dec. 18 report, said he expects to be advertising soon for the vacant park director's position.
The move would be standard procedure were it not for the…
Bagging a deer or two for the public good
ISLESBORO - Outside Laura and Cliff Houle's auto garage, junkyard and oil delivery service, five deer lay in the back of a refrigerated truck. They were all does. And all of them had been killed…
What does the Mass.-based medical billing company's $168.5 million hometown investment mean for Maine?
WATERTOWN, Mass - Last week, athenahealth, a provider of web-based billing services for independent physicians' practices, made headlines after inking an agreement to buy the 29-acre Arsenal on…
Contact Sheet
SEARSPORT - Selling handmade Christmas wreaths for $5 a pop out of the back of a truck parked alongside Route 1 could be a real grind, but for Larry Carrozzo of Searsport it's relaxing — fun,…
Belfast's newest poet laureate continues that journey
(Editor's note: This is an edited version of the article to correct the location for the New Year's Eve inauguration of the new poet laureate. The ceremony will be held at the Playhouse…
Belfast City Council
BELFAST - Front Street Shipyard detailed a major proposed expansion of its waterfront complex to the City Council on Tuesday night. The plan, which would call for the construction of the largest…
City Council preview:
BELFAST - Front Street Shipyard will be laying out a proposal for a major expansion of its waterfront complex at the Belfast City Council meeting tonight. Below is a brief preview of this and…
Wake up and shop local
BELFAST - Do you really have to drive an hour to find decent holiday shopping? According to Jean Watts of Glenburn, who came from the Bangor suburb with a friend to shop for stocking stuffers in…
Bigger lift, bigger building, bigger boats
BELFAST - Following recent closed-door discussions with city officials, Front Street Shipyard went public Wednesday with a proposed expansion of its waterfront complex that would include a new…
Can a bridge be a memorial and booster both?
BELFAST - In an episode reminiscent of last summer's boycott of downtown businesses by motorcyclists, a passing comment at City Hall provoked another proud group. This time it was military…
Adaptive reuse
BELFAST - Creative conversions of 100-plus-year-old buildings is nothing new. The spacious, character-filled factories of the second industrial revolution, chicken barns and even big box stores…
