LIMERICK

Waterboro man, 22, killed when car hits utility pole

Authorities say a Waterboro man died after a single-vehicle crash in Limerick.

Barrett Sinnett, 22, of Waterboro was killed Tuesday night in a single-car crash on Parsonsfield Road in Limerick.

A spokesman for the York County Sheriff’s Office said an investigation shows that Barrett Sinnett was driving fast about 11 p.m. Tuesday when his car left Route 60 and hit a utility pole.

Police say Sinnett was thrown from his vehicle and declared dead at the scene.

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The investigation is continuing but a preliminary analysis shows speed and alcohol may have been factors.

The damaged utility pole had to be replaced.

AUGUSTA

Tax revenue from casinos rises by $10 million in year

Maine gambling regulators say tax revenue from the state’s two casinos is up significantly over last year.

According to figures from the Maine Gambling Control Board, the state has taken in more than $35 million in revenues from slot machines and table games from Oxford and Bangor casinos during the current fiscal year. That’s more than $10 million more than at the same time last year.

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Most of the increase can be attributed to the Oxford Casino, which opened in June 2012.
Board Executive Director Patrick Fleming told the Sun Journal that revenues are up in the year-over-year window.

The board collects 46 percent of net slot machine revenue and 16 percent of net table game revenue from the Oxford Casino.

HOOKSETT, N.H.

Wheel from Maine truck flies off, causing fatal crash

New Hampshire State Police say a wheel flew off a tractor-trailer from Maine that was going south on Interstate 93, hit a northbound police cruiser then bounced back into the southbound lane where it struck another car, causing a crash that killed the driver.

The crash shortly after 8 a.m. happened near the state liquor store in Hooksett when the wheel assembly, from a truck hauling a modular home, broke free. It hit the cruiser being driven the director of the state police, Col. Robert Quinn, who was not hurt.

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Police said Kerry Anderson-Baker, 40, of Concord was killed.

The truck driver, Alan Condon, 51, of Oakfield, Maine, didn’t stop until after the Hooksett tolls and may not have known the wheel broke loose.

He was located in Maine. No charges have been filed.

GRAY

Two men accused of stealing beer, threatening store clerk

Two men face felony charges after allegedly walking out of a convenience store with beer and refusing to pay Tuesday night.

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Christopher Chambers, 27, whose last known address was in Portland, walked out of the Circle K convenience store at 255 Shaker Road in Gray at 10 p.m. with a 12-pack of Shipyard beer and threatened the store clerk, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

Outside the store, Nicholas E. Norton, 25, who lives nearby on Shaker Road, also threatened the clerk, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff’s deputies and troopers with the Maine State Police arrested the two a short distance away on charges of robbery.

No weapon was shown.

PORTLAND

Connecticut man sentenced over 200 grams of cocaine

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A Connecticut man accused of smuggling cocaine to Maine earlier this year to sell in the Portland area was sentenced this week in federal court to serve six years in prison.

Anthony Cordoza, 31, of Bridgeport, Conn., had pleaded guilty on June 13 in U.S. District Court in Portland to a charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Cordoza was the passenger in a 2004 Range Rover that Maine State Police stopped as it headed northbound on the Maine Turnpike on March 2. The trooper ordered the driver, a woman, out of the vehicle and questioned Cardoza, who admitted that he had 200 grams of cocaine in the center console of the SUV. When the trooper couldn’t find it, Cordoza re-entered the vehicle and flipped a switch revealing a compartment beneath the center console, according to court records.

At a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Judge George Singal also ordered Cardoza to serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison term. Cordoza filed an appeal with the court on Wednesday.

The court also ordered the Range Rover be forfeited, according to court records.

Recordings of arguments available on court’s website

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Maine’s highest court is making audio recordings of oral arguments available on its website.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court said the public can listen to lawyers make their arguments in cases that they’ve appealed to the state’s high court. The recordings will remain on the website for about two weeks after the appeal is heard.

Chief Justice Leigh Saufley said the service provides Mainers with greater access to the workings of the courts.

The website has had live streaming audio of oral arguments when they take place since the spring of 2012.

BRUNSWICK

Maine State Music Theatre announces two promotions

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Curt Dale Clark’s wish came true. The consulting artistic director of Maine State Music Theatre has had the word “consulting” removed from his title. The theater’s board president, Don Gerrish, announced Wednesday morning that Clark will serve as artistic director of the 56-year-old Brunswick theater, and Stephanie Dupal was named managing director.

Dupal, a Lisbon native, has served as general manager of the theater for 14 years, and began as business manager in 1993.

Clark is best known for his stage work. He has acted and sang with Maine State for eight seasons and has a long history in theater administration. This year, he also played a lead role in “Les Miserables.”

Bowdoin’s endowment is worth more than $1 billion

Bowdoin College’s endowment has exceeded $1 billion, campus officials said Wednesday.

In the most recent fiscal year ending June 30, the endowment earned 16 percent. The endowment, valued at $1.04 billion at the end of the fiscal year, is made up of over 1,600 individual funds.

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About 45 percent of the endowment is used to support student financial aid. The school does not consider a student’s economic need during admissions, and in 2008 adopted a “no-loan” policy that replaced student loans with grants.

Bowdoin was ranked 20th on Forbes’ annual list of America’s Top Colleges earlier this year, and its financial health was rated an A+, based in part on its endowment.

Bowdoin’s 16 percent return is higher than the mean return of 11.6 percent for college and university endowments reported by Cambridge Associates, a firm that tracks endowment performance nationwide.

SACO

Chief: Insurance will cover replacing one of 3 cruisers

Saco’s police chief says insurance money will cover the cost of replacing only one of the city’s three police cruisers that were destroyed when a Massachusetts woman rammed them during a chase in July.

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Chief Bradley Paul told the city council Monday that the insurance company has given the city the book value of the three cars, which is all it is obligated to do. The total compensation is nearly $29,000, enough to purchase and outfit one new cruiser.

The Journal Tribune reported that Paul says the department will make up for the loss of the other two cruisers by keeping two high-mileage vehicles for an additional year instead of retiring them.

He says the prospect of getting restitution from the Andover, Mass., woman is “fleeting,” as she remains jailed.

THORNDIKE

Rhode Island man charged with manslaughter in crash

A Rhode Island man was arrested Wednesday and charged with manslaughter and three other felonies in connection with a one-car crash on the Fourth of July in Thorndike.

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The man, Alvaro Soares, 27, was driving from a family gathering with two passengers when the car struck a utility pole on Unity Road. Oscar Tizon-Brito, 23, a Peruvian national living in Rhode Island, was killed, while Soares and his sister Kelley Soares, 22, were both seriously injured.

Alvaro Soares also is charged with aggravated criminal operating under the influence, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and aggravated driving to endanger, plus criminal speeding, a misdemeanor.

Waldo County Deputy District Attorney Eric Walker said that an arrest warrant was issued for Soares, who lives in Rhode Island, earlier this week and he turned himself in Wednesday.

Soares, who Walker said is still suffering medical issues from the crash and remains in a wheelchair, posted $50,000 unsecured bond and cannot be in possession of drugs or alcohol. He also must turn over his passport.

TRENTON

Airport getting $1.5 million to begin building taxiway

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Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport is getting a more than $1.5 million federal grant to be begin construction of a new taxiway.

The grant from the U.S. Transportation Department was announced Tuesday in a joint statement from Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King. Collins is the ranking member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee.

The senators said in the statement that small regional airports are critical in supporting the state economy by providing easier access to rural areas.

They say the grant will help improve safety at the airport.

PLYMOUTH

Man working on vehicle dies after it rolls on top of him

The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department says a Plymouth man was killed Wednesday night after the vehicle he had been working on rolled on top of him.

Sgt. Will Sheehan investigated the accident, which was reported at 5:01 p.m. The man, whose name is being withheld pending notification of his relatives, was working on a car at 237 Etna Road.

– From staff and news services


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