Maine News Updates

Welcome to the Sunrise Herald with Giselle Goodman, the place to go to get the news from overnight and onward...

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IN THE WEATHER:

SUNRISE: 5:01 a.m. SUNSET: 8:27 p.m.

At 9 a.m., it was 67 degrees in downtown Portland and raining.

Frowny
face again. Mostly because I don't have a wicked foggy icon. Which is
what you will find out there from Presque Isle south. 

It will stay cloudy through the morning. And temps will stay
exactly as they have been for the past five days. By lunch ... maybe a
break in the weather. Maybe some sun. But it won't last long.
Clouds return tonight, and thundershowers roll in with them.  And
tomorrow ... you probably don't want to know.

THE SUNRISE HERALD WEATHER WATCHERS REPORT:

• Bill in Rockland says:   Sixty degrees, calm, and very foggy here at 6 o'clock this morning. At least the lack of wind is encouraging.
• Jim in Cape Elizabeth says:
  Thursday - The next to last day in the traditional work week. What's 
  different today over the rest of the week? Hmm, not a heck of a lot 
  with the exception of the there is NO rain falling, the fog is in, and
  the winds (or rather the lack of) are going to keep it here for a few
  hours. Indications point to gradual clearing today but let's wait and
  see.  It is currently 63 here in Cape Elizabeth with another 14 degrees
  to add to reach the projected High for the day.  Anyone have a hayer
  that I can use this weekend to mow my yard? Cheers.

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ON THE ROAD:

IN PORTLAND: Two important traffic notes for you this morning:

• FIRST: The Veranda Street Bridge in Portland (the one that takes you to and from Falmouth) is now CLOSED
  in order for construction crews to start replacing the bridge. (Map at
  right from google is clickable and will show you the area I'm talking
  about.)  Maine Department of Transportation recommends that drivers who
  rely on the Veranda Street bridge should now use I-295 exit 9.
  Motorists should allow for extra time or take an alternate route during
  the peak morning and evening commutes. The new bridge should be open by
  the end of September.

• SECOND: Construction work
  on Washington Avenue will mean only one open lane of traffic with
  alternating inbound and outbound traffic flow. This work will be
  underway for the remainder of the week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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ON THE OCEAN:

Winds will be kind of unpredictable in Casco Bay. Variable, blowing around 5 knots, from here and there. Seas 1 to 3 feet.

The
real trouble maker is the fog, which is thick out there and has reduced
visibility to one nautical mile or less. A chance of showers. Surprise,
surprise.

IN PORTLAND: High tide at 1:56 p.m. Low tide at 7:39 a.m. and 7:51 p.m.

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IN THE NEWS:

ORONO
(AP) -- State officials say contaminated air created by a mixture of
perspiration and disinfectant was the most likely cause of illness
suffered by dozens of swimmers and others last March at the University
of Maine's Wallace Pool.

The Bangor Daily News reported that
an investigation by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention
issued its conclusion in a report earlier this week.

The Orono swim meet brought together about 600 team swimmers along with their coaches and family members.

More
than 300 individuals completed a Maine CDC survey shortly after the
event and three-quarters of the respondents said they had been sickened
with coughing, sneezing, eye irritation, diarrhea or vomiting.

No hospitalizations were reported.

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AUBURN
-- A man from Missouri was arrested and charged with breaking into the
home of an 85-year-old woman, beating her and stealing her money.

According
to the Auburn Police Department, Mark E. Eliot is being held
responsible for the crime. He is at the Androscoggin County Jail on
$10,000 cash bail

Police (who provided the photo of Eliot at right) say they responded to a robbery call Tuesday at 11:15 p.m.

When
they arrived they found a the woman (her identity has not been
released) who had been severely beaten with a metal pipe. She was able
to tell police that the suspect ran from the the scene with a small
amount of money.

An Androscoggin County sheriff's deputy found
Elliot, a 20 year-old transient from Missouri, on Canal Street in
Lewiston.  He was charged with robbery, burglary and aggravated
assault.

The victim is recovering in the hospital.

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PORTLAND
-- Cheverus High School has a new ice hockey coach, a man who's played
with legends and spent some time on professional ice.

Daniel Lucas was selected as the boys’ ice hockey coach for the
2009-2010 season. Lucas replaces Jack Lowry who retired last year after creating state champs out of the team in 2005 and 2006.

Gary
Hoyt, Cheverus High School athletic director, said this of Lucas: “Dan
Lucas is one of the best kept hockey secrets in Maine. (His) coaching
will be influenced not only by his hockey playing
experience in Canadian youth leagues and in professional hockey, but
also from the many players and coaches he still regularly communicates
with. Dan’s connections to the ice hockey world go well beyond high
school and are vast."

What he's talking about is this: As a young hockey player Lucas went to Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario, where the 16-year-old Wayne
Gretzky was his centerman. Lucas was then chosen in 1978-79 as the 14th
pick in the first round in the NHL draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. He
played briefly with the Flyers and finished his professional career
with the Maine Mariners in 1983.

Locally, he owns Lucas Real Estate, in Portland.

More on the selection and experience of Lucas can be found on the Portland Diocese website, which can be accessed by clicking here.

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AS PROMISED:

A
couple days ago I mentioned that a young girl from Cumberland and a
young boy from Falmouth, both with Type I Diabetes, would be in
Washington D.C. on Wednesday to talk about their illness.

The
gathering was prompted by U.S. Senator Susan Collins who chaired the
the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
hearing, titled “Type 1 Diabetes Research: Real Progress and Real Hope
for a Cure.”

Children, like 11-year-old Hannah Ryder of
Cumberland and 8-year old Cole Buchanan of Falmouth, talked about their
struggles with Type 1 juvenile diabetes, in front of an audience that
included actress Mary Tyler Moore, Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and tween
pop sensation Nick Jonas. 

Here's the picture from the event,
courtesy Sen. Collins' press office: From left to right - Jonas, Ryder,
Cole and Sen. Collins.

Speaking
in front of a large audience is not new to Ryder, who in the past has
held local fundraisers for diabetes research. Her most successful thus
far was a fundraising walk. “Hannah’s Heroes” raised more than $5,000
for diabetes research. During yesterday's hearing, she told the panel
that her life “changed forever three years ago” when she was diagnosed
with diabetes.

 The hardest part about diabetes, Hannah told Collins, was never being able to take a break from it. “It’s always with you.” 

So too, I'm sure, will be her memory of this exciting and special opportunity.

A BIT 'O GOOD NEWS:

An occasional Sunrise Herald feature, combating the harmful rays of too much bad news.

ROCKPORT
--  Dr. Mark Publicker, medical director of the Mercy Recovery Center
within the Mercy Health System in Portland, is the 2009 Maine Hospital
Association Caregiver of the Year.

The eighth annual award was presented Wednesday at the association's summer forum at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

Publicker
was lauded for the creation of "MOMS", which stands for Mothers on
Maintenance Subutex. Essentially, it is a program designed to help
addicts who are pregnant or have recently given birth.

And
according to the hospital association, in November he was credited in
the Journal of the American Medical Association for his work on the
first major national study of a new treatment of opiate addiction in
adolescents. (The Associated Press provided this report).

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