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

IN THE WEATHER

At 9 a.m., it was 28 degrees and mostly clear in downtown Portland.

Dear Mr. or Mrs. Weather Maker:
Could you please stop it with the frost overnight? It is April 8 after all, andmaybe you could find it in your heart to let the warmth of Spring come along. I'd like to get the garden going, but that frost is not helping. And, since I'm asking, could you also stop the cold wind. Wind is okay, but the cold wind just ruins the nice, sunny day.

Thank you kindly,
Giselle Goodman

Dear Giselle:

Today should be better. Less wind. Maybe 5 degrees warmer than yesterday. Bright sun. I'll try to keep the frost down to a minimum tonight. You're welcome.

The weather maker

From Bill in ROCKLAND:: "Clear and calm and 25 less-than-balmy degrees. Windshield frost is a bore when your best scraper's handle has broken off ..."
From Shawn in YARMOUTH: "It is 6:12 a.m. and looks like a beautiful day. 32 degrees, blue sky, birds singing and I am seeing a bit more grass and even a few bits of green from some bulbs pushing their way up through the moist earth. Will it hit the 50's today?"
From Mark in BRUNSWICK:: "Clear skies and a very cool 26 degrees this morning in Brunswick. I think I hear jayhawks chirping outside."
From Karen in STEEP FALLS: "After a chilly night, the temperature sits at 19 this morning. It's frosty outside but no wind and the sun is trying to get through these high clouds that will hopefully burn off. It's going to be another flip-flop day!"

ON THE OCEAN:

Eastern winds change to southeastern winds, blowing a slight 10 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet.

High tide today in Portland at 12:29 p.m. Tide goes out at 7:15 a.m. and 7:27 p.m.

ON THE ROAD:

• Drivers might run into some delays at mile 32 in Biddeford on the northbound side of the Maine Turnpike today. A double lane closure is scheduled there from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for pavement repair.

Click here for the full list of Maine Turnpike travel advisories.

________________________________________________________________

A MAN FROM CARIBOU IS SPENDING THE NEXT 17 1/2 YEARS in prison for a federal crime of spreading child pornography around using a computer.

U.S. Attorney Paula D. Silsby said Adam Stone, 29, will also be under probation for 5 years after he gets out of jail. He pleaded guilty to the crimes in January.

His crimes were discovered in June 2005 when agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation used a search warrant to search Stone's Caribou home. In his computer they found 192 pornographic pictures of children and six pornographic videos of children. He was charged with federal felony counts of "transporting or shipping child pornography by computer."

The arrest culminated an investigation of Stone with the the Wheaton (Ill.) Police Department, which through its own investigation found many of those photos had been posted on a Yahoo! photo album, available for others to download.

One of the young people in the pictures was actually an undercover agent from the Wheaton Police Department, who had pretended to be a 15-year-old girl during the investigation on Stone's wrongdoings.

It is not clear why Stone came to Maine from Illinois.

THE CONTROVERSIAL CHEMICAL PHTHALATE SHOWED UP in the majority of toys recently tested by The Alliance for a Clean & Healthy Maine.

The alliance says 20 of the 24 products purchased at Target, the Dollar Tree, and Toys R Us tested positive for the chemical phthalate, which is used to soften plastics. Phthalates have been used in toys for years; however, new research is showing that the chemical may have an effect on developing fetuses and could be a carcinogen. Continuing use of the chemical in toys is hotly debated among industry leaders, scientists, scholars and politicians.

Airing on the side of caution, California last fall banned toys and baby products containing more than a trace amount of the chemical, widely used in such products as baby bottles and teething rings.

Back in Maine, tests found extremely high levels of phthalates in some products. A baby doll contained 46 percent phthalates, for example, a ball 54 percent phthalates and a waterproof crib mattress cover 35 percent phthalates.

A FREEDOM HOME WAS DESTROYED YESTERDAY BY FIRE when an unattended sap boiler went awry.

The fire at the Albion Road home started a little after 3:30 p.m., said Hank Elkins, assistant fire chief of the Freedom Fire Department. Freedom is in Waldo County.

Charred timbers are all that remain of the two-story home, which stood in a field several hundred feet from the road about a mile from the Albion town line.

Nobody was home when the fire started. Jake Kennedy, who rented the home, let the fire die down in the cinderblock pit before leaving, Elkins said.

The flames likely sprung back to life when the wind shifted direction and spread the flames into hay stacked nearby, Elkins said.

“I would say the hay caught on fire, and that’s how it got to the house,” Elkins said. “When he got back, we were fighting the fire.”

Kennedy, who declined to comment, told firefighters he planned to stay with friends.

The property is owned by Raivo Vihman of North Carolina, according to records in the town office. Elkins had not yet learned if the home is insured.

KOMEN ON THE GO, THE BREAST CANCER AWARENESS TOUR comes to Maine today at the University of New England in Biddeford.

This is the first Maine visit of the "Komen on the Go" tour. Using a customized pink trailer that opens up into a learning center, the "Komen on the Go" tour seeks to bring awareness of the breast cancer epidemic with interactivity.

Visitors to the pink trailer can perform a breast self-exam or make their
mark in the fight against breast cancer by signing a "Graffiti Wall"
that will be left for year-round use and display.

This tour is named after the Susan G. Komen for the Cure movement, which funds research to cure breast cancer and community-based outreach programs for educating people about breast cancer.

The tour makes its stop at the Biddeford university from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The tour comes just one day after Gov. John Baldacci unveiled a new specialty license plate to support breast cancer services. The "pink plate" will be available in the fall. Read the full story in today's Portland Press Herald by clicking the license plate below.

E-mail this entry to a friend