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 raining and 58 degrees in downtown Portland.

A really busy band of weather is moving across the state, as you can see from the radar shot below:

The radar certainly seems to say: Warm, but damp and humid. Rain certainly for most parts of far north, which will get its turn with the sun today. Some thunderstorms might pop up in that middle swath there. Mid to upper 60s.

From Bill in ROCKLAND: Overcast at 5:40 a.m. here in Rockland, but not raining right at this moment. A slight breeze makes the 55 degrees seem just a little chillier.
From Karen in STEEP FALLS: Drizzly here. Temperature is sitting at 57 this morning. It was a warm night. I guess we're due for some rain. Happy Wednesday!
From Shawn in YARMOUTH: It rained! Hopefully it will rain some more today. It is 62 degrees in Yarmouth this morning with a heavy cloud cover and very light wind. Kind of gray, but the trees look very green. I think they are happy to have some rain too.
From James in CAPE ELIZABETH: Cape Elizabeth is 57 at 6 a.m. Cloudy, warm, and calm. Will the rain finally come in measurable amounts today?

ON THE ROAD:

• Construction cones and work is underway on the south side of the turnpike at the Kennebunk exit. Cones and signs are redirecting traffic. Pay attention if you are heading there for gas or coffee or sunglasses.

ON THE OCEAN:

An eastern wind blows 5 to 10 knots with seas 2 to 3 feet. Foggy and a chance of rain. Visibility 1 to 2 nautical miles.

High tides around noon and then again at 12:07 p.m. Low tide was at 5:52 a.m. and will return at 5:59 p.m.

_________________________________________________________________

SOUTH PORTLAND - The South Portland Police Department said the car of a missing man has been found, but they still need the public to help them find John D. Tighe.

Tighe, 38, was reported missing by his wife and was last seen about 5:30 p.m. Sunday at his home in South Portland before he left for a possible meeting in Yarmouth.

Tighe (photo at right) was not present at that meeting, police say, and also has not shown up for work at CitiGroup in downtown Portland for the past two days. Police say they have no indication of foul play but share the family’s concern for Tighe's well-being.

Tighe was last known to be operating a green 1999 Toyota Camry, which police say they found.

Police say based on the location of the car and other information gleaned during the investigation, officers from South Portland, the Maine Warden Service and the Maine Search and Rescue Dogs group will be searching for Tighe in the area around Clark's Pond in South Portland.

Anyone with information should call Lt. Frank Clark with the South Portland Police Department at 799-5511 ext. 7242 or 207-210-7176.

––––––

LEWISTON (AP) — A federal judge in Portland has thrown out a lawsuit by Lewiston's school superintendent against Fox News, saying it acted unprofessionally but without malice when it unwittingly reported an online parody as fact.

The case was an outgrowth of last year's prank at Lewiston Middle School in which students tossed a ham bone on a table where Somali students were sitting, knowing the Muslims would be offended. Muslims consider pork unclean.

In his slander suit, Superintendent Leon Levesque said he was relentlessly ridiculed after anchors on "Fox and Friends" repeated comments falsely attributed to him, including "ham is not a toy" and an effort to create an "anti-ham response plan."

Levesque's lawyer said he and his client were weighing an appeal of Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby.

––––––

BANGOR — A man from Milo will spend the next 115 months in prison after being sentenced in U. S. District court for dealing cocaine.

Winslow Newbert, 40, was convicted by a jury in December for "possession with intent to distribute cocaine." He was arrested after federal investigators found 18 grams of cocaine at his home, digital scales and records of past narcotics transactions. The evidence also proved that Newbert had traded cocaine, oxycodone and methadone for stolen goods brought to him by customers.

Investigators recovered more than $9,600 in stolen property from Newbert's home.

––––––

GREENVILLE (AP) — Also out of Piscataquis County: Two men face forgery charges for allegedly stealing more than $14,000 from the checking account of a 22-year-old soldier who discovered the loss after returning home from a 15-month deployment in Iraq.

Greenville police say 37-year-old Duane Hyde of Dover-Foxcroft and 29-year-old Robert Brammer of Guilford have been summonsed to appear June 23 in Dover-Foxcroft District Court.

Shawn Burke told police he learned that his account had been nearly drained after a check he had written for online college courses failed to clear in mid-April.

Police said checks mailed at Burke's request to his brother in Sangerville had been stolen by acquaintances of Burke's brother and cashed at bank branches in Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford, Dexter and Greenville in amounts ranging from $630 to $6,500.

––––––

LEWISTON — A fire early this morning caused a six-unit apartment building on Wood Street to be evacuated, leaving the tenants temporarily homeless.

Fire Lt. Wallace Veilleux said the alarm came in to the station around 2:30 a.m., and when firefighters arrived, there were flames coming from the back of the third floor of the three-story building.

Police evacuated residents while crews worked to put the fire out.

Although most of the fire damage was contained to the back half of the building, Veilleux said there is much water and smoke damage through the entire building, which means it is unclear when residents will be allowed to return to their apartments.

No one was critically injured in the fire.

Investigators and supervisors at 7 a.m. were still trying to determine the cause.

Scene of a fire in Lewiston this morning.

––––––

SCARBOROUGH — The police department is asking for the public's help in finding a pickup truck that hit a small child on a bike yesterday, then left the scene before police arrived.

The child, no age provided by police, was riding a bike around 7 Orchard St. near the Route 1 intersection when the child was struck.

Police say the driver stopped and checked on the child, but then left before police officers got there. The vehicle is described by police as a black or dark-colored Ford F150 extended cab pickup truck, which may have damage to the hood/bumper where the child's helmet struck the truck.

The operator is described as a heavy set male in his 50s, with short gray hair, balding on the top of his head. There was a passenger in the truck at the time, also described as a balding man in his 50s.

Anyone with information that can lead police to solve the mystery should call 883-6361.

––––––

AUBURN — St. Mary's Health System breaks ground today on a expansion of the emergency department, a renovation of the transitional rehab unit at St.
Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion, and an outpatient medical facility building.

The groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate these three endeavors includes third graders from Trinity Catholic School as a symbol of the investment in the
future. The children will join in prayer by helping with a special
Blessing of the Builders and Blessing of the Land.

The festivities are scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. outside the St. Mary’s emergency department entrance.

E-mail this entry to a friend