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:

At 9:00 a.m., it was 70 degrees in downtown Portland.

The weather is a bit complicated for the next 24 hours. It begins this morning with unseasonably hot and muggy weather, caused by what was Hurricane Ike exiting the United States right through the country's mid-section and out through Quebec.

As he goes away, (good riddance!) strong southwestern winds will be pushed in our direction (blowing 25 miles an hour or more). Then temperatures drop, the winds subside, cold arctic air pushes in, and by tomorrow morning, the cool fall temperatures return.

So - again - today, strangely hot, humid and hazy with temperatures in the 80s! But very windy, very gusty. Hold on to your hat! By tonight, the winds change, the heat subsides and fall returns.

ON THE ROAD:

• WARREN AVENUE IN PORTLAND goes under construction today, specifically between Hicks Street and Applicator Sales. Two-way traffic will be maintained but delays should be expected as the work continues on for at least a month.

Area of construction that begins today along Warren Avenue

ON THE OCEAN:

• The cruise ship Carnival Victory comes to Portland this morning, pulling into the Portland Ocean Terminal sometime around 8 a.m. This is the Victory's second visit to Portland. She brings with her 2,758 passengers and will depart at 6 p.m. But if you miss her, don't despair. She'll be back a couple more times before cruise ship season ends. Click here to get the full schedule of ships expected to visit Portland in September and October.

MEANWHILE, there is a small craft advisory in effect for Casco Bay and most of the Gulf of Maine, as the winds promised by the exit of Hurricane Ike will whip through the state and the sea.

They blow 15 to 25 knots with gusts up to 30 knots and seas will be rolling at 4 to 6 feet.

High tides in Portland: 11:37 a.m. and 11:55 p.m. Low tides: 5:26 a.m. and 5:42 p.m.

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THE NEWEST NEWS:

News you need to know, now:

LIMERICK -- Police say a man from Parsonsfield was killed over the weekend at a horse farm on Route 5, when he was pinned under a dumptruck bed loaded with firewood.

The man, Marc Scavoni, 62, was helping a friend at the Piper Ridge Farm fix the hydraulics of a truck bed on Saturday. They were able to get the truck bed to go up and while working on a hose, it suddenly let go and the dump bed came down suddenly, crushing Scavoni. The other subject was able to get out of the way in time.

Police pronounced Scavoni dead at the scene. The truck, registered to Dana Burridge of Piper Ridge Farm, was loaded with firewood.

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SOUTH PORTLAND -- Police arrested a man Sunday after he allegedly robbed a pet store then turned a knife on the manager.

Police were called to PETCO, 220 Maine Mall Road, at 1:35 p.m. for a report of a theft. When they arrived, officers discovered that what had started out as a shoplifting incident had escalated into an armed robbery and the store's manager had already detained the suspect, 27-year-old Alan Bonville of South Portland.

According to South Portland Police Lt. Frank Clark, witnesses reported seeing Bonville fleeing from the store after stealing some items from the fish department. The store's manager confronted him, say police, at which time Bonville slashed twice at the manager, missing him. Bonville then dropped the stolen items and ran off, police say.

However, a few minutes later, the same manager saw Bonville walking back toward the pet store. He detained him until the police arrived.

After police recovered the knife among other evidence in the shrubbery of the parking lot, they arrested Bonville and charged him with a felony robbery count.

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BAR HARBOR -- Today begins a two-day conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG/ECP), where leaders of these areas will discuss changes and progress in their regions, as well as ways to improve relations.

Gov. John Baldacci will be joined by the five other New England governors at the summit, which is being held this year at the Bar Harbor Club. All five of the Eastern Canadian Premiers, the United States Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins and the Canadian Ambassador to the United States, Michael Wilson, will also attend.

This is the 32nd meeting of the leaders. This NEG/ECP will focus on energy, transportation and economic development issues and include a discussion between the governors and premiers about United States and Canadian relations.

Specific sessions on Tuesday include: Transportation Solutions for the 21st Century, Northeast CanAM Connections; Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Opportunities in Transportation; Regional Economic Competitiveness and the Innovation Economy; Report on Demographics; A Shared Energy Future; and The Regional Electricity System.

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PORTLAND -- City councilors are scheduled to vote tonight on whether to sell $2 million worth of publicly owned land in the city's Bayside neighborhood.

The parcel at the corner of Somerset Street and Preble Street Extension would house an office complex for MaineHealth and United Way of Greater Portland.

The groups plan to build their new headquarters and a 705-space parking garage there but have been negotiating of late with trail advocates who fear the complex would mar a large section of the 1.2-mile Bayside Trail that is being cleared in the area.

The council's community development committee met with company representatives behind closed doors but took no action on the project.

The council is scheduled to vote on whether to approve a purchase and sale agreement for the property at its meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. tonight.

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FREEPORT -- Where, oh where have the little cats gone? Oh where, oh where can they be?

That's what the folks at Wolfe's Neck Farm want to know about "Bear" and "Trouble", the two all-black male and female barn kittens who were favorites among visitors to the working farm, which plays host to camps and schools for educational purposes.

The 15-week-old kittens were last seen Sunday, Sept. 7, and the staff at the farm are very upset that they are missing. The staff does not believe the kittens simply wandered off, since they always stayed close to home.

"I don't believe the kittens were taken by predators, since they both went missing together," said Wolfe's Neck Farm Education Director M.D. "Mitch" Mitchell.

Mitchell said there could be a good samaritan out there who took them in thinking they were strays. If that is the case, he sends out this public plea: Please bring them home.

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OF NOTE TODAY:

Events coming up you might want to know about:

STATEWIDE -- If you have garden pesticides hanging around, you know the bad ones that are obsolete: Today is the last day the state will help you get rid of them.

The Board of Pesticides Control, a division of the Maine Department of Agriculture, needs to hear from you today by signing up at the board's Web site - Think first...spray last. After pre-registering staff members will provide instructions on the proper packaging and transportation of the material.

''That is why we don't announce the date and exact locations of the collection sites,'' Paul Schlein, the board's public information officer, said. ''We don't want people showing up unannounced with improperly handled material.''

But they definitely want people to turn in the material. The four collection sites are in Portland, Augusta, Bangor and Presque Isle. But Schlein said board staffers will make arrangements to pick up material if people can't make it to those sites.

Schlein said getting rid of the materials through private waste disposal firms is expensive. One person contacted a private firm and was told it would cost $10,000 to get rid of material found in the barn of a house she had purchased.

But certainly, he said, it should not end up in the trash. And therefore he is urging Mainers with obsolete pesticides (ones that include DDT or 2,4,5-T, for example) to sign up right away.

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IN GORHAM -- A dedication is scheduled today to christen the University of Southern Maine's new computer-aided design laboratory after the company that helped the school design it.

Stantec, a local engineering firm, gave $100,000 to USM's School of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology to help develop the lab, which, through the use of cutting edge computer technology, helps budding engineers and architects design state-of-the art projects. The company will receive the honor of being the namesake of the lab during the dedication ceremony, scheduled for noon today on the Gorham campus.

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IN KENNEBUNK -- A group of citizens concerned with the future of oil, will gather to discuss "transition" from oil dependence to sustainability.

The group will meet at the Kennebunk Free Library at 6:30 p.m. today and will offer time for discussion about reducing carbon emissions and how to live in a future without oil.

This is a free meeting open to the public.

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