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By Portland Press Herald Staff Report November 20, 2007 09:30 AM

Good morning and welcome to the Sunrise Herald with Giselle Goodman. This is the first place you should go to know about:

Sunrise Herald is the early morning news update feature on pressherald.com. It is updated at 6, 7, 8 and 9 on weekdays.

THE WEATHER AND OTHER STUFF
At 9 a.m., it was 35 degrees in downtown Portland. A gray, cold day with chance of showers, maybe even some snow showers on the way. It's beginning to look a lot like ... winter.

FOR MARINERS:
A small craft advisory in effect until this afternoon because of southeastern winds blowing at 10 knots, switching to the south and bringing in gusts up to 20 knots. Seas three to five feet. Rain will reduce visibility to only one or two miles. High tides in Portland at 6:30 a.m. and at 6:55 p.m. Low tide at 12:43 p.m.


FOR TRAVELERS:

• Traffic stops resume this morning on outer Congress Street and the Maine Turnpike's Jetport connector road, where crews will be blasting ledge. Maine State Police troopers will assist traffic, stopping cars up to five minutes at least two or three times 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. _________________________________________________________________

THE NEWS FROM:

• SACO — A report came in from Saco just after 8 a.m. that a youth pedestrian had been struck by a car in the roadway at the Beach and Middle Street intersection, by the First Parish Congregational Church.

Police are on the scene now, so very few details are available. However, a dispatcher did say it seems the child was not seriously injured.

• AUBURN — It will be a while longer before it is clear what officially caused the death of 18-year-old Adam Beggs, who was found dead on Saturday in an apartment on Granite Street.

Police say they believe he succumbed to alcohol poisoning. However, an autopsy performed yesterday at the state medical examiner's office was inconclusive. A spokeswoman said further tests were needed before the cause of death can be determined.

Meanwhile, Larando Sweetling, 23, the man who is accused of providing the alcohol at the party where Beggs died, is still in jail, after a judge yesterday set bail at $75,000. Sweetling made his initial court appearance yesterday on charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor, unsworn falsification and violation of conditions of release.

• PORTLAND — Sen. Susan Collins plans to speak this morning to students at Moore Middle School, 171 Auburn Street from 10:15 to 11 a.m. And Sen. Olympia Snowe will also be in Portland, at the same time, visiting the People’s Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) to talk about record high energy prices.

Collins' appearance: She will visit David Hilton's seventh grade social studies class, speak for 10 to 15 minutes and then answer students' questions. Some of the students at the school there plan to present Collins with their submissions for a statewide competition, called PROJECT CITIZEN, where students craft what they believe are good public policy recommendations on contemporary issues.

It's good practice for becoming, say, a U.S. senator.

Snowe's appearance: She will be at PROP at 10:15 and will speak with the staff there in a roundtable discussion about energy prices and the effectiveness of the LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) program.

Neither of the events are open to the public.

• KITTERY & WESTBROOK — A chimney fire called firefighters to 148 Norton Road in Kittery last night around 8:30 p.m. Crews were able to get the blaze under control quickly, although initial reports indicated they had to break through the chimney of the 1 1/2 story house to douse the fire.

Plus, there was a fire in a duplex on Pleasant Street in Westbrook last night. It chased several people from their home. Click on the photo at left taken by Staff Photographer John Ewing to learn more.