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Sunrise Herald is the early morning news update feature at pressherald.com. It is updated at 6, 7, 8 and 9 on weekdays.
Welcome to the Sunrise Herald with Giselle Goodman, the place to go to get the news from overnight and beyond...
At 9 a.m., it was 27 degrees in downtown Portland.
Today will be one of those "depends on where you live" kind of weather days. A couple of nasty ice storms are pounding places west of here (Philadelphia, for one) and that storm system makes its way here sometime after noon.
Look for snow in the north, ice in western interior Maine, and rain along the coast. But a winter weather advisory that gets going at 11 a.m. statewide all adds up to a messy commute no matter where you live.
Here's a view from the radar. The blue is snow, the pink is ice.
FOR MARINERS:
The storm brings with it a gale warning starting at 1 p.m. and on through Saturday for all of the Maine coastline. Gusts up to 35 knots and seas 4 to 7 feet, possibly building to 9 feet or more.
High tide in Portland at 6:18 a.m. and then again at 7:07 p.m. Low tide at 12:56 p.m., just as the storm is supposed to arrive.
FOR TRAVELERS:
Between mile 38 in Scarborough and Exit 53 in Falmouth, north and southbound lane closures will be conducted in various locations from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for roadwork and guardrail repairs.
At mile 91 in Litchfield, a southbound lane closure is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for roadwork. _________________________________________________________________
MAINE'S MEDICAL EXAMINER CONFIRMED YESTERDAY that a teenager who gulped down most of a quart of vodka last November died of alcohol poisoning.
Police initially suspected that 18-year-old Adam Beggs of Auburn died after drinking too much alcohol at a party in an Auburn apartment. The autopsy report, made public yesterday, said that the young man died of accidental "acute ethanol intoxication."
According to police reports, Beggs died after drinking three-quarters of a bottle of vodka and roughly half a bottle of whiskey.
Larondo Sweeting, 23, has been charged with providing the liquor that Beggs drank that night. He faces a Class C felony count of furnishing alcohol to a minor, which is punishable by as much as five years in prison.
MAINE SENATORS SUSAN COLLINS AND OLYMPIA SNOWE announced yesterday that the Department of the Navy has awarded Bath Iron Works a $3 million contract for preliminary design of a Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV).
The Joint High Speed Vessel will be a state-of-the-art ship that will help our Army and Navy face the new challenges of the 21st Century, said Senators Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. Once again, Bath Iron Works is at the cutting-edge of new efforts to modernize our military forces.
These new military vehicles will be used for faster transportation of troops, military vehicles and equipment. Once the preliminary design is complete at BIW, the Navy will receive construction proposals.
Also from Washington D.C.:
• Sen. Susan Collins yesterday announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs is increasing the mileage reimbursment for travel to VA facilities to more than one million eligible veterans.
The 11-cent raise to 28.5 cents per mile goes into effect today.
"This is welcome news for our veterans," Sen. Collins said. "Many veterans in Maine have no choice but to drive long distances to receive the health care that they earned. With the rising cost of fuel, it has become increasingly difficult to afford to do so."
• Meanwhile, Sen. Collins and Rep. Tom Allen are closing in on the fund-raising record in their Senate race, the Associated Press reports.
Collins indicates she raised $963,073 in the final quarter of the year, bringing her campaign's total to more than $4.5 million. Allen raised $813,000 during the same period, bringing his total to more than $3 million.
The combined total of more than $7.5 million is near the $8 million that Collins and her then-rival, Democrat Chellie Pingree, spent on their campaigns in 2002.
Sandy Maisel from the Goldfarb Center at Colby College says he wouldn't be surprised if the spending numbers double between now and Election Day.
AN AUGUSTA SNOWMOBILE OWNER is safe this morning after a fire
Thursday night totaled his snowmobile and damaged part of his garage.
John Zack was siphoning gasoline from his snowmobile in his garage when the gasoline mixed with kerosene from a nearby heater and ignited, Augusta Fire Battalion Chief Bill Cusack said.
Zack managed to pull the flaming snowmobile outside the garage before the fire spread, Cusack said. His house was saved by firefighters, who arrived at the house around 6:15 p.m.
KENNEBUNK FIREFIGHTERS WERE CALLED to a home off Brown Street around 6:30 p.m. for a call of smoke pouring from an oven and filling the kitchen.
When the crew arrived, they found the oven was hot, and there was some smoke, but there was no fire. The family members home at the time a woman and two small children were evacuated from the house as a precaution.
"I am so impressed how fast they got here. I had barely hung up the phone, and they were already in my driveway," said the homeowner. "I'm pretty embarrassed, really. I probably should never have called them."
The reporter covering the story ... um ... happened to be the story. I should probably stop here and tell you that the homeowner was me your recovering-from-the-flu-reporter.
Yes, the oven was filled with smoke when I opened the door to insert the evening meal of fish sticks. And yes, I then took out said fish sticks and decided to hit auto-clean. The rest is, I am sure, a laughing matter for the neighborhood.
I think Kennebunk Police Sgt. Anthony Clukey (thanks for being so nice to my kids) summed it up best when he said: "Ma'am, has it been a while since you last cleaned the oven?"
With tail down, and ears drooped, I say, thank you for coming to our rescue, Kennebunk emergency crews. Even if there was no real emergency.
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TAGG ROMNEY, SON OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY, is visiting many places in Maine today, as Republicans in the state get ready to caucus over the weekend.
His list of visits are extensive, beginning with an 11:15 a.m. meeting with Bangor area voters at Governor's Restaurant, 643 Broadway. He then makes his way to Augusta, Lewiston, Portland, Gorham and Bath.
You can find the full schedule by clicking this link to our sister paper's political blog.
Yet, according to an Associated Press advisory report this morning, he has some hearts to win. Presidential candidate Ron Paul's prospects are rated very high by party officials and other political observers, who believe Maine's GOP caucus this weekend may be the Texas congressman's best shot at winning a state.
Meanwhile, as Democrats prepare for their one-day Feb. 10 caucus, they can expect to hear a lot more from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who will be spending some of the $32 million he raised last month in Maine, the Associated Press reports.
Look for Maine-specific Obama television ads in Bangor and Portland running this week.
A DRUNK DRIVING PREVENTION MEASURE called the "ignition interlock device" will be the subject of discussion in Augusta today during a Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee work session.
The 9:30 a.m. discussion is to make admendments to a bill, sponsored by Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland, that would require all drunk driving offenders to install all the ignition devices in their cars.
They work like this: The analyzer monitors the concentration of alcohol in the breath of any person who attempts to start the motor vehicle by using the ignition system. The device prevents the vehicle from starting unless the person provides a breath sample with a concentration of alcohol that is below a preset level.
The discussion is in Room 436 at the state house. For more information on the full bill, click here.
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