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By Giselle Goodman August 19, 2008 09:30 AM

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 onward...
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Our Sports Reporter Mike Lowe, who is covering the games from Beijing sent in this bit of Olympic news at 4:41 a.m. (which, for him, was 4:41 p.m.):

BEIJING -- Viktoria Rybalko, who competed at the University of Maine from 1999-2003, failed to advance out of the women's long jump qualification round Tuesday morning at National Stadium. Rybalko, competing for Ukraine, was ranked 24th after the first round. The top 12 advanced to Friday's finals.

She had a jump of 6.43 meters. American Brittney Reese led all qualifiers with a jump of 6.87 meters. Rybalko, a sprinter and jumper for Maine, won 10 America East championships at UMaine and set 11 school records. She was a six-time New England champion in indoor track and a two-time champion in outdoor track. In her senior year, she was second in the long jump in the NCAA Division I championships.

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IN THE WEATHER:

At 9 a.m., it was 69 degrees in downtown Portland.

Take the best part of yesterday, the sunny, slightly breezy warm part, salt it with a mere rain shower in the morning, toss and you get the weather for the rest of the week.

After the morning's slight chance of thunder/rain showers, summer returns to Maine, with full sun, warm days and drier air. If you picked this week for your vacation, right on!

ON THE ROAD:

• TRAFFIC ADVISORY: WATER MAIN BREAK CLOSES PORTION OF CASCO STREET IN PORTLAND: The street is closed at Cumberland Avenue because a water main break is flooding the road. Avoid the area during the morning commute. Police have set up barricades and the Public Works Department is addressing the issue at this hour.

• OCEAN ROAD BETWEEN WILDROSE AND SIMMONS in South Portland (see map below) is under construction today as the Portland Water District works to fix a water service leak. The street will be reduced to one lane at the construction site, causing traffic congestion. Water service will not be affected. Construction is scheduled between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. To avoid delays, commuters are urged to seek alternate routes.

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• TRAFFIC WILL BE REDUCED TO ONE LANE ON I-295 SOUTHBOUND in the Brunswick-Topsham area so crews can put finishing touches on the new surface. The work starts at 9 a.m. and will take traffic down to one southbound lane. Both lanes should be open for travel by Thursday, the Maine Department of Transportation reports.

ON THE OCEAN:

• That very slow-moving cold front is still making its way in from Canada, which means some instability on the ocean.

The wind comes from the northwest 10 to 15 knots. Seas roll 2 to 3 feet. A chance of showers until the afternoon.

High tide in Portland: 1:27 p.m. Low tides: 7:15 a.m. and then again at 7:32 p.m.

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THE NEWEST NEWS:

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- A mortgage company that does business in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts has agreed to pay $425,000 as part of a settlement with New Hampshire banking regulators.

The Mortgage Specialists, its president Michael Gill and compliance officer Lisa Tracy also have agreed to submit to an independent review.

The state banking department has accused the company of more than 60 violations, including forging signatures and destroying documents. Massachusetts banking officials accused the company of unfair and deceptive business practices.

Last month, Gill admitted to paperwork mistakes, but denied fraud.

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CANAAN -- A Canaan man was arrested early Monday on felony burglary charges and with violating the conditions of his release on previous charges.

Steven Warfield, 31, was arrested by Maine State Police at 6 a.m. Monday in Canaan on two counts of Class-C burglary and misdemeanor theft.

Bail was set on the burglary and theft charges at $2,500 cash, but bail was not allowed on the violation of conditions of release charge.

He has a previous conviction for burglary in Somerset County Superior Court in 2000 on a 1998 case and was sent to prison for three years.

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OF NOTE TODAY:

GOV. JOHN BALDACCI AND FIRST LADY KAREN BALDACCI will take part in Maine's Read with ME program, by stuffing book bags and reading stories at 10 a.m. at the Armory on Western Avenue in Augusta.

The first family will be joined by Maine author and illustrator Dahlove Ipcar, who wrote and illustrated this year's celebrated book The Cat at Night. Ipcar originally wrote the book in 1969. It has been reissued and will be distributed to Maine's more than 18,000 kindergarteners in the fall as part of the literacy outreach program Read With ME.