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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 onward...
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OF NOTE: Just a reminder that tomorrow is a big day for Maine Medical Center in Portland, which will celebrate the opening of its new East Tower at 10:30 a.m. Gov. John Baldacci and former First Lady Barbara Bush will be among the guests at the ceremony.
Maine Medical Center's East Tower is the new home of the hospital's
women and infants services and it will also be the future location of an expanded
Emergency Department.
The public is welcome to attend the ceremony and tour the facility,
located at the Maine Medical Center Campus on 22 Bramhall St. in
Portland.
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IN THE WEATHER:
Hot yesterday! Portland hit a record-breaking 88 degrees. Less heat today, with temperatures about 10 degrees cooler and some partly cloudiness providing coverage from the sun.
The next 36 hours are touch-and-go with hurricane warnings and watches from the New Jersey shoreline south. We will get rain but when is still uncertain. My bet is on, um ... the entire weekend. Yours?
From Bill in Rockland: A low cloud cover is sitting on top of us at 5:45 this morning. A slight breeze pleasantly stirs the balmy 66 degree air and the world seems somewhat subdued as we head into the weekend.
From Shawn in Yarmouth: It is Friday. The first week of school has passed and it was a good one. This morning, it is a balmy 65 degrees here in Yarmouth. No wind, cloud-covered sky and the humidity levels seems to be up. Are we feeling the tropical hint of Hanna? Sounds like it is going to be a wet weekend for the Air Show, which is too bad.ON THE ROAD:
ON THE OCEAN:
High tide in Portland: 3:30 p.m. Low tides: 9:26 a.m. and 10:03 p.m.
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THE NEWEST NEWS:
The former finance administrator of Gardiner has pleaded guilty to stealing $195,000 from the city's coffers over a six-year period.
Fifty-five-year-old Patricia Coty pleaded guilty Wednesday in Kennebec County Superior Court.
A sentencing recommendation agreed to by prosecutors and Coty's attorney would cap her jail time at nine month.
Coty worked for the city for 13 years before her arrest in June. She has paid $100,000 in partial restitution to the city. (AP)
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GARDINER & WATERVILLE -- Four people are facing various charges following heroin raids in Gardiner and on Interstate 95.
The Kennebec County Drug Task Force raided the home 50-year-old Paul Lavalle and seized about 7 grams of heroin, along with marijuana plants, processing equipment, packaged seeds and weapons.
He's charged with aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs and other charges.
Drug agents and Waterville police also stopped a car headed north on Interstate 95 Wednesday and seized 2 grams of heroin and several syringes. The vehicle was seized.
Twenty-two-year-old Lewis Hamilton of China, 25-year-old Justin Savell of Litchfield Road and 25-year-old Kellen Carter of Liberty face heroin possession and other charges. (AP)
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MOUNT DESERT -- Police say a teenage girl from Maine has died after being struck by a vehicle near the Mount Desert Campground.
Desiree Gray, 15, of Southwest Harbor was walking with a friend along Route 198 Wednesday night when she was struck by a minivan. Police say she was taken by ambulance to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor where she died a short time later. The incident remains under investigation. (AP)
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ROCKLAND -- Five Maine deputies have been reprimanded for using a Taser on a sheriff's deputy during a bachelor party in Knox County.
Maine prosecutors launched an investigation after video surfaced of the incident in which a deputy was jolted with a Taser, then hog-tied and paraded around town in the back of a pickup on Labor Day weekend in 2007.
On the video, the groom-to-be, who is now a state trooper, dropped to the ground after being Tasered. Then the other men bound and covered him with oil and feathers. No criminal charges were filed. The information came to light after the Bangor Daily News filed a Freedom of Information request, seeking the information, which it received just yesterday.(AP)
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AUGUSTA -- Trucks providing emergency relief to parts of Louisiana damaged by Hurricane Gustav will get a reprieve from weight and size limit laws, thanks to Gov. John Baldacci.
The governor signed an executive order yesterday, granting exemptions for haulers heading to the hurricane-damaged areas. He agreed to the waiver after Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal requested that the state of Maine provide aid.
"While Hurricane Gustav did not inflict the level of damage many of us feared as it approached land, the storm still did significant harm," Baldacci said in a press release. "We will honor Gov. Jindal's request and exempt carriers responding to this crisis from weight and size limits on state roads."
The governor said any driver operating a vehicle pursuant to the waiver must, upon request, present sufficient evidence that the items being transported are bound for emergency relief to those areas where a disaster declaration has been issued.
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WEIRD BUT TRUE:
PICTOU, Nova Scotia -- Delilah is one cranky lobster.
She's pregnant, hungry and in a strange place: a tank at the lobster hatchery in Pictou. She's blue, too. Not depressed blue, but the color blue.
A file photo of a blue lobster, similar to the one in captivity in Nova Scotia
Finding a berried female blue lobster is extremely unusual, said hatchery manager Jennifer Feehan. Having released her eggs in captivity is an even rarer event, she said.
"We think it's the first time this has been done," Feehan said.
Delilah is one of the latest berried female lobsters captured by specially licensed members of the Northumberland Fishermen's Association and taken to the nonprofit hatchery as part of a project to improve area lobster stocks.
The eggs hatch into minuscule lobsters, which are nursed in tanks for two weeks until they reach the quarter-sized Stage 4. In the wild, only a small percentage of lobsters survive to Stage 4.
Then they are returned to the sea, in hopes they will grow to dinner-table size, a process taking five to eight years.
That means it will take a while for local fishermen to benefit from the Pictou project, now in its second year, Feehan said.
Hatchery staff are also waiting to see if Delilah's offspring will be blue like their mother.
Once their eggs are released, the female lobsters are released back into the wild.
But, in case you didn't get the subliminal message here: Don't eat blue lobsters. They are very rare. (AP)
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