MARSHFIELD – Stephen Charles Cook of Bailey Island and Marshfield, Maine died at his home on April 29, 2024, after a long battle with diabetes and heart disease. He was Born Oct. 24, 1950, son of Charles Maurice Cook and Elaine Johnson Cook in Bath. Stephen grew up on Bailey Island working at Cooks Lobster Pound and Cooks Lobster House at a very early age and loved the ocean. He was an entrepreneur having started many ventures in his life including selling prints of coastal scenes at the restaurant, writing...

New Hampshire could become the latest US state to ban child marriage after its House of Representatives passed a bill that would raise the minimum age for marriage to 18. Until 2016, child marriage – defined as a union involving at least one person under 18 years of age – was legal in all 50 states, sometimes only under specific circumstances, such as pregnancy. But since the US signed up to a United Nations plan to end the practice by 2030, 12 states have passed laws banning it, beginning with...

Lawmakers on the Legislature’s budget committee met Tuesday to sign off on funding for dozens of additional bills that still need final approval before they can be sent to Gov. Janet Mills. The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee moved dozens of bills from what’s known as the special appropriations table, where bills requiring funding go before they can get final approval from the Maine Senate. Lawmakers are expected to take up the bills the committee approved when they meet Friday to take up vetoes from Mills. Any amended bills would...

PORTLAND, Maine — Red Sox righthander Brayan Bello proclaimed himself ready to return to the big leagues following a 52-pitch, 2⅔-inning rehab start with Double A Portland against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Tuesday. Bello (0-1 with a 3.93 ERA in 18⅓ innings this year) was pitching in a game for the first time since April 19. Five days later, he landed on the injured list due to right lat tightness. Despite unspectacular results Tuesday, Bello said he is pain-free and recovered from the injury. He yielded a solo homer...

Incense wafted through the air of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, silent as dozens of priests, bishops and other dignitaries began their slow procession through the sanctuary. Among them was Bishop James Thomas Ruggieri, who bowed his head and lifted his hands to greet the hundreds of faithful Catholics who traveled to Portland on Tuesday to celebrate his ordination and installment as the 13th bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. Jessica Ciszewski said she drove nearly five hours to from New Sweden, a small town in Aroostook...

A woman accused in a fatal shooting on April 2 in Bangor, Maine, reportedly told the victim “Oh, don’t think I will,” moments before the alleged killing. Twenty-year-old Olivia Babin is accused of fatally shooting her boyfriend, Daniel Ford-Coates, 24, moments after holding a gun to his head and asking if he thought she wouldn’t do it, the New York Post reported on Monday. An image shows the suspect in the case and officials at the scene of the home on Highland Avenue: The outlet shared surveillance footage that apparently...

Jeanne Lambrew, who led Maine’s Health and Human Services department through the COVID-19 pandemic, is resigning from her post to work with a Washington-based health care policy organization and teach at Harvard University. Lambrew, a former high-ranking health official in the Obama and Clinton administrations, will become the Director of Health Care Reform for The Century Foundation. She will also be an adjunct professor of health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her last day as Maine’s top health official will be May 31. Lambrew was...

A project that was billed as the Baltimore’s first “zero-energy” development is mired in a contract dispute as the buildings intended for revitalization stand vacant along West North Avenue. A newly filed lawsuit in federal court reveals an ongoing conflict between the project’s developer and Frankenmuth Insurance Co., which issued a $3.5 million performance bond for the contractor hired for the job. The general contractor, Modern Builders LLC, is not named as a defendant but is accused in the complaint of performing substandard work and failing to meet the project...

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Maine woman who accused school officials of encouraging her teen’s gender expression by providing a chest binder and using a new name and pronouns, without consulting parents. U.S. District Judge Jon Levy acknowledged his decision that a mother such as Amber Lavigne “might expect school officials to keep her informed about how her child is navigating matters related to gender identity” but he concluded that she failed to establish legal claims for which the school district could be...

With its sweeping desert vistas, millions of acres of public lands to hike through and parent-friendly laws around who can make medical decisions for teenagers, Utah became known as the place to send so-called “troubled teens” for wilderness therapy. For decades, the state fostered the growth of an industry that made its money on a promise that time spent in the outdoors — and far away from home — would help a child struggling with behavioral issues or substance abuse. But the wilderness therapy industry is now struggling in a...