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Portsmouth shipyard exempt from furloughs

Submitted by Around Town Web... on Tuesday, May 14th, 11:45 pm

KITTERY, Maine (AP) - Workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard will be exempt from the Defense Department's plan to furlough about 680,000 of its civilian employees for 11 days through the end of the fiscal year.

According to a memo obtained by The Associated Press, the Pentagon will allow the Navy to avoid furloughs for tens of thousands of workers at shipyards, including the approximately 6,000 workers at the shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Civilians make up the bulk of the workforce at those facilities and are key to keeping production lines going and preventing major backlogs in the repairs of ships and combat vehicles.

The Congressional delegations in both Maine and New Hampshire had pressed the Pentagon to exempt the shipyard workers from the requirements to take unpaid days off.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Submitted by mmullen, Community Web Producer
Saturday, May 4th, 2013, 8:16am
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Maine, NH to apply for grant to replace Sarah Long bridge

Submitted by Around Town Web... on Tuesday, April 30th, 10:30 am

KITTERY, Maine (AP) - Maine and New Hampshire are planning to apply for a $25 million federal grant to replace a bridge that's been damaged by an oil tanker.

The Portsmouth Herald reports the states will apply for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recover grant for the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge. It's the same grant they successfully received for the Memorial Bridge, which is under construction and is expected to open this summer.

Officials say both states anticipate paying about $12.5 million each toward the Long Bridge replacement. That's expected to begin next year and be complete by 2017.

The bridge, which connects Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine, has been closed for repairs since it was struck by a tanker on April 1. The bridge is expected to reopen by May 25.

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Kittery Police: suspicious package just clothes

Submitted by Max Cole on Friday, April 26th, 6:51 pm

KITTERY, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- A section of Route 1 in Kittery was shut down Friday afternoon as police investigated a report of a suspicious package.

Kittery Police said a call came in just after noon Friday for a suspicious bag at the corner of Route 1 and Hunter Avenue.  A large blue duffel bag was found at the bottom of a stop sign near John Paul Jones Park.

Kittery police and fire departments formed a perimeter around the bag, and the State Police Bombs and Explosives Unit was called in to investigate.

Police determined the bag was just filled with clothing after a woman came forward claiming the bag was her's. 

Chrystal Ryan from Portland said she left the bag at a bus stop and went up the street to visit a friend.  When she came back to retrieve her bag, she noticed the road was blocked off.

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Donations pouring in for family of teacher killed in crash

Submitted by Vivien Leigh on Thursday, April 25th, 7:12 pm

BERWICK, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - Donations are pouring in to help the family of a special education teacher, who was killed in a head on collison two weeks ago.

Amy Harris was driving on Route 4 in Berwick, when a car driven by a Berwick Academy student crossed the center line and his Harris's car head on. Her four year old daughter and her 7-year old old were injured but are ok.

 The identity of the 17-year old driver is not being released as the accident is under investigation by the Attorney General's office.

Harris taught special education at Hussey Elementary school in Berwick for several years.

Friends are organizing a silent auction to raise money for Harris' family. Donations are pouring in from people and businesses from both Maine and New Hampshire.

The Silent Auction for the Family of Amy Harris will be held on Friday May 10th, from 6 to 9 at the Red Barn at Outlook Farm in South Berwick.

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New lower estimate for replacing Sarah Long Bridge

Submitted by Krister Rollins, smiling politely
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013, 4:31pm

KITTERY, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - Replacing the Sarah Long Bridge should cost less than previously thought.

The bridge, which carries Route 1 over the Piscataqua river between Portsmouth, NH and Kittery, is slated to be replaced in 2014.

The original estimate to replace the bridge came in at $172 million. The new estimate is revised down $12 million to $160 million.

The DOT says the savings include reexamining design, engineering, property acquisition and the construction itself.

The bridge is currently closed for repairs after an unmoored tanker slammed into the thing, damaging spans and support structures.

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Seacoast company helps celebrities, sports teams and business leaders take flight

Submitted by Tim Goff on Tuesday, April 23rd, 3:03 pm

SEABROOK, New Hampshire (NEWS CENTER) -- Getting there is supposed to be half the fun of travel, but long lines and unexpected delays have made flying these days more of a chore than an adventure.

One company in New Hampshire's Seacoast has found a way to bypass all the headaches that have brought air travel down and now schedules flights for sports teams, rock stars and billionaires on luxury aircraft of all kinds and sizes.

"It is 12:35 on a Thursday afternoon. I can have you airborne at 2pm. Where do you want to go?" asks Greg Raiff, founder and CEO of Private Jet Services.

It is that kind of can-do attitude that has Greg Raiff's company growing into the stratosphere.

"There are no shortages of airplanes," Raiff explains. "The art of what we do is taking that piece of metal and delivering the people exactly as they expected. We like to say that there is no such thing as a good surprise in transportation."

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