Bill Trotter

Mount Desert Island

 
Rescue personnel transport an injured hiker up a trail to the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park on Sunday.

Hiker breaks ankle in Acadia National Park

By Bill Trotter on May 20, 2013, at 2:10 p.m.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — A Canadian woman had to be carried out of the park Sunday evening after suffering a compound fracture in her right ankle while hiking on Cadillac Mountain, according to park personnel. Ranger Richard Rechholtz, who was involved in the rescue effort, said it took more ...
Image of a hake provided by LeeAnne Thayer, taken while the fish was inside one of the tubes of the Habitat Mooring System.

Hampden firm pokes holes in traditional boat mooring, leaving room for lobsters, crabs and other sea life

By Bill Trotter on May 19, 2013, at 7 p.m.
MOUNT DESERT, Maine — The Maine shoreline, which stretches for thousands of miles up and down tidal rivers, around islands and along peninsulas, beaches and bays, is known for the relatively pristine habitat it provides to countless millions of sea creatures and plants. But that hasn’t stopped one businessman from ...
Howard Colter
BDN FILE PHOTO

Former MDI superintendent gets 3-year contract

By Bill Trotter on May 17, 2013, at 7:43 p.m.
BAR HARBOR, Maine — Elected school officials on Mount Desert Island made it official Thursday: Howard Colter can remove the word “interim” from his title as superintendent of the island’s school system. Colter has been serving as interim superintendent of the island’s school system, which serves the towns on MDI ...

Housekeeper charged in inn fire on MDI

By Bill Trotter on May 17, 2013, at 1:18 p.m.
BAR HARBOR, Maine — A man working as a housekeeper at a local inn has been charged with two misdemeanor crimes, but not arson, for starting a fire in a bathroom at the inn on Wednesday, according to local police. The man, Reginaldo Cerqueria, 51, of Bar Harbor, is accused ...

Fire that damaged room at inn in Bar Harbor under investigation

By Bill Trotter on May 16, 2013, at 1:51 p.m.
BAR HARBOR, Maine — A fire Wednesday at a local waterfront inn that damaged a guest bathroom has been referred to law enforcement officials for investigation, according to a fire department official. According to Capt. Jay Higgins of the Bar Harbor Fire Department, the fire at the Balance Rock Inn ...
Hancock County Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett (right) is accompanied by Hancock County District Attorney Carletta "Dee" Bassano as she walks to the Penobscot Judicial Center for her prosecutorial misconduct hearing by the Maine Board of Overseers in 2012.  Kellett is accused of suppressing evidence that could have helped a former defendant.

Judge to decide whether Hancock County prosecutor faces unprecedented suspension

By Bill Trotter on May 13, 2013, at 4:56 p.m.
ELLSWORTH, Maine — A board that oversees the conduct of licensed attorneys in the state of Maine has filed a complaint about a Hancock County prosecutor with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The complaint, or information, from the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar reiterates the findings from last ...
GOING COASTAL (blog)
Bill Trotter

This time it’s Mother Nature, not Congress, closing parts of Acadia

on May 12, 2013, at 8:55 p.m.
Despite the opening this weekend of the summit road up Cadillac Mountain, there are some seasonal facilities at Acadia National Park that have yet to open because of ongoing disagreements in Congress over the federal budget. Much of the Park Loop Road remains closed to motor vehicles, as do some ...
VIDEO
Edison Liu, CEO of The Jackson Laboratory, discusses how the lab is doing and expansion opportunities outside of Bar Harbor during a recent interview in his office.

New CEO poised to lead Jackson Lab expansion efforts

By Bill Trotter on May 12, 2013, at 3:56 p.m.
BAR HARBOR, Maine — Edison Liu says he more or less expected it. He knew he was taking on a lot when he became president and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory in January 2012. Transitioning to Maine from his job in Asia as executive director of the Genome Institute of ...
Theodore Stanislaw

Blue Hill sex offender’s sentence too long, Maine supreme court rules again

By Bill Trotter on May 08, 2013, at 1:12 p.m.
ELLSWORTH, Maine — For the second time, a convicted sex offender from Blue Hill has had his sentence vacated by the state supreme court. In a 4-3 decision, the high court ruled on May 7 that Theodore S. Stanislaw’s sentence of 27 years behind bars is “disproportionate to other sentences ...

Ellsworth fire damages garage

By Bill Trotter on May 07, 2013, at 4:44 p.m.
ELLSWORTH, Maine — A garage fire Tuesday afternoon on Bayside Road threatened a nearby home but was extinguished before it spread, according to the local fire chief. Richard Tupper, chief of the local fire department, said the people who live at the property were not home at the time the ...
GOING COASTAL (blog)

Discarded, Lost, and Found Again

on May 07, 2013, at 4:27 p.m.
I’ve written stories about fishing rope, so when I saw a photo this morning on the New York Times website of a woman sitting on a pile of it, I figured I should read the article that went with it. My hunch was right. Turns out, the woman profiled in ...
POLL QUESTION
A stroll or drive down Ocean Drive is possible year-round in  Acadia National Park. Visitors will be able to drive up Cadillac Mountain or cruise parts of the park loop road starting Saturday, about a month later than normal due to cuts in funding brought on by the federal sequestration.

Acadia National Park to open Cadillac Mountain summit road on Saturday, despite federal budget cuts

By Bill Trotter on May 06, 2013, at 12:56 p.m.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — Though some sections of the Park Loop Road will continue to be affected by federal budget cuts, park officials have decided to open the summit road to the top of Cadillac Mountain earlier than they had planned. The road and a section of the loop ...
Mug of Jeremy Fowler from previous incident

Hancock man charged after allegedly beating dog unconscious

By Bill Trotter on May 03, 2013, at 3:37 p.m.
HANCOCK, Maine — A local man has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after he allegedly beat his dog last week until it lost consciousness, according to the local animal control officer. Charged in the case is Jeremy Fowler, 36, of Hancock, but few other details about the incident ...

Elver fishermen urge regulators not to tighten restrictions

By Bill Trotter on April 30, 2013, at 7:37 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Elver fishermen urged regulators Tuesday not to increase restrictions on the state’s newly lucrative elver fishery. More than 100 people attended a public hearing held Tuesday afternoon by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission at the local armory. The hearing was held so the commission could gather ...
Paul Firminger holds an elver in his hand at South Shore Trading Co., an elver buying station, in Portland, Maine, May 11, 2012.

Passamaquoddys reduce elver licenses by more than 100, seek appeal to federal regulators

By Bill Trotter on April 30, 2013, at 11:49 a.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Representatives of the Passamaquoddy Tribe say they plan to go around state fisheries officials and appeal directly to federal regulators about the tribe’s elver management plan. They also say the tribe has reduced by more than 100 the number of active elver fishing licenses it issued for ...
Chad Dorr of Dorr Lobster Co. in Milbridge holds up a lobster on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012, with one of the company's tags hanging off the lobster's claw.

Groundfish industry considers options with lobster bycatch bill’s defeat

By Bill Trotter on April 29, 2013, at 5:31 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Having been denied permission to land lobsters, members of Maine’s groundfish industry are saying they may have to consider moving or expanding their businesses further south. Many in the industry had supported LD 1097, a bill that would have allowed groundfishing boats to bring lobster bycatch ashore ...

UMaine student injured in rock climbing fall at Acadia National Park

By Bill Trotter on April 28, 2013, at 8:21 p.m.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — An Old Town man who attends the University of Maine suffered significant injuries Sunday afternoon when he fell while rock climbing on the eastern face of Champlain Mountain, according to a park ranger. The man was not wearing a helmet when he fell between 20 ...
VIDEO
Elver fishermen Rob Stanley of Gouldsboro on the morning of Saturday, April 28, 2013, works on setting up one of two fyke nets he has in the Union River in downtown Ellsworth. Stanley said poaching in the lucrative elver fishery could lead to tighter fishing restrictions and that fines should be increased.

Elver price dips from 2012 high but poaching persists

By Bill Trotter on April 28, 2013, at 3:30 p.m.
ELLSWORTH, Maine — Maine’s 2013 elver fishing season is not playing out as a repeat of 2012. For one, the penalties now are higher, thanks to a new law that went into effect on Tuesday. Anyone who fishes or possesses the young American eels without a license now can be ...

Fire guts trailer home after cigarette ignites spilled nail polish remover

By Bill Trotter on April 28, 2013, at 12:34 p.m.
SEDGWICK, Maine — A Saturday night fire that appears to have started when nail polish remover was ignited by a lit cigarette destroyed a trailer home on Ridgeview Lane, according to the local fire chief. No one was injured in the blaze, Sedgwick Fire Chief David Carter said Sunday. The ...

Ocean surface temperatures off Northeast coast highest in 150 years

By Bill Trotter on April 27, 2013, at 6:12 p.m.
Scientists worry how warmer temperatures are impacting marine life
 
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