Associated Press

Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey” and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89.

Maine had for several years allowed people to put just about any combination of letters and numbers on their vehicle plates, including words and phrases that other states would ban. But the state decided to change course and this year recalled 274 plates it deemed inappropriate.

The Shawnee Peak was a name chosen in 1988 by new owners who already operated Shawnee Mountain in Pennsylvania, which bears the name of a Native American tribe that was pushed west by settlers.

The current lighthouse went into service around 1891. The keeper's cottage, built around the same time, is in a separate structure.

One of the largest employers in Maine is permanently closing a Russian subsidiary and ceasing business in the country.

With no opposition, Paule LePage coasted to the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday, setting up a fierce general election campaign against Democratic incumbent Janet Mills.

The Portland Press Herald reports that the state estimated a year ago that a fully functioning system would cost $55 million. That's more than four times what was expected when former Gov. Paul LePage's administration first launched the replacement effort in 2016.

Maine has the second-highest rate of preschool student expulsion in the country.

The new law lengthens the ombudsman's tenure from one to five years and gives the ombudsman power to hire more staff, among other things.

Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, said Tuesday that the request was denied “for a myriad of reasons.”