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Delta Ambulance won’t require paramedics on some emergency calls in central Maine

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Delta Ambulance won’t require paramedics on some emergency calls in central Maine


Chris Mitchell, executive director of Delta Ambulance, a medical transport service that covers 13 towns in central Maine, answered questions from town officials Tuesday at China’s town office about a new plan to redistribute paramedics by not requiring them on every emergency call. (Hannah Kaufman/Staff Writer)

Town officials sought answers from Delta Ambulance on Tuesday about a new plan to start using EMTs instead of sending paramedics on every emergency call, at the same time the regional transport service’s fees are going up.

Leaders from China, Belgrade and Vassalboro discussed their concerns with Chris Mitchell, Delta’s executive director, at China’s town office. Mitchell announced earlier this month that Delta’s per capita fees for towns will rise from $35 to at least $55 in July 2026, raising the alarm for towns that rely on the service.

He also said Delta is switching its EMS license from a paramedic level to an EMT level, which will permit EMTs to go on calls with or without a paramedic and offer basic life support. Paramedics with advanced life support training will also be working and able to intercept EMT ambulances on the way to a hospital if more care is needed.

Town officials worry the change means a higher cost for a more limited service.

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Ambulance dispatchers determine how serious a call is based on the information they receive from an emergency caller, but it isn’t always reliable. Becky Hapgood, China town manager, said she is concerned a paramedic will be left behind for an emergency that requires advanced life support.

Mitchell said the change in licensure is a way of addressing paramedic shortages across the region. Calls that previously would have gotten no Delta ambulance because all paramedics were occupied can now get a basic-level ambulance, which Mitchell said would cover 57% of the service’s calls.

Mitchell said that because the stakes are higher in rural areas, Delta will have conversations with each town about its need for paramedics, considering rural roads and distance from an emergency room.

Delta operated a paramedic intercept system with Waterville that Mitchell said was made easier because of the two local hospitals and a concentration of calls in the city. Waterville, which runs its own transport operation, has a mutual aid agreement with Delta but is not one of the communities the service contracts with.

“We had a fly car — a paramedic on a SUV — covering two non-medic ambulances,” Mitchell said. “And that system worked really well, because at no point was there a paramedic that was really far away from a call.”

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He added: “That model doesn’t translate well to a 500-square mile coverage area.”

Winslow has a mutual aid agreement with Delta to transport for each other free of charge, but paramedic shortages have strained that relationship, Winslow fire Chief Mike Murphy said during an August interview. Winslow calls Delta for a paramedic intercept when the town’s crew of per diem paramedics are occupied with other calls.

From July 2024 to July 2025, Murphy said, the department requested a paramedic from Delta 50 times and Delta said no 37 times.

Those instances forced Winslow to call Waterville or Fairfield for a paramedic, Murphy said, delaying the time help arrived on scene, especially after the closure of the nearest emergency room at Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville. Murphy said he wants to set up new inter-town agreements that rely less on Delta.

“I’m just looking to find a quicker response time if I don’t have a medic,” Murphy said.

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Mitchell said during an interview in August that Delta prioritizes resources for towns that do not “already have the ability to transport.”

“If we sacrifice our last unit to get Winslow a paramedic, now those other towns that don’t have an ambulance — now they have nobody,” Mitchell said.

The change in licensure will bring more flexibility to calls, Mitchell said Tuesday.

The new plan will not take paramedics off the road, it will instead disperse them among more vehicles. Delta has hired 24 new people — mostly basic EMTs — in the last few months, Mitchell said.

“We didn’t reduce the number of paramedics in the system,” Mitchell said. “We just moved them around a little bit.”

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Police warn of scam targeting sex offenders in Maine

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Police warn of scam targeting sex offenders in Maine


A letter is being sent that asks registered sex offenders to email personal information

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Maine State Police

scam letter targeting sex offenders in maine

SOURCE: Maine State Police

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State Police warn of scam targeting sex offenders in Maine

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A letter is being sent that asks registered sex offenders to email personal information

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Updated: 11:10 AM EDT Apr 8, 2026

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Maine State Police is warning of a scam that is targeting sex offenders in the state.The issue was brought to those who run the Sex Offender Registry that the scam is targeting registered people on probation in Maine. A letter is being mailed to people, claiming to be from the ‘Maine Probation Tonduary.’ The letter claims there has been a data migration error in the Records Management System and the registrant needs to email personal identifying information (PII) to an email address listed on the letter. Police say neither the Maine Sex Offender Registry nor the Maine Department of Corrections would ever send such a letter asking a person to send sensitive information in this format. If you have received such a letter, you should not email your information to the address on the letter. Instead, report it to the Maine Sex Offender Registry at 207-624-7270 or local law enforcement.

Maine State Police is warning of a scam that is targeting sex offenders in the state.

The issue was brought to those who run the Sex Offender Registry that the scam is targeting registered people on probation in Maine.

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A letter is being mailed to people, claiming to be from the ‘Maine Probation Tonduary.’ The letter claims there has been a data migration error in the Records Management System and the registrant needs to email personal identifying information (PII) to an email address listed on the letter.

scam letter targeting sex offenders in maine

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Police say neither the Maine Sex Offender Registry nor the Maine Department of Corrections would ever send such a letter asking a person to send sensitive information in this format. If you have received such a letter, you should not email your information to the address on the letter. Instead, report it to the Maine Sex Offender Registry at 207-624-7270 or local law enforcement.

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clickedElement.classList.add(‘open’);
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if (weatherData.alerts_count > 0) {
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weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘href’, “https://www.wmtw.com/alerts”);
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var iconEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–current-icon’);
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var skyEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–sky’);
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skyEl.textContent = skyValue;
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var feelsEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–feels’);
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var visibleItems = isWeatherBoxV2 ? 6 : 5;

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if (weatherData.hourly) {
var hourlyContainer = container.querySelector(‘.weather-hourly-forecast’);
if (hourlyContainer) {
var html=””;
var maxHours = Math.min(visibleItems, weatherData.hourly.length);

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tabs[prevIndex].focus();
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case ‘ArrowRight’:
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}

function refreshWeatherIframe(containerId) {
var iframeId = ‘weather-iframe-‘ + containerId;
var iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId);
if (iframe && iframe.src) {
var originalSrc = iframe.src;
iframe.src = originalSrc + (originalSrc.indexOf(‘?’) > -1 ? ‘&’ : ‘?’) + ‘t=” + Date.now();
}
}

function initializeWeatherBox(container) {
var containerId = container.getAttribute(“data-container-id’);
var isWeatherBoxV2 = containerId === ‘home-weather-v2’;

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function switchWeatherTab(tabName, clickedElement) {
container.querySelectorAll(‘[data-tab-id]’).forEach(function(tab) {
tab.classList.remove(‘open’);
tab.setAttribute(‘aria-selected’, ‘false’);
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clickedElement.classList.add(‘open’);
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container.querySelectorAll(‘[data-content-id]’).forEach(function(content) {
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if (data && data.data) {
var weatherContainer = container.closest(‘.weather-box-container’);
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var location = { zip: window.DEFAULT_ZIPCODE };

try {
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var locations = JSON.parse(storedLocations);
if (locations && locations.length > 0) {
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.then(function(response) { return response.json(); })
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if (weatherData.alerts_count > 0) {
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weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘href’, “https://www.wmtw.com/alerts”);
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var skyEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–sky’);
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function updateForecastTabs(weatherData) {
var visibleItems = isWeatherBoxV2 ? 6 : 5;

if (weatherData.hourly) {
var hourlyContainer = container.querySelector(‘.weather-hourly-forecast’);
if (hourlyContainer) {
var html=””;
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for (var i = 0; i 0 ? currentIndex – 1 : tabs.length – 1;
tabs[prevIndex].focus();
break;
case ‘ArrowRight’:
e.preventDefault();
var nextIndex = currentIndex

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Maine

2026 Primary Election

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2026 Primary Election


Voting is the cornerstone of democracy, and in 2026 Mainers will have a lot of important decisions to make when casting their ballots — from the very top of the ticket to the bottom. On June 9, Mainers will participate in the state’s semi-open party primaries, choosing Democratic and Republican nominees for governor, as well […]



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Regular gas tops $4, premium over $5 in Maine amid severe Trump Iran threats

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Regular gas tops , premium over  in Maine amid severe Trump Iran threats


Brady Chapman fills up one of four trucks he uses for his business Wednesday at Irving Gas Station in Bethel. Regular gas was $4.09 at the station. (Rose Lincoln/Staff Writer)

Maine’s average price for regular gasoline rose to its highest point since August 2022, as the conflict in Iran continues to drive up global oil costs.

A gallon of regular gas averaged $4.03 here Tuesday, ticking up more than 6 cents overnight, according to data aggregated by motor club AAA. That price has risen 38.5% — about $1.12 — since Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel struck Iran, triggering a conflict that has since spilled into the broader Middle East.

Maine’s average price crossed the $4 threshold a week after the national average did so. The national average was up to $4.14 Tuesday, AAA data shows.

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Premium gas was up to $5.07 per gallon in Maine, topping $5 for the first time in nearly four years. Diesel, meanwhile, averaged about $5.90 per gallon Tuesday.

Collectively, those figures mark the state’s highest average gas prices since the summer of 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove gas prices to record highs. A gallon of regular gas peaked at $5.09 that June, the highest ever recorded by AAA.

This week, Maine’s prices were the 21st highest among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to AAA. California, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada and Oregon all saw average prices above $5 per gallon Tuesday.

This is a developing story.

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