Midcoast News October 5, 2015

Midcoast News October 5, 2015

A search for a large cargo ship that began four days ago during a hurricane in the Bahamas is intensifying. Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force crews are looking for 33 crew members, including four merchant mariners from Maine. Two of those mariners are Rockland residents—34-year-old Danielle Rudolph and 23-year-old Dylan Meklin. A Coast Guard search plan has found a field of debris that came from the 790-foot ship.

There are new signs that county sheriffs and commissioners will be seeking more money from the state in the legislature’s new session beginning in January, because of the persistence of jail overcrowding and budget deficits. Androscoggin County is facing particular budget challenges.

Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine’s largest hospital, is doing some bragging–it is showing off its new 40 million dollar operating wing, which spans over 41 thousand square feet, includes five operating rooms and adds two stories to one section of the hospital. Surgeries are due to begin October 19, with the new rooms to focus on brain and spinal operations.