City riders can use pass in Portland

Local bus riders will be able to buy a monthly pass to cover fares on South Portland city buses and the Portland Metro beginning May 1.

South Portland city councilors unanimously approved the program to combine the passes at their March 21 meeting. The program will be in effect until April 30, 2014.

The passes cost $45, with $5 from each pass going to South Portland’s bus service. The allocation could be increased to $6 per pass if 10-ride bus ticket sales in South Portland dip below 1,000 per month and monthly bus pass sales in South Portland exceed 410.

Bus passes will be available at Shaw’s and Hannaford Bros. stores along bus routes and South Portland City Hall.

Search continues for superintendent

School board members decided last week to reopen the search for a replacement for retired Cape Elizabeth School Superintendent Alan Hawkins.

Chairman Mary Townsend said the board “interviewed several quality candidates with diverse skills from top-notch schools around the country.” 

Board members decided to accept new applications until May 6 following preliminary interviews held March 12 through March 24, Townsend said.

“We are confident that the many strengths of our schools and community will continue to attract high-quality candidates,” she added.

Hawkins retired Dec. 31 and was replaced by interim Superintendent Dr. Ken Murphy, who is expected to serve until June 30.

Event will honor Sen. Larry Bliss

Maine Sen. Larry Bliss (D-South Portland) will be honored from 5 to 8 p.m. April 15 at a reception at the Wyndham Hotel on Maine Mall Road. 

Bliss, who will resign his District 7 seat that day, is leaving to take a job at California State University East Bay, a university south and east of San Francisco.

Organizer Daniel Mooers said the evening is a chance to thank Bliss for his work as a four-term member of the Maine House and almost two terms in the Senate.

Tickets for Larry Bliss Appreciation Night are $10. For reservations or more information on the event, contact Mooers at dwm@mooers-law.com or call 767-7444.

Pizzeria closes after two decades

Ricettas Brick Oven Pizzeria owner Ron Stephan closed the South Portland location on Gorham Road Sunday because of increased operations costs and decreasing profits.

The restaurant opened in 1989 and the company later expanded to locations in Kennebunkport and Falmouth.

The Kennebunkport location closed in 2009, and the company went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings the same year. Some employees from the South Portland restaurant will transfer to the Falmouth location, which opened in 2000, according to a company press release.

Cape teacher is award semi-finalist

A Cape Elizabeth teacher is one of six semi-finalists for the 2012 Maine Teacher of the Year award.

Ingrid Stressenger, who teaches fourth grade at Pond Cove Elementary School, was one of 10 teachers nominated throughout the state, said Maine Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin.

Also named semi-finalists are Tim Eisenhart of Westbrook High School, Paige Fournier of Lyman Moore Middle School in Portland, Alana Margeson of Caribou High School, Jolene Randall of Tripp Middle School in Turner and Meghan Schall of George B. Weatherbee School in Hampden.

Fairchild offices have moved west

Corporate headquarters for Fairchild Semiconductor have been relocated from South Portland to San Jose, Calif., said company spokesman Patti Olson.

The move is not expected to affect operations at the South Portland manufacturing facility, but the move allows corporate officers to be closer to customers in Silicon Valley and Asia, Olson said. 

Fairchild Semiconductor chief executives also are located in San Jose, but South Portland will continue to be home to the company’s information technology, finance, human resources, legal and corporate marketing operations, she said. 

Couple vying for $100,000 wedding

A South Portland couple were named finalists in a contest to win a $100,000 wedding in Freeport in October.

Lindsey Plummer and Sam Hancock are featured in a video at realmaineweddings.com as one of three couples seeking votes from viewers to support their reasons to be married in Freeport.

Voting for couples ends today at 11:59 p.m.

The contest is sponsored by Real Maine Weddings Magazine and the winning couple will be announced Sunday at Freeport’s Harraseeket Inn. Also featured are Poland residents Nancy Ames and Chris MacMahon and Kala Hardacker and Ben Hamilton of Concord, Mass.

Viewer votes comprise 50 percent of the score for the couples. Contest judges will score couples on personality, creativity and love in Maine exhibited in the video, according to the website.

Raffle will support Cape land trust 

The Cape Elizabeth Land Trust is selling raffle tickets for an original painting by Don Stone, in conjunction with the organization’s fourth annual Paint for Preservation 2011 wet paint event on July 17.   

“Near the Point,” an oil on canvas, is valued at $10,000. The original painting is on view at Gleason Fine Art Gallery, 545 Congress St. in Portland. 

Tickets for the raffle are $50 or three for $125 and are available through www.capelandtrust.org, at its office, Gleason Gallery in Portland or by phone at 767-6054. The drawing will be held July 17 and the winner need not be present to win. 

Proceeds from the raffle will support the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust’s Saving Cape’s Great Places initiative to preserve local strategic conservation lands.

– Compiled by Staff Writer David Harry