Patrick pledges $50m for conservation

BOSTON
Governor Deval Patrick is pledging to spend at least $50 million a year for the next five years on conserving land, a number his administration said far outstrips the amount spent by his predecessor. "We need to leave for future generations a legacy of nature, beauty, and serenity," Patrick said in a statement yesterday. The commitment provides a sharp contrast to the four years of the Romney administration when comparable spending averaged $30.3 million a year, said Robert Keough, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. When federal funds and funds from other sources such as hunting and fishing licenses are counted in, total spending on land conservation for the current fiscal year will be at least $65 million to $70 million, Keough said.

The Coast Guard found a body in Boston Harbor yesterday morning, a day after a swimmer disappeared near Gallop Island. The body, which was found about 10:30 a.m., has not been identified. The swimmer went missing about 6 p.m. Thursday when he and three others went for a dip from a sailboat and drifted away. One person made it back to the boat, one swam to the nearby rocks, and another was recovered by Sea Tow.

WOLFEBORO, N.H.

French officials are keeping mum about details of their president's private vacation plans, confirming yesterday only that Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, will be staying at a lakefront home owned by friends in the New England area. But based on security activity, it appears that the French first family will be taking its two-week break at a New Hampshire lakefront estate owned by a former Microsoft Corp. executive with a private beach and dock space for four boats. In Paris, officials from the Elysee presidential palace said the Sarkozy family traveled to the United States on a regular commercial flight. The official French statement said the Sarkozys would be staying with friends "in a house on a lake about two hours by car from Boston," without giving further details. (AP)

CONCORD, N.H.

New Hampshire Audubon yesterday confirmed reports of a baby nighthawk in Concord, the only known nesting of the state-threatened species this year. "It's very late in the season for nighthawks to have a young chick and it will be three weeks before it can fly," said Becky Suomala, an Audubon biologist. "It is a vulnerable time for the young chick, which sits on the ground and relies on camouflage for protection." She said cats, raccoons, and skunks all threaten the chick. Nighthawks migrate to South America in late August. Suomala said she hopes the young chick will survive and be ready to leave by then. Nighthawks were once common birds in the state. New Hampshire Audubon has been experimenting with ways to draw them back to Concord and Keene. (AP)

NEWRY, Maine

Pilot error was the likely cause of an accident that killed a pilot and his three passengers when a plane crashed into a rugged mountainside in western Maine during an orientation flight last year. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a probable cause report issued last week that the pilot, William "Charlie" Weir, failed to maintain altitude and clearance before crashing into Barker Mountain on June 22, 2006. The crash killed Weir, 24, and three Lewiston High School students: Nicholas Babcock, 17; Teisha Loesberg, 16; and Shannon Fortier, 15. The students were participants in a summer camp program run by the school's Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. (AP)

ALFRED, Maine

A former state lawmaker accused of illegal political campaign activity has been found guilty of theft and forgery charges in a case involving state Clean Election funds. Sentencing on five felony counts has been scheduled Sept. 20 for Peter Throumoulos, 58, of Old Orchard Beach. The Portland Press Herald reported that a York County Superior Court jury found him guilty Wednesday of stealing $18,000 in connection with his 2004 state Senate race and of attempting to steal a similar amount during his 2006 state Senate race. Jurors also found him guilty of three counts of aggravated forgery. Throumoulos, who represented himself during the trial, acknowledged that election petition signatures were faked but said he did not do it. He blamed college students who were planted as volunteers in his campaign by opponents, but prosecutors said the students didn't exist. (AP)