These are some of the stories central Maine is talking about today.

Three Augusta shop owners are out of business Wednesday after their building was closed for code violations. Gagliano's Italian Bistro, Patricia Buck Bridal and Forbidden Fruit in downtown Augusta were closed for customer traffic Wednesday afternoon, trying to figure out what to do next.  There is hope the building will be sold to someone who will bring them up to code. The concerns focus on the electrical and sprinkler systems. (WMTW/centralmaine.com)

Brenda LaVerdiere, a fourth grade at Academy Hill School, was shocked to find out that she was one of three finalists for Maine Teacher of the Year. LaVerdiere is heading into her 38th year as a teacher and has spent her entire career in Farmington-based Regional School Unit 9. According to the KJ, she and the other two finalists will be interviewed today by a state review panel at the Department of Education in Augusta. The other two finalists are Tayla Edlund, a third-grade teacher at Pond Cove Elementary School in Cape Elizabeth, and Mia Morrison, the technology integration specialist and a language arts teacher at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft. (centralmaine.com)

Anson residents will weigh in next month on a proposal to change the tax collector’s position from elective to appointive, as well as a proposed recall ordinance. According to the KJ, a public hearing on the two items is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Garret Schenck Elementary School. Both items also will go to a public vote in a November referendum. The consideration is unrelated to accusations the town has made against the current tax collector in a lawsuit claiming that she misappropriated $438,712 in town money. Also, the town has no ordinance that spells out how to recall an elected official. (centralmain.com)

Fairfield-Benton Emergency Services will use a $690,000 federal grant to buy a combination fire engine-ladder truck for the department. The department might need to modify one of the bay doors of its fire station in order to fit the new truck. According to the KJ, Fairfield may have to provide a 5 percent match to the grant, but the resources that are put into modifying the station doors might qualify as a grant match. (centralmaine.com)

The property outside the studios of WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia has turned into a tribute to slain reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward. There are dozens of balloons, and flower arrangements placed near the front door. Early Wednesday, Parker and Ward were gunned down during a live interview by a disgruntled former reporter who recorded the killing himself. The woman Parker was interviewing was wounded. Gunman Vester Lee Flanagan posted the shooting on social media. He later shot and killed himself. (AP)

President Barack Obama says the on-air attack that left two Virginia journalists dead and an interviewee wounded is heartbreaking. Federal authorities say the gunman, a disgruntled former TV reporter at WDBJ in Roanoke, obtained his weapon legally. He used it to take his own life. The president notes in a statement that the number of deaths from gun-related incidents in the U.S. "dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism."(AP)

Wal-Mart says it will stop selling the AR-15 rifle and other semi-automatic weapons at its stores because fewer people are buying them. The AR-15 rifles and other modern sporting rifles were being sold at less than a third of the company's 4,600 U.S. stores. Company spokesman Kory Lundberg says the decision to remove the weapons was not political. (AP)

Wall Street investors are breathing a sigh of relief after Wednesday's 600 point soar of the Dow. The good news follows six-straight days of big losses, but experts warn that more volatility could be ahead. On Thursday, markets in China are up 2.2 percent. It was Monday's sharp drop of the Shanghai Composite Index that triggered a global sell-off. (AP)

Chinese prosecutors are detaining 11 government officials and company executives over this month's massive warehouse explosion that killed at least 139 people. The national prosecutor says those detained include current and retired officials in the port city of Tianjin along with others working for the company that runs the port. The investigation has focused on how the warehouse got permission to handle dangerous chemicals, despite being so close to homes and roads. (AP)

Four firefighters and one other civilian have been injured in a fire in a building that houses the offices of Chicago's famed Second City theater company. Wednesday's fire did not reach the theater in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. Fire officials say the blaze apparently started in the kitchen of a restaurant next to the theater and spread through vents to the roof. The fire caused extensive damage. (AP)

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