Here in New England

Published Saturday October 13, 2012 at 6:00 am

Updated Saturday October 13, 2012 at 6:14 am

Wright

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Residents of this seaside community will have to wait at least the weekend to learn which of their friends and neighbors stand accused of giving business to a fitness instructor charged with running a prostitution operation out of her Zumba studio. The police department declined Friday to release any of the more than 150 names of suspected clients because of an appeal pending before the state supreme court.

The delay prolongs the agony for town residents, who have heard that the list of could include lawyers, law enforcement officers and some well-known people.

“We’re hearing that there are selectmen, there are policemen, that there are firemen — people that we’re going to know in town,” said Elaine Nicholson. “So everyone is, like, waiting with bated breath.”

Alexis Wright, a 29-year-old fitness instructor from the nearby town of Wells, has pleaded not guilty to prostitution, invasion of privacy and other charges for allegedly accepting money for sex and secretly videotaping her encounters. Her business partner, Mark Strong Sr., a 57-year-old insurance agent and private investigator from Thomaston, pleaded not guilty to 59 misdemeanor charges. Their lawyers did not return messages Friday.

BOSTON — Attorney General Martha Coakley says 73,000 Massachusetts consumers may have been affected by a data breach at TD Bank.

Coakley said Friday the bank has informed her office that it lost unencrypted backup data tapes with personal information including account information and Social Security numbers. She said the bank has begun notifying 267,000 customers nationwide, including those in Massachusetts.

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — The Dalai Lama brought his message of peace to Vermont on Friday, telling a crowd of 2,800 at Middlebury College that they should devote their lives to a blend of material and internal values.

“Education should be equally material values, external values, external comfort and internal values. I think that’s important,” said the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists and former political leader of their government in exile.

In a 90-minute appearance peppered with humor, the Dalai Lama teased his audience a bit when asked a question about climate change, saying that one day, “our crisis” might crash into another crisis.

“This is out of our control,” said the winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, laughing. “Don’t worry, billions of years. After billions of years. Don’t worry. These are nature’s trends.” He cited recent findings that Mars appears once to have had water on its surface. “Now it is completely dry. So (eventually) this planet may also become like that.”

The 77-year-old made his third visit to Middlebury College — the earlier two were in 1984 and 1990 — during a two-week tour of the U.S. mainly filled with talks delivered in college towns. He had appeared a day earlier in Charlottesville, Va., home of the University of Virginia, and was scheduled to make another, sold-out, appearance at Middlebury on Saturday.

Friday, he poked at religious hypocrisy, saying one could have compassion without faith and that compassion often was more important than any religious expression. “Once you love ... there is no possibility to tell lies or exploit or bully,” he said.

ROCKLAND, Maine — A Rockland man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison after being convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and dumping her body on a rural road.

Thirty-seven-year-old Arnold Diana did not address the judge or family or friends of victim Katrina Windred at his sentencing on Friday.

Prosecutors said he strangled the 48-year-old Windred in November 2010 in his apartment while her 11-year-old son was waiting outside in her car.

Prosecutors had said there was overwhelming evidence that he killed her after finding out that she had met another man.

Assistant District Attorney Lisa Marchese said that the state was very satisfied with the sentence. She said clearly the judge understood that it was a domestic violence homicide and considered the impact to her son.