Amtrak's Downeaster train, headed from Boston to Portland, Maine, pulls out of the station in Haverhill, Mass., July 10, 2012. Riders on the Amtrak train that runs from Maine to Boston will soon have to hold off on buying alcoholic beverages during the 35-mile stretch of the trip that goes through New Hampshire.

PORTLAND, Maine — Riders on an Amtrak train that runs from Maine to Boston will soon have to hold off on buying alcoholic beverages during the 35-mile stretch of the trip that goes through New Hampshire.

The Amtrak Downeaster takes passengers 145 miles from Brunswick, Maine, to Boston. The train includes a cafe car that serves alcohol.

However, the New Hampshire Liquor Commission has told the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority that the train can’t serve alcohol during the New Hampshire portion of the journey.

The change is set to go on the books on March 20, the Portland Press Herald reported. It stems from a New Hampshire law that forbids the serving of alcohol that hasn’t been purchased in the state.

The company that provides the train’s food and beverage service, Mansfield, Massachusetts-based NexDine Hospitality, buys its alcoholic drinks in Maine for the 145-mile route, the newspaper reported.

The train brings hundreds of thousands of passengers to Boston every year, and its advertising sometimes plays up the ability to relax with a drink during the ride. It’s a popular alternative for sports and concerts because it terminates steps from TD Garden, one of New England’s biggest performance venues.

Maine motorists appeal to keep naughty vanity license plates

AUGUSTA, Maine — A Maine vegan whose custom license plate contains the word “tofu” is one of the motorists caught in a state crackdown on vulgar license plates.

Car owners across the United States can pay an extra fee to customize license plates, sparking creativity and personality but causing headaches for state officials who have to decide what’s acceptable.

Maine had for several years allowed people to put just about any combination of letters and numbers on their vehicle plates, including words and phrases that other states would ban. But the state decided to change course and this year recalled 274 plates it deemed inappropriate.

Some people are fighting back.

So far the state has rejected all of the appeals, including one brought by the vegan whose license plate referenced tofu.

The state concluded the license plate “LUVTOFU” could’ve been seen as a reference to sex instead of admiration for bean curd. The motorist insisted there was no mistaking his intent because the back of his car had several tofu-related stickers.

“It’s my protest against eating meat and animal products,” Peter Starostecki, the disappointed motorist, said after a zoom session with a hearing examiner for the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Heather Libby and her best friend grudgingly gave up their matching license plates that contained a word for a female dog.

“People are so sensitive nowadays,” said Libby, of Jonesport, after a hearing examiner rejected her appeal. “I just think it’s foolish.”

When the state effectively ended the review process for so-called “vanity” license plates in 2015, some residents obtained their plates with all manner of profanities, including F-bombs, either spelled out or abbreviated.

Residents in a state known for being laconic and even-tempered soon were sporting uncensored plates pairing the F-word with “snow,” “haters,” and “ALS,” — the incurable nerodegenerative disease.

After license plate freedoms spiraled out of control, the Maine Legislature directed the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to reestablish a system for vetting the state’s roughly 120,000 vanity license plates.

The new rules ban derogatory references to age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion or disability. Also banned is language that incite violence, or is considered obscene.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said motorists have the freedom to express themselves, but she said that they should do it on a bumper sticker, not a state-issued license plate.

“We have a public interest in keeping phrases and words that are profane or may incite violence off the roadways,” she said.

Chile: Attempted $32 million airport heist leaves two dead

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — An airport shootout in Chile’s capital killed a security officer and an alleged robber Wednesday, March 8, in what authorities said was an attempted heist of more than $32 million in cash aboard a plane from Miami.

Around 10 heavily armed robbers were able to skirt security measures to reach the runway at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, where a Latam airlines aircraft had $32.5 million in cash that was being transferred to an armored truck, Interior Subsecretary Manuel Monsalve said.

There was a shootout between the would-be robbers and security officials that killed an employee of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGAC, as well as an alleged assailant.

The other robbers fled. Two burned vehicles were later found nearby.

“The brave action by the DGAC officials frustrated the robbery,” Monsalve said, noting that the would-be robbers were “highly organized” and “very armed.”

Video posted on social media appeared to show bullet holes in a Delta plane that was parked next to the Latam aircraft that was targeted. Another video appears to show a moment in the shootout during which a lot of gunshots can be heard.

“There was no risk to passengers,” DGAC chief Raúl Jorquera said.

The attempted heist targeted the $32.5 million that were set to be transferred to an armored truck to then be distributed to several banks in the South American country.

The attempted robbery “will undoubtedly lead us to revise processes, protocols that must be improved … it forces us to rethink many things,” Jorquera said.

This was not the first time the airport in Chile’s capital was targeted. In 2020, thieves stole some $15 million from a warehouse in the airport, six years after a similar $10 million heist.

President Gabriel Boric bemoaned the latest heist during a speech Wednesday in which he said that “when there’s insecurity, everything else wobbles.”

An increase in violent crime has contributed to a recent decline in Boric’s approval ratings, according to polls.