PORTLAND — William C. Hidlay, a newsman on the Foreign-World Services Desk of The Associated Press, has been named correspondent in charge of the AP’s Portland bureau.

The appointment was announced Friday by Larry Laughlin, the AP’s bureau chief for northern New England.

Hidlay, 31, succeeds Dirk Beveridge, who recently transferred to the AP’s Business News desk in New York.

Hidlay joined the AP in Chicago in 1986 and transferred to New York two years later. He previously worked for the Bloomsburg, Pa., Press-Enterprise; the Fayetteville (N.C.) Times; and The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer.

Hidlay is a native of Bloomsburg and a graduate of Syracuse University.