Things You Need to Know: Search for 17 Year Old in Augusta Has Twisted but Safe Ending
Here are the things you need to know today......
WGME reports that fire and possible explosion happened in Pittsfield at an industrial park. There was also an unrelated substation issue in Augusta that cause some to lose power. WCSH was reporting that many in the Farmingdale Gardiner area felt their homes shake. But not official information was available.
A search in the Augusta area this weekend for a 17 year old who said she was locked in the trunk of car was a in fact a girl who was upset with her dad. According to centralmaine.com they were on their way back to the airport to fly home to Georgia .
There was an anti-KKK rally in Waterville this weekend. Centralmaine.com has reported that the KKK flyers showed up recently again in central Maine.
From the Associated Press:
Maine's governor and fellow Republicans in two other states hope President Donald Trump will be more amenable than the previous administration to proposals that ban food stamps from being used to buy junk food. Gov. Paul LePage is renewing his previously rejected proposal to restrict the use of food stamps for candy and soda. Republicans in Tennessee and Arkansas are considering similar proposals.
Saco is the fourth community in Maine to ban single-use plastic shopping bags. Saco's ban goes into effect in 30 days but the city won't enforce it for six months. Councilor Alan Minthorn said plastic is not biodegradable, creates litter and is harmful to coastal marine ecosystems.
The Maine Bureau of Insurance says a decrease in workers' compensation loss costs will result in more than $9 million in savings for businesses in the state. Insurance superintendent Eric Cioppa says the bureau has approved the National Council on Compensation Insurance's 2017 loss cost for Maine. The council proposed a premium decrease of 4.3 percent.
A request by Massachusetts for a supply of clean, renewable electricity could give a boost to a series of proposals to carry Canadian renewable energy to southern New England through proposed transmission lines in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. There are a handful of proposals across the three states intended to help the energy-hungry southern New England states make use of the renewable energy available in Canada.
Maine's 58 credit unions are enjoying growth in membership, loans and deposits. The Maine Credit Union League said the state's credit unions added more than 18,000 new members last year and that combined assets grew by nearly $450 million
A Biddeford business owner hoping to start selling pot next year is giving his products away for free for now. Adults can now legally possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and grow their own plants. But no one can legally sell pot as the state works through the extensive process of regulating the sale of marijuana. The Portland Press Herald reports that some say the limbo before the opening of retail stores is pushing otherwise law-abiding citizens into an underground market.
Police in Maine have arrested a father nearly 38 years after the death of his infant son, which was originally classified as sudden infant death syndrome. Police charged 62-year-old Burton "Ben" Hagar with murder Friday. The Farmington man is accused of killing his 4-month-old son, Nathan, who was found unresponsive in the family's apartment and later died at a hospital in 1979.
A proposal before the Maine Legislature would prevent the state from permitting an offshore wind energy project in the vicinity of Monhegan Island. It's a tiny island about 12 nautical miles off of Maine's mainland that is well known as a home to artists, seasonal residents and lobster fishermen. Maine Aqua Ventus intends to install a two-turbine, 12-megawatt project off its coast. Republican state Sen. Dana Dow wants to prevent the project from happening.
Maine's congressional delegation is condemning the Syrian president's chemical attacks on his own people but differ on what should happen next. Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says she commends Republican President Donald Trump and his national security team for "justified and proportional" military action. Both Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree called for Trump to come to Congress to discuss his strategy before further military action.
Something new is happening in the health care debate. Republicans' health care proposals — as currently formulated — have generated far more concern than enthusiasm. March polls by Fox News and Quinnipiac University showed overall margins of opposition to the GOP plan nearing or exceeding those of Obama's law at its lowest points.
President Donald Trump is framing his decision to intervene in Syria's long civil war as an example of his flexibility. In the past Trump has warned against getting involved in Syria. But now, in the wake of the U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base, Trump says he can change and is proud of being flexible. Some of Trump's supporters say ideological elasticity is a virtue for a president who took office with no practical foreign policy experience.
President Donald Trump phoned Japan's prime minister about the recent U.S. missile strikes in Syria and about North Korea. The White House says in a statement on Sunday that the leaders agreed that Syrian President Bashar Assad's "use of chemical weapons against civilians, including women and children, was abhorrent and warranted a strong response from the international community." The U.S. launched missile strikes on Syrian government installations Thursday in response to the attacks.
Homeowners in a central Chinese city were so opposed to the planned construction of a mosque in their neighborhood that they buried a severed pig's head on the building site in protest. The dispute shows how a surge in anti-Muslim online sentiment in China is spreading into the offline world and risks further inflaming simmering ethnic tensions that have in the past erupted in bloodshed.
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations are gathering for a meeting given urgency by the chemical attack in Syria and the U.S. military response, with participants aiming to pressure Russia to end its support for President Bashar Assad. Last week's nerve gas attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, which killed more than 80 people, stirred President Donald Trump to strike for the first time at Assad's forces.
A surge in global use of lithium, a key component in electric batteries, is leading to the revival of a centuries-long mining tradition in the Czech Republic's Ore Mountains. Demand for the light metal, which is already used in smartphone batteries, is expected to triple in the next decade as it is used in far greater quantities in electric cars and electric storage systems.