Things You Need to Know Today: Old DOT Building Capital St., Augusta Could Be New Main Office of DHHS
Here are the things you need to know today......
A winter storm is on the way for tonight and into Tuesday with snow and sleet and maybe some rain along the coast.
The women's marches in Maine and around nations and Washington DC attached women to take part. In Augusta, organizers estimated there were upwards of 10 thousand taking parking in the rally at the state house.
The man suspected of robbing the RiteAid in Skowhegan Jan. 9 is in custody. According to centrlmaine.com he turned himself in Friday night. Damien Towers was charged with stealing drugs and unlawful possession of drugs.
A Waterville man was arrested Saturday after a standoff in an apartment . According to centralmaine.com he had a loaded handgun and his 20-day-old infant. There was a family argument that appears to have gotten out of control.
The state is working with a developer from Virginia and a Maine contractor on a deal to take down the old DOT building on Capitol Street in Augusta. Centralmaine.com reports if all goes as planned the space would be leased back to the state for a new main office for DHHS.
From the Associated Press:
A minor earthquake has been recorded in West Paris, Maine. The United States Geological Survey reports the 2.1-magnitude earthquake happened shortly before 5 p.m. on Saturday. Small earthquakes aren't unusual in Maine. The state typically has a couple a year.
The Harold Alfond Foundation is providing $1.5 million to Saint Joseph's College to help create an academic center to address shortages in Maine's nursing workforce. The foundation is concerned because nearly three-fourths of Maine's nurses are nearing retirement age at a time when demand for home health care, nursing home and hospital workers is surging.
The Coast Guard says it will reach out to local harbormasters and other waterway users about a plan to install a new kind of sound signal on seven remote lighthouses in the Gulf of Maine. The effort is a follow-up to the Coast Guard's replacement last year of 17 lighthouse fog detectors that the service says were antiquated. The service says the conversions could happen in May.
A bright neon piece of rock 'n' roll memorabilia is going up for auction: a sign that adorned the legendary Los Angeles club Whisky a Go Go. The 13-foot marquee adorned the West Hollywood club in the '80s and '90s. It will be auctioned Wednesday in Maine. The club, which dates to 1964, has hosted acts including the Doors, Van Halen, Motley Crue and Frank Zappa.
The 9th annual Maine Farmers' Market Convention is scheduled to take place on Jan. 29 at the Alfond Campus of Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield. The event will bring together vendors, market managers and volunteers from around the state.
President Donald Trump plans to meet Monday with Republicans and Democrats in Congress. It's his first meeting as president with Hill leaders. And the White House says that on January 31, Trump will meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss immigration and renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
A legal watchdog group says it's filing a lawsuit alleging that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments. The group says that because Trump didn't divest his businesses, he's now getting gifts from foreign governments via guests and events at his hotels, leases in his buildings and real estate deals abroad. White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks says Trump attorney Sheri Dillon said two weeks ago that Trump has "no conflicts."
Syrian rebel factions and the government they are trying to overthrow a plan to begin talks Monday in Kazakhstan. It'll be the first meeting in a year between Syria's warring sides and is expected to focus on consolidating a shaky cease-fire that has been in place since Dec. 30. The talks are sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran.
Prosecutors in Mexico say that 56 sets of human remains have been identified in a jumble of bone fragments found at a burial pit the northern border state of Nuevo Leon. On Sunday, the state prosecutors' office said that some of the 24 remains whose DNA matched existing profiles belonged to people who had been reported missing since 2010. The DNA profiles of 32 other people were found in the bones, but they couldn't immediately be matched to anyone.
United Airlines says domestic flights are in the air again after being grounded Sunday because of a computer problem. A United spokeswoman says customers may experience additional delays. It's not yet clear how many flights were affected. The ground stop lasted about 2 ½ hours.