Things You Need to Know: Joe Biden at Colby + LL Bean Bootmobile in Japan
Here are the things you need to know today......
A person in a wheelchair was seriously hurt in a hit-and-run in Rockland. WABI reports the victim was in serious condition. Police are looking for a dark colored sedan with lower center and left front damage to it. Rockland police are asking information to call them 594-0316.
Former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden spoke to the graduating class at Colby College. WABI repots after delivering his speech to about 500 graduates, Biden took the time to shake the hands of graduates before they received their diploma.
From the Associated Press:
L.L. Bean's Bootmobile is leaving North America for the first time for Japan. The first Bootmobile was created to coincide with LL Bean's 100th anniversary, and its popularity is giving Oscar Mayer's Weinermobile a run for its money.The Bootmobile will tour around Japan this summer and fall. Fans are encouraged to share photos of Bootmobile on social media for a chance to win prizes.
A substitute teacher is accused along with several other men of smuggling heroin and cocaine from southern New England into western Maine. Rumford police say 25-year-old Matthew Duka was a substitute teacher at Mountain Valley Middle School and also worked at several other schools in Regional School Unit 10.
Gov. Paul LePage is hoping a new presidential administration will listen to his proposal of no longer allowing Maine residents to use food stamps on sugary sodas and candy. But federal officials have yet again requested Maine provide them with more information on why it's suggesting the ban. Last summer, LePage threatened to cease the state's food stamp program altogether after federal officials first raised questions about costs. In April, the USDA said Maine is still lacking key details.
Authorities in Maine say one person was killed and another injured in an officer-involved shooting in the town of Belgrade. The Kennebec Journal reports the shooting happened at a mobile home Friday night. Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason says no officers or neighbors were hurt, but he declined to provide additional information about either of the victims. (centramaine.com)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary in Maine. Zuckerberg posted on Facebook that he makes it a point to celebrate each anniversary in a special way because his company went public the day before his wedding and he ended up cutting his honeymoon short.
Steps taken by the Republican governor of Maine to shut down a minimum-security state prison without legislative approval have drawn concern from two GOP lawmakers and Democrats. The Maine Department of Corrections said Friday that the planned shutdown would not threaten public safety. Corrections Commissioner Joseph Fitzpatrick said the state has informed employees at Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport that the facility would close June 10.
Former President George H. W. Bush has made his first public appearance since he was released from a Houston hospital last month. The 92-year-old Bush was treated for pneumonia and chronic bronchitis during a two-week stay at the hospital in April. The former president and former first lady Barbara Bush attended the re-dedication of the Mathew J. Lanigan Bridge over the Kennebunk River in Maine on Friday.
Maine's unemployment for April remains the lowest on record since the state started using its current methodology more than 40 years ago. The state Department of Labor says the preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 3 percent, the same as March. It was down from 3.8 percent a year ago. The number of unemployed people in Maine was also down by 5,000 over the year to 21,000.
A Maine judge is expected to issue a ruling next week in the case of Black Lives Matter protesters who were charged with obstructing a public way. The group organized a protest last summer after black men were killed by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. A judge recused himself from the case and a new judge presided Friday as attorneys looked for a way to resolve it.
A Democrat who works for a food bank is asking the state ethics commission whether he can introduce an anti-hunger bill. The commission's executive director Jonathan Wayne says it appears that there's no conflict of interest under state law because Hamann wouldn't personally benefit. The commission is set to consider the issue at a Wednesday meeting.
The oldest eagle ever documented in Maine is going to need a new nickname. The 34-year-old bird found in Trescott Township in early April was dubbed "The Old Man." Rehabilitators are now almost certain the eagle is a female, not a male. The bird was rescued in early April. Wildlife officials say a band was put around the bird's leg shortly after hatching on June 21, 1983, on Grand Manan Island in Canada.
Maine voters are set to decide on a $50 million bond issue at a special election on June 13. The bond issue would provide $45 million for investment in research, development and commercialization that would fuel upgrades to infrastructure, technology and equipment. The remaining $5 million would be invested in small businesses to create jobs and economic growth.
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that has wowed crowds for 146 years with its "Greatest Show on Earth" is taking its final bow. The circus' last show of three scheduled Sunday at the Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, were sold out. Ringling's parent company, Feld Entertainment, announced in January it would close the production, citing declining attendance and high operating costs. Animal rights activists had targeted the circus, saying that forcing animals to perform and transporting them around the country amounted to abuse. In May 2016, the company removed elephants from its shows, but ticket sales continued to decline.
President Donald Trump will travel to Israel full of promises but few concrete ideas of solving a problem that has vexed presidents for decades. Trump once declared that finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "maybe not as difficult as people have thought." Fresh off two days in Saudi Arabia, he will journey to Jerusalem on Monday. His stay will include separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
In what Pyongyang says is its answer to President Donald Trump's policies, North Korea claims it's ready to deploy and start mass producing a new midrange missile. The missile tested on Sunday is capable of reaching Japan and several major U.S. military bases there. The North claims the launch confirmed the missile's combat readiness. Trump, traveling in Saudi Arabia, had no immediate public comment.
A handful of school districts and student activists are at the forefront of grassroots efforts to grapple with student-on-student sexual assault. It's a sensitive and complex challenge that U.S. universities already have been forced to confront but elementary and secondary schools have mostly avoided. Some schools have adapted intervention approaches typically used to handle potential school shooters. Student protests have forced some high schools to implement reforms.
When children sexually assault other children at school, sometimes the only measure of justice comes through the courts. But the legal barriers are formidable, and they can lead to long, grueling fights. Public schools in many states enjoy powerful legal shields, including caps on how much they must pay if they lose a lawsuit and high legal hurdles to prove misconduct. And laws in a handful of states offer protection from lawsuits under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
Ford is replacing its CEO amid questions about its current performance and future strategy. A person familiar with the situation says that CEO Mark Fields is retiring after 28 years at the company and being replaced by Jim Hackett, head of Ford's mobility unit.