Here are the things you need to  know today......

A real estate auction has been scheduled for December 20th at Lost Orchard Brewing in an old church in Gardiner. According to centralmaine.com the owner is 'scaling back his plans for the business'.

Deputies in Somerset County and the DEA seize handgun, heroin, cash and pills in a Cornville raid.  Centralmaine.com reports two people were charged.

From the Associated Press:

Gasoline prices are down a bit. GasBuddy's says the price has fallen 1.2 cents per gallon in Maine in the last week, averaging $2.54. The national average fell 3.9 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.49. It's 3.4 cents per gallon higher than last month, and 37.9 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

Mainers are going to be unable to file unemployment claims for a week because of a computer system upgrade. The Maine Department of Labor is joining the ReEmployUSA partnership to streamline processing of claims through a new software system. The system will be down from 4 p.m. Thursday through the following Wednesday, Dec. 6, when the new system comes online.

Maine State Police are keeping up with the latest technology. State police will demonstrate their remote-controlled drones on Tuesday at the Maine Department of Public Safety offices in Augusta. They purchased three drones earlier this year.

The Audubon Society says the 2017 nesting season was the most productive on record for a group of Maine puffins. Atlantic puffins are small seabirds with an awkward walk and colorful beaks that are popular with eco-tourists. They are at the southern edge of their breeding range in Maine, and the Eastern Egg Rock colony in Muscongus Bay is the subject of much study. Audubon says the colony increased from 150 to 172 pairs during this year's nesting season.

Maine fire officials say a woman has died from burns she received in a fire earlier in the month. The State Fire Marshal's Office says 60-year-old Cheryl Bassett of Kenduskeag died on Friday at Maine Medical Center in Portland. Officials say she was seriously burned in a fire in her mobile home on Nov. 15.

Senate Republicans are indicating they still have a way to go to secure the votes for their tax overhaul. A second GOP senator, Steve Daines of Montana, announced Monday that he opposes the tax bill in its current form. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has already said he opposes the bill. Both senators complain that the tax bill favors large corporations over small businesses.

Pope Francis has met with a Myanmar Buddhist leader who's been criticized for using ethnic slurs against Muslims. The Vatican said Francis met briefly with monk Sitagu Sayadaw separately from an interfaith meeting with other religious leaders at the Catholic archbishop's residence in Yangon. It said Francis was encouraging peace and fraternal coexistence as the way forward.

Jerome Powell says that if confirmed as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, he expects the Fed to continue raising interest rates gradually to support its twin goals of maximum employment and stable prices. Under his leadership, Powell also says, the Fed would consider easing the regulatory burdens on banks while preserving the key reforms Congress passed to prevent another financial crisis.

Syria's civil war may be winding down, but the country is still awash in weapons, along with a confounding array of local militias and thousands of foreign troops. Some of those forces may never leave. Now that the Islamic State group no longer holds any significant urban territory in Syria, the numbers of some troops may be scaled down, but foreign powers with longer-term ambitions and interests will try to maintain a presence for years to come.

Ivanka Trump is making a significant solo outing by headlining a business conference in India, but her trip highlights questions about whether her message of empowering poor women matches her actions. Trump landed Tuesday in the southern city of Hyderabad and is scheduled to make the opening address at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit later in the day.

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