Things You Need to Know: Flu Season Arrives in Maine Early
Here are the things you need to know today......
Flu season starts in October, but Maine is seeing reports of positive flu test results. According to WMTW both patients tested positive for A H3 flu. Health officials said people get their flu shots sooner rather than later.
One of the two people taken to the hospital after a truck crash on Rt 201 in Skowhegan Tuesday has died. According to centralmaine.com the pedestrian, 84 year old Charles Atwood, died.
The small strip of Gage Street next to Hartford Fire Station near Downtown Augusta will be closed off permanently. According to centralmaine.com it is part of the fire station expansion. After construction is done it will be open for pedestrians.
From the Associated Press:
New U.S. Census Bureau figures show the number of Maine residents without health insurance stayed steady from 2015 to 2016. Maine voters are set to decide whether to expand Medicaid in a Nov. 7 ballot question. Gov. Paul LePage has repeatedly vetoed Medicaid expansion efforts in the past.
A Maine man accused of shooting a firearm into a neighbor's farm stand has pleaded not guilty, saying he was trying to scare off a rabid raccoon. State police say 31-year-old Matthew Brigham was arrested Tuesday after neighbors reported seeing a man with a gun. The Kennebec Journal reports he was arraigned Wednesday in Augusta on charges including reckless conduct.
A vigil is being held in Maine to honor a woman whose son is charged with killing her in Massachusetts. The candlelight vigil for 60-year-old Elizabeth Krause will take place Thursday evening in Rockport, where she lived with her son, 22-year-old Orion Krause.
The Maine supreme court is wading into the issue of medical marijuana and workers' compensation. The court heard arguments Wednesday over whether a paper mill must pay for medical marijuana for a worker who was hurt on the job. It's the first time the court has considered the question of insurance reimbursement for medical marijuana.
Maine's fall foliage season is underway, and the state is promoting its annual display of orange, yellow and red as the leaves begin to turn. The Maine Office of Tourism says the foliage season officially began on Wednesday. The state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry released a foliage report that says color change is spotty in the woods so far.
The top House and Senate Democrats have announced agreement with President Donald Trump to protect certain immigrants brought illegally to this country as children _ along with some border security enhancements. The agreement would specifically not include Trump's long-sought border wall. It would enshrine protections for the nearly 800,000 immigrants who benefited from a program created by former President Barack Obama that Trump has announced he is ending.
The deaths of eight patients at a sweltering nursing home in Hollywood, Florida following Hurricane Irma raise concerns about the safety of the state's other 4 million senior citizens. Power outages have meant no air conditioning, and that could last for days. Police say that investigators believe the deaths at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills were heat-related.
A fire that blocked the only exit to an Islamic school dormitory killed 24 people who were trapped behind barred windows on the outskirts of Malaysia's capital. A government official says a wall separating the victims from a second exit "shouldn't have been there." Firefighters and witnesses described scenes of horror Thursday morning _ first of boys screaming for help as neighbors watched helplessly, and later of burned bodies huddled in a corner of the room.
Iraq's Kurds vote this month on whether or not they support independence for their enclave in the north of the country, and the result is almost certain to be "yes." That won't mean an immediate Kurdish state, but could set them on the path toward breaking away in the most significant redrawing of the Mideast's borders since 1948. That prospect alarms nearly everyone else _ the Baghdad government, Turkey, Iran and the Kurds' own ally, the United States
A defense attorney says he's disappointed in a judge's decision to revoke bail for former pharmaceuticals company CEO Martin Shkreli and jail him in New York while he awaits sentencing in a securities fraud case. Attorney Ben Brafman said outside court Wednesday he believes the judge "arrived at the wrong decision." The judge sided with a government demand to jail Shkreli following his provocative online antics.