Saturday, November 21, 2009 in Lewiston, Maine
The Nature Conservancy on Tuesday filed papers saying it will be a party to the appeal process in the Land Use Regulation Commission's approval of Plum Creek's concept plan for the development. The Nature Conservancy says it's taking the position that the state's approval should stand.
LEWISTON — Members of Maine's congressional delegation agree that health care reform legislation should not include federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is threatened — maintaining what has been the status quo for more than 30 years.
But members disagree on whether the House bill, which includes an amendment sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, would go further than current policy and affect women's ability to obtain private-market health insurance that includes abortion coverage.
Hailey Traynham was found in the woods with her father, 38-year-old Gary Traynham, who has been arrested and is due to appear in court later this week. State police say he's being held in New Hampshire on a fugitive charge from Maine.
A hunter spotted Traynham and persuaded him to surrender and took the pair to the home of retired Wakefield Police Chief Timothy Merrill.
Authorities are searching for 38-year-old Gary Traynham and his daughter, Hailey, who was taken from her mother at 11:15 a.m. Monday.
This is the first Amber Alert issued in Maine since the system went into effect in December of 2008.
Police believe Traynham and the girl may be in eastern New Hampshire.
Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said Monday that those pushing for a people's veto vote submitted 56,107 valid voters' signatures, 1,202 more than the minimum needed to force the vote.
A group called Still Fed Up With taxes wants voters to repeal a tax overhaul that creates a flat income tax of 6.5 percent, broadens the sales tax to apply to a number of currently untaxed services, and raises the food and lodging tax.
Marc Mutty from Stand for Marriage Maine says a threatening voicemail message was discovered Monday morning at campaign headquarters in which a female caller said, "You will be dead. Maybe not today, not tomorrow. But soon you'll dead." Police in Yarmouth are investigating.
Officials are awaiting DNA results, but believe it was 55-year-old Michal Flisiuk of China, Maine, whose body was found inside his car parked near Louisiana State University Public Hospital at about 3:20 a.m. Oct. 29.
Investigators have ruled the death accidental or a suicide.
The campaign was announced Monday at a State House news conference. It stems from legislation considered earlier this year that's aimed at removing disposable plastic bags from the waste stream. Environmentalists say many of the 700 million plastic bags used annually by Maine consumers end up in landfills, on the streets and in lakes and streams.
Instead, an effort to keep children from having to witness adults drinking the alcoholic beverages has had the unintended consequence of making it difficult for the stores to hold the tastings.
The last-minute amendment said the events "must be conducted in a manner that precludes the possibility of observation by children." The new law took effect Sept. 12.
The Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power said it wants to work with state officials to reconsider statewide goals the group says will put turbines atop 360 miles of the state's mountaintops.
The group formed recently in opposition to a project underway in Roxbury near Rumford.
LEWISTON — U.S. Reps. Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree, both Democrats, voted in support of the health care reform bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday by a vote of 220-215.
Michaud, who represents Maine's 2nd District, had said Friday he wasn't certain how he would vote. In a statement released on Saturday, Michaud said after hundreds of meetings and "lots of soul searching" he decided to support the sweeping legislation, despite his concerns.
LEWISTON — For the first time, Maine's rigid teacher confidentiality law allows the Department of Education to publicize how many complaints have been filed against teachers and how many teachers have lost, surrendered or been denied a license.
But in a twist that even the original sponsor didn't anticipate, the department says the change allows it only to give out data collected after the law went into effect — Sept. 12 — and any older figures must be kept secret.
People came from all over New England to see Ventura Rocque's crop circles.
Three off-center orbs, one bigger than the next, in 3-foot-tall hay in his Gardiner field.
"Three days, the road going up there is probably a half a mile long, it was lined with cars, both sides," Rocque said, remembering the August 2002 scene. "One woman was in a wheelchair; I'll never forget it. She wanted to go out in the wheelchair, see if she could get healed or something. I don't know how it worked out for her."
Freddy Silva has a theory about crop circles.
No, not little green men, he says, chuckling. Though he warns it may sound just as ridiculous.
He believes the iconic formations seen around the world are made by intense sound waves blasting and heating the grass. Sound waves maybe sent by angels.
Silva's sold more than 40,000 copies of his book, "Secrets in the Fields," in which he details that theory. Since 2002, it's been translated into three languages. He's a popular speaker on the UFOs and supernatural lecture circuit.
LEWISTON — U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, a Maine Democrat, has yet to reveal how he will vote on the pending health care reform legislation, despite requests for support coming from the White House, leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and Michaud's constituents.
LEWISTON — The Obama administration should have been more honest about the shortcomings of the H1N1 flu vaccine production process, says U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Collins, whose committee has oversight of pandemic flu preparedness, said vaccine manufacturers told federal officials this summer that the vaccine production wasn't growing as well as expected, but the administration "just kept giving these rosy predictions; they kept hoping that it was somehow going to come out."
AUGUSTA (AP) — A young man from Penobscot County has become the second Mainer to die of swine flu, state health officials said Friday.
The victim, who was not being identified and was between 18 and 25 years old, had serious underlying medical conditions, said Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
AUGUSTA -- A Penobscot County young adult is the second death linked to H1N1 influenza in Maine, and the first since August, according to a press release issued by the Maine CDC in the Department of Health and Human Services.
"It is with great sadness that we have learned of a Penobscot County young adult who died recently of H1N1 influenza. The young person had serious underlying medical conditions," said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, Director of the Maine CDC.
AUGUSTA — Lawmakers whose proposals were turned down by leaders for consideration in the upcoming second session of the 124th Legislature tried one more time Thursday to lobby for their bills' inclusion.
House and Senate leaders met to consider 70 bills that they had previously turned down, ranging from encouraging youth hunting to clarifying dog-barking laws. The 10-member, bipartisan Legislative Council said it wanted to restrict the workload in 2010 to the state's most pressing issues.
The 133rd Engineer Combat Battalion to Iraq. Includes:
• 136th Engineer Company, 160 soldiers, based in Lewiston and Skowhegan.
• 262nd Engineer Company, 160 soldiers, based in Belfast and Westbrook.
• 133rd Forward Support Company, 100 soldiers, based in Portland.
• 133rd Headquarters Company, 120 soldiers, based in Gardiner.
To Afghanistan:
Officials say Edwin Howard was last seen at his home at about 10 p.m. Wednesday.
He was not home when his wife got up Thursday morning.
Howard may be wearing blue jeans with a green waist-length jacket, sneakers and a red ball cap.
Anyone who may have seen him is asked to call the Warden Service or the sheriff's department.
Over the past week, swine flu has gone from being limited mostly to central and southern states to having been confirmed all corners of the state. At least 25 schools are reporting high absentee rates due to swine flu, and 10 Mainers have been hospitalized with the disease.
The Maine Warden Service and the Piscataquis County Sheriff's Department searched for Edwin Howard, who was last seen at his home at about 10 p.m. Wednesday. He was not home when his wife got up Thursday morning.
The Warden Service learned that Howard was at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. No other information was immediately available.
LEWISTON — Despite recent polling that indicated strong support for keeping Maine's law allowing same-sex marriage, voters rejected it by a margin of about 53 percent to 47 percent, according to unofficial tallies. Local political analysts speculated several factors may have played into the discrepancy, including a last-minute shift in support.
In an election that had been billed for weeks as too close to call, Maine's often unpredictable voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed.
| News | Obituaries | Funeral Notices | Lewiston/Auburn | Franklin | Oxford Hills | River Valley | New England | State | National | Business | Matter of Record | Money-saving Tips | Submit a news tip |
| Lifestyle | Encore | Entertainment | b Section | Submit your event |
| Sports | Local | Community | National | Tailgate Talk | Submit a tip |
| Opinion | Our View | Letters to the Editor | Guest Columnists | Write a letter to the editor | Advice |
| Community | Connections | Weddings, Engagements, Anniversaries | Well Done |
| Services | Subscribe to the Sun Journal | Manage your account | Your guide to contacting us | Place a classified ad | Send us a press release | Write a letter to the editor | Coupons |
| Advertising | Search classifieds | Jobs | Cars | Real Estate | Legal Ads | Contact advertising | Advertising rates and information |
| SunJournal.com | Contact Us | Advertise with us | Commenting Policy | Privacy Policy | Submit a news tip |
| Sun Media Group | Sun Journal | The Forecaster | Bethel Citizen | Advertiser Democrat | Rumford Falls Times |
