VIRUS OUTBREAK-MAINE
Maine working to get COVID-19 shot into small pharmacies
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine is working to get more coronavirus vaccines into small and independent pharmacies in the state. Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah says nearly a third of the residents of the state have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. He said Tuesday that the state is working to “chart a course for independent pharmacies here in Maine” to participate more in the rollout via long-term care facilities and their own storefronts.
FOX ATTACK
Maine woman subdues attacking fox with baseball bat
BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman escaped injury after a fox attacked her outside her home. The Times Record reports that Kimberly Bashant was on her deck smoking Friday when the animal came up the stairs and bit her leg. Bashant says that she managed to knock the fox unconscious with a baseball bat and survived the ordeal without a scratch. Bashant’s neighbors killed the animal after they heard her yell and came over to help. Bashant said that she keeps a bat near her chair for situations like these, but never thought she would have to use it.
WINDSTORM-FATAL CRASH
TikTok star on cellphone with fiancee as tree limb kills her
WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — A motorist was talking on her cellphone to her future wife when powerful winds blew a tree limb onto her car and killed her. Rochelle Hager, of Waterville, was an executive chef who posted popular TikTok videos and was engaged to be married this fall. Brittanie Lynn Ritchie told the Morning Sentinel she heard a crash Monday while on the phone with Hager and then silence. Police said 31-year-old Hager died instantly in the crash in Farmington. Winds were gusting greater than 50 mph at the time. Hager and Ritchie were both popular on TikTok.
MAINE LEGISLATURE
Democrats push through $8.3B budget without GOP support
The Maine Legislature has given final approval to an $8.3 billion budget with Democrats pushing it through over Republican objections. The budget normally needs a two-thirds majority vote to go into effect before the fiscal year begins. But Democratic leaders put it into effect with a simple majority by adjourning Tuesday night and agreeing to reconvene later. That would allow the budget to go into effect in 90 days, before the start of the new fiscal year. Republicans were incensed over the move. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she intends to sign the budget on Wednesday.