ELECTION 2022-MAINE-GOVERNOR
Mills supports removal of video attacked in Republican ad
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The Maine Department of Education has removed from its website a video containing an LGBTQ lesson plan for kindergarten students that was subject of a Republican ad targeting Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. The ad accused the governor of spending $2.8 million to create “radical school lessons” for the youngest children in public schools. The Department of Education quickly removed the video lesson plan after reviewing it. A spokesperson for Mills said Thursday the governor was not aware of the video and agrees with the Department of Education’s decision to remove it.
MOOSE TICKS
Maine moose survey finds record high death rate from ticks
MONSON, Maine (AP) — Infestations of ticks contributed to a record high death rate for young moose tracked by wildlife managers in rural Maine. Maine Public reports on Wednesday that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife collared 70 moose calves in remote parts of the state last winter and 60 of them had died by the beginning of May. The 86% mortality rate was the highest since the agency started the tracking survey. Lee Kantar, the moose biologist with the wildlife department, said the winter ticks are to blame. The ticks are a worsening problem in the areas of the northern U.S. and southern Canada that moose call home.
ALEWIFE RETURN
Native fish returns to Maine lake after two-century absence
CHINA, Maine (AP) — A species of fish has returned to a central Maine lake for the first time in generations. WMTW-TV reported on Wednesday that alewives, a kind of herring, reached China Lake this month. That hasn’t happened since the Revolutionary War era. Alewives return to Maine rivers from the ocean. However, dams have long prevented them from reaching some of their native areas, and conservation groups have spent years trying to change that. Environmentalists said that work appears to be paying off.
UMS CHANCELLOR
3rd faculty senate rebukes UMS Chancellor Malloy
FARMINGTON, Maine (AP) — Faculty on a third University of Maine System campus have given a vote of no confidence to Chancellor Dannel Malloy. The faculty senate at the University of Maine at Farmington delivered the rebuke Wednesday after the elimination of nine positions. Malloy said in a statement that hard decisions had to be made amid declining enrollment. Faculty senates at the University of Southern Maine and University of Maine at Augusta previously gave no confidence votes over the handling of the search for a leader for the Augusta campus.
JAIL ESCAPE ATTEMPT-BATHROOM
Inmate stopped from escaping through hospital ceiling tiles
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Corrections workers in Maine thwarted an attempt by an inmate to escape from custody through bathroom ceiling tiles when he was at a hospital. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said the inmate tried to climb through the ceiling tiles at Maine Medical Center in Portland on Tuesday morning. The office said the inmate was in restraints at the time and was in the process of being discharged from the hospital. The sheriff’s office said corrections staff intervened and prevented the escape without further incident.
MACHETE KILLING
Man awaiting trial held on $200K after conviction overturned
ALFRED, Maine (AP) — A Maine man whose murder conviction was overturned by the state’s highest court will have to pay $200,000 in bail to leave jail while he awaits a new trial. Bruce Akers has been held without bail since his 2016 arrest stemming from the death of his neighbor, Douglas Flint. He was initially found guilty and sentenced to 38 years in prison, but the court overturned the conviction last year. The Portland Press Herald reports Akers’ case was in court for a hearing on Tuesday. His attorney, Kristine Hanly, asked that he be released. The judge instead set the bail at $200,000.