RECORD STORE OWNER
Founder of longstanding Maine record store chain steps down
BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) — The founder of a Maine music chain has stepped down, bringing new leadership to a fixture on the New England record store circuit. Brett Wickard founded Bull Moose in 1989 when he was a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. The Bangor Daily News reported Tuesday he is staying on as chair of the chain’s board of directors, but plans to focus on growing his retail software management company. Shawn Nichols is taking over for Wickard as chief executive officer and president of the chain.
ELECTION ADMINISTRATION
New England senators want more federal money for elections
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Senators in New England are getting behind a push to provide more federal resources to administer local and state elections. Sen. Angus King, Maine’s independent senator, says the Sustaining Our Democracy Act would provide $20 billion in federal money over the next 10 years to help states with election necessities, such as training poll workers and upgrading voting equipment and registration systems. Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chairwoman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee with oversight over federal elections, and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren led nine of their colleagues in introducing the act.
UMA PRESIDENT-SETTLEMENT
University president who bowed out to get $235K on July 1
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The settlement approved for the University of Maine at Augusta president who bowed out amid controversy ensures he will be paid at least $235,000 in the first year. The Kennebec Journal reports that Michael Laliberte will receive an additional $30,000 for a housing allowance on top of the $205,000 salary, which will be paid in a lump sum on July 1. He’ll be paid his salary for another two years if he’s unable to find another job, and the balance will be paid if he finds a lower-paying job.
SOLDIER’S REMAINS
Remains of Revolutionary War soldier moved and reinterred
WEYBRIDGE, Vt. (AP) — The remains of a Revolutionary War soldier have been moved to another resting place in Vermont this Memorial Day weekend because erosion threatened some of the graves at an old cemetery near a river bank. Revolutionary War soldier Josiah Clark fought in the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. He was buried in a Weybridge cemetery in 1835. Erosion over the years left his grave perched on the edge of a steep eroding bank, so his bones were exhumed in 2019. On Saturday morning, a horse-drawn wagon carried a flag-draped coffin containing Clark from the congregational church to another cemetery nearby for a reinternment ceremony.
AP-US-ROBOTIC-BUOYS
Robotic buoys developed to keep Atlantic right whales safe
A Cape Cod science center and one of the world’s largest shipping businesses are collaborating on a project to use robotic buoys to protect a vanishing whale from lethal collisions with ships. A lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution developed the technology, which uses buoys and underwater gliders to record whale sounds in near real time. The robotic recorders can give scientists, mariners and the public an idea of the location of rare North Atlantic right whales. Now, French shipping giant CMA CGM is working with Woods Hole to deploy two of the robotic buoys off of Norfolk, Virginia, and Savannah, Georgia.
LOBSTER PRICES
Consumers find slightly lower lobster prices as summer nears
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Lobster prices are dipping somewhat just before Memorial Day weekend, which marks the unofficial start of the industry’s critical summer season. The price of lobster, and seafood at large, has shot up in recent years, and the price to lobster fishermen increased by about 60% last year. But lobster prices appear to be leveling off, and some retailers are selling the prized crustaceans for a couple dollars less than last year. Members of the industry said the price to fishermen at the docks is also falling at a time when they are struggling with high bait and fuel prices.
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
FATAL CRASH-NEW HAMPSHIRE
Car driver dies in I-95 crash involving tractor-trailer
GREENLAND, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire State Police say a car driver has died in a crash on Interstate 95 involving a tractor-trailer. The car was possibly parked in the right travel lane of the northbound highway in Greenland at about 11:30 p.m. Monday with its lights on when it was struck. Police say the car driver died at the scene. His identity has not been released. The tractor-trailer driver was not hurt. Police are investigating.
AP-US-COLD-CASE-KILLING-ARREST
Authorities make arrest in 1984 killing linked to Bulger
BOSTON (AP) — A suspect in the 1984 killing of a South Boston man that authorities say was linked to mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s control of the drug trade in the neighborhood is scheduled to be arraigned. Prosecutors say 61-year-old Michael Lewis faces a first-degree murder charge Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of Brian Watson. The defense attorney for Lewis has yet to be determined. Prosecutors say Lewis shot Watson as they were looking for a drug dealer who had ratted out Lewis‘ associate to Bulger, who then demanded a $5,000 shakedown.