ELECTION 2022-MAINE-GOVERNOR
Mills, LePage look ahead to November in Maine governor race
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage is seeking a political comeback. With no opposition, he coasted to the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday, setting up a fierce general election campaign against Democratic incumbent Janet Mills. The race is among just a handful of competitive governor’s contests this year. The matchup revives a long-standing rivalry between LePage and Mills. The two were often at loggerheads when LePage was governor and Mills was attorney general. The campaign is emerging as a barometer of whether voters this year will be motivated by economic anxiety or political civility.
ELECTION 2022-MAINE-NEWS GUIDE
AP News Guide: A look at Maine’s primary elections
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Turnout was low as Maine voters faced a primary in which they were asked to chose governor candidates for the general election and select a Republican candidate for U.S. House. In the House race, a former Republican congressman is bidding to return to his old seat in Maine, and he held off a challenge from a fellow party member in Tuesday’s primary. The governor primaries were uncontested, and will serve as an appetizer before Democratic Gov. Janet Mills faces former Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Elsewhere, a group funded by Democratic megadonor George Soros is funneling $300,000 into a district attorney race.
MAINE AREA CODE
Maine’s sole area code extended through end of 2025
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine will continue to have only a single area code through at least the end of 2025. The entire state is covered by the 207 area code, and numerous officials in Maine want to keep it that way. The state, however, is running low on new numbers for that area code .The Maine Public Utilities Commission said Tuesday it has received noticed from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator that the single area code has been extended from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the end of the following year. The Utilities commission chair says that will allow for more time to try to preserve Maine’s single area code.
CMP RATES
Central Maine Power says rates will decrease next month
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Central Maine Power said customers are going to get a break on their bills starting next month. Electric rates will dip 5.5% on July 1 as part of the company’s rate reconciliation and adjustment process. That amounts to about $3.40 per month for a typical customer, helping to offset a $30-per-month increase in the “standard offer” rate on Jan. 1. Joe Purington, CMP president and CEO, called it a welcome news for Mainers facing cost increases “across the board.”
COLD CASE-BABY DEATH
Arrest in decades-old cold case involving Maine baby death
FRENCHVILLE, Maine (AP) — Police from Maine say they’ve made an arrest stemming from a 36-year-old homicide investigation into the death of a baby in the far northern part of the state. The baby’s body was discovered in Frenchville in December 1985 after a dog carried the newborn’s body several hundred feet to the home of the dog owner. Police then investigated and found that the baby was born and abandoned in below-zero temperatures at a gravel pit in the town. They said Tuesday they’ve arrested the baby’s mother, 58-year-old Lee Ann Daigle, in Lowell, Massachusetts. It wasn’t immediately known if she is being represented by an attorney.
AP-US-ELECTION-2022-HOUSE
Rice loses House seat after impeaching Trump; Mace holds on
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina has been ousted from Congress in his Republican primary after voting to impeach Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection. He is the first of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump to lose a reelection bid. The five-term congressman was defeated Tuesday by state Rep. Russell Fry, who was endorsed by Trump. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina also angered Trump, but she sought to make amends and won her GOP primary over her own Trump-backed challenger. Trump congratulated her Tuesday night and predicted she would win in November.
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
UNINTENDED GUN DISCHARGES-LAWSUIT
Sig Sauer is sued over pistol critics say goes off by itself
Gun-maker Sig Sauer is facing fresh accusations that its P320 pistol model is prone to going off without the trigger being pulled. A U.S. Army veteran says in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Philadelphia that the defect has led to dozens of injuries over the past several years. Plaintiff George Abrahams is a painting contractor. He says his holstered Sig Sauer pistol discharged while he was going down the stairs and caused a serious leg injury. The suit is the latest in a string of litigation targeting the New Hampshire-based gun manufacturer over its P320 pistol. The gun-maker has denied its pistol is defective.
MISSING GIRL-NEW HAMPSHIRE
Former home of Harmony Montgomery’s dad, stepmom searched
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Police say a former home of the father and stepmother of a New Hampshire girl missing since 2019 at age 5 is being searched as part of the investigation into her disappearance. Adam and Kayla Montgomery had lived at the apartment in Manchester. The time period wasn’t immediately known. Authorities were searching it Tuesday. Earlier this year, authorities searched a different home the couple lived in. Adam Montgomery had custody of his daughter, Harmony Montgomery. She was last seen in late 2019 — but authorities didn’t know she was missing until last year.
FATAL MOTORCYCLE CRASH
Motorcyclist dies after hitting guardrail on Manchester road
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire State Police say a motorcyclist died after he hit a guardrail on I-293 in Manchester and was thrown from the vehicle. Forty-two-year-old Adam Young, of Manchester, was traveling north when he lost control of his motorcycle on a curve Sunday night. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police are investigating the crash.
AP-US-ELECTION-2022-DEMOCRATS
Vulnerable Dems run against Washington — and their party
NEW YORK (AP) — Many of the nation’s most vulnerable Democrats are actively trying to distance themselves from Washington — and their party — as the midterm season enters its next phase. Democratic candidates in key midterm battlegrounds are facing deep frustration from the voters who will decide their fate in November. Candidates in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Hampshire are railing against the institutions that they have controlled for the last 16 months. It’s a strategy born of necessity given the political climate Democrats are facing. President Joe Biden remains deeply unpopular and the cost of basic goods is soaring under their watch.