MAINE-RELIEF CHECKS
Website created to help Mainers get their $850 checks
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The state has created a website to help Mainers get their $850 relief checks included in a $1.2 billion supplemental budget. The website aims to answer frequently asked questions surrounding eligibility, timing of checks and help filing taxes. The money that’s being returned to Mainers comprises more than half of the $1.2 billion budget. Mills proposed returning much of the money to Mainers as a historic surplus ballooned thanks to federal spending and rosier-than-expected revenue forecasts. The first round of checks will go out in June, and additional checks will roll out through the end of the year. The website address is Maine.gov/reliefchecks.
MAINE LEGISLATURE-TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY
Maine governor signs bill letting tribe regulate its water
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine Gov. Janet Mills has signed into law a bill that allows the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point regulate its drinking water. The law gives the Passamaquoddy the right to drill wells on tribe-owned land near Pleasant Point and to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency instead of state agencies. Tribal members have testified about decades of frustration over poor water quality that sometimes caused brown liquid to flow from their faucets. Two other bills dealing with Native Americans and sovereignty during Maine’s current
legislative session are awaiting a final vote.
MIT researchers propose fighting Lyme on Nantucket with mice
NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — Scientists at MIT are proposing releasing hordes of genetically altered mice on the posh vacation destination of Nantucket to combat the growing scourge of Lyme disease. The Boston Globe reports researchers with MIT’s Mice Against Ticks project explained their plan to island residents at a recent meeting. The scientists said hundreds of thousands of mice engineered to resist the bacteria that causes Lyme could help slow transmission of the disease for decades. They say if Lyme were less prevalent among mice, then fewer ticks would contract the disease, leading to less transmission to humans. The proposal would require approval from regulators.
AP-US-INFRASTRUCTURE-WATER-PROJECTS
Feds award $420M for dam repairs and flood-control projects
Federal officials are spending $420 million to repair hazardous dams and fund flood control projects in numerous states. The projects announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are funded through an infrastructure law signed last year by President Joe Biden. The largest allotment of nearly $96 million will go to Arkansas for 19 flood-control projects, including several in impoverished areas. Georgia will get about $69 million. Some of that will go to repair three high-hazard dams in poor condition that could result in deaths were they to fail. The funding is in addition to $166 million for nationwide projects announced last month by the Agriculture Department.
PANDEMIC LOAN-ARRESTED AGAIN
Man charged with lying for $60K pandemic loan arrested again
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A Maine man charged with lying to receive $60,000 from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program has been arrested again after he allegedly violated the terms of his bail by applying for rental assistance. Forty-four-year-old Nathan Reardon was arrested on Wednesday on a motion to revoke his bail. The Bangor Daily News reports last year Reardon pleaded not guilty to charges of bank fraud and attempted wire fraud in a national emergency. His bail conditions prevented him from applying for pandemic-related financial assistance without approval from his probation officer. Reardon’s trial is scheduled to begin June 7.
SURFER-DIES
Maine surfer found unconscious off Cape Cod beach dies
WELLFLEET, Mass. (AP) — A Maine surfer pulled out of the waters off Cape Cod has been pronounced dead. The Cape and Islands district attorney’s office said Thursday that 48-year-old Martin Mackey, of Brunswick, was found unconscious Wednesday morning off LeCount Hollow Beach in Wellfleet after several people called 911 to report a surfer attached to a board face down in the water. Officials have not said what caused him Mackey to become unconscious and that the incident remains under investigation, but Assistant District Attorney Tara Miltimore said in a statement that a preliminary investigation has found “no foul play.”
BEACHFRONT PROPERTY-TIDAL ZONE
Intertidal zone belongs to beachfront owners, judge says
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Maine judge has ruled that the intertidal zone belongs to beachfront property owners but the ruling didn’t specify what activities, if any, might be allowed there. The decision was a setback for plaintiffs who sued last year to overturn private ownership of the coastal land between the high and low tide marks. Most coastal states own the land between the low and high tide marks on their beaches, but the Maine Supreme Judicial Court previously ruled that private ownership stretches to the low-water mark. The ruling by Superior Court Justice John O’Neil Jr. upheld the status quo, but the judge suggested that a future orders could expand the allowed uses for the public on the intertidal zone that’s in question.