Maine man faces up to 30 year sentence in PPP fraud case
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Maine man pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud charges stemming from a Paycheck Protection Program application. The U.S. Department of Justice said the Skowhegan man obtained a $59,145 loan for his Bangor-based company using false employee wage information and false supporting payroll documentation. The department said the man then spent the money on items and expenses he knew weren’t covered by the program. Paycheck Protection Program loans were designed to be forgivable loans for small businesses to help with job retention and some other expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Justice Department said the man pleaded guilty on Tuesday.
Gov: Maine won’t help prosecute abortion seekers, providers
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s governor says her state will not cooperate with other states’ investigations into people who seek abortions or health care providers that perform them. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order Tuesday that she said will protect access to abortion in her state. She said she made the order as a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe V. Wade. Mills said her order also directs Maine state agencies to review laws and regulations for any barriers to reproductive health care and remove or minimize them.
Crowd shoots fireworks at police aiding shooting victim
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Police in a Maine city deployed pepper balls on Monday night when members of a crowd shot fireworks at the officers, who were attending to a shooting victim. Portland police said they responded to a report of a man who had been shot near a park on Monday night. Police said they were rendering aid to the victim when a crowd nearby became hostile and discharged fireworks at them. Police say the fireworks were mortar-style fireworks and several officers were hit by sparks. Police said no officers were seriously injured.
Mako shark fishing shut down to try to rebuild species
BOSTON (AP) — The federal government is shutting down fishing of a popular species of shark to try to give the animals a chance to recover from population decline. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shut down shortfin mako fishing on Tuesday. The big fish have long been prized by sport fishermen. They’re also popular with seafood fans, who have long used them to make steaks. NOAA says the ban on mako fishing has no set end date and will depend on the status of the species. The agency says the mako population is difficult to rebuild because the fish have slow population growth rates.
High number of seal deaths linked to bird flu, feds say
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An unusual number of seals have been getting stranded and dying off Maine this summer, and the federal government says avian influenza is to blame. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed that samples from four Maine seals tested positive for the virus. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Tuesday the animals all died or required euthanasia. NOAA says marine mammal rescuers started to notice an unusually high number of seal strandings in June, and then the USDA conducted the tests. The source of the outbreak among seals is still being investigated. A bird flu earlier this year led to the deaths of tens of millions of chickens and turkeys on farms across the U.S.