Acadia Fire
(Bar Harbor) – If you see a lot of smoke on Mt. Desert Island today it’s most likely on purpose. Acadia National Park plans to burn about an acre and a half about a mile north of Sargent mountain. Spokeswoman Christie Anastasia reports to Star 97.7 the burn is to get rid of vegetation near the carriage roads. More burns are schedule before the first of June and again between September and November.
Administrator’s Contract Extended
(Ellsworth) – The county administrator in Hancock County will work through at least the end of this year. County Commissioners extended Scott Adkins contract this week through 2018. It originally expired this week. The Ellsworth American reports commissioners are especially pleased with how Adkins has managed county finances. Adkins began his Hancock County job two years ago, and had previous served as Penobscot County’s finance director.
Cruisers Rammed
(Dover-Foxcroft) – Police had to use a taser to arrest a 40-year old Dexter man after he rammed a pair of police cruisers in Dover-Foxcroft. Officers had been looking for Edward Crooks Wednesday night on a stalking charge. When they tried to pull him over, he sped off, and eventually rammed a Piscataquis County cruiser, then backed into a Dover-Foxcroft cruiser that pinned his vehicle with the other damaged cruiser.
Millinocket Outage
(Millinocket) – The power is back on in the Millinocket area after an outage yesterday morning. The culprit – a squirrel. Emera Maine spokeswoman Judy Long reports to Star 97.7 the squirrel chewed on wires inside a substation, knocking out the electricity to more than 35-hundred customers.
Police Graduation
(Vassalboro) Sixty-five new graduates of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy will enter the workforce as state troopers, county deputies, and municipal officers. The graduation ceremony in Vassalboro begins at 10 this morning with guest speaker, Bucksport police chief Sean Geagan, who’s also the President of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association. The new graduates have spent 18 weeks studying and training at the academy.
Domestic Violence
(Bangor) A Bangor man is held without bail after investigators reviewed a video on social media allegedly showing the 41-year-old man harming a child. The Bangor police department reports they were contacted by a concerned citizen and launched a child abuse investigation. Detectives tracked down Theodore Ellsworth of Bangor and charged him with Domestic Violence Assault.
Yankee Magazine
(Ellsworth) Folks at The Grand in Ellsworth got a surprise when they opened the mail one day and learned the theater is featured in Yankee Magazine’s May-June issue. Grand executive director Nick Turner says it’s an honor for the nearly 80-year-old theater to be highlighted in such a widely read publication. In addition to film, The Grand also features live theater, live music and special events. Visit: Grand Online dot Org for details.
Age-Friendly Community
(Sullivan) The town of Sullivan has become the 53rd designated an Age-Friendly Community in Maine by AARP. According to the US Census from 2000 to the Census of 2010 the average age in Sullivan increased by 6-and-a-half-years. Age-Friendly Sullivan coordinator Candy Eaton tells Star 97-7 next Wednesday, Eastern Area Agency on Aging will be at the Town Office accepting applications for 3 of their senior Nutritional programs. For details and restrictions on these programs visit the Sullivan town office on Wednesday from 9 ’til Noon.
Juvenile Delinquent
(Portland) The Maine Department of Corrections says an 11-year-old whose teeth were knocked out is to blame for his own injuries. The department is denying allegations of abuse by corrections officers in a lawsuit brought on- behalf of the boy detained at Long Creek Youth Development Center. The court filing suggests that the boy’s injuries were self-inflicted.
Abortion Drama
(Augusta) A civil liberties attorney says Maine is “putting its thumb on the scale of a highly personal decision” by paying for pregnancy-care but declining to pay to end pregnancies. The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine contends Maine’s Medicaid program, called MaineCare, is discriminating in care it offers to pregnant women. But a state attorney says the right to an abortion doesn’t carry with it the right to a government-paid abortion.
Food Bank Grant
(Hampden) A regional food bank has been awarded a $50-thousand-dollar grant, which will go toward the purchase of a cold storage unit. The Good Shepherd Food Bank in Hampden announced Wednesday that the Tramuto Foundation of Ogunquit awarded the grant.
Rural Broadband
(Augusta) Maine’s two U.S. senators are joining 61 of their colleagues in a call for the Federal Communications Commission to advance broadband services in rural America. Republican Senator Susan Collins and independent Angus King are joining other senators in sending a letter to the FCC Chairman about improving accessibility of broadband. They say it’s is necessary to make sure rural residents have “access to high quality voice and broadband services.”
Medicaid
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – The LePage administration says lawmakers need to appropriate the money if a voter-approved Medicaid expansion is to be rolled out. The court filing this week says the referendum didn’t specify where the money would come from and that it’s up to the Legislature to do so. Groups that support the Medicaid expansion sued after the administration missed an April 3 deadline for an application to receive an additional $525 million in annual federal funding.
Deputy – Bridge
NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine (AP) – Officials in a Maine town are asking the state Legislature to rename a bridge in honor of a slain sheriff’s deputy. The Norridgewock Board of Selectman approved the measure to rename the Norridgewock Bridge to the Corporal Eugene Cole Memorial Bridge in a 4-0 vote Wednesday night. It has also voted to declare April 25 to be Corporal Eugene Cole Day.
Sports
- The Red Sox beat the Orioles last night behind strong pitching from David Price and home runs by JD Martinez and Xander Bogaerts. The Sox and Orioles play again tonight at Fenway Park.
- The Celtics and Cleveland play game 3 of their Eastern Conference final tomorrow night in Cleveland. Boston leads the series 2-0.
High School Baseball
Ellsworth 4 Brewer 2
MDI 6 George Stevens 3
Hermon 6 John Bapst 5
Presque Isle sweeps WA
Bangor 3 Edward Little 1
Softball
Brewer 5 Ellsworth 0
MDI 20 GSA 1
Presque Isle sweeps WA
Old Town 10 Foxcroft 0
