Corinth Attempted Murder
(Corinth) – A 65-year old Corinth man faces attempted murder charges after he allegedly poured gasoline inside his house and lit a fire. His companion was still inside, upstairs, and had to jump out of a second story window to escape. State Public Safety Department spokesman Steve McCausland tells Star 97.7 that Fred Roberts is also charged with arson. 70-year old Barbara King suffered serious injuries when she jumped. Authorities say witnesses saw Roberts walking down the Hudson Road when firefighters pulled up to the scene.
SW Harbor Manager
(Southwest Harbor) – Southwest Harbor’s Selectmen will hire the Maine Municipal Association to conduct a full search for its next town manager. By a 3-to-2 vote, Selectmen opted to go the full search route instead of offering the job outright to current assistant manager Marilyn Lowell. The Mt. Desert Islander reports Selectmen expressed concern about not going through will a full search and background check process.
Extortion
(Ellsworth) – A 17-year old girl from Clifton is charged with extorting money from an Ellsworth man. WVII-TV reports the unnamed teen allegedly sent topless pictures to a 20-year old man and threatened to tell police he was a child pornographer if he didn’t deposit money to her bank account. Police say the man complied with the requests for more than a year before the man came to them to tell them about the extortion.
Belfast – Public Works
(Belfast) – City officials in Belfast are beginning to plan for a new public works building. Village Soup dot-com reports the current Congress Street building is long overdue for replacement. City Manager Joe Slocum says the new facility would go onto land the city purchased on Crocker Road. He didn’t have an estimated cost, but said it would be in the millions.
Laundry Pod Dangers
(Maine) A dangerous social media stunt called the Tide Pod Challenge has parents worried. Teens have dared their peers to bite into the pods and post those videos online. Northern New England Poison Center spokeswoman, Dr Karen Simone says concerned parents should talk with their children about this and treat it like any other risky behavior. Dr Simone says in the past 3 years the Poison Center has received about 40 to 70 calls per year from Maine involving exposure to laundry pods and it’s usually accidental.
Fire Victim ID’d
(Surry) – Authorities have identified a woman who died in a Surry fire this week. Firefighters discovered 66-year old Cathy Pinkham’s body inside her mobile home on the Morgan Bay Road early Monday morning. Neighbors had reported the home ablaze at about 11-o’clock Sunday night. Pinkham’s daughter, Ellsworth realtor Shannon Card, owned the property. Investigators say there was so much damage from the fire they’re unable to determine how it started.
Red Cross-Blood
(Maine) The American Red Cross aims to collect more than 13-thousand blood and platelet donations across the US each day. But spokeswoman Mary Brant says bitter cold temperatures and widespread flu have contributed to very low turnout this month. Blood drives are scheduled in February in Hancock and Washington Counties. Get details at: Red Cross Blood dot Org.
Flu Update
(Augusta) Health officials say the number of influenza cases this season has topped 1,700 in Maine. The Maine Center for Disease Control reports that 531 cases were reported in the week ending January 20th, showing the outbreak is growing fast. The total number of deaths now stands at 22, all adults.
Anti-Wage Hike
(Augusta) A legislative panel will start considering a bill to reduce the minimum wage hike approved by voters in 2016. Republicans and some business groups have pushed to reverse a law they argue will harm Maine’s economy in the long-term. The bill would cut Maine’s minimum wage from $10 per hour to $9.50 per hour and also eliminates the cost-of-living adjustment to the minimum wage.
Sports
- Boston Celtics 113 L-A Clippers 102 (ends 4-game losing streak for Boston)
- College Basketball: (Men) Maine 69 New Hampshire 68
High School Basketball
Boys
Greenville 62, Deer Isle-Stonington 40
Machias 69, Stearns 50
Girls
Ellsworth 48, Orono 43
Hermon 44, Mount Desert Island 40 (OT)
Deer Isle-Stonington 37, Greenville 35
Mattanawcook Academy 62, Calais 58
Narraguagus 85, Sumner Memorial 25
Stearns 66, Machias 24
Shead 52, Jonesport-Beals 47
Presque Isle 55, John Bapst Memorial 50
