Latest news with #NewsCenterMaine
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Health officials investigating reasons for chemical spill that is impacting community: 'These ... just don't disappear'
Most people in Harpswell, Maine, had no idea anything was wrong until they were told not to eat the fish. A firefighting foam spill months earlier had quietly made its way into the water, and the chemicals were persistent. Locals are asking why it took so long to find out, and what it means for their health moving forward. Environmental officials in Maine are still assessing the fallout from the state's largest recorded spill of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) months after it happened. As News Center Maine reported, a malfunction at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station caused more than 50,000 gallons of water mixed with PFAS-laden firefighting foam to spill. The contaminated runoff traveled through storm drains and ponds before reaching Harpswell Cove. "These chemicals just don't disappear; they stay around, but the ocean is a big body of water, so it dilutes them," said senior research scientist Christoph Aeppli. According to the Harpswell Anchor, tests later revealed PFAS levels in the cove had jumped to 70 times higher than what was recorded just two years earlier. State agencies issued a warning against eating fish from the area, and community members are now worried about the safety of the water and wildlife they rely on. PFAS are often called "forever chemicals" because they don't break down naturally. Do you worry about having toxic forever chemicals in your home? Majorly Sometimes Not really I don't know enough about them Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. They are used in a diverse range of products and substances, from cookware to firefighting foam. These synthetic compounds have been linked to serious health problems, including cancer, liver damage, immune system harm, and reproductive issues, as Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health observed. These chemicals can build up in fish, soil, and drinking water. In the case of Harpswell Cove, nearby residents are concerned about what long-term exposure could mean for their health. According to the Environmental Working Group, 2,719 U.S. communities have documented PFAS contamination, and many of them are still waiting for cleanup plans or drinking water protections. In response to the Brunswick spill, Maine's Department of Environmental Protection has launched an investigation and stepped up water testing in the area. The U.S. Navy, which operated the former airbase, is also under pressure to expand cleanup and monitoring plans. Meanwhile, local environmental groups are conducting independent sampling to hold agencies accountable and track the spread of contamination. On the policy front, Maine has passed some of the nation's toughest PFAS laws, including a ban on most PFAS-containing products by 2030. More states are following suit, and the EPA finalized federal drinking water standards for six PFAS compounds, which will require utilities to start testing and filtering for them in the coming years. At home, you can help protect yourself by using water filters certified to remove PFAS and checking for contamination in your area through your state's health department or the EWG's tap water database. Taking action to educate yourself on toxic chemicals like PFAS and the health risks that come with them is one small but powerful step toward building a healthier, more resilient future. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Fox News
24-04-2025
- Fox News
Drug-fueled crime hits rural state hard as leaders struggle to find solution
Maine has become a "wholesale distribution hub" for drug dealers in the Northeast, bringing a slew of crime to the rural state, a police chief told Fox News Digital. The New England state, typically known for its rugged coastline and beautiful fall foliage, has gradually become filled with illicit drugs as more gangs establish themselves in the area. Chris Martin, police chief of the Brewer Police Department in Maine, told Fox News Digital that his area has turned into a distribution hub for illegal drugs. "What we've seen in the past, particularly four years, is that our area has turned into a wholesale distribution hub. So, we have kilo quantities available of fentanyl and methamphetamine and cocaine. And that's a dramatic market shift that we hadn't seen 10, 20 years ago. So the supply has increased readily," Martin said. Martin, who also serves as the town's public safety director, said the rise in illegal drugs has also brought a rise in crime. Since it's often costly to purchase street drugs, Martin said that individuals are turning to crime in order to fund their addiction. "With that, we're also seeing the presence of organized crime. Street gangs out of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, they're actually bringing the supply here," Martin said. "Drug addiction cause crime. And if you have a one or 200 or $300 a day habit, especially if it's an opioid like fentanyl, it doesn't take a day off. If you don't have the drug, you get sick. So how does anybody afford one, two, $300 day habits every day of the week? You invariably have to commit crimes." Martin said those crimes include theft, prostitution, human trafficking, burglary and drug sales. He added that about 90% of the crimes that his officers are responding to "have a drug nexus." "All of those things go hand in hand and the driving force is supplying this narco-economy, if you will," Martin said of the rise of illicit drugs in Maine. "All these things kind of make a perfect storm." In Maine, implications are being felt throughout the state. On April 1, officials arrested two individuals in Dixfield who were allegedly in possession of "225 grams of cocaine and crack cocaine, 10 grams of fentanyl, assorted unidentified capsules and pills, three loaded firearms, and $ 4,350 in drug proceeds," officials told News Center Maine. "I have never seen anything like what we're experiencing here in Maine." In Bangor, Maine, 27-year-old Dylan Caruso was shot to death over $600 owed to another man for drugs in 2024, according to FOX 23. According to the Connecticut Post, a convicted killer who was arrested in October 2024 in Maine was pulled over and allegedly found to be in possession of a loaded firearm and drugs. The individual, Cyrus Griffin, wasn't allowed to leave the state of Connecticut. Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said in September 2023 that fentanyl is responsible for 80% of all drug deaths throughout the state. State lawmakers are divided on how to attack the illicit drug epidemic. Republican State Sen. Brad Farrin, who lost his 26-year-old daughter to a drug overdose, proposed a bill in 2023 that would have reclassified the trafficking of fentanyl to a Class A felony. The bill was voted down, primarily by Democrats. WATCH: Maine gubernatorial candidate discusses drug epidemic Republican Bobby Charles, who is running for Maine governor and served in the former Bush administration as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told Fox News Digital the state needs to get more serious about confronting this epidemic. "I have never seen anything like what we're experiencing here in Maine. This state, when I grew up in this state, might have had five overdoses in the entire state. Last year, this state had 10,000 overdoses, and many of them fatal," Charles said. "I sit down beside people and they quietly lean over to me and say, this happened to me two days ago, I lost my daughter to fentanyl two years ago…Do you know what that devastation is like? It's huge and it is inexcusable. It is immoral and it has to be stopped." Charles has placed the blame squarely on statewide Democrats and Mills, who, in his view, haven't done much to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into Maine. "The traffickers have come into this state, and because the Democrats have cut the guts out of law enforcement, they have, in my opinion, betrayed them. There isn't a single situation in which a prosecutor feels like he has enough money or has the ability to prosecute these cases. They've been abandoned, OK?" Charles said. "The bottom line is they're trying to turn Maine into inner city Chicago or the Badlands of Philly. And I am not going to stand for it. Mainers are not going to stand for." Fox News Digital reached out to Mills' office for comment.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Aroostook school district votes to follow Trump administration on Title IX
Apr. 15—An Aroostook County school board voted to align its Title IX policy with that of the Trump administration, apparently becoming the first district in Maine to publicly break from the state's policy regarding transgender athletes in girls and women's sports. At its meeting Monday, Maine School Administrative District 70's 13-person board approved a motion to "align with federal Title IX by recognizing only two sexes — biological male and biological female — and that all private spaces be separated by biological sex," News Center Maine reported. Superintendent Tyler Putnam could not be reached to confirm the vote Tuesday night. Voicemails left with a number listed as belonging to Putnam were not returned. The district did not return written requests for confirmation and details sent through its online contact form. MSAD 70 includes two schools and serves students in Amity, Cary Plantation, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick. The district's policy change appears to violate the Maine Human Rights Act as a number of bills designed to change the law and limit transgender participation in women's sports have have been brought before the Legislature. LD 1337 would align Maine's Human Rights Act with "the rights of a female athlete" under Title IX, the landmark civil rights law designed to ensure equal access to educational services between women and men. A complementary bill, LD 868, would require athletic teams be designated for men, women or mixed participation, based on whether individuals have ever or will ever have a reproductive system that produces either eggs or sperm, designated female and male, respectively. Maine has explicitly acknowledged and provided protections for gender identity in its Human Rights Act since 2019. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office stating that the United States would formally recognize only two sexes and asserting that gender identity is "disconnected from biological reality." The Trump administration has targeted Maine for allowing transgender women to compete in women's sports since a viral confrontation between President Donald Trump and Gov. Janet Mills in February. Several federal agencies, including the Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, have cut or threatened to cut federal funding for Maine over the Title IX clash. Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Spring might arrive on time this year. Good luck convincing Mainers.
Mar. 17—There are many "official" first days of spring: the meteorological start on March 1, the vernal equinox happening Thursday and the opening of Major League Baseball's regular season next week. To Mainers, none of them register as anything more than dates on a calendar. A more accurate first day of spring in Southern Maine, on average, would be in mid-April, says News Center Maine meteorologist Keith Carson. But this year? He thinks we're already there, meaning even that wildly unreliable groundhog is right on the money. Still, you're not going to see anyone stowing away shovels or changing out their wardrobes for a while. There's a reason we love that meme about the season's many false starts and winter's insistence on popping back up. If the most reliable thing about spring in Maine is its volatility, the punctual arrival of consistent 50-degree days — like we're having right now — seems like the least probable scenario. But with the same forecast taking us through the end of the month, when Portland usually sees its final inch of snowfall, Carson is convinced it's the real thing. He thinks we'll still have another snow event, but if it melts quickly, Mainers are less likely to see it as an unwelcome sign of lingering winter than as something sort of fun. The question now is whether we'll be able to let our guards down and actually enjoy the change of season, rather than staying on high alert in anticipation of a backward turn. It probably doesn't help that this time of year tends to bring out our nervous energy, according to Megan Roy, a psychotherapist at transitional living program Cornerstones of Maine in Biddeford. Although there's a lot of talk about winter's shorter days causing seasonal affective disorder in some, Daylight Saving Time has its own way of altering our mood, including increasing irritability and exhaustion, Roy said. Maybe that's why we've leaned so hard into spring's annoying qualities; complaining about it suits our mentality right now. For a more productive way to cope, Roy recommends meeting that excess energy with an activity. While we might have gotten used to taking out our aggression on snow piles, this year, we'll have to find other ways to let off steam (Googling "things normal people do in spring"). Going for a walk or meeting up with a friend are fine ways to take the edge off, Roy said, but even better is trying something new. That could be flying a kite or feeding ducks (thanks, Google), but I suggest something simpler: Accepting that this spring comes with no strings attached. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
When is daylight saving time 2025? Here's everything you need to know
It's almost time to advance your clocks by an hour. Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 9. Will this be the last time we change our clocks? Maybe in some states. State lawmakers across the country have introduced legislation to eliminate yearly time changes, but the proposals have been met with mixed reaction, per News Center Maine. The Utah Senate blocked a time change bill just this week, despite the fact that Utahns support doing away with biannual clock adjustments, as the Deseret News previously reported. As it stands, states looking to make changes have to navigate federal rules related to time. 'States can only request to observe standard time year-round (only two states have done this)," the article said. 'In most cases, (proposed) bills would put the state on daylight saving time permanently only if Congress would allow it.' Here is a look at the history of daylight saving time, and how it could change in the future. Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 2 a.m. Your smartphone and computer should automatically adjust to the time change, but you will need to manually advance other clocks by an hour. Benjamin Franklin is credited with proposing daylight saving time during the 18th century, per The New York Times. Franklin felt he was wasting early hours of daylight in bed and figured getting an earlier start would economize candle consumption at night. The United States first adopted the concept during World War I to preserve fuel. But it was swiftly abandoned because farmers, who work in the morning light, were unhappy with the change. During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt brought daylight saving time back, but several states and cities chose not to observe it. Confusion followed. There were 'cities observing Daylight Saving Time surrounded by rural areas that are not, and no one can tell what time it is anywhere,' said Michael Downing, author of 'Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time,' per Time. In light of the confusion, President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted The Uniform Time Act in 1966, establishing standard time across the country. In 1986, the U.S. returned to daylight saving time for seven months every year, per Time. Then in 2005, daylight saving time was extended to eight months a year. Utahns will still lose an hour of sleep to daylight saving time in 2025. A Utah bill pushing for year-round standard time was shut down on Tuesday by the Senate, as the Deseret News previously reported. The bill, HB120, sponsored by Joseph Elison, R-Toquerville, previously passed the Utah House in February. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in eliminating biannual time changes. 'The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,' the president wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, in December. Just over 40 days into his second term in office, Trump has yet to move to eliminate daylight saving time. Several states, including Arkansas, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, have introduced bills to opt out of daylight saving time, per The Hill. Hawaii and Arizona are currently the only two states that do not observe daylight saving time, per Forbes. In states that observe daylight saving time, clocks will turn back to standard time on Sunday, Nov. 2.
