Latest news with #PressHerald
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Coverage of pro-Palestinian protest was dangerously sanitized
May 30—I was deeply disappointed by your May 21 article, "Police arrest 20 pro-Palestinian protesters in Old Port." Public protest is a cornerstone of democracy and criticism of any government — including Israel's — is fair and necessary. But the coverage of this protest was not fair. It was selective, incomplete and dangerously sanitized. While the article quoted signs critical of Israel and cited multiple reports portraying Israeli actions harshly, it omitted that protestors were chanting "From the river to the sea," a slogan widely recognized as a call for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. Including some slogans while omitting that slogan amounts to whitewashing rhetoric that crosses the line from protest into hate. There is a staggering hypocrisy in accusing Israel of genocide while calling for the destruction of the world's only Jewish state. This wasn't just a call for humanitarian aid — it was defined by inflammatory, extremist language that contributes directly to rising antisemitic violence. We saw that reality hours later, when Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, two Israeli embassy staffers, were gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., reportedly by an assailant shouting "Free Palestine." That didn't happen in Gaza or Tel Aviv, it happened on American soil, and it was fueled by the very hate, on our streets, your paper chose to ignore. By omitting the most provocative chant and offering no Jewish perspective, the Press Herald didn't just report incompletely — it helped normalize hate. Justin Schair Freeport 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
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bridgton medical center closing, citing financial pressures on health care system
May 29—A community clinic in Bridgton announced on Thursday that it will be closing in August, the latest shuttering of medical services in Maine. The announcement comes after Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville closed for patients this week, and after several birthing centers around Maine have closed in recent years. The reasons cited by DFD Russell Medical Center in Bridgton are familiar: low reimbursement rates from both government and private insurance, workforce shortages and an inability to rely on federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid. "This decision follows a comprehensive review of persistent financial and workforce challenges," the written announcement said. "In addition to financial pressures, DFD has experienced significant difficulty recruiting and retaining highly skilled health care providers in rural Maine — a challenge shared by many rural health organizations." Despite efforts to find alternatives, "continuing operations at this location is not sustainable," DFD said. The final day the medical center will see patients is Aug. 28. The Bridgton location has been open for four years, and DFD also operates clinics in Turner, Monmouth and Leeds that will remain open. "This is not a decision we made lightly, and it is not a reflection of our commitment to the Bridgton community," according to a written statement attributed to DFD's leadership team. "Rather, it is a decision rooted in responsibility — responsibility to quality care, our patients, our staff and the long-term sustainability of rural health care." DFD will help patients transition to Central Maine Healthcare and other primary care providers. DFD officials declined an interview with the Press Herald on Wednesday. The latest closure comes as Maine is experiencing a crisis in access to health care services, especially in rural parts of the state. While a record number of Mainers now have health insurance, many are finding it difficult or impossible to get help from a broad range of providers — primary care doctors, medical specialists, mental health counselors, dentists. It can take months — even more than a year — to get an appointment with a health professional, frustrated patients told the Portland Press Herald. Health care providers in Maine have also warned that the proposed cuts to Medicaid that were approved in the U.S. House of Representatives could eliminate health insurance coverage for an estimated 34,000 Maine residents and put more pressure on the already financially strained health care system, especially in rural communities. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
Pipe that damaged car in Maine may have fallen from airplane, police say
A piece of pipe that fell on a car parked in a Portland, Maine parking lot, damaging it, Wednesday may have fallen all the way from a passing airplane, authorities say. Cam Malette, a deckhand on a Casco Bay Lines ferry, told the Portland Press Herald that a coworker called him around 10 p.m. that night to tell him that the rear windshield of his Volkswagen Jetta, parked in the ferry line's lot on Commercial Street, had been shattered. When he arrived to see the damage, he found a 35-pound metal pipe that also crumpled the car's rear hatch. A police spokesperson told the Press Herald that based on the level of damage and the location of the parking lot in a common flight path for planes heading to nearby Portland International Jetport, it was likely that the object fell from a plane. '(The police) came to the consensus that they think the only way there possibly could have been that much damage is if it fell from the sky. And the whole time I was thinking: 'Well, how am I going to tell my dad that my car is destroyed by something that fell from the sky?'' Malette told WMTW-TV. He told the TV news station that he was still able to drive his car home, but needs to replace the windshield and bumper. 'If that hit someone, it would have been tragic. Thankfully, it just hit my car in the parking lot,' he said. Police told the Press Herald that the Federal Aviation Administration had been notified of the incident and was investigating. Trump's budget calls for $163B in cuts, hitting health care, education Jrue Holiday injury: Boston Celtics coach gives update before Knicks series Mass. Sens. Warren, Markey call for probe of Trump's call to strip Harvard's tax-exemption Boston Celtics battling unique challenge with Knicks in playoffs Boston city councilors demand answers after child killed by school bus
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine seeks delayed enforcement of Real ID as deadline approaches
May 1—AUGUSTA — State officials are asking the Trump administration to delay the strict enforcement of a requirement that people show a Real ID or equivalent form of identification if they want to fly commercially starting Wednesday. But a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration, which oversees airport security, threw cold water on the request shortly after it was announced Thursday, telling the Press Herald that the administration plans to enforce the law beginning May 7. Beginning Wednesday, Americans will need to present a Real ID, passport or other federally recognized identification to fly on commercial airlines or enter federal buildings. Maine officials worry that the mandate will create travel disruptions and airport delays without a phase-in period to give Maine residents more time to comply. A bipartisan group of Maine lawmakers and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Thursday that they are asking federal authorities to phase in the enforcement and begin by issuing warnings to air travelers without a Real ID or other federally compliant identification, without interfering with their ability to travel. "We are very concerned," Bellows said at a news conference Thursday. "We want Mainers to be able to get to where they need to go." As of April 1, only 27% of the credentials issued by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles were Real IDs, and it can take four weeks for someone to receive a Real ID in the mail after applying, according to state officials, who were mostly worried about people who don't travel frequently, or who need to travel because of an emergency. Maine, along with Washington state, has the third-lowest percentage of residents with Real IDs. Only New Jersey (17%) and Pennsylvania (26%) have lower rates of Real ID uptake, according to an analysis conducted by CBS News. Thirty states have compliance rates under 70%, while a dozen states have rates above 96%. Bellows, along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers serving on the Legislature's Transportation Committee, signed a letter Thursday asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the TSA to issue warnings to people who don't have a federally recognized IDs and allow them to travel. The effort appears to be a long shot. It's not clear whether the federal government is entertaining such requests. And Maine has been targeted for months by the Trump administration for defying the president's executive order on transgender athletes. Bellows said she has spoken with officials from other states who are also worried about travel impacts beginning next week. But she's not aware of any other states joining in Maine's request for a phased implementation of enforcement, or making their own request. "Today, Maine is taking a lead role," Bellows said. TSA NOT RECEPTIVE A TSA spokesperson did not sound open to Maine's request. "The REAL ID Act was passed 20 years ago to address security vulnerability," a spokesperson said in a written statement. "This administration and (the) DHS secretary have determined that it's important that we keep the implementation date of May 7, 2025, and that we enforce the law." Rep. Lydia Crafts, D-Newcastle, said that the TSA has indicated that people without compliant ID may still be allowed to travel, as long as they go through additional security screenings. But Crafts is concerned that such a process would cause longer lines and present a challenge at smaller airports like those in Maine. "We're concerned about the anticipated volume of extra screenings that may overwhelm TSA's capabilities, causing concerns for both safety and traveler convenience," said Crafts, who co-chairs the Transportation Committee. States have had about two decades to prepare for arrival of Real ID, which was introduced in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. But opposition from privacy advocates, including in Maine, has stalled the rollout from its original date of Oct. 1, 2020, to next week. Maine was one of the last states to comply with the federal mandate in 2018. Bellows herself helped lead the charge against the Real ID mandate when she was executive director of the ACLU of Maine and a state senator. But in her current role, she has urged Mainers to comply with the requirement, saying some steps have been taken to address concerns about protecting people's personal information. The request comes as lawmakers are considering a bipartisan bill that would stop the state from issuing any additional Real IDs. That bill, LD 160, sponsored by Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, and five Democrats, was heard April 15, but the committee has yet to take action on it. DELAYS LED TO COMPLACENCY Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Norridgewock, said Maine's resistance to Real ID and repeated delays by the federal government have made many residents complacent. "I kind of relate this to the boy who cried wolf," Farrin said. "I think people got a little complacent. I think we have every intention to comply with Real ID. I just think there's a lot of Mainers, especially those in rural Maine, that have not either taken it seriously, or thought there was going to be another pause." Bellows said BMV staff have been working overtime to handle a surge of applications as the deadline approaches and other staff have been reassigned to help. But the agency is still not able to keep up with the demand, which means some residents may not get their IDs before they need them for travel. "We do think Mainers are making a very good-faith effort," Bellows said. "We see it in the lines at the BMV branches, but we only have so many staff, and we can only issue so many credentials." Bellows encouraged people who don't have immediate travel plans to make an appointment online to skirt the long wait times and obtain the card in the coming months. She said people with an appointment are usually finished within 10 minutes, while those without one could wait hours. Standards for a Real ID are consistent across the 50 states and involve a higher level of verification than standard driver's licenses or IDs. An individual must bring proof of identification and citizenship/lawful status, such as a certified birth certificate, two forms proving residency and a Social Security number. Proof of any legal name changes must also be provided, if applicable. Real IDs, which have digital photos, can be used with facial recognition software. They also require the digital archiving of identity documents such as birth certificates or Social Security numbers. The Real ID license costs about $9 per year, or $10 for older adults; a Real ID nondriver card is $5 a year; and a passport costs $16.50 per year for the first 10 years and $13 annually after that. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Sen. Collins calls hearing on 'harmful' Trump cuts to scientific research
Apr. 30—U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, criticized the Trump administration for cutbacks to biomedical research during an interview with the Press Herald before a Senate committee hearing on the cuts Wednesday morning. The Senate Appropriations Committee, which Collins chairs, is hearing testimony from scientists at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C., including from Dr. Hermann Haller, president of Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Maine. Research labs in Maine and across the country have detailed the devastating impacts of reductions in research funding at the National Institutes of Health. "For the administration to abruptly cancel grants and slash federal funding with little or no justification clearly puts our nation's leadership in biomedical research in jeopardy," Collins said in an interview this week. "It must be reversed." Collins said the United States is the global leader in scientific research, but the cuts put the nation "at risk of losing that leadership to China. That should be a call for alarm." The cuts have been in the form of caps on indirect costs — such as funding for overhead and scientific equipment — to NIH research grants, which scientists have said will devastate ongoing research trials. Those cutbacks are being fought in federal court, and the case is pending. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention laid off about 40 subcontracted employees after $91 million in federal cutbacks as part of a nationwide cut to state and local health agencies. The Trump administration has also terminated thousands of employees, including about 1,200 at NIH, and about 10,000 across the entire U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with more layoffs expected this summer. "The administration continues to make what I believe are very harmful cuts in personnel at NIH, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), all of the key health care agencies," Collins said. The myriad cutbacks, and also the uncertainty in U.S. immigration policies, could affect how many young scientists decide to come to the U.S. to study at American universities, Collins said. "I worry that we are going to lose our top researchers and scientists to other countries," Collins said. While she supports vetting of students who come to the U.S. to study, "they are, in general, the people we want to stay here." "I'm worried the younger people may decide that the support is not there for the research they want to conduct," Collins said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist who is the Trump administration's HHS secretary, is slated to testify before the appropriations committee in May. Collins said Kennedy's performance so far is "mixed" and she has made her case to him in person about the negative impacts of the research cutbacks. Collins said Kennedy has been "very receptive when I call" and that she's not sure the cutbacks "are his preferences, or if they've been imposed on him by OMB (Office of Management and Budget)." The hearing is being livestreamed this morning. This story will be updated. Copy the Story Link
