Category Archives: Maine

Three Indigenous American tribes to get funding to manage ocean and coasts

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Communities in Washington, California and Maine will receive $755,000 under the Infrastructure Act to build climate resilience

This month, three Indigenous American tribes on the west and east coasts will collectively receive nearly $755,000 in federal funding to manage ocean and coastal problems, as well as engage in partnerships to offset the effects of climate crisis in their regions. The tribes’ projects will blend together Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to build innovative strategies around coastal resilience.

On Monday, the federal agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and the US Department of Commerce announced that the Makah Tribe in Washington, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in California and the Penobscot Nation in Maine will be individually awarded between $200,000 and $290,000 for their two-year projects. The funding comes from the Biden administration’s bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which provided Noaa with nearly $3bn to facilitate environmental stewardship, build climate-resilient coasts and support infrastructure around weather forecasting from 2022 to 2026.

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‘I get emotional thinking about it’: US and Canada ready for total solar eclipse

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Cities expect huge crowds with millions gathering in 115-mile wide ‘path of totality’ for Monday’s exceptionally large and long eclipse

Should the weather gods grant their blessing, a celestial show for the ages will darken the heavens over a large swathe of the US from Texas to Maine on Monday, giving tens of millions of people a grandstand view of a rare phenomenon being billed as “the Great American Eclipse”.

It will be another 20 years until the next total solar eclipse can be viewed anywhere in the contiguous US, lending extra incentive for many who live outside the 115-mile wide “path of totality” to travel in and experience the moments of twilight, stillness and a sudden temperature drop the event will bring.

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Police had cause to detain gunman before deadly Maine shooting last year – report

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Before Robert Card killed 18 last year, police had opportunity to seize his guns and place him in custody after several incidents

Law enforcement should have seized a man’s guns and put him in protective custody weeks before he committed Maine’s deadliest mass shooting, a report found Friday.

An independent commission has been reviewing the events that led up to army reservist Robert Card killing 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston on 25 October, as well as the subsequent response.

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Super Tuesday 2024 live: millions of voters head to polls in the US as Haley suggests she could stay in the race

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Donald Trump looks all but certain of Republican presidential nomination as Nikki Haley rejects suggestions of third-party bid and says she may keep fighting

Over at CNN, Ronald Brownstein has an analysis piece which looks a little at the potential weakness of Donald Trump support away from his core base. Brownstein writes:

[Trump’s] performance so far reflects his success at transforming the Republican Party in his image. He’s reshaped the Republicans into a more blue-collar, populist and pugnacious party, focused more on his volatile blend of resentments against elites and cultural and racial change than the Ronald Reagan-era priorities of smaller government and active global leadership that former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley has stressed.

But while the primaries have underscored Trump’s grip on the GOP, they have also demonstrated continued vulnerability for him in the areas where he has labored since he first announced his candidacy in 2015 – particularly among the white-collar suburban voters who mostly leaned toward the GOP before his emergence. The early 2024 nominating contests have shown that a substantial minority of Republican-leaning voters remain resistant to Trump’s vision.

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Winter storm brings heavy snow and freezing rain to parts of US north-east

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Meanwhile, Sierra Nevada storm with heavy snow in the west shut down a stretch of interstate and leaves thousands without power

A major winter storm bringing heavy snow and freezing rain to some communities spread across New England on Sunday morning, sending residents scurrying to pull out their shovels and snowblowers to clear sidewalks and driveways.

Winter storm warnings and watches were in effect throughout the north-east, and icy roads made for hazardous travel as far south as North Carolina.

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Maine secretary of state targeted in ‘swatting’ call after removing Trump from ballot

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Shenna Bellows is latest politician to be victim of fake emergency call to police with the intent they will show up at a residence

A fake emergency call to police resulted in officers responding Friday night to the home of Maine’s secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, just a day after she removed Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the US constitution’s insurrection clause.

She becomes the latest elected politician to become a target of swatting, which involves making a phone call to emergency services with the intent that a large first responder presence, including Swat teams, will show up at a residence.

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US supreme court under pressure to rule swiftly on states’ Trump ballot bans

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Court faces pressure to rule on Maine and Colorado’s decisions preventing ex-president from appearing on presidential ballots

A decision by Maine’s secretary of state to prevent former president Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s presidential election ballot will now probably end up before the US supreme court. Maine’s move follows a similar decision in Colorado this month.

There is mounting pressure on the conservative-leaning judicial body to swiftly rule on Maine and Colorado’s application of section 3 of the 14th amendment prohibiting anyone who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. But neither decision will be the last ballot eruption in an already convulsive election which is likely to see a rematch of Trump versus Joe Biden.

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‘Gut punch’ US north-eastern storm leaves at least six people dead

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Deadly winter storm leaves hundreds of thousands without power and deposits flooding and freezing temperatures in its wake

At least six people were killed and hundreds of thousands were left without power as a deadly winter storm swept across the north-eastern US on Monday, depositing flooding and freezing temperatures in its wake.

Two of the deaths were in Maine in separate cases involving fallen trees, authorities said. Other deaths were reported in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and New York.

Associated Press contributed reporting

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‘We will heal together’: Maine residents relieved as shooter found dead

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After three days of lockdown, fear and grief, residents of Lewiston and Lisbon prepare to move forward as manhunt ends

The terrified residents of Lewiston, Maine, were afforded a sense of relief amid their shock and grief on Saturday after the “armed and dangerous” gunman who had kept them on lockdown since killing 18 people on Wednesday was found dead.

The body of suspected shooter Robert Card, 40, was found on Friday evening near a recycling area 10 miles from Lewiston, with what the authorities confirmed on Saturday was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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Maine shootings: gunman suspected of killing 18 people found dead

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Army reservist Robert Card, 40, was suspected in two shootings that also injured 13 in Lewiston on Wednesday night

A suspect in the killing of 18 people and wounding of 13 in two mass shootings in Maine has been found dead, according to the Associated Press, after authorities issued arrest warrants for multiple counts of murder and launched a huge manhunt for him.

Robert Card, who was wanted in connection with the shootings at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Lewiston, is believed to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a law enforcement official told the AP.

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Maine shootings: ‘more and more concern’ as search for suspect goes on

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Shelter in place order for the region rescinded almost 48 hours after the shooting even as ban on hunting continues on

Maine authorities continued a massive manhunt on the second day of their intensive search for an army reservist accused of fatally shooting 18 people and wounding 13 at a bowling alley and a bar in the town of Lewiston.

People scoured the woods and searched hundreds of acres of family-owned property. They event sent dive teams with sonar to the bottom of a local river and scrutinized a possible suicide note as they hunted for Robert Card who disappeared shortly after the massacre.

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Maine shooting: police lift shelter in place as search continues for suspected shooter – as it happened

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Maine police diving team searches Androscoggin river with air support overhead

Sauschuck said that law enforcement is going to be “putting divers in the water along the Androscoggin River”.

He added that the divers will be checking for evidence and for “potential bodies”.

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Maine shooting victims included parents, bowlers and members of the deaf community

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Gunman killed 18 people in attacks at a restaurant and a bowling alley, and details are now emerging of those who died

The mass shooting in Maine left 18 people dead in attacks by a gunman at a restaurant and a bowling alley in Lewiston on Wednesday night.

The fatalities included an avid bowler, staff at the alley and at the eatery – one of whom ran at the shooter with a knife to try to stop him – parents, a group from the local deaf community gathering for a games night, and a father and son. The ages of those so far confirmed dead range from 14 to 76, while many others were wounded.

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Maine suspect’s family reportedly working with law enforcement as massive manhunt under way – as it happened

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At least 18 people were killed and 13 injured after a gunman opened fire in two locations in Lewiston, Maine. This blog is now closed; please read the following story for more information.

The Associated Press, citing anonymous law enforcement officials, is reporting that at least 16 people have been killed in the Lewiston shootings. Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press dozens of people also had been wounded.

Local officials continue to encourage people in Lewiston to lock their doors and shelter in place. A county wide alert was sent out in the last hour.

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Maine shootings: at least 16 people dead and dozens injured, police say

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Local authorities say agencies are investigating ‘two active shooter events’ as police warn residents to shelter in place

At least 16 people were killed in Wednesday night shootings at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, police say, sending the state’s second-largest city into despair.

It appeared there were incidents at two locations and that the shooter remained at large late into the evening as the city was on lockdown.

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Maine mass shooting: what we know so far

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At least 16 reported killed, dozens wounded in Lewiston shooting; police warn residents to stay inside as they search for gunman

At least 16 people have been reported killed and dozens wounded after a gunman opening fire at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, the second-largest city in Maine, on Wednesday evening.

Hours later, police were still looking for the suspect. Lewiston police named Robert Card as a “person of interest” and said he should be considered “armed and dangerous”.

Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of the suspect on its Facebook page that showed a shooter walking into an establishment with a weapon raised to their shoulder.

City authorities asked residents to stay inside with their doors locked and to keep off the roads to allow emergency responders to get to hospitals.

Central Maine Medical Center said its staff were “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event” and were coordinating with area hospitals to take in patients. The hospital itself is also in lockdown.

Police identified the establishments where the shootings took place at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley, and then Schemengees Bar and Grille, about 4 miles (6.4km) away.

Shots were initially heard at about 7pm local time and the first alert for Lewiston was made shortly after 8pm as the sheriff’s office reported that law enforcement agencies were investigating “two active shooter events”. Officials issued an update around 10pm for what they described as a manhunt.

Local schools will be closed on Thursday and people should shelter in place or seek safety, superintendent Jake Langlais said.

US president Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and offered full federal support to the state, a White House official said.

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Power outages and one death as Storm Lee swings away from Canadian coast

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Tens of thousands without power in New England and Nova Scotia as other potentially dangerous tempests hover over the Atlantic

Tens of thousands in New England and Canada remained without power on Sunday morning after the deadly storm Lee struck Nova Scotia on Saturday afternoon as a post-tropical cyclone.

In Nova Scotia, nearly 100,000 customers were without power, according to PowerOutage.com. The US state of Maine was dealing with about 40,000 outages as of Sunday morning, and New Brunswick had about 12,000, the website also said.

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Tropical cyclone Lee makes landfall in Nova Scotia as thousands lose power

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Storm expected to approach New Brunswick, bringing winds of 70mph and relentless rainfall

Post-tropical cyclone Lee made landfall in Nova Scotia, Canada, on Saturday afternoon hours after it battered New England and eastern Canada with powerful winds and rains.

The storm cut off electricity to tens of thousands and inundated coastal roads in Nova Scotia, and left at least one person dead, according to the Associated Press. The 51-year-old man died after a tree limb fell onto his vehicle as he was driving in Searsport, Maine. The tree felled live power lines and workers had to turn off electricity before the man could be taken from his vehicle. He died at a hospital.

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Biden approves state of emergency for Maine as Hurricane Lee approaches

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Canada issues hurricane watch for parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with storm expected to bring high winds and flooding

Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in Maine as Hurricane Lee rapidly approaches the north-easternmost US state amid the likelihood of a landfall there or more likely in Canada over the weekend.

About 7 million people are now under tropical storm warnings across Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Canadian Hurricane Center also issued a hurricane watch for parts of the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

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Maine and Atlantic Canada face flood warnings as Hurricane Lee heads north

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Storm, which has already brought strong winds and heavy rain to Bermuda, is weakening in strength but expanding in size

Parts of coastal New England and Atlantic Canada are under a tropical storm watch this week as Hurricane Lee continues on its path upward.

With maximum sustained winds of up to 100mph, Lee was 265 miles south-west of Bermuda as of Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said.

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