Central Maine News: August 7, 2015

These are some of the stories central Maine is talking about today.

Maine's highest court says that dozens of bills that Republican Gov. Paul LePage opposed are law after the governor missed his chance to veto them. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court sided Thursday with legislative leadership and rejected LePage's argument that the requirement that he act on bills within 10 days didn't apply in this instance because lawmakers had adjourned at the end of June. Lawmakers had been planning all along to return in July. In its unanimous advisory opinion, the court said that the Legislature's temporary adjournment didn't prevent the governor from returning the vetoed bills to the chambers. LePage said he's thankful that the issue has been resolved and looks forward to moving on. He said it wasn't about winning or losing, but "doing things right." (AP)

A rally of supporters of retiring the Indians sports mascot at Skowhegan Area High School was mostly quiet Thursday night in Skowhegan as the River Fest actives were underway, but there was no doubt that two opposing camps were present during Moonlight Madness.  According to the KJ, there was a rally in support of the name change. Supporters of keeping the nickname and mascot attended Moonlight Madness wearing T-shirts proclaiming “I bleed orange & black — Skowhegan Indian pride,” The issue of removing the Indians mascot and nickname from Skowhegan Area High School, the last high school in the state to have it, has been a contentious for months. (centralmaine.com)

Authorities are trying to determine what caused an ammonia leak at the Poland Spring bottling plant in Poland, Maine. Nestle Waters North American said the plant had to be evacuated on Thursday because of the leak and that two employees who complained of headaches were taken to the hospital. Both employees have been released from the hospital. The company says that its bottled water currently in the marketplace is unaffected and safe to drink. Nestle says that the leak is no longer active and that employees are being allowed to re-enter the facility. It's working with the Poland Fire Department and others officials to pinpoint the cause of the leak. Ammonia, which is commonly used in refrigeration, can cause burns. It can also be fatal if inhaled. (AP)

Maine is recruiting citizen scientists to help take a census of bumblebees that officials say is important to protect important crops like blueberries and cranberries. State biologists say Maine has 17 known native bumblebee species, and four of them are known to be in decline. Officials say a multi-year statewide survey will better assess the population, range and abundance of the bees. Bumblebees are key pollinators of some of the state's signature crops, like blueberries. Officials and University of Maine scientists say the bees that are in decline have suffered from habitat loss, pesticides and diseases and parasites introduced through commercially-raised bumblebees. A training session for citizen scientists was held in July and the next one will be spring 2016. The project is expected to last five years. (AP)

The LePage administration is considering a program to help foreign investors get green cards if they invest in projects that create jobs. The investment program, called EB-5, provides visas to individuals who invest $1 million, or half of that sum in an area with high unemployment. The Portland Press Herald reports that the administration's interest in the program emerged last week after a group of Chinese investors announced plans to convert a dilapidated shoe factory in Auburn into a health and wellness hotel aligned with Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. The program was authorized by Congress in 1990 but never successfully implemented in Maine. If the program is implemented, then Maine would be the third state to do so. (AP)

Police are using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs as they search around a mobile home in Canton, Maine, for a teenager who was last seen in 1986. State Police Sgt. Mark Holmquist tells the Sun Journal that officers are prepared to search five acres on property owned by one the last men seen with Kimberly Moreau. Moreau was 17 when she was last seen the night of May 9, 1986, when she left her home in Jay. Police suspect foul play and she is presumed dead, but her remains have not been found and nobody has been charged. Her father said there were rumors his daughter attended a party the night she disappeared. He says he doesn't believe anyone intentionally harmed her, but he needs to know what happened. (AP)

Economists are predicting that when the government releases July unemployment figures Friday morning, they'll show another month of solid gains. Experts surveyed by FactSet say employers likely added 225,000 jobs last month, keeping the jobless rate at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent. (AP)

Donald Trump is warning that he might run as an independent if he doesn't get the Republican nomination. At Thursday night's Republican presidential debate in Cleveland, Trump said he couldn't rule out a third-party run. On stage in his home state, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sik) said that while he favors traditional marriage, he recently attended a same-sex wedding and would support his children if they were gay. (AP)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton says she's often left in a "state of disbelief" from what she hears from some of her 2016 rivals. Speaking in Los Angeles to a group of home-care aides, Clinton expressed dismay with those who would oppose improvements for lower-wage workers, saying "I would like them to just walk in your shoes for a week." Clinton says, "We've got people, well let's just say we've got people running for president, who I don't know what world they live in." (AP)

The No. 3 Democrat in the Senate says he will oppose the Iran nuclear deal. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer says he reached the decision after "deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching." Schumer's decision is a blow to the administration, though it remains to be seen how many other Democratic lawmakers follow him. New York Congressman Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also says he'll oppose the deal. (AP)

A French woman who was kidnapped in Yemen in February has been freed. France says Isabelle Prime had been working in Yemen for the World Bank for about a year when she was abducted. Officials say the 31-year-old is now in the hands of French authorities and will be returned to France "in the coming hours." Earlier this year, a video surfaced showing Prime pleading for help. In the video, she appeared frail and anguished, and she urged the leaders of France and Yemen to allow her to return to France. (AP)