Central Maine News: Sept 25, 2015

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

Lewiston's mayor wants to create an online registry of Maine residents who receive welfare benefits. Republican Mayor Robert Macdonald wrote in a column in the Twin City Times that if the public can find out information about public pensions, they should be able to do the same for welfare recipients. He says they'll be submitting a bill asking that a website be created containing the names, addresses, length of time on assistance and the benefits being collected by every individual on the dole.He says he plans to also resubmit a bill that would limit an emergency benefit program to 60 months over a person's lifetime and another prohibiting the state from paying benefits for any additional child born after the recipient has been accepted into general assistance. (AP)

A New Hampshire man convicted of putting his girlfriend's son in a clothes dryer in Maine and turning it on has been sentenced to three years in prison. Adam Morton of Berlin, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty to an aggravated assault charge earlier this year in Bangor.Morton told investigators he put the boy in the dryer at his girlfriend's home in August 2014 while she was at work. A doctor who examined the boy said he was in the dryer for a prolonged period of time. The boy suffered second-degree burns and blisters on his back, arms and feet. (AP)

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association's annual celebration of rural Maine living and agriculture is getting under way in Unity.The Common Ground Country Fair begins today and will run until Sunday evening. The event draws more than 50,000 visitors every year. The fair puts an emphasis on workshops and conferences about farming, gardening and environmentally conscious practices. The first Common Ground was held in 1977. (AP)

Students from Spruce Mountain High School in Jay picked hundreds of pounds of apples at Shackley Hill Orchard on Thursday for distribution to needy families. The apples will be split between Tri-Town Ministerial Food Bank and the Fayette Baptist Church. According to the Sun Jouranl Barbara Jewett  students in the Jobs for Maine's Graduates program at the high school took part in the community service project. The others were from the Life Skills program. (Sun Journal)

State employees whose positions are all or partially funded with federal government money have received layoff notices effective Sept. 30, but a spokesman for the state’s finance department said Thursday that the layoffs will be rescinded if Congress can reach a budget deal. According to the Bangor Daily News 55 employees received a layoff letter this week because the state’s contracts with labor unions requires it. Most of the affected employees work in the Department of Health and Human Services. (Bangor Daily News)

Augusta City councilors spoke against instituting pay-as-you-throw trash collection and expressed interest in other ways of increasing recycling only if they can be done on the cheap. According to the KJ, Councilors  discussed several new recycling and trash-handling options, including weekly pay-as-you-throw trash collection paired with free single-stream recycling, a system adopted last year in Waterville. at least five of the seven councilors expressed reservations, and in some cases absolute opposition, to requiring residents to buy special bags to be able to throw trash away in Augusta as would be required in a pay-as-you-throw program. (centralmaine.com)

The Waterville School Department won’t release a redacted copy of a letter sent to high school principal Don Reiter to inform him that he was placed on paid leave. Superintendent Eric Haley earlier this week said he would release a redacted version of the letter to the Morning Sentinel, which requested the document under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. But in an email  the district attorney said they can’t release the letter because of state law that protects confidential personnel records.  Reiter was put on paid administrative leave Sept. 1, but school officials will not say why. The school district has conducted an internal investigation over the course of the month alongside a separate police investigation. The district and police have not provided information about the nature of the investigation, but it has indicated it has to do with allegations involving another person. (centralmaine.com)

Forecasters say crews will have to wait for daybreak before they can assess the damage from a storm that hit the Charleston, South Carolina area overnight. The National Weather Service says it was likely a tornado that ripped the siding off homes and downed trees. Most of the reported damage is in the West Ashley and Johns Island areas. No injuries have been reported. (AP)

Pope Francis has a busy schedule today in New York. And part of the day he'll be speaking to world leaders gathered for a U.N. General Assembly summit to adopt new global goals to fight poverty and preserve the environment. The Vatican says Francis is expected to discuss the need for peace, the plight of refugees and the role of poverty and bad government in driving conflict and migration. (AP)

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) will wade into issues such as China's cyberspying in the U.S. and Beijing's territorial disputes in the Asian Pacific when they meet today. U.S. officials say Obama and Xi also will release a joint statement on climate change, fleshing out how they'll achieve targets for cutting carbon emissions set at a summit in Beijing last year. But there's also White House pageantry as Obama hosts Xi for a grand state visit, including a glitzy black-tie dinner. (AP)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could announce today sweeping changes to the way it tests for diesel emissions. The changes come following Volkswagen's admission that it used clandestine software in millions of its diesel engines to cheat vehicle emissions tests. Meanwhile, Volkswagen's supervisory board is meeting today to discuss who to name as CEO after Martin Winterkorn quit the job this week. (AP)

Bill Cosby has been stripped of his honorary degrees from Fordham and Marquette universities. Both Jesuit schools say it's is the first time they've rescinded an honorary degree. Cosby admitted having extramarital relationships with several women, including some who now accuse him of sexual assault. He has never been charged with a crime. Central State University, Temple University and Spelman College also have distanced themselves from the comedian. (AP)