Things You Need to Know Today: Airbnb to Start Collecting Maine Lodging Tax

Here are the things you need to  know today......

Airbnb will start collecting Maine 9% lodging tax from its customers. According to WGME they have a deal to collect and turn over that tax for their hosts in Maine. Maine Airbnb hosts in Maine did more than $26 million last year. (more info)

Centralmaine.com is reporting that the Winthrop Post Office fire was accidental and probably an electrical or mechanical issue. They don't know the exact cause but there was no foul play. They plan to rebuild in the same location.

A Richmond man has been charged with manslaughter in the beating death of his father. Centralmaine.com reports  Kurt M. Linton was charged with aggravated assault. The father, Malcolm Linton, 76, was assaulted Feb. 9 in his home and died Feb. 22 at MaineGeneral.

From the Associated Press:

Maine's towns and state legislators tackle the subject of marijuana legalization in separate events. The Legislature's Marijuana Implementation Committee is took public comment on Tuesday in Augusta on subjects such as how to regulate and tax the substance. Also Tuesday, the Maine Municipal Association held an event called "Lifting the Haze: Marijuana and Legal Considerations."  (More from Centralmaine.com)

The warmth is about to come to an end but not before one last hurrah in northern New England. The National Weather Service says the temperature on Wednesday is expected to approach record highs of 58 in Portland, Maine, and 65 in Concord, New Hampshire. But the temperatures will begin dropping and will be topping out in the 20s and 30s this weekend.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins is among a group of senators that wants older workers to have more options in battling discrimination at work. Collins, a Republican, is helping introduce the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. The senators say the proposal would give older workers the ability to take legal action if age discrimination affects their professional opportunities.

An Iraqi immigrant whose return to Maine was delayed by President Donald Trump's travel ban received a warm welcome from his defense secretary his address to Congress. Banah Al-Hanfy was a guest of Rep. Chellie Pingree. The Maine Democrat tweeted a photo of the 20-year-old college student meeting Gen. James Mattis at the Capitol. She wrote that Mattis told Al-Hanfy, "you are most welcome here."

A nonprofit group has been formed to preserve and protect the newly-designated national monument in Maine. The private group, called Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, plans to work collaboratively with the National Park Service, which manages the monument.

At the urging of the Pentagon and State Department, President Donald Trump is removing Iraq from his travel ban list. Trump is expected to issue a new executive order as soon as Wednesday, and U.S. officials say it would continue to call for keeping citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States. The officials say the bans are effective for 90 days.

President Donald Trump has told Congress that there should be bipartisan cooperation on women's health, clean air and water, infrastructure and the military. The president made the appeal in an address to a joint session of Congress. But he also called for actions on which there are deep divisions including the repeal and replacement of "Obamacare."

President Donald Trump is pledging to vigorously target people living in the U.S. illegally who "threaten our communities" and prey on "innocent citizens." But also in his address to Congress Tuesday night, Trump said he believes that "real and positive immigration reform is possible," and he called on Republicans and Democrats to "work together to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades."

Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is accusing President Donald Trump of planning to "rip affordable health insurance" from Americans and being "Wall Street's champion." In the Democratic response to Trump's speech to Congress, Beshear also accused Trump for "ignoring serious threats to our national security from Russia, who's not our friend, while alienating our allies."

A judge in California will decide Wednesday whether to free the widow of the gunman who killed dozens of people at a Florida nightclub. Noor Salman faces trial for allegedly helping husband Omar Mateen in his attack, and for allegedly lying to investigators after the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Prosecutors argue that releasing Salman as she awaits trial creates a danger to the public.

The California Department of Water Resources says the state is on track for one of the wettest winters on record after five years of drought. Water managers in the Sierra Nevada will manually measure California's snowpack on Wednesday. The snowpack is vital because it provides one-third of the state's water to homes and farms when it melts. On Tuesday, electronic monitors showed the snowpack was at 186 percent of normal for this time of year.