Things You Need to Know: LePage Said He Will Block Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansion
Here are the things you need to know today......
Most of Maine’s electricity customers will pay higher rates next year. According to the Bangor Daily News the new standard offer rate come after a recent review from the PUC and is not related to the recent storm.
Gov LePage said he will block voter-approved Medicaid expansion unless lawmakers fund it. According to centralmaine.com they would have to do that without raising taxes or surplus funds.
From the Associated Press:
A body found last week in the woods in Maine has been identified as a man wanted for sexually assaulting a child. Lewiston police said Wednesday that a medical examiner had confirmed the remains found in Rockport were those of 45-year-old Kevin Mitchell. Police say Mitchell sexually assaulted a child under the age of 12 from December 2016 to April of this year. The Sun Journal reports that he had been listed as a missing person since May, when his car was found in Union. His badly decomposed body was discovered by a hunter. Police did not disclose his cause of death.
Northern Maine already had a dusting of snow. Now the season's first accumulation is expected. The National Weather Service says up to 3 inches of snow is expected Thursday night as the temperature drops into the 20s. Northern Maine typically sees its first snowfall in October, but the entire state was basking in record warmth last month.
The bipartisan group No Labels is getting a boost from Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The senators have been selected honorary co-chairs of the group. Former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut says the goal of No Labels is to counter "rising political extremism with an aggressive bipartisan push to solve problems."
A federal agency is confirming what many New Englanders already suspected: October was the warmest on record in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The nationwide statistics were released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Lawyers have struck a deal in a review of a 28-year-old murder case that will allow a man convicted of the killing to go free. Anthony Sanborn Jr., served 27 years for the 1989 murder of 16-year-old Jessica Briggs. Prosecutors and defense attorneys reached a deal on Wednesday designed to keep Sanborn out of prison. The deal ends 21 days of review hearings.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed hopes that China and the U.S. can maintain a "healthy, stable and growing" relationship, pledging to expand talks between the countries' militaries and cooperation in law enforcement and cybersecurity. Xi was delivering prepared remarks to reporters alongside President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
North Korea, ever so cautiously, is going online. A two-tiered system allows the elite and hackers to surf with relative freedom, but the masses are kept inside a national intranet, sealed off from the outside world and carefully surveilled. While maintaining one of the world's lowest online profiles, North Korea's response to the IT revolution has been sophisticated and strategic. And as it enforces tightly controlled connectivity at home, its ability to create chaos abroad is growing fast.
A crowd turned out a memorial service on Wednesday night for the victims of Sunday's massacre at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The gathering was held at a high school stadium in nearby Floresville. The program included a hymn and comments from politicians including Vice President Mike Pence, who called the gunman "deranged." Some in the crowd cheered for one of the men who shot at and pursed the attacker.
There's more fallout over sexual harassment allegations against Kevin Spacey. The actor has been cut from Ridley Scott's finished film "All the Money in the World," which is scheduled to be released Dec. 22. Christopher Plummer will replace Spacey. The movie was to have its world premiere at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Nov. 16 but was pulled earlier this week. Spacey also was fired from the Netflix series "House of Cards" and was dropped by his talent agency and publicist.
Democrats are hoping their success in governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia will translate into a long-term electoral impact for 'the Trump resistance.' The results may also make it harder for President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress to overhaul the nation's tax laws, as swing-state Republicans may now see that as politically risky.
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