Things You Need to Know: Camden Windjammer Festival + Harvey’s Death Toll to 39 in TX
Here are the things you need to know today......
Mary Nash Beaupre memory is lives on as workers build a living tribute to her and benefiting Waterville children. According to WGME she was a long-time volunteer at the Alfond Youth Center. In her memory bio-dome to grow fruit and vegetables year round is being built. It should row three to five tons of food a year and its first crops should be ready for harvesting this fall.
Its Labor Day weekend. Drive safe. SO far this year 99 people have died on Maine. According to WCSH 21 of deaths happened during August. That is a 57% increase over August 2016, when 12 people died in crashes. Last year five people died on Maine roads over Labor Day weekend.
A 16 year old and her 12 year old brother were seriously injured in a car crash yesterday morning on their way to the school. According to WMTW the teen turned onto Rt 27 in front of a dump truck.
Two of Maine's largest unions for state workers approved two-year contracts. According to centralmaine.com it has a 6% increase and eliminates mandatory union fees for state workers. Joining and paying the dues will be voluntary.
From the Associated Press:
Beer enthusiasts are flocking to the Maine city of Skowhegan for a craft beer festival this weekend. The Portland Press Herald reports the second annual Skowhegan Craft Brew Festival will kick off at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Main Street Skowhegan, a nonprofit group, is sponsoring the event.
A Maine business best known for tradition is celebrating its 150th anniversary. WCSH-TV reports B&M is celebrating 150 years of canning baked beans. The Maine company was founded by George Burnham and his partner Charles Morrill in 1867 and still uses some of the same methods for cooking it started with.
Maine's historic fleet of windjammers is on display at the annual Camden Windjammer Festival. The festival kicks off Friday with the arrival of more than a dozen windjammers and an evening capped by fireworks on the waterfront. The event continues through Sunday with events including a lobster crate race, fish head relay, build-a-boat contest and pirate encampment.
A conservationist who worked to protect mountains and lakes in Maine has died. Alan Hutchinson was 70. The Portland Press Herald reports that during his 20 years as executive director of the Forest Society of Maine, Hutchinson played a major role in conserving more than 1 million acres.
Maine's Republican governor is asking President Donald Trump's administration to ease up on stiff softwood lumber tariffs that he says are creating "devastating" job losses. Softwood lumber, such as spruce, pine and fir, is used for everything from home construction to newspapers. The Trump administration has argued Canada unfairly subsidizes its softwood lumber industry.
Former independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler has resigned from his job aimed at creating a new graduate center in southern Maine. George Campbell, president of the University of Southern Maine Foundation, will be the interim CEO of the new graduate center at the University of Southern Maine.
Authorities are raising Harvey's death toll to 39 almost a week after the storm slammed into the Texas coast. Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences spokeswoman Tricia Bentley said Thursday night that the office has confirmed seven more storm-related deaths. Harris County is home to Houston and has so far accounted for 25 deaths from the storm.
A spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal says officials are still monitoring a chemical plant near Houston after one fire and explosion occurred at the flooded facility. Owners of the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby warned that more explosions could follow due to a loss of refrigeration that's causing chemicals stored there to degrade and burn. Spokeswoman Rachel Moreno says they're uncertain about water levels at the plant because they aren't sending first responders beyond the buffer zone.
Some Harvey victims lost their lives trying to save other people. Others died doing their best to survive the storm. They range from 6 years old to 89. Their stories are emerging even as the death toll continues to mount. One man used his last words to save a friend's life, warning him away from a live electrical wire. Another died checking on his uncle. Several others were last seen helping people out of floodwaters.
Some 16,000 Muslims from the United States are in Saudi Arabia this week to perform the hajj pilgrimage, one of Islam's most sacred experiences. If the hajj is performed with sincere intentions, Muslims believe it can wipe away past sins, purify the soul and alleviate worldly stresses. This year, however, Muslims say they have never been more anxious traveling abroad.
The whereabouts of a fugitive heir to the Red Bull fortune remain a mystery just as the statute of limitations on a hit-and-run charge is set to expire. Two sources with knowledge of the investigation told the AP that Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya's (VOHR'-ay-oot yoo-VIHD'-yuhz) last known location was Taiwan, but he left the island in May. Vorayuth is accused of killing a Bangkok motorcycle police officer in 2012. The hit-and-run charge expires Sunday, leaving only a count of causing death by reckless driving.
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