Central Maine News: June 11, 2015

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

A week before Maine lawmakers are supposed to head home for the summer, a budget deal that will keep state government open at the end of the month remains elusive. Legislative leaders have been meeting for days to try to reach a budget agreement with income tax cuts and welfare changes sought by House Republicans. By Wednesday afternoon, all four legislative leaders appeared to be back at the negotiating table. House Speaker Mark Eves said they met but remain far apart on key issues.  (AP)

A series of three bomb threats in a week at Cony High School in Augusta has led some parents to keep their students at home and others to question whether the school district is communicating enough with parents. According to the KJ, police said the three threats were similar in that they were written and referred to a bomb, but police are currently investigating them as three separate incidents and officials they have taken them all seriously. Because of all of this the school department is holding a public forum at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the high school to discuss the issue. (centralmaine.com)

Maine officials say a school bus and a car have collided head-on in New Gloucester. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office says a 59-year-old man went off the road, he overcorrected and crossed into the path of the school bus. The sheriff's office says the car driver suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to Central Maine Medical Center. The bus driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The sheriff's office says the 10 children on the bus, ages 9 and 10, weren't. (AP)

The children of an Augusta woman who was hiking in Nepal when an earthquake struck the nation have acknowledged that their mother is likely dead. Dawn Habash has not been seen since the April 25 earthquake, which killed thousands. Her adult children said on Khaled's Facebook page that "With the heaviest of hearts, our family acknowledges that our sweet, radiant Mumma Habash has passed away in the Nepal earthquake and subsequent avalanche in Langtang village."
Her body has not been found. Dawn Habash was visiting Nepal for the fourth time. (AP)

Gov. Paul LePage says he wants to use surplus revenue from timber harvests on public lands to defray heating costs for low-income residents. The state's Public Reserved Lands Management Fund receives revenue from the sale of timber from public lands. LePage says the fund has a balance of about $8 million because of higher prices for timber cut on Maine public lands and a higher cut level. The governor is calling for the Legislature to support a bill that would establish the Affordable Heating from Maine's Forests Fund. LePage says the fund would allow the transfer of money from the Public Reserved Lands Management Fund to Efficient Maine Trust to lower heating costs for rural and low-income households. (AP)

A Maine bill aimed at encouraging minors to seek help when someone is at risk of an alcohol overdose will go into law. The Senate overrode Gov. Paul LePage's veto of the bill with a 26-9. The House voted to overturn his veto. They provide minors with a defense against prosecution under alcohol beverage laws when they or someone else needs medical attention. Supporters say minors are often too scared to call for help because they fear they will face legal repercussions for underage drinking. LePage said in his veto message that the bill would contribute to the "growing pattern of babying" children. He said he can't support legislation that "pampers children who engaged in illegal behavior." (AP)

Officials admit they have "no information" on the two convicted killers who escaped from an upstate New York maximum-security prison last weekend. They expanded the search to neighboring Vermont on Wednesday, but New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico says, "I have no information on where they are or what they're doing, to be honest with you." Another search started Wednesday night that's closer to the Clinton Correctional Facility, where the men escaped. (AP)

Acura says some 48,000 of its SUVs could have a problem with their automatic emergency braking system. Acura says the braking system could mistakenly read an iron fence or a metal guardrail as a car that's in front of the SUV, and it could automatically apply the brakes. Acura is recalling its MDX and RLX SUVs made in 2014 and 2015. (AP)

A landslide triggered by heavy rainfall has buried six villages in Nepal's mountainous northeast. At least 15 people sleeping in their homes are believed to have been killed and another 12 are missing. An official says the landslide hit during the night about 310 miles east of the capital, Kathmandu. (AP)

The Mexican government says it regrets the decision by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to sign into law an $800 million border security package that will mean more state troopers, cameras and a spy plane to patrol the U.S. state's 1,200-mile border with Mexico. One of the provisions will toughen punishments for convicted human traffickers. Mexico's Foreign Relations Department says the new law will "promote division between our societies, and runs contrary to the principles and values governing the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship." (AP)