Central Maine News: Meals on Wheels Feeling the Pinch of Federal Cuts

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

Federal and state officials in Maine say cold weather is preventing ice and snow from melting, causing the potential for spring flooding to grow each week. Colder-than-normal temperatures are projected through the end of the month, preventing significant melting. The Coast Guard said the ice was so thick on the Penobscot River that it recently had to halt ice-breaking operations. The River Flow Advisory Council was told Thursday that the key to spring flooding will be rainfall in April.(AP)

The commander of a Maine Veterans of Foreign Wars post has been charged with making illegal payouts to patrons who played a video poker game at the post and trying to hide evidence from police. 71-year-old Louis Padula, of Anson, was charged with unlawful gambling, tampering with a witness and falsifying evidence.An investigation into VFW Post 7865 in Madison was prompted by a tip. Under state law, video poker games are for entertainment only. (AP)

Stephen King isn't pleased with Gov. Paul LePage's inaccurate claim that the horror writer has moved from Maine. LePage used his radio address this week to make his case for eliminating Maine's income tax. He said states without an income tax, such as Florida, have lured away Maine residents, including former Gov. Ken Curtis, who first introduced the tax. LePage said King has moved away as well. King responded, saing LePage is "full of the stuff that makes the grass grow green." King owns a home in Florida but is a Maine resident. He says he and his wife "pay every cent" of their Maine income taxes and "are glad to do it." A revised version of LePage's address released Thursday no longer mentions King. (AP)

Lawmakers don't want to wait for other states to take action before Maine's law requiring the labeling of genetically modified food kicks in. The Legislature approved a bill in 2013 that would require food retailers to put special labels on products that contain genetically modified ingredients. But the law doesn't go into effect until at least four other Northeastern states pass similar ones. Connecticut and Vermont have approved GMO labeling laws, but Maine is still waiting for Massachusetts and New Hampshire. A bill has been introduced to remove the requirement that similar laws must be passed elsewhere before Maine's law goes into effect. (AP)

Meals on Wheels programs in Maine and across the country are feeling the pinch as they absorb cuts from the federal government. Spectrum Generations in central Maine is losing $39,000. That amounts to about 6,000 less meals. According to WCSH as a result, Spectrum Generations had to institute a waiting list for its Meals on Wheels program. The agency started the list on Monday and already has 15 people waiting to join the program. Maine's Agencies on Aging are looking to the state for help. They are asking lawmakers to support a bill that would add Meals on Wheels as a covered service under MaineCare, hoping to make the case that cost is worth keeping seniors healthy and living in their own homes. There will be a hearing on that bill Thursday, March 26. (WCSH)

A former Fairfield man who was sent to prison in 2006 after trying to hire someone to murder his pregnant wife is out on probation in a group home with court-ordered restrictions. According to the KJ, 38 year old Victor Frascone was released from the Maine State Prison on Dec. 29 into the custody of supervised community confinement. He became eligible for probation Feb. 13. The D.A. will discuss the case with the Somerset High Risk Response Team “in order to be sure we are doing everything possible to keep the victim safe.” However, once his probation is up in 2019, he is free to do as he pleases a frustration for law enforcement officers. (centralmaine.com)