Central Maine News: Oct 28, 2015

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

Gov. Paul LePage's request for a Republican to recuse himself from an investigation into whether he overstepped his authority underscores an ongoing rift that threatens GOP unity before legislators return to work. Republican Senate President Michael Thibodeau is standing behind Government Oversight Committee co-chairman Roger Katz. But in the House, Republican leader Ken Fredette says the governor had a point in calling out Katz because of comments he's previously made about the governor. The investigation focuses on LePage's intervention to force a private school to rescind a job offer to a political foe. Fredette calls it the "elephant in the room." Thibodeau said the governor has refused repeated requests to meet with him. Fredette, for his part, called on lawmakers to get beyond the "politics of personality." (AP)

Maine Attorney General Janet Mills says a LePage administration proposal to divert timber harvesting revenue to a heating assistance program likely wouldn't pass legal muster. Gov. Paul LePage has proposed increasing timber harvesting on the state-owned lands to provide up to $5 million a year to a program to help elderly and low-income Mainers heat their homes. Mills' findings were presented to the Commission to Study the Public Reserved Lands Management Fund. She said previous court rulings make clear that there are limitations on spending revenue from logging on state lands. A co-chair on the commission, said he believes Mills' letter "takes off the table" the proposals to use timber revenues for home heating or to assist state parks. (AP)

Officials in Lewiston are investigating the death of a man who fell from a commercial garbage truck. Police said the trash collection crew was driving its regular route when the driver pulled in front of a house and saw that a worker on the back was in the middle of the road. Police told the Sun Journal that 31-year-old Mark Ehrenwald was found unresponsive on Tuesday. Emergency medical technicians were unable to revive him. Pine Tree Waste says the victim was a temporary worker. Lt. Michael McGonagle, a police spokesman, said it's unknown how Ehrenwald died and the case remains under investigation. Federal workplace safety officials were alerted. (AP)

After months of all but freezing conservation projects within Land for Maine's Future, Governor Paul LePage freed up $2.2 million in "money on hand" to go toward various projects and programs. He did not, however, budge when it came to selling new bonds to the group.  The $2.2 million will go toward six to eight different projects, but there are nearly twenty still unable to get funding or having to look elsewhere to move forward. During Tuesday's LMF board meeting, frustration was still apparent by some board members due to the situation they have found themselves in. Governor LePage has not been shy about using LMF's funding as leverage to get a heating assistance program off the ground. LePage wants the legislature to approve the Timber Harvesting bill which would provide low-income Maine households the means to upgrade their heating systems. (WCSH)

Walgreens is buying rival Rite Aid for about $9.41 billion in cash, creating a drugstore giant with nearly 18,000 stores around the world. The deal combines the largest and third-largest U.S. drugstore chains, based on store counts. According to the KJ, it makes one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical buyers even bigger at a time when other key health care players like insurers and drug makers also are expanding through multi-billion dollar deals. Rite Aid stores will initially keep its name after the deal closes, Walgreens said, but that may change over time. (centralmaine.com)

A 20-year-old Farmingdale man is being held without bail on a charge of robbery in connection with the armed holdup in September of 2014 of a Cumberland Farms on Mount Vernon Avenue. According to the KJ, Zachary Carey was arrested early Tuesday afternoon. The arrest came from police gathering different pieces of information from different people over the past year, which detectives were able to piece together and track him down. (centralmaine.com)

It took 14 innings, but World Series Game 1 is in the books and the Kansas City Royals took the victory over the New York Mets 5 to 4. The contest included a 7-minute delay. Fox blames it on an electronics failure of the primary and backup generators in its production compound. Game 2 will be Wednesday night in Kansas City. (AP)

China is scolding the U.S. after a Navy warship sailed close to one of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea. China's Foreign Ministry says its executive vice minister told the American ambassador that the U.S. acted in defiance of repeated Chinese objections and had threatened China's sovereignty and security. (AP)

Residents in a northwestern Pakistani town are asking for government help to rebuild their damaged homes. Shangla was among the worst-affected by this week's massive earthquake. Authorities say Monday's quake damaged more than 8,400 homes and 113 schools in Pakistan's impoverished northwest. Casualty figures are likely to leap once relief workers return from remote villages that can be accessed only by foot or donkey. The death toll stands at 373 in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (AP)

Volkswagen's new chief executive Herbert Diess says he's sorry for the automaker's emissions-cheating scandal, promising to win back customer trust. At the Tokyo auto show Wednesday, Diess said, "On behalf of my entire company, I'd like to apologize." Volkswagen is engulfed in a crisis after U.S. authorities found its diesel vehicles had software installed that allows the cars to cheat emissions tests. (AP)

A teacher strike in East St. Louis, Illinois had kept students from going to school for a month now. The strike began Oct. 1 after union members rejected a tentative deal between their representatives and the school district. East St. Louis is a poor black community of about 27,000 residents in southwestern Illinois that is across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The district has been under state control since 2011 because of its poor performance. (AP)