Central Maine News: Sept 29, 2015

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

_{Federal figures show a special Medicaid fraud unit in Maine sent only a handful of criminal referrals to the state attorney general's office over a three-year period. The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that 16 out of 3,600 cases referred to the attorney general over the past three years were from the fraud unit. Democratic State Rep. Drew Gattine of Westbrook says the review brings into question whether the state is getting a return on investment from the fraud unit. The fraud unit is called the Maine Department of Health and Human Services' Medicaid Program Integrity Unit. A spokesman for the department says only cases that are likely to be successfully prosecuted have been turned over to the unit. (AP)}

_{Police say a Maine woman is dead after she lost control of her car that was carrying three children and crashed into a tree. 29-year-old Aimee Lasco, of Hartland, was pronounced dead at the scene in Palmyra around 2 p.m. Sunday.Two children ages four and seven who were in the vehicle were her children. A 5-year-old was also in the car. They suffered injuries but are all expected to live.Police say the crash happened along a newly paved road and do not suspect distracted driving was the cause. The accident is under investigation. (AP)}

_{The Lewiston mayor's idea of creating an online registry for welfare recipients is dead for now because he couldn't find a legislative sponsor. Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald did not find a lawmaker to introduce a bill by Friday's deadline for proposed bill titles for legislation to be considered in January.  Gov. LePage's communications staff says he has no plans for such a bill, either. Macdonald tells the Sun Journal that he's glad he started a conversation. He says the idea wasn't to publicly embarrass welfare recipients, but to make the information available to the public to fight welfare fraud and abuse. (AP)}

Gas prices in Maine have fallen 3.5 cents per gallon in the past week. The average retail gasoline price in Maine is $2.27 a gallon. The national average remained the same as last week, at $2.29 a gallon. The price in Maine was about $1.17 less per gallon than a year ago, and 15.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average decreased 22.1 cents per gallon during the last month and is about $1.05 lower than a year ago. (AP)

_{Lewiston is looking at a change to its school cancellation policy.  According to WGME, the district's snow day policy currently doesn't allow delayed starts or early dismissals, but this year that could change. After six snow days last year and seven the year before that the Lewiston School Committee will consider changing its policy to add late starts and early dismissals as options during snow storms. The change has been looked at before but school committee were very concerned about employers and working families and maybe it would be more difficult for them, so they elected, at that point, not to make any change. The school committee will meet next Monday to discuss the proposed changes and possibly make a decision. (WGME)}

The groundbreaking ceremonies for the project to convert the old Hodgkins Middle School into housing for senior citizens, planned for Wednesday, have been canceled because of expected heavy rain, but public tours of the building will still take place that day. Public tours of the building, providing one last chance to see the school building still largely set up as a school, are set for 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday. According to the KJ, attendees may also still bring Hodgkins memorabilia with them to the school if they wish to contribute items to be displayed in the building after it is converted to housing. (centralmaine.com)

Augusta police say they have identified the two people who are suspects in a theft of about $900 worth of merchandise from Wal-Mart. According to the KJ, photos of the couple were posted on the agency’s Facebook page Monday morning, and by 11:30 a.m. police indicated through social media they had identified the man and woman in the photos. The investigation is ongoing. (centralmaine.com)

_{The Senate on Tuesday is expected to approve a bipartisan temporary spending bill that would head off a partial government shutdown at midnight Wednesday. Tea partyers oppose the legislation because it does not include cancelling federal funding of Planned Parenthood. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the bill is "the only viable way forward in the short term." (AP)}

_{The United States will rally support for the fight against groups like the Islamic State when President Barack Obama chairs a U.N. gathering of world leaders on Tuesday. Also scheduled are high-level meetings on the humanitarian consequences of the war in Syria and the wider refugee and migrant crisis that is the largest since the upheaval of World War II. (AP)}

_{The U.S. military says it has carried out an airstrike on the northern Afghan city of Kunduz that was captured by the Taliban on Monday. Military officials say Tuesday's airstrike was conducted "in order to eliminate a threat to the force." Kunduz fell with the Taliban overrunning government buildings and hoisting their flag in the city square. Kunduz is the first city seized by the Taliban since their regime was overthrown in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. (AP)}

_{What celebrities are the most dangerous to look up online? Security experts say people who search online for stars Usher, Luke Bryan or producer Armin van Buuren run the risk of landing on a web page with potential for online threats. Intel Security says other names that could lead you to a tainted site are Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Amy Schumer and Betty White. (AP)}

_{Bill Cosby has been stripped of another honorary degree. Brown University has now rescinded the honorary degree it granted Cosby, becoming the third university to take such action in less than a week. Brown President Christina Paxson says Cosby admitted in legal depositions that he'd engaged in conduct with women "contrary to the values of Brown." On Thursday Fordham and Marquette universities rescinded their honorary degrees. (AP)}