Central Maine News: Sept 8, 2015

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

Two people have been killed when their motorcycle struck a pickup truck. The accident happened Monday on Route 113 in Hiram. Police say the pickup truck was traveling in the wrong lane of traffic when it collided with the motorcycle. The driver of the truck was hospitalized. Both motorcycle riders died. Police say the victims are the 23rd and 24th motorcycle deaths on Maine roads this year, compared with 11 during all of 2014. (AP)

Officials say a Maine teen drowned while swimming with a younger brother in Embden Pond in Skowhegan. 17-year-old Scott Brown of Norridgewock was swimming to shore from floating docks when he went underwater at about 7 p.m. Sunday. Officials say he wasn't entangled in anything that would have held him under and they're not sure why he drowned. They say dehydration or a muscle cramp could have contributed to the drowning. He was swimming with friends at the time. (AP)

Maine tourism officials and business owners say the state's had a successful summer season. Tourism officials credit lower gas prices, overall good weather and an improving economy. The Maine Turnpike Authority and the Portland International Jetport both are reporting record-breaking summer traffic this year. The Maine Tourism Association said decreased visits and spending by Canadian visitors due to the drop in the exchange rate will likely keep this tourism season from seeing a record high. The Canadian dollar fell to an 11-year low this year. Turnpike officials say the number of Canadian cars this summer dropped by about 20 percent. (AP)

The civilian authority that's developing the former Brunswick Naval Air Station for civilian use says it's going to assess the success of the Great State of Maine Air Show before deciding when the event will return. But the Mid Coast Regional Redevelopment Authority said it's likely that the massive air show will be held every other year, going forward. The redevelopment authority hired a vendor to run the two-day event that wrapped up Sunday after organizing air shows in 2011 and 2012. (AP)

SunEdison is showcasing what's going to be New England's largest wind farm this week. The company is providing the media with an opportunity this week to visit its Oakfield wind project. At 148 megawatts, it will be New England's biggest wind project when it comes online next month. The project involves installing 48 turbines, expanding one substation and building another one, along with construction of 58 miles of 115,000-volt transmission line. (AP)

The principal at Waterville Senior High School, Don Reiter, is on administrative leave with pay but his attorney says neither of them know why. Waterville Police confirmed Saturday afternoon that a complaint about Reiter was received on Thursday but wouldn’t give any more details. Reiter and his attorney will find out what the allegations are on Tuesday in a meeting with the superintendent and the school attorney. (WGME)

Horror writer Stephen King will be making a trip to Washington D.C. this week. According to WABI the Bangor resident will be receiving the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama at a White House Ceremony September 10th. He’s being honored as “one of the most popular and prolific writers of our time.” 11 other people will be receiving the award. (WABI)

The Legislature’s watchdog agency will present a report Tuesday laying out the details of Gov. Paul LePage’s threat to pull state funding from a private school in Fairfield unless it rescinded a job offer to Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves to become its next president. According to the KJ, the report has been eagerly awaited by LePage critics, who see it as laying the groundwork for impeachment proceedings. However, the report will make no determination of wrongdoing. It will likely focus less on the dispute between Eves and LePage and more on the sequence of events within the Department of Education. (centralmaine.com)

Beverly Daggett of Augusta,  first woman to become Maine Senate president, passed away Sunday at the age of 69. Daggett was first elected to the Senate in 1996, served as president in 2002 and was also a Kennebec County commissioner. Her family was on the way to be with her Sunday morning at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston when Daggett died. According to the KJ, Daggett was suffering from an infection that ultimately was caused by her long-term struggle with polycystic kidney disease, an inherited condition that caused cysts to develop in her kidneys, robbing them of their ability to function. (centralmaine.com)

The Senate gets back to work this afternoon following a summer recess. And it'll be plunging immediately into a bitter, partisan debate over the Iran nuclear accord. The deal struck by Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers in July is aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars in relief from economic sanctions. (AP)

Officials in Los Angeles County have not discussed publicly a motive in the death of a sheriff's deputy allegedly shot by her firefighter husband. The killing happened Sunday night at the couple's house in La Canada (kahn-YAH'-duh) Flintridge. Authorities say after 32-year-old Cecilia Hoschet was killed, her husband, James M. Taylor, drove their 6-year-old son to the child's grandparents' home. Then Taylor drove to a fire department warehouse where he shot and killed himself. (AP)

The coroner's office in Chicago says authorities have found the head of a toddler whose dismembered body was found in a city park lagoon. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office says the head appears to be from a black child between 2 and 3 years old, but the office has said nothing about the child's gender. Investigators began searching the lagoon Saturday after someone reported seeing what turned out to be a left foot floating in the lagoon. Then other decomposed body parts were found. (AP)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is expanding an anti-smuggling offensive along the country's frontier with Colombia and is ordering the closure of the main border crossing in the country's biggest state. The move is bound to deepen an ongoing diplomatic crisis with Colombia, which is struggling to absorb thousands of migrants who've fled the crackdown by Venezuela's socialist government. (AP)

Tickets will be available online today for a Pope Francis event at the Independence Mall in Philadelphia. The pope will be giving a speech on immigration and religious freedom in front of Independence Hall on Sept. 26. Officials say 10,000 tickets will be available beginning at noon today at the website worldmeeting2015.org/tickets. The tickets are on a first-come, first-served basis and people will be limited to four tickets each. (AP)