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Maine is looking at a higher cigarette tax. WGME reports it would go from $2 to $3.50 a pack. That would mean about $40 million in revenue and $10 million of that would go  stop smoking programs. Opponents say it would just buyers out of state.

A new app called 'Stance' it to make getting hold of your reps in Congress easier. According to WGME says it records a message and sends it to your representatives in Washington.

A new restaurant is headed to Downtown Augusta. According to centrlamaine.com Cushnoc Brewing Company should be open in downtown in the old Stacy's building later this year.  Also in Downtown, Sonny's Rock Shop is due to reopen this weekend.

A Winslow dog that attacked and killed another dog last year had been taken and ordered to be put down. Centralmaine.com reports that the dog was ordered 'kept confined', but the dog got out this winter. The owner has filed an injunction to the order.

From the Associated Press:

Maine brewers and an Icelandic shipping company are partnering to bring the Pine Tree State's suds to more of the world. Eimskip (AIM'-skip) and the Maine Brewers' Guild are set to announce the beer bond on Thursday morning in Portland at the International Maine Terminal.

Half of Maine's population gets it drinking water from private wells, and the state says it assumes very few of them are routinely tested. Republican Minority Leader Ken Fredette is sponsoring a bill that would require such testing for pollutants at least once every five years.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage says he slashes tips in half for restaurant servers and tells them to call their legislator to persuade them to restore the tip credit. The Sun Journal reports LePage made the comments Tuesday to a radio host. Voters adopted a ballot referendum that gradually repeals a law that allows employers to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation for tipped workers.

Interstate fishing regulators are sending a plan to try to fix New England's shuttered shrimp fishery to the public for a series of June hearings. The northern shrimp fishery has been shut down for more than three years because of a collapse in population.

Hawaii's attorney general says a federal judge's decision to extend an order blocking President Donald Trump's travel ban affirms values of religious freedom. State Attorney General Douglas Chin says the longer-lasting ruling means that Muslims and refugees will face less uncertainty. The judge granted Hawaii's request to extend his previous temporary block of provisions that would suspend new visas for six Muslim-majority countries and halt the nation's refugee program.

North Carolina Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper say they have agreed on legislation to resolve a standoff over the state's "bathroom bill." GOP leaders announced late Wednesday the new legislation would be debated and voted on Thursday, but it was unclear whether there were enough votes to pass it. Cooper said it's not a perfect deal but would begin to repair the state's reputation. The replacement measure still restricts LGBT nondiscrimination protections.

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee say they will steer clear of politics in probing Russian interference in last year's presidential election. That puts their probe in sharp contrast to the partisanship that has tainted a similar investigation in the House. Meanwhile, an attorney for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn says the retired U.S. Army lieutenant general has not been interviewed by the Senate committee.

Federal investigators are getting their first look at the scene of a head-on collision between a small church bus and a pickup truck that killed 13 senior adult church members aboard the bus. The Texas Department of Public Safety reports the lone bus survivor remains hospitalized in critical condition, and the pickup truck driver is in stable condition. A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman says the agency sent investigators to the scene to start seeking the cause of the wreck.

South Korea's disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye was being questioned by a court that will decide if she should be arrested over corruption allegations that have already toppled her from power. Live TV footage earlier showed a stern-looking Park entering the Seoul Central District Court building amid a barrage of camera flashes.

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