Things You Need to Know: Irma in Florida + 16th Anniversary of 9/11
Here are the things you need to know today......
From the Associated Press:
Maine State Police say two motorcyclists participating in a charitable ride have died in a collision with a pickup truck. Police say the pickup's two occupants and two other motorcyclists were also injured in the crash on Interstate 95 in Augusta early Sunday afternoon. The motorcyclists were participating in the annual United Bikers Toy Run, delivering toys to needy children. Police say 58-year-old Jamie Gross died at the scene and 25-year-old Aaron White-Sevigny died at a hospital. Two other motorcyclists, who were riding the same bike, 50-year-old driver Trevor Proctor and 46-year-old passenger Tori McGraw, were taken to a hospital. The occupants of the pickup, 67-year-old William Nusom and his 99-year-old mother, Anna Nusom, were also taken to a hospital. Police say 3,000 motorcycles participated in the toy run.
The Shaw's Plaza in Augusta is in foreclosure and will go up for auction at the end of September. The Kennebec Journal reports Shaw's Plaza in Augusta is valued by the city for tax purposes at $16.4 million and generates $334,000 a year in property taxes. According to a notice announcing the auction, the mortgage holder of the building is selling the property after the owner apparently breached the conditions of a mortgage. City records indicate the plaza was originally built in the late 1960s. It is scheduled for a Sept. 28 auction.
Cities across New England will commemorate the 16th anniversary of 9/11 with memorial services, moments of silence, and a stair climb to honor the hundreds of firefighters who died that day trying to rescue people after hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center. The Monday events will honor those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.
A pair of U.S. senators is reintroducing a proposal that would change the definition of a full-time employee under the Affordable Care Act to someone who works an average of 40 hours per week. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Indiana Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly are making the proposal. They say employers across the country are cutting employees' hours due to the health care law's definition of a full-time employee.
Police in Massachusetts have arrested a Maine man they say was transporting more than 1,000 bottled beverages infused with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana that produces the high. Erving police say Simon Wiinikainen of Starks, Maine, was pulled over Wednesday for driving 62 mph in a 40 mph zone. Officers determined he was driving while high on marijuana and found 1,015 bottles of juice, tea and cider infused with THC.
A new Maine law bans lead fishing tackle in hopes of protecting loons. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says keeping lead fishing weights out of Maine waters will increase the birds' survival. Ingesting lead fishing tackle is the leading cause of death for loons.
A recent Oberlin College graduate and jazz musician is a suspect in the slayings of four people at a Massachusetts home. The Middlesex district attorney's office says 22-year-old Orion Krause, of Rockport, Maine, is to be arraigned Monday on murder charges in the four deaths Friday in Groton, about 43 miles northwest of Boston. It's unclear whether Krause, who graduated this year from the Ohio music conservatory, has an attorney.
Officials with Bowdoin College say a $10 million gift from a California couple will allow the college to expand programs for students who want to study oceans and the environment. The college says Bowdoin parents Philip Schiller and Kim Gassett-Schiller of Half Moon Bay, California, are making the gift. The money will help the college grow its Coastal Studies Center on Harpswell Sound in Harpswell.
Irma weakened to a Category 1 storm as the massive hurricane zeroed in on the Tampa Bay region early Monday after hammering much of Florida with roof-ripping winds, gushing floodwaters and widespread power outages. The hurricane's maximum sustained winds weakened to 85 mph with additional weakening expected.
More aid and evacuations are set to arrive in the Caribbean islands battered and cut off by Hurricane Irma. The French president is among those bringing additional food and water. In Cuba, water in the wake of the monster storm swamped Havana's iconic Malecon seawall, flooding a section of the city normally popular with tourists. The death toll across the Caribbean has risen to about two dozen.
Two manatees became stranded after Hurricane Irma sucked water out of Sarasota Bay on the storm's march up the Gulf Coast. Several people posted photos of the mammals on Facebook. Marcelo Clavijo posted that a group of people eventually loaded the manatees onto tarps and dragged them to deeper water. The area is in Florida's Manatee County.
Authorities in North Texas say at least eight people are dead, including the suspect, after a shooting at a home in Plano. The shooting occurred Sunday night in the city less than 20 miles northeast of Dallas. Police spokesman David Tilley says police initially responded to a report of shots fired. When the first officer arrived and went inside the home, the officer confronted the suspected shooter. Tilley says the officer opened fire, killing the suspect.
While the U.S. contends with the destruction caused by two ferocious hurricanes in three weeks, Americans also are marking the 16th anniversary of one of the nation's most scarring days. Thousands of 9/11 victims' relatives, survivors, rescuers and others are expected to gather Monday at the World Trade Center to remember the deadliest terror attack on American soil. Observances also are planned at the Pentagon and the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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