Things You Need to Know Today: KV Chamber Has a New Leader
Here are the things you need to know today......
The Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce has a new president and CEO Katie Doherty. More details from centralmaine.com
Postal officials are still working to find out what started the fire at the Winthrop Post office. Centralmaine.com reports for now mail delivery is happening, people with post office boxes can get their mail at the Manchester post office and the postal service took all the mail in the building to see what is deliverable and what was truly destroyed.
After an increase in accidents on 295 the Maine DOT is going to scale the speed lilt back to 65mph from Falmouth to Topsham. According to centramaine.com it will happen March 27th. There was an increase in traffic and more the increase in speed and distracted driving all lead to the increase in accidents.
The Waterville city council is going to form a committee focused on downtown parking issues. According to centalmaine.com with more people expected to be living and working in downtown in the next few years parking will become more of an issue.
From the Associated Press:
Republican Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says she's open to using a subpoena to investigate Republican President Donald Trump's tax returns for potential connections to Russia. Collins sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has refused to disclose his tax returns, saying he's under IRS audit.
Maine's governor has asked Republican President Donald Trump to undo Democratic former President Barack Obama's designation of a national monument and give back the land that was donated for it. Republican Gov. Paul LePage asked Trump to take the unprecedented step of returning land in the northern part of the state to private ownership in a Feb. 14 letter. The governor says he wants to "make the Maine woods great again."
A woman is accused of killing her estranged husband at his home in Acton. State police say 46-year-old Kandee Weyland was charged Wednesday night with murder and violating a protection order. Weyland is scheduled to appear in court either Thursday or Friday for her arraignment. State police say the couple's two children are staying with grandparents.
Interstate regulators are holding a pair of meetings to determine how to manage New England's depleted shrimp fishery in the future. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has been considering new ways to manage Northern shrimp, which have declined as waters have warmed. The fishery is currently shut down.
The Portland Symphony Orchestra is getting serious about finding a replacement for Music Director Robert Moody, who's entering his 10th and final season. The Board of Directors says four finalists are each going to get a crack at conducting.
Oregon has asked a federal court to allow it to join a lawsuit filed by Washington state against an immigration ban imposed by President Donald Trump. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum says the ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries would harm Oregon's businesses, residents, universities, health care and economy. The lawsuit filed by Washington state resulted in a judge suspending Trump's temporary order.
President Donald Trump has dispatched his secretary of state and homeland security chief to Mexico on a fence-mending mission complicated by the actual fence he wants to build on the southern border. Mexico has signaled it's in no mood to be lectured by the new U.S. administration. Ties between the countries have plunged since Trump took office a month ago, punctuated by Trump's insistence that Mexico pay for a border wall.
LGBT advocates are protesting while conservatives are hailing a move by the Trump administration to lift Obama-era federal guidelines concerning transgender students. The now-withdrawn guidelines allowed students to use school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identities. Without the Obama directive, it will be up to states and school districts to decide the issue.
Iraq's special forces say they've begun an assault against the Islamic State group on a sprawling military base south of Mosul that's adjacent to the city's airport. Two Iraqi special forces officers say their troops have reached the edge of the base on the city's southern rim and that clashes are underway. The advances come days after Iraqi forces officially launched the operation to push IS out of Mosul's western half.