COVID-19 drop causes layoffs, furloughs for Maine companies
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A Maine company that’s one of only two major producers of COVID-19 testing swabs has extended a furlough for 180 employees. Puritan Medical Products said the three-week furlough extension at its manufacturing plant in Pittston will provide time to finalizes orders from the federal government for additional products. The workers were sent home in June as the production of swabs outpaced demand as the number of virus cases declines in the U.S. The announcement came as Abbott Laboratories laid off about 400 workers in Westbrook and Scarborough over a drop in demand for the company’s instant tests for COVID-19.
Man fatally shot by police in northern Maine identified
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (AP) — Authorities have identified a man fatally shot by police during a standoff in northern Maine. A spokesperson for the Maine attorney general’s office tells the Bangor Daily News that an Aroostook County sheriff’s deputy shot 53-year-old Shannon Wilcox. Police say the standoff took place at midday on Thursday after they were called to a location in Presque Isle where Wilcox was reported shooting a gun.
Unemployment claims continue to trend down in Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Continued claims for unemployment are declining in Maine as the state’s economy continues to reopen. The Maine Department of Labor said overall continued claims filed each week were down roughly 1,350 during the week that ended July 3. The department said about 9,400 continued claims were filed for state unemployment during that week. Maine’s unemployment rate for May was 4.7%. That was 1.1 percentage points less than the national rate.
Maine supreme court rejects appeal in Bangor killing
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Maine’s highest court has rejected an appeal by a Boston native convicted and sentenced to 42 years for a fatal shooting in Bangor. F Daly was convicted of murder in the death of 51-year-old Israel Lewis, whose body was found in a boarding home in January 2018. Prosecutors said Daly confessed to his former girlfriend and that a gun hidden in his home matched bullet casings left at the scene. Daly contended the trial judge should have allowed evidence of an alternative suspect and should have granted a new trial.
DOWNEASTER
Amtrak’s Downeaster beginning to bounce back from pandemic
BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) — Amtrak’s Downeaster passenger rail service is steaming toward pre-pandemic norms as the coronavirus recedes in New England. Ridership for June 2021 will exceed 25,000 passengers. That compares to 48,284 riders in June 2019 before the pandemic, but just 768 in June 2020. Patricia Quinn of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority tells the Times Record that she hopes that in a year from now the train will see near 2019 level ridership.