Maine’s lucrative baby eel fishery starts this week
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s lucrative fishery for baby eels starts this week. Baby eels, called elvers, are sometimes worth more than $2,000 per pound because of their value to Asian aquaculture companies. Maine has the only significant fishery for the eels in the U.S. The fishing season runs from Tuesday to early June in Maine’s rivers and streams. It can also end early if fishermen run out of quota before early June. The industry has dealt with price swings in recent years. The eels sank to $525 per pound in 2020 and rose to about $1,850 last year.
Man convicted in parking lot killing due to be sentenced
AUBURN, Maine (AP) — A Maine man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a Massachusetts resident in an Auburn fast-food parking lot is scheduled to be sentenced. Police initially charged Trai Larue, of Lewiston, with murder stemming from 21-year-old Roger Cornell’s 2020 death. Cornell, of New Bedford, was found injured in the parking lot and later died at a hospital.
Prosecutors for the state said Larue was due to be sentenced in Androscoggin County. Larue’s attorney has said his client’s plea agreement includes 25 years in jail, with some of that time suspended.
LANDFILL-CHEMICALS FOUND
Chemicals found in well water near Kittery landfill
KITTERY, Maine (AP) — Officials in Kittery have found elevated levels of industrial chemicals and arsenic in well water near the town’s landfill. The Portsmouth Herald reported Saturday that routine checks of test wells near the Kittery Resource Recovery Facility, known as the town dump or transfer station, by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection showed elevated contaminant levels at three well sites. The facility is near the old town landfill, which was closed by state order in 1993, and about 4 miles from the New Hampshire border. The state was checking for chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl, industrial chemicals turning up in public water supplies nationwide.
AP-US-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-HYPERSONIC-MISSILES
Ukraine war is backdrop in US push for hypersonic weapons
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Navy is rushing to field its first hypersonic weapon in a race with Russia and China to develop the new class of weapons. The Navy could be installing it on a warship starting as soon as late next year. Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds akin to ballistic missiles but are difficult to shoot down because of their maneuverability. The Russian military claimed Saturday and Sunday to have used the weapon against targets in Ukraine. However the Pentagon couldn’t confirm a hypersonic weapon was used. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is serving as a backdrop as the Pentagon releases its budget proposal later this month.
NATIONAL PARK ATTENDANCE
Senators want to know impact of national park attendance
BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — Senators from Maine and Montana want the Biden administration to clarify the impact of more people visiting the country’s national parks. Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine and Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said last week they want to know the impact of increased attendance on the parks, visitors and surrounding communities. They’ve called on National Park Service Director Charles Sams for a congressional briefing about the subject. The senators say there have been significantly more visitors at Yellowstone National Park and Acadia National Park.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MAINE
Number of COVID hospitalizations drops below 100 in Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The number of people hospitalized statewide with COVID-19 in Maine dropped below 100 on Saturday. The Portland Press Herald reports that the last time there were fewer than 100 people hospitalized with the virus in Maine was on Aug. 21, when there were 88. There were 94 people in Maine hospitals with COVID-19 on Saturday, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down from 107 patients on Friday and 111 on Thursday. The number peaked in January, at 436 patients. Of those hospitalized Saturday, 19 were in intensive care and seven on ventilators.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-POLAND-US
US lawmakers visit Poland, urge help for Ukraine military
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A bipartisan delegation of the U.S. lawmakers are visiting Poland and they say the most urgent need in Ukraine’s fight against a Russian invasion is to equip the Ukraine military and support in every way so it can defend the country’s independence. The seven-member delegation led by Congressman Stephen Lynch, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has visited reception centers for refugees from Ukraine in eastern Poland. Poland has accepted more than 2 million people fleeing war since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion on Ukraine. The U.S. representatives on Saturday said there is not room for peace talks over Ukraine as long as there is a “hot war.” The lawmakers came from Massachusetts, Texas, South Carolina, Maine, Tennessee and Kansas.
MOUNT WASHINGTON-HOTEL PLANS
Commission considers proposal for Mount Washington lodging
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The group that advises the state of New Hampshire on managing Mount Washington is considering a proposal for upscale accommodations and a restaurant near the summit of New Hampshire’s highest peak. The owner of a historic railway that runs up Mount Washington is proposing to build the lodging. The Caledonian Record reports that Mount Washington Cog Railway owner Wayne Presby presented his plan for the nearly $14 million project during the March 4 meeting of the Mount Washington Commission. The group meets again on Friday. Presby wants to station 18 rail cars at an elevation around 5,800 feet.