Maine State News

High school roundup: Penobscot Valley boys edge Schenck

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 02:39:22 +0000

BOYS BASKETBALL

Penobscot Valley 56, Schenck 53

At Howland

Schenck: Kaden Hannan 8-0-20, Tyrone Davis 5-0-12, Reagan Currie 4-0-10, Isaac Adams 4-0-8, Jesse Stanley 1-0-3, John Blaisdell, Ryan Ingalls, Mason McDunnah, Kole Giberson, Nick Powers

PVHS: Zach Mitchell 6-3-15, Lance Neal 5-0-10, Shane Borrello 5-0-10, Gabe Reed 3-0-7, Bryce Seeley 1-4-6, Alex Tash 1-2-4, William Brown 1-2-4, Ryan Thompson

Schenck 7-24-41-53

PVHS 12-23-37-56

3-pt. goals: Reed; Hannan 4, Davis 2, Currie 2, Stanley

JV: Schenck 69-29

Van Buren 65, Washburn 52

At Van Buren

Washburn: A. Churchill 2-0-5, M. Turner 2-1-6, B. Turner 7-0-17, P. Corey 2-1-5, B. Vaughn 7-1-19

Van Buren: Isaiah Morales 10-4-25, Casey Bellamy 5-7-17, Blake Martin 4-0-8, S Hebert 2-0-4, N Martin 1-0-2 Manny Deschaine 3-1-9

Washburn 10-17-27-52

Van Buren 8-33-49-65

3-pt. goals: M. Turner, B. Turner 3, Vaughn 4; Deschaine 2, Morales

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Cen. Aroostook 47, Caribou 42 (OT)

At Mars Hill

Caribou: Savage 2-1-5, Durep 1-0-3, Theriault, Sutherland 5-1-12, Bouchard 6-0-18, Dubey 1-0-2, Collins

Central Aroostook: Haines 4-0-10, Kitzherbert 3-0-6, Grass 1-5-8, Pryor 2-0-5, Pierce 1-0-2, Beals 5-4-16

3-pt. goals: Durepo, Sutherland, Bouchard 6; Haines 2, Grass, Pryor, Beals 2

Caribou 14-27-31-37-42

CAHS 8-21-29-37-47

Lawmakers consider bill that would prohibit prosecuting anyone under age 12

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 02:27:41 +0000

The measure would also eliminate the minimum stay for youths committed to the state's only youth detention center, and would commit no one younger than age 14.

GOP rallies solidly against Democrats’ virus relief package

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 02:20:44 +0000

WASHINGTON — Republicans rallied solidly Wednesday against Democrats’ proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill as lawmakers awaited a decision by the Senate’s parliamentarian that could bolster or potentially kill a pivotal provision hiking the federal minimum wage.

Despite their paper-thin congressional majorities, Democratic leaders were poised to push the sweeping package through the House on Friday. They were hoping the Senate, where changes seem likely, would follow quickly enough to have legislation on President Joe Biden’s desk by mid-March.

By late Wednesday, not one Republican in either chamber had publicly said he or she would back the legislation. GOP leaders were honing attacks on the package as a job killer that does too little to reopen schools or businesses shuttered for the pandemic and that was not only wasteful but also even unscrupulous.

“I haven’t seen a Republican yet that’s found something in there that they agree with,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “I think all Republicans believe in three simple things: They want a bill that puts us back to work, back to school and back to health. This bill is too costly, too corrupt and too liberal.”

The hardening opposition suggested that Biden’s first major legislative initiative could encounter unanimous GOP opposition. That was a counterpoint to the new president’s refrain during his campaign about bringing the country together and a replay of the Republican wall that new President Barack Obama encountered in 2009 and most of his administration.

Democrats showed no signs of backing down, citing the assistance the measure would spread to people, businesses and state and local governments.

“If congressional Republicans want to oppose all that, my response is: Good luck,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor.

By Wednesday evening, the most suspense was over a decision anticipated from Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate’s nonpartisan arbiter of its rules, that promised enormous political and legislative consequences.

The relief bill includes a provision that over five years would hike the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The parliamentarian is involved because Democrats are pushing the overall $1.9 trillion measure through Congress under special rules that will let them avoid a Senate filibuster by Republicans.

Those same rules prohibit provisions with only an “incidental” impact on the federal budget because they are chiefly driven by other policy purposes. The parliamentarian decides if a provision passes that test.

With Republicans strongly against a minimum wage increase, the only way for it to survive is by including it in a filibuster-proof bill like the COVID-19 relief measure. To end a filibuster, Democrats would need 60 votes, an impossibility for them in the evenly divided 50-50 Senate.

If the parliamentarian decides the minimum wage provision can remain in the bill, it would be a major boost for its proponents. But there would be no guarantee the measure would survive because some moderates oppose it or want it dialed back. That suggests grueling bargaining on its final form would lie ahead.

A decision by the parliamentarian that the minimum wage hike must fall from the bill could be fatal, but not necessarily. Democrats could employ a rarely used procedural move to muscle the minimum wage provision into the bill with just 51 votes anyway, but it was unclear if they could muster enough support to do that.

The minimum wage has stood at $7.25 since 2009. Winning the increase is a top priority for progressives at a time when Democrats control Congress and the White House.

The overall bill would provide millions of Americans with $1,400 direct payments to help them weather the pandemic that’s stalled much of the economy for a year and killed half a million people. It contains billions of dollars for vaccines and COVID-19 testing, schools, state and local governments and emergency jobless benefits while providing tax cuts or payments for many families with children.

Story by Alan Fram.

Amid surge, U.S. tries to expedite release of migrant children

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 02:20:13 +0000

Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents are apprehending an average of more than 200 children crossing the border without a parent per day.

Capitol Police were warned of violence before riot, acting chief says

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 02:00:30 +0000

But the wild invasion of the Capitol was far worse than police expected, leaving them unprepared to fight it off, Yogananda Pittman says.

Fire destroys house, two dogs perish in Livermore Falls

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 01:48:48 +0000

No one was home at 53 Leeds Road when the fire started, Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV said.

Facebook says it will pay $1B over 3 years to news industry

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 01:30:32 +0000

Facebook, following in Google’s footsteps, says it plans to invest $1 billion to “support the news industry” over the next three years.

The social networking giant, which has been tussling with Australia over a law that would make social platforms pay news organizations, said it has invested $600 million since 2018 in news.

Google said in October that it would pay publishers $1 billion over the next three years.

News companies want Google and Facebook to pay for the news that appears on their platforms. Governments in Europe and Australia are increasingly sympathetic to this point of view. The two tech companies suck up the majority of U.S. digital advertising dollars, which — among other problems — has hurt publishers.

Facebook said on Tuesday it would lift a ban on news links in Australian after the government agreed to tweak proposed legislation that would help publishers negotiate payments with Facebook and Google. Facebook was criticized for its ban, which also temporarily cut access to government pandemic, public health and emergency services on the social networking site.

Facebook said Tuesday that the changes allow it to choose which publishers it will support and indicated that it will now start striking such deals in Australia.

Google had already been signing content licensing deals with Australian media companies, and says that it has arrangements with more than 50 publishers in the country and more than 500 globally.

There may be more such regulation in other countries. Microsoft is working with European publishers to push big tech platforms to pay for news. European Union countries are working on adopting copyright rules that allow news companies and publishers to negotiate payments.

Story by Tali Arbel.

Republicans harden opposition to Democrats’ virus relief package

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 01:02:33 +0000

Despite their narrow congressional majorities, Democratic leaders are poised to push the sweeping $1.9 trillion bill through the House on Friday.

Portland group key to convincing General Mills to drop chemical from mac-and-cheese brand packaging

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:23:36 +0000

Annie's Homegrown will eliminate ortho-phthalates, which make plastics more flexible but may also pose health risks, from its production equipment.

Portland group key to convincing General Mills to drop chemical from mac-and-cheese processing

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:23:36 +0000

Annie's Homegrown will eliminate ortho-phthalates, which make plastics more flexible but may also pose health risks, from its production equipment.

Marble bust of powerful 19th century Mainer damaged by mob at U.S. Capitol last month

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:10:30 +0000

A curator is taking steps to repair the marble bust of former U.S. House Speaker Thomas Reed of Maine.

Marble bust of powerful 19th century Mainer damaged by mob at U.S. Capitol last month

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:10:11 +0000

A curator is taking steps to repair the marble bust of former U.S. House Speaker Thomas Reed of Maine.

Fire destroys house, two dogs perish in Livermore Falls

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:07:07 +0000

No one was home at 53 Leeds Road when the fire started, Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV said.

Lincoln tries to cope with the death of 7-year-old in fire

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:51:53 +0000

A 7-year-old girl who died Monday night in a fire in Lincoln was fun-loving and adventurous, loved singing and baking pies, and had the job of making the stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner.

The town of Lincoln, where Adele Parent was a first grader, has been reeling from the girl’s loss this week.

Students and teachers at the Ella P. Burr School, where Adele was enrolled and had been a student since prekindergarten, will do something to honor their lost classmate, said Jean Skorapa, superintendent of Regional School Union 67, which includes Lincoln, Chester and Mattawamkeag.

They just haven’t figured out what yet.

“We are working through this tragedy and will be meeting soon to determine a way to honor this little girl,” Skorapa said Wednesday. “She was very much loved in this school’s tight-knit community.”

The school’s guidance counselor has reached out this week to the parents of Adele’s classmates, and extra counselors were available at the school Tuesday and Wednesday.

“This also has been very devastating to staff,” the superintendent said.

Adele was the first child to die in a fire in Maine since a 9-year-old boy was killed in 2015 in Hermon.

She was the daughter of Jayson M. Parent and Tricia L. Mutty, according to her obituary published in the Bangor Daily News.

She had a “fun-loving adventurous spirit” and “was an outgoing little girl who was fearless in everything she did,” the obituary said. “No tree was too tall, no vehicle could go too fast, and no challenge was too great for her to attempt and enjoy.

“Adele was a gymnast, singer, and dancer, and loved being the center of attention,” it said. “She was sassy but not rude.”

She was in a back bedroom of the home at 256 Taylor St., which is the last house on a private road, when a fire broke out at about 9:45 p.m. Monday. Two other children and three adults escaped the fire, according to the Maine State Fire Marshal’s office, which is investigating the cause of the blaze and had a mobile command center truck at the property on Wednesday.

From left: The remains of a house fire that killed a 7-year-old girl in Lincoln are pictured Feb. 24. Credit: Natalie Williams | BDN

The cause of the fire has not been determined. Results of the girl’s autopsy also have not been released.

Skorapa said that two children younger than Adele lived in the household but did not identify them.

George Edwards, chairman of the Lincoln Town Council, called the days following the fire “a somber time for everyone in the community.”

“Any time there is a tragic loss of someone’s life it rattles the community to its core,” he said. “I am very glad to see the outpouring of support from our amazing community to help this family during this tragic time.

“The family will be in everyone’s thoughts and prayers, and I can only hope the community and their friends and family can somehow help them through this tragedy,” Edwards said.

The residence was insured, but a Facebook fundraiser to support the Parent family had raised more than $36,000 for the family as of Wednesday evening with a goal of raising $40,000. The tally included nearly 900 donations.

Erica Jo Ellis, who started the fundraiser, grew up with Adele’s father, a native of Bangor. She started with a goal of $2,000 so Jayson Parent would be able to take as much time off as he needed without having to worry about missing work at the Penobscot Community Health Care dental clinic in Bangor.

“I started with a goal of $2,000, thinking the dental community would contribute but I’ve raised it about five times because people have shared the post and been so generous,” Ellis said. “People have contributed anywhere from $1 to $2,000. It’s been overwhelming.”

She said that the money would go to family members, including those who escaped the blaze.

Adele’s maternal grandmother, Norma Parent, thanked family and friends for their support in a Facebook post.

“There are no words to express our feelings for all the support we have received for the loss of our Dear, Sweet, Adele,” the grandmother said. “Your support has helped us through this devastating time, and will continue to carry us along this difficult road ahead.”

Feb. 24, 2021: Author Says Racial Discrimination Affects Everyone

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:33:31 +0000

Man charged with child rape volunteered with USM senior college

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:14:58 +0000

Reynold 'Rey' Buono's move to Maine was approved by officials in Massachusetts, and he remains free on $50,000 bail with conditions preventing unsupervised conduct with anyone under 18.

Maine GOP will meet in March to discuss Susan Collins censure

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:09:20 +0000

The Maine Republican Party will meet in March to consider censuring U.S. Sen. Susan Collins after grassroots outcry over her vote to convict former President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge related to his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Maine GOP Chair Demi Kouzounas called the special March 13 state committee meeting in a Wednesday email to members, saying the purpose will be to discuss Collins’ vote and “possible action from this committee” related to it.

It comes after the state party and Collins exchanged open letters on the senator’s vote last week. In their letter, 38 party officials including Kouzounas said grassroots conservatives were “almost universally outraged” by her vote alongside just six other Republicans to convict Trump, who was acquitted in a Senate trial that required 17 Republicans to back conviction.

Collins shot back by defending the vote as “impartial justice” for Trump, saying this vote and another to acquit the former president during his first impeachment trial in 2020 were based on “the Constitution and the evidence before me” and not “party or any other external factor,” reminding them of her electoral success at a time when the party is out of power in Maine.

“I think that we need to send a message that you can be a good Republican and not necessarily agree with every position taken by the party,” the fifth-term senator told News Center Maine last week.

The special meeting set for next month is a sign that the conservative base that has largely overtaken the state party since the 2010 election is not assuaged by the letters. County party chairs said they were deluged by negative reactions to the vote.

Almost immediately after Collins’ vote, members of the Republican state committee began gathering signatures to hold the special meeting that Kouzounas called on Wednesday. Two days after the vote, Kennebec County Chair Helen Tutwiler said the requisite number of signatures had been collected.

The party could pass a more formal censure of Collins at the meeting, but it will have no more practical effect than the letter. State law — not the party itself — governs membership and the senator has never publicly entertained the idea of leaving the Republican Party.

BDN writer Caitlin Andrews contributed to this report.

Gilbert joins school’s small group of 1,000-point scorers

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:00:00 +0000

The list of 1,000-point scorers in Piscataquis of Guilford basketball history is short, but Kobe Gilbert was quite familiar with one of the names as he chased that same milestone on Feb. 23.

Gilbert largely watched from the Pirates’ bench in 2018 as older brother Bryce became the school’s all-time scoring leader with 1,474 career points, but he learned well from that freshman season on the varsity when he scored just 21 points in nine games.

Now a senior guard for coach Alden Gregory’s club, Kobe Gilbert joined his older brother in the 1,000-point club with his 32-point performance during a 52-48 loss to visiting Central High School of Corinth on Tuesday.

The 5-foot-10-inch guard became just the fifth Piscataquis basketball player — all boys — to reach the milestone. He joins his brother as well as Fred Blake (1,024 points, 1942-46), Ken Thomas (1,069 points, 1962-66), Mike Graf (1,049 points, 1980-83) and Buddy Leavitt (1,400 points, 1998-2001).

“[Kobe’s] probably the best one-on-one player I’ve ever coached — and I’ve coached his brother. He’s on the banner, too,” Gregory said.

Gilbert began Tuesday’s contest in front of a sparse, coronavirus-limited gathering that included his parents, Trey and Jaime Gilbert, and younger brother Gavyn. He needed 29 points to reach 1,000.

Despite entering the game shooting 34 percent from the 3-point arc, Gilbert struggled from long range against Central’s box-and-one defense. But as scorers do when one phase of the game is off, he turned to Plan B, which in his case was getting closer to the basket and scoring in traffic or after grabbing offensive rebounds.

The key to that success is one of the unsung elements of his game, according to his coach.

“What I see as his biggest strength is that he’s just strong,” Gregory said. “When he was younger he’d get to the basket but there was no chance he’d get an and-one [free throw] because he was going down when he got hit.

“Now you see kids coming down hard on him and hitting him, but he just pulls through and scores.”

Gilbert also is the Pirates’ leading rebounder, adding to his 12.4 boards per game with a game-high 15 against Central.

He credits all of the time he’s competed over the years with and against his older brother, who is playing at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, in shaping his basketball style.

“It’s just working hard outside of games and practices with my brother Bryce,” Kobe said. “He’s always pushing me to be the best that I can, talking a lot of trash.”

The younger Gilbert broke into the Piscataquis starting lineup as a sophomore and was the team’s defensive player of the year.

As a junior, his offense emerged as he improved his scoring average by more than 10 points per game, from 12.0 during the 2018-19 campaign to 22.9 ppg last winter.

“It was probably halfway through my junior season when I got going,” Gilbert said.

This winter he is among the state’s leading scorers, despite routinely facing defenses geared specifically toward stopping him. Central’s box-and-one featured one primary defender and two others with at least one eye on him.

“Just the one-on-one aspect of his game has gotten so much better,” Gregory said. “When he’s triple-teamed he can get by to the basket and get a decent shot, and he makes more than he misses.

“He also averages about five assists a game, but we miss a lot of the layups he throws to us. He would really be up to seven or eight assists a game if we finished. He’s a good passer and he’s willing to share the ball.”

Gilbert also is a talented soccer player and the 2020 Southern Maine Class D regional all-state honoree as selected by the Maine Soccer Coaches Association. He plans to focus on that sport at Bridgton Academy next fall with an eye toward eventually playing college soccer.

Maine homesteaders store pumpkins over winter in the most charming way

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Kathy Long in Blue Hill stores her homegrown pumpkins in her spare bedroom, a great and comforting thing to learn because I, too, store pumpkins, along with acorn, butternut and Delicata squashes, anywhere in my house that is cool and dry. Right now there are some in the unheated front hallway and more in a corner of the dining room. This way, I pass them several times a day and can spot signs of spoilage right away.

The history of storing pumpkins in this fashion dates back well over two to three hundred years. Aside from keeping them whole well into winter to use fresh, early cooks also dried pumpkins and reconstituted them to make pumpkin pie even in summer.

Historically, by the way, apples got the same treatment.

This week, as it turned out, one of my pumpkins showed black freckles and I whisked it into the kitchen along with a pumpkin bread recipe Kathy sent me. She got the recipe 40 years ago from Evelyn Gibbs, “a dear coworker at M.D.I. hospital.”

Over the years, like Kathy, I’ve made my own pumpkin puree for pies, cookies, pumpkin waffles and, of course, bread. After I steam chunks of peeled pumpkin, and run them through my Grandma’s Foley food mill, I set the puree in a sieve to drain until it doesn’t drip anymore. The texture is similar to canned when I am done with it.

When I tried out the recipe, I used pumpkin water in place of the plain water the recipe calls for. Kathy reports her puree is a little looser than canned so she adjusts the water amount down a little.

The other thing Kathy reported is that she has successfully substituted no-gluten flour — she mentioned Bob’s Red Mill brand — to make a gluten-free pumpkin bread, good news for folks avoiding wheat flour.

I usually increase spice amounts and did here, too, up to a whole teaspoon of cinnamon. I used butter in place of vegetable shortening. Chopped nuts is an option and I left them out because I don’t like bones in my pumpkin bread.

When she wrote me, Kathy still had 10 more pumpkins to use. At last count, I only had seven, but it is late February, so I better get on the stick and cook those babies to freeze in one cup quantities for pumpkin bread later.

Now, this pretty sweet pumpkin bread seems like cake to me. Next time I might make cupcakes and swirl them with lemony cream cheese frosting.

P.S. Ruth Thurston in Machias recognized the Hot Water Chocolate Cake recipe we offered here a couple weeks ago as essentially the same recipe called “Double Scrub” that a neighbor gave her a while back. Ruth wondered if any of you had ever heard of this. Apparently, the neighbor used to whip it up for her husband’s lunch. If this sounds familiar, Ruth and I would love to hear from you.

Evelyn Gibbs’ Pumpkin Bread

Makes 1 loaf

1 2/3 cups flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon (or more to taste)

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 cup vegetable shortening or butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1/3 cup water

½ cup chopped nuts, optional

Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and cover the bottom with a piece of greased parchment paper. Flour the pan for easy loaf removal.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, and set aside.

Cream the butter or shortening then beat in the sugar.

Add vanilla and beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in pumpkin until well incorporated.

Sift the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture alternately with the water, mixing until you have a smooth, but not loose, batter.

Fold in the optional nuts.

Spoon into the loaf pan and bake for an hour and ten minutes.

It is done when a shallow split appears along the top and a tester inserted comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then turn out to finish cooling.

South Dakota AG Faces Impeachment, Calls To Resign Over New Evidence In Fatal Crash

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:00:00 +0000

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is facing calls to leave office after newly released video evidence raised questions about his conduct in the car crash that killed a pedestrian last year. It's the latest fallout over the Sept. 12 incident in which Ravnsborg, while driving home from an evening GOP fundraiser, fatally struck 55-year-old Joe Boever along the side of Highway 14 near Highmore, S.D. In his initial 911 call as well as a subsequent two-page public statement , Ravnsborg said he believed his car had hit a deer or some other large animal, and did not know he had killed a man until he returned to the accident scene the following day and discovered Boever's body. Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday called for Ravnsborg — who faces three misdemeanor charges — to resign. Later that day, a bipartisan group of South Dakota House lawmakers filed a resolution to impeach him over acts "causing" and "following" Boever's death, writing that "during his reporting of the collision and

Gains for bank stocks help lead major U.S. indexes higher

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:56:07 +0000

Investors are still anticipating another round of stimulus to help boost the economy.

Augusta Civic Center’s vaccination clinic gives more than 1,300 doses in first week

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:43:40 +0000

MaineGeneral Medical Center spokesperson Joy McKenna said the clinic could give 1,000 shots a day if the vaccine supply allowed it.

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine works well in big ‘real world’ test

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:41:14 +0000

A real-world test of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in more than half a million people confirms that it’s very effective at preventing serious illness or death, even after one dose.

Wednesday’s published results, from a mass vaccination campaign in Israel, give strong reassurance that the benefits seen in smaller, limited testing persisted when the vaccine was used much more widely in a general population with various ages and health conditions.

The vaccine was 92 percent effective at preventing severe disease after two shots and 62 percent after one.

Its estimated effectiveness for preventing death was 72 percent two to three weeks after the first shot, a rate that may improve as immunity builds over time.

It seemed as effective in folks over 70 as in younger people.

“This is immensely reassuring … better than I would have guessed,” said the Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Gregory Poland.

Vanderbilt University’s Dr. Buddy Creech agreed: “Even after one dose we can see very high effectiveness in prevention of death,” he said.

Neither doctor had a role in the Israel study but both are involved in other coronavirus vaccine work.

Both doctors also said the new results may boost consideration of delaying the second shot, as the United Kingdom is trying, or giving one dose instead of two to people who have already had COVID-19, as France is doing, to stretch limited supplies.

“I would rather see 100 million people have one dose than to see 50 million people have two doses,” Creech said. “I see a lot of encouragement on one dose” in the results from Israel, which were published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The vaccine, made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, is given as two shots, three weeks apart, in most countries.

The study was led by researchers from the Clalit Research Institute and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, with Harvard University in the U.S. It did not report on safety of the vaccine, just effectiveness, but no unexpected problems arose in previous testing.

Researchers compared nearly 600,000 people 16 and older in Israel’s largest health care organization who were given shots in December or January to an equal number of people of similar age, sex and health who did not receive vaccine. None of the participants had previously tested positive for the virus.

The vaccine was estimated to be 57 percent effective at preventing any symptoms of COVID-19 two to three weeks after the first dose, and 94 percent a week or more after the second dose.

Effectiveness was 74 percent after one shot and 87 percent after two for preventing hospitalization, and 46 percent and 92 percent for preventing confirmed infection. Reducing infections gives hope that the vaccine may curb spread of the virus, but this type of study can’t determine if that’s the case.

There were 41 COVID-19-related deaths, 32 of them in people who did not get a vaccine.

Overall, the numbers compare well to the 95 percent effectiveness after two doses that was seen in the limited testing that led U.S. regulators to authorize the vaccine’s emergency use, Poland said. How much benefit there would be from one dose has been a big question, “and now there’s some data” to help inform the debate, he added.

“Maybe the right thing to do here to protect the most number of people … is to give everybody one dose as soon as you can. I think that’s a very acceptable strategy to consider,” Poland said.

Israel now has vaccinated nearly half of its population. A newer variant of the virus that was first identified in the United Kingdom became the dominant strain in Israel during the study, so the results also give some insight into how well the vaccine performs against it.

Earlier this week, two U.K. studies suggested benefits even after one dose of the Pfizer vaccine or a different one from AstraZeneca. The U.K. is delaying the second shot for up to 12 weeks after the first one to try to give more people some level of protection.

Story by Marilynn Marchione.

Susan Collins isn’t sponsoring a top LGBTQ-rights bill this year

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:36:43 +0000

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is no longer co-sponsoring the Equality Act, a blow to advocates hoping to build bipartisan support for a landmark bill which would bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity across the country.

The Maine Republican — who was the only member of her party to co-sponsor a similar version of the bill in 2019 and signed a letter with several Democratic senators last summer urging then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to bring it up for a vote — cited the need for unspecified changes and said she may introduce her own bill.

The Equality Act, which has been introduced in various versions since the 1970s, would amend federal civil rights laws to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in a range of areas, including employment, housing, jury selections and programs that receive federal funding. Maine is one of 22 states that already prohibits discrimination in those ways, according to the LGBTQ-rights Movement Advancement Project.

Collins spokesperson Annie Clark said Wednesday that the Maine senator agreed to introduce the bill with an “agreement that all of the cosponsors would work together to make further changes” but that others “were unwilling to work out those changes.” She declined to specify the changes Collins was pushing for, however.

“Senator Collins supports ensuring fairness and equal treatment of all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and she is considering all possible options to do so, including introducing her own bill,” Clark said.

Collins has bucked her party in backing LGBTQ rights in high-profile votes throughout her career. She opposed two federal efforts to ban same-sex marriage in the 2000s and was one of eight Republican senators to vote to overturn the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2010.

She announced her support for gay marriage in 2014, two years after Maine legalized it but before it was legal nationwide, and was endorsed that year by the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent LGBTQ-rights advocacy group that has lobbied heavily for the Equality Act.

But the group backed her Democratic challenger, House Speaker Sara Gideon, in 2020, citing Collins’ vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the need for a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. It slammed her a few months later for accepting an endorsement from the evangelical Christian Civic League of Maine, which led the fight against same-sex marriage in Maine when it passed at referendum in 2012.

In a Wednesday statement, David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, characterized Collins as a “strong advocate” for legislation to protect LGBT people from discrimination, adding that “her leadership is critical” on the issue.

Collins was re-elected decisively last year while Democrats gained control of the 50-50 Senate after Joe Biden won the presidency. He has identified the Equality Act as one of his priorities for his first 100 days in office and it is expected to easily pass the House this week.

But 10 Republican votes will still be necessary to overcome the filibuster in the Senate and it will be a challenge for Democrats. Republicans opposing the bill have generally argued that the anti-discrimination provisions would infringe on religious freedom and, more recently, raised the issue of transgender children’s participation in sports.

Portland activists, tenants want to join lawsuit and defend rent control

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:36:14 +0000

People First Portland and the Foreside Tenant's Union want intervene in a lawsuit by the Southern Maine Landlord Association seeking to block the implementation of "An Act to Protect Tenants," a citizen initiative approved by 58 percent of the voters in November.

Updated Q&A: Should I be picky about vaccines? And how do I remove myself from MaineHealth’s waitlist?

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:20:53 +0000

Answers to those and other questions about Maine's COVID-19 vaccination program.

Updated Q&A: Should I be picky about vaccines? And how do I remove myself from MaineHealth’s waitlist?

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:20:47 +0000

Answers to those and other questions about Maine's COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

Updated Q&A: Should I be picky about vaccines? And how do I take myself off MaineHealth’s waitlist?

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:20:47 +0000

Answers to those and other questions about Maine's COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

UMaine junior is a finalist for national public service Truman Scholarship

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:02:25 +0000

ORONO, Maine — A third-year University of Maine student was recently selected as a finalist for a Truman Scholarship — a highly competitive award given to undergraduate students pursuing careers in public service.

Dominique DiSpirito, a political science major from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, is one of 193 finalists from across the country. The Truman Scholarship Foundation was established by Congress in 1975, in memory of the late Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States. Truman died in 1972.

Finalists are selected based on their record of community service and government leadership.

Scholarship recipients can get up to $30,000 to further their education, participate in leadership development programs and have access to opportunities for federal government internships and jobs.

As a first-generation college student, DiSpirito said she was overwhelmed to be selected as a finalist out of nearly 850 applicants. “It’s a big deal to me to get this far for a public service scholarship,” she said.

DiSpirito’s own passions center around environmental justice — particularly strengthening a community’s resiliency with practical solutions by limiting food waste, improving food security and natural resource management.

As a student ambassador within the university’s honors college, she has led several initiatives that had a positive impact not just on the university community but also on the greater Orono-Old Town area.

Contributed. Dominique DiSpirito poses for a photo while volunteering at a personal care item drive at the University of Maine campus. Credit: Contributed.

Since 2018, DiSpirito has volunteered with the Maine Day Meal Packout event to provide meals for the local food banks. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she continued to organize the event remotely from her Rhode Island home.

Last year, her team distributed more than 73,000 meals to 16 food security programs across the state, according to UMaine.

“At the end of the project, my community had become more resilient in the midst of the crisis of the century,” DiSpirito wrote in her scholarship application letter. “Our success taught me that any challenge can be overcome with resolve, creativity and resourcefulness.”

DiSpirito also worked to identify food waste solutions during an internship with the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions last year. She helped launch two of the center’s six consolidated food waste collection pilot projects.

In 2019 and 2020, she also helped put on the university’s annual International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day.

“Dominique is the student every educator hopes for — very bright, engaged, hardworking, intellectually curious, compassionate, considerate and truly motivated by a desire to make a real difference in the lives of others,” Honors College Associate Dean Melissa Ladenheim wrote in a recommendation letter for the scholarship.

DiSpirito — who is president of the Honors College Student Advisory Board — previously received the 2020 Maine Policy Scholars Fellowship, a Center for Undergraduate Research Fellowship, a Servant Heart Scholarship and two Mark and Katherine Zeitlin Haskell scholarships.

“Dominique’s passion for and commitment to public service, combined with her limitless leadership potential, make her an excellent candidate for the Truman Scholarship,” Mark Brewer said. Brewer is a professor of political science and UMaine faculty representative with the foundation.

Contributed. Dominique DiSpirito poses for a photo while volunteering at a personal care item drive at the University of Maine campus. Credit: Contributed.

After graduation, DeSpirito hopes to attend either Yale or Vermont Law School to study environmental policy and later pursue a master’s degree.

Scholarship applicants must be nominated by a Truman representative at their college or university and undergo an intense application process that demonstrates their commitment to public service. In addition to describing their career aspirations, candidates must also submit their own policy proposal that addresses a certain societal problem or need.

As a finalist, DiSpirito will be interviewed on March 31 in New York by a panel of former Truman Scholars that include Monica Bell, an associate professor of law and sociology at Yale Law School, Joseph McShane, president of Fordham University, Sara Shoener, a special policy adviser for equity at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Operations and more.

The Truman Scholarship Foundation generally selects between 60 and 65 award recipients. Scholars will be named April 14, according to the organization’s website.

If selected, DiSpirito would be the sixth UMaine student to receive a Truman Scholarship since 1980.

The myth of American failure on COVID

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:53:52 +0000

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.

“We’ve done worse than most any other country,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci in an interview with ABC over the weekend.

This message is one we have heard a lot, not just from Fauci but from a myriad of politicians, bureaucrats, and public health officials, all of whom seem to be taking a particular amount of satisfaction in ridiculing the United States.

To them, America, it seems, is a backward land of irrational fools who willfully sacrifice themselves on the altar of selfishness and antiquated notions of freedom and self-determination. If only Americans would learn to hand over their decision making to large, centralized state authorities, and do what they were told, we would not be the embarrassment of the world today.

In the very same interview, Fachi claimed that the United States had reached the milestone of 500,000 COVID deaths because of “disparate responses of different states versus the unified approach.”

In other words, we would’ve done much better if we handed over all the power to Fauci and his friends in Washington.

Statements like his are repeated so often now that they have gained the status of accepted truth. There is perhaps no more universally held fact among the elites today than the belief that the United States is humiliating itself, and that the cause of our humiliation is Federalism.

Unsurprisingly, both of these beliefs are lazy, uninformed myths.

The United States is a geographically massive country with radical mixtures of highly urbanized megalopolises, and nearly deserted wilderness. The amount of cultural, religious, political, and geographic diversity in the United States is unparalleled.

We are also the third most populous country in the world. This makes all comparisons with European countries — which seem to be quite popular with the public health intelligentsia these days — completely inappropriate.

The United States has roughly 332 million people living in it today. In comparison, Germany has a population of only 83 million. France and the United Kingdom both stand around 67 million. Spain only has 47 million people.

Comparisons outside of Europe are just as absurd. Canada is a country of 38 million people with a population density of 10.2 people per square mile, which ranks 185th in the world. The state of California alone has 39 million people, with a population density of 253.6 people per square mile.

When you start to try to put together more appropriate comparisons, the arrogant ridicule of America starts to look pretty foolish.

If you were to combine the countries of Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Portugal into a single political unit, the combined population of these countries is about 334 million, which is about equal to the population of the United States.

As of the time I am writing this, those countries have reported 456,203 deaths, compared to the 515,017 reported in the United States. Less, to be sure, but I think we can all agree that the numbers are comparable enough to conclude there is little meaningful difference in the results.

Western Europe has reported about 17 million COVID cases, compared to 28.8 million here, which might make you think that despite the comparable deaths, they have a better handle on stopping the spread of the virus.

Then again, the Europeans have only done 266 million tests, compared to 351 million in America. Given their positivity rate, if they had done as many tests as we have, they would have shown roughly 23 million cases, once again very similar to our own.

Perhaps more importantly, though, many European countries — despite their vaunted socialized health systems and the heavy handed, centralized government strong arming — have a higher rate of death for COVID patients than we do.

In the industrialized first world, the marginal differences we see are attributable to dozens, if not hundreds of interlocking variables.

If Fauci’s dream scenario — a unified pandemic response run entirely from Washington — was the reality, there is no evidence that America’s COVID results would have been all that different from what they are today. Given that, I’m glad I live in a country that allows New Hampshire to respond to a pandemic differently than New Jersey.

Author: Racially Discriminatory Policies Drive Inequality For Everyone, Not Just People Of Color

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:50:41 +0000

Heather McGhee is an author and speaker who says that racially discriminatory laws and practices negatively impact everyone. And she’s got some economic data to back that up.

Maine will ask schools to administer standardized tests ‘when it is feasible and safe’

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:48:30 +0000

The state hopes to provide additional flexibility around testing requirements following the release of new federal guidance earlier this week.

Ghislaine Maxwell makes 3rd attempt at bail on sex charges

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:45:02 +0000

NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite awaiting trial on charges that she recruited teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, says she’ll renounce her U.K. and French citizenships if she can be freed on bail, according to a court filing Tuesday.

Maxwell’s attorneys made the offer in a third try at getting Maxwell out of jail before a trial scheduled for July in Manhattan federal court.

A judge has previously rejected two bail attempts, including a $28.5 million bail release proposal in December.

As part of the latest bail proposal, defense attorneys wrote that they will put the bulk of the $22.5 million estate belonging to Maxwell and her still-unidentified husband into a special account to be overseen by an “asset manager” — a former federal judge and U.S. attorney from Georgia. The deal would set aside about a half-million dollars for living expenses and over $7 million for legal fees.

The 59-year-old was arrested seven months ago on charges alleging she recruited three girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s. She has pleaded not guilty.

Epstein, her one-time boyfriend, killed himself in a Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell’s lawyers say the new proposed bail package would resolve some of the concerns that previously got proposals rejected, including a failure to show Maxwell would not be able to access her assets to flee or rely on her citizenship of France, which would not extradite her to the U.S. Maxwell also holds U.S. citizenship.

The lawyers also wrote that they hoped a dozen separate arguments recently made to get the criminal charges against their client thrown out or reduced would also affect any bail decision.

The challenges included claims that Maxwell should benefit from a non-prosecution agreement Epstein signed with federal prosecutors a dozen years ago and claims that coronavirus crackdowns forced a suburban grand jury to return her indictment, depriving her of the diversity of a Manhattan-based panel.

“These motions significantly call into question the strength of the government’s case against Ms. Maxwell and the underlying justification for continued detention,” the lawyers wrote.

The lawyers also wrote that Maxwell has been the victim of “vicious slurs, persistent lies, and blatant inaccuracies” and has been “depicted as a cartoon-character villain in an attempt to turn her into a substitute replacement for Jeffrey Epstein.”

They added: “Yet, Ms. Maxwell is determined — and welcomes the opportunity — to face her accusers at trial and clear her name.”

Prosecutors declined to comment through a spokesperson.

Shopping online eases isolation for older Americans

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:36:47 +0000

The pandemic has motivated many who have been unable to leave their homes or senior communities to learn something they may have resisted until now: how to buy groceries and more on the internet.

Former Mass. lawmaker pleads guilty to illegal use of campaign funds

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:33:36 +0000

BOSTON — Former Massachusetts State Rep. David Nangle pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal district court to a series of charges including illegally using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses.

The 60-year-old Lowell resident also pleaded guilty to defrauding a bank to obtain loans to purchase his home and repay personal debts — and to collecting income he failed to report to the IRS.

Nangle had served as a member of the state House Committee on Ethics and the House Committee on Rules. He was also a member of former Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s leadership team and had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Elected representatives are expected to work for the benefit of their constituents, not to line their own pockets,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Nangle, who served for two decades on Beacon Hill, used his campaign committee’s debit card to make personal purchases.

Nangle was heavily in debt and gambled extensively at casinos and online, and used thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for expenses like dues at a local golf club, rental cars to travel to casinos, flowers for his girlfriend, gas, hotels and restaurants, according to Lelling.

Nangle also fraudulently obtained bank loans to buy his home, fund his gambling activities and repay personal debts, prosecutors said. In the process, he made false statements on multiple loan applications, misstating his income and understating his debt, investigators said.

Separately, Nangle filed false tax returns for tax years 2014 to 2018 by reporting fictitious business deductions for purported “consulting” work he did for a Billerica company. He also wrongly deducted expenses from his work as a legislator and misled his tax preparer, according to Lelling.

Nangle additionally concealed income he received through goods and services from business owners and other sources, prosecutors said. That included $7,000 in kitchen and bathroom work done in Nangle’s home, $7,000 in check payments from a contractor, gambling income from a Connecticut casino and thousands of dollars stolen from his campaign account.

His sentencing is scheduled for June 24.

Nangle faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,00 for the charge of wire fraud and up to 30 years and a fine of $1 million for the charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a bank.

Gov. Mills makes push for another $30 million for broadband Internet in Maine

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:32:28 +0000

Weak or nonexistent Internet connectivity in rural Maine has been a long-standing problem that has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic as workers, businesses, students and families struggle to stay connected.

Gov. Mills makes push for another $30 million for broadband internet in Maine

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:32:28 +0000

Mills makes push for another $30 million for broadband internet in Maine

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:32:28 +0000

Weak or nonexistent internet connectivity, a longstanding problem in rural Maine, has been exacerbated during the pandemic as workers, businesses, students and families struggle to stay connected.

Mass. ex-football coach says firing was violation of free speech

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:20:08 +0000

BOSTON — A former Massachusetts high school head football coach has filed a federal lawsuit against three school administrators claiming that his termination was a violation of his First Amendment rights after he expressed concerns about the suitability of “coursework on politics, race, gender equality, and diversity” for seventh graders.

Former head coach David Flynn is seeking damages after Dedham administrators decided not to reappoint him as head coach in January, the Patriot Ledger reported.

Administrators cited his “significant, repeatedly expressed philosophical differences” with the direction of the school district in the decision.

Administrators did not clarify what the differences were when asked by the publication and said that it was a personnel matter.

Sara Errickson, a spokesperson for Dedham Public Schools, said the district was aware of the lawsuit and had no comment Tuesday.

The lawsuit claims that Flynn was exercising his First Amendment right to raise concerns over the curriculum for his seventh-grade daughter.

One of Flynn’s concerns was that a teacher used a digital cartoon of herself wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt. He said the material was not being taught objectively.

Flynn and his wife met with Dedham Public School Superintendent Michael Welch before ultimately removing their children from the school district in October.

Flynn was vocal with this disappointment and shared his thoughts in an email to school committee members.

“I explained to him that if the teacher teaches the course objectively and removes the BLM logo from the class, people will soon get over the fact that the class was purposely created without notifying parents and without having a visible course curriculum, syllabus and learning objective,” Flynn wrote, referring to the superintendent. “Apparently, it does not mean much to him that the Dedham public school system is losing two wonderful students.”

University trustees approve 580-bed residence hall, student center for USM

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:18:00 +0000

The $93.7 million project is one of several housing initiatives aimed at bringing nearly 1,000 residence hall beds to campuses in Portland, Presque Isle and Farmington by 2023.

Bangor Considers Revamping Rules For Short-Term Rentals

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:15:16 +0000

Bangor is latest city to consider restricting — or expanding — short-term rentals, such as Airbnb.

University Credit Union Scholarship applications now open

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:15:13 +0000

ORONO — University Credit Union is pleased to announce the application period for the annual UCU Scholarship is now open for 2021 online: http://www.ucumaine.com/scholarship/.

The UCU Scholarship is awarded annually to students furthering their undergraduate education at each of the seven University of Maine System campuses and Maine Maritime Academy. Since beginning its scholarship program in 2016, UCU has awarded 34 scholarships totaling $32,500 to students furthering their education.

“For many, education is a path to achieving their goals for personal and financial wellbeing. The UCU Scholarship aims to recognize those students who are committed to advancement through education, and reduce the financial barriers along their journey,” said UCU President and CEO Renee Ouellette. “Every year students inspire us with their displays of character, ambition and perseverance. After the challenges of the past year, and the uncertainty to come, we hope this scholarship will empower students to stay the course.”

To be considered for the UCU Scholarship, applicants must be UCU members in good standing with primary account ownership by May 1, 2021 and be entering the fall 2021 semester as an undergraduate student at one of the aforementioned institutions. For full program details and to apply, visit http://www.ucu.maine.edu/scholarship/.

Established on the University of Maine campus in 1967, University Credit Union is an innovative, full-service financial institution with a mission to actively advance the financial well-being of our members in every stage of their lives. UCU is the sixth largest credit union in Maine in terms of total assets and total members. UCU has eight retail locations across the state located in Orono, Bangor, Farmington, Gorham, Portland and Presque Isle. For more information, please visit ucumaine.com.

2 dead after getting struck at Boston construction site

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:12:06 +0000

BOSTON — Two people died when they were struck by a truck at a construction site in Boston on Wednesday, officials said.

The workers were struck on High Street in the city’s Financial District just after 8 a.m., interim police Commissioner Gregory Long said during a news conference at the scene.

The men, trapped in a trench, were pronounced dead at the scene.

No names were released.

Whether the men were knocked into the trench after getting hit or were working in the trench at the time remains under investigation, he said.

A crane was brought in to lift the truck off the trench and a firefighter and EMT were lowered into the hole to check on the victims after it was determined the site was safe.

The Suffolk district attorney’s office is leading the investigation to determine if a crime occurred, with assistance from police and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, District Attorney Rachael Rollins said.

The company that owned the truck, Atlantic Coast Utilities, was doing emergency repair work for the Boston Water and Sewer Commission and will not be allowed to perform work in the city until the investigation is complete, Mayor Marty Walsh said.

The company didn’t respond to calls for comment.

Capitol police were unsure about using force Jan. 6, acting chief says

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:02:53 +0000

In a statement submitted in advance of a House hearing Thursday, Yogananda Pittman provides new details about the law enforcement response to the Capitol riot and the problems that hobbled the police’s response.

11 ways to cook with beans you might not have tried yet

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:00:00 +0000

Beans are a homecooking super ingredient: inexpensive, nutritious and — most importantly — versatile.

Whether canned or dried, there is a wide variety of beans available at the grocery store, just waiting to be cooked. If you do choose dried though, it’s important to know how to prepare dry beans.

And once you have your beans ready to go, here are 11 recipes with beans that you can use for cheap, delicious and filling meals.

Roasted root vegetable pasta with tomato and cannellini beans

Sarah Walker Caron Roasted Root Vegetable Pasta with Tomatoes and Beans for Maine Course Credit: Sarah Walker Caron / BDN

Creamy, protein-packed cannellini beans can transform pasta dinners into something more hearty. This recipe combines them with tomatoes and a melange of root vegetables. They’re roasted and seasoned simply with salt and pepper to create a delicate but filling dish perfect for lunches, dinners and so much more. Try this recipe for roasted root vegetable pasta with tomato and cannellini beans to see for yourself.

Lentils and sausage with stewed tomatoes

Sandy Oliver Lentils and Sausage with Stewed Tomatoes Credit: Sandy Oliver / BDN

Muddy-looking lentils may not be the prettiest bean, but they are adaptable, cheap, high in fiber and nutrient-dense. They also soak up the flavor from spices and aromatics like garlic and onions and hot peppers. For meat eaters, sausage or even kielbasa can be added whole or cut up in chunks and distributed through the cooked, seasoned lentils in this delicious recipe for lentils and sausage with stewed tomatoes.

Refried black beans

Sandy Oliver Homemade refried black beans Credit: Sandy Oliver / BDN

Refried beans are easy to make — simply soak your beans (or buy them canned), cook them in onions and fat, mash them up and add seasoning. Once they are prepared, you can make a nacho supper, with tortilla chips sprinkled with cheese run under the broiler, a spread of salsa and some sour cream, or a taco supper with all that same stuff plus shredded carrots and lettuce in a taco shell. Or, make a dip out of the refried beans by pureeing it in a food processor with olive oil. Here’s how to make homemade refried black beans for whatever purpose you may want to use them.

Garlicky white bean soup

Sandy Oliver White Bean Soup Credit: Sandy Oliver / BDN

Water, beans, garlic, olive oil, bay leaves and lemon juice are all you need to make a great bean soup. Soak the beans and cook them until they are tender, puree half of it to make a creamy base, add salt and pepper, lemon juice to give it a bit of snap and a sprinkle of parsley for color. This bean soup is wicked wholesome and affordable, but tastes expensive and will warm you and your family right up on a cold winter night. Serve this garlicky white bean soup with crusty bread and a salad.

Mujaddara or lentil pottage

This Syrian recipe is a very simple staple porridge-like dish. It has lots of onion, is augmented by bulgur (or you can substitute rice or couscous) and calls for salt and pepper and a hearty handful of cumin, as well as a Northern African spice called ras el hanout, if you can find it. Plus, it is frugal, enough to feed three to four adults from one cup of lentils, a quarter of a cup of bulgur and two onions. Try this recipe for mujaddara, or lentil pottage, to fill your belly.

Curry vegetables and lentil rice

Sarah Walker Caron Curry Vegetable and Lentil Recipe Credit: Sarah Walker Caron / BDN

This vegetarian main dish is an Indian curry, where a blend of spices mixes with lentils, rice and lots of veggies — carrots, onions and peas, which are technically also beans. Finish off the warm, filling dish with some fresh cilantro and spicy ginger, garlic, cumin and garam masala. This recipe for curry vegetables and lentil rice is simple, but will taste like a global adventure.

Slow-cooked salmon, chickpeas and mustard greens

Slow-cooked salmon is less likely to overcook, and when prepared correctly, there are a lot of flavors in this dish that come together nicely. Flavorful chickpeas are seasoned with cumin, the greens with honey and garlic. You can replace bitter mustard greens with milder rainbow chard or any other hearty green. The grand finale is a sprinkling of bold, salty pan-fried capers, sizzled and popped to perfection. This recipe for slow-cooked salmon, chickpeas and mustard greens will rock your taste buds.

Taco pie

Sandy Oliver Cheesy and warm, this taco pie is a delightful treat on cold days. Credit: Sandy Oliver / BDN

You can make this recipe with black beans or kidney beans. This taco pie can be made two ways: with crushed tortilla chips on the bottom and a meat and bean mixture on top, or a cornbread mix on the bottom. If you have only a little time, the tortilla chips add a fun crunch, but the cornbread makes the pie feel more substantial. Try this recipe for taco pie that will warm your soul and use up that can of beans.

Sweet potato and black bean chili

Sandy Oliver Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili Credit: Sandy Oliver / BDN

This delicious chili is open for so much variation. If you don’t stick to a vegetarian diet, you can use chicken or beef broth, or even add hamburger meat. You could make this chili a lot faster if you used canned black beans, but it’s cheaper if you use dried beans that you soak. You can consider substituting squash for the potatoes as a variation or change the proportion of beans to sweet potatoes to suit your taste or supply. You can even double the recipe and serve a crowd or freeze half for a quick weeknight dinner later in the week. This easy and versatile recipe for sweet potato and black bean chili will soon become a staple in your home cooking routine.

Roasted garlic herb chickpeas

Forget potato chips — roasted chickpeas make for a scrumptious, crunchy snack. Unlike their junk food counterparts, roasted chickpeas are also low in sodium and high in fiber, adding nutrition to your snacking without compromising on flavor. Try this recipe for roasted garlic herb chickpeas for a delicious and nutritious snack.

Maine baked beans

Sandy Oliver Maine baked beans Credit: Sandy Oliver / BDN

Heirloom beans are what make this classic Maine dish truly special. Southern New England’s prominent bean is the tiny white navy pea bean, but Mainers often prefer big beans like Yellow Eyes, Jacobs Cattle or Soldier. Yellow Eyes, though, are the standard bean for baking beans from scratch. Traditionally, baked beans are served with ham or hot dogs, and brown bread, steamed and rich with molasses. Pickles or coleslaw are also terrific as a side. Attempting this recipe for Maine baked beans is a Mainer’s rite of passage.

Beans are delicious, cheap and nutritious. These recipes will help expand your repertoire of bean recipes and unlock the potential of these creamy, flavorful legumes.

Kevin McCarthy, Liz Cheney spar over Trump CPAC speech and his future in the party

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:59:19 +0000

Donald Trump is scheduled to make his first post-presidential appearance at the gathering of conservatives in Florida next weekend.

CIA Nominee William Burns Talks Tough On China

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:53:00 +0000

President Biden's nominee to lead the CIA, William Burns, spent more than three decades as a diplomat. Yet Burns sounded very much like a national security chief at his confirmation hearing Wednesday as he described how the U.S. should be wary of China and its leader Xi Jinping. "There are a growing number of areas in which Xi's China is a formidable, authoritarian adversary," Burns told the Senate Intelligence Committee in his opening remarks. He said China was working to "methodically strengthen its capabilities to steal intellectual property, repress its own people, bully its neighbors, expand its global reach and build influence in American society." Democratic and Republican senators supported Burns' assessment, and many praised Burns for his long career at the State Department, which included stints as ambassador to Russia and to Jordan, as well as top jobs in Washington. Burns, 64, would be the first career diplomat to lead the CIA and his confirmation would largely complete

McConnell Blasts Pelosi's Proposed Jan. 6 Commission As 'Partisan'

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:48:00 +0000

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's draft proposal for a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling it "partisan by design." The Kentucky Republican said he agrees the siege on the Capitol warrants a "serious and thorough review," but said he thinks Pelosi's proposal falls short of the standard set by the commission established after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, upon which Pelosi said she would model this new panel . "The 9/11 Commission was intentionally built to be bipartisan, 50-50 bipartisan split of the commissioners was a key feature," McConnell said Wednesday on the Senate floor. "It both helped the effectiveness of the investigation itself, and help give the whole country confidence in its work, and its recommendations." His remarks appear to confirm news reports that Democratic leaders had proposed a panel that would have favored Democrats. A senior House Democratic aide said Pelosi's proposal was

Chief: Capitol police were unsure about using force Jan. 6

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:43:43 +0000

WASHINGTON — Police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection did not properly lock down the building and were unsure of the rules for using deadly force against the rioters, according to the acting chief of the Capitol Police.

In a statement submitted for a House hearing Thursday, Yogananda Pittman provides new details about the law enforcement response to the Capitol riot and the problems that hobbled the police’s response. The statement fills in crucial new details as lawmakers begin investigating what went wrong the day of the attack.

Pittman emphasizes the heroism of officers during the “ugly battle” on Jan. 6 and states that Capitol Police had compiled an internal intelligence assessment ahead of the insurrection, when thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed Congress as lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win. That assessment, she says, warned that militia members, white supremacists and members of other extremist groups were likely to participate, that demonstrators would be armed and that it was possible they would come to the Capitol to try to disrupt the vote.

“Based on the assessment, the Department understood that this demonstration would be unlike the previous demonstrations held by protesters with similar ideologies in November and December 2020,” Pittman will say, according to her prepared remarks.

The department also took additional measures to beef up security because of the threat, including calling in additional officers and stepping up protection for key members of Congress.

Pittman details additional steps taken for Jan. 6 by the specialized dignitary protection unit, which protects congressional leaders. She said those agents had been assigned assault-style rifles for Jan. 6. The department also deployed “counter surveillance agents” to observe locations around Washington, including the Ellipse downtown where a rally supporting Trump was held.

Capitol Police had also intercepted radio frequencies being used by some of the more organized rioters who brought walkie-talkies to communicate with each other. Pittman says the police had been monitoring their communication.

But Pittman also says the department faced “internal challenges” as it responded to the riot. Officers didn’t properly lock down the Capitol complex, even after an order had been given over the radio to do so. She also says officers didn’t understand when they were allowed to use deadly force, and that the less-than-lethal weapons that officers had were also not as successful as they believed they would be.

Michael Balsamo and Nomaan Merchant, The Associated Press

Lawmakers Consider Raft Of Bills Related To Pandemic's Effect On Education

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:40:06 +0000

Maine lawmakers took up several bills Wednesday intended to help schools and families deal with the pandemic’s impact on student attendance and learning.