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| 📷 Sen. Susan Collins, second from right, and Sen. Angus King, second from left, cut the ribbon at a Waterville event on Nov. 18, 2022, flanked by Colby College President David Greene, left, and Waterville Mayor Jay Coelho, right. (BDN photo by David Marino Jr.) |
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🛸 Maine's senators discuss objects shot down over the last few days.
◉ The administration of President Joe Biden has been defending its decisions to shoot down three airborne objects over North America in as many days, with the White House press secretary having to tell reporters on Monday that there is no indication of extraterrestrial activity or alien involvement.
◉ Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has been critical of the response to the Chinese spy balloon that traversed the country earlier this month, said these quicker actions call into question the later response on the balloon.
◉ "The latest incidents reveal that we have real gaps when it comes to policing our airspace, and we need to have better situational awareness and more of a protocol of how exactly to react," she said in a statement.
◉ Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, issued a joint statement in their roles as co-chairs of the Senate Arctic Caucus, saying there are "high stakes" in that region. One object was shot down near Alaska and the other in northern Canada.
◉ "America is an Arctic Nation and we must stand ready to defend ourselves and our interests, including the entirety of our airspace," they said.
🐋 In Virginia, conservatives invoke whales to try to stop wind development.
◉ This isn't Maine news, but it is a fascinating example of message flipping that could manifest itself here as offshore wind development continues. In Virginia, conservative groups including the Heartland Institute are invoking the right whale in public comments aimed at trying to stop federal permitting of a massive offshore wind project.
◉ "[The Biden administration] needs to take a multi-year pause to answer this and many other uncertainties before approving these large industrial projects," David Stevenson, the president of the American Coalition for Ocean Protection, said in a statement.
◉ Heartland has long attacked climate science, but the argument here aligns somewhat with that of environmental groups who want limits on Maine's lobster fishery, something that politicians in both parties here have resisted.
◉ Republicans here have been particularly outspoken about the potential for new limits on the industry. Top party legislators will hold a news conference Tuesday about ongoing threats to lobstering, which have been tamped down by a recently passed six-year pause on new federal restrictions. |
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What we're reading
⌨️ Mills shared her poetic side with the Associated Press.
📈 This once-modest home embodies southern Maine's real estate boom.
🔒 A man involved in separate homicides 20 years apart was charged with violating probation.
🍎 BDN reporter Kathleen O'Brien wrote about her favorite teacher.
🇭🇺 Here's why a Bangor street is named for a Hungarian freedom fighter. |
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