"Road to Cadillac Mountain opens
The access road leading to Acadia National Park’s Cadillac Mountain opened on Saturday, a week ahead of schedule. Park officials announced in March that the 27-mile Park Loop Road, the Cadillac Mountain Summit Road, and the visitor center would open a month later than their usual mid-April openings because of automatic federal spending cuts that slashed $390,000 from the park’s budget. Superintendent Sheridan Steele said the Cadillac Mountain road, which had been slated to open May 17, opened earlier in response to concerns from the island’s business community. Merchants offered to help out with trash removal and portable toilet service."
"Divers recover second body from Maine lake
The Maine Wardens Service says its divers have recovered the body of a second man who disappeared after a boat capsized on a lake on Mount Desert Island. Officials say the body of 38-year-old Corey Farley of Seal Cove was found Saturday afternoon in less than 30 feet of water, not far from where the boat capsized and near where the body of 67-year-old Richard Weimer was recovered. Divers were in the water less than 15 minutes before finding Farley’s body. His body was being taken to the medical examiner’s office in Augusta. Wardens recovered the body of Weimer, of Charlton, Mass., on Thursday afternoon."
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: Maine Man Missing
"Maine governor calls for school accountability
Governor Paul LePage called for an education system with accountability in his weekly radio address Saturday. LePage said that by measuring school performance and providing assistance to struggling schools, achievement can be improved. In the Democratic response, Representative Gay Grant of Gardiner said Maine schools face a serious threat in LePage’s proposed budget, which she said cuts funding to schools by nearly $40 million over the next two years."
"Chamber of Commerce endorses Medicaid expansion
The Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce says it is endorsing an expansion of Medicaid in Maine. The chamber’s board endorsed expansion of the program in a resolution it passed. The federal Affordable Care Act offers states 100 percent funding for the expansion in the first three years, and 90 percent in the fourth year. Maine elected officials have not decided yet whether the state will accept the federal offer. Governor Paul LePage wants the federal government to guarantee 10 years of funding at 100 percent if the state is to accept Medicaid expansion. But Bangor chamber members say that expanding Medicaid, called MaineCare in the state, will help low-income workers obtain affordable health coverage and will likely reduce charitable care costs in the health care system, costs that are often shifted to other payers."
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Maine and Medicaid
"Man charged in 1976 death returned to Maine
A homeless man from Seattle is back in Maine to face a murder charge for the 1976 stabbing death of a 70-year-old woman. Gary Raub, 64, arrived Friday at Kennebec County Jail after being arrested in Seattle in October for allegedly killing Blanche Kimball in her Augusta home. Raub had rented a room from Kimball, but denied involvement in her death at the time. Detectives last year developed a DNA profile from blood found in Kimball’s kitchen, and obtained Raub’s DNA in July by asking him to participate in a chewing gum survey in Seattle."
"Vigil held for missing snowmobilers
More than 50 people held a vigil Friday night for three Maine men presumed dead after riding their snowmobiles into Rangeley Lake in late December. Friday night’s vigil on the ice-covered lake was held during Rangeley’s annual Snodeo snowmobile festival. Some people had said the event should be postponed until the bodies are recovered, but Ken Henderson Sr., the father of one of the missing men, said Friday he was glad the event went on and thanked the community. Authorities believed the three men rode into open water in the overnight hours of Dec. 30. The search for the bodies has been put on hold because of ice."
