I bagged this from today's Boston Globe:
"Maine may bar hunting referendums from ballot; Not way to change rules, lawmakers say" by Alanna Durkin, Associated Press April 06, 2015
AUGUSTA, Maine — Five months after Maine voters rejected a proposal to ban the use of bait, dogs, and traps to hunt bears, lawmakers are moving to block future efforts to change wildlife management laws at the ballot box.
Legislators on both sides of the aisle want to change the constitution to bar the public from amending laws that deal with hunting and fishing as animal rights activists consider launching another attempt to outlaw certain bear hunting practices in the state.
Sportsmen and lawmakers say wildlife management laws should be determined by scientists and protected from emotional campaigns bankrolled by out-of-state interest groups.
But opponents say the move would create a dangerous precedent by opening the door to other efforts to roll back the public’s right to use the citizen initiative process.
I think that's the point, and somehow it wasn't a big deal when it was same-sex marriage or casinos referendum were being rejected and returned again and again.
‘‘We should not be suppressing voters’ rights in Maine because we don’t want to see a single subject back on the ballot again,’’ said Katie Hansberry, Maine state director for the Humane Society of the United States, the Washington-based group that poured about $2 million into last year’s proposal.
Maybe the Justice Department will get involved.
The measure failed by roughly 40,000 votes, but Republican Representative Stephen J. Wood of Sabattus said he fears that the Humane Society will eventually succeed in dismantling Maine’s bear hunting practices.
Wood’s bill and a similar one will be considered by a legislative committee on Monday.
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Related: Maine lawmakers work to block future hunting referendums
You didn't need to tell me twice.
If I find any other items concerning Maine I'll patch them in below.
NDU:
"A northern Maine woman is facing animal cruelty charges after police say she stabbed the family dog while high on drugs because she thought it was possessed by demons. The Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a Perham home on Sunday and found 30-year-old Ashley Doody acting aggressively and exhibiting unpredictable behavior. Police believe she was high on the drug known as bath salts. Sheriff Darrell Crandall said Doody used a kitchen knife to stab the dog. The sheriff says the dog lost a lot of blood but was taken to a veterinarian and is expected to survive."
Also see:
"Maine teacher to donate $1m award to demonstration school" by Aya Batrawy, Associated Press March 16, 2015
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An English teacher from rural Maine won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize on Sunday after 42 years of work as an innovator and pioneer in teaching literature.
Nancie Atwell plans to donate the full amount to the Center for Teaching and Learning, which she founded in 1990 in Edgecomb, Maine, as a nonprofit demonstration school created for the purpose of developing and disseminating teaching methods. Atwell was selected from a pool of 1,300 applicants from 127 countries.
The top 10 finalists, which included two other teachers from the United States and others from Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya, and the United Kingdom, were flown to Dubai for the ceremony.
Thanks for helping out with the greenhouse gas pollution problem making the world.... cooler?
The winner was announced by Sunny Varkey, founder of both the nonprofit Varkey Foundation, which focuses on education issues, and the for-profit GEMS Education company, which has more than 130 schools around the world.
After Atwell won the award, a young boy with a book bag strapped to his back waited patiently with his mother for a photograph with the winning teacher.
Varkey said that the award is aimed at fostering that kind of admiration for teachers and to say ‘‘to a celebrity-obsessed world that teachers are important and worthy of respect.’’
Until it comes time for contract talks and collective bargaining agreements. Then they are all $cum. That's the narrative I've been getting lo these many years.
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and former US president Bill Clinton, who is honorary chairman of the Varkey Foundation, were also on hand to give Atwell the award....
That just spoiled the award, and I hope he didn't make a play for her.
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FURTHER UPDATES:
Hacking woes continue for state government website
Minor league team denies pulling lobster due to PETA
Did you see what they boil them in?
