CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer will not be charged in the shooting of a 25-year-old black man who authorities said was armed with a gun as he ran away from officers, prosecutors announced Monday, the same day the U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation into patterns of racial disparity in the use of force […]
politics
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Analysis: Obama offers reassurance, little policy in speech
WASHINGTON — There were no new policy prescriptions, no fresh military strategies and no timelines. When President Barack Obama seized the spotlight for a rare prime time address Sunday night, he came with one major message: It’s going to be OK. Standing in the Oval Office, Obama sought to calm nerves and quiet a chorus […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Absentee voting points to busy polls
LEWISTON — Judging by absentee ballots alone, Tuesday’s mayoral runoff election should be busy. City Clerk Kathy Montejo said 2,983 people requested absentee ballots in the 17 business days leading up to the Dec. 8 vote. Of those, 2,709 had already voted and returning their ballots to her office, leaving fewer than 300 still out […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Different campaigns on display in race to be Lewiston mayor
LEWISTON — Don’t mistake his casual attitude about campaigning for indifference, Mayor Robert Macdonald said Friday. “Don’t think it’s because I don’t care if I win,” Macdonald said, five days before a runoff ballot between himself and challenger Ben Chin. “I do care. I ran because I care, and I’m running to win, but I […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
FBI to investigate San Bernardino shootings as terrorism
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — The FBI said Friday that it is officially investigating the mass shooting in California as an act of terrorism, while a U.S. law enforcement official revealed that the woman who helped her husband carry out the attack had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader on Facebook under […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Paul LePage argues against changing Virginia transgender restroom use policy
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage and other conservative elected officials have asked a federal court in Virginia to block a transgender boy’s challenge of his school district’s bathroom-use policy, arguing he is “biologically of the female sex.” A brief from LePage and other state Republican officials Monday challenges the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit on […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine lawmakers plan to pursue impeachment in wake of report on Paul LePage
AUGUSTA — The Government Oversight Committee’s investigation of Gov. Paul LePage’s role in forcing Good Will-Hinckley to rescind an employment offer to House Speaker Mark Eves concluded Thursday. That didn’t stop at least two House members’ plans to draft impeachment orders against the governor. For the most part, the committee supported the findings in the […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine, Measured Progress sign $4 million contract for standardized tests
AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Education announced Thursday it has agreed to a $4.16 million contract with a New Hampshire company that will develop online standardized tests for public school students in 2016. The contract with Measured Progress Inc. gives it the right to create math and English assessments for students required under state […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Fact check: Obama’s assertions on mass shootings in the U.S.
View Survey Readers requested us to fact-check Obama’s broad statement at the Dec. 1 Paris news conference, that “mass shootings just [don’t] happen in other countries.” Critics pushed back on that comment immediately, noting that Paris – where Obama was speaking – had just experienced a mass shooting. Mass shootings do happen in other countries, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Lewiston looks to use state welfare rules for refugee eligibility
LEWISTON — The city will hitch its General Assistance eligibility requirements to state rules, councilors agreed Tuesday. City Administrator Ed Barrett said it makes more sense for the city to simply refer to the state’s requirements than to create its own set of requirements. “I would not be surprised if once again this year, there […]