Director Steven Soderbergh to raise a glass in Maine 

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The director of “Erin Brockovich” and the “Ocean’s” trilogy is in Maine to promote his latest project, and it has nothing to do with Hollywood. 

Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh is paying his first visit to the Pine Tree State to promote a spirit he’s importing from Bolivia. 

Soderbergh tells the Portland Press Herald that he first tried Singani when he was in Bolivia to shoot a movie, and he has spent several years bringing it to the United States. 

He’s holding a launch party Tuesday in Portland at Little Giant. 

Singani is the national spirit of Bolivia and is classified as brandy in the U.S. It’s distilled from the white Muscat of Alexandria grape grown in the Andes Mountains. 

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Maine bills would expand access to abortion 

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Democrats’ bills geared at expanding access to abortion in Maine are moving through the Democratic-controlled Legislature. 

Supporters including Planned Parenthood of Northern New England say they expect the House to vote Tuesday on a bill requiring private insurers and Maine’s Medicaid program to cover abortions. 

The committee voted along party lines on the bill, which faces rounds of votes in the House and Senate. 

The Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee is scheduled Tuesday to hold a work session on Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ bill to expanding the kinds of health care providers who can perform abortions in the state. 

The governor’s legislation would allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse-midwives to perform abortion procedures depending on their training. 

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Award is offered — and rescinded — for ‘American Pie’ singer 

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A lifetime achievement award has been offered — and rescinded — for “American Pie” singer Don McLean. 

The 73-year-old announced Monday that he’s receiving the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, presented by the Student Alumni Association of University of California, Los Angeles. Past recipients included Julie Andrews, Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles. 

But the Portland Press Herald reports that the award was rescinded after the association was told of a domestic disturbance involving Don and Patrisha McLean in 2016. 

McLean pleaded guilty to domestic violence assault, which was dismissed after he met the terms of a plea agreement. The couple are now divorced. 

His spokesman called it “disrespectful” for an award to be rescinded over failure to conduct due diligence on a widely reported incident. 

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Maine hospital consolidation goes ahead, build to start 2020 

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A hospital in Maine has received approval from the state to consolidate its operations in one of its two locations in Portland. 

Mercy Hospital wants to complete a $74.7 million project to consolidate at its campus on Fore River Parkway. The move would involve selling the hospital’s 76-year-old facility elsewhere in Portland. 

The hospital says the Maine Department of Health and Human Services approval means consolidation can move ahead. It says it will complete final planning this year and it’s eyeing a two-year build that will begin in 2020. 

The hospital says it would fund the move with “a capital campaign, financing, and the proceeds from the pending sale of” the other location. It says the details about the sale will be announced in the months ahead. 


Maine city faces shelter crowding as asylum seekers arrive 

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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Officials in Maine’s largest city say dozens of arrivals of asylum seekers are straining a shelter system that’s already overcrowded. 

The Portland Press Herald reports nearly 50 people have arrived seeking asylum in Portland in the past few weeks. Portland officials say the shelter system’s facing a new burden from immigrants arriving through the U.S.-Mexico border and attempting to make their way to the coastal Maine city. 

The arrivals come after a year in which Portland officials warned that the city’s family shelter was nearing a crisis of overcrowding. The crowding was partly due to new families from African countries who’ve sought asylum here. 

Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling said at a public meeting last week that he believes “the people of this city want us to welcome immigrants without question.” 


Census: Farmland, farms, farm income down in Maine 

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — U.S. census figures indicate Maine lost 10 percent of farmland and 573 farms in the five years ending in 2017. 

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The Bangor Daily News reports that the census figures released last month show a 15.8 percent decline in average net income per farm. 

Ellen Sabina, from of the Maine Farmland Trust, said the statistics are alarming. She said it’s time to support farms now, “before it’s too late.” 

There was some good news. 

The numbers of small farms — 1 to 9 acres in size — increased slightly as did the number of farms that are larger than 2,000 acres. The census data also shows a 53 percent increase in the value of food sold directly to consumers, such as at farmer’s markets. 


Most towns approve of rural Maine hospital merger 

SANGERVILLE, Maine (AP) — Residents of a small town in rural Maine have voted in favor of the merger of a local hospital with a larger health group. 

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Sangerville residents voted 78-4 on April 30 to approve the merger of Mayo Regional Hospital with Northern Light Health. A spokesman for the hospital says Sangerville’s vote was the last among 13 communities that voted on the merger. Only the town of Cambridge voted in opposition. 

Mayo Regional Hospital President Marie Vienneau says the next step for the merger is legislative approval. Mayo is a 25-bed hospital located in Dover-Foxcroft, which was one of the communities to approve of the merger. 

Northern Light is based in Brewer and includes some of the biggest hospitals in Maine, including Eastern Maine Medical Center. 

 

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