Maine Gov. Irked by Obama’s Nat’l Monument Executive Order; ‘Cleaning Up’ a Corrupt Calif. City
Maine North Woods
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Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: N.Y.C.’s homeless heroin addicts; Missouri discovers crime law’s fine print; and Michigan tries new tactic to reduce sign thefts.
MILLINOCKET, MAINE
NATIONAL MONUMENTS | President Obama on Wednesday signed an executive order creating the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, in northern Maine. With the order, The U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service will take over 87,563 acres of land previously owned by Burt’s Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby. The proposal to create the monument was a source of substantial controversy in an area that has traditionally had ties to the logging and paper industries. Republicans in the state blasted Obama’s move. Reacting to the monument, Gov. Paul LePage said that if “average Mainers don’t realize by now that the political system is rigged against them by wealthy, self-serving liberals from away, this is a serious wake-up call.” U.S. Sen. Angus King, an Independent, saw the new national monument differently. “The benefits of the designation will far outweigh any detriment and—on balance—will be a significant benefit to Maine and the region,” he said. [Bangor Daily News]
SOUTH EL MONTE, CALIFORNIA
CITY HALL SCANDALS | With its former mayor expected to plead guilty to a federal bribery charge and this week’s resignation of its city manager and other recent staff departures, the city of South El Monte, east of Los Angeles, has an opportunity to emerge from the cloud of suspicion that’s hung over city hall. “We’re doing good as far as cleaning up shop goes,” the mayor pro tem, Gloria Olmos, said, adding that with an interim city manager in place, “I can honestly say things are getting done more efficiently and effectively.” [San Gabriel Valley Tribune]
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
HEROIN | Overdoses were the leading cause of death among homeless people in shelters in the last fiscal year according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Yet only about 18 percent of the shelters in the Big Apple have people on staff who have been trained to administer Narcan, a life-saving overdose antidote. When a shelter with no trained staff members finds someone who may have overdosed they have to wait for the police or an emergency technician to arrive with the drug. “Waiting for 911 to respond with a kit could be the minutes that you lose somebody,” said James Hollywood, the vice president for residential treatment at Samaritan Village, a human services agency. [The New York Times]
SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI
CRIMINAL JUSTICE | Due to an apparently inadvertent change to the wording of state law in 2002, most stealing offenses in Missouri may no longer be felonies, based on a state supreme court ruling issued there Tuesday. The case involved a woman convicted of stealing firearms and other items. “If the words are clear, the Court must apply the plain meaning of the law,” the opinion from the supreme court said. In an added twist, a 2014 rewrite of Missouri’s criminal code that will take effect Jan. 1, 2017, eliminated the language in question. For now though, anyone faced with a felony charge for certain types of stealing crimes, committed after 2002, has a chance to get it reduced to a misdemeanor, according to the district defender of the Central Appellate Office of Missouri State Public Defender System. [Talking Points Memo]
AUSTIN, TEXAS
CAMPUS CARRY | Students at the University of Texas staged an unusual and eye-catching protest against the campus carry gun law that went into effect this month. As a way to speak out against the new rule, participants in the protest strapped sex toys to their backpacks. Ana López, an organizer of the event says she sees the protest as a way to fight absurdity with absurdity. “Let me tell you something,” López said, “I don’t think that those who drafted the Bill of Rights thought that a well-regulated militia started in my organic chemistry classroom.” Three professors from UT have asked to be allowed to ban guns in their classrooms, but a federal judge denied their request on Monday. [Austin American Statesman]
TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN
TRANSPORTATION | M-22, a scenic state highway that winds its way along the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City, has been a target for a particular type of theft over the years: The M-22 signs, icons from the stunningly beautiful area, often end up going missing. The Michigan Department of Transportation is hoping that a slight modification to the sign—removing the “M” and leaving the “22” on the diamond-shaped shield—will make the signs not as tempting for would-be memorabilia seekers. The typical cost to produce and install a state highway sign is between $325 and $350. [Record-Eagle]
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