Good morning from Augusta. There are 9 days till the brand new Maine Legislature convenes.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Now we have a clean canvas throughout the road [where the buildings were destroyed],” E.J. Roach, Previous City’s director of financial and neighborhood improvement, said of the September 2019 fire that destroyed a significant part of the town’s heart and led it to contemplate its picture. “I see it as a possibility to form Previous City.” Here’s your soundtrack.
What we’re watching immediately
Encouraging information about coronavirus vaccine improvement continues to move in, with the potential for a vaccine permitted by mid-December. The U.S. Meals and Drug Administration is planning to contemplate emergency approval of a vaccine developed by Pfizer on Dec. 10. If the vaccine is permitted, folks might start receiving the primary doses inside days.
The primary section of vaccine rollout in Maine would goal well being care staff in high-risk settings and people dwelling and dealing in long-term care amenities, in keeping with a plan the state submitted last month. However challenges stay. The Pfizer vaccine should be administered in two doses, a number of weeks aside. The vaccine should even be stored at extra-low temperatures. 5 Maine hospitals have requisite freezers, however distribution to rural areas may very well be troublesome.
State officers are considering creatively, contemplating backup mills to energy freezers within the occasion of outages and utilizing fireplace stations or automotive washes as drive-through immunization amenities as a result of they’re heated and can be appropriate for staff in protecting gear, Maine Middle for Illness Management and Prevention Director Nirav Shah told The Washington Post.
As these plans are being labored out, a gaggle against mandated vaccines is rising once more to problem a flu shot requirement for healthcare staff. The Maine CDC has proposed that frontline staff be required to get immunized for the flu this season. It’s half of a bigger effort to advertise vaccination and forestall confusion over whether or not somebody has the coronavirus — which shares signs with the flu — and overloading the well being care system.
The group Mainers for Well being and Parental Rights, who led the cost this spring to repeal Maine’s stricter vaccination legal guidelines for public faculty kids — and lost overwhelmingly — is criticizing the rule change. Count on them to be vocal immediately throughout a public remark session scheduled for 9 a.m. Comply with it by signing in at this link.
The Maine politics prime 3
— “Maine’s 2nd District could get more blue after 2021,” Jessica Piper, Bangor Day by day Information: “The extra conservative 2nd Congressional District has misplaced inhabitants over the previous decade whereas the reliably liberal 1st District has grown. Inhabitants estimates from 2018 counsel roughly 15,000 folks within the 1st District may very well be shifted to the 2nd District when new maps are drawn. It’s more likely to make the latter swing district held by Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, barely extra liberal.”
— “The hurdles ahead in 2021 for Maine’s stalled tribal sovereignty bid,” Caitlin Andrews, BDN: “The complicated concern of sovereignty can be revived in what guarantees to be one of many extra high-stakes legislative periods in state historical past in early 2021. Lawmakers shall be going through an estimated $1.4 billion shortfall over the subsequent three years. Racial disparities across the coronavirus, well being and incarceration are additionally more likely to drive coverage conversations.”
— “Susan Collins: Trump ‘wrong’ to pressure GOP officials over election results,” Piper, BDN: “‘The fitting means is to compile the proof and mount authorized challenges in our courts. The flawed means is to try to strain state election officers,’ Collins mentioned after President Donald Trump criticized Georgia election officers and met with Michigan lawmakers after encouraging Republican canvasser within the Detroit space to delay outcomes. ‘That undermines the general public’s religion in our election outcomes with out proof and court docket rulings to help the allegations.’
Whereas the president nonetheless refuses to concede, time is working out for him to problem leads to court docket because the president-elect strikes ahead. Key states are set to certify their election outcomes inside the subsequent two weeks. President-elect Joe Biden is predicted to announce his first Cupboard picks Tuesday regardless of the roadblocks in his transition. He has already picked Tony Blinken, a longtime aide, as his nominee to be secretary of state, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
Jake Sullivan, who was an aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, shall be Biden’s nationwide safety adviser whereas profession diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield shall be nominated to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Right now’s Day by day Transient was written by Caitlin Andrews and Jessica Piper and edited by Michael Shepherd. Should you’re studying this on the BDN’s web site or have been forwarded it, e-mail clumm@bangordailynews.com (we’re organising a brand new subscriber web page quickly) to subscribe to it by way of e-mail.
To succeed in us, don’t reply on to this article, however contact the political crew at mshepherd@bangordailynews.com, candrews@bangordailynews.com or jpiper@bangordailynews.com.
