In February 2020, Margaret Downing read an article that terrified her. It predicted that a novel coronavirus spreading around the world would overwhelm U.S. healthcare systems, particularly those in small communities like her town of Yarmouth.
“It was very obvious to me that this was going to be a very bad situation,” Downing, 73, said this month. “There were going to be a lot of people that got sick, a lot of people that died. It required immediate and energetic focus. We needed to get going.”
Downing, who has worked as a lawyer and an affordable housing developer, said small local governments like the one in her town of 8,500 don’t have the capacity or flexibility to respond to an evolving pandemic. So volunteers stepped up. READ MORE
Another 132 coronavirus cases have been reported across the state, Maine health officials said Monday.
The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 2,332. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. That’s up from 2,297 on Sunday.
No new deaths were reported Monday, leaving the statewide death toll at 706. READ MORE
A Windham man serving a 40-year sentence for murdering his wife in 2016 claims he is entitled to a new trial, in part because his family was not allowed to be in the same courtroom at his sentencing due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Noah Gaston, 38, also says that Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy wrongly concluded that he waived his right to religious privilege when he told a third party about a conversation he had with members of his church. In addition, he claims a 40-year sentence is too long for his crime and his sentence should have been closer to the 25-year mandatory minimum.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear oral arguments in his appeal remotely on Wednesday. It will be the first legal test of the coronavirus restrictions imposed in the state’s courthouses to be considered by Maine’s highest court.READ MORE
