uCLINTON, Maine (AP) — A natural gas distribution company in Maine plans to get into the production side of things with a poop-to-gas renewable energy project to heat homes.
Summit Utilities is partnering with Maine’s dairy industry through construction of an anaerobic digester in Clinton to produce natural gas. Farms will provide the manure.
Kurt Adams, president and CEO, said Thursday that the company plans to spend about $20 million on the renewable natural gas project. He said it’s part of Summit’s ongoing effort to invest in “innovative technologies that mitigate climate change.”
Dan Burgess, director of the governor’s energy office, said it’s encouraging to see a new technology that both can reduce waste and heat homes.
uSOMEONE BREAKS INTO HOME, TAKES NOTHING, GIVES IT GOOD SCRUB: MARLBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Whoever broke into a Massachusetts man’s home last week didn’t take a thing. They did, however, leave the house spotless.
Nate Roman tells The Boston Globe that when he returned to his Marlborough home from work May 15, he could tell a stranger had been there.
Nothing was missing, but the 44-year-old Roman noticed the beds were made, the rugs vacuumed and the toilets scrubbed. They even crafted origami roses on the toilet paper rolls.
He called the experience “weird and creepy” and contacted police.
Sgt. Daniel Campbell says that the department hasn’t heard of similar episodes and that there are no suspects.
Roman says he may have left his back door unlocked. He thinks perhaps a housekeeping service went to his home by mistake.
uSHERIFF TO BIRDWATCHERS: PLEASE PULL OFF THE ROAD: SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) — A sheriff in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is asking birdwatchers not to leave their cars parked in the middle of a road while they take off on foot in pursuit of a feathered find.
Chippewa County Sheriff Michael Bitnar posted “safety tips” on his department’s Facebook page Thursday welcoming birdwatchers to the county and sharing some rules of the road.
Bitnar ask that if they spot a bird they must stop and photograph or observe, to please pull off the road first, close their vehicle doors and turn on the hazard flashers.
He says leaving vehicles parked in the middle of the road “occurs all the time, often times on curves, where traffic has to completely stop because of the vehicles and people standing in the roadway.”
u2 PLEAD GUILTY IN TEXAS IN BACKPAGE.COM SEX-TRAFFICKING CASE: FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Two men have pleaded guilty in Texas for using the now-defunct Backpage.com sex-trafficking site to advertise victims for sale.
Federal prosecutors in Fort Worth say Joshua Glaze pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking through force fraud or coercion. Faizal Sabar pleaded guilty to the same count May 13. Both await sentencing and face up to life in prison.
Investigators say Sabar in 2017 traveled with a victim from Pennsylvania to Texas. Authorities say Glaze helped Sabar create online ads and rent hotel rooms. They say the two men kept the proceeds.
Glaze and Sabar are the latest to plead guilty related to Backpage.com, which was based in Dallas and shut down by law officers in 2018.
uDALLAS SELLING STATUE OF CONFEDERATE GEN. ROBERT E. LEE: DALLAS (AP) — Dallas leaders have decided to sell a statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was removed from public view nearly two years ago.
The Dallas City Council on Wednesday designated the 1935 sculpture by Alexander Phimister Proctor as surplus property to be sold to the highest bidder.
City leaders say the buyer must pay at least $450,000. That’s what it cost to move the bronze sculpture from a park in September 2017 and put it into storage.
The statue was appraised at $950,000. Dallas authorities say that much money could pay for the planned removal of a Confederate War Memorial.
Dallas was among cities nationwide that removed Confederate statues following a deadly white nationalist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Civil rights advocates say such statues are monuments to racism.
uIOWA DENTIST WON’T BE CHARGED FOR WOULD-BE BURGLAR’S DEATH: MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) — A prosecutor says an Iowa dentist won’t be charged in the death of a man suspected of trying to steal items from the dentist’s office.
Dr. Clyde Overturff had told officers that he was spending the night in an apartment at his Maquoketa (muh’-KOH’-keh-tuh) office in March when he tackled and tussled with a man he found in the office’s garage. Overturff says the man slumped over and stopped fighting, ending their struggle.
The Telegraph Herald reports that an autopsy report says the man, 44-year-old Richard Purcell, died from sudden cardiac arrest. Jackson County Attorney Sara Davenport says she won’t charge Overturff because Purcell’s death “was the result of pre-existing medical conditions aggravated by the actions of the property owner who was defending himself and his property.”
uARIZONA MAN ACCUSED OF BURYING HIS DEAD MOM IN HIS BACKYARD: SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona man has been arrested for allegedly burying his dead mother in his backyard to continue receiving her Social Security checks and Veterans Affairs benefits.
Pinal County Sheriff’s officials say 66-year-old Daniel Shannon of San Tan Valley is jailed on suspicion of fraud and improper disposal of a body.
Sheriff’s officials talked to Shannon after being told his 94-year-old mother hasn’t been seen since December.
They say his story kept changing upon questioning until he admitted Wednesday to discovering his mother’s dead body on Dec. 21 and burying it to continue collecting her benefits, which he said he needed for a patent on an unknown invention.
Sheriff’s officials executed a search warrant and discovered a body buried in the backyard.
