Press Herald - Four of the six New England states have red flag laws, which allow for quick intervention when a person in possession of firearms is at risk of harming themselves or others. Maine will vote on passing its own red flag law via a statewide referendum this November. Supporters believe it will reduce suicides and give families a way to help loved ones who could be in danger. Opponents say it lacks due process and violates 2nd Amendment rights.
MSNBC - A 40-year-old oyster farmer seeking to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine is providing a preview of the Democratic Party's future. Graham Platner isn't just running against the veteran senator. He's running against a system he says is hurting the working class by design, writes author and historian Eoin Higgins. Like other candidates making a splash right now, Platner isn't necessarily what the Democratic establishment has been looking for, but he's appealing to voters with a forceful message. Read more.
Portland Press Herald - A Freeport climate scientist is enduring minus 40-degree temperatures while skiing across Greenland to document the fastest warming section of the Arctic and install sensors that can help predict the rate of sea level rise and ocean warming around the world.
If all has gone according to plan, 38-year-old Susana Hancock should be more than halfway through a 600-mile trek in one of the planet’s most remote and hostile environments to document the rapid retreat of the Greenland ice sheet.
The small, one-pound sensors she is installing as she skis across the world’s second-largest polar ice cap will measure greenhouse gas emissions and ice thickness. That data is critical for global climate monitoring in a region that is “very poorly monitored in real time,” Hancock said during an interview last month before leaving for Tasiilaq, an island in East Greenland, where she was set to begin her trip a week later.
Hancock has built a career at the intersection of science and Arctic policy. She lives in Freeport and works at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, an organization with headquarters in Vermont and Stockholm, Sweden, that is focused on bringing the work of those who study the frozen regions of the world directly to global climate policymakers.
Her job is to translate complex data into a language that can drive political action. The physical act of skiing across a frozen landscape gives her an intimate understanding of the changes taking place.