Office of the Maine Attorney General

The Maine Hospice Council and Center for End-of-Life Care Hosts A Conversation with the Attorney General: Perspectives on End-of-Life Care

The Maine Hospice Council and Center for End-of-Life Care in partnership with Maine?s Office of the Attorney General is pleased to host a series of Town Meetings, held in seven different communities across the state beginning on September 20th.

Rowe To Congress: Allow States to Fight Global Warming

On Wednesday, Attorney General Steve Rowe, along with ten state?s attorneys general and the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other Members of the House of Representatives strongly urging them to oppose H.R. 2927, an amendment to the energy bill that contains language that could be used to challenge greenhouse gas emission standards already adopted by Maine and thirteen other states.

Hutchinson Gets Life In Prison for 1994 Murder

Today, Michael Hutchinson was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Crystal Perry. On April 9, 2007 a jury found Hutchinson guilty in the 1994 stabbing of Perry. The murder took place in her kitchen while her daughter slept in an adjoining room.

?The brutal circumstances of the murder coupled with the fact that he walked free for so many years make life in prison a fitting sentence.? Remarked Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, who presented the State?s case before Justice Thomas Warren in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Chief Medical Examiner Releases Information on the Death of Coreen Weise

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner has confirmed that the body found in the Saco River early Saturday morning is that of Coreen Weise who has been missing since early November of 2006. Preliminary identification was made by comparison of the orthodontic work. Confirmation of identification was done by the DNA Division of the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory. The autopsy is complete. There is no significant antemortem injury. Findings are all consistent with drowning. The manner of death is pending further investigation and toxicology.

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Big Tobacco Makes Annual MSA Payment

Earlier this week, the company signatories of the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) made their required annual payments to Maine and the other 45 States. The money collected by Maine will go to finance the Fund for a Healthy Maine. In addition to large amounts paid to the signatory States, the MSA is a public health agreement with strong prohibitions on numerous forms of advertising, promotion, and marketing of cigarettes by the participating companies.

Attorney General Rowe Applauds Supreme Court Decision Directing The EPA to Enforce the Clean Air Act

Today the United States Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide from automobile emissions and that by not doing so the EPA ignored its responsibility.

?What this decision means is that the EPA will have to make decision based on the science of global warming and not factors that have nothing to do with the Clean Air Act.? Rowe stated. ?We expect the EPA will have a hard time proving that CO2 does not contribute to global warming.?

Doctors, State Officials & Youth Prepared to Answer the Surgeon General?s Call to Action

Today, Acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu issued a Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. The report identifies underage drinking as a ?major societal problem with enormous health and safety consequences? that ?will demand the Nation?s attention and committed efforts to solve.? The Surgeon General highlights new research that explains why youth react to alcohol differently from adults and explains why successful interventions must occur early, continuously and in the context of human development.

Rowe Highlights Maine?s New Identity Theft Law

Effective July 18, 2008 Maine residents who are victims of identity theft have the right to file a police report and receive a copy of a written report from their local law enforcement agency. A police report is required by most financial institutions in order for victims of identity theft to clear their name. In the past, many identity theft victims in Maine were unable to obtain a police report because the crime took place outside of the state.

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