1. The man accused of leading sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase, and crashing into two cars, appeared in court Monday. They it started as a call about a domestic dispute, and ended in a violent crash on the Windham-Raymond town line. Dale Tucker pled not guilty to the misdemeanor charges, but did not have to enter a plea on the felony charges just yet. A judge set a $25,000 cash bail on him. (WGME)
2. The concussion study group based at Colby College announced Monday it will receive a $475,000 grant from the National Football League. The grant will allow for a significant expansion of the Maine Concussion Management Initiative’s Head Injury Tracker, a tool used by high school athletic trainers in Maine since 2014 to record and track concussions, said Dr. Paul Berkner, the director of the MCMI. Athletic trainers at about 40 of the roughly 150 public and private Maine high schools report concussion data to MCMI. “Our goal is to have 150 high schools in Maine reporting,” Berkner said. (Press Herald)
3. Maine’s minimum wage will increase to $11 an hour in the new year, thanks to a law approved by voters in 2016. Maine’s hourly wage will increase again at the start of 2020, to $12. Then, the wage will increase according to a formula tied to the cost of living. The minimum wage is now $10 an hour. (Press Herald)
4. A new national survey shows that the use of e-cigarettes among high-school seniors nearly doubled to 20.9 percent in 2018. As Reuters notes, “The increase in vaping by 10th- and 12th-graders was the largest year-over-year jump for any substance ever measured by the survey, which started 44 years ago.” Some health experts find e-cigarettes to be a preferable alternative to traditional cigarettes. But the FDA just moved to restrict many flavored tobacco products, while leading e-cigarette manufacturer Juul is pulling some flavored products from store shelves. (Reuters)
5. New York Magazine quotes several White House sources who allege that President Trump hates Christmas parties. “Christmas is not about him…If it were about him, he’d love it,” one source says. Having to spend hours posing for photos at White House holiday events is something he particularly hates. Last year, Trump reportedly made Mike Pence sub in for him in a photo line. (NYMag)
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