Unreported News

This is not the whole newspaper, but a special complimentary, on-line edition of the general-interest, periodic newsmagazine, Continental Newstime. The rest of the newspaper includes national and world news, newsmaker profiles, commentary/analysis, periodic interviews, travel and entertainment features, an intermittent science column, humor, sports, cartoons, comic strips, and puzzles, and averages 26 pages per month. Continental Features/Continental News Service publishes, on a monthly rotational basis, special, complimentary on-line newspapers: Washington DC News Edition (familiarly knownasthe Malfunction Junction News Edition or Snooze Junction News Edition), Chicago News Edition, Honolulu News Edition, Atlanta News Edition, Anchorage News Edition, Boston News Edition, Seattle News Edition, Miami News Edition, San Diego News Edition, Rochester (N.Y.) News Edition, Minneapolis News Edition, and Houston News Edition.

Washington, D.C. News Edition of Continental Newstime
Continental Features/Continental News Service
501 W. Broadway, Plaza A, PMB# 265
San Diego, CA 92101
(858) 492-8696
E-mail: info@continentalnewsservice.com

* Congressional News Briefs … District of Columbia Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton announces that the Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Carolyn B. Maloney, has agreed to schedule a Committee vote on Norton's Washington, D.C. Admissions Act, House Bill 51, on February 11, to coincide with the birthdays of two strong advocates of District residents' rights and freedom, President Abraham Lincoln—who freed the slaves in the District of Columbia before his Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves elsewhere in the country—and Frederick Douglass, who worked for the full and equal rights of Washington, D.C. residents. The Congresswoman is confident that, when the Committee passes the legislation on to the full House of Representatives, the statehood bill will pass, because Norton's bill commands 224 co-sponsors and passage requires only 218 affirmative votes. Appearing at the African American Civil War Museum, which commemorates the 200,000 African Americans who fought for their freedom and served in the American Civil War, and doing so with Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and Chairwoman Maloney, Norton quipped, "I suppose" President Lincoln's exercise of federal rule in the District of Columbia to free slaves owned there was "one time being under federal jurisdiction worked in the District's favor." In addition, she noted that January 30 was the occasion in the House of "two 'war votes,'" a vote to block funds for war in Iran and a vote to repeal the Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq. With statehood, she declared, a Member of Congress from Washington, D.C., whose residents serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and which claims almost 30,000 veterans as residents, would finally be able to vote on matters of war and peace. The great-grandchild of runaway slave, Richard Holmes, Norton says that, as a state, the District of Columbia would be known as Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, to further honor Frederick Douglass' exertions in the cause of the abolition of slavery. She noted, as well, that statehood would mean that the last-remaining obstacle to achievement of the Revolutionary War slogan, "No Taxation Without Representation" would be removed, and Congress would no longer possess authority to intervene in District affairs or dictate or alter the District's local laws. She dismisses insinuations, too, that the District is too small to qualify for statehood, pointing out that Wyoming and Vermont each have smaller populations. In other developments, Congresswoman Norton said, of her quarterly community meetings with the National Park Service, that it offers opportunity for the agency to "hear from the community on a regular basis to prioritize their needs and concerns," which is especially important because the Park Service owns nearly all the District's neighborhood parks. Besides, warning that steps must be taken "before entirely-preventable health conditions, which often begin in childhood, overwhelm the nation's health-care system," Norton has introduced the Promoting Healthier Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise (LIFE) Act of 2020, to fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with $25 million for pilot projects designed to counter obesity and sedentary living. Norton says that the bill would authorize a national education campaign to address obesity and overweight conditions, improve health professionals' training in the recognition of the early signs of obesity and promote healthy lifestyles, and spur workplace and community intervention strategies. Furthermore, she has outlined her vision as a new member of the Oversight and Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Environment—she is also Chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and sits on Oversight and Reform Subcommittees on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and on Government Operations—saying she will help rivet the panel's attention on climate change, "one of my top priorities in Congress," while likewise providing focus on public lands, endangered species, energy policy, air and water quality, and research and development. She asserts a commitment "to hold this Administration accountable for their failure to protect our public health and the environment for future generations." Lastly, as the former Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she has faulted the Coast Guard for its policies on handling complaints of bullying, harassment and retaliation, identifying an apparent conflict of interest in the Coast Guard’s Civil Rights Service Providers interacting with both complainants and respondents. If Coast Guard Commandant Karl Schultz permits this apparent conflict of interest to persist, she indicates that she "will pursue legislation."

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* Mayor’s Office News Briefs … Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced that the deadline for District residents 14 to 24 to apply for the Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program is February 29, and District employers are urged to take part, so the program can build on its achievement of furnishing opportunity to more than 500,000 young Washingtonians, by helping thousands more this summer to hone work skills, connect with mentors, and remain safe through the summer. With potential to be life-changing for many more youth, the program runs from June 29 through August 7. In addition, the District Department of Transportation plans to install 100 off-sidewalk dock-less scooter and bike parking corrals throughout the city, during the next several months. The locations will be between stop signs and the start of parking zones, to prevent illegally-parked cars from blocking crosswalk and intersection visibility. Priority locations will be residential areas having narrow sidewalks that are more likely to be blocked by a scooter, bike or e-bike not parked in a bike rack or other "dock." Then, too, District Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's so-called LIFE (Promoting Healthier Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise) Bill is of interest to the city, while it reflects concern that adult obesity rates nationally have more than doubled since 1980 from 15 percent to 35 percent, because the District has higher rates than many other political jurisdictions, not only in terms of obesity, but Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, as well. Also, the Mayor informs that, as the 2021 fiscal-year District budget is being formulated, District residents should check for times to state their values, priorities and suggestions at Budget Engagement Forums at the Senior Telephone Town Hall (February 10), the Edgewood Recreation Center (February 18), the UDC Student Center (February 20) and the Kenilworth Recreation Center (February 22).

* City Council News Briefs … The District Council’s Committee on Recreation & Youth Affairs has scheduled a Performance Oversight Hearing on February 3, beginning at 10 AM, in Room 500 of the Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW). The following day, in the same room, and at the same time, the Council will hold a Legislative Meeting. Thereafter, between 2:30 PM and 5 PM, the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee plans a Public Roundtable on a number of Clemency Board Confirmation Resolutions. The Committee is also due to meet on February 6, at 9:30 AM in Room 120 of the Wilson Building to conduct a Performance Oversight Hearing. Later that day, and in the same venue, the Committee has a 4 PM Public Hearing set on the 2019 District Government Continuity of Operations Plans Amendment Act. In fact, the Committees on Facilities & Procurement, on Housing & Neighborhood Revitalization, and on Transportation & the Environment also have meetings planned on February 6. Meantime, on February 5, the Committee of the Whole Council has a Performance Oversight Hearing scheduled between 1:30 PM and 5 PM, on the Fiscal-Year 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

* School District News Briefs … DC Public Schools Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee notes that, while the District's IMPACT teacher-evaluation system leads to improved teacher performance and greater student learning, that national model can be improved to better meet the needs of students, to enhance support for teachers, and to hold teachers to high teaching standards, so the District has arranged for American University's School of Education to conduct an evidence-centered, objective analysis of the IMPACT Teacher-Evaluation System. And the Chancellor reminds that the four Parent and Community Advisory Boards that guide school-district priorities meet with him and other school leadership each month in the DC Public Schools Central Office for two hours to discuss such matters as communication and community engagement, special education their own children are receiving, and system operations. Their fourth counterpart is the parents-only Chancellor's Advisory Board, and applications for positions on these advisory boards will be accepted for the 2020-2021 school-year in the spring and summer of 2020.

* Weather…The National Weather Service reports that the forecast for Washington/Reagan National Airport, as of 3:52 PM, January 31, calls for a slight chance of rain tonight, with areas of fog after 1 AM on February 1, extending to before 10 AM, and with a chance of showers after 1 PM. It is otherwise expected to be cloudy, with a daily high temperature of about 49 degrees Fahrenheit, north wind of 3 to 7 miles per hour, and a 30-percent chance of precipitation. Saturday night is expected to be mostly cloudy, with a low temperature of about 36 degrees and west wind of 5 to 7 miles per hour, while the forecast for Sunday calls for mostly-sunny conditions, with a daily high temperature of about 52 and west wind of 5 to 10 miles per hour.

* Sports … The National Hockey League (NHL) reports that the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals lead Pittsburgh by 6 points, each team having won 7 of their last 10 games, going into action on January 31 and the Capitals' visit to Ottawa, before the Capitals host the Penguins on February 2. Meantime, in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Wizards (16-31), with a day off on January 31, seek to build on their last win, when they entertain the Brooklyn Nets (20-26)—not idle on January 31—at 8 PM tonight.

Travelers’ Checks By Ann Hattes
All Aboard for Travel Around the World [Reprinted and Condensed]

    Over 100 years ago Frank Bennett Fiske photographed, from 1900 to 1915, members of the Sioux people in his studio at Fort Yates, North Dakota. The men and women he portrayed were his friends and neighbors, Native Americans living on the reservation. With a big camera, he made photos that have great depth on glass negatives that have seldom been shown to the public. Now for the first time, these photos have been published in The Standing Rock Portraits (Lannoo Publishers), a world premiere of Fiske’s work and an artistic vision of a proud people.
    For explorers ages 9 – 12 and adult travelers, as well, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid (Workman Publishing) is a passport to mysterious wonders, 100 real destinations in 47 countries on every continent. Witness the massive migration of blue whales in Iceland; enter the world’s largest cave in Vietnam; sweat it out in the hottest town on earth in Ethiopia; scale towering tree houses in Tennessee; and find rare animal islands in Australia. There’s a handy packing list, a world map, and useful travel advice, too.

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Question Time with Public Officials

The American public expects public officials to deal with, rather than dodge, difficult public-policy problems, to be transparent in their public-policy positions, and to state their views confidently, thoughtfully and boldly. One week was allowed to finalize the response, by E-mail, of each of the Presidential candidates listed below.
The Continental News Service had announced its intention to publish results of this multi-respondent poll in its on-line newspapers over the course of time, and these newspapers include its Washington D.C. News Edition, Chicago News Edition, Honolulu News Edition, Atlanta News Edition, Anchorage News Edition, Boston News Edition, Seattle News Edition, Miami News Edition, San Diego News Edition, Rochester (N.Y.) News Edition, Minneapolis News Edition, and Houston News Edition.

Would you, Senator/Representative/Governor, support legislation, or even sponsor legislation, ending all federal government grants to Planned Parenthood if it was conducted in an even-handed and non-discriminatory manner; that is, likewise ending all federal and federally-subsidized state grants to faith-based and all other non-profit groups, whatever their specific tax-code classification?
__ Yes. Uncheck "No Comment." My reasoning is ________________________________________________________________________________.
__ No. Uncheck "No Comment." My reasoning is _________________________________________________________________________________.
X No Comment. Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

* Proverbs (chapter 28/verse 22): “He that hastes to be rich has an evil eye, and considers not that poverty shall come upon him.” hastes=hurries.

[A timely warning against get-rich-quick schemes]

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*Free

Somerset County News Edition

of Continental Newstime newsmagazine

VOLUME I NUMBER 1 FEBRUARY 16, 2020

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What's new in Somerset County, Maine? Find out here:

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This is a Special Issue designed only to encourage a would-be editor-publisher in Somerset County, Maine to start a regular weekly or bi-weekly newspaper and to show that, using the structured format below, the proverbial wheel need not be re-invented—to eliminate the complexity in restoring newspaper coverage to Somerset County. Just as our Website indicates, Continental Features/Continental News Service is available to give guidance, to offer some cartoons/comic strips and other feature material free of charge, and to help a new local editor-publisher expand by 26 pages one time monthly for readers interested in receiving a general-interest magazine insert. CF/CNS desires more exposure for our cartoons, comic strips and newspaper columns, but we do not exist to compete with a local editor-publisher in Somerset County, Maine. We publish too many other newspapers and publications to regularly publish a Somerset County community newspaper, too. It is our hope, besides, that a local editor-publisher in Somerset County will not neglect to publish ads, so local businesses receive wider publicity for their products and services. Thank you.

Somerset County News Edition of Continental Newstime
Continental Features/Continental News Service
501 W. Broadway, Plaza A, PMB# 265
San Diego, CA 92101
(858) 492-8696
E-mail: info@continentalnewsservice.com

* Congressional News Briefs … Skowhegan’s agent in the U.S. House of Representatives, Chellie Pingree, has announced that, together with four bipartisan allies, she has requested that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler allow Congressional input and Agriculture Department feedback on a report dealing with plant bio-stimulants before satisfying a requirement of the 2018 Farm Bill to finalize a legal definition of bio-stimulants, generally natural-fertilizer additives regarded as including kelp, peat, fungi, and manure and fostering plant growth and yield. Saying that for the EPA to approve a final draft before consultation with Congress and the Agriculture Department risks sending a conflicting message and foregoes the "united effort" necessary to achieve “regulatory clarity,” the Agriculture Committee member, and certified organic farmer, asserts that this dovetails with her commitment to sustainable, organic, and locally-focused farming. Joining Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Representative Jared Golden, Representative Pingree has expressed concern that the Defense Department has entertained thoughts of cutting one destroyer from the 2021 fiscal-year budget and plans to cut the number of Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers built during the next five years at the Bath Iron Works in Maine, a move evidently at odds with the mandate of Congress to create a 355-ship Navy—the U.S. Navy presently counts 294 battle-force ships—by 2034. From their perspective as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (Collins and King), House Appropriations Committee (Pingree), or House Armed Services Committee (Golden), Maine’s Congressional delegation notes that the Trump Administration’s 2021 fiscal-year budget proposal would prospectively shave $4 billion from the total Congress budgeted for the 2020 fiscal-year and adds that procuring these destroyers for the Navy fleet is essential for national security. In other developments, Senator King lamented the almost two-year delay, so far, in filling the position of Global Health Advisor—a National Security Council position responsible for coordinating U.S. international-health programs—and a decision of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) to end the program designed to identify and fight global virus outbreaks. Authoring the Global Health Security Bill, the Senator declares that the purpose is to support the 2014 Global Health Security Agenda of forming international partnerships to improve global capabilities in detecting, preventing and deterring threats to global health, through annual earmarks of $190 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and $110 million for AID. In addition, Senator Collins, assigned to the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, has stated objections to Administration plans to reduce the budget for Integrated Pest Management, asserting that the program enables farmers to safeguard their crops from pests and diseases, by giving them a wider range of tools for securing their investments. She and Senator King expressed satisfaction recently that the U.S. Agriculture Department’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded the University of Maine Potato Integrated Pest Management program a $553,486 grant to continue potato-breeding research that advances development of stress-tolerant, disease- and insect-resistant potatoes. Senator King interjects that the Trump Administration’s 2021 fiscal-year plan to zero out funding for potato-breeding research threatens Maine’s important potato industry.

* State Government News Briefs … Governor Janet Mills credits the Maine Public Utilities Commission, in its issuance of a Request for Proposals on renewable energy, with undertaking a “major step” in furtherance of An Act To Reform Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard

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(LD 1494) that Senator Eloise Vitelli introduced and that the Governor signed into law. The outcome of that bipartisan legislation, the Maine PUC action puts the state on course to adjust from 40 percent to 80 percent, by 2030, its Renewable Portfolio Standard and to achieve 100-percent renewable energy by 2050, toward, the Governor observes, advancing the state’s fight against climate change, improving Maine’s energy prospects, and stimulating the state economy. Besides, recognizing that the housing-choice voucher waiting list counts more than 20,000 Maine residents, the Governor has marked her signing of House Assistant Majority Leader Ryan Fecteau’s bipartisan affordable-housing legislation (LD 1645), by emphasizing that she keeps a pledge in her State of the State Address and that the new law doubles the present rate of new affordable-housing production and is geared to create 1,000 additional affordable-housing units in the state during the next eight years, while maintaining the availability of existing affordable housing. Mills explains that the program leverages federal low-income housing, tax-credit dollars, with the Maine State Housing Authority administering a refundable credit, the Maine Affordable Housing Tax Credit program, for corporate and individual investors in affordable housing, including rural housing and senior housing. Lastly, there is an annual $10-million cap to the program, during its planned eight-year life.

* County Government News Briefs ... Somerset County Commissioners were set, at their meeting of February 19, to discuss Rockwood Fire and Rescue billing practices, consider approval of the Request for Proposals by the Director of Communications to carpet the Communications Center, adopt Resolution 20-033 to transfer $167,085.46 from the Undesignated TIF Fund Balance to the Sand and Salt Shed Capital Account, and, among other business, take up Resolution 20-036 approving the 2020-2021 fiscal-year West Forks Fire Department Contract.

* City Government News Briefs … The Skowhegan Board of Selectmen was due, at its meeting of February 19, to choose a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary of its Budget and Finance Committee, to consider a request for funding from the Free Public Library of Skowhegan, and to establish the schedule of Budget Committee meetings running from March 10 to April 28.

* School District News Briefs … Maine School Administrative District 54 announces that, at its recent Board of School Directors Meeting on February 13, in the Skowhegan Area Middle School Cafeteria, School Directors took up such matters as the February 11th Report of the Educational Policy/Program Committee and the February 3rd Report of the Building Committee, as well as Superintendent Brent Colbry’s Report updating Directors on Architect Selection in connection with the New School Construction Project; detailing Assessment Payments, to date; and proposing the 2020-2021 School Calendar. Looking ahead, the Support Services Committee has scheduled a meeting for 6 PM on March 5 and the Personnel Committee plans a meeting for 6 PM on March 19, with both meetings set to take place in the Skowhegan Area Middle School.

* Weather… The National Weather Service reports, as of 4:56 PM at Waterville LaFleur Airport, that the current temperature is 35 degrees Fahrenheit, with relative humidity of 54 percent, wind out of the south at 3 miles per hour, barometric pressure of 29.97 inches, the dewpoint of 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and visibility of 10 miles. Tonight, the forecast calls for mostly-cloudy skies, with a low temperature of about 18 degrees, southwest wind of approximately 5 miles per hour becoming calm. Tomorrow, Presidents Day, is expected to be mostly sunny, with a daily high temperature of about 31 degrees and northwest wind of about 5 miles per hour in the morning. Monday night, the forecast is for mostly-clear conditions, with a low temperature of about 2 degrees and northwest wind of about 5 miles per hour becoming calm in the evening.

* Sports Briefs … The Skowhegan High School Boys Basketball Team, seeded sixth, led three-seed Medomak Valley (Waldoboro) during most of their quarter-final game on February 15, but Medomak Valley pulled ahead in overtime, to win 50-46 in the Class A North contest. Skowhegan High ended its season with a record of 10-9. The Bowling Team’s Augusta tournament has been re-scheduled for March 5th at 3:30 PM.

To request a copy of CF/CNS cartoonist Ellsworth Jackson’s single-panel cartoon (“Black-Outs”), please E-mail info@continentalnewsservice.com

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Washington, D.C. News Edition

VOLUME VII NUMBER 1 FEBRUARY 1, 2020

of Continental Newstime newsmagazine

Continental Features/Continental News Service

"The newspaper-feature super-channel"