‘Mosquito area’

Good evening from the BDN Portland office on Congress Street. Tonight Portland has a James Beard Winner; LePage calls the national monument a “mosquito area”; and Clinton talks losing to Trump.

What we’re talking about

Eventide Oyster Co. named best chefs in the Northeast — The third time was a a charm for Eventide Oyster Co. At a swank ceremony in Chicago Monday night, Portland’s co-chefs Mike Wiley and Andrew Taylor took home top honors in chefdom. They are now James Beard Award winners and we wish you luck ever getting a seat at their trendy Middle Street raw bar again. Pro tip: Go now before the sweaty masses disgorge. Hats off! — Kathleen Pierce

LePage, St. Clair take monument fight to Congress — Gov. Paul LePage and Lucas St. Clair gave the congressional committee charged with reviewing national monument designations starkly different pictures of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Tuesday morning. St. Clair said the 87,563 acres donated to the federal government by his mother Burt’s Bee’s entrepreneur Roxanne Quimby “is a beautiful and amazing place.” LePage called it a “mosquito area.”

Cab driver who sued city for discrimination loses appeal —  A local taxi driver who sued the city alleging that its system of permitting cabs discriminates against him and other white drivers had his appeal denied by a federal court Monday. The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Paul McDonough, affirming a lower court’s finding that he had not demonstrated that he would likely pay the $800 application fee for a permit to wait for passengers at the Portland International Jetport and therefore lacked the standing to bring a discrimination suit. The decision does not delve into McDonough’s claim that the city’s permitting system discriminates against white drivers — a charge the city has denied.

Clinton blames Russian hacker, FBI director for loss — Hillary Clinton said she takes “absolute personal responsibility” for losing to the election to Donald Trump, but did not assign any blame to her strategy or campaign staff, the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker reports. Clinton said she intends to continue speaking out against Trump. “I’m back to being an activist citizen – and part of the resistance,” she said.

New evidence in the Sanborn case — Anthony Sanborn’s lawyer says that boxes of police case files from the investigation into the 1989 murder of Jessica Briggs provide new evidence that he is innocent of the killing, the Press Herald’s Matt Byrne reports. A retired Portland police detective who investigated the murder returned the files, which had been sitting in his attic, to the police department late in April. According to lawyer Amy Fairfield they contain an array of “exculpatory” evidence some of which was not given to Sanborn’s lawyer during his 1992 trial. The next hearing in Sanborn’s new bid to prove his innocence is scheduled for May 24.

That overturned kayaker was headed here, then Florida — Joseph Mullin, who flipped his kayak Down East and had to be rescued, was just starting a long journey to Key West, the Press Herald reports He was hoping to camp at Bug Light in South Portland along the way. — Troy R. Bennett

Multicultural music fest to benefit furniture for friends — Primo Cubano, Don Campbell, Mdondo Africa and Sudo Sudo Dancers team up tonight at Portland House of Music while raising funds for Furniture Friends. FF is a nonprofit organization providing donated furniture to people in need throughout greater Portland. — Troy R. Bennett

Tweet of the day

From BBC News:

The Big Idea

There’s a good chance a Yelp intern earns more than you. — The Washington Post reports on the 25 companies that pay their summer interns more per month than the median American worker.

Got any interesting story ideas, suggestions or links to share? Email Jake Bleiberg at jbleiberg@bangordailynews.com, or tweet @JZBleiberg.

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