No Child Left Behind Reforms

Maine (have I mentioned this before?) is one of only two states with two women representing us in the Senate. Senators Snowe and Collins are common-sense Mainers and at least to our way of thinking, spend a lot of time trying to do what's right for their constituency, even when that means not toeing the party line. Snowe was re-elected by an overwhelming majority this year and her approval ratings (79% favorable) are the highest in the Senate. She was featured in Time Magazine last fall as one of the Top 10 Senators.
Anyway, Senators Snowe and Collins are introducing legislation to improve No Child Left Behind, which will hopefully help stop leaving behind so many of those students that the original bill failed to pick up at the bus stop.
From the press release:

Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins today introduced the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Flexibility and Improvements Act. This bill reforms the No Child Left Behind Act, giving states, school districts, and schools greater control and flexibility in implementing and executing the No Child Left Behind law. This legislation builds on the major recommendations made by the Maine NCLB task force which was created by Senators Snowe and Collins in 2004.

Idle Gossip and Random Speculation--Internets Style

There's been a bit of a kerfluffle going on in Maine this week. It seems that an unidentified woman in a light colored Cadillac made an illegal u-turn on I-295 and caused a 7 car pile-up.

The kerfluffle is because the authorities have not named the woman who caused the accident (she wasn't part of the pile up and drove away apparently unaware that she'd set off a chain reaction), they've only said that she's a Falmouth woman in her late 50's who was driving a light colored Cadillac. This reluctance to release the name and let's face it, the fact that she was driving a Caddie in Maine, has caused a lot of speculation that she's getting special treatment because she's special......who could it be? Who?

Wonkette had it solved:

Some lady in made an illegal U-turn last week, leading to a hilarious slapstick chain of misfortune and destruction. Her name has not been released to the public, the press, or the victims — possibly due to her “wealth” and/or “status.” All we know is that she’s in her late 50s, drove a “light-colored Cadillac,” and is from Falmouth, Maine.

Senator Olympia Snowe is 59, drives a silver Caddy, and lives in Falmouth, Maine.

We’re not sayin’, we’re just sayin’.

For about an hour that is--then they (sort of) retracted their statemen:

It only took one hour and nine minutes for Snowe’s flack to claim that the Senator was in Washington

The state police were quick to say that Senator Snowe was not involved in the accident:

"We have received about 20 phone calls because of the Wonkette posting today," Ferrier said.

"And we certainly wanted to nip that in the bud and let no one think that she had anything to do with that tragic situation." Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, was also fielding phone calls Wednesday about Maine's senior senator.

McCausland said Snowe was not involved, but he still wouldn't release the suspect's name. (emphasis mine)

The denials by the Senator's office, her husband and the rather strong statement by the state police aren't enough to stop the speculation on a couple of Maine's political boards...some posters to the boards smell a rat, and they're continuing discovery in this case. Updates to follow?