WHAT: Civil Rights Team Project Spring ConventionWHERE: Augusta Civic CenterWHEN: May 7, 2007TIME: 8:45-1:30 PM

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.

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.?

Rep. John Brautigam, D-Falmouth, and Attorney General Steven Rowe will present a bill that would permit bank personnel to report suspected cases of financial exploitation of the elderly to appropriate authorities.

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.

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.

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced today that Indian Township Police Officer Alexander Nicholas II and Indian Township Game Warden Scott Francis were legally justified when they used deadly force against Douglas P. Kelley, Jr., 40, of Calais, during the early evening of May 12, 2008, in Indian Township. Mr. Kelley died as the result of gunshot wounds inflicted by the officers.

Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe announced that Maine has joined 42 other states and the federal government in settling Medicaid legal claims against Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) and its former wholly owned subsidiary Apothecon, Inc.

The total settlement amount that will be paid to the states and the federal government is $389 million. The State of Maine will receive $829,862 from the settlement. This amount will be paid to the Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of MaineCare, the State?s Medicaid program.

Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe announced today that MoneyGram Payment Systems, Inc., has entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC) with Maine and 43 other States and the District of Columbia. The agreement is in response to concerns about the use of the company?s wire transfer services by fraudulent telemarketers. Under the AVC, MoneyGram will, among other things, fund a $1.1 million national consumer awareness program and display highly visible consumer warnings on the forms used to wire money by consumers.

Today Attorney General Steve Rowe, joined by ten other state Attorneys General[1], announced an agreement with Anheuser-Busch that will result in the discontinuance of two popular pre-mixed alcoholic energy drinks, Tilt and Bud Extra. As part of the agreement, Anheuser-Busch will not produce any caffeinated alcohol beverages in the future. Rowe commends Anheuser-Busch for its decision and calls on other manufactures to take similar steps to remove these potentially dangerous beverages from the market.