Attorney General Steven Rowe announced today that the State has entered into a consent decree with The Gentle Wind Project, a Kittery-based charitable organization, and six named defendants (collectively, "GWP") who served as officers or directors for many years. The consent decree resolves violations of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act relating to GWP's claims about its so-called "healing instruments," and violations of law relating to the mismanagement of the charity and its funds by those who held positions of fiduciary responsibility.

Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara, Attorney General Steven Rowe and Health and Human Services Commissioner Brenda Harvey today announced a contract with the Maine Sheriffs Association to conduct statewide compliance inspections of retail liquor licensees. The inspections will assure that stores that sell alcoholic beverages comply with the law to ID anyone age 27 or under and refuse sales to anyone under 21 or those that fail to present valid identification.

Attorney General Steve Rowe today announced that U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret J. Kravchuk has issued a recommended decision upholding the State's prohibition on direct shipment of wine. Oregon winery Cherry Hill Vineyard and Hampden resident Philip Brooks filed a lawsuit challenging the law in U.S. District Court in Maine last year after the U.S. Supreme Court found that New York and Michigan laws violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by treating direct shipment of wine by in-state wineries differently from those by out-of-state wineries.

Attorney General Steve Rowe today announced that the Superior Court in Kennebec County has ruled that the Maine Department of Labor can proceed with efforts to collect severance pay for over 1,000 former Great Northern Paper (GNP) workers.

JAttorney General Steven Rowe announced today that his office has filed an action under the Maine Civil Rights Act against Brent Matthews, 33, of Lewiston as a result of Matthews' targeting Somali and Muslim residents by intentionally throwing a frozen pig's head into a mosque located at 21-23 Lisbon Street in Lewiston on July 3, 2006. The complaint alleges that Matthews' action was motivated by his bias against the mosque members for their race, color, ancestry, national origin and religion.

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced today that a State Police officer, Trooper Randall Keaten, was legally justified when, while acting in the performance of his public duty, he shot and wounded William C. Burhoe, age 50, the night of June 6, 2006, outside Burhoe's home on the Macomber Hill Road in Jay.

At a swearing-in ceremony today in Augusta, Attorney General Steve Rowe granted statewide jurisdiction to 12 domestic violence investigators from four district attorneys' offices, four sheriffs' offices, and three police departments. Rowe called the extension of jurisdiction for the investigators "another tool for you to use against the insidious problem of domestic violence in Maine."Rowe used the recently-issued report of the Maine Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel to highlight the destructiveness of domestic violence and the importance of the investigators' work.

Attorney General Steve Rowe offered the following statement on the news that the United States Supreme Court today rejected a request by the pharmacy benefits management industry asking that the Court consider the constitutionality of a Maine law aimed at providing transparency and eliminating kickbacks in the lucrative but mysterious pharmacy benefits management business.

Today Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe issued a statement to Maine veterans regarding the recent revelation of a security breach by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) personnel. The breach occurred when a VA data analyst took home electronic data from the VA, and the data was stolen from the analyst's home.

The VA has announced that the stolen data contained identifying information including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million living veterans from 1975 to the present and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings.

The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision today in S.D. Warren v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection affirming states' powers to enforce state water quality standards as part of the federal licensing of hydropower dams under the federal Clean Water Act. The decision is available here: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-1527.pdf. S.D.