PROVIDENCE
Nursing homes fear results of budget cuts
Rhode Island nursing homes say they are ‘‘reeling’’ from a substantial cut revealed in lawmakers’ latest budget proposal. The budget, unveiled late Friday, includes an 8.5 percent cut in Medicaid payments to nursing facilities over nine months. Virginia Burke, CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, says the cuts will result in facility closures and layoffs. She says nursing homes are already financially strapped because of the state’s bungled benefits computer system. Larry Berman, spokesman for the House speaker, says the ‘‘nursing home issue is still developing.’’ The proposed cut comes after nursing homes successfully sued the state for unauthorized cuts in past years. (AP)
DURHAM, N.H.
University unveils plan to woo Chinese students
The University of New Hampshire has unveiled a new program designed to attract Chinese students with high scores on a national exam in China. The rigorous assessment, the gaokao, is the nation’s college entrance exam administered in June over two days. Nearly 10 million students registered to take the exam this year. Chinese high school graduates would have to submit their gaokao scores, take an English test, undergo a video interview and submit their transcripts. UNH spokeswoman Erika Mantz said the initiative is part of the school’s commitment to drawing more outstanding international applicants. The total Chinese student population at the university is 357. (AP)
ROCKPORT, Maine
Andre, the seal statue, object of fund-raiser
A Maine town is raising money to save the statue of a beloved harbor seal that brought the community together. The Bangor Daily News reports Rockport’s 1978 statue of Andre the Seal is undergoing $14,000 in repairs. Two local organizations have raised most of the money, but $2,000 is still needed. Residents recall fond memories of the orphaned seal pup that was rescued in 1961 by local tree surgeon Harry Goodridge. He cared for the seal until Andre was old enough to be released into the ocean. Andre went on to spend his winters in southern New England and his summers in Rockport for the next 25 years. (AP)
PORTLAND, Maine
Maine will issue gender-neutral driver licenses
The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced on Monday that it is going to offer the option of a gender-neutral designation on driver licenses and identification cards. Maine becomes at least the third state to adopt such a policy, after Oregon and California, along with the District of Columbia, the group EqualityMaine said. The move comes as a result of a complaint filed with the Maine Human Rights Commission by EqualityMaine’s board president, Zack Paakkonen, on behalf of client Ian-Meredythe Dehne Lindsey. Dehne Lindsey, who identifies as non-binary, filed the complaint about a year ago after being denied a non-binary option at a Portland BMV office, said Matt Moonen, executive director of EqualityMaine. The decision to make such an option available was reached on May 10 through a mediation process, said Kristen Muszynski, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of the Secretary of State. ‘‘We know gender is a spectrum and some people don’t identify as male or female. It’s important that driver’s licenses and other forms of IDs recognize people who are non-binary,’’ Paakkonen said. (AP)
