Have you ever been on a walk and noticed the foam-like substance that lays on-top of some plants looking extremely out of place? The first time I ever witnessed this, I genuinely thought that somebody washed their car and the suds just landed in the woods. The second time I saw the suds in a different part of Maine on a completely different hike, i realized that this “soap” must have a scientific explanation behind it and had to find out.

Well, the answer lies in a creature called the spittlebug, and it’s very dangerous to your plants and trees. According to maine.gov, there’s two species in the spittlebug family, both considered “serious pests” in Maine. The first species of spindle is the pine spittlebug, the second is the Saratoga spittlebug. Oh, and the foamy looking cocoon you’re seeing sitting up in the crevices of bushes and trees is their “spittle”. The more you know.

Here’s how the bug survives in a house full of bubbles:

Maine.gov explains:

“There are many species of spittlebugs that feed on conifers and broad-leaved ornamentals. Heavy infestations cause flagging branches, dead terminal growth, and stunted and distorted stems and branches, and will kill trees in two to three years”.

A federal jury in Delaware has convicted President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on felony gun charges stemming from his purchase of a Colt revolver in 2018 when he was addicted to crack cocaine.

The verdict, handed down after three hours of deliberations, capped a weeklong trial in federal court in Wilmington, Del. The jury found Hunter Biden guilty on two counts of making false statements about his drug use when he bought the weapon, and one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a drug user or addict.

In a statement after the verdict, Hunter Biden said: “I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends, and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome.”

His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said his team “will continue to vigorously pursue all the legal challenges available to Hunter.”

This was the first of two cases against Hunter Biden brought by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss. The president’s son also faces tax charges in a separate prosecution scheduled to go to trial in September.

Biden has said he won’t pardon his son, and on Tuesday he said in a statement: “I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.”

The gun case was rooted in a difficult period in Hunter Biden’s life when he was reeling after the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015 and was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol.

It centers on the Colt revolver that the president’s son bought at a gun store in Wilmington, Delaware in October 2018. It was thrown away in a trash can outside a grocery store 11 days later.

Prosecutors said that Hunter Biden lied on the federal form every gun purchaser is required to fill out when he declared that he was not using or addicted to illegal drugs.

Over the course of the trial, prosecutors set out to prove to the jury that Hunter was a drug user at the time, that he knew it and that he lied about when he bought the gun.

Prosecutors called 10 witnesses, including three women who were at one point romantically involved with Hunter Biden: his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; an ex-girlfriend, Zoe Kestan; and his brother Beau’s widow, Hallie Biden.

Buhle, who was subpoenaed to testify, told the jury about first discovering her then-husband’s drug use when she found a crack pipe on the porch of their home the day after their 22^nd wedding anniversary. The couple divorced in 2017.

Kestan and Hallie Biden, both of whom were granted immunity to testify, told jurors they had witnessed Hunter Biden smoke crack cocaine as well as buy it from drug dealers. Kestan also testified that she was with the president’s son in 2018 when he was cooking his own crack from powder cocaine.

Hallie Biden, meanwhile, testified about how she and Hunter Biden became romantically involved over time following the death of her husband—Hunter’s brother—in 2017. She told jurors that Hunter had introduced her to crack, and that they smoked it together—a period of her life, she said, that she was embarrassed and ashamed of.

Hunter’s own words also factored into the government’s case. Prosecutors played long excerpts from his memoir in which he describes in painful detail his spiral into addiction.

The government also presented the jury with text messages Hunter Biden sent and received between 2017 and 2019 in which he talks about using drugs, buying drugs and his addiction to crack.

That includes two text messages that he sent just days after he bought the gun. In one, he says he’s waiting for a dealer named Mookie, and in another he says he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack.”

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, has not disputed that Hunter Biden was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. But he has argued that his client completed a rehab program in August of 2018, and that he did not consider himself a drug user when he bought the gun on Oct. 12, 2018 or over the period that he owned it.

In his closing argument, Lowell accused prosecutors of using sleight of hand to try to hide what he said were holes in its case.

Throughout the trial, Lowell tried to focus the jury’s attention on a narrow period of time—the 11 days Hunter Biden owned the gun before Hallie Biden found it and threw it in a trash can outside a Wilmington grocery store.

Lowell repeatedly pointed out that the government has a lot of text messages from before and after October 2018 in which Hunter Biden talks about his drug use or even arranges to buy drugs—but not in October 2018.

The drug texts the government did produce dating to the period Hunter Biden owned the gun Lowell tried to diffuse as nothing more than facetious messages his client sent to Hallie Biden.

Copyright 2024 NPR

Lt. Stephen Coppi with a device called a KangooFix that he and other Portland firefighters used when they helped deliver a baby recently. The KangooFix attaches the infant to the mother securely so they can be close during the ambulance ride. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

When Lt. Stephen Coppi responds to an emergency call for a mother in labor, nerves are high.

“OB calls strike very personal with a lot of our members because they’re either moms or dads themselves,” said Coppi, a paramedic with the Portland Fire Department. “These calls can go either really awesome, or to the highest extreme intensity of health care for us, because this is a child.”

When he arrives and there are no complications, he said crews want to take their time to “be a part of someone’s family,” letting the father cut the cord and giving the parents time to bond with the baby before they’re ushered off to the hospital in separate ambulances.

Now, EMS responders in Maine can transport infants strapped to their mothers’ chests with a newly available device. Named KangooFix, it holds the baby in a pouch, strapped to the mother so the mother and child keep that connection on the way to the hospital.

Portland firefighters demonstrated last week how the device works. Paramedics swaddle the baby in a soft shell and secure it to the mother with a five-point harness. Then they secure the harness straps to the straps holding the mother in the stretcher. The outer shell, designed to keep the baby warm and dry, is made of a wet suit material. Some department workers call it a “baby Koozie.”

Lt. Stephen Coppi, right, demonstrates with paramedics Jake Cole, left, and Mike Casey how KangooFix works by attaching the harness to Devin Mill, the department’s principal financial officer. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Dr. Rachel Williams, medical director for Maine’s EMS for Children program, said this is crucial for helping mother and child make an early connection.

“It jump starts a lot of things for the baby when they make that first connection with mom,” Williams said. “If they’re able to continue that during the transport, that’s very beneficial.”

She said skin-to-skin contact is vital to calm both the mother and baby. It regulates the baby’s heart rate, breathing and temperature, can stimulate digestion and enable bacteria transfer, which protects against infection.

Williams also said these new measures are especially helpful because if the baby is brought to the hospital before the mother in a separate ambulance, staff has no information.

“How far along were they? Was this a complicated pregnancy for any reason? Are there any maternal risk factors we need to know about?” Williams said. “If the mom has not arrived yet because her ambulance is coming second, then we wouldn’t know that.”

OXYTOCIN ALSO AVAILABLE

After a field delivery in 2023 in which the mother and newborn had to be separated, Coppi said he worked with Maine EMS to find a solution. Working with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, they created a grant to make this device available to EMS agencies across the state.

Another new resource given to EMS providers this year is oxytocin. They’re now able to carry the drug, which helps to minimize the risk of postpartum hemorrhage, a potentially fatal condition.

Portland paramedics now have access to a device called the KangooFix, which attaches an infant to their mother securely so they can be close during their ambulance ride. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Portland EMS Division Chief Sean Donaghue said Maine’s first EMS oxytocin delivery was at an emergency call in March, when the crew delivered a baby on scene and the mother had significant hemorrhage.

“They allowed mom and baby to bond and feed, and they really took their time on scene before we even talked about transporting,” Donaghue said. “And then they transported using (the Kangoo Fix). That was a really, really great call.”

Williams said several hospitals across the state have changed whether they receive pregnant patients, so some people have to go further to find care. These two improvements for emergency deliveries show that prenatal and obstetric care are more “on the radar” for Maine and Maine EMS, she said.

“I think that we’re doing a good job of addressing the potential complications and trying to minimize complications and improve care for these patients pre-hospital,” Williams said.

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