Bangor, Maine News Update: December 21, 2017

State police announced yesterday that the October death of a 2-year-old Bucksport girl is being investigated as a homicide. Khloe Hawksley was pronounced dead after police responded to a report of an unresponsive child at a home on Central Street. Police have not released the child’s cause of death.

All Ellsworth schools are closed today due to a possible threat. The district posted on its website this morning that all schools were closed after the "receipt of a message indicating a possible threat at Ellsworth High School." School officials this morning released no further information about the threat. The district and Ellsworth police are investigating.

Sen. Susan Collins announced yesterday that a pair of bills aimed at stabilizing the Affordable Care Act marketplace won't be voted on until 2018. Collins said the bills were originally slated to be voted on this year. The Senator voted in favor of the GOP tax overhaul after receiving assurances that the two pieces of legislation would pass. Collins has emphasized the importance of the bills to shore up the marketplace in light of the tax reform bill repealing the ACA’s individual mandate.

Police say a man and woman suffered serious injuries when they were attacked Tuesday night inside a home on Massachusetts Avenue in Millinocket. No arrests have been made. Millinocket Regional Hospital was placed on partial lockdown after the attack.

Waterville police have arrested the owner of a pair of condemned pit bulls that went missing in October. Danielle Jones of Winslow was charged with refusing or neglecting to comply with a dangerous dog court order. Police say she arranged to have the dogs stashed out of state. The dogs were being held at an animal shelter and went missing after the shelter allowed Jones to take them for a walk.

A Maine Warden Service plane broke through thin ice after it landed on Eagle Lake yesterday. Pilot Jeff Spencer escaped uninjured. The aircraft was partially submerged and remained underwater last night.