PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- A woman who has experienced the fallout from a tar sands oil spill is speaking out about the issue in Maine.

Genevieve Long of Mayflower, Ark., joined the "Protect South Portland" organization at a press conference Friday.

Long said she lives a quarter of a mile from the Exxon Mobil Pipeline that ruptured in March 2013. She said her family's health has suffered since the spill.

Environmental groups have been working to keep tar sands from flowing through the Portland-Montreal Pipeline that travels from Canada to Casco Bay.

Long told Maine residents to educate themselves about tar sands Friday.

"No one's going to protect the air you breathe like you do," Long said. "No one's going to protect your aquatic life, your children, like you do. It is your home. You have to fight for what is right for you."

(NEWS CENTER) -- While many mills across Maine have shut down, a few remain the lifeblood of some communities. Now, workers at two of them are facing a lot of uncertainty. More than 200 employees at the Great Northern Paper Mill in East Millinocket were laid off while the company restructures its operations. Another 200 were laid off at nearby Lincoln Paper and Tissue after an explosion destroyed a boiler. Paper and pulp making operations there are shut down indefinitely.

More than 3 hours and nearly 200 miles away, parishoners and clergy at St. Bartholomew's Church in Cape Elizabeth decided they needed to so something.

Father Mike Seavey of the Diocese of Portland said, "We thought what a wonderful opportunity to show people in northern Maine, with the local resources that we have, that we do care. We care about them and we want to help."

Two weeks ago on the Morning Report, I talked about the importance of early detection of colorectal cancer and shared some information about insurance coverage for screening tests. Read more ...