Matthew Stone
State House Bureau
Early voting amendment clears first Senate hurdle
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Senate on Tuesday gave its approval to a measure that would trigger a statewide referendum on whether to allow towns and cities to offer their residents the chance to cast ballots officially in advance of Election Day. The Senate voted 24-11 in favor of sending ...
LePage hopes to eliminate income tax by end of second term
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage said Monday he hopes Maine has no state income tax by the end of his second term if he’s re-elected next year. “The fact that we have an income tax at all is a massive disadvantage,” LePage said during an afternoon session on tax ...
Effort to change early voting in Maine kept alive by House vote
AUGUSTA, Maine — An effort to allow residents who vote early to place their ballots directly into a ballot box or voting machine rather than seal them in signed envelopes and submit them to a municipal clerk survived an initial vote Monday in the Maine House. The House voted 90-50 ...
Silenced by legislators at budget talks, LePage says Mainers are being played for ‘patsies’
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Senate chairwoman of the budget-writing committee on Sunday declined to allow Gov. Paul LePage to address the panel about a fast-approaching deadline the Legislature faces so the Department of Health and Human Services doesn’t run out of money for payments to care providers. The exchange between ...
LePage: State will run out of money for DHHS bills June 10
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s health and human services commissioner said Friday her department only has enough money to pay its bills through June 10. That’s 20 days before her department’s accounts would be replenished by a new state budget. Commissioner Mary Mayhew included the news in a letter sent Friday ...
If more people are on Medicaid, why are Maine hospitals giving away more care for free?
The financial health of Maine’s hospitals has landed at the center of State House debate this spring as lawmakers tussle over whether Maine should expand its Medicaid program under the federal health care reform law. The issue came to a fore this past week as debate erupted over a Democratic ...
Liquor, hospital debt and Medicaid expansion headed for vote — all in one bill
AUGUSTA, Maine — A sharply divided legislative committee voted Thursday to support a Democratic proposal that ties an expansion of Medicaid to Gov. Paul LePage’s top priority of the legislative session: paying back Maine’s $484 million debt to its 39 hospitals. The Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee voted 7-5 ...
Republicans express surprise as lawmakers link Medicaid expansion to hospital payback
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee voted largely along party lines Wednesday to recommend that an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program be tied to Gov. Paul LePage’s top legislative priority: the payback of Maine’s $484 million debt to its hospitals. The move came as a ...
LePage vetoes bill to let school districts change how they pass budgets
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a Republican-sponsored bill that drew unanimous support in the Legislature, and the Maine Senate on Wednesday fell one vote short of overriding it. The measure addresses how school districts organized as alternative organizational structures pass their annual budgets. The veto, which LePage issued ...
Lawmakers hope they have an energy bill LePage, Democrats can agree on
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Legislature’s Energy Committee unveiled a multipronged bill Tuesday that incorporates elements from nine different measures aimed at expanding Maine’s natural gas infrastructure, boosting funding for energy efficiency, directly lowering businesses’ electricity costs and making it more affordable for residents to abandon oil heat. The combined bill ...
GOP: Flaw in Obamacare language should delay decision on expanding Medicaid
AUGUSTA, Maine — Republicans and Gov. Paul LePage have drawn attention to a drafting error in the federal Affordable Care Act in recent days as they resist attempts by Democratic legislative leaders to tie an expansion of Maine’s Medicaid program to one of LePage ’s top priorities: repayment of the ...
LePage accuses union of lying, ‘manufacturing a crisis’ over shutdown planning
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Monday said he has no plans to shut down state government and accused Maine’s state employees union of “lying” and “manufacturing a crisis” by claiming state agencies have been instructed to prepare for a shutdown. In a letter LePage sent Monday to the ...
‘Gang of 11’ plan earns more praise for bipartisanship than tax changes
AUGUSTA, Maine — The bipartisan group of 11 lawmakers who crafted a bill to overhaul Maine’s tax code earned praise for their collaboration Friday, but representatives from a number of industries came out against their tax reform plan while municipal officials came out in support. Dozens testified Friday at a ...
State may pursue food stamp ban on junk food even if bill dies in Legislature
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage’s administration can move ahead with its efforts to keep food stamp recipients from using their benefits on soft drinks and junk food even if a bill pending before the Legislature fails. The bill, LD 1411, would require the state Department of Health and Human ...
Is 2013 the year for tax reform in Maine?
A plan to overhaul Maine’s tax code introduced earlier this month by a bipartisan group of 11 lawmakers relies on the same broad principles that have defined at least five other tax reform attempts in the state: extend the sales tax to more goods and services to fund income and, ...
LePage wants wind energy goals out of Maine law
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage wants to strip from state law goals for increasing the state’s wind energy capacity over the next two decades. LePage’s energy director, Patrick Woodcock, made recommendations Thursday to rewrite the state’s 2008 Wind Energy Act, shifting focus from growing wind energy capacity to lowering ...
LePage’s budget changes use bond delay, one-time revenue gain to fill $60 million gap
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage proposes to close a new $60 million budget hole in part by continuing to hold off on issuing voter-approved bonds and digging into $16 million his budget had previously left for lawmakers to allocate as they saw fit. LePage’s finance chief, Sawin Millett, presented ...
POLL QUESTION
Lawmakers vote to ban ethanol in Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House on Wednesday took a decisive stance against blending ethanol into gasoline, giving initial approval to a bill that would ban the corn-based additive from motor fuel if two other New England states pass similar laws. In addition, the House unanimously endorsed a resolution urging ...
LePage issues fourth veto on same day Maine House fails to override his third
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would allow a school district to bypass any local requirements that a school superintendent live within district boundaries. The veto of LD 6, LePage’s fourth of the legislative session, came the same day the Maine House failed to ...
State employees union drops complaint that LePage illegally contracted work
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s state employees union has dropped a complaint it filed against Gov. Paul LePage’s administration alleging the administration illegally hired private contractors to perform state employees’ work after the union’s contract expired in 2011. The Maine State Employees Association dropped the complaint, which was pending before the ...
Orono man charged with murder in death of Glenburn teen
Family remembers Nichole “CoCo” Cable, warns of social media dangers
Man accused of killing Glenburn teen denied bail, has received death threats, attorney says
Kyle Dube arrest, murder charges surprising to former Orono High School classmates
Glenburn woman gets 18 months for embezzling $100,000 from beagle rescue group
Nichole Cable: In our minds, hearts
Obama’s boyfriend line
Guest Post: “I’m about ready to name my daughter Revolution.”
How to humble a wing nut
Bucksport’s Wood enjoying the professional cage in MMA bouts
Unity Raceway heading in new direction when track opens for season Sunday
Former Dexter, Nokomis coach Pratt takes Mount View football post
UMaine’s Fransoso overcomes injuries, turns passion for baseball into stellar career
Houlton makes plans for new hockey boards at Millar Civic Center
Fun, informative or just plain strange: 8 museums in Maine worth a road trip
Bangor veteran of World War II exemplifies the way life should be
Microsoft unveils new Xbox One game console