Politics
House, Senate defeat bills adding new restrictions to welfare assistance
AUGUSTA, Maine — Both chambers of the Maine Legislature on Monday voted down a pair of Republican-backed bills that sought to add new restrictions to the state’s primary welfare cash assistance program. One bill, which was defeated in an 85-55 House vote, would have barred some Mainers convicted of drug ...
Supreme Court bars lawyers from using drivers’ database to find potential plaintiffs
By Lawrence Hurley, Reuters on June 17, 2013, at 12:04 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that lawyers cannot gather personal information about drivers from state databases when seeking plaintiffs for potential lawsuits. The court held in a narrow 5-4 vote that the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act of 1994 does not allow lawyers to seek the ...
GWYNNE DYER
Iran’s new president: A real reformer?
By Gwynne Dyer on June 17, 2013, at 8:56 a.m.
You certainly can’t say that Iranian elections are boring. In 2005, Iranians surprised everybody by electing the darkest of dark horses, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the presidency. They didn’t know much about him, but at least he seemed different from all the establishment candidates. Well, he was different, but not in ...
Years after foreclosures, lenders seeking debt from former homeowners
By Kimbriell Kelly, The Washington Post on June 17, 2013, at 7:08 a.m.
For Jose Santos Benavides, the ordeal of losing his home was over. The Salvadoran immigrant had worked for years as a self-employed landscaper to make a $15,000 down payment on a four-bedroom house in Rockville, Md.. He had achieved a portion of the American dream, earning nearly six figures. Then ...
China asks U.S. to explain Internet surveillance, says NSA leaker not a Chinese spy
BEIJING — China made its first substantive comments on Monday to reports of U.S. surveillance of the Internet, demanding that Washington explain its monitoring programs to the international community. Several nations, including U.S. allies, have reacted angrily to revelations by an ex-CIA employee over a week ago that U.S. authorities ...
Lawmaker seeks $25M bond for jobs in Brunswick, Limestone
BRUNSWICK, Maine — A bill sponsored by state Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, DBrunswick, that would bond $25 million to create jobs at Brunswick Landing went to committee hearings this week and awaits inclusion within the state’s overall year-end bond package. If passed by the Legislature and approved by voters, the bond ...
ANALYSIS
State photo-ID databases become troves for police
By Craig Timberg and Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post on June 17, 2013, at 5:54 a.m.
Systems honed on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq now help police find murderers, bank robbers and drug dealers.
Sarah Palin lampoons Washington at Faith and Freedom Coalition conference
By Lyndsey Layton, The Washington Post on June 16, 2013, at 7:55 a.m.
"The IRS says it can't figure out how it managed to spend more than $4 million on training conferences because it didn't keep its receipts," she said to uproarious laughter. "Really?"
AGREE TO DISAGREE (blog)
Mike Michaud’s first live interview since announcing for Governor
on June 15, 2013, at 12:32 p.m.
Congressman Mike Michaud spent his first live interview since announcing his run for Governor with political analyst and host of Inside Maine, Ethan Strimling. From his roots in Maine, to the origins of his first political race, to his positions on issues like Gay Marriage and Medicaid expansion, the two chatted ...
LePage vetoes another five bills
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage handed down five vetoes Friday afternoon, rejecting three bills that would have required new executive branch working groups, a measure to prevent the state from contracting with foreign loggers and legislation to allow psychiatrists practicing in underserved areas to qualify for loan forgiveness. The ...
Despite new PC option, Apple technology dominates school laptop orders
AUGUSTA, Maine — A new option for schools in the state-funded student laptop program introduced earlier this year by Gov. Paul LePage has found relatively few takers, according to the Department of Education. The majority of schools will stick with Apple Corp. technology, though many will switch from laptops to ...
VIDEO
On a sneeze, not a prayer, South Bristol eighth-graders launch skiffs
SOUTH BRISTOL, Maine — One month after Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State told South Bristol School that its annual blessing of the fleet violated the First Amendment because it included a prayer, the school’s 65 students, joined by parents, teachers and community members, gathered at ...
POLL QUESTION
House Democrats who voted against budget could decide veto override outcome
AUGUSTA, Maine — The passage of a biennial budget bill late Thursday represented a victory for Democrats who were able to negotiate away some of what they saw as Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s most disastrous proposals. But 10 House Democrats who voted against the budget said the compromise didn’t go ...
DOWNEAST TO DC (blog)
Michaud bid shakes up LePage, Cutler match-up and 2nd District
on June 14, 2013, at 4:48 p.m.
U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s decision to “explore” a gubernatorial run is both unsurprising and a little surprising. After soundly defeating a little-known but appealing opponent, Jason Levesque, in a Republican sweep year in 2010 and humbling the higher-profile former Senate President Kevin Raye in 2012, the former millworker proved he ...
Lyme disease bill favored by patients passes
AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill that pitted a vocal group of Lyme disease advocates against the medical mainstream was approved Friday by the state Legislature. The bill, LD 597, requires the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the state’s official source of public health information, to include on its ...
Why can’t Maine eliminate the community services waiting list for elderly, disabled residents?
As State House debate intensified on expanding Medicaid in recent months, Republicans opposed to the initiative, including Gov. Paul LePage, argued that Maine shouldn’t extend health coverage to 50,000 nondisabled adults without children while elderly people and people with disabilities remain on waitlists for community and home support services. “Today, ...
LePage signs bill to repay Maine’s Medicaid debt to hospitals
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage achieved one of his top priorities of the 2013 legislative session Friday when he signed into law a bill that sets the stage to pay off the state’s $183.5 million debt to 39 hospitals. The bill, passed late Thursday night by the Legislature, would ...
EDITORIALS
Cut public campaign financing for gubernatorial candidates
on June 14, 2013, at 2:32 p.m.
The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee had to acknowledge many unpleasant realities about state government’s fiscal condition in the budget compromise its members fashioned last week. One of those realities is that it’s no longer feasible to run for governor as a publicly funded candidate. The budget-writing committee factored that reasonable conclusion ...
CAPITOL INCITE (blog)
Orono’s Emily Cain to seek Maine’s 2nd District congressional seat
on June 14, 2013, at 12:59 p.m.
The expected stampede of candidates to run in Maine’s 2nd U.S. House District triggered by Rep. Mike Michaud’s announcement Thursday that he’s exploring a foray into the 2014 gubernatorial race began Friday, when state Sen. Emily Cain formally declared her intent to seek the congressional seat. One legislator who won’t ...
AGREE TO DISAGREE (blog)
Democrats strike back with $80,000 ad buy
on June 14, 2013, at 10:07 a.m.
On Tuesday, I reported that Gov. Paul LePage’s political arm, Maine People Before Politics, had purchased approximately $35,000 worth of ads to pressure the Legislature to vote against the budget. In true Dennis Bailey fashion (“if they attack you with a fly swatter, come back with a chainsaw“), a national democratic 501(c)4 ...
LePage vetoes Medicaid expansion, says ‘Maine can do better’
Report: University of Maine System teacher-training programs rank among worst in nation
Caribou High School graduate among newest NASA astronauts
Attorney seeks psychiatric evaluation of Orono man charged with killing Nichole Cable
In support of Bangor library, schools budget
We don’t understand female politicians
Maine Sports Hall of Fame revokes Dana Wilson’s 2012 induction
Pellerin enthusiastic about job as new Lawrence High School boys varsity basketball coach
Rask gives Bruins 2-1 series lead
Retiring Hermon High School athletic administrator Soucy maintains love of sports
25 things to do this summer — boats, barbecue, the Bard and everything else
UMPI solar system model expanding into Canada
Saying goodbye to our Pakistani daughter
