It follows reporting last summer by the BDN’s Maine Focus team that found Maine was the only state to see a long-term increase in its infant mortality rate over the past two decades.
Articles by Erin Rhoda
See 5 Mainers tell their strongest memories of war
They’re rarely about actual combat.
Maine Focus
DHHS fired a public records coordinator — for releasing a public record
A BDN review of DHHS documents related to Judy Gopaul’s termination reveals an excessively complicated process, occasionally verging on farcical, for making decisions about how to respond to even the most minor questions from the public.
MAINE FOCUS
5 lessons from a look at Maine’s workforce challenges
The BDN’s Maine Focus team looked at what it would take for thousands more people to work. Here are five specific things we learned.
Politicans say they want people to work, but they ignore this fast route to a job
on April 17, 2017, at 6:28 a.m.
There’s a way to get more people out of poverty, but it’s a “bewildering maze.”
Maine Focus
Why we decided to look into the future of Maine’s workforce
If nothing changes, experts expect to see limited business expansion and economic growth.
Maine Focus
A way rural Maine students can better understand their communities
Here’s a way for high school students to think deeply about where they come from and their role in their community.
Maine Focus
12,198 calls to Maine’s child abuse hotline went unanswered last year
About 22 percent of calls — 12,198 out of 54,904 calls — weren’t answered on the first try in 2016.
Maine Focus
These students from Bethel are trying to define their place in rural Maine
“I feel like the future of rural communities is the kids who are in the classroom right now.”
Maine Focus
We want your ideas for how to draw young people to Maine
People at the Magnetize Maine Summit will brainstorm ways to attract and keep more young people in Maine.
MAINE FOCUS
6 takeaways from an examination of rural Maine’s future
We looked at the choices communities are making — or not making — about their future as part of a series called Rural Edges.
A simple change could give Maine’s hungry, rural people more food
on Dec. 23, 2016, at 6:38 a.m.
The first in-depth look of its kind shows that 59 percent of people are using food pantries more this year than last.
How the decline of Maine’s rural places changes the people left behind
on Nov. 29, 2016, at 6:01 a.m.
Three people grapple with the decline of the communities that made them.
How did your small Maine town shape you?
We’d like to hear from you about your experience growing up in small-town Franklin, Somerset, Piscataquis, upper Penobscot, Aroostook, Washington or Hancock counties. How did your hometown shape who you are today, and what has changed in your hometown throughout the years?
As a teen this man felt so alone. How his school could have helped.
on Sept. 29, 2016, at 6:12 a.m.
Principals want to better support students’ mental health, but they need the tools — and guidance themselves.
Before addiction there’s a child
on Sept. 23, 2016, at 12:31 p.m.
A look at preventing one of the largest public health problems of this time.
BDN PORTLAND
I survived swimming with Wessie, the giant missing snake
on Sept. 11, 2016, at 11:01 a.m.
It turned out my dog, Ernest, had concerns of his own.
MAINE FOCUS
When Maine wasn’t looking, more babies began to die
This state is the only one to see a higher infant mortality rate in this decade than the last. A panel charged with tracking the deaths is unable to do its work.
MAINE FOCUS
How Maine quietly handed off financial oversight of a $23M program for infants
The circumstances raise questions about transparency and accountability.
#MAINE
Website lists the ‘most famous historic houses’ in each state. Here’s Maine’s
on June 26, 2016, at 7:55 a.m.
It’s probably not just one of this state’s, but the nation’s, most well-known historic homes.
Gov. Paul LePage may seek U.S. Senate seat after all
Hidden inside a 175-year-old Maine church is a sublime work of modern art
Police divers searching Maine river for ‘clues’ about missing Portland man
Police investigating woman found dead in Cherryfield as a homicide
Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington dead at age 41