Mario Moretto
State House Reporter
New bill to deregulate small-scale raw milk producers will go to Maine Legislature
AUGUSTA, Maine — After being stymied by a veto by Gov. Paul LePage last year, advocates for deregulating the small-scale raw milk market will have another chance to see themselves exempted from state regulation and inspection. Members of the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee on Thursday approved an amended version of LD …
Maine House advances three bills to allow casinos, electronic beano by Indian tribes
AUGUSTA, Maine — With the approval of the House of Representatives, two of Maine’s Indian tribes are closer to realizing their longtime goals of opening their own casinos. Another two tribes are on their way to modernizing their high-stakes beano offerings. Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday took …
House to consider bill to cancel no-bid Alexander Group contract
AUGUSTA, Maine — The House of Representatives will take up a bill to nullify the controversial no-bid contract awarded to the Alexander Group to review the state’s welfare system, including Medicaid. The contract, worth $925,000, was awarded to the Rhode Island-based consultant in September. Under the terms of the contract, …
ANALYSIS
Pressure mounts on swing votes in Maine Medicaid expansion bill
AUGUSTA, Maine — It’s been more than a week since two moderate Republican senators presented a bill to expand Medicaid and save money through a dramatic overhaul of the publicly funded health care system, but the compromise legislation has so far failed to move the needle in the most hotly …
STATE & CAPITOL (blog)
Roundup: House rejects early in-person voting and bill to dock lawmakers’ pay when government shuts down
on March 05, 2014, at 2:27 p.m.
A bill to allow Mainers to vote in-person at the ballot booth earlier than election day failed to gain the two-thirds support needed to clear the House on Wednesday.
POLL QUESTION
Maine House debates bill to dock lawmakers’ pay if state shutdown occurs, puts off vote
AUGUSTA, Maine — If the state can’t manage to avoid a shutdown, then lawmakers shouldn’t get paid. That was the argument made Tuesday by Portland Democrat Diane Russell on the floor of the House of Representatives. In the event of a state government shutdown, state employees throughout Maine’s 16 counties …
Education committee to cash-strapped budget-writers: Don’t cut funding to Maine colleges
AUGUSTA, Maine — State budget-writers should not look to Maine’s public and private colleges and universities as they seek ways to fill a $100 million hole in the current budget, according to lawmakers seeking ways to make higher education more affordable. Members of the Legislature’s Education Committee voted unanimously Monday …
Maine Democrats push Medicaid expansion to Senate but without key GOP vote from last year
AUGUSTA, Maine — A proposal by two moderate Republican senators to expand Medicaid and incorporate drastic changes in the state’s publicly funded health care program has cleared the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and will now be taken up by the Senate. The bill — crafted by Assistant Senate …
GOP legislator pushes investigation of nonpartisan legislative staff
AUGUSTA, Maine — Suspicious of untoward political activity, a Republican member of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee is requesting an investigation into emails from nonpartisan State House staff who are charged with providing dispassionate, objective analysis to lawmakers. Rep. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville, presented his request during the committee’s meeting on …
State analyst: Medicaid compromise would insure 70,000, for practically no cost
AUGUSTA, Maine — A plan to expand Medicaid coverage to more than 70,000 low-income Mainers for three years would cost the state practically nothing, according to the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office. Christopher Nolan, an analyst from the Office of Fiscal and Program Review, gave a preliminary cost-savings analysis to the …
Legislature will hear plan to build suicide-prevention fence on Penobscot Narrows Bridge
AUGUSTA, Maine — A proposal to build a suicide-prevention fence on the Penobscot Narrows Bridge will go before the Legislature this session. Rep. Joe Brooks, I-Winterport, proposed the bill Wednesday as an effort to prevent people from committing suicide by jumping from it. The Legislative Council approved the bill for …
Amherst Republican says he ‘regrets’ offensive statements about gays, abortion
AUGUSTA, Maine — A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday said he regrets making offensive comments regarding gay men and women, abortion, rape and the AIDS epidemic. Rep. Lawrence Lockman, R-Amherst, was put on the hot seat Tuesday after the Maine Democratic Party called for his resignation in response to incendiary, decades-old …
Maine’s natural resource agencies’ chiefs say Medicaid is gutting their departments
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage’s administration on Wednesday made clear its fierce opposition to a new Republican-led compromise plan on Medicaid expansion and said the administration would not participate in any negotiations on the bill. “If expansion is on the table, absolutely not,” said Mary Mayhew, commissioner of the …
LePage lets $40 million in state aid to towns pass into law without signature
AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill to restore $40 million of state aid to municipalities passed quietly into law at midnight Tuesday. The Democrat-led measure was approved earlier this month in the House and Senate. It funds the restoration of state revenue sharing with $21 million from the state’s rainy day …
Democratic Party calls for Amherst lawmaker’s resignation for ‘hateful, vicious’ comments on gays, abortion
AUGUSTA, Maine — After a liberal blogger published a slew of incendiary comments attributed to Rep. Lawrence Lockman, R-Amherst, the state’s Democratic Party has called for the lawmaker’s resignation. Lockman, a first-term legislator who serves on the Labor Committee, “holds some of the most abhorrent beliefs ever heard from a …
POLL QUESTION
Moderate Republicans unveil Medicaid compromise that expands coverage, dramatically reforms system
AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill drafted by two moderate Republican senators, meant to be a compromise on the divisive issue of Medicaid expansion, was unveiled to lawmakers Tuesday. The plan combines House Speaker Mark Eves’ planned expansion of Medicaid, known here as MaineCare, to roughly 70,000 low-income Mainers under the …
Riverview Psychiatric Center receives vital accreditation
AUGUSTA, Maine — It doesn’t have any bearing on whether the state will recover $20 million in lost federal funding, but state health officials on Monday welcomed news that the troubled Riverview Psychiatric Center had received accreditation from a key national group. The Joint Commission, a nonprofit accrediting organization and …
STATE & CAPITOL (blog)
43 lawmakers tell state budget-writers: Don’t write off pot as fix for budget shortfall
on Feb. 24, 2014, at 9:53 a.m.
Munjoy Hill representative and legalized-weed warrior Diane Russell, D-Portland, delivered a memo signed by 37 lawmakers to the Legislature's budget-writing committee on Friday, urging appropriators to consider potential revenue from legalized marijuana as part of the fix for the $170 million shortfall in the current budget cycle.
Howie Carr tells Cumberland County Republicans that LePage’s path to victory goes through Eliot Cutler
PORTLAND, Maine — According to Howie Carr, the path to victory for Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s re-election bid goes through one man: independent candidate Eliot Cutler. That was the thrust of both opening and closing remarks by the Portland native turned conservative radio talk-show host, speaking Saturday morning to the …
Safe in Boston, Angus King recounts brush with car bombing Wednesday in Beirut
AUGUSTA, Maine — When Sen. Angus King’s office publicized his five-day trip to the Middle East last week, they left one stop off the published itinerary: Lebanon. The public was left unaware of the stop in Beirut, that nation’s capital, for security reasons, a decision that proved telling. King and …
Police investigating body found near Walmart in Bangor
Thousands temporarily without power in Maine as some communities see nearly 2 feet of snow
Parents explain why they’ve spent countless hours to bring a controversial virtual charter school to Maine
East Millinocket lays off 4 town workers in response to mill’s nonpayment of tax debt
Eastern Maine Medical Center facing $7 million shortfall
Everything, including ‘right to work,’ should be on the table in a conversation about Maine jobs
Maine GOP dismisses Medicaid compromise that meets its own demands
The story behind ‘A Plot in Falmouth’
Ex-UMaine football player accused of stabbing same woman he attacked in Orono in 2012
Sources: Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis signs 1-year, $12 million deal with Patriots
Bangor stations to televise Maine hockey playoff games on Friday, Saturday nights
Kidney donor from Veazie, recipient from Caribou form special bond
Couple gives former Blue Hill school to Bagaduce Music Lending Library
This is your body on stress: Digestion, immunity and hormones under attack
Actor Patrick Dempsey, Jackson Laboratory to receive Maine awards