AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday that the Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s taxation committee should resign for his work on a 2016 ballot initiative that added a new tax on high-income earners to fund education. It came after the Maine Republican Party issued a news release accusing Rep. Ryan Tipping of Orono of a […]
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Electricity program staff paid by supplier
AUGUSTA — For the first time in 16 years, the staff of Maine PowerOptions appeared before lawmakers Thursday to answer questions about how the quasi-state program brings together hundreds of municipalities and school districts to help them buy electricity. The hearing followed an investigation by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting last month that […]
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LD 56 aims to nip litter problem caused by mini-liquor bottles
PORTLAND — The increasing popularity of miniature liquor bottles known as “nips” has caused lawmakers in Maine to propose a new way to help keep the state’s roadside gutters and ditches clean. The Portland Press Herald reports a bill pending in the Legislature would require retailers to collect a 15-cent bottle deposit on the small […]
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Eric Brakey stands up for students who lobby for pet hedgehogs
AUGUSTA — Some Maine sixth-graders are pushing state lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it easier for residents to keep hedgehogs as pets. Maine and eight other states currently restrict or ban the tiny, quill-covered creatures, which can carry salmonella. The students asked a legislative committee on Tuesday if the state could ease restrictions […]
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Libertarians take fight to become political party to Legislature
The long and complicated creation of the Libertarian Party in Maine is now moving into the hands of the Legislature, which will consider a bill this year that would grant permanent party status. Let’s catch up on the background. Through a nonprofit, Libertarians launched a drive in early 2015 to collect 5,000 registrants, the first […]
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Gov. Paul LePage says Maine needs a new form of government
AUGUSTA — Maine needs “to start taking a hard look at other forms of government,” Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday. “There’s so much gridlock in government that our government no longer works,” the governor told Bangor-based WVOM radio during his regular weekly broadcast. “I’m one of the ones who believes that the two-party system is […]
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Gov. Paul LePage pressures Legislature to provide money to regulate marijuana
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage on Monday ordered the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations to take over rule-making authority for marijuana regulation and told bureaucrats not to spend any money on it. LePage said in his order that “no employee or department of the Executive Branch may use funds for the purpose of […]
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Gov. Paul LePage refuses to sign bill to delay pot sales, ban possession by minors
AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill designed to correct problems in Maine’s new marijuana legalization law breezed through the House and Senate on Thursday but ended up at the center of a political showdown late in the day when Gov. Paul LePage refused to sign or veto it. After meeting with legislative leaders late Thursday afternoon, […]
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Legislature passes marijuana moratorium bill
Senate President Thibodeau: leg. ldrs. will meet with @Governor_LePage at 4 p.m. to discuss the pot moratorium bill. #mepolitics #staytuned — Chris Cousins (@Storytiller) January 26, 2017 AUGUSTA (AP) — State lawmakers on Thursday unanimously approved legislation delaying the retail sale of marijuana until at least February 2018. A referendum approved by voters in November gave […]
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AG Janet Mills says a new psych unit needs legislative approval
PORTLAND — Gov. Paul LePage’s administration needs legislative approval to build a secure, privately run facility for patients in state custody with mental illness who no longer need hospital care, the state attorney general said. Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills sent a letter to the Republican governor’s administration Tuesday. The legislature’s appropriations committee discussed the letter […]