LEWISTON – Saying he will not be a typical first-year legislator, Jim Handy is announcing his candidacy for the Maine House District 58 seat. Handy, a Democrat, is seeking to replace retiring Rep. Michel Lajoie, D-Lewiston, who has served four terms in the House. The district includes parts of Lewiston voting Wards 4, 6 and […]
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Local businesses to lawmakers: Pass tax bill, increase predictability
AUGUSTA — Fearful of not being able to file their taxes in time and of having to face filing inconsistencies, local business leaders were pressuring state lawmakers in Augusta on Friday, urging them to quickly pass tax conformity legislation. With most businesses required to file taxes by March 15, politicians have been wrangling over changes […]
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Legislature sidestepped records law in shutting down public access to oil train data
After a runaway oil train killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, just miles from the Maine border in 2013, Mainers demanded to know more about the railways here. How much oil was moving through Maine? Which companies shipped it and along what routes? Was the government doing enough to keep communities safe? At about the […]
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Legislature split on conforming state and federal tax code
AUGUSTA — House Republicans on Tuesday promoted an action by Democratic President Barack Obama as they urged their Democratic colleagues in the Legislature to make permanent in state law a set of income tax breaks that mirror those signed into federal law by Obama in 2015. But a bill extending those breaks to businesses and […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage withdraws nomination of William Beardsley as education commissioner
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage announced Tuesday that he has temporarily withdrawn his nomination of William Beardsley for education commissioner, citing opposition that is growing on the Legislature’s Education Committee. Beardsley has come under fire in the past for his involvement in a Bangor-area controversy around the late Rev. Robert Carlson and for his views […]
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Riverview report focuses on staffing shortage
AUGUSTA — Staffing shortages at the state-run Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta have led the court master who oversees the state’s mental health system to order a series of changes. In a Monday filing in Kennebec County Superior Court, Daniel Wathen recommended that Riverview take several specific actions to address chronic staffing shortages and ordered […]
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Gov. Paul LePage attacks ‘socialist’ lawmakers in State of the State letter
AUGUSTA — Returning to a practice from the 1800s, Republican Gov. Paul LePage on Monday issued a written State of the State address to the Legislature. Breaking from the modern tradition of delivering a speech on the state’s current status before a joint session of the Maine House and Senate, LePage said he was forgoing […]
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Bill prevents gun ban for Maine Section 8 tenants
AUGUSTA — The plight of a disabled Rockland man who shot an alleged intruder in his apartment last August has prompted legislation that would prohibit gun bans in subsidized housing. Sen. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden, said a bill he is sponsoring, LD 1572, “An Act to Ensure Nondiscrimination Against Gun Owners in Public Housing,” will at […]
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Democratic lawmakers share details of Paul LePage’s tax plan
Two Democratic representatives who say they’re tired of Gov. Paul LePage’s administration concealing from the public how he wants to pay for a $38 million tax conformity bill revealed Thursday to the Bangor Daily News what they say he has proposed. The Republican governor’s administration declined to answer questions from the BDN on Thursday about […]
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Bill would raise reimbursements for Maine methadone clinics
AUGUSTA — A Maine lawmaker has proposed a bill that would raise the MaineCare reimbursement rate at the state’s 10 methadone clinics. The Portland Press Herald reports Republican Sen. David Woodsome, of North Waterboro, is sponsoring legislation that would increase the weekly reimbursement rate from $60 to $80 per patient. The bill is one of […]