AAA Northern New England is on pace to meet last year’s record-breaking winter for call volume. Spokesman Pat Moody said the 100-person call center in Portland had answered just under 122,000 calls so far this winter for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. At peak, the center handled 350 to 400 calls in half an hour: […]
Maine
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Heating prices for oil, kerosene and propane all surge amid cold February
PORTLAND (AP) — A Maine government survey said the average statewide cash price for heating oil climbed 19 cents in the past two weeks. The Governor’s Energy Office said the average price was $2.79 a gallon, according to the Feb. 23 survey. The average kerosene price of $3.31 was 17 cents higher than two weeks […]
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FairPoint workers fear they’re going to have to clean up messes caused by replacement workers
PORTLAND (AP) — FairPoint’s unionized workers fear they’ll find a mess when they return Wednesday from a four-month strike in which replacement workers handled call center duties and maintained the telecommunications network in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. There were widely documented customer service problems during the strike of more than 1,700 workers, and union […]
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Bill would put passenger rail on track for Lewiston and Auburn
AUGUSTA — Expanding passenger rail service from Portland to Lewiston-Auburn has been a decades-long struggle for local business and rail advocates, and a bill before the state Legislature could finally help advance that effort. State Rep. Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, is hoping his bill will provide the push needed to link the Twin Cities to Amtrak’s […]
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Maine committee rejects bill naming Labrador retriever as state dog
AUGUSTA (AP) — It’s unlikely that the Labrador retriever will be named the official Maine state dog. The State and Local Government Committee voted 9-2 on Monday in favor of rejecting the bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. David Dutremble of Biddeford. Supporters argued that the Labrador retriever is the perfect symbol for Maine because it’s […]
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Deaths of Maine infants ignite ‘co-sleeping’ debate
State officials struck a nerve last week when they cautioned parents against sleeping in the same bed with their babies after the suffocation deaths of five Maine infants since early January. Recent research has further fanned the controversy, both in the U.S. and abroad, over whether parents should sleep with their newborns. To Marleina Schwenk […]
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Bill requires nonprofits to disclose donors when contributing to Maine political campaigns
AUGUSTA — Nonprofit organizations that spend money on political campaigns in Maine could have to disclose their donors under a bill being offered by state Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton. Saviello’s bill targets what many consider a flaw in the state’s campaign finance disclosure laws and also looks to tackle the issue of so-called “dark money” […]
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Weekend snow secures winter records for Maine, New England
BANGOR — Just when you thought the piles couldn’t get any higher, it happened. Again. Not satisfied with having set snowfall records in much of New England over the past several weeks, Mother Nature dumped another several inches of snow across Maine Saturday night and Sunday morning. Snowfall ranged from around two inches in York […]
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Maine license plates have Connecticut seeing red
AUGUSTA — A few months ago, a veteran police officer in Windsor, Connecticut, noticed something strange on the streets of his community — a lot of cars with Maine plates. What he discovered was a scheme by Connecticut drivers to avoid paying local property taxes by registering their vehicles in Maine through the state’s online […]