AUGUSTA — Fed up with paying Maine Turnpike tolls? So is state Sen. Eric Brakey, and he’s only been commuting to Augusta for a month now. Brakey, an Auburn Republican, along with a bipartisan group of supporters, including state Rep. Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, is hoping to sell the Legislature on state income tax credit for […]
Maine
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Maine joins task force of Eastern states against heroin
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Two more Eastern states have agreed to collaborate with four others in investigations of heroin trafficking that often cross state lines. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says Maine and Maryland have joined the task force established last year to pursue drug rings regionally. The task force members have agreed to […]
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LePage looks to elude Board of Corrections with county jail ‘receiver’
AUGUSTA — Legislative Republicans and Gov. Paul LePage crafted a plan to prevent the closure of several county jails in the coming months. Democrats say the plan gives the governor unchecked power and would be unnecessary if LePage followed current law and ended his refusal to nominate members to the state Board of Corrections. An […]
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Split between marijuana legalization groups could undermine effort in Maine
AUGUSTA — Maine voters could face competing pot ballot measures in 2016, both seeking to make recreational marijuana legal. But the split between a national legalization advocacy group and a home-grown Maine organization could divide support for marijuana reforms that most polls suggest are favored by a majority of the state’s voters. On Wednesday, Paul […]
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Police ID man killed in confrontation in Aroostook County
SMYRNA (AP) — Authorities say a Smyrna man has been shot and killed during an armed confrontation with a state trooper and a deputy sheriff. State police spokesman Steve McCausland says the shooting in Smyrna happened just before 8 p.m. Tuesday in a home on Smyrna Center Road. He identified the deceased man as 61-year-old […]
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Maine bill would make a pint a pint; Rumford lawmaker wants a full glass
AUGUSTA — Beer drinkers, you know how it goes. You’re looking forward to that tall, cold one after work and what you get instead is an almost full glass or a glass with three inches of foam, instead of beer. But you’re so thirsty you don’t bother to complain. You pay up and drink. But […]
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Good while it lasted: Gasoline prices are back on the rise in Maine
PORTLAND — Gas prices in Maine are back on the rise after sharp decreases in the global price of crude oil caused the price of regular gas to drop to less than $2 per gallon in some parts of the state. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Maine ended last week […]
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Auburn’s Formed Fiber Technologies cited for federal safety violations
AUBURN — The U.S. Labor Department has cited Formed Fiber Technologies for seven violations of workplace safety standards and is proposing more than $100,000 in fines. According to a statement from the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday morning, the Auburn plant has been exposing employees to “the risk of lacerations, crushed fingers, […]
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Tax on Maine summer camps would force some to close, owners say
AUGUSTA — The snow may be piled high, but dozens of Maine summer camps are already sounding the alarm about a proposal by Republican Gov. Paul LePage that would force many to pay property taxes. LePage’s two-year budget proposal includes a recommendation that the state change its law to allow cities and towns to charge […]
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Lewiston attorney makes case against LePage asking for lawyers
LEWISTON — A local attorney and law professor is making a case against Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s use of private attorneys when Maine’s attorney general refuses to represent the state. LePage has asked a state’s highest court to determine if he should be allowed to hire attorneys in those situations. Under the state’s constitution and […]