AUGUSTA (AP) — A Maine group is hoping to breathe new life into the state’s struggling public-financing elections law by providing Clean Election candidates access to more campaign trail cash, allowing them to better compete with their privately financed opponents. After spending months gathering support across the state, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections plans to […]
Maine
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From Afghanistan to Augusta, Jared Golden says desire to serve drives him
LEWISTON — When state Rep. Jared Golden thinks about Maine veterans, he does it from a personal perspective. Serving his first term in the Maine House, Golden, 32, is a Marine Corps veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s why he wanted to be on the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. It’s […]
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Windham senator proposes restoring death penalty in Maine for some crimes
AUGUSTA — A veteran lawmaker who has been on a years-long crusade against the sexual exploitation of children is proposing to bring the death penalty to Maine for people convicted of killing children victimized in pornographic snuff films. Snuff films are illegal movies that end in the subjects’ actual on-camera death. For Democratic Sen. Bill […]
Posted inLocal Sports
Incidental take permit on lynx not needed
With respect to Maine’s federally protected Canada lynx, there is suddenly good news and bad news. The good news is — or was — that the feds finally, after 6 years of outlandish dithering, recently granted the state an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) on lynx. Basically, the ITP is a binding agreement between the state […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launches review of threatened Canada lynx
PORTLAND (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is starting a review of federally protected Canada lynx at a time when the largest population of the cats in the Lower 48 appears to be poised for a decline. The end of clear-cutting in Maine with the Forest Practices Act of 1989 has allowed forests […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Forum focuses on tax reform and LePage budget plan
LEWISTON — The chief architect of a state tax reform plan that was rejected by the Legislature in 2013 said Friday that he sees hope on the horizon for a Gov. Paul LePage budget proposal that includes similar reforms. Former state Sen. Dick Woodbury, a Yarmouth independent, said LePage’s 2016-17 state budget proposal, currently being […]
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Brakey pushes bill to allow medical pot in hospitals
AUGUSTA — State Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, is sponsoring legislation that would allow medical marijuana patients legal access to their prescriptions in a hospital. Brakey’s bill, LD 35, “An Act To Allow a Qualifying Patient To Use Medical Marijuana in a Hospital,” is a response to federal licensing laws, which prohibit hospital patients from using […]
Posted inMaine
Brooks launches proposal to allow cities local sales tax
AUGUSTA – State Rep. Heidi Brooks, D-Lewiston, has penned a bill that would allow cities and towns to levy a local sales tax on certain goods and services. Brooks, a freshman lawmaker, said she is responding to concerns she heard while campaigning for office last fall and an answer to her city’s ongoing struggles with […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Lawmakers dial-in to Internet needs for fast Internet speed
PORTLAND — At Maine’s State House and in pioneering communities around the state, 2015 could be the year of broadband. President Barack Obama has thrown support behind expanding broadband and regulators are considering treating it as a utility like electricity. Lawmakers in Maine submitted 35 bills that the state’s broadband development agency identified as dealing […]
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Maine lawmakers respond to fatal hayride accident with list of bills
AUGUSTA — A hayride accident that claimed the life of a teenage girl from Oakland and sent 22 others to hospitals this past October has prompted an outpouring of proposed law changes in Maine. The titles of six bills released Thursday suggest lawmakers hope to prevent the type of tragedy that claimed the life of […]