Gov. Paul LePage Tuesday brushed aside accusations that he tried to pressure unemployment hearing officers to rule more often in favor of employers. But in doing so the governor made two questionable assertions. First, LePage said he suspected a lawyer representing other employment lawyers fabricated the accusations against him. The governor should have been up […]
Maine
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Small plane lands on Maine Turnpike, takes off again
UPDATED 11:30 AM: LITCHFIELD — A warden service pilot used the Maine Turnpike for an emergency landing and to take off after refueling. The Maine Turnpike Authority says the airplane landed in the northbound lanes in Litchfield shortly before 9 a.m. In addition to the pilot, a biologist was on board. No one was hurt. After […]
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Collins showed her courage on recent gun bill
Lost in the week of Boston-bombing chaos was a gutsy announcement by Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins that she supported extending background checks to people buying guns at gun shows and privately advertised sales. The bill, titled the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013, was ultimately pulled when a variety of less-courageous senators decided […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Maine House GOP leader visits immigrant women’s group in Lewiston
LEWISTON — During a visit Friday with key leaders in Maine’s largest growing immigrant community, state Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, learned far more than he expected. Fredette, the minority leader in the Maine House of Representatives, spent nearly two hours with a group assembled by the United Somali Women of Maine in downtown Lewiston. He […]
Posted inMaine
After dust-up, work session on gun legislation ends abruptly
AUGUSTA — An at-times-tense legislative work session broke up abruptly Thursday after lawmakers seemed to disagree on a bill that would allow employers to prohibit guns in employee vehicles on company grounds. The proposal before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee would repeal a law passed two years ago that prohibits employers from not […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Schott to purchase Brunswick hotel, apartments and lease them to BIW sailors
BRUNSWICK — Developer George Schott has plans to lease the former Navy hotel at Brunswick Landing and nearly 200 former bachelors apartments to the Navy to house sailors assigned to ships at Bath Iron Works. Schott has signed purchase and sale agreements to purchase the former 248-room hotel and former bachelors apartments at the former […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Report: Oil use down in Maine
AUGUSTA (AP) — A state Energy Office report says Maine residents have decreased their oil use by 26 percent since 2007. The report, required by state law, also finds oil consumption is down in the commercial sector by 20 percent, and in the industrial sector by a significant 40 percent, since 2007. Those reductions, which […]
Posted inMaine
Maine Senate endorses bill to seal handgun permit data
AUGUSTA — State senators on Wednesday agreed with their counterparts in the House of Representatives and passed a bill that will shut down a set of public records that have been open for more than 30 years. In a 27-8 vote, the Senate approved LD 345, which makes confidential most of the information on concealed-handgun […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine hunters asked to be on lookout for diseased turkeys
AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine wildlife officials are asking hunters to be on the lookout for unsightly lesions on turkeys when turkey hunting season begins next week. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says several cases of a sickness known as lymphoproliferative disease virus, or LPDV, have been reported in Maine since the first case […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
King tells Congress to overcome gridlock, ‘save our country’ in maiden Senate speech
AUGUSTA — Sen. Angus King called on his colleagues in Congress on Wednesday to follow the advice of President Abraham Lincoln and overcome gridlock in order to confront the constantly evolving challenges faced by the United States in ensuring national security and keeping the nation’s finances in check. “We must disenthrall ourselves, think in new […]