Gov. Paul LePage warned Thursday that some taxpayers might need to file amendments to their 2017 tax returns because the Legislature failed to pass a bill to conform the state’s income tax code to the new federal tax code. But a liberal economic policy research group said the changes affect only a small group of […]
Paul LePage
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage says Maine does not have money to expand Medicaid
The LePage administration argued in a court filing this week that it cannot implement voter-approved Medicaid expansion because the Legislature did not make a “specific allocation” to do so. Without money dedicated to expansion, the state Department of Health and Human Services “plainly lacks legal authority” to spend money on it, says the court brief, […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Former Auburn mayor Jonathan LaBonte resigns quietly from LePage’s Cabinet
A former Auburn mayor who had become a policy adviser to Gov. Paul LePage quietly resigned from the governor’s Cabinet last month, and the administration is not saying much about his departure. Jonathan P. LaBonte stepped down from his $112,000-a-year job as director of the Office of Policy and Management on April 10. The office’s website […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage signs letter backing Donald Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and a group of fellow governors are backing President Donald Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing what they called Trump’s “transformative efforts to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.” In a letter this week to Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen, McMaster and six […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Former LePage adviser repays state for cost of Trump Hotel stay
AUGUSTA — Shortly after his resignation as a senior policy adviser to Gov. Paul LePage last month, Aaron Chadbourne took an unusual step: He reimbursed the state for the $925.16 it cost to put him up for two nights at Trump International Hotel in Washington last spring. Chadbourne, who served as the governor’s legislative liaison […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Lepage ahead of the November elections
On a day largely devoted to official party business, several thousand state convention attendees approved a platform — essentially a statement of ideals — filled with conservative ideals. Among other things, the platform calls for eliminating the income tax, espouses the “sanctity of human life — from conception to natural death,” opposes federal Common Core education standards and […]
Posted inMaine
Paul LePage vetoes recreational marijuana bill
Gov. Paul LePage on Friday vetoed a bill to launch Maine’s adult-use marijuana market. LePage, a staunch opponent of marijuana, said he doesn’t want Maine to operate two different marijuana programs – medical and adult-use – with two different tax rates and two different sets of rules and raised concerns about the impact of marijuana impairment […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage to allow road signs pointing out Katahdin national monument
AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage is relenting on his ban on road signs directing motorists to a national monument that he opposes. A LePage spokeswoman says the Maine Department of Transportation will allow signs now that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended keeping the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument and a renewed […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
From Medicaid expansion to pot sales, State House stalemate leaves key issues unresolved
AUGUSTA — The Maine Legislature faced an uncertain future Thursday as State House political leaders began pointing fingers and laying blame for a late-night stalemate over adjournment that left dozens of key bills in an unprecedented limbo. At a minimum, lawmakers are expected to return no earlier than May 1 to take up bills vetoed […]
Posted inBusiness
Bill to launch recreational marijuana market is on its way to Paul LePage’s desk
The Legislature is sending a bill to launch the adult-use marijuana market to Gov. Paul LePage Tuesday. LePage now has 10 days to take action on the bill – sign it, allow it to go into law without his signature, or use his gubernatorial veto to try to kill it, which is what the two-term […]