AUGUSTA — A Florida-based healthcare company that could receive a $60.3 million state contract to run a 21-bed Maine residence for some psychiatric patients is fighting to keep its proposal secret. Gov. Paul LePage’s administration is moving forward without legislative approval or appropriated funding on plans to build a new, one-story residence on the Dorothea […]
politics
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Trump’s voter-fraud claims are the real fraud
In the Kafkaesque world of President Donald Trump, unsubstantiated widespread voter fraud accounts for the fact that he lost the 2016 presidential popular vote while substantiated Russian election campaign meddling, which may have facilitated his victory in the electoral count, is nothing but a “hoax.” Though it’s taken an intensive FBI probe, hearings by two […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Weak government response to ticks threatens public health
Maine’s invasion came early this year. In recent hotbeds of tick activity – from Scarborough to Belfast and Brewer – people say they spotted the eight-legged arachnid before spring. They noticed the ticks – which look like moving poppyseeds – encroaching on roads, beaches, playgrounds, cemeteries and library floors. They saw them clinging to dogs, […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Short-term health plans coming to Maine won’t cover pre-existing conditions, or much else
New low-cost, short-term health insurance plans allowed by the Trump administration will be available in Maine this fall, but health care advocates say the plans won’t provide protections for pre-existing conditions and are filled with loopholes to avoid paying claims. Mitchell Stein, a Maine-based health insurance consultant, said many of the short-term plans, which cost […]
Posted inMaine
Poll suggests that gender turnout will play a key role in Maine’s race for governor
Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, the Democratic candidate for governor in 2018, has strong support among female voters, a recent poll from Suffolk University in Boston found. The early August poll found that 48 percent of female voters favor Mills while 29 percent support her Republican rival, businessman Shawn Moody. Looking at male voters, 50 […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
DHHS commissioner to retire
Ricker Hamilton is retiring as state commissioner of health and human services, a department that is under investigation by the Legislature’s watchdog agency after the beating deaths of two young girls who were in the child protection system. Hamilton has run the Maine Department of Health and Human Services since May 2017, when he was […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Congressional race may hinge on how voters view Donald Trump
Throughout American history, the political party of the president has almost always taken a hit during midterm elections. “It’s one of the most ironclad things in American politics,” University of Maine at Farmington political science professor James Melcher said Friday. If it happens again this time around, one of the casualties could be U.S. Rep. […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Bruce Poliquin issues the first attack ad of the campaign
And so it begins. U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s campaign issued its first television advertisement Friday assailing his chief opponent, Democrat Jared Golden, as “too radical” and “too risky.” The move drew a quick denunciation from Golden’s camp. “Today’s desperate attack by Bruce Poliquin comes as no surprise and validates everything the polls show: The two-term […]
Posted inNation / World
Mike Pence unveils plans to create a U.S. Space Force
Vice President Mike Pence laid out an ambitious plan Thursday that would create a military command dedicated to space this year and eventually establish a “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the U.S. military. In a speech at the Pentagon, Pence warned of the advancements that potential adversaries were making and issued what amounted […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Republican lawmaker calls for ethics probe against Westbrook Democrat
With Democratic lawmaker Dillon Bates defying his party leader’s request to resign, a Republican lawmaker said Wednesday that she’s formally asking for the House Ethics Committee to be “convened immediately” to investigate allegations that the two-term lawmaker, a former teacher and coach, acted inappropriately with students. “These are very serious allegations against Rep. Bates, and […]