SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned. The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, […]
politics
Posted inNation / World
Former coal lobbyist to lead EPA after Pruitt’s resignation
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he has accepted the resignation of scandal-plagued Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. Pruitt had become a constant source of embarrassment to a president who had entered Washington promising to “Drain the Swamp.” Pruitt has faced an array of ethical questions about his travel spending, security costs, dealings […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine activists call on Susan Collins to ask hard questions of Supreme Court nominee
Republican Sen. Susan Collins may hold the fate of abortion rights in the United States in her hands. President Trump, who pledged to nominate only anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court, is days away from announcing a Supreme Court nominee. And local and national organizations are ratcheting up the pressure on Collins, a pro-choice swing […]
Posted inMaine
Democrats target Susan Collins in campaign against Supreme Court nominee
WASHINGTON — Liberal political strategists hope to block President Donald Trump’s next Supreme Court nominee by replaying a strategy they used to help defeat the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act last year. The multimillion-dollar plan of advertising and grass-roots activism will focus heavily on convincing two Republican defenders of the ACA, Sens. […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Donald Trump closes in on Supreme Court pick; 3 judges top list
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is closing in on his next Supreme Court nominee, with three federal judges leading the competition to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Trump’s top contenders for the vacancy at this time are federal appeals judges Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Raymond Kethledge, said a person familiar with Trump’s […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage proposes increasing taxes on hospitals to cover Medicaid expansion
AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine’s Republican governor is publicly laying out a proposed tax hike on hospitals to pay for voter-approved Medicaid expansion. Gov. Paul LePage’s office says Medicaid expansion will offset a tax hike by decreasing charity care and bad debt. Maine’s hospital tax rate is 2.23 percent, and Rabinowitz said Maine could go up […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Donald Trump pressed aides on Venezuela invasion, U.S. official says
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening regional security, why can’t the U.S. just simply invade the troubled country? The suggestion stunned those […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage adds 13 more vetoes, including CMP audit and opioid treatment
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill Tuesday that could require utility shareholders to bear the costs of audits similar to the ongoing review into massive, unexplained price spikes reported by some Central Maine Power customers. The CMP audit bill was among 13 vetoed by LePage on Tuesday, one day after he vetoed 23 […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Golden supports retailers' right to sell assault-style rifles
Democratic congressional candidate Jared Golden declined Tuesday to endorse efforts to pressure the Kittery Trading Post to stop selling assault-style rifles. Calling the store “an iconic Maine business,” Golden said retailers in the state “should be able to sell firearms to those who can legally possess them.” The Lewiston state representative’s comments came in reaction […]
Posted inMaine
Democratic lawmakers ask Kittery Trading Post to stop selling ‘assault-style rifles’
KITTERY (AP) – Three Maine lawmakers are asking a Kittery store to stop selling assault-style rifles. The Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Kittery Trading Post, asking the store to restrict gun sales and to discontinue sales of what the lawmakers said are assault-style rifles. The letter was written by Deane Rykerson, Lydia Blume, and […]