Alabama has certified the result of Doug Jones’ upset Senate victory, clearing the Democrat’s path to Washington just hours after his Republican rival filed a lawsuit asking for a new election. On Thursday afternoon, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall and Secretary of State John Merrill – all Republicans – signed off on […]
politics
Posted inMaine, sj-web
'Little skinny guy from Maine' details impact of weight-loss surgery
Two days after Christmas last year, Ann LePage followed through on “the single best decision that I have made in my life” — undergoing a weight-loss operation at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. “This surgery has literally given me my life back,” Maine’s first lady told a medical conference last month. Gov. Paul LePage […]
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Posted inNation / World
IRS says many who prepaid property taxes may still face cap on deductions
People across the United States rushed this week to pay their 2018 property taxes early, hoping to take advantage one last time of a federal deduction for state and local taxes that will be scaled back under the tax-code overhaul signed by President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, however, the Internal Revenue Service announced that those […]
Posted inMaine
Lawmakers optimistic they can resolve disagreements on marijuana bill
AUGUSTA — Key lawmakers will meet with Gov. Paul LePage on Friday to try to reach agreement on how to change an adult-use marijuana bill so it would gain his support. Members of a special committee that drafted the bill after state voters approved legalization in 2016 said they were optimistic that they could reach […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Independent lawmakers gain clout in Augusta with staff, office space
Top row, left to right: Owen Casas of Rockport; Denise Harlow of Portland; Kevin Battle of South Portland. Bottom row, left to right: Kent Ackley of Monmouth; Norman Higgins of Dover-Foxcroft; Marty Grohman of Biddeford. AUGUSTA — A caucus of independent lawmakers is likely to have an outsized influence in the Maine House of Representatives in […]
Posted inNation / World
Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet while Washington debated options
WASHINGTON — The first email arrived in the inbox of CounterPunch, a left-leaning American news and opinion website, at 3:26 a.m. — the middle of the day in Moscow. “Hello, my name is Alice Donovan and I’m a beginner freelance journalist,” read the Feb. 26, 2016, message. The FBI was tracking Donovan as part of […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Democrats don’t have much of anything to say
If Democrats do well in the 2018 midterm elections, it won’t be because of the Trump tax cuts. Democrats’ hyperbole notwithstanding, voters are not going to vote against Republicans for putting more money in their pockets. There may be other reasons to vote against Republicans, but if President Trump can somehow keep from making himself […]
Posted inMaine
Sen. Collins’ vote on Republican tax plan risks her moderate reputation
Sen. Susan Collins’ support for her party’s polarizing tax reform overhaul may have shored up her relationship with the White House and Republican congressional colleagues, but it also may have tarnished her reputation among centrists and liberals as a champion of process and policy-driven governance. Collins, Maine’s most powerful elected official, was on the receiving […]
Posted inNation / World
Donald Trump signs $1.5 trillion tax law and temporary spending bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a temporary spending bill into law on Friday to avert a government shutdown after the Republican-led Congress did the bare minimum in a sprint toward the holidays and punted disputes on immigration, health care and the budget to next year. The measure had passed the House on Thursday […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Portland Democrat Benjamin Pollard to challenge Angus King for Senate seat
AUGUSTA — Portland builder Benjamin Pollard announced Thursday that he plans to run for the U.S. Senate next year on the Democratic ticket. Pollard, 45, is the second Democrat to join the race against U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who is seeking his second term representing Maine on Capitol Hill. Pollard also sought the […]