NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump returned insistently Tuesday to his assessment that “there is blame on both sides” after being roundly criticized for such comments following the deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump’s remarks on his home turf at Trump Tower in New York City followed a more deliberate statement he […]
politics
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage says a Medicaid expansion would kill Maine
Gov. Paul LePage has turned his attention squarely at defeating the Medicaid expansion referendum on this November’s ballot, claiming again that broadening eligibility for the government-run program would drive the state into backbreaking debt. LePage’s ardent opposition to Medicaid expansion is nothing new. He has vetoed bids to do so six times during his tenure, […]
advertisement
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage offers pay raise for 'right to work' language in contracts
Gov. Paul LePage used the lure of higher wage increases for members of Maine’s largest state workers union to win a key concession in his campaign to weaken the clout of organized labor. In exchange for a 6 percent pay increase over the next two years, negotiators for the Maine State Employees Association have agreed […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Donald Trump denounces KKK and neo-nazis: 'Racism is evil'
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump denounced the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis by name Monday and announced that the Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the killing of a counterprotester at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend as he sought to tamp down mounting criticism of his initial […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine jail inmates may lose opportunity for contact visits
AUGUSTA — Motivated at least in part by a desire to keep drugs out of the hands of prisoners, the state is eyeing a proposal that would eliminate a requirement that inmates in county jails have access to contact visits. Joseph Jackson, coordinator of Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, said Monday the move would bar prisoners […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Collins, others: Gender matters in Congress
Would the presence of more women in Congress make a difference? Some academic studies say women are just as partisan as men. But others say the dearth of women on Capitol Hill might contribute to the bickering and gridlock that permeates Congress. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said having women “does matter” because […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Political pioneer Margaret Chase Smith
Years before Margaret Chase Smith succeeded in getting elected as Maine’s first woman senator, she was a particularly savvy congressman’s wife. Her husband, Clyde Smith, represented the 2nd District and relied on her as his top office aide and campaign manager. “My role was to be at Clyde’s side as his right-hand man,” she wrote […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine leads nation in choosing women for U.S. Senate
When 18-year-old Sue Collins of Caribou boarded a plane one winter day in 1971, she couldn’t have imagined where it would take her. “I had never met a senator,” she recalled recently. “I had never been to Washington. I had never even flown on an airplane.” Chosen as one of two students from Maine to get […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Donald Trump condemns Charlottesville violence ‘on many sides’
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — President Donald Trump on Saturday condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the spate of violence unfolding in Charlottesville and called for “a swift restoration of law and order” — but avoided placing blame on any particular party for the hate-fueled upheaval. Trump spoke after hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Photos and video: Car plows into protestors in Charlottesville
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Coverage the white nationalist rally being held in Charlottesville (all times local): Updated 2 p.m.: Authorities are on the scene after a vehicle plowed into a group of people marching peacefully through downtown Charlottesville. An Associated Press reporter saw at least one person on the ground receiving medical treatment immediately afterward the […]