AUGUSTA (AP) — Republican Gov. Paul LePage is taking steps to empty out a minimum-security state prison and force a closure over the objections of state lawmakers, according to union representatives and two Republican legislators from Washington County. Republican Sen. Joyce Maker, Republican Rep. Will Tuell and representatives of the American Federation of State, County […]
politics
Posted inNation / World
Legal experts: Donald Trump’s comments to James Comey mostly inappropriate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seen in the kindest light, legal experts say conversations attributed by the fired FBI director to President Donald Trump were clumsy and inappropriate. In the worst light, James Comey’s recollections could provide enough evidence to build a case that the president tried to interfere with a criminal investigation. Released Wednesday, a day […]
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Who are the senators asking James Comey questions?
WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee hosts the most-anticipated congressional hearing of the year Thursday, when former FBI director James B. Comey is scheduled to testify and share details of his firing by President Donald Trump and the conversations they had about ongoing investigations into Russia’s alleged meddling in U.S. elections. Rarely do congressional hearings […]
Posted inMaine
Angus King fumes at intelligence officials who refuse to answer his questions
Senate Intelligence Committee members, from left, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Angus King, D-Maine, listen to testimony from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and other security chiefs about gathering intelligence on foreign agents, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 7, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) At a […]
Posted inNation / World
Live Video: Intelligence chiefs testify before Senate Intelligence Committee
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, left, with Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., right, questions Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and other top national security chiefs as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence discusses gathering intelligence on foreign agents, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 7, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Senate Intelligence Committee members, from left, […]
Posted inMaine
Analysis: House Dems offer to cut income surtax rate to advance budget
House Democrats have blinked in a standoff over education funding, offering an deal to increase the threshold for Maine’s surtax on high earners and lower it from 3 percent to 1.75 percent. Republicans are on the record as wanting the surtax gone. Progressives still want to keep it and Senate Democrats didn’t join their House […]
Posted inNation / World
White House looks for ways to undermine Comey’s credibility
WASHINGTON (AP) — With fired FBI Director James Comey’s highly anticipated congressional testimony just a day away, the White House and its allies are scrambling for ways to offset potential damage. Asked Tuesday about the testimony, President Donald Trump was tight-lipped: “I wish him luck,” he told reporters. Comey’s testimony Thursday before the Senate intelligence […]
Posted inNation / World
Trump nominates ex-Justice Dept. official Wray to lead FBI
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’ll nominate a former Justice Department official as FBI director. Trump’s tweets that his choice — lawyer Christopher Wray — is “a man of impeccable credentials.” There’s no more information in the two-sentence tweet that ends, “Details to follow.” Wray emerged from a list of former prosecutors, politicians […]
Posted inMaine
Maine House votes to override LePage’s nip deposit veto
AUGUSTA — Ignoring Gov. Paul LePage’s threat to try to ban tiny liquor bottles known as nips if the Legislature requires deposits on them, the House on Tuesday easily passed the two-thirds threshold required to overturn his veto of the measure. “Let’s reaffirm putting a tip on the nip, to nip littering in the bud,” Rep. […]
Posted inMaine
House seeks to make lying to legislators a felony
AUGUSTA — Despite warnings it could escalate partisan squabbles into criminal charges, the House approved a proposal that would make it a felony for some to provide false testimony to legislators. Initially conceived as a broad ban on anyone providing false testimony, the revised bill adopted by a vote of 76-70 would make it a […]