AUGUSTA — The water going to Maine schools is tested and safe, but the water quality inside schools is largely unknown. A voluntary state program is covering the cost of analyzing the lead content of up to 10 water samples from each school. The federal Lead and Copper Rule doesn’t require water utilities to test […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
School choice not a good choice for rural school districts
EAST MILLINOCKET — The small parking lot outside of Schenck High School was crammed with cars, all there for the basketball game, the town’s featured event that night. The cold winter air whipped around white mounds of snow lining the town’s few residential streets and past the school to the vast blackness of Interstate 95. […]
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Electricity program staff paid by supplier
AUGUSTA — For the first time in 16 years, the staff of Maine PowerOptions appeared before lawmakers Thursday to answer questions about how the quasi-state program brings together hundreds of municipalities and school districts to help them buy electricity. The hearing followed an investigation by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting last month that […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Record number of Maine drug deaths attributed to fentanyl
AUGUSTA — The Maine Office of the Attorney General says the state set a new record for overdose deaths in 2016 with 378. The office of Janet Mills says the number of overdose deaths climbed from 272 in 2015. That was a record at the time and a 31 percent increase from 2014. The office […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage doesn’t agree with Collins’ opposition to DeVos as education secretary
PORTLAND — Maine’s Republican governor and senior U.S. senator disagree over whether philanthropist Betsy DeVos should be confirmed as education secretary. Sen. Susan Collins says she won’t support the nomination of DeVos. Collins, who is often regarded as moderate, says she’s concerned DeVos’ lack of experience with public schools would make it difficult for her […]
Posted inMaine
Maine’s congressional delegation opposes repeal of coal rule
When Congress voted this week to wipe out a new federal regulation making it harder to dump coal-mining debris into nearby streams, all of Maine’s congressional representatives opposed the move. U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a Republican from Maine’s 2nd District, said the rule adopted during the last days of the Obama administration “should move forward […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LD 56 aims to nip litter problem caused by mini-liquor bottles
PORTLAND — The increasing popularity of miniature liquor bottles known as “nips” has caused lawmakers in Maine to propose a new way to help keep the state’s roadside gutters and ditches clean. The Portland Press Herald reports a bill pending in the Legislature would require retailers to collect a 15-cent bottle deposit on the small […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Eric Brakey stands up for students who lobby for pet hedgehogs
AUGUSTA — Some Maine sixth-graders are pushing state lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it easier for residents to keep hedgehogs as pets. Maine and eight other states currently restrict or ban the tiny, quill-covered creatures, which can carry salmonella. The students asked a legislative committee on Tuesday if the state could ease restrictions […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Donald Trump vows to ‘totally destroy’ political limits on churches
WASHINGTON — Warning that religious freedom is “under threat,” President Donald Trump vowed Thursday to repeal the Johnson Amendment, an IRS rule barring pastors from endorsing candidates from the pulpit.” “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution,” […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
DHHS reports 174 welfare fraud convictions worth $1.7 million in 2016
AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration has amped up investigations of Maine’s welfare recipients, although the number of cases prosecuted remains essentially the same. The state Department of Health and Human Services said in a press release Thursday that it referred 174 criminal cases for prosecution last year and uncovered more than $1.7 million […]