SABATTUS — Selectmen have sent Androscoggin County commissioners a letter taking them to task for overturning the county Budget Committee’s recommendation to knock back commissioners’ pay. In a meeting last month, two of the three commissioners voted to restore most of their own pay and benefits that had been cut by the Budget Committee. In […]
politics
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
U.S. Senate report condemns CIA for use of torture
WASHINGTON — Senate investigators delivered a damning indictment of CIA practices Tuesday, accusing the spy agency of inflicting pain and suffering on prisoners beyond legal limits and deceiving the nation with narratives of life-saving interrogations unsubstantiated by its own records. Treatment in secret prisons a decade ago was worse than the government told Congress or […]
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Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Defense bill includes funding for shipyard, Pease
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire Sens. Kelly Ayotte and Jeanne Shaheen say the annual defense bill has provisions that authorize funding for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the Pease Air National Guard Base. The senators, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, say the bill authorizes the procurement of two Virginia Class submarines and […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Election workers, recount volunteers and state police headed to Augusta for recount investigation
AUGUSTA — More than 30 witnesses will travel to the State House on Tuesday to testify in a special Senate committee’s investigation into the disputed Falmouth-area state Senate election that Democrats argue is still undecided. By day’s end Tuesday, the committee intends to rely on that testimony to compile a timeline that starts with the delivery […]
Posted inMaine
Maine’s DHHS Commissioner urges AG action on welfare drug-test law
AUGUSTA — Maine’s commissioner for the state Department of Health and Human Services said Monday she is still waiting on the state’s top lawyer before moving forward on a law that’s nearly three years old. A federal law passed in 1996 prohibits distributing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to individuals who have been previously convicted […]
Posted inMaine
As Maine ages, policymakers focus on reversing trend
LEWISTON — A new set of data from the U.S. Census Bureau on 18- to 34-year-olds — known as “millennials” — hold both interesting and concerning details for Maine, the nation’s oldest state. According to the American Community Survey: 2009-2013, the segment of the U.S. population that’s made up of 18- to 34-year-olds is shrinking nationwide […]
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Report: Maine received $12,104 per person from federal government in 2013
Learn About Tableau PORTLAND — With talk of a possible federal shutdown again sounding through the halls of Congress, a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts gives a new look at the significance of federal spending for Maine’s economy. Between contracts, retirement payments, benefits, salaries and grants, federal money passed on to Maine in 2013 […]
Posted inMaine
Maine Legislature elects Hayes treasurer, re-elects Mills, Dunlap
AUGUSTA — In an upset victory, the Maine Legislature elected former state Rep. Terry Hayes of Buckfield to the post of state treasurer Wednesday night. Hayes, who left the Democratic Party in late November, was elected as an independent and nominated by Republicans. She won the two-year post over incumbent Neria Douglass, an Auburn Democrat […]
Posted inNation / World
LePage joins lawsuit against Obama administration’s immigration policy
AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Paul LePage has joined a multi-state coalition in a lawsuit over the Obama administration’s recently announced executive actions on immigration. LePage is one of four governors and 13 states who are plaintiffs in the suit. Many top Republicans have denounced President Barack Obama’s unilateral move designed to spare as many as […]