AUGUSTA — Maine Attorney General Janet Mills has ruled that a proposal by Gov. Paul LePage to bar immigrants and asylum seekers from receiving General Assistance is illegal and unconstitutional. The proposed new rule, which was unveiled late last year by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, was meant to align qualification for […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage insists there are no set plans to move national guard unit
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage criticized Democrats on Thursday, saying they have mischaracterized and politicized the possible relocation of the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion. After a meeting with the adjunct general, Brig. General James Campbell, to discuss the federal government’s proposal to reduce guard units across the country, LePage accused Democrats of attempting […]
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Maine to announce decision on interstate speed limits
AUGUSTA — Maine officials will soon announce their decision about whether to raise the speed limits on interstate highways. Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt said Thursday that he will make the announcement 11 a.m. Tuesday at the department’s headquarters on Capitol Street in Augusta. The Legislature in 2013 gave Bernhardt the ability to […]
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Author of report from which Alexander Group lifted text: ‘It’s literally two pages of text’
AUGUSTA — A portion of a report by the Alexander Group, which Gov. Paul LePage’s administration commissioned as part of its welfare reform efforts, was copied from work done by a liberal Washington, D.C., think tank. That revelation caused the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday to request resubmission of portions of the […]
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Prominent Maine women speak in favor of independent Cutler
PORTLAND — A group of prominent Maine women, both Democrats and Republicans, said Wednesday they support Eliot Cutler, an independent candidate in Maine’s 2014 gubernatorial race. Among those offering their support is a former U.S. district attorney, current and former members of the Legislature, successful businesswomen and philanthropists. Cutler, in a three-way race with incumbent […]
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LaPlante named new director of security at Department of Corrections
AUGUSTA — Longtime Maine prison guard Gary LaPlante is the new director of security for the Maine Department of Corrections. The department announced LaPlante’s appointment Wednesday. LaPlante became a guard at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston more than 25 years ago and has served as a sergeant, correctional investigator and correctional captain in the […]
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Guard general says there’s no decision to move 133rd engineer battalion yet
AUGUSTA — In a email to soldiers and their families Tuesday, the head of Maine’s Army National Guard attempted to quell concerns raised by reports that the state’s 133rd Engineer Battalion would be relocated and replaced with an infantry unit. “Let me be absolutely clear: There has been no decision to move the 133rd Engineer […]
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Maine gubernatorial candidates state positions on abortion
LEWISTON — The candidates for governor are staking their positions on the hot-button abortion issue this week. On Tuesday, Eliot Cutler, an independent from Cape Elizabeth, released his answers to a questionnaire from the Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund, a political action committee, noting again that he is the only candidate in the race to […]
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Maine Ethics Commission fines same-sex marriage foes
AUGUSTA — A national anti-gay marriage group that helped defeat Maine’s same-sex marriage law in 2009 may be fined more than $50,000 and ordered to reveal its donors, after an ethics investigation released Monday found that it violated the state’s campaign finance law. Investigators with the Maine Ethics Commission said that the National Organization for Marriage’s […]
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King endorses Collins in U.S. Senate race
Collins, a three-term veteran of the Senate, is running against Democrat Shenna Bellows in this year’s election. During a Town Hall meeting at the Margaret Chase Smith Library, King emphasized the close relationship he’s developed with Collins during his two years in the Senate. He said often, senators from the same state are in a […]