We’re in …
Republicans are gearing up to challenge Gov. Janet Mills’ emergency powers this week in a battle that some experts and former governors from both parties say is largely political.
The…
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Mainers have lived in a state of emergency for the past year — the longest period in at least 24 years.
Armed with new data, Maine must decide if and when to make changes
A 15-month process to study the system Maine uses to pay medical providers for treating the state’s lowest-income residents ended this week with recommendations to regularly review and standardize…
Judiciary Committee pushing for oversight expansion of attorneys
A joint committee of lawmakers has endorsed adding at least $21 million to the budget for legal services for Maine’s poor in defiance of Gov. Janet Mills, who said she would not increase funding…
rise of community-focused groups likely helped Maine maintain low infection rates
In February 2020, Margaret Downing read an article that terrified her. It predicted that a novel coronavirus spreading around the world would overwhelm U.S. healthcare systems, particularly those…
COVID-19 increased the stress and isolation that worsens abuse, making Maine survivors feel less safe at home
Kayla Duvall knew she had to get out of her marriage.
If she didn’t answer her husband’s repeated phone calls, he grew angry. He accused her of lying or cheating if she turned off the…
Lobstermen say the rules are expensive, dangerous and based on outdated data
Federal fishing regulators are close to finalizing new rules that would require expensive gear modifications and seasonal fishing closures in Northeast waters to protect the endangered right whale…
opinion: governments will feel pinch of increasing debt well into the future
Behind almost every government action lurks a single question: How do we pay for it?
The answer seems easy: by taxes or debt. But taxes must pay off the debt, making the real question not…
opinion: Renewable power requires competent and accountable utilities
Central Maine Power’s most recent debacle…
The temporary director of Maine’s public defense agency likened his first month on the job to a doctor performing “triage” as he has tried to restore financial and operational integrity to a…
state claims it was unaware
Soon after receiving his license to practice law in Maine in May 2015, Jeremiah McIntosh, 36, began a new career as a small-town lawyer in the northeast corner of Aroostook County.
…
Without change to reimbursement method, providers fear they can’t afford to continue
Health facilities have expressed concern that they won’t be able to maintain quality medical care for the state’s lowest-income residents without an increase in the amount of money they receive…
After more than a decade of lobbying and negotiations at the federal level, December’s pandemic stimulus bill included a …
Maine’s largest electricity reseller wants to pony up a $500,000 fine. The state’s utility regulator suggested pulling the plug.
A report last year recommended revoking the license of…
For more stable future, every level of government must move quickly to reduce emissions
It was a strange scene to encounter on a January night in Maine, sitting in my car among more than 100 other parked vehicles, all populated but dark, at a drive-in town meeting.
…
age-old concept may be what Maine needs for agricultural growth
Agroforestry, an age-old concept, could provide a path to Maine’s future. Part of the …
Waldo County official ‘frustrated’ emergency management agencies haven’t played larger role
Vaccination efforts across rural Maine to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic are going as well…
opinion: Much to gain – or lose
The Maine Climate Council’s 15-month process preparing Maine Won’t Wait: A Four-year…
Shah: ‘matter of time’ before variant strain of COVID-19 is detected in Maine
More people in Maine now have been vaccinated for COVID-19 than have had the virus.
About 46,600 Mainers were vaccinated as of Friday,…
state Budget Breakdown
Governor Janet Mills is expected not to include money to open the state’s first public defender office, increase staff oversight of defense spending or raise wages for court-appointed attorneys in…
Members stunned to learn existing rules for protective custody cases not enforced for nearly a decade
Maine did not enforce rules mandating the minimum level of experience attorneys must have before representing parents at risk of losing custody of their children, the state’s public defense agency…
GOP to look for ways to reassert legislative power while Democrats eye health care and climate change
Amid a pandemic and an economic downturn, lawmakers will return to Augusta in January with a list of priorities that span topics such as healthcare, climate change and the power of the executive…
As COVID-19 cases continue surging in Maine and the first vaccination doses offer some hope, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke to health…
December has been a month of hope and concern, with COVID-19 vaccines deployed for the first time to hospitals across Maine but health officials warned that the state continues to battle “a surge…
lack of up-to-date data hindering efforts to eliminate inequalities
Black Mainers are less likely to own a business than white residents, and those who do report earning substantially less money than white peers, according to publicly available data.
…
A severe storm Monday night that resulted in over 100,000 power outages was followed by this winter’s first Nor’easter, which hit Maine on Saturday. The storms hammered Maine in the same week the…
The proposed $500 million Nordic Aquafarms aquaculture project scheduled for the Midcoast continues to face controversy over land rights associated with laying saltwater intake and wastewater…
focused attention on group working to stimulate state’s economy; raised money to help businesses, families weather COVID-19
During the height of the protests over the police killing of George Floyd in May, Rose Barboza felt conflicted. She wanted to join the demonstrations but had a four-year-old at her Saco home and…
opinion: The tide is turning
Alongside the challenges of a raging pandemic, failing health care system, struggling…
Preparing for a cold, hungry winter
On a sunny September morning in Dover-Foxcroft, more than 50 cars stretched from the Piscataquis Regional Food Center three blocks down North Street an hour before a food distribution event was to…
Multiple reports this year have chronicled oversight problems at the agency
In the final six weeks of the year, Maine’s public defense agency is racing to meet multiple deadlines to overhaul its operations while also beginning a search for a new executive director. …
opinion: how can a rural, aging and economically challenged state navigate a path to electrified transportation?
Only 1 percent of vehicles sold in Maine are electric, yet a few of those cars are already traveling the back roads and dirt driveways of Hancock and Washington counties. When the nonprofit agency…
opinion: Driving seemed inescapable until it wasn’t
Ask experts about cutting vehicular emissions — the largest source of Maine’s greenhouse gas…
Watchdog: MCILS lacks established financial policies, strong oversight structure, adequate staffing to meet constitutional obligations
Maine’s public defense agency operated without clear leadership and with few written policies that caused a cascade of problems with its finances and oversight of attorneys for the state’s poorest…
state must dramatically expand renewable power generation and transmission
A protracted fight over the New England Clean Energy Connect plan to wheel 1,200 megawatts of hydropower from Quebec, through Maine and on to Massachusetts has dominated the airwaves for the last…
proposed opening Maine’s first two public defender offices, substantial pay raise for court-appointed counsel
Officials are proposing to double the size of the budget set aside to provide the legal services needed to adequately defend the state’s poor who are accused of crimes.
The $35.4 million…
The below story and data was compiled by Maine Monitor.
Maine Monitor is a local journalism product published by The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a nonpartisan,…
Mainers are facing a historic congressional election season.
In November, voters will decide whether to keep Sen. Susan Collins — the only Republican representing a New England state in…
investigating campaign finance trends in this year’s state and federal races
Every day when she gets home from work, Sharon Houle is greeted by five or six pieces of oversized cardstock trying to convince her how to vote.
She constantly changes the radio in her car…
Fleeing to Maine from climate disasters
What do you do when the place you call home becomes unlivable? …
After significant problems at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maine’s overall employment situation has improved — and even surpassed January employment rates — according to the latest data…
Maine’s climate plan needs to address storm preparedness disparities; better support vulnerable, least prepared communities
Stepping out and helping out
Jennifer Gunderman’s hands moved quickly from bean to bean, snipping the long vegetable right at the top and dropping it into her five-gallon bucket.
The former organic farmer turned…
Council votes Sept. 30 on changing requirements for groundfish monitoring
After returning home for a hot meal and quick snooze following three days alone at sea, Randy Cushman wakes up at 3:30 a.m. to begin the final steps of his fish and data processing in the sleepy,…
Central Maine Power Co. and its parent company funneled thousands of dollars through the Maine State Chamber of Commerce to tout a construction plan to bring Canadian hydropower to Massachusetts…
Maine seeks ways to fund statewide energy overhaul, climate adaptation measures
Maine has New England’s most energy-intensive economy, expending roughly $6 billion annually…
sea change column: Small wood homes yield big climate benefits
A single small home, lifted onto a foundation in Milbridge last month, could signal big housing changes ahead. Confronted with scant affordable housing and mandates to reduce carbon pollution,…
Extended drought conditions amid an already busy wildfire and outdoor recreation season has state officials on high alert during the final few weeks of summer.
As of Sept. 8, rangers have…
The preacher and the outbreak
As news broke about Calvary Baptist Church’s COVID-19 outbreak, Pastor Todd Bell shined his black shoes.
Before the Sanford reverend spoke to his church, Bell took a picture of his…
partisan standoff over returning to session amid pandemic may delay reforms for months
The fates of more than 50 bills aiming to change Maine’s criminal justice system are uncertain now that legislative leaders cannot agree on the timing or scope of a special session.
As…
