AUGUSTA — Schools will have to hold lockdown drills under a new Maine law. Democratic Sen. Nate Libby’s bill went into law last week without Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s signature. It directs the Maine Department of Education to rewrite it rules to require schools to hold lockdown drills in addition to fire and other emergency […]
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Posted inMaine
Tax for bottled water companies faces struggle in Maine Legislature
AUGUSTA — Western Maine lawmakers are rallying against a bill that seeks to tax companies that bottle water when they extract more than 1 million gallons a year from a groundwater aquifer. The bill, LD 16, sponsored by state Rep. Victoria Kornfield, D-Bangor, which would apply a penny-per-gallon tax on companies that bottle water in […]
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Bill would put passenger rail on track for Lewiston and Auburn
AUGUSTA — Expanding passenger rail service from Portland to Lewiston-Auburn has been a decades-long struggle for local business and rail advocates, and a bill before the state Legislature could finally help advance that effort. State Rep. Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, is hoping his bill will provide the push needed to link the Twin Cities to Amtrak’s […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Bill seeks to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists by toughening Maine’s crosswalk, roadway law
BREWER — A well-known Brewer barber who was struck and killed by a car in December while walking in a crosswalk in front of his business is the last recorded pedestrian death in Maine for 2014. Because one of every four people hit by cars every year in Maine is hit in a crosswalk, Sen. […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Selectmen approve abatement for New Gloucester resident
NEW GLOUCESTER — Selectmen on Monday voted 4-1 to approve a tax abatement for Richard Hodgkin of Intervale Road, who petitioned the board for relief of the value assigned to a swimming pool that was filled in a few years ago. The abatement will only be in effect for fiscal year 2014-2015. In October, Hodgkin […]
Posted inOxford Hills
Harrison town manager embattled in cat feud defends comments
HARRISON — Embattled Town Manager George “Bud” Finch defended comments he made earlier this week suggesting he was indifferent to animal welfare as taken out out of context by the media. A story from WGME 13, which ran in the Bangor Daily News on Friday, quoted an animal welfare advocate who said Finch told her that […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Poland gets lower bill for TIF accounting
POLAND — Selectmen on Tuesday received a revised bill from John Cleveland of Community Dynamics for services on two Poland Spring Water Co. TIF accounts. The amount was $6,900, the original estimate for sorting out the financial history of the two Tax Increment Financing agreements between the town and the company between 2008 and 2014. In […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Senate approves $12.3 billion water bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress sent the White House a $12.3 billion water projects bill half the size of its last one seven years ago — before the economy sank into a deep recession that helped swell the government’s debt and before lawmakers swore off cherry-picking pet projects for folks back home. With a 91-7 vote […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage vetoes bipartisan supplemental budget bill, citing ‘gimmicks’
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a supplemental budget bill that was crafted by the Legislature and supported by majorities in both parties. The Republican governor rejected the bill because he said it includes “gimmicks” to balance the books. “I cannot support a budget that uses gimmicks to keep it balanced,” wrote LePage in […]
Posted inMaine
Senate deals quick death to LePage bill to turn state agency into campaign lie detector
AUGUSTA — “The truthiness bill.” “The lie-detector law.” “The truth-squad bill.” In hallway conversations, Democrats have come up with many names for Gov. Paul LePage’s bill that would make the state Ethics Commission investigate claims that candidates for state office had lied on the campaign trail. But it was with zero floor speeches or debate […]