AUGUSTA — Maine lawmakers were licking their wounds and notching their belts, taking stock of what they did and didn’t get done for their constituents while finishing up the second half of the 127th legislative session Friday. The state’s next two-year lawmaking session won’t start in earnest until next January, following elections in November. For […]
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Posted inOxford Hills
Hiram fire destroys Sebago Road barn
HIRAM — An accidental fire destroyed a small barn and ell, and damaged a home at 72 Sebago Road early Monday morning, Second Assistant Fire Chief Eric Durgin said. The fire was reported around midnight when the owner, who was not identified, was at work, Durgin said. A neighbor alerted the owner and she returned […]
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Posted inOxford Hills
Building a home — and a life — together
NORWAY — The dream of home ownership is alive and well in western Maine. In 2015, Sarah Martin made a commitment to build a home in Norway for herself and her two daughters. She enrolled in the Community Concepts Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program and in January, she and several other families and individuals began their yearlong […]
Posted inMaine
LePage signs into law recommendations of veterans commission
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday signed into law legislation meant to strengthen and modernize Maine’s Bureau of Veterans’ Services and provide state community college and university tuition to members of the Maine National Guard. The legislation, largely based on the recommendations of a special commission that was set up by the Legislature in […]
Posted inMaine
State budget bill faces stiff GOP resistance in Maine House
AUGUSTA — Lacking the two-thirds support necessary to overcome a possible Gov. Paul LePage veto, an $11 million supplemental state budget appeared all but dead late Tuesday. The measure, which among other things would boost the pay of state law enforcement officers and workers at two state-run mental health hospitals, gained a strong 30-4 vote in […]
Posted inMaine
Logjam on funding for veterans bills breaks in Maine House
AUGUSTA — A quiver of bills meant to better assist Maine veterans as well as cover University of Maine and community college tuition costs for members of the state’s National Guard gained unanimous approval Friday in state House of Representatives. The legislation, much of it a result or recommendations from a special commission that examined […]
Posted inMaine
Lawmakers get first look at bill meant to fight Maine’s addiction crisis
AUGUSTA — A trio of legislative committees Tuesday took a first look at a $4.9 million bill meant to increase treatment for drug addicts and put more drug agents on the street to stop the flow of illicit drugs into Maine. But lawmakers already were split on the measure, which would fund 10 new Maine […]
Posted inFranklin, Lewiston-Auburn
Livermore Falls veteran struggling to build house
LIVERMORE FALLS — Veteran Jim Cyr is thankful to be alive and for everything he has. Cyr, 50, is 80 percent disabled. He lives off the grid in a yurt and has been struggling to build a house since 2010. But injuries, a lack of money and other issues have made it difficult. Cyr was […]
Posted inMaine
Rep. Chellie Pingree files disclosure report without Donald Sussman info
Maine’s 1st District U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree has filed her financial disclosure report for 2014, nearly four months after the original May 15 deadline. Pingree, a Democrat, filed the report Tuesday but excluded any financial information about her billionaire husband and Wall Street hedge fund manager, S. Donald Sussman, also announcing she and Sussman were […]
Posted inMaine
Maine’s Pingree blows past second deadline for financial disclosure in Washington
Maine’s 1st District U.S. congresswoman, Democrat Chellie Pingree, has twice missed a deadline to file a disclosure of her personal finances for 2014 with the clerk of the U.S. House. Pingree sought and was granted an extension to the May 15 deadline in April, but she missed her new Aug. 15 deadline and is one […]