Just before lawmakers on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee started public hearings on everything from cutting spending to raising taxes, LePage announced he would soon unveil a plan to restore $21 million to the state’s budget stabilization fund. Commonly known as the “rainy day fund,” LePage has said lawmakers inappropriately raided it when they voted to […]
LePage
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Committee sends Medicaid expansion to Maine Senate
AUGUSTA — A proposal by two moderate Republican senators to expand Medicaid and incorporate drastic changes in the state Medicaid program has cleared the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and will now be taken up by the full Senate. The bill — crafted by Assistant Senate Minority Leader Roger Katz of Augusta and Sen. […]
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Posted inMaine
Who’s really ripping ME off?
AUGUSTA — Early last year, the national media turned its gaze to Maine and the tawdry story of a Zumba-instructor-turned-prostitute in the affluent seacoast village of Kennebunkport. The exploits of Alexis Wright, including the fact that she managed a client list of more than 100 people and often secretly videotaped her encounters with her customers, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
LePage, LaBonte speak to Children of the American Revolution members
AUBURN — Gov. Paul LePage told members of the Maine Society, Children of the American Revolution, to be proud of their efforts that keep their historic heritage alive. He spoke at the 62nd annual state conference of the youth organization, held Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch. “There’s no place for politics when […]
Posted inOur View
Our View: No place for politics in appeals process
Last April, when allegations that Gov. Paul LePage had injected himself into Maine’s unemployment compensation appeal process surfaced, LePage’s office called the allegations politically motivated attacks meant to distract the public from more important issues. It was, as we said at the time, a predictable shift-the-blame response from his spokespeople. Thursday, after the U.S. Department […]
Posted inMaine
Maine budget committee eases forward with fix ideas for 2014 and 2015
AUGUSTA — State lawmakers on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee are gaining steady ground as they work to create a supplemental budget that will balance spending and revenues for 2014 and 2015. The Maine Constitution requires a balanced budget, and without a supplemental budget offering from Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the committee has been left largely […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage administration continues campaign against Medicaid expansion
Agriculture Commissioner Walter Whitcomb said the state’s natural resource agencies — Agriculture, Conservation, Marine Resources, Environmental Protection, and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife — had lost $13 million in state funding in just five years, a reduction he attributes to regular annual shortfalls in the the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers MaineCare. “We […]
Posted inMaine
Democratic lawmakers renew call for cancellation of Alexander Group contract
AUGUSTA — Democratic leaders on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Monday were again calling on Gov. Paul LePage’s administration to cancel its nearly $1 million contract with a Rhode Island-based consultant. Democrats noted, so far, the state has paid the Alexander Group $378,000 for the five-part study of the state’s welfare programs, […]
Posted inMaine
Maine DHHS seeks to steer conversation away from $1 million welfare report
AUGUSTA — Officials within the Maine Department of Health and Human Services appear to be working behind the scenes to change the public and political discussion about an expansion of Medicaid. Email messages, published by the Portland Press Herald, after they were inadvertently sent to the newspaper, suggest DHHS officials may be trying to downplay the […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage lays out major initiatives for job creation, lowering taxes in State of the State
The state’s chief executive discussed most major policy areas — from energy and education to welfare reform — and reiterated his opposition to Medicaid expansion and desire to reform welfare. But the most sweeping new policy proposals focused on economic development, lowering taxes and fighting drug abuse in Maine. As was the case in his […]