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Maine joins FDA suit over unlawful, unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion drug 

Lawsuit accuses the FDA of ignoring more than a quarter century of science showing that mifepristone is extremely safe March 9, 2023 AUGUSTA – Attorney General Aaron Frey has joined a multistate federal lawsuit against the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) accusing it of singling out one of the two drugs used for medication abortions for excessively burdensome regulation, despite ample evidence that the drug is safer than Tylenol.  The lawsuit, led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum, was originally filed on February 23, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.   The original complaint included twelve states: Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, […]

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Maine maple producers tap Blaine House tree with Gov. Mills to announce 40th Maine Maple Sunday Weekend

March 6, 2023 Governor Janet Mills and Maine Maple Producers Association President Lyle Merrifield today tapped the Blaine House Maple Tree ahead of the 40th annual Maine Maple Sunday Weekend later this month. “Maine Maple Sunday Weekend is an opportunity for us all to celebrate the world class products – and people – that make Maine unique. Our iconic maple syrup […]

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Maine Congressman Golden-led push for additional support to Ukraine

February 28, 2023 WASHINGTON — The bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) urging the Biden Administration to provide F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine grew to 16 Members as Kiev continues its fight against Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion one year into the conflict.  “…[W]e write to respectfully request that your Administration provide Ukraine with increased air […]

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EPA seeks input on Inflation Reduction Act programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with construction materials and products January 19, 2023 WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first opportunities for public input on new programs focused on lower carbon construction materials made possible by a $350 million investment from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The Agency will hold three public webinars and will accept written feedback on establishing new grant and technical assistance programs, and a carbon labeling program for construction materials with substantially lower levels of embodied greenhouse gas emissions. “The Inflation Reduction Act represents a historic commitment to build a new clean energy economy, powered by American workers and manufacturers in partnership with […]

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Treasury Releases Additional Information on Clean Vehicle Provisions of Inflation Reduction Act

December 29, 2022 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS released the following information on certain clean vehicle provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. The information provides greater clarity to consumers and businesses that, beginning January 1, 2023, will be able to access tax benefits from the law’s clean vehicle provisions.  In addition to the above […]

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Maine’s 131 legislative committee assignments

December 28, 2022 AUGUSTA, Maine — The 131st legislature’s Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, and Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, announced their Joint Standing Committees, each consisting of 13 members. Agricultural, Conservation and Forestry Appropriations and Financial Affairs Rotundo is among lawmakers who have served on the appropriations committee many times before and as the committee’s chair. Criminal […]

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Maine Revenue Forecasting Committee projects additional $282.8 Million in revenue for current biennium 

November 29, 2022   Augusta, MAINE – Following its meeting today, Maine’s nonpartisan Revenue Forecasting Committee (RFC) is expected to upgrade the State’s General Fund revenue forecast by approximately $282.8 million for the current biennium, which ends June 2023. The RFC also increased its projection for Fiscal Years 2024-2025 by $488.6 million.    “The State of Maine continues to be in the black as a result […]

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Maine jury sends $3 million anti-racism message to Eastern Maine Medical Center and Northern Light Health

November 4, 2022 Largest-Ever Race Discrimination Verdict in Maine On November 2, 2022, a jury in the Bangor federal courthouse returned a verdict of $3,000,000 for David Ako-Annan against Eastern Maine Medical Center. This verdict found that EMMC engaged in unlawful racial discrimination when it terminated his employment; it also awarded $1,500,000 in compensatory damages and $1,500,000 in punitive damages for EMMC’s reckless disregard for Mr. Ako-Annan’s right not to be discriminated against because of his race. Plaintiff David Ako-Annan has lived in Milford for about ten years and is age 46. He was the practice manager between June 2013 and April 2019 at a primary care medical office in Orono operated by EMMC. Mr. Ako-Annan is a Black immigrant from Ghana who moved […]

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Order Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests to Prepare for Safe Holiday Travel and Gatherings

11/17/2022  Maine households may order a kit of five rapid COVID-19 tests for home delivery every month from Project ACT AUGUSTA— The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is encouraging Maine people to order free, at-home COVID-19 tests as part of their planning for upcoming gatherings and travel to protect relatives and friends and help limit the spread of COVID-19 this holiday season. Households that order through Project Access COVID Tests (Project ACT) may receive one free kit of five rapid tests mailed to their home address every month. Project ACT, a partnership between DHHS and The Rockefeller Foundation, has mailed 170,897 free, at-home COVID-19 test kits – for a total of 854,485 tests – to Maine households since its launch in January […]

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Baileyville Mill Workers on Verge of Strike Vote, to Project Union “Bat Light” on Mill

Friday, Nov. 18 Workers at the Woodland Pulp mill in Baileyville, Maine are demanding that the company present a contract offer that provides high enough wage increases to keep up with the cost of living. The members of USW Local 27 will be projecting the union’s “Bat Light” on the side of the tissue machines at the mill today with the message “Essential Workers Deserve a Fair Contract.” Union members are scheduled to take a vote on whether to strike or accept the company’s final after their bargaining session with the company on November 28. “Whenever there was trouble in Gotham City, they would project the Bat Light on a building to summon Batman. The USW Bat Light signals that […]

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Mills Administration Announces $23.7 Million Unemployment Tax Cut for Maine Businesses Strategic investments will reduce unemployment taxes in 2023

November 17, 2022 Augusta, MAINE – The Mills Administration announced today that many Maine businesses will see a significant reduction in unemployment taxes next year thanks to strategic investments by Governor Mills in Maine’s unemployment trust fund. In 2020 and 2021, Governor Mills directed that $382 million in Federal COVID relief funding be invested in Maine’s unemployment trust fund to prevent tax increases on Maine’s small businesses caused by unprecedented pressure on Maine’s unemployment compensation system. Because of these investments, Maine’s unemployment trust fund remained solvent during the pandemic, unlike many states that had to borrow and repay billions of dollars with interest to the federal government. As a result of these investments and Maine’s strong economic recovery, the unemployment trust fund currently […]

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Polar Express family event at the Maine Rockport Opera House Dec. 7

Film still from The Polar Express, image credit Warner Brothers, 2004. Families are invited to don their coziest pajamas and head over to the Rockport Opera House on Wednesday, December 7, at 5:30 p.m. for a special Polar Express-themed event, presented by the Rockport Public Library. Attendees will be greeted by the Polar Express conductor; costumed chefs will be serving baked goods and […]

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40 Attorneys General Announce Historic Google Settlement Over Location Tracking Practices 

November 15, 2022 AUGUSTA – Attorney General Aaron Frey today announced that Maine along with 39 other attorneys general, has reached a $391.5 million multistate settlement with Google over its location tracking practices relating to Google Account settings. This is the largest multistate Attorney General privacy settlement in the history of the U.S. Maine will receive over $4 million from the settlement.  “Google users were misled into believing they had control over their location data when they did not. Consumers have a right to know whether their data is being collected and what it is being used for,” said Attorney General Frey.  Location data is a key part of Google’s digital advertising business. Google uses the personal and behavioral data it collects […]

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Electricity rates to go up in Maine says PUC

November 16, 2022 By Ramona du Houx Hallowell, Maine –The Maine Public Utilities Commission accepted bids and set new Standard Offer electricity supply rates for residential and business customers of Central Maine Power Company (CMP) and Versant Power-Maine Public District (MPD).  For residential and small non-residential customers of CMP, the Standard Offer price will be 17.63 cents per kWh effective January 1, 2023.  The Standard Offer electricity supply amount accounts for about 60 percent of the total customer bill, therefore the total bill increase will be about 26 percent for an average customer using 550 kWh/month, or an increase of $31.98, from about $122.59 to about $154.58.  The standard offer price set last year was 11.8 cents per kwh, so the 17.6 cents […]

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Polar & Company Books, published in Maine

Fiction Thomas Votary, Medieval Oxford Coroner: The King’s Gold Double Leopards  Oxford has no law only landowners who try and control Votary so he won’t unveil their secrets but Thomas believes in justice & love. Soto’s SongTravel with Soto on his mystical journey through an imagined reality, where he gains perspective and listens to the wisdom in the air, water, fire, and earth. Art book. Conversations with Quetzalcoatl Humorous, lighthearted vignettes about pre-Columbian culture, with flashes of fantasy and wonder of the unexplained. The Proud andthe ImmortalTakes us into the world of a homeless community living in disused Amtrak train tunnels in New York City. My Tainted BloodFollows the author as a German/Jewish boy/teenager in wartime Breslau and post WWII […]

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Our Power Applauds Another Jobs Expansion in Maine Thanks to Low Rates in Consumer-Owned Electric Utility Service Areas

November 3, 2022  The new $400 million investment in a Houlton-area manufacturing plant by LP Building Solutions adds to the mounting evidence that consumer-owned electric utilities are very good for business development in Maine. When asked to comment on this new investment, Wayne Jortner, lead petitioner on the Our Power citizen initiative and retired Senior Counsel to the Office of the Public Advocate, said, “It’s not at all surprising that more well-paid jobs keep coming to towns like Houlton, Kennebunk and Madison; that’s because those towns are served by non-profit, consumer-owned electric utilities. Manufacturing is very energy intensive, and electricity rates for CMP and Versant are about twice as much as they are in towns served by non-profit electric utilities. […]