Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Good morning from Augusta, where we emerged from the year's biggest storm to Gov. Paul LePage saying he's looking to replace his former lawyer on the state commission that regulates utilities and calling on an Orono legislator to resign. That first item is a continuation of the Republican governor's crusade against the Maine Public Utilities Commission after their - and not repeal - a solar energy policy that allows panel owners to be credited for energy sold back to the grid.
The arctic region at the top of the world usually comes up in discussions about polar bears, global warming or where Santa Claus might live. Prodded in part by U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, the U.S. Department of Defense recently issued a report about national security issues in the arctic , an area that includes eight countries and a lot of ice.
Sen. Angus King said Tuesday that he plans to vote against his colleague Sen. Jeff Sessions to be the next attorney general, saying he's not sure Mr. Sessions can be sufficiently independent from President Trump . "But I'm not voting to confirm a friend.
We all can guess what will happen to the 80,000 Mainers who obtained medical insurance under the Affordable Care Act when the Republicans repeal it . Our neighbors, friends and family members who received coverage as a result of the act will go without medical insurance, jeopardizing their health and their pocketbooks.
For a few years now, the debate over leaking secrets has been heavy in American politics. It first began with the actions of an Army Private First Class by the name of Bradley Manning, who leaked classified information and video footage exposing potential war crimes.
Any doubts that repealing the core elements of the Affordable Care Act would have dire consequences for millions of Americans were laid to rest this week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In the first year after repeal, 18 million Americans would become uninsured, the CBO concluded .
With President-elect Donald Trump demanding more ships, the Navy is proposing the biggest shipbuilding boom since the end of the Cold War to meet threats from a resurgent Russia and saber-rattling China. The Navy's 355-ship proposal released last month is even larger than what the Republican Trump had promoted on the campaign trail, providing a potential boost to shipyards that have struggled because budget caps that have limited money funding for ships.
The behind-the-scenes campaign for the Blaine House in 2018 has begun, with Republicans waiting to see if federal officeholders jump in, Democrats looking early at a potential insider-outsider race and independents mulling bids. It's a race that could reshape Maine, with the term-limited Paul LePage leaving the governorship in 2019, eight years after taking office in a historic year for Republicans that set Democrats back after 40 years in which they largely controlled state government.
After winning re-election last month by a wide margin, 28-year-old state Sen. Eric Brakey is eyeing what might come next. He has ruled out a possible gubernatorial bid in 2018 but hedged on whether he might take aim at U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who plans to seek a second term as Maine's junior senator.
The director of manufacturing at New Balance says a "Made-in-USA" provision for athletic footwear for military recruits could mean an additional 250,000 sneakers a year. Brendan Melley touted the figure Wednesday as three members of Maine's congressional delegation visited a New Balance factory in Skowhegan, the Morning Sentinel reported.
Maine lobster industry representatives, politicians and scientists said on Friday that they will dig in against a Swedish proposal to ban imports of American lobster into Europe. The international dispute started when Sweden announced that it had found 32 American lobsters in the country's waters earlier this year and that they pose a threat to native crustaceans.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday declared a new national monument in Maine on 87,000 acres donated by the founder of Burt's Bees, fulfilling conservationist Roxanne Quimby's goal of gifting the land during the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The announcement of the Katahdin Woods and Waters monument came a day after media reports that the foundation created by Quimby had transferred the land to federal ownership.
In this Oct. 31, 2015 file photo, Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, attends the christening ceremony for the USS Raphael Peralta in Bath, Maine. Poliquin, who's made fiscal responsibility a hallmark of his campaigns, has been late on paying property taxes for his personal properties and his real estate company numerous times.
I'm ordinarily not a fan of “anniversary stories,” the old chestnuts newspapers once cranked out every summer, when advertising was plentiful but news was not. Yet one highly significant anniversary in Maine just passed without notice, so let's give it a try.
Sen. Angus King said Thursday he will vote for Hillary Clinton in November after considering who would be the best decision maker during a nuclear attack. "I've got to vote for Hillary Clinton," the independent senator from Maine told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day."
In what is being widely celebrated as a historic decision, Carla D. Hayden was confirmed as the 14th Librarian of Congress July 13 by a Senate majority vote of 74-18. Hayden, currently CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and LJ 's 1995 Librarian of the Year, will be the first woman and the first African American to lead the Library of Congress .
The 610-foot, 15,000 ton USS Michael Monsoor is the U.S. Navy's second Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer. Standing before a crowd of nearly 2,000 in Bath, Maine, Sally Monsoor, the mother of fallen Navy SEAL Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, honored her son Saturday by christening the ship that will bear his name.
Congress has only a few days left to pass a GMO labeling bill through the Senate and House before Vermont's mandatory labeling law takes effect July 1. And while Maine, Vermont and Connecticut have clearly spoken on the issue, there is still discussion in Washington around developing a "compromise" piece of legislation that would pre-empt existing bills in those states. Throughout households in Maine and across the country, this is a nonpartisan issue, with more than 90 percent of people polled reporting they believe they have the right to know whether their food contains GMOs.
New Balance's long battle with the federal government to supply the military with its athletic shoes cleared a major hurdle early Tuesday afternoon. The Senate passed the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act on an 85-13 vote.
New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. is close to winning an almost decade-long marathon: A buy-American provision in the massive defense policy bill the Senate will debate this week could force the Pentagon to purchase the company's sneakers for new military recruits. Currently, the Pentagon issues about $15 million in vouchers a year, covering 225,000 to 250,000 pairs of athletic shoes, New Balance estimates.