Maine Things Considered

More than 150 small-business owners in Maine are endorsing a ballot question to expand Medicaid. At a press conference in Portland on Tuesday, members of the Maine Small Business Coalition made the economic case for extending health care coverage to about 70,000 people. When Portland-based developer Tim Soley looks at Medicaid expansion through a business lens, he sees the federal money that would flow into the state. Under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. government covers about 90 percent of

A retired biologist living in Maine was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology on Monday. Dr. Jeffrey Hall is among three American scientists who won the prize for their discoveries about the body’s internal clock. He and his fellow laureates’ work launched new areas of research and reveal how important sleep is to overall well-being. Scientists have known about the circadian rhythms that regulate the daily life of living creatures for centuries. But until Hall and two other scientists conducted

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation expressed horror at the shootings in Las Vegas and offered sympathy for the victims and their families. Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine’s 1st District joined in expressing sympathy, but says that in light of the mass shootings in recent years, Congress needs to act on several bills that would reduce the likelihood of gun violence. “It’s time that we passed background checks. Four out of five Americans support them. Assault weapon ban. Gun

The University of Southern Maine announced Monday that it will establish a $15 million scholarship designed to support 100 disadvantaged Maine students annually. So far, the Promise Scholarship campaign has raised more than $4 million. The first group of scholars will be selected for the next academic year. “This particular Promise Scholarship is at the center of what USM stands for. It’s an opportunity for us to find students from across the state who have incredible ability but very few

Lucas St. Clair, credited with helping persuade residents in the Millinocket region to support the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, now hopes he can convince Maine voters in the 2nd District to send him to Congress.

The fate of a Lewiston dentist accused of putting the health and safety of his patients in jeopardy likely won’t be known for several months.

Remember the school consolidation effort that was launched 10 years ago in Maine? Some districts would rather forget it, but the state is about to ask them to try a new initiative. The state budget bill passed in July bolstered education funding by more than $160 million, but also established rules around the creation of a new system for sharing educational services across districts. Supporters say it will give kids more opportunities, but some school officials are having doubts. Some Mainers

Despite the recent warm weather, parts of Maine are seeing a real sign of fall: leaves sporting their autumn colors. State forestry officials say northern Maine, above Houlton to Jackman, is seeing high color change with moderate-to-low color change elsewhere. The entire state is reporting low leaf drop. “We’re headed into what’s probably going to be a typical Maine foliage year, with brilliant colors,” says state Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry spokesman John Bott. Bott says a lot of

The Beach to Beacon road race is celebrating its 20th anniversary. But there’s another milestone for Saturday’s Cape Elizabeth race event — it has achieved the highest certification for sustainability. The Council for Responsible Sport has classified the Beach to Beacon as a zero-waste event, because 90 percent of its waste is diverted from landfills. It was the first major road race in the U.S. to achieve top status. If you want to achieve top-level sustainability for a big event like the Beach

A new fight is brewing in Portland over whether renters deserve new protections in one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation. Volunteers with a group called “Fair Rent Portland” have delivered some 2,500 petition signatures to city hall, hoping to qualify for a local referendum this fall on whether to put the brakes on a years-long trend of rapid increases in rents. Julia Tate, an architect who moved from Brooklyn to Portland in 2015, says she was surprised at what she had to pay. “We

Maine Senate President Mike Thibodeau says he’s confident that a state agency responsible for mapping services is fully funded, countering claims from the LePage administration that the recently passed state budget mistakenly zeroed out its state allocation. LePage’s finance department notified lawmakers earlier this week that the budget contained a mistake that stripped the Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems and the Library of Geographic Information. The mapping agency is used by

Maine lobstermen have long been known as a fiercely independent lot. But some are looking to the power of unity, in the form of a statewide, catch-to-table co-op. The goal is to harvest a larger and more predictable share of the profits.

People who receive MaineCare — the state’s version of Medicaid — may soon have to work and pay monthly premiums in order to get benefits. Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services officially filed an application this week to the federal government to make those changes. Critics say Maine’s plan would erect barriers to health care that will drive up costs for everyone. If DHHS’s waiver application is approved, people who receive MaineCare would be required to work 20 hours a week, pay

With the aim of fostering a more competitive generic drug marketplace and driving down the price of prescription medications, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins spoke today in favor of a measure to reauthorize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The measure includes provisions co-authored by Collins aimed at lowering, or at least moderating, escalating drug prices, which she says are a key cost driver in the U.S. health care system. “Drug companies should not be able to increase their prices

Richard Dudman, an American newsman who rose to prominence in the 1970s and later made his home in Maine, has died. The Ellsworth American reported that Dudman passed away at a retirement community in Blue Hill. He was 99.