Maine Things Considered

After a decade of rapid growth, wind energy in Maine has hit the doldrums. No big new wind projects are likely to go live anytime soon, and it could cost billions to unlock enough of the state’s wind resource — the best in the region — to serve southern New England’s thirst for renewable energy.

State Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew resigned from office Wednesday, effective Friday. Mayhew has served in that position since the first weeks of the LePage administration. The announcement is spurring speculation about her political future. The announcement of Mayhew’s departure first came in a statement from the governor praising her tenure as commissioner. LePage says she has been a leader in reforming welfare programs and bringing spending under control at DHHS. He did

A bill that would have allowed terminally ill patients to end their lives has failed to pass in the Maine Legislature. Though the Death with Dignity legislation narrowly succeeded the Senate last week, the House voted against it Tuesday with a margin wide enough to end its chances. But supporters say they’ll try again, and may bypass the Legislature. In her work as a neurologist, Democratic state Rep. Patty Hymanson has seen patients face tough, terminal diagnoses. She told her House colleagues

State prison officials are preparing to release an unspecified number of prisoners at several facilities in Maine after an announcement Tuesday by Gov. Paul LePage that he is commuting some sentences. Without specifying a number, LePage says he will commute some sentences as part of an effort to “modernize” the state Corrections Department and promote fiscal responsibility. The action arrives just weeks before the governor’s closure of the Downeast Correctional Facility in Bucks Harbor. The

Advocates for the poor, environmental groups and members of Congress were quick to attack President Donald Trump’s budget proposal, which was released in more detail on Tuesday.

Last week the Maine Department of Corrections sent pink slips to all of the workers at the Downeast Correctional facility in Machiasport, because under the budget plan proposed by Gov. Paul LePage, the facility would be closed. That budget has not been approved by the Legislature, however, and so the dispute has found its way to the Appropriations Committee.

The Maine Supreme Court has issued an advisory opinion Tuesday that the state’s new ranked-choice voting law conflicts with the state constitution. Debate is now growing over what happens next.

A high tech company in rural western Maine employs more than 50 people from all over the state and beyond. About a quarter show up to work at the company’s headquarters in South Paris everyday. But most don’t. And as Lori Valigra reports, the company’s founder says its all part of a strategy that allows Mingle Analytics to maintain a skilled and loyal workforce, without having to leave Oxford county. Bobbie Manson is at the end of a busy workday entering medical data into an application that her

Last year, 28 people in the Northeast died from paddle craft-related deaths. That’s more than double the national average, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The spiritual, as a musical form, was born in America. It emerged from pain and despair, but over time would become a gift to the nation. This weekend in Falmouth and Brunswick, a Maine-based chorale will accompany a world-renowned countertenor in a concert production called “Amazing Grace: The American Spiritual.” The multimedia performances are designed to convey how the music helps to tell the story of the nation itself. If you listen carefully to a recorded performance of the spiritual

Gov. Paul LePage wants to eliminate a $20 per product, per year surcharge on pet food sold in Maine, which is used mostly to fund cat neutering programs. But the members of a legislative panel, including some Republican lawmakers, have rejected the idea and voted to dedicate more money to the neutering program. Years ago, Maine implemented two fees on pet food manufacturers that sell products in Maine. Each product was assessed an $80 registration fee as well as a $20 surcharge. At first there

The Trump administration has vowed to review some of the national monument designations carried out in the Obama years, which could include Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

It’s Thursday and time for the Across the Aisle, our weekly roundtable on politics. This week, Dick Woodbury, an economist who served in the Legislature as an independent; Meredith Strang Burgess of Burgess Advertising, a former Republican lawmaker; and Cynthia Dill, an attorney who served in Augusta as a Democrat.

On any given day — all year 'round but particularly in the warmer weather — panhandlers work the curbs and corners of Portland, cardboard signs broadcasting their need for a little help. After an unsuccessful attempt to crack down on panhandling a few years ago, the city is trying a more benevolent approach.

Words like “serious” and “troubling” have been uttered repeatedly by Maine’s Congressional Delegation over the first four months of the Trump presidency. But a new report alleging that the president asked former FBI Director James Comey to end an investigation of former national security advisor Michael Flynn seems to have prompted a noticeable shift in the rhetoric.