Maine Things Considered

Online shopping is hard to beat — price, selection, free shipping. That’s great for consumers, but very hard on local brick-and-mortar stores, and even on larger retail chains, who are closing their doors after years of operation. But some small retailers have found a way to not just survive but thrive in this new landscape.

As House Republicans in Washington work to garner enough votes to pass a revised health care bill, one sticking point is whether to continue to provide affordable coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

In the predawn hours of August 6, 2012, the rover Curiosity made a successful landing on Mars. One reason it made it intact was that a heat shield protected the rover from temperatures that reached 1,600 degrees as it careened into Mars’ atmosphere, the tiles for which were made in Biddeford. The company, Fiber Materials, Inc., or FMI, plays an integral role in the country’s defense and space programs and is now expanding into other realms. That heat shield was made out of their decades-long

A $1 trillion congressional funding compromise that would keep the U.S. government running through Sept. 30 , will also include thousands of slots for additional H-2B seasonal visa workers. The program is currently capped at 33,000 workers for each half of the federal fiscal year. U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins said in a prepared statement that the proposed compromise would allow the cap to be increased, at the discretion of the secretary of homeland security. At the Bar Harbor Chamber

Maine Gov. Paul LePage announced late Monday afternoon that he has taken the unusual step of filing a lawsuit against Maine Attorney General Janet Mills over what he claims is her abuse of power.

Businesses in Maine that rely on summer help are hoping that Congress will come to the rescue. Because of new limits on the seasonal worker visa program, restaurants, hotels and other tourist-centered operations are scrambling to find seasonal employees. Until Congress opens the door to more H-2B foreign workers, those businesses are finding ways to attract locals onto the payroll.

Maine Attorney General Janet Mills has joined Democratic colleagues from other states in filing legal challenges aimed at stopping the Trump administration from weakening environmental regulations. The suits reflect a growing trend of partisan alliances among states’ attorneys general. Democratic attorneys general have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration on a variety of environmental fronts. In one case, they seek to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to repeal the

AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine lawmakers are considering whether to repeal the current 24-month limit on MaineCare treatment of opioid addiction with Suboxone. Rep. Patty Hymanson is a retired doctor. The York Democrat said the limit on coverage is unwarranted, and urged her colleagues to repeal it. “Relapse brings nothing but pain with the potential for criminal behavior, overdose and death," Hymanson said. "Keeping the two-year cap on Suboxone and evidence-based treatment is arbitrary and unsound.”

AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. Paul LePage has signed into law legislation aimed at bringing Maine into compliance with the federal Real ID program.

Camden-based author Tess Gerritsen is best known for mystery novels, including a string of books that inspired the TV series “Rizzoli and Isles.” She is now branching out into film, or as she proudly describes it, low-budget horror.

A shadowy casino campaign designed to benefit a controversial gambling developer has filed a series of reports showing that the initiative, aimed at building a casino in southern Maine, has been almost exclusively financed by offshore investment companies and a Las Vegas firm.

In a rare move, a representative of Maine’s judicial branch appeared before a committee in Augusta today to speak against a proposal before state lawmakers. The bill would grant the Maine Supreme Court the power to block citizen-initiated ballot questions before they even get to the voters. The judiciary believes that the bill, though designed to stop potentially unconstitutional initiatives from reaching the ballot, will result in a serious breach of the separation of powers. The proposal is

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday directing a review of national monuments created under the Antiquities Act.

Stearns High School in Millinocket made national headlines six years ago for how it responded to declining enrollment and a shrinking budget — it decided to bring in students from other countries through the F-1 visa program to fill in the gaps.

Gov. Paul LePage is under fire for his characterization of how a new 3 percent surcharge to fund education will affect wealthy Mainers. LePage was challenged on his facts by an audience member during his town hall meeting Monday in Fort Kent, his latest stop in a campaign that he hopes will convince state lawmakers to repeal the surcharge approved by voters in November. LePage spent Monday waging an all-day, multimedia public relations campaign against the perils of the education surcharge. It