Maine Things Considered

When Maine author Ron Currie started working on his new novel a few years ago, he couldn’t have known how timely it would be when it came out in the spring of 2017. In an era when absolute truths seem increasingly difficult to grasp, “The One-Eyed Man” concerns K., an average guy who loses his wife to cancer. Part of K.’s response to her death, for which he blames himself, is to become very literal, to the point where he literally can’t bring himself to walk when faced with a broken “don’t walk”

Maine marine resources officials say the state’s elver season is getting off to a slow start, with only small numbers of the tiny eels being netted by harvesters. The quality and quantity of the juvenile eels is expected to improve as temperatures climb in April. Maine’s elver season opened on March 22, but the fishing has been poor, according to state Department of Marine Resources spokesman Jeff Nichols, who says colder-than-normal temperatures have kept landings down. “Things are pretty slow,

A compromise is in the works that could end weeks of pitched battle in Portland over the scope of a school bond to go before voters. Mayor Ethan Strimling and city councilor Nick Mavodones announced a deal to give voters two choices: pay $64 million to fund renovations to four city elementary schools, or just $32 million to renovate two of them. Strimling says that without a compromise, the council might not have agreed to put any measure before the voters. “For those of us who who have been

This month about 70 women inmates formerly held in York County moved into the Southern Maine Women’s Re-entry Center in Windham, a brand-new facility designed to house close to 100 minimum-security prisoners who have less than four years remaining on their sentences.

During the first of what is expected to be many public hearings over the next several months, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee heard from experts on past Russian efforts to influence elections around the world. Those efforts have extra significance now, as Congress attempts to get to the bottom of Russian meddling during the last election without drifting into a partisan squabble. Both of Maine’s senators serve on the Intelligence Committee, which plans to hold both public hearings

Gov. Paul LePage has pardoned a dog. The unusual move, which is now generating headlines around the country, was taken on behalf of a husky named Dakota with a violent past. Dakota’s owners have been ordered to euthanize her, and it’s unclear whether the governor’s action will spare her life. Dakota’s troubles began last year when she got loose and allegedly killed a small dog in Waterville. She then got tagged as a dangerous dog and was ordered to be properly confined. But, according to

Gov. Paul LePage pointed the finger at the Maine Legislature and secretary of state Thursday for Maine’s continued noncompliance with the federal REAL ID law. LePage says it’s preventing veterans in southern Maine from accessing certain VA services. But the governor plans to veto a bill that would ensure veterans access to health care, while another bill that brings Maine into full compliance with REAL ID could land on his desk as early as next week. Speaking on Portland radio station WGAN,

It's Thursday and time for Across the Aisle, our roundtable on Maine politics. This week: Mike Cianchette, an attorney who served as former chief counsel to Gov. Paul LePage; Cynthia Dill, an attorney who served in the Legislature as a Democrat; and Dick Woodbury, an economist and a former independent state lawmaker.

Time is running out for nearly three dozen popular garden plants in Maine, and it’s not because another snowstorm is on the way.

The backers of a controversial ballot campaign to build a casino in York County had little to say during at a public hearing being held at the State House Wednesday. However, the hearing did reveal that an offshore investment company with a checkered history is backing the proposal. The leading Democrat and Republican on the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee had hoped a public hearing on the York County casino referendum will help answer several questions about the campaign and

Staff at the Maine Public Utilities Commission say regulators should reject all bids received to provide new liquefied natural gas, or LNG, storage in the state. At the same time, Gov. Paul LePage is urging the Maine Public Utilities Commission to go ahead and sign a contract. Last year the Legislature authorized the use of up to $25 million a year, collected from consumers’ electricity bills, to incentivize new LNG storage capacity. The goal was to stabilize gas supply needed for electricity

Imagine opening a restaurant in a far-flung location, but being forbidden to tell anyone it’s there.

It’s a long time until the November 2018 election, but two-term Republican state Sen. Eric Brakey of Auburn has formed an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent independent Sen. Angus King. Brakey says in order to raise money to travel around the state and to test the political waters, a prospective candidate must file an exploratory committee with federal election officials. “An exploratory committee simply allows us to raise some of the minimal funds that we need to

After the death last week of the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan declared that the ACA was the law of the land for the foreseeable future. But that future is murky, with more reform attempts expected.

A biomass company at the center of a dispute over payments to loggers is now asking to change the terms of its state subsidy. The company says it wants to dispel the notion that taxpayers are getting a bad deal. Stored Solar is receiving taxpayer-funded, above-market payments for the electricity it generates, under legislation passed last year to shore up the state’s struggling forest products economy. In return, the company must fill 42 new positions for the next two years, make capital