Maine Things Considered

More than any other member of Maine’s Congressional Delegation, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has found herself under intense scrutiny in her home state. Joining Maine Public’s Radio’s call-in program Maine Calling Wednesday, Collins attracted protesters outside the Bangor studios and elsewhere. She used the platform to try to allay concerns from some Mainers about the new president, but she also had to answer to her some of her increasingly vocal critics. Collins has been in Congress since

Gov. Paul LePage is asking President Donald Trump to reverse the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument established by an executive order from President Barack Obama last year.

As President Donald Trump prepares to rewrite his controversial travel ban, a coalition of 500 business leaders and mayors is calling for meaningful immigration reform. The group, New American Economy, has released an interactive map with state and congressional district-specific data about the economic contributions of immigrants. Supporters are hoping that it will bolster the argument for expanding immigrant worker visas. According to New American Economy’s report , Maine has nearly 49,000 new

Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to slash $140 million from the Department of Health and Human Services drew its first wave of opposition during public hearings held Tuesday. Opponents lined up to argue against steep cuts to the state’s MaineCare program, as well as changes taxes and reimbursement to Maine’s hospitals. Overall, the governor’s two-year budget plan is designed to cut government spending to help pay for an aggressive reduction in the state income tax. In doing so, the governor’s plan to

Muslim immigrants have become an increasingly large part of the fabric of New England in recent years.

Muslims in America are the subject of heated political debate. But they account for a very small number of elected politicians in New England. One nonprofit, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is encouraging American-Muslims across the U.S. to run for political office. The group, called Jetpac, will train potential candidates regardless of party affiliation with the goal of increasing civic engagement within Muslim communities. With her 3-month-old baby on her lap and her 2-year-old son

After a police officer shot and killed a man in Portland this weekend, advocacy groups are calling for the city to speed up its timeline on buying and using police body cameras. Steven Biel with Progressive Portland, a group joined by the ACLU of Maine in calling for the change, says the City Council has budgeted $400,000 for body cameras starting in fiscal year 2019. But he says the shooting of 22-year-old Chance David Baker by Sgt. Nicholas Goodman illustrates why police need body cameras

Progressive lawmakers and caregiving advocates launched a campaign Monday to establish a Universal Family Care System in Maine. If approved by the Legislature, the system would provide childcare and home care services for all children, seniors and individuals with disabilities, regardless of income.

The word “expulsion” probably brings to mind disruptive high-schoolers. But in fact, many children are expelled as early as preschool. New research shows that in Maine, nearly a quarter of childcare centers have expelled a child in the past year.

The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental activists are upset that the vote was allowed to happen before next week’s public release of emails between Pruitt and energy company executives. The Senate voted 52-46 to confirm Pruitt after failed attempts to delay action on the vote. Lisa Pohlman, executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, says those senators that forced a vote may well

Mainers concerned, dismayed or angered by the election of President Donald Trump have made their voices heard by protesting in the street and clogging the phone lines of their representatives in Congress. But there’s a much quieter movement playing out in libraries across the state.

While a partisan fight looms in the Legislature over changes that could make it harder for groups to use Maine’s citizen initiative process to pass new laws , bipartisan support is emerging to crack down on aggressive tactics used to get on the ballot. Lawmakers weighing new reforms must strike a tricky balance between policing fraud and protecting political speech.

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

A federal judge in Bangor has thrown out a lawsuit claiming that state and federal wildlife officials were failing to protect the threatened Canada Lynx as required by the Endangered Species Act. Canada Lynx are abundant north of the border, but fewer than 1,000 are estimated to survive in Maine. Over the last several years state and federal wildlife regulators have set and adjusted new rules that permit a limited number of lynx to be accidentally killed or injured in traps set for other animals

An agreement reached between the Cumberland County district attorney’s office and a group of Black Lives Matter protesters fell apart Wednesday in a dispute over a required restorative justice session. Now it appears prosecutors will reinstate misdemeanor charges, which had been put on hold. Last July, police arrested 17 protesters after they blocked off a busy street in Portland’s waterfront commercial district. In exchange for having criminal charges against them put on hold, the protesters