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Maine: Rhode Island

May 18, 2009 - 07:04 am
NEWS FEED: Turn Maine Blue

Open Thread

By Gerald Weinand

Good morning.

This might be optimistic, but the Hill has this analysis that the Pelosi CIA flap may lead to a truth commission on torture:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's fight with the CIA has put her in one of the toughest spots she's been in since she became speaker.

But it may also have advanced her goal of creating a "truth commission" to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation techniques and whether they amounted to illegal torture.

If nothing else, Pelosi's hard-to-prove assertion that the CIA lied to her in a briefing has renewed interest among Republicans and Democrats in what the Bush administration was doing with detainees six years ago and what it told Congress and other officials.

Read More at Turn Maine Blue >
There have been 1103 comments posted in response to this story.

March 30, 2009 - 10:30 pm
NEWS FEED: Bangor Daily News

Lawmaker wants to lift state fireworks ban

By The Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Maine — A lawmaker has introduced a bill that would allow adults to buy the firecrackers and aerial fireworks that many Mainers already hear in their neighborhoods on the Fourth of July.

Sen. Walter Gooley, R-Farmington, acknowledges that fireworks can cause injury and start forest fires, but he believes it would be better to make them legal and regulate the sale. Otherwise, people will continue to buy them elsewhere and bring them into Maine illegally.

“I know of many, many people, Mainers, that go over to New Hampshire and they spend in excess of $100,” he said. “It’s illegal, but it’s happening.”

Rep. William Browne, R-Vassalboro, one of nine co-sponsors, said, “If you live near a pond or lake, you’d never know there was a ban on them anyways.

Read More at Bangor Daily News >
There have been 47 comments posted in response to this story.

January 29, 2009 - 11:41 pm
NEWS FEED: Bangor Daily News

Automatic minimum wage hikes proposed

By Mal Leary

AUGUST, Maine — In a move denounced by the business community, Maine’s minimum wage would go up every year based on the increase in the consumer price index under a measure now before lawmakers.

“There have been a number of states in the country that have done this,” said Rep. John Tuttle, D-Sanford, House chairman of the Legislature’s Labor Committee and sponsor of the bill. “This is a more efficient method of addressing the need of a minimum wage, particularly given difficult economic times.”

He said several constituents had approached him about sponsoring an increase in the minimum wage, both through tying it to the consumer price index and through a fixed increase.

Read More at Bangor Daily News >
There have been 26 comments posted in response to this story.

Fri, 11/21/2008 - 11:00

Maine’s budget shortfall is bad, but is far from the worst

By Jessica Alaimo, PolitickerME.com Reporter

The New York Times has this interactive map of budget woes across the country. It lists Maine’s as a $274 million budget gap -- $208 per capita.

The shortfall is a dark cloud that looms over the Legislature as it prepares for the next session. Still, many states have it worse. Here is a list of those that have a budget shortfall of more than $300 per capita:

There have been 44 comments posted in response to this story.