Governor halts $19 million bus contract

AUGUSTA (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage said he has halted a $19 million state contract with the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.

In 2014, the Maine Military Authority entered into a contract to refurbish 32 commuter buses. The authority, based at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, is a quasi-state agency that refurbishes military vehicles.

Maine Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Susan Faloon said that the state is losing money on the contract, which employs more than 50 workers. A third of buses have been refurbished to date.

State officials are looking into why the contract was underbid, and whether job losses are possible.

Brigadier Gen. Douglas Farnham said officials will try to reduce costs by renegotiating terms.

AG sues maker of drug that treats addiction

AUGUSTA (AP) — Attorney General Janet Mills is suing the makers of an opiate treatment drug for allegedly conspiring to keep generic competitors out of the market.

Mills has joined attorneys general in 34 other states and the District of Columbia who filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleging that British drugmaker Indivior and New Jersey’s MonoSol Rx conspired to corner the market on Suboxone.

Mills said it’s wrong to artificially inflate the cost of a drug while states including Maine are experiencing an opiate addiction epidemic.