Scarborough, Brunswick and Wells are among the communities in Maine that will get funding to conserve areas affected by climate change.
Penelope Overton
Staff Writer
Penny is excited to be the Portland Press Herald’s first climate reporter. Since joining the paper in 2016, she has written about Maine’s lobster and cannabis industries, covered state politics and spent a fellowship year exploring the impact of climate change on the lobster fishery with the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team. Before moving to Maine, she covered politics, environment, casino gambling and tribal issues in Florida, Connecticut and Arizona. Her favorite assignments allow her to introduce readers to unusual people, cultures, or subjects. When off the clock, Penny is usually getting lost in a new book at a local coffeehouse, watching foreign crime shows or planning her family’s next adventure.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
House, Senate debate over supplemental budget proposal stretches into early hours
Both chambers of the Maine Legislature voted to add $60 million in storm relief into the budget proposal, but the Senate also added $7 million in additional spending on other items.
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Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics
Gov. Mills urges lawmakers to pass supplemental budget, reject amended storm bill
The governor sent a letter to lawmakers outlining a path forward on two of the most significant items still before the Legislature, which is scheduled to adjourn Wednesday.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Maine lawmakers revive, then kill tribal online gambling bill
The bill had been rejected in the House and Senate, but Sen. Mattie Daughtry asked that it be reconsidered Tuesday. It passed in the Senate only to fail again hours later in the House.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Mills’ storm relief bill caught up in last-minute state budget battle
In the latest vote, the House stripped the bill’s emergency status, meaning that the $60 million in funding wouldn’t be available for 90 days, delaying repairs to areas of Maine’s working waterfront that were damaged by winter storms.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Maine Legislature approves changes to yellow flag law, expanded background checks
The bill now requires second votes in both the House and Senate before it heads to Gov. Mills’ desk.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics
Maine lawmakers face Wednesday deadline to finish work
Many key bills, including the supplemental budget, remain on the table. But lawmakers don’t appear poised to call for a special session to give themselves more time.
Posted inHealth, Local & State, News
Maine’s former landfills are leaking forever chemicals
The state has so far found PFAS-contaminated drinking water supplies in 51 wells near former landfills, but no one will say which landfills are leaking.
Posted inLocal & State
Gorham man injured during head-on collision in Gray
The crash is still under investigation, but dispatchers say the man was driving with a suspended license.
Posted inNation & World
New federal limits on forever chemicals in drinking water are stricter than Maine’s
The Environmental Protection Agency released new limits Wednesday that are lower than Maine’s 3-year-old drinking water standards.