State lawmakers this session outlawed single-use plastic grocery bags, polystyrene food containers, and so-called forever chemicals in food packaging. They prohibited schools from using Indian mascots, motorists from using handheld cellphones and schoolchildren from vaping. They decided minors can’t use tanning beds or be subjected to therapy that seeks to change sexual orientation.  For the 2019 Maine Legislature, it was the year of the ban.  There were […]

AUGUSTA — Maine aims to improve how the state tracks investigations into educators accused of wrongdoing under a new law signed this week.  Lawmakers passed the legislation to fix a rushed 2018 law the state’s largest teachers union claimed didn’t protect educators with teaching credentials who are falsely accused of misconduct. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills […]

Mt Ararat High School and Region 10 Technical High School in Brunswick are partnering to offer the Region 10 Pre-Engineering Program at Mt Ararat High School starting in September. The program will be taught by pre-engineering instructor Nick Charles, a professional engineer with industry experience in ship systems design.   The year-long course is based on Project […]

AUGUSTA — Thousands fewer Mainers than projected have signed up for Medicaid in the first six months of a statewide expansion of the program.  Enrollment projections had ranged from 50,000 by mid-2019 to 70,000 new Medicaid recipients. But so far, just over 26,000 Mainers are currently enrolled under the expansion, according to Department of Health […]

FREEPORT (AP) — The last of seven meetings between fishery regulators and Maine lobstermen about protecting endangered whales is scheduled to take place along the state’s coast.  The Maine Department of Marine Resources is holding the meeting with lobstermen in Freeport on Thursday. It’s the last of a series of meetings recently between the department and […]