AUGUSTA — The ink had barely dried on her inauguration papers in early January when Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, began shifting state government in a far different direction than that taken by her Republican predecessor, Paul LePage.  Working with her Democratic allies in the Legislature, Mills embraced a Medicaid expansion that LePage had blocked […]

TOPSHAM — A bill being weighed at committee would direct the Maine Department of Transportation to finish a 25-mile trail linking Augusta to Brunswick and Bath, but the push faces steep obstacles, given the state’s more pressing infrastructure needs. The Merrymeeting Trail project, in the works for more than a decade, had come to a […]

BRUNSWICK —  Midcoast Humane will host its 17th annual Plant Sale to raise money for shelter animals on Saturday, May 18, 2019. The sale will be held at 190 Pleasant St. from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The sale features annuals, vegetables, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, bulbs, seeds, trees, decorative pots and other items. All proceeds from the […]

AUGUSTA — A Maine Democrat has proposed to boost reimbursement to hospitals in the largely rural state while encouraging them to help pay off their employees’ student loans.  Senate President Troy Jackson urged lawmakers to support his legislation at a public hearing Friday.  “In rural Maine, hospitals are struggling to keep the doors open,” Jackson said.  […]

BRUNSWICK — There’s a tough financial reality for recycling programs across the country: earning less on the sale of materials and paying more to process what residents put in their recycling bins.   Brunswick isn’t immune to the national trend.  Town Manager John Eldridge’s municipal budget proposal would change the way the town’s recyclables are processed […]

PORTLAND — Maine’s seaweed business has grown like a weed in recent years, with proponents touting it as both a “superfood” and an economic generator for the rural state — but the industry is now facing sticky new restrictions.  Maine has a long tradition of seaweed harvesting, in which the algae is gathered for a […]