Author: Cara DeRose
Cara DeRose is a staff writer for Beacon. A graduate of the University of Southern Maine, she served as writer and copy editor for the USM Free Press and interned at the Portland Press Herald.
Barbara Lawson joined a national, virtual press conference with health care advocates and federal lawmakers from her home in Hollis on Wednesday, to demand any potential drugs to treat COVID-19 are affordably priced. She asked Congress to crack down on attempts from big pharmaceutical companies to profiteer off of these drugs. Lawson, who lives with…
Although Republican Sen. Susan Collins announced in March that she would “pause” most campaign activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the senator’s campaign is continuing to send fundraising emails, air campaign ads and attack her main Democratic rival, Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon. “Our nation’s leaders must be focused on confronting the problems we face, not…
Democratic Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree say they support including safeguards against vaccine and treatment profiteering in future COVID-19 relief legislation. There is a currently a proposal for legislation to require fair prices for all COVID-19 drugs or vaccines developed with taxpayer funds, require that no drug company be granted exclusivity for any COVID-19…
During a virtual forum on Wednesday, more than a dozen Maine small business owners and economic experts discussed frustrations with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the need to close loopholes that have allowed large corporations to siphon money intended for small businesses. “We’re not complaining about the effort to help, but it’s not a…
Although physical rallies are cancelled, Maine climate change activists are taking their movement online for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Partnering with the Maine chapter of the Sunrise Movement and Maine Youth for Climate Justice, Maine Climate Strikes is hosting a three-day Earth Week online mobilization meant to highlight how the “systems of oppression”…
Over one month since declaring a civil emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Janet Mills announced Thursday that she has signed an executive order suspending most evictions in the state and unveiled a rent relief program that could provide one-time payments of up to $500. Anti-poverty advocates who have been calling for such measures…
On March 31, Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan voted to uphold a temporary Texas abortion ban that suspends most abortions from being performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision comes almost two years after Sen. Susan Collins cast the deciding vote to appoint Duncan to the court — despite his record of hostility towards abortion…
For Jason Trahan, a 43-year-old Lewiston resident in recovery from substance use, living in physical isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic is both a comfort and a challenge. “I can deal with this isolation, because I used to love isolation,” he told Beacon. But this tendency is very much tied to Trahan’s past substance use, when…
Housing advocates are delivering a virtual petition to Governor Janet Mills on Tuesday calling on her to issue an executive order freezing rent and mortgage payments and banning evictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 1,800 people have signed the petition since its launch in late March, with many Maine landlords and renters sharing concerns of…
On April 3, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially recommended that people venturing out into group settings, like grocery stores or public transit, begin wearing a cloth mask or face covering while continuing to practice physical distancing. This has led many to wonder about the potential benefits of wearing a mask…