Author: Evan Popp
Evan Popp studied journalism at Ithaca College and interned at the Progressive magazine, ThinkProgress and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He then worked for the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper before joining Beacon. Evan can be reached at evan(at)mainebeacon.com.
As part of a truth-telling initiative that seeks to illuminate the issue of land claims and the 1980 Settlement Act as well as celebrate the resilience of Indigenous communities, the group Wabanaki REACH has partnered with a Maine-based theater organization to create a play developed by and for Wabanaki people. The play, titled where the…
A new report shows that a recently-introduced bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2028 would provide a boost in pay for over 100,000 Mainers around the state if passed. The bill, dubbed the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, was introduced last month by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont…
More than 80 Mainers rallied in front of the State House on Saturday to emphasize the importance of love and inclusivity following a protest held by neo-Nazis earlier this month in Augusta. Leaders of the event on Saturday, which was titled “Love is Louder” and was held on World Humanitarian Day, said they were spurred…
Advocates in Maine and around the country are urging that 100% of the funds from a $50 billion national opioid settlement be invested in evidence-based solutions shown to reduce overdose deaths and provide effective treatment for substance use disorder. That $50 billion sum is from a settlement with companies that produced or sold opioids —…
A judge in Montana this week ruled in favor of a group of youth activists who argued in a lawsuit that the state failed to consider the climate impacts of approving fossil fuel initiatives — a landmark legal decision based on a provision in the state’s constitution providing residents with the right to a healthy…
Activists with Maine People’s Alliance on Wednesday delivered cakes to the offices of Sen. Angus King and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden to mark the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act and to thank those members of Maine’s congressional delegation for backing the landmark bill. The IRA was signed into law by President…
In the summer of 2021, Gov. Janet Mills signed what was viewed as a landmark environmental bill, approving a measure that made Maine the first state to commit through legislation to divestment from fossil fuel companies. Now, though, over two years since that bill was passed, climate advocates are still struggling to get the legislation…
The Maine Department of Labor said earlier this week that in the second quarter of 2023, it has continued to see “an upward trend” in the number of labor violations involving youth workers. That report comes as the department also shared that there were more injury claims filed for workers ages 14 to 17 in…
A new initiative that seeks to end homelessness among Maine veterans by June of 2025 kicked off Friday with a panel discussion in Portland featuring Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, Sen. Angus King, Rep. Chellie Pingree and others. The project has an initial goal of housing 100 homeless veterans in the next 100 days before…
Dinner Table Action, a local conservative group with ties to politicians who have boosted former President Donald Trump’s false claims about election fraud and pushed conspiracy theories about the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, has received over $1,000 in the last year and a half from a former Republican state Senate candidate in Maine facing accusations…