This week, Beacon reporter Dan Neumann joins Ben and Esther to discuss the results of the independent commission regarding the shooting in Lewiston, specifically the finding that the police force and military could have done more. They talk about gun safety in the state legislature, and what real change might look like. Also, it’s the…
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 —…
Beacon reporter Evan Popp contributed reporting to this story. Members of Maine’s recovery community expressed disappointment after a handful of Democrats in the Maine Senate joined with most Republicans to vote down a bill Tuesday that would have allowed municipalities to open harm reduction health centers, also known as safe injection sites, a proven tool to…
Last month, Minnesota became the second state in the country to permit harm reduction health centers, also known as safe injection sites. In Maine, recovery advocates are calling on state lawmakers to follow Minnesota’s lead and save lives by allowing harm reduction health centers to be established here. The legislation in Minnesota makes that state…
In an effort to save lives amid Maine’s worsening overdose epidemic, a legislative committee earlier this week recommended passage of a bill to allow cities and towns to establish harm reduction health centers, which are sites where people can administer previously obtained drugs under medical supervision. The bill, LD 1364, sponsored by Rep. Grayson Lookner…
In response to the state’s dire affordable housing crisis, advocates urged lawmakers Monday to pass a bill to stabilize rent prices and reform tenant termination laws along with a measure to prevent landlords from using a criminal record to deny housing to someone at the beginning of an application process. The measures — part of…
The Maine State Prison and Wake Forest University debate teams faced off on Tuesday afternoon to discuss whether the United States should abolish life sentences without the option for parole. For the Mainers, who won the debate, this is a particularly relevant topic as they are incarcerated in a state that does not currently have…
Despite constant warnings from so many that guns are simply too numerous and accessible in Maine for us to avoid the tragedies so many states in America experience, Maine just had its 10th mass shooting since 2011. A lone gunman, another troubled young white male, has been charged with shooting seven people on Tuesday, killing…
A judge last week ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to search for and release documents related to its detention practices in Maine and a planned facility in Scarborough, ruling that ICE acted unreasonably in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for such records. At the beginning of 2021, the ACLU of Maine,…
Members of Maine’s recovery community gathered at the State House on Thursday to urge lawmakers to take a different approach to substance use policy by decriminalizing personal possession of drugs and investing in treatment rather than doubling down on punitive measures that have been consistently ineffective. To reinforce that point, advocates held a presentation Thursday…