As the Trump Administration continues its efforts to fund huge billionaire tax cuts by raising the cost of living and making it harder for Americans to access health care, housing, food assistance and education, Mainers, including some with very high incomes, are calling for the state’s wealthiest residents to pay what they truly owe our…
This year, Portland is guaranteed to turn over a third of its city council seats due to retirements. For context, that is the equivalent of the U.S. Congress turning over 143 members. You may think I am being dramatic, but in the last decade, this has only happened twice, 2015 and 2021. The consequence of…
Maine lawmakers are learning about cities and states across the country that have taken matters into their own hands by becoming public housing developers. The need to ramp up affordable housing development to make up for decades of underproduction comes as the latest estimates show that Maine needs to build up to 84,000 additional housing…
Lawmakers will be pressed to find solutions to Maine’s deepening housing crisis when a new legislative session begins early next year, after polling from last summer found that the lack of housing is the top issue for Mainers. The major proposals they’ll be looking at in this session are rent relief and creating an alternative…
Amid increasing pressure to address Maine’s lax gun laws following last week’s mass shooting in Lewiston that claimed 18 lives and injured 13, what Maine lawmakers will be able to accomplish in the coming months will largely swing on what Gov. Janet Mills, her veto pen, and her behind-the-scenes influence will allow. At a press…
Candidates running for the Bangor City Council condemned a partial sweep of an encampment of unhoused residents in Bangor on Friday, saying it created confusion and sowed distrust in the vulnerable community. “It was really confusing about who exactly was getting evicted,” said Morgan Pottle Urquhart, a candidate running for city council. “A lot of…
Some state lawmakers say new polling that finds the lack of housing as the top issue for Mainers underscores the need for bold action in Augusta that addresses the housing crisis at its roots. According to a poll released Monday by the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center, Mainers believe housing is the most important…
Prior to this year’s legislative session, there was hope among advocates and tenants that with a Democratic governing majority, lawmakers would take significant action to help alleviate Maine’s dire affordable housing crisis. With the session wrapping up, housing policy experts, Mainers struggling to find shelter, and lawmakers themselves say the legislature and Gov. Janet Mills…
The top legislative priority for the recovery community this session as the state’s grim toll of overdose deaths continued to mount was a bill to permit harm reduction health centers, also known as safe injection sites, where people can use previously obtained drugs under medical supervision. Proponents say such facilities are one piece of an…
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…