An outgoing representative who served on the legislature’s Judiciary Committee is taking the state’s criminal justice system to task, issuing a blistering complaint to the federal government and urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to place Maine’s system under review and supervision. Jeffrey Evangelos, an independent from Friendship who did not run for reelection to the…
Maine lawmakers passed a $1.2 billion supplemental budget on Tuesday with strong bipartisan support that makes new investments in child health care, forever chemical mitigation, tax credits, a free community college pilot program, and boosting retirement pensions. But a minority of progressives, joined by a few Republicans, voted against the budget package. They said policymakers…
Legislation that would create a commission to examine reestablishing parole in Maine is being held by Gov. Janet Mills in a move that the bill sponsor says could jeopardize the chance for a major reform of the state’s punitive criminal legal system. The measure, LD 842, sponsored by Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos (I-Friendship), would originally have…
In a decision that likely squashes the chances that the first Mainer in the state prison system to enter into a PhD program will be able to attend classes in-person, Gov. Janet Mills declined this week to grant a request for clemency by Brandon Brown, instead saying that Brown should submit his request to the…
Brandon Brown is not asking for a reward, he’s requesting an opportunity. Brown, who has been in the Maine prison system for over a decade, has set a series of firsts while on the inside. Last year, he became the first incarcerated person in Maine to earn a master’s degree, graduating with a stellar grade…
A coalition made up of conservationists, sportsmen, young people, women, faith groups and labor unions are standing in support of Wabanaki tribes in their effort to obtain the same rights that other tribes in the U.S. maintain over natural resources, gaming and taxation. “The Environmental Priorities Coalition, which consists of 32 organizations representing over 120,000…