Election season has begun and if that had escaped your notice, just ask the person who delivers your mail. If you live in Hancock County, that mail sack is full of big, glossy postcards promoting local candidates for the Maine Senate. That would be Democrat Nicole Grohoski and Republican Brian Langley. One of them will …
Maine’s two major political parties have held their conventions, and there were no surprises. The platforms approved by the conventions reflect the current ideological contrasts between the parties. Neither one gave Maine voters much cause to reconsider their allegiance to one party or the other. Republicans met first, in late April. They brought a proposed …
On May 6, Governor Janet Mills announced she has “completed her review of bills enacted during the second session of the 130th Legislature.” That review led to five vetoes this spring, 27 for the entire two-year session. To date, none of her vetoes has been overturned. Her veto letters, which can be found on the …
By Jill Goldthwait The 130th Maine Legislature was all but done and dusted on April 25. All that is left is the postscript event known as Veto Day, when the Legislature must convene to consider whether to salvage any bills vetoed by the Governor or yield to her will and let them die. The Governor …
Last week we considered the growing distance between health-care providers and their patients, driven by increasing demands by payers for providers to account for every minute of their time and to increase their “outputs.” Those outputs revolve around you, shivering in your hospital gown in a chilly exam room, awaiting your 10 minutes of time …
What is it with health care these days that is so deeply unsatisfying? Though diagnosis and treatment get better and better, once you have made your way into the hands of a practitioner an experience that was once personal, even intimate, is now one frustration after another. Most providers are no longer willing to give …
In a recent news report about the state budget, a reporter opined that it is easier to pass a budget when the state has a lot of money. No. No it is not. In years when there is no money, no excess revenues, no unexpended balances, no bits and bobs here and there, legislators get …
Once upon a time, elementary school students received a grade on their report card for “using your free time to good advantage.” Since the advent of the cell phone, we all fail on that one, but back in the day a reflective 8-year-old might have pondered what “good advantage” meant. Doing homework? Tidying up your …
By Jill Goldthwait The Maine Legislature had barely reinhabited the State House when a first-floor flood shut the place down again for almost a week. Now legislators are back, trying to make progress toward adjourning by the statutory date of April 20. Last Thursday was just the eighth “legislative day” of the second and final …
As of March 15, the list of party candidates for the June primary elections is finalized. Much of it went as expected in Hancock County, and at the state and federal levels as well. Yet some general election fun is promised by “open” seats, meaning those without an incumbent running. Neither of Maine’s U.S. senators, …
By Jill Goldthwait Hancock County towns are different in many ways. They are coastal and inland, with populations ranging from over 8,000 to just a few dozen. Ellsworth has a city center that serves the whole county, while other municipalities have almost no commercial activity. But many towns share the same problem: Housing. Back in …
Hancock County legislative races are taking shape, and despite no one on the House side being term-limited, there are some interesting contests emerging. Redistricting has scrambled the roster of who has which towns, so incumbents will have some new towns in which to campaign. The Hancock County House delegation is mid-life, legislatively speaking. Of the …
