Beacon - Maine Beacon
WEB6 days ago · This week on the podcast, Ben and Cate discuss the new Pan Atlantic poll showing some interesting results across the state. They also dig into expenditure reports and online ad archives to give a sense of the hard-fought battle for …
Efforts to address racism in Maine schools turn to private town ...
WEBJan 27, 2021 · When Esther Kempthorne, a naturalized immigrant from Mexico and a Spanish teacher, submitted her resignation from Washington Academy in East Machias last July, she wrote to that administration that it was because discussions about racism were deemed too political at the private town academy. The decision to resign came several weeks after Esther and her
Maine law enforcement is keeping drug bust money meant for …
WEBOct 26, 2018 · A state law intended to curb police corruption in Maine is apparently going unheeded, according to a Beacon investigation into asset forfeiture. When cash or assets connected to a drug crime are seized by police in Maine, those funds are required by state law to be deposited in the general fund. That statute has been
Advocates praise increase to state minimum wage, call for further …
WEBJan 3, 2022 · On Jan. 1, Maine’s minimum wage increased from $12.15 an hour to $12.75 an hour and the tipped minimum wage went from $6.08 to $6.38. That rise — the result of a 2016 referendum that gradually upped the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 and tied the wage to the cost of living thereafter — will provide a boost to low-income earners and stimulate local economies, workers and advocates argue.
What’s on the November ballot in Maine — and what it means
WEBAug 1, 2023 · Maine’s November ballot will be busy, with eight measures for voters to consider, including a high-profile question about whether to replace the state’s embattled investor-owned utility companies, Central Maine Power and Versant, with a consumer-owned model. Last week, the Secretary of State’s Office released the order of referendum questions that Mainers will weigh in November,
As Maine finally funds 55% of education, it’s also time to tax the rich
WEBMay 19, 2021 · In 2004, as Outkast's "Hey Ya!" played on the radio and The Notebook played in theaters, 55% of Maine voters went to the polls and voted in favor of a referendum requiring the state to fund 55% of the cost of local education. This was the second of two votes on the issue. The year
Maine is nation’s whitest, most rural state that doesn’t vote ...
WEBAug 27, 2019 · Maine tops a list of just seven states where demographics have not yet become a reliable predictor of whether voters will break towards Democrats or Republicans in national elections.. Maine, which has a higher share than average of white, rural voters without a college education, should vote much redder, suggests a study of …
Maine Dems form union amid growing push for labor rights at …
WEBJan 11, 2022 · Permanent staff at the Maine Democratic Party will have union representation for the first time after negotiations recently finished and workers gave approval for an initial contract. Party staff will be represented by IBEW Local 1837, according to a Tuesday news release. “We’re all really …
‘We have the chance to do better:’ Lawmakers hear bills to include ...
WEBApr 8, 2021 · Two bills that advocates argue would right the historical wrong of farmworkers being excluded from labor protections were brought before the Maine Legislature on Wednesday, with those in favor urging lawmakers to provide agricultural workers with the same safeguards enjoyed by other workers. One of those bills, LD 151, would allow farmworkers in Maine to
Opinion: Big box retailers trying to skimp Maine towns to get out …
WEBFeb 7, 2022 · The services, infrastructure, and amenities funded by property taxes increase our quality of life and help businesses succeed. But large, multi-national big-box retailers are increasingly turning to “dark store theory,” a dubious tax scheme to manipulate the system and get out of paying what they should. In …