January 08, 2026
Libby Palanza is a reporter for the Maine Wire and a lifelong Mainer. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Government and History. She can be reached at [email protected].
Interview with Jerry Leeman: Today we bring you a story about a handful of fishermen rallying against a billion-dollar green industrial project, shady foreign corporations, and our own federal and state government. All are conspiring to generate a cash cow for…
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has released the final question wording for the voter ID citizens initiative introduced in Augusta after over 170,000 Mainers signed a petition in support of bringing this issue to the table. Led by Dinner Table Action Executive Dire…
Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) has sponsored a bill creating a pilot project to “promote, incentivize and support” the use of a four-day workweek by certain Maine businesses. This program would also aim to study the “benefits and effects” of a f…
The Maine State Legislature’s Housing and Economic Development Committee heard public testimony Tuesday on a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against someone “in housing or public accommodation” for receiving public assistance. Just a…
Maine’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program was the center of sustained attention Wednesday afternoon in Augusta as the legislature’s Labor Committee held a massive public hearing on a protracted series of bills seeking to either amend or repeal the pro…
Maine Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) has filed an emergency appeal of an April 19 ruling on her lawsuit against Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) for the denial of her rights following from her party-line censure earlier this year. That censure came after Lib…
Democrat lawmakers are looking to expand the use of ranked choice voting (RCV) to all Maine elections, including for the Governor, State Senate, and the State House of Representatives. If a new bill introduced this week is successful, it could change how these state off…
A bipartisan group of Maine lawmakers have introduced a bill aiming to increase the value of the state’s Property Tax Fairness Credit beginning in the 2025 tax year. When filing their annual tax returns, Maine homeowners may claim the Property Tax Fairness Credit, sub…
Yet another bill aiming to allow Maine municipalities to adopt a local option sales tax has been introduced in Augusta just days after the legislative committee that reviews tax proposals rejected a similar “revenue raiser” for towns and cities. Unlike the previous …
Maine lawmakers on the Taxation Committee have unanimously rejected three proposals to increase the state’s homestead exemption, a program designed to help lower the property tax bill on Mainers’ primary residences. While one of the now-defeated proposals would have…
Is federal Medicaid spending, which last year amounted to over $580 billion, a virtual sacred cow for which reform or cuts in spending are unthinkable? House Republicans in Congress have called for a ten year trimming of the Department of Health and Human Services’ bu…
A Maine GOP lawmaker is looking to establish a new special committee tasked with reviewing routine technical rulemaking by state agencies in the name of ensuring “transparency, accountability, and alignment with the public interest.” Under the Maine Administrative P…
Lawmakers on the Taxation Committee have unanimously rejected a Democrat-led bill that would have revitalized a now-defunct property tax stabilization for senior homeowners in Maine. LD 559 — sponsored by Sen. Donna Bailey (D-York) — would have allowed municipalitie…
Mainers weighed in Monday morning on a proposed amendment to Maine’s Constitution that would prohibit the governor from calling the Legislature into a special session within 90 days of adjournment. This, in effect, is intended prevent or deter the kind of parliamentar…
Maine’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee held a public hearing Monday morning for a proposal concerning Maine’s unique method of distributing its electoral votes that would essentially hitch its wagon to whatever Nebraska does. Maine and Nebraska are the only tw…
The distribution of Maine’s four presidential electoral votes was up for grabs in Augusta Monday morning, as lawmakers on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee held a public hearing on legislation related to Maine’s participation in the Electoral College. Two nea…
A Republican lawmaker is looking to legally abolish the controversial practice of introducing placeholder legislation, known as a “concept draft,” with the intention of swapping it out with the text of an actual bill later on down the road. Under the proposal introd…
A public hearing has now been set for a bill seeking to revitalize a now-defunct property tax stabilization program for seniors. On Tuesday, April 15 at 2pm in Room 127 of the State House, Mainers will have the opportunity to weigh in on the GOP-led proposal. Written te…
A group of Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would improve transparency in Maine’s program allowing students to attend a public school outside of their home district through what is known as a Superintendent Agreement. LD 1588, sponsored by Rep. Barbara…
As Congress fast-tracks the SAVE Act, which would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register, lawmakers in Maine are looking to remedy another challenge to election integrity by cutting down on the possibility of people being registered in more th…
In an effort to address the affordable housing crunch, the Maine State Housing Authority has awarded $23.5 million in Rural Affordable Rental Housing funding to build a combined 137 new rental apartment units across nine municipalities. All housing constructed under the…