In their rush to pass through the CARES Act, lawmakers failed to consider the consequences of bloated and prolonged unemployment benefits. Even in a pandemic, unemployment benefits set at a high level will deter workers from going back to their previous jobs.
Judith Meyer
Judith Meyer is executive editor of the Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal, the Morning Sentinel and the Western Maine weekly newspapers of the Sun Media Group. She serves as vice president of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition and is a member of the Right to Know Advisory Committee to the Legislature. A journalist since 1990 and former editorial page editor for the Sun Journal, she was named Maine’s Journalist of the Year in 2003. She serves on the New England Newspaper & Press Association Board of Directors and was the 2018 recipient of the Judith Vance Weld Brown Spirit of Journalism Award by the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. A fellow of the National Press Foundation and the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, she attended George Washington University, lives in Auburn with her husband, Phil, and is an active member of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.
Posted inOp-Eds
Counterpoint: Unemployment benefits should depend on the pandemic
The whole point of the $600 weekly supplement was to make it possible for people to not work. The idea was to give workers enough money to keep them more or less whole during a period in which they are not getting a paycheck.
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford county polling places
Andover: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Town Hall Auburn: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wards 1, 2 and 3 — Norway Savings Bank Arena, 985 Turner St.; Wards 4 and 5 — Auburn Hall, 60 Court St. Avon: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Community Room Bethel: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Bethel Legion Hall Bridgton: […]
Posted inBethel, Franklin, Maine, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Franklin and Oxford county polling places
Andover: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Town Hall Avon: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Community Room Bethel: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Bethel Legion Hall Bridgton: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Town Hall Buckfield: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Municipal Building Canton: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Town Office Carrabassett Valley: 8 a.m. to 8 […]
Posted inMaine
Polling places are open now in many towns, and things are different
Municipal clerks are required to adhere to the Secretary of State’s Office guidelines at the polls in connection to COVID-19 restrictions. The state’s directions can be found at www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/covid19.html. The state is supplying protective and sanitizing equipment for each voting place to protect election workers and voters. These materials include face coverings and gloves for […]
Posted inMaine, Maine Crime
Recording of 837 attorney-client phone calls ‘borders on the ridiculous’
In the last year, four county jails recorded hundreds of confidential phone calls involving 34 law firms and 161 defendants, according to a Pine Tree Watch investigation.
Posted inMaine
Breach of attorney-client privilege in Somerset County sparks outrage in Maine legal community
The coronavirus pandemic has stripped lawyers of the surest way to privately communicate with clients: face-to-face in a private room. Reliant on recorded phone lines and video conferencing systems, these attorney and client conversations are now at risk. And one just leaked.
Posted inMaine
Protected attorney-client calls released to prosecutors at least four times in Maine
While the state’s public defense agency continues to study the scope of the breach, the ACLU of Maine does not have plans to take legal or legislative action. A prominent attorney suggests that a broader investigation by the governor’s office or Maine Supreme Judicial Court may be necessary.
Posted inMaine, News, Oxford Hills
Four school districts forced to rescind next week’s school budget questions
Errors on warrants to consider school budgets were significant and would have shorted funding by millions of dollars in four school districts.
Posted inPolitics
Claxton of Auburn seeks reelection to Maine Senate
AUBURN — State Sen. Ned Claxton, D-Auburn, has announced he is seeking reelection in Senate District 20. Claxton was first elected to the Maine Senate in 2018, representing Auburn, Mechanic Falls, Minot, New Gloucester, and Poland. He serves as Senate chair of the State and Local Government Committee, and sits on the Health and Human […]