The proposal would make asylum applicants wait 1 year before they could apply for work permits, a move that critics say could affect hundreds of new arrivals in Maine and add to the burden on taxpayers.
Scott Thistle
Scott Thistle is the State House reporter for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. He has covered politics and government in Maine since 2006. Prior to that he served as the State House reporter for the Duluth News Tribune in Duluth, Minnesota. A Maine native, Thistle has worked in journalism since 1990, when he got his start at a weekly newspaper in rural Oxford County, Maine. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and an active volunteer with the National Ski Patrol. He resides with his wife, Amy and his two sons Finn and Kai, in Auburn, Maine.
Posted inBusiness, Maine, News, Politics
Advocates highlight high stakes for some Maine immigrants in Supreme Court case
Elected officials and business, religious and educational leaders are warning that nearly 150 Mainers could be deported if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
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Posted inMaine, News, Politics, Uncategorized
Maine lawmakers eye ways to boost their own pay
The state’s citizen legislators are among the lowest paid in the nation, but a special commission has been looking into how that might be changed.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Libertarians sue Maine secretary of state for decertifying their party
The party failed to turn out 10,000 voters in the 2018 election, the minimum for party status under state law.
Posted inMaine, Maine Crime, News
As jails run in the red, Maine lawmakers look to reduce inmate populations
A legislative committee is considering ways to reduce jail populations and increase the likelihood that inmates will find stability and support when they are released.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
PAC that Sara Gideon ran is fined $500 for campaign finance violations in 2016
Gideon, Maine’s House speaker and a 2020 challenger to Sen. Susan Collins, had previously admitted to the violations, but Republicans draw attention to the complaint in a new ad.
Posted inNews
Health care, education likely to dominate legislative debates at State House
Democrats, who control both chambers of the Legislature, tout the lineup of bills accepted for consideration.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Legislative leaders reject latest round of Maine gun-control measures
The Maine chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America faults top lawmakers for not allowing consideration of any of the 7 bills in the session that begins in January.
Posted inBusiness, Maine, News
About 300,000 Maine homeowners will get $100 each in property tax relief
Mainers who pay property taxes and are eligible for the state’s Homestead Exemption program can expect to get checks for roughly $100 by January or February.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Opponents of new vaccine law will get their shot at overturning it at the polls
Maine’s secretary of state has certified the voter signatures on a petition that calls for voters to decide on the law ending religious and philosophical exemptions for childhood vaccines.