AUGUSTA — The Maine State Employees Association has confirmed that more than a dozen state employees recently received layoff notices. According to Ramona Welton, president of the union that represents most state workers, layoff notices were given to 10 Department of Health and Human Services employees on Tuesday of this week with end dates of […]
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Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
DHHS bans big lottery winners from receiving food stamps
AUGUSTA — Maine gambling winners will be banned from receiving food stamps according to a new Department of Health and Human Services rule. DHHS has been mulling the rule change since 2015, when the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting revealed that nearly 3,700 public assistance recipients won $22 million in lottery prizes since 2010, a […]
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Posted inFranklin
DHHS official pleads not guilty to OUI
FARMINGTON — The attorney for an associate director for the Maine Office of Substance Abuse accused of driving drunk has entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf in a Franklin County court. A Franklin County sheriff’s deputy arrested Joan Smyrski, 62, of Jefferson on Sept. 25 on a misdemeanor count of operating under […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine Equal Justice Partners questions new Maine welfare-to-work rules
AUGUSTA — The state’s efforts to revise Maine’s welfare-to-work rules are drawing critique from a legal aid group. Maine Equal Justice Partners said some of the rules proposed by the state Department of Health and Human Services conflict with state and federal law. The group is urging the state to continue allowing cash benefits recipients […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
DHHS substance abuse official charged with OUI
An associate director for the state’s Office of Substance Abuse was arrested Sunday on a charge of driving under the influence. Joan Smyrski, 62, of Jefferson, was arrested Sunday evening on Rangeley Road in the Franklin County town of Avon. Franklin County Chief Deputy Steven Lowell said his office had received a complaint around 7 […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine reverses transfer of grant funds to comply with federal law
The LePage administration has reversed a $7.8 million transfer of grant funds that ran afoul of federal law, after the BDN reported on the spending of federal welfare assistance dollars in June. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services used the funds in 2015 to pay for services for seniors and residents with disabilities […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine proposal would require welfare recipients to accept job offers
AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration is proposing a requirement that welfare recipients accept job offers as long as they pay minimum wage or more. The propose requirement of job training participants is in line with approaches in other states including California and Pennsylvania. The rule would also give welfare recipients more money for […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Gov. Paul LePage plans to privatize Maine’s welfare programs
AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage wants to turn over the administration of Maine’s $62.5 million welfare program to a New York City-based nonprofit that’s faced a dozen state and federal lawsuits since 2013. Fedcap Rehabilitation Services acknowledges its recent litigation in its bid proposal to Maine officials while also describing its accomplishments. Since 2013, […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine rejects federal funds to help youth with mental illness
In 2014, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services won a $1 million-per-year, five-year grant to help teenagers and young adults at risk for serious mental illness. But without explanation, the department recently turned away the remaining three years of federal funding, giving providers a month to wrap up services. For more than a […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine denies medical marijuana as an addiction therapy
PORTLAND — The state says the science just isn’t there to allow opiate addiction to be treated with medical marijuana. Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services has denied a petition brought forward this spring by Dawson Julia, who runs a medical marijuana caregiver business in Unity. In its denial, the agency said though animal […]