AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage says the key to economic prosperity is to allow private businesses a chance to succeed. In his weekly radio address Saturday, LePage says he has heard from hundreds of business leaders at job creation workshops held this fall. LePage says business leaders are telling him the state […]
Paul LePage
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Oil dealers urge LePage not to pick ‘winners and losers’ in setting energy policy
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage’s plans to reduce Mainers’ reliance on heating oil and expand natural gas is creating push-back from the state’s consortium of oil dealers. The Maine Energy Marketers Association, formerly known as the Maine Oil Dealers Association, recently met with the governor to discuss his suggestion that the state could back natural […]
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LePage reiterates education overhaul to improve business growth
AUBURN — Gov. Paul LePage’s third and final job-creation forum continued a familiar refrain at Central Maine Community College on Thursday: Maine businesses have jobs. What they don’t have is qualified applicants. The governor also expounded on his remarks from a previous forum during which he suggested that municipalities with strict regulations on business could […]
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Incoming Auburn mayor questions exclusion of city officials from jobs forum
AUBURN — The newly elected mayor of Auburn is calling out the LePage administration for excluding him and other city officials from Thursday’s job creation forum at Central Maine Community College. Jonathan LaBonte, elected Nov. 8, originally believed that LePage shut him out of the forum because LaBonte, a Republican, last year publicly supported independent […]
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$11.3 million raised for Maine community colleges
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Campaign for Maine’s Community Colleges says $11.3 million has been raised by the private sector to support the state’s seven community colleges. Monday’s announcement marked the end of the first phase of the campaign, which began in early 2010 and sought to raise a minimum of $10 million. The […]
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After Maine vote, focus shifts to voter ID bill
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Now that Maine voters have made clear their support for same-day voter registration, the focus shifts to another hot election-related proposal that will come up during the 2012 legislative session: voter ID. The bill requiring voters to show photo identification in order to cast ballots comes up after voters rejected by […]
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Mayor: Lewiston betrayed by native son, LePage
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — When he was a kid, Maine’s governor spent time on the streets, homeless, not far from the spot where folks in Lewiston wanted to build a casino. Following the casino’s rejection on Tuesday’s statewide ballot, some in the former mill city feel betrayed by their native son, Gov. Paul LePage. Lewiston […]
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Maine clean elections on the precipice: Program has flaws, but what happens without it?
Last year, John Nutting, a Leeds Democrat, eyed a fourth consecutive term in the state Senate. Nutting, who had used Maine’s publicly financed clean elections campaign system in 2008 and 2006, decided in 2010 to run as a traditional, privately financed candidate. Strategists in the Maine Republican Party immediately took note. In their view, Nutting’s […]
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LePage wants drug tests for those on welfare
JAY, Maine (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage says he will propose a bill in January to require random drug testing for welfare recipients The Legislature added provisions in the budget this year that allow the state to test those who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds if they have a prior felony conviction. […]