AUGUSTA – Maine’s Board of Pharmacy on Thursday approved amended rules that would allow pharmacists to dispense the opiate overdose reversal drug naloxone without a prescription but only to individuals age 21 or older. In an apparent compromise struck with Gov. Paul LePage, the board voted early Thursday to increase the age from 18 to […]
Paul LePage
Paul LePage says drilling off Maine coast would lower prices
AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage says drilling for oil in waters off the state’s coast could increase energy independence and provide more heating oil for Mainers. LePage in a Maine Public interview on Tuesday said the state has recently weathered a cold snap and severe shortages in petroleum products. President Donald Trump’s […]
LePage says he doesn't know anything about the Maine Examiner
The online Maine Examiner, which is in the middle of a political spat between Democrats and Republicans, remains a mystery to Gov. Paul LePage. During an interview with Maine Public’s “Maine Calling” radio show Tuesday, the governor denied any knowledge of the conservative-oriented website at the center of an ethics complaint filed by the Maine […]
Waterville mom devastated after ICE officers took her husband away
WATERVILLE — Mindy Saint Martin finds herself crying frequently, but she tries not to when her children, Donovan, 5, and Marcus, 2, are present. “I cry a lot every day — when I go to bed, I cry when I’m in the shower, I cry if I go to the bathroom, but I try not […]
Paul LePage says long-delayed opioid antidote rules don’t need his OK
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage said Monday he is opposed to a new law that allows pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription because it gives people as young as 18 access to the overdose antidote. LePage also told a New England Cable News reporter that rules for the new law developed by the Maine […]
Maine falls behind other states in efforts to prevent overdose deaths
AUGUSTA — In New Hampshire, an online map locates scores of pharmacies where anyone can buy an over-the-counter dose of naloxone, a medication that saves lives by reversing the effects of an opioid overdose. In Utah, the state health director issued a standing order authorizing any pharmacist to dispense naloxone. In North Carolina, the Republican […]
Paul LePage wins battle in fight over workforce development funding
Gov. Paul LePage won a longstanding battle Friday when the Maine State Workforce Board supported his plan requiring regional workforce agencies to devote 70 percent of federal funds to job training or lose a portion of their funding. The vote supersedes a compromise the board reached in December that set a goal of spending 45 […]
Paul LePage blocks new wind energy permits
AUGUSTA – Gov. Paul LePage imposed a moratorium on new wind energy permits in Maine on Wednesday while establishing a commission that will meet behind closed doors to study the economic impacts of wind turbines on the state’s tourism industry. LePage, a long-time critic of wind energy, issued an executive order creating the Maine Wind […]
Critics decry Paul LePage’s choice of Nestle Waters executive Mark Dubois for environmental board
Mark Dubois, a geologist and natural resource manager for Poland Spring, said this week the company is ready to start looking for the site of its fourth bottling plant in Maine along with two new springs, increasing capacity by about 50 percent of what the company bottled last year. AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has […]
Marijuana sales bill faces challenges
A bill that would extend the adult-use marijuana sales moratorium until the end of the legislative session is not sitting well with House Republicans or Gov. Paul LePage. House Minority Leader Ken Fredette said Tuesday he and LePage want to continue the moratorium that has stalled the launch of Maine’s recreational market until January 2019. […]