Abraham Lincoln once famously said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government…
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Following its November 23 meeting, the Maine Revenue Forecasting Committee (RFC) upgraded the state’s General Fund revenue forecast. The RFC…
A federal district court judge found that Secretary of State Shenna Bellows violated free association rights of the Libertarian Party…
It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s fake on the internet these days. So when I stumbled on a…
The governors of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island withdrew their support from the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) last week, effectively…
On November 9, the Portland City Council’s Safety Committee voted to approve a sweeping ban on the sale of all…
Maine’s workforce conditions in October were little changed from September according to new data released by the Department of Labor…
On November 18, the Legislative Council met to consider appeals to legislative requests that were rejected at its October 25…
In a blow to Maine’s lobster fishermen, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reinstated a seasonal closure…
A question asking voters whether they want the legislature to direct a commission to study developing legislation that would create…
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on November 12 permanently blocked implementation of…
The fate of President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar social spending agenda, the “Build Back Better” plan, has consumed the political conversation in…
Politicians have been on a high over the last year-plus, wielding extraordinary power with the approval of voters fearful of…
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Department of Education (DOE) are currently accepting 30-second videos from…
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on November 10 released its final rule updating the immunization requirements…
The administration of Gov. Janet Mills announced on November 10 it will soon begin distributing “disaster relief payments” passed as…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on November 6 granted an emergency stay of the Occupational Safety…
With President Biden’s federal vaccine mandate and local government employment mandates looming, the future of countless workers is up in…
A recent analysis of the data in Maine CDC’s Health Care Worker COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard revealed that, while rates of…
Maine’s requirement that healthcare workers at designated healthcare facilities be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 went into enforcement on October 29.…
This past election day, Mainers faced two contentious statewide ballot questions, but many local initiatives faced the scrutiny of voters…
Reports across Maine over the last month have detailed the several healthcare facilities forced to curtail services because of staffing shortages.…
Early returns on November 2 proved to be indicative of the results for Maine’s three ballot questions, which were all…
The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal for injunctive relief on October 29 in a lawsuit seeking to overturn Maine’s…
We shouldn’t be too surprised that the ongoing exodus from public schools is leading those loyal to government-run schooling to…
Cigarette sales in the United States rose last year for the first time in two decades, according to data published by the Federal Trade…
Recent enrollment numbers released by the Maine Department of Education (DOE) show that the number of students who are being…
On October 25 the Legislative Council met to consider bill requests for the 130th Maine Legislature’s upcoming second session. The…
Gov. Janet Mills held a press conference on October 25 to announce funding for four programs intended to address Maine’s…
The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic will go down in American history as one of loss, economic suffering, and…
Maine’s unemployment rate remained largely unchanged between August and September. The unemployment rate ticked down slightly, from 4.9% in August…
Should government officials be allowed to choose which journalists report on them? Most Americans probably would say no, because the First…
It is now less than a month before voters will go to the polls and cast their votes on ballot…
For years, my son has leased land from Christian Camps in Jackman to tap trees for maple syrup, so I’m…
The Portland City Council voted unanimously on October 18 to change the city fee structure for licenses of amusement devices.…
A commission directed by the Maine Legislature to create a plan to incorporate the state’s probate courts into the judicial…
On October 16, a U.S. District Court judge blocked the implementation of a seasonal ban on lobster fishing in Maine…
Many parents pulled their children out of school last year for homeschooling and other private options, as schools remained shuttered…
As of October 7, there have been just under 3,000 reported cases of COVID-19 in Maine schools within the last…
The Maine Legislature’s Republican leadership sent a letter to their Democratic counterparts on October 12 urging them to reconvene the…
As one-size-fits-all COVID vaccine mandates sweep government, academia, and corporate America, new data are emerging that undermine the public health…
A new publication from Maine Policy Institute shows which municipalities in Maine allow public K-12 education funding to follow their…
As the date of enforcement for Gov. Janet Mills’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers approaches, hospitals and emergency medical…
The Legislative Council met on October 7 to discuss its legal response to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA)…
That darn First Amendment. This week, The Maine Wire learned that the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)…
Today, Maine Policy Institute released a new analysis on the scope of educational options available for Maine families based on…
On Monday, US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona touted new academic research to show that masks have been effective at reducing…
Since the world learned of a novel coronavirus emerging from Wuhan, China in December 2019, there has been no shortage…
At midnight on October 1, the position of state auditor will become vacant. Maine statute requires that the state auditor…
The pandemic was a test of America’s public health bureaucracy. It failed.
The Maine Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the state’s minimum wage will increase by 60 cents on January 1,…
The Maine Legislature convened on September 29 and approved new maps for federal congressional districts, state House of Representatives and…
Arcadia National Bar, an arcade-themed bar in Portland, has been closed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bar’s…
Hours ahead of its September 27 deadline, the Apportionment Commission met for the final time and approved new district maps…
President Biden and his progressives allies are advancing a historic $4.5+ trillion spending plan that would vastly expand the government’s…
In the wake of a devastating pandemic and the resulting economic consequences, the United States has incurred a considerable amount…
Maine’s Apportionment Commission voted to approve new district maps for Maine’s House of Representatives and congressional districts during its September…
Maine’s Legislative Council voted to reinstate its COVID-19 Prevention Policy, which requires face masks to be worn in the State…
On September 9th, President Joe Biden ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a federal agency tasked with regulating workplace safety,…
The Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee have sent a letter to the White House asserting that “the security…
According to the Maine Department of Labor’s (DOL) Center for Workforce Research and Information, the number of nonfarm payroll jobs…
Occupational licensing has already been called out for hobbling opportunity, impeding mobility, protecting established practitioners from competition, and for raising…
The Apportionment Commission held a public hearing on September 20 to hear public input on some of the district maps…
In May, the Treasury Department released the Biden administration’s revenue proposals for fiscal year 2022. One aspect of this document…
Note: I am teaching Environmental Policy this fall, for perhaps the last time. I first taught it more than 30…
On September 14, the Maine Legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources met and discussed the impact new rules recently released by…
Approximately 25 percent of jobs in the United States require some kind of occupational license. A condition on which many…
During a September 15 meeting of the legislature’s Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, Department of Education (DOE) Commissioner Pender…
The Apportionment Commission, which is responsible for using the 2020 census data to redraw Maine’s political districts, hopes to hold…
There are a growing number of legal challenges to Gov. Janet Mills’ requirement that healthcare workers receive the COVID-19 vaccine.…
This fall may be the biggest moment of truth for public education since the 1970s. After seeing enrollment in government-run…
The number of state legislators who have signed a letter calling for President Biden to reverse a recent decision that…
According to Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS) Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew, Maine healthcare workers will not be able to…
Maine’s lobstermen and women are under attack by the Biden Administration after a recent set of rule changes restricting seasonal lobster fishing in 950 square miles of…
Gov. Janet Mills’ administration recently announced it is awarding Maine hospitals and long-term care facilities $146 million to support workforce…
New federal regulations created to protect the endangered right whale will close off a nearly 1,000 square mile strip in…
It’s always frustrating to read about the many ways the federal government wastes our money, from millions spent putting lizards…
A newly published medical study found that infection from COVID-19 confers considerably longer-lasting and stronger protection against the Delta variant…
The ACLU on Tuesday announced it is bringing a lawsuit against South Carolina over its mask policy. The Palmetto State…
On August 12, Maine Governor Janet Mills issued an emergency rule change through the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)…
The future of the Shawmut Dam remains in question. Following a draft ruling that announced the Maine Department of Environmental…
Jennifer Bridges knew what was coming when her director at Houston Methodist hospital called her up in June to inquire…
Maine’s Apportionment Commission, which is responsible for using the 2020 census data to reapportion the state’s legislative and federal congressional…
Despite some improvements to Maine’s economy, the leisure and hospitality industries remain among the slowest to recover from the pandemic.…
Though the legislature failed to override Gov. Janet Mills’ veto of a bill that would have created a consumer-owned utility…
At the end of July, Governor Mills and the Maine CDC issued a recommendation that all K-12 students wear face…
A viral Instagram post claimed that COVID-19 is 99 percent survivable for most age groups—the elderly being an important exception. The post…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced a new vaccine requirement for healthcare workers on August 12, and it didn’t take long…
On August 12, Gov. Janet Mills announced that all Maine healthcare workers will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19…
Over a recent 12-day period the Milwaukee Brewers had nine players test positive for COVID-19. While we don’t know the…
During its August 11 meeting, the Government Oversight Committee (GOC) voted unanimously to endorse a report on the citizen initiative…
The Maine Department of Labor (DOL) announced on August 11 it is extending the deadline for its Back to Work…
According to estimates from the White House, Maine will receive just over $1.9 billion in funding from the Infrastructure Investment…
On August 6, the Maine Department of Labor (DOL) announced that approximately 7,400 unemployment claimants receiving federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance…
States are sovereign political entities. The United States Constitution lays out the powers relinquished by the several states and the people and loaned to the federal government…
Last week I received a letter from my children’s school district. “We will start the school year this fall -…
On August 4, a citizens’ petition that would put a question about the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) on the Massachusetts…
The Maine Department of Labor’s (DOL) Back-to-Work grant program will close applications on Friday, August 6. The program allows employers…
When former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap was sworn in as the state auditor on January 4, he did not…
On August 4, just days after allowing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium to expire…