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What we're reading
— A small gap in June primary turnout between Republicans and Democrats is one of many emerging signs that a wave election is not coming to Maine.
— The state blocked lawmakers from seeing confidential files on child death cases. Policymakers must now decide how to proceed in an election year.
— Businesses in Corinth began selling alcohol two months after voters ended the town's dry legacy.
— An Orono mother reached a $8 million deal with the federal government after a Brewer clinic failed to notify her of signs of abuse inflicted on her infant son.
— Here's why there are Maine townships named for defunct schools in Massachusetts. |
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| 📷 Former Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, talks about his consumer-owned utility proposal at the Belfast Rotary Club on Nov. 13, 2019. |
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Backers of a consumer-owned utility referendum say they are near their signature goal.
— Our Power, the group advocating for the public to buy out the infrastructure of Maine's two biggest utilities and put the system in control of an elected board, told supporters in a Monday email that it is 95 percent of the way toward meeting a goal of collecting 100,000 signatures for a 2023 referendum.
— Groups only need just over 63,000 valid signatures from Maine voters to make the ballot, but they generally build in large buffers to guard their efforts.
— CMP and allies are also trying to get a question on next year's ballot to force voter approval of the billions in borrowing needed to complete the consumer-owned utility. Proponents of the idea have tried to outmaneuver the utilities by adding a major condition for public approval to their proposed law.
The governor will face questions from a Bangor audience today.
— Gov. Janet Mills is the guest of the Bangor Rotary Club. The Democrat will take questions from members starting at noon for about an hour at Husson University.
— It is the third-to-last candidate appearance before the club. They have already hosted Mills' Republican opponent, former Gov. Paul LePage, and Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District. His Republican challenger, former Rep. Bruce Poliquin, is up one week from today and independent gubernatorial longshot Sam Hunkler ends the series Sept. 6. |
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