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What we're reading
— LePage's campaign to regain his old seat in 2022 called the $500 relief checks proposed by Gov. Janet Mills a "campaign gimmick" from the Democratic incumbent even though they are a Republican idea. The implicit differences between LePage and his own party in the Legislature harken back to the former governor's 2015 tax overhaul bid that was dead on arrival, leading to a bad relationship between LePage and Senate Republicans. Democrats took over Augusta after the 2018 election.
— Maine's problem with "forever chemicals" is closely linked to the state's papermaking history and persists in part because landfills cannot contain all of the chemicals. November testing of liquid runoff from a landfill operated by Twin Rivers Paper Company in Madawaska showed the highest concentration of the toxic chemicals of any tested in Maine so far. It illustrates the pervasiveness of the emerging issue. Runoff is treated by wastewater utilities, chemicals end up back in landfills as sludge and the cycle starts again.
— The state is competing to be one of the top launch sites in North America for satellites the size of a loaf of bread that can be used for research by schools, universities and businesses. A NASA-funded group is pushing the Legislature to establish a quasi-state corporation to manage a spaceport with launch sites in Brunswick and Aroostook County. Federal regulators have approved 13 launch sites, but none are in New England with the closest in Nova Scotia. |
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Follow along today
10 a.m. The Legislature's housing committee will hold hearings on two affordable housing bills. Watch here.
The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will work on several bills that would change medical marijuana laws. Watch here.
11 a.m. Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and Sen. Ned Claxton, D-Auburn, will lead a virtual news conference to unveil bills aimed at expanding health care access in rural areas and use Canadian prices to set costs of certain prescription drugs on state health plans. |
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| 📷 Lead photo: New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu shows his receipt after placing the first legal sports wagering bet in the state on his mobile phone in Manchester, N.H. on Dec. 30, 2019. (AP Photo by Charles Krupa) |
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