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What we're reading
— Two-time gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler has hired top Maine defense lawyer Walter McKee after state police searched Cutler's homes in Portland and Brooklin on Wednesday. Police have not said who is the subject of the investigation or what it is about. Neither Cutler nor anyone else has been charged with a crime.
— Before Madeleine Albright became U.S. secretary of state, she knocked doors on Munjoy Hill for Sen. Edmund Muskie, one of her first bosses. Read more from the BDN's Jessica Piper. She spoke to Charlie Micoleau, Muskie's former chief of staff, about his time working with Albright, who died Wednesday.
— Gov. Janet Mills and Maj. Gen. Douglas Farnham, Maine's adjutant general, said on Thursday they support an outside investigation of how the state National Guard investigates sexual harassment and assault. That announcement came a day before a legislative panel was set to hear a bill calling for a similar probe following a Bangor Daily News investigation exposing lax enforcement of policies and retaliation against soldiers who alleged abuse.
— Historic levels of migration to Maine offset stark demographic trends in 2021, leading to another year of population growth across urban and rural areas, according to census data released Thursday.
— Maine will cover COVID-19 tests and treatment for uninsured people after federal funding expires in early April. The state program will run through the end of a federal public health emergency, which is expected to last at least two more months and likely longer than that. |
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Follow along today
9 a.m. The health panel will hold a public hearing on an abortion-rights bill from Sen. Cathy Breen, D-Falmouth. Watch here.
A measure to regulate the use of biometric identifiers such as fingerprint and eye readings will be worked on by the judiciary panel. Watch here.
10 a.m. The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on a bill from House Majority Leader Michelle Dunphy, D-Old Town, that would make it easier for large outdoor venues to serve spirits. Later, it will hear the bill calling for an independent probe of the Maine National Guard. Watch here.
1 p.m. The appropriations committee will continue work on Mills' supplemental budget proposal after an initial round of unanimous votes on Wednesday. Watch here.
5 p.m. Mills will speak at the opening of an exhibit on Franco-American entrepreneurs at the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston campus. |
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| đź“· Lead photo: Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson meets with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) |
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