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What we're reading
— Maine hospitals are swamped with sicker patients who delayed care during the COVID-19 pandemic. One Northern Light Health doctor said at least 50 percent of her patients did not want to come in in the early pandemic because they feared catching the virus. Now, one in 10 remain hesitant.
— Reeling nursing homes are worried that promised wage subsidies will not make it into Mills' spending proposal before the end of the legislative session. Maine has taken steps to boost wages at homes struggling under staffing shortages, but the supplemental budget does not include money to raise the minimum wage for nursing home workers to around $16 through mid-2023.
— The abrupt departure of Bath Iron Works' president is the latest challenge for the shipyard recovering from a nine-week strike in 2020, production delays and hiring challenges. Dirk Lesko resigned after breaking a company rule, according to an industry watcher who said he had "great faith in BIW."
— Three superintendents have left their jobs in the Bangor area in recent weeks in an example of a national wave of departures that one national expert said he had not seen in 50 years in education. Declining COVID-19 case rates and the stress of pandemic decisions were among the cited reasons. |
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Follow along today
10 a.m. The House and Senate are in every day this week. The House could vote on bills that aim to largely ban sludge spreading on agricultural land linked to PFAS contamination across Maine and allow delivery purchases of adult-use marijuana. Watch here.
In the Senate, votes could come on a House-approved measure to phase out pesticides containing PFAS and a bill defeated in the House last week that would stop police from pulling people over for certain traffic infractions. Watch here.
10:30 a.m. Members of the Wabanaki Alliance will rally outside the State House in Augusta in support of the water bill.
12 p.m. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will be in Kennebunk with Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine's 1st District, to talk to school bus drivers about a national shortage and federal and state efforts to address it. After 2 p.m., the two will get a campus tour and talk with students at York County Community College in neighboring Wells.
3 p.m. The budget committee continues work on Mills' spending proposal. Watch here. |
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| 📷 Lead photo: Danaeh Neptune-Miliano fills up water jugs at a well in Robbinston in April 2020 as part of efforts to bring clean water to the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point. (Courtesy of Wabanaki Public Health) |
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