Stories
E-bikes are getting more Mainers out of their cars — and could help the state meet its climate goals
It’s 5:15 a.m., and the sky is just starting to lighten in the east as Becki Morin rolls her electric bicycle out of her garage in Falmouth, Maine. Morin lives about six miles from Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she’s a nurse practitioner. She says she used to ride a conventional bike to work…
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On a recent morning in downtown Portland, a woman named Vitoria was waiting at a bus stop on Congress Street. Vitoria is an asylum-seeker from Angola, who arrived in Maine just a few weeks ago with her husband and two young children. On this day, she was trying to find her way to one of…
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The federal government has designated the deaths of nearly 160 seals since the start of June as an “unusual mortality event” along Maine’s coast. An investigation is now underway to determine the cause, the impact and the environmental factors surrounding it. The highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in a large number of the…
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The sun is barely above the treeline as Chris Shea welcomes about 80 kids to a summer camp organized by the YMCA of Auburn-Lewiston on a recent weekday morning, his voice bellowing through the trees. Each day, the campers scatter across 93 acres of woods and fields, with enough space for all of the classic summer camp…
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday issued a ruling limiting the federal government’s authority to regulate the greenhouse gases that drive climate change. The decision was roundly criticized by Maine’s environmental community, state and federal officials and representatives of some Maine businesses. The case deals with a set of regulations from the Obama administration, known…
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The U.S. Justice Department is launching an effort to combat health care providers who illegally prescribe or distribute opioids across Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. The newly created New England Prescription Opioid Strike Force, or NEPO, comes as overdoses in the region are on the rise, including in New Hampshire, where prosecutors say there has…
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New research suggests that disease-carrying deer ticks can survive the deep cold of Maine’s winter in the right conditions — even in far northern Maine. The findings come from a study at the University of Maine, where researchers compared tick winter survival rates at sites across the state. The study found that in areas with insulating…
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The Supreme Court decision overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on Friday will have little to no immediate impact on access to abortions in Maine. But abortion rights advocates fear — and abortion opponents hope — that could change if the political winds shift in the state, potentially as early as this November. By…
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Updated June 22, 2022 at 5:56 PM ET Residents in the town of Millinocket, Maine, say they are outraged and disappointed after a local insurance agency displayed a racist sign remarking on the Juneteenth holiday. Progressive and Allstate are terminating their relationships with the agency, according to representatives of the insurance companies. “Juneteenth ~it’s whatever……
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Last year, President Joe Biden announced plans to start leasing areas of the Gulf of Maine to offshore wind energy developers by 2024. On Thursday, May 18, the federal Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management convened a task force of officials from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and tribal governments to consider the next phase in the…
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