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What we're reading
— Obscure state rule changes have veterans clubs and others reliant on pull-tab gaming fearing for their financial future. At one Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Portland, the games make up the bulk of revenue. State regulators say the changes came in response to reports that clubs were skewing game odds and the changes are being examined again.
— Portland is looking for a new city manager while it considers changes that would downgrade the responsibilities of that job. The city's charter commission voted in March a create an stronger executive mayor in the city. While some type of manager would still work under the mayor's supervision, the changes come at a time when filling other city roles has been difficult.
— Economists, including two tied to former President Donald Trump, gave Maine's pandemic response an A grade in a study. They said the state was able to keep deaths low and limit economic harm, putting Maine among the top eight states. It was the only one with a Democratic governor to score that high.
— A first-in-the-nation ban on sludge spreading linked to PFAS contamination advanced in the Maine House of Representatives on Monday. The measure was backed by Democrats and advocates who cited the need to move quickly to fight forever chemicals, while Republicans thought the measure went too far.
— A Bangor student who once had her braids cut by a teacher and has faced racist comments about her hair is part of a push in Augusta to make hair discrimination illegal. Arianna DeJesus, a high school senior who is Black, testified in favor of a measure that is one vote away from going to Gov. Janet Mills' desk that would follow Maryland and other states in adding the new category to anti-discrimination laws. |
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Follow along today
10 a.m. The House and Senate are back. In the House, an initial vote could come on a bill from Passamaquoddy Rep. Rena Newell aimed at improving water quality at the tribe's Sipayik reservation. Watch here.
The Senate could vote on the sludge spreading ban and adult-use marijuana delivery bills that were approved in the House on Monday. Watch here.
3 p.m. The budget committee continues work on Mills' spending proposal. Watch here. |
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| 📷 Lead photo: Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, climbs the stairs to a trucking company headquarters in northwestern Maine near the border with Saint-Pamphile, Quebec, on Sept. 17, 2020. (BDN photo by Josh Keefe) |
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