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| 📷 From left to right, Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, Rep. Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach, Francois Rebello, Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland, and Jonathan LaBonte, Auburn's transportation systems director, are pictured at a recent meeting in Coaticook, Quebec, to discuss Rebello's proposed night train from Montreal to Boston. (Courtesy photo) |
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🛤️ Two key lawmakers want a study of Montreal-Boston rail.
◉ This attention-grabbing redux of a proposed night train from Montreal to Boston via Maine is leading into a legislative effort led by Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, to get two groups to study the idea of passenger rail between those two cities. It gets a public hearing today. Watch it at 1 p.m.
◉ Bennett and his co-sponsor, Rep. Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach, attended a summer meeting on the idea in southern Quebec. It still faces major hurdles, including low speed limits and a need for track upgrades on the Quebec side and private ownership of the proposed route on the Maine side.
◉ Under the Bennett-Gramlich bill, the Maine-Canadian Legislative Advisory Commission and the New England and Eastern Canada Legislative Commission would study the restoration of passenger rail and report back by December 2023.
8️⃣ Maine's congressman finds a notable eighth member for a centrist group.
◉ Newly elected Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, is the eighth member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a centrist Democratic group now run by Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District. Politico first reported her joining the group.
◉ The Blue Dogs were once one of the most important coaltions in Congress, hitting a high of 64 members in 2006. But polarization, the number of frontline Democrats who have lost their seats since then and a recent squabble over branding while Golden took over put the caucus down into the single digits.
◉ Peltola is the only woman in the group right now. She beat former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in special and general elections last year under a new ranked-choice voting regime to flip an open Republican seat for Democrats on a "pro-fish, pro-family and pro-freedom" slogan. |
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What we're reading
💩 The state's major landfill operator says it averted a short-term sludge crisis.
🏚️ An "unsafe" Brunswick home is still getting huge interest.
🗑 Bucksport residents aren't happy about a mill landfill revival.
🌾 Farmers are getting more money to adapt to climate change.
🚗 Maine is rejecting appeals in a crackdown on "vulgar" vanity plates, including one from a vegan with a "LVTOFU" plate. Here's your soundtrack. |
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