🛒 Only Maine Republicans are on the latest attempt to roll back blue laws.
◉ Maine's religious laws barring big-box stores from opening on Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter have been the target of nearly perennial repeal attempts in the Legislature. The latest one, from Sen. Peter Lyford, R-Eddington, is up for a public hearing on Tuesday.
◉ It is notable because only Republicans are sponsoring the measure this time in the Democratic-led Legislature. A bipartisan measure in 2019 got close to passing after narrowly clearing the House but failing in the Senate.
◉ That could signal an outside chance at passage, which is good for any Republican-led bill these days, but the sponsor situation here won't help.
🌊 Maine's congressman backs up lobstermen on an offshore wind concern.
◉ At least 18 large whales have been washed ashore along the Atlantic coast since December, an unusually high figure that has coincided with offshore wind exploration in the same area. While theories are circulating that the industry may be the culprit, there is no firm evidence to support the idea.
◉ Gov. Janet Mills weathered criticism of her offshore wind plans from lobstermen during the 2022 campaign. These whale beachings have been concentrated in the mid-Atlantic states so far, but they threaten to add another complicating layer to relations with the fishing industry here. Endangered right whales, one of the species that has washed up in places, have been at the heart of a rules dispute between federal regulators and fishermen here.
◉ Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District who broke somewhat with Mills on the subject during the campaign, sent a Monday letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration urging it to release how it will investigate the strandings and share information publicly.
◉ "Making the data on these whale deaths public is critical so everyone has a shared understanding of how they are dying and to ensure that regulators are adequately addressing those threats,” Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, said in a statement. |
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