| 🗞 The Daily Brief is made possible by Bangor Daily News subscribers. Support the work of our politics team and enjoy unlimited access to everything the BDN has to offer by subscribing here. |
|
What we're reading
— Staffing issues will slow the full rollout of Maine's new 988 mental health hotline, a problem being seen nationally with more than half of states and localities saying they do not have funding or staff to launch in mid-July.
— The mother of a 25-year-old man shot and killed Sunday by police in Presque Isle says the mental health system failed her son.
— The former police chief and town manager in Millinocket have sued the town and several public officials over what they called a "campaign of disparagement" after their firings nearly two years ago.
— Mike Tipping, running in a high-profile Democratic primary for an Orono-area Maine Senate seat against Abe Furth, will not face an ethics investigation over his Maine People's Alliance endorsement after a regulatory panel voted unanimously to toss a complaint from an Old Town man late in the race. |
|
📱Want daily texts from me tipping you to political stories before they break?
Get Pocket Politics. It is free for 14 days and $3.99 per month if you like it. |
|
News and notes
— Maine's top utility critic may be leaving the Legislature. Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, the co-chair of the Legislature's energy panel, declined comment when asked Thursday about rumors that he was leaving his seat to take a more active role in the campaign for a consumer-owned utility targeted for the 2023 ballot. He will be unopposed in the Democratic primary on Tuesday and can be replaced by his party once he is officially renominated.
— Sen. Susan Collins supports raising the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 as part of compromise gun legislation being worked on in the Senate, the Republican's office told the Portland Press Herald. That may not make it into the ultimate package with other Republicans taking a dim view of the idea, but it is notable because Collins is outflanking Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District who said such a move would "have no real impact on lessening gun violence."
BDN writer Jessica Piper contributed to this item. |
|
| 💰 Want to advertise in the Daily Brief? Write our sales team. |
|
| A tug boats guides the oil tanker Eternal Sunshine out of Portland Harbor while fisherman Bruce Hodge waits for a mackerel or striped bass to bite on Friday in Portland. Crude oil is pumped from Maine to Quebec via the 236-mile Portland-Montreal Pipe Line. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty) |
|
📷 Lead photo: Former state Sen. Brian Langley, R-Ellsworth, and Rep. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, are the candidates for the special election in Maine Senate District 7 on Tuesday. (BDN photos by Troy R. Bennett)
❌ Correction: Only three European students are attending a Millinocket high school as part of an exchange program. Thursday's newsletter misstated where they were from. |
|
|
|
