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What we're reading
— As expected, the U.S. Senate voted down Democrats' signature abortion-rights bill on Thursday. All Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, opposed the measure, which needed 60 votes to move forward but only got 49 of them.
— The debate on this bill and one from Collins has shown clear differences between Democrats and the Maine senator on the issue, despite Collins being one of only two Republican supporters of abortion rights in the Senate.
— A woman who wrote the now-famous chalk messages outside Collins' Bangor home spoke to Buzzfeed News.
— Hermon schools filed a defamation suit against conservative activist Shawn McBreairty after he made public statements calling a teacher a "sexual predator." The district says his actions violate school policy, have caused the teacher emotional distress and have led others to consider resigning.
— A construction worker saved Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce from drowning after the sheriff's kayak overturned in Sebago Lake on Wednesday.
— In fresh housing market craziness, homes are selling in Maine about a month faster than the national average. |
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News and notes
— The 60-vote filibuster is among the things preventing the Senate from finding an abortion-rights breakthrough. But the next thing to watch could be a budding effort from Collins, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, to codify abortion-rights protections. Kaine told Politico that even a failed compromise on the matter "might have some value" to Supreme Court justices who are considering fully overturning Roe v. Wade.
— Punchbowl News had an item this morning on vulnerable House Democrats' frustrations with party leaders entering a fraught 2022 election cycle. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District is among the frontline group of Democrats in a district won twice by former President Donald Trump. Many of these Democrats want votes on pieces of legislation with companion bills in the Senate. Leaders have been amenable to some of them, but others may lack the support needed to pass with just a five-seat House majority.
— Gov. Janet Mills will be among those announcing Maine's teachers of the year for every county at a 2 p.m. news conference at the State House.
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| 📷 Lead photo: Rodney Porter wears a top hat indicating his stance on rejecting Central Maine Power's proposed hydropower transmission corridor, during an election night party, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Farmington (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty) |
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