Politics

LEWISTON, Maine - The Lewiston City Council has passed a resolution opposing excessive use of force by police and calling for equal treatment under the law.

PORTLAND, Maine - The state ethics commission says the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically decreased the number of publicly funded campaigns.

Requests for absentee ballots in Maine’s July primary are already over 71,000. That’s double the number from two years ago, when both major parties had primary elections in the race for governor.

AUGUSTA, Maine - A law designed to hold opioid manufacturers accountable for their role in Maine's drug overdose epidemic is now in effect.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has given bipartisan support for legislation that sets the blueprint for defense spending in the new budget year. And Sen. Angus King says that's good news for Maine.

Maine's Libertarians have failed to convince a judge to grant an injunction requiring the state to re-enroll more than 6,000 previous members.

Libertarians sued Secretary of State Matt Dunlap late last year, arguing the state's enrollment thresholds were impossible to maintain for small parties. The Libertarians argued the requirements create an unfair burden and stymie the creation of new parties in Maine.

Maine has three officially recognized political parties: Democrats, Republicans and Greens.

One of two black members of the Maine Legislature sharply criticized the state’s response to COVID-19 in black and African American Mainers, who have contracted the disease at ten times the rate of whites. Democratic state Rep. Rachael Talbot Ross of Portland says the Department of Health and Human Services needs to do more.