Patty Wight
News Reporter and HostPatty is a graduate of the University of Vermont and a multiple award-winning reporter for Maine Public Radio. Her specialty is health coverage: from policy stories to patient stories, physical health to mental health and anything in between. Patty joined Maine Public Radio in 2012 after producing stories as a freelancer for NPR programs such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered. She got hooked on radio at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, and hasn’t looked back ever since.
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Congressman Jared Golden introduces bill aimed at protecting U.S. judges and public safety officialsThe so-called "Back the Blue" Act would impose a mandatory minimum 30-year sentence for killing a U.S. judge, police officer, firefighter, chaplain, or ambulance crew member. Offenders would also be subject to the death penalty. -
Five voters sued Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows in May, accusing her of writing a deliberately confusing ballot question. -
The federal budget signed into law last week prohibits Medicaid funds for reproductive health care providers that also offer abortions. That's a $1 million loss for Planned Parenthood in Maine, on top of a $400,000 loss due to the Trump administration withholding Title X funds. -
The listening session was organized by a public safety committee launched by Mayor Carl Sheline two summers ago following several shootings. -
A new report reveals that more than 50 coastal beaches in Maine tested positive for potentially unsafe levels of fecal bacteria on at least one day last year. -
More than 64,000 Mainers have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's online marketplace. But state officials and health care advocates say that many would lose coverage under proposed changes in the Congressional budget bill. -
More than 38,000 adult Mainers with disabilities are enrolled in MaineCare, the state version of Medicaid. Advocates say the future of programs that help people with disabilities live in the community is at risk if Congress slashes hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid as proposed under the pending budget bill. -
Here in Maine, state officials, health care providers, and advocates say the proposed cuts would have drastic consequences. -
Some of the 39 Mainers are fasting from sunrise to sunset. Others have limited their caloric intake to 250 calories a day. -
Thirty-five year old Robert Smith has been charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Twenty-seven-year old Mikayla Smith has been arrested on unrelated warrants.
