Steve Mistler
Chief Political Correspondent and State House Bureau ChiefJournalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.
Steve has been a journalist for nearly two decades, specializing in the coverage of politics and state government. His work has been recognized by the Maine Press Association, Gerald Loeb and regional Murrow awards for investigative projects and accountability journalism. He was named the MPA’s Journalist of the Year in 2011 for his coverage of municipal and state government. He later received a Public Service in Radio from the Society of Professional Journalists and a writing award from the Public Radio News Directors for his retrospective of former Gov. Paul LePage.
He joined Maine Public in 2016 after a career in newspaper reporting. He and his family live in Maine.
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An independent commission was hearing Thursday from Army Reservists and victims' advocates on the six-month anniversary of Maine's worst mass shooting.
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The governor's original bill left wage enforcement to the state labor department. The legislature amended it to allow farmworkers to sue their employers.
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The proposal was drafted in response to a prominent neo-Nazi group setting up a training facility in Penobscot County. It has since been abandoned but Democrats in the Legislature wanted to give law enforcement and prosecutors more tools to discourage future operations.
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House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross ruled Rep. Mike Lemelin and Rep. Shelly Rudnicki not be allowed to vote or speak until they formally apologized to their constituents and families of the victims of the Lewiston shooting. Both did and both were censured by the House.
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The vetoed bill would have barred a felony conviction if the third conviction was for property worth less than $500. But Mills said the proposal could make an uptick in retail thefts worse.
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The measure is response to the Lewiston shootings and would allow family members to petition courts to seize a dangerous person's guns without involvement of police or a mental health evaluation.
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The bill is part of a national movement to enshrine abortion rights in state constitutions, but it may not reach Maine voters for final approval.
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Democrats on the legislature's appropriation committee passed amendments in the pre-dawn hours Saturday that aim to repurpose $11 million in surplus transportation funding this year, and $60 million in subsequent years, but the Mills administration fiercely opposes it.
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Physicians, psychiatrists urge Maine lawmakers to pass 'red flag law' as gun rights groups oppose itMental health advocates say Maine's current 'yellow flag' law doesn't cover everyone who might be dangerous, while gun rights advocates say it affords due process and should have been used to prevent the Lewiston shootings.
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If it becomes law, the measure pledges Maine's four Electoral College votes to winner of the national popular vote, even if the state voters choose another candidate.