Gov. Janet Mills

While the two Democrats with the most robust campaigns said they planned to stay in the race, at least one candidate has already dropped out. Meanwhile, the reaction from the political parties in DC highlights the national spotlight on the race for Maine Sen. Susan Collins' seat.

The citizens initiative appears as Question 2 on the November ballot and is a direct outgrowth of the governor's opposition to a red flag law and the Democratic-controlled legislature's unwillingness to advance one in the wake of the worst mass shooting in Maine history.

The new cabinet-level department will be a permanent continuation of the work done by the Governor's Energy Office.

Nearly 450 acres of woods, wetlands and brook trout habitat is protected from development but open to the public for hunting, fishing and other recreation

The governor was responding to the Trump administration's latest lawsuit against Maine, this time seeking complete copies of the state's voter registration files.

The electric utility wants to increase its annual spending by almost half a billion dollars a year to fund an overhaul of its systems to handle more intense storms.

The governor's comments came during a rare, three-stop tour with business leaders and local officials and amid pressure from some Democratic decisionmakers hoping to recruit her to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins next year.

But the Maine Principals' Association is asking a federal court to block the request for a trove of information, saying it is irrelevant to the central issue in the DOJ's lawsuit against the state.

Those are two of roughly 60 bills that Mills is holding onto until state lawmakers return to Augusta either later this year or in January. She then has the option of either vetoing the measures or allowing them to become law without her signature.

Gov. Janet Mills has signed a bill to offer state-backed no-interest loans to federal and state employees if they are furloughed or required to work without pay during a federal or state shutdown.