Monthly Archives: October 2016

If you live in these Maine towns, you might want to snag more candy

Many thousands of children around the state will be thinking of one thing tonight: candy. How many children? By a census estimate, it’s about 143,567 to be exact. That’s the number of children estimated at ages 5 to 14 last year (of course, the number of likely Halloween candy hunters is higher). For a spooky Halloween experiment of our own, we looked at those […]

A Maine paper mill joins the fight against superbugs, with a product inspired by sharks

Hospitals face perhaps no bigger challenge today than the proliferation of dangerous infections that are resistant to antibiotics. Their weapons of choice in the battle against so-called “superbugs” span from the low-tech (thorough hand-washing) to the high-tech (paint and fabrics infused with antimicrobial chemicals). Now comes a new defense against those nasty germs, which are responsible for an uncounted […]

Maine marijuana and tax campaigns load up on cash

The campaigns to legalize marijuana and fund education spending with a new tax on the state’s highest earners came close to doubling their already substantial campaign coffers in September. Campaign disclosures filed Wednesday night show that groups supporting both ballot questions in September raised about 40 percent of what they’d raised prior to that month, both from two large donors. […]

Where Maine ballot question campaigns are getting their money

This year’s ballot questions in Maine are a primary attraction for political fundraising, with high-stakes fights on five different policy questions, including marijuana legalization and expanded background checks on gun sales. On Wednesday, groups spending to support or oppose those questions filed detailed financial disclosures through September, revealing where they got their money, though much of it remains hard […]

Mainers are paying less for energy and way more for health care

Mainers continued to pay less for gasoline and other energy last year as spending on health care continued to climb, according to the latest federal figures. The sudden drop in gasoline and energy spending by Maine households follows the global drop in oil prices and is in line with the rest of the country, where spending in that category dropped by about 24 […]