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What we're reading
— Mainers are being shocked by the rising electric rates that are now hitting bills. One Bangor nurse saw her bill increase to $277 between December and January, which was $120 more than she paid in November. The Maine Public Utilities Commission’s consumer assistance division has gotten nearly 400 calls complaining of higher bills since Jan. 31. The rate increases came because bids to supply power have come in higher due to surging prices of natural gas and other fuels. The recent cold snap across the region exacerbated it as well.
— Tribes used an emotional legislative hearing to continue their push for expanded sovereignty. A sweeping measure that would expand tribes' rights to manage taxation, natural resources and other policy areas on their land drew more than 1,200 pieces of written testimony on Wednesday. Mills' office was among the few opponents as the governor offers a compromise measure that tribes look inclined to take. But Chief Kirk Francis of the Penobscot Nation told lawmakers it is no substitute for the full slate of rights the tribes seek.
— I have a guide to Mills' plan for the $500 relief checks, which would go to many more Mainers over a longer period of months later this year compared with the last round of checks. |
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Follow along today
10 a.m. The House and Senate are scheduled to convene for the second of three days of floor sessions this month. Mostly minor bills are on the docket for final votes as the chambers mostly move through procedural work. Watch the House here and the Senate here.
11 a.m. Mills will hold a news conference at the University of Maine at Farmington alongside university and system officials to highlight pieces of recent spending plans addressing child care availability and wages.
11:30 a.m. LePage will walk with supporters from the area around the Blaine House in Augusta to the office building next to the State House before submitting signatures to qualify for the Republican gubernatorial primary. We expect remarks there. He will then join supporters at John Sullivan's Pub in Augusta, according to a Maine Republican Party notice. |
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| 📷 Lead photo: Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State Address at the Maine State House on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Augusta. (Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via AP) |
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