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News and notes
The National Governors Association meeting ends today in Portland.
— Country music legend Dolly Parton made a virtual appearance to discuss her literacy initiative and perform songs. Here's your soundtrack. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will turn the association's chairmanship over to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy before a media availability with governors planned around 11:30 a.m. The agenda.
— The conference has been "the largest security event to take place in Maine in decades," the Maine Department of Public Safety told the Portland Press Herald. There have been large security details and long street closures. It is so far unclear how much of the costs will be covered by taxpayers.
— Governors were taken to Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth for a Wednesday evening lobster dinner in the closed public park.
Republicans are campaigning on Maine's economy shrinking earlier this year.
— Maine was among the 46 states whose economy shrank in the last quarter, according to federal data. The state's gross domestic product fell by 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
— It was a slightly lower hit than the national average of 1.6 percent. The economies of New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts grew slightly during that period.
— In a fundraising email, former Gov. Paul LePage referenced New Hampshire's Republican leaders and blamed Mills and President Joe Biden for Mainers "facing record inflation and making tough financial decisions each day."
— But a wider look at the national map yields no discernible pattern of states' partisan lean related to growth. While New Hampshire has virtually always shown better than Maine in economic indicators including the unemployment rate, Maine has gained workers from there during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
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What we're reading
— Gov. Janet Mills and the Republican governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts commiserated over the housing crisis and its effect on tourism businesses during a session at the governors conference on Thursday.
— Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker did not rule out a 2024 presidential run in a brief interview in Portland. The Democratic billionaire is expected to easily win his reelection race this year and is being eyed as one of the governors most likely to take further steps onto the national stage.
— Golden has significantly outraised Poliquin during their campaign so far, but both had virtually identical $2.3 million war chests midway through this year.
— A Canadian mining company is pushing towns around a northern Penobscot County mountain to back their request for a state permit.
— The Deer Isle region's only nursing home, which closed last year, shut the door this week on the possibility of reopening under its old model and is now seeking a buyer for skilled care beds. |
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| Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks at the National Governors Association meeting on Thursday in Portland alongside a compact with other governors to expand computer science education. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty) |
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| 📷 Lead photo: U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District, holding his 14-month-old daughter Rosemary, speaks to the press following a tour of Peabody Hall at Husson University in Bangor on June 28, 2022. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik) |
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