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| 📷 A young boy gets a ride on a luggage cart as Steve Miller helps move the belongings of African asylum seekers at the Portland Expo on Aug. 15, 2019, in Portland. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty) |
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📝 Maine lawmakers want permission to let asylum seekers work quicker.
◉ Federal laws barring asylum seekers from working for at least six months after their arrival in the U.S. have been a main target of state and federal lawmakers in Maine for years. But with no solution close to passing Congress, the Legislature is trying a novel one of its own.
◉ On Tuesday, a legislative committee unanimously endorsed an amended version of a bill from Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, that directs the state to ask for a federal waiver that would allow asylum seekers to work faster.
◉ The bipartisan bill is supported by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, and Reps. Mana Abdi, D-Lewiston, and Deqa Dhalac, D-South Portland, the first two Somali-Americans in the Legislature. It comes as Portland is struggling to accommodate the hundreds of asylum seekers who have arrived there from the southern border since January.
⚡ A massive Aroostook clean-power project keeps its wide coalition.
◉ Where the Central Maine Power Co. corridor failed with voters and many interest groups, the $1.8 billion wind transmission line slated for Aroostook County is benefiting from environmental, business and political support.
◉ Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, presented his bill to provide necessary legislative approval for the project to a legislative committee on Tuesday. Supporters include local Republicans including Stewart and Sen. Matt Harrington, R-Sanford, of the energy committee.
◉ Three environmental groups — Maine Audubon, the Conservation Law Foundation and The Nature Conservancy — testified in support alongside the Aroostook Partnership, a business group from the region. This kind of coalition on a major energy project is no small feat, but more layers of approval remain. |
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What we're reading
🍳 This iconic Maine diner got backlash for appearing in a political ad.
🛌 Portland's planning board chair is renting an apartment on Airbnb.
🪵 An Aroostook mill plans a $7 million pellet expansion.
⌛ Columbia Falls voted to delay action on the large flagpole project.
♟️ A custodian guided these chess teams to victory. Here's your soundtrack. |
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