The Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Care Act and Gov. Paul LePage’s proposals to narrow MaineCare eligibility and services are both part of a national debate over a much bigger issue – the appropriate role of government. The underlying question is what limits should be placed on government action.  And mixed with that issueMore

Maine will not be able to accomplish the state-mandated goals of building 2000 megawatts of wind power on land by 2015. That’s one conclusion of two studies issued this week by the governor’s energy office and an independent group of researchers. The studies also urged reconsideration of the landmark 2008 law that allowed wind turbinesMore

Dear Pinetreegate Tipsters: Please call me in the next day or two. – John Christie, 458-2023

Staff reporters John Christie and Naomi Schalit headed down to Boston University recently for a weekend conference on narrative journalism. In between the workshops on things like “Sequencing: The Basics of Story Mechanics” and “One Story, Many Paths: Interactive Documentaries/Non-linear Storytelling” (we’re still not quite sure what non-linear storytelling is, except perhaps something an excitedMore

AUGUSTA — State Rep. John Martin is sponsoring a bill that would make it easier for the Canadian-based Irving family to mine for valuable minerals on a Maine mountain at the same time he is negotiating a $250,000 bankruptcy debt with an Irving-family oil business. Martin, a Democrat, is the co-owner of Bald Eagle convenienceMore

Independent Angus King, running for the U.S. Senate, could benefit from the special circumstances that sometimes work for non-party candidates in Maine. In recent decades, the state has elected two independent governors and almost did so again in 2010.  The state seems to be unusually favorable to candidates running without a major party label. WhatMore

Maine has earned an “F” from a national organization’s first-in-the-nation assessment of accountability and transparency across the 50 states. Maine ranked 46th in the “State Integrity Investigation” by three nonpartisan, national and international journalism and good government groups. The score was based on research into 330 indicators on both the laws and practices in 14More

The Investigative News Network (INN) has released ”Audience Development and Distribution Strategies.” The 84-page report is the first in-depth study about strategic and tactical advice for growing earned revenue streams from audience development, and the authors use the Maine Center as an example of one of the models for new, nonprofit journalism operations. They callMore

AUGUSTA — A legislative committee has approved a bill to close an ethics law loophole that has allowed high-level state officials to avoid reporting millions in state payments to organizations run by themselves or their immediate family members. The bill now heads for a vote by the full legislature. Gov. Paul LePage proposed the bill,More

Last week, Sen. Olympia Snowe said, “We are becoming more like a parliamentary system, where everyone simply votes with their party and those in charge employ every possible tactic to block the other side.” The essence of the parliamentary system, as it is practiced in Canada, Great Britain and most other major democracies, is partyMore