Maine

Maine Proposes Major Staffing Increases For Care Facilities

November 27, 2024 Rose Lundy, ProPublica. Create! Health Care, Longterm care, Maine, Safety

In the first major update to assisted living and residential care regulations in more than 15 years, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services has proposed significantly increasing staffing requirements, among other changes. The proposed updates follow an investigation by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica into the state’s largest residential care facilities. It found dozens of violations of resident rights, including incidents of abuse and neglect, as well as more than 100 cases in which residents wandered away from their facilities and hundreds of medication and treatment violations.

Eponeyous Substructure In Saco (And Worldwide)

October 13, 2024 Bruce K. Gagnon, Organizing Notes. Strategize! Anti-War, Maine, Military bases, Worker Rights and Jobs

The reason I love and believe in standing outside weapons production facilities and military bases is because this is how I changed from a Young Republican to an independent thinker and anti-imperialist peacenik. In 1971 (during the US war on Vietnam) I joined the Air Force and after my training was sent to Travis AFB in California. This was an airlift base for the war. GI's came to Travis and got on planes to fly to Vietnam. When the planes returned they brought the walking wounded and body bags of dead troops. Most weekends there were small protests outside the base main gate.

Portland Votes To Divest From Companies Doing Business With Israel

September 6, 2024 Emma Davis, Maine Morning Star. Resist! BDS Movement, Israel, Maine, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Portland

Portland’s city council adopted a resolution Wednesday night urging the city to divest from companies doing business with Israel in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The city council unanimously approved the resolution — put forth by councilor April Fournier and sponsored by the Maine Coalition for Palestine and Maine’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace — in a packed chamber following more than three hours of public comment. Councilors also said individually that they’d received thousands of emails from constituents regarding the resolution. More than 80 companies are included in the divestment list, including the major corporations Volvo, Boeing, Chevron and Intel, which the resolution calls complicit in Israel’s violation of international law.

Protesters Gather Outside Brunswick, Maine Air Show

August 4, 2024 Pearl Small, News Center Maine. Resist! Maine, militarism, Palestine, Youth

Brunswick, Maine — The Great State of Maine Air Show is marketed as a weekend-long event of planes swooping through the sky with incredible aerial performances to leave the community in awe. However, groups standing outside the show on Saturday had a different message to send about its intentions. The Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights organized a protest to encourage people not to attend the show over questions regarding the ethics of its headlining act: the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. "We object this use of our tax dollars and we object to warplanes as entertainment," Lisa Savage with Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights said.

Police Arrest Protesters Outside Bath Iron Works Ceremony

July 28, 2024 Kristian Moravec, Press Herald. Resist! Bath Ironworks, Genocide, Maine, Palestine, Police, weapons

Police arrested nine protesters outside Bath Iron Works on Saturday morning leading up to a christening ceremony for the shipyard’s newest warship. Two protesters were charged with obstructing a public way and seven with criminal trespass after a group of demonstrators interlinked arms and sat down, blocking the entrance to a BIW parking lot. Police later said that this group had broken off from a larger demonstration of about 75 people on Washington Street. Witnesses said that arrests started around 9:30 a.m. when Bath police officers and Sagadahoc County sheriff’s deputies rounded up some of the protesters, securing their wrists with zip ties before ushering them to a nearby school bus.

Portland, Maine: Protest Shuts Down Key Interstate Ramp

February 3, 2024 Bruce K. Gagnon, Space For Peace. Resist! Direct Action, Gaza, International Solidarity, Maine, Palestine

Mary Beth and I drove to Portland early yesterday afternoon to join a large protest in solidarity with Gaza. I was asked to be a police 'liaison' along with one other person. The people began arriving at the busy intersection of Franklin Street & Marginal Way just before 1:00 pm. Soon the two sides of the highway closest to the on-ramp for the I-295 Interstate were full of people - about 100 on each side. At 1:40 the first policeman arrived and about that same time a ceasefire banner was hung from the interstate overpass. That is when people poured out into the four-lane section of road to effectively shut down traffic.

University Of Maine Graduate Students Win Union Recognition

October 5, 2023 Christopher Burns , Portside. Organize! Education, Graduate Students, Maine, Unions, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

The Maine Labor Relations Board last week certified the Maine Graduate Workers Union-UAW after an independent arbitrator determined it had a majority support among graduate workers, according to the Maine AFL-CIO. The university system said in August it would recognize the union and began bargaining if an independent analysis found it had a majority support. The graduate workers union will represent about 1,000 graduate assistants, research assistants and teaching assistants who make up a large percentage of the teaching and research workforce across the system’s seven campuses, according to the Maine AFL-CIO, which announced the certification on Friday afternoon.

Where Will 12 New Destroyers At Bath Iron Works Be Sent?

August 29, 2023 Bruce K. Gagnon, Space for Peace. Educate! General Dynamics, Maine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

In an article in the mid-coast Maine publication called the (August 18) it was reported that Bath Iron Works (BIW) had just reached agreement with the Machinists Union Local S6 on a new contract. The union represents 4,250 of the shipyard's 6,500 workers. The article concluded by reporting that BIW is currently building twelve Aegis destroyers at the Maine shipyard. BIW is owned by the General Dynamics Corporation (GD) headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Phebe N. Novakovic is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and made $21,478,167 in 2022.

‘Blue Dogs’ Get Money From Sallie Mae After Opposing Student Debt Relief

August 19, 2023 Dan Neumann, Maine Beacon. Educate! Congress, Higher Education, Maine, Student Debt

The Blue Dog Coalition, a group of corporate House Democrats led by Rep. Jared Golden, received the maximum donation from student lending giant Sallie Mae after the Second District congressman voted earlier this year against Pres. Joe Biden’s plan to cancel $430 billion in federal student debt. The disclosure comes as student loan payments are set to resume after a three-year pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. Golden was one of two Democrats to vote in May with House Republicans for a resolution blocking the Biden administration’s plan for a one-time cancellation of up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers who qualified.

The Forgotten Victims Of America’s Class War

July 31, 2023 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. Educate! Chris Hedges, Class Struggle, Finance and the Economy, Maine, Wealthy Class

Mechanic Falls, Maine – I am sitting in Eric Heimel’s barbershop in the center of Mechanic Falls. Russ Day, who was the owner for 52 years before he sold it to Eric, cut my hair as a boy. The shop looks the same. The mounted trout on the walls. The worn linoleum floor. The 1956 Emil J. Paidar barber chair. The two American flags on the wall flanking the oval mirror. The plaque that reads: “If a Man is Alone In the Woods, With No Woman to Hear Him, Is He Still Wrong?” Another plaque that reads: “Men have 3 hairstyles parted…unparted…and DEPARTED!” I can almost see my grandfather, with his thick gold masonic ring on his pinky finger smoking an unfiltered Camel cigarette, waiting for Russ to finish.

Protest At BIW Destroyer ‘Christening’ – Arsenal Of Hypocrisy

July 30, 2023 Bruce K. Gagnon, Space for Peace. Resist! Green Economy, Maine, Transformation, US military, Wars and Militarism

On Saturday, 23 activists from around the state gathered on very short notice to protest at another Aegis destroyer 'christening' at Bath Iron Works (owned by General Dynamics) here in Maine. In the past the event was open to the public with weeks advance notification. But after a series of large protests and several high profile civil resistance actions things have changed. In current times there are only a few days notice and attendance is by invitation only. The past long lines of the general public wishing to enter are over. These destroyers are outfitted with nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as so-called 'missiles defense' systems.

A Degrowth Housing Vision For Maine

February 8, 2023 Patrick Loftus, Resilience. Create! climate crisis, Degrowth, Housing, Maine

Last year, my partner and I bought a 200 year old, recently renovated farmhouse in central Maine on less than an acre of land. Our town looks similar to other small towns like it throughout New England. The population is about 3,600 people and the landscape is rural-suburban: single family homes, some small businesses, municipal buildings and farms scattered over a forested area with long, winding paved roads that cut through town because everyone gets around by car. The roads aren’t very bike-friendly, though a few fearless cyclists still use them. Some people work on farms, in the local shops and municipal offices, or remotely from home like my partner and I, but most residents commute into and often get dinner in the larger cities and towns in the area. Imagining a transformative housing path towards degrowth from the perspective of my house and my neighborhood in central Maine means making some assumptions about the general trajectory of humanity, and New England in particular, over the next few years and decades.

Our Power Delivers Signatures For Referendum On Consumer-Owned Utility

November 5, 2022 Evan Popp, Maine Beacon. Create! climate crisis, Energy, Maine, Public ownership, Voting

A group seeking to place an initiative on the November 2023 ballot to replace Maine’s unpopular investor-owned utilities, Central Maine Power and Versant, with a nonprofit power company submitted over 80,000 signatures Monday, far exceeding the total needed to trigger a referendum. Our Power, the group spearheading the campaign, announced its haul at a press conference at the State House before handing its petitions into the Secretary of State’s Office. That office now has a month to verify the signatures, but with a wide margin over the slightly more than 63,000 signatures needed for a ballot initiative, Our Power’s referendum is very likely to be on the ballot in November 2023. “We have news for you, CMP and Versant, and for your greedy corporate and foreign-government owners. Today, over 80,000 Maine voters are ready to revoke your monopoly privilege,” Andrew Blunt, executive director of Our Power, said at Monday’s press conference.

Five Rural Maine Towns Form Coalition For Affordable Broadband

August 30, 2022 Sean Gonsalves, Institute For Local Self-Reliance. Create! Broadband, Maine, Municipal internet, Rural

Maine - Spurred to action by inadequate high-speed Internet service as the pandemic besieged their communities, local officials and citizen volunteers in five rural Maine towns formed the Southwestern Waldo County Broadband Coalition (SWCBC) in an effort to bring ubiquitous and affordable broadband to its portion of Waldo County. Two years later, the SWCBC is close to securing a major victory for local Internet choice in the face of a well-funded opposition campaign sweeping the Pine Tree State as the Big Telecom lobby and its allies try to undermine the very idea of publicly-owned, locally-controlled broadband networks in Maine and elsewhere. The five SWCBC towns clustered about 30 miles east of Augusta – home to approximately 5,600 Mainers – are looking to create what is known as a Broadband Utility District (BUD).

How A Small Town In Maine Stopped A Silver Mine

August 4, 2022 Julia Conley, In These Times. Organize! Home Rule, Maine, Mining, Victory

Pembroke, Maine — One May evening, residents packed into a Pembroke meeting room to decide the future of their town. On the agenda: Should Pembroke ban industrial metal mining? The coalition of farmers, environmentalists and retirees who had called the vote wasn’t sure what to expect. Pembroke, a town of fewer than 900, isn’t exactly a liberal stronghold — Donald Trump carried the county twice. But this was not a national election, and the mining threat was not abstract: In 2021, Canadian company Wolfden Resources unveiled plans to mine for silver uphill from the wells residents rely on for water and just 2 miles from the rich estuary of Cobscook Bay. Severine von Tscharner Fleming, one of the leaders of the grassroots effort to stop the mine, puts it this way: In Pembroke, “people are not all in the same part of the political spectrum, but our common ground is literally our common ground.”

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