Alex Lear

2 weeks ago | sunjournal.com | Alex Lear |Hannah LaClaire

Maine’s medical cannabis providers have once again fought off a controversial requirement to start testing their products — at least for now. A legislative committee killed one bill and carried over another that would have instituted testing and tracking requirements that industry members have said for years would put them out of business or force price increases.

2 weeks ago | centralmaine.com | Alex Lear

Not many people receive a posthumous birthday party. Even fewer get hundreds of guests and multiple cakes celebrating them, years after they have passed. But then again, not many people were both wife and mother to American presidents. On Sunday, Kennebunkport celebrated Barbara Bush’s 100th birthday. The outdoor event included music from a local band and games and books for children. Lobster rolls and Tex-Mex cuisine honored the Bush family’s connection to both Maine and Texas.

3 weeks ago | centralmaine.com | Alex Lear

State regulators are reviewing an $86 million deal that would give Maine’s biggest natural gas utility 6,000 more customers and about 230 more miles of pipeline in central and coastal Maine. Unitil Corp. is seeking to buy Maine Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Iberdrola, the parent company of Central Maine Power Co. If successful, it would be the second gas utility in Maine purchased by Unitil in the last year, and it leaves just one other, smaller natural gas provider serving the state.

3 weeks ago | centralmaine.com | Alex Lear

AUGUSTA — Maine hotel rooms may no longer be stocked with small bottles of shampoo, conditioner and other toiletries if a proposal before lawmakers to ban the miniature plastic bottles gets enacted. A bill advancing in the Maine Legislature would prohibit most hotels, short-term rentals and other guest accommodations from using the single-use plastic containers for health and beauty products, including shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion. The ban would apply to containers less than 6 oz.

3 weeks ago | centralmaine.com | Alex Lear

AUGUSTA – Shawna Ferris said her finances are stretched so thin that she’s had to purchase heating oil five gallons at a time. Ferris, a 44-year-old from Mattawamkeag, was one of dozens of direct care workers who joined House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, at a State House Thursday to urge lawmakers and the governor to approve cost-of-living increases for Maine’s direct care workforce as part of the state’s new two-year budget.