Eli Seaver - Governor Mills has a record of stepping up and delivering for Mainers. On day one as Governor, Janet Mills expanded health care to more than 100,000 Maine people. She has fought for education, fully-funded schools for the first time in Maine history, guaranteed access to free school meals and made community college free for all Maine students. While Senator Collin's pivotal vote for Brett Kavanaugh stripped reproductive healthcare away from 1/3 of all American women, Governor Mill's was committed to expanding reproductive care across the state. And as Trump's tariffs push housing prices even higher, Governor Mills has made the biggest investment in housing in Maine history.
Rep Melanie Sachs - Since 2013, the number of family child care providers in Maine has significantly declined, hitting rural communities the hardest. Meanwhile, according to a report prepared for Maine DHHS, the average cost of care continues to rise, with the cost of infant care in Maine between $997 to $1,188 per month and child care for a four-year-old ranging between $715 to $1,020 per month. On top of that, waitlists for child care in Maine average six months. Families are forced to make impossible choices about who will go to work and who will care for the kids – or they’re forced to choose between child care costs and paying for basic necessities.
Maine Morning Star - The clean energy sector in Maine grew in 2024 — employing more than 16,000 workers, making it New England’s fastest-growing clean energy workforce in recent years, according to a new state analysis.
“Maine’s growing clean energy workforce offers a wide range of quality career opportunities, and interest in these skilled trades continues to grow because they meet the needs of workers and employers while advancing the state’s climate and housing goals,” said Laura Fortman, commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor, in a press release.
The Maine Department of Energy Resources last week released its Maine Clean Energy Industry Report for 2024, the most recent data available on the sector. But those numbers don’t account for the fallout from decisions by President Donald Trump’s administration in the last year.
In 2024, the clean energy sector added 100 new businesses and 614 jobs. Those jobs represent a 4% increase from 2023, a higher rate than Maine’s overall job growth.
The state’s clean energy economy contributed $3 billion in 2024, making up roughly 3% of Maine’s total output.
“Maine’s clean energy growth is not just an environmental success story — it’s an economic one,” said Mike Duguay, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, in a press release. “Surpassing 16,000 clean energy jobs demonstrates that innovation, workforce development, and smart public investments are creating real opportunity across our state. From small businesses to advanced manufacturers, clean energy is strengthening Maine’s competitive edge and positioning us for long-term economic resilience.”
But the 2024 data reflects a period before the second Trump administration began to slash clean energy and environmental programs and funding.
Maine Morning Star - No New England airports are expected to see U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers taking over security duties for now, despite a presidential order aimed at assisting Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees working without pay during a partial government shutdown, the regional president of the TSA officers’ union said Monday.
“We’re not really having those problems that you’re seeing on the news,” Mike Gayzagian, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2617 headquartered in Boston, said in an interview Monday. “Hopefully we maintain that, but we’ll see what happens.”
Spokespeople for Logan International Airport in Boston or Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut both confirmed a lack of ICE presence at their terminals.