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☆ Why Mainers Are Falling Hard for Heat Pumps
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But this winter, Ms. McLaughlin’s bungalow is toasty, thanks to two heat pumps she installed to replace her oil furnace. “I’m just so comfortable,” said Ms. McLaughlin, a pharmaceutical sales representative. In the summer, it can operate in reverse, pulling heat from inside a building and pumping it outside, cooling the indoor spaces. In 2023 heat pumps outsold gas furnaces in the United States for the second year running, a climate win. Electrical heat pumps are the cheapest and most energy efficient ways to heat and cool homes, and they do not emit the carbon pollution that is overheating the planet.

Persons: Kaylie McLaughlin, ”, I’m, McLaughlin, She’s Locations: Maine, Farmingdale, Augusta, United States

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that Maine must release its voter list to a conservative-backed group that’s conducting independent audits, concluding that state restrictions on distributing the list violated the National Voter Registration Act. The Public Interest Legal Foundation sued Maine over its decision to prevent the wholesale release of voter registration lists without restrictions, such as prohibiting the information from being published online. Organization spokesperson Lauren Bowman said the group sued to ensure its researchers can compare voter rolls in one state against those in another and that it had no intention of publishing the rolls. State election officials and privacy advocates have raised alarms about a push by several conservative groups to access state voter rolls, fearing that the lists could be used to intimidate voters or cancel registrations. “We will do everything in our power in accordance with the law and court decision to protect voter information from abuse," Bellows said.

Persons: Lauren Bowman, J, Christian Adams, State Shenna Bellows, “, ”, Bellows Organizations: —, Legal Foundation, Maine, 1st U.S, Circuit, ”, State, Democrat, New York Citizens Audit, Interest Legal Foundation Locations: PORTLAND, Maine, Boston, ” Maine, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, State, New York, . Maine

☆ Maine votes to keep investor-owned electricity companies in charge of the energy grid
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

It is not the first time that Mainers' push for a publicly owned energy grid has failed. In 1973, voters struck down the creation of a Maine Power Authority, which would have put the power supply in the state's hands. Janet Mills vetoed a bill from the state legislature to establish Pine Tree Power. In New York, the Long Island Power Authority has run the power grid of Long Island since 1986. Despite having a roughly 70-year-old public power grid, Nebraska still relies heavily on coal.

Persons: Janet Mills, Willy Ritch, Judy Long, Lucy Hochschartner Organizations: Carver, Voters, Maine Power Authority, Democratic Gov, Central Maine Power, Public, Maine Affordable Energy, Versant, CNBC, Pine, Power Authority, Cooperative, Hawaiian, Publicly, London Economic, Maine's Public Utilities Commission Locations: South Shore, Plymouth, Avangrid, Maine, . Nebraska, Los Angeles, Seattle, Kauai, New York, Long, Nebraska, Pine

Interest rates for long-term borrowing for capital improvements also would be less costly for Pine Tree Power. The anger and frustration from electric ratepayers in Maine is a far cry from the days when Iberdrola bought Central Maine Power, the state’s largest electric utility. The privately operated, nonprofit Pine Tree Power utility would contract with a private grid operator through a competitive bidding process. But Pine Tree Power would face some of the same constraints as CMP and Versant. And, like the existing utilities, Pine Tree Power would have no control over the actual cost of electricity, which comprises about half of consumers' monthly bills.

Persons: Mainers, ”, Timothy Cox, Janet Mills, William Harwood, Seth Berry, Harwood, Ann, Ursula Schryver, Schryver, Mike Jacobs, Jacobs, who's, Christie Decker, “, Decker, Freed, Willy Ritch, ” Al, David Sharp, @David_Sharp_AP Organizations: Central Maine Power, Energy Partners, Democratic Gov, Maine Public, CMP, Nationwide, American Public Power Association, Union of Concerned Scientists, Iberdrola, Maine, Tree, Maine Affordable Energy Coalition Locations: PORTLAND, Maine, U.S, Washington, Tree, Francisco, San Diego, Ann Arbor , Michigan, Rochester , New York, Nebraska, Boston, Wilton, Pine, ” Al Cleveland

☆ Can Voters Fire Their Power Companies? Maine Is About to Find Out
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Jon Kamp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The proposed consumer-owned utility would take over power delivery, including thousands of miles of transmission and distribution lines the two current utilities collectively own. Photo: Robert F. Bukaty/Associated PressMaine’s voters will decide Tuesday whether to take a rare step: a hostile takeover of their biggest electric companies. A measure on the ballot there would create a consumer-owned replacement called “Pine Tree Power” by buying out two investor-owned companies that currently serve nearly all Mainers. Proponents, which include some environmental groups, politicians and a nursing union, say wresting control from the for-profit companies will eventually lead to lower bills, better customer service and a speedier shift to renewable power. Utilities and Maine’s governor say takeover would saddle the state with debt.

Persons: Robert F Organizations: Press, Utilities, Maine’s

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Dozens of Maine residents gathered at Sunday services to pray and support one another following a traumatic week in which a fellow Mainer gunned down 18 people in the worst mass killing in state history. The body of Card was found Friday in a trailer at a recycling center in Lisbon Falls. A stay-at-home order in place during the massive search was lifted Friday afternoon, hours before authorities announced they had found Card’s body at the Maine Recycling Corp. The Lewiston shootings were the 36th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by AP and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The database includes every mass killing since 2006 from all weapons in which four or more people, excluding the offender, were killed within a 24-hour time frame.

Persons: Daniel Greenleaf, Saints Peter, Paul, Robert Card, “ Greenleaf, ” Greenleaf, Card, Jim Ferguson, Michael Sauschuck, ” Sauschuck, William Brackett, “, ”, Billy Brackett, didn’t, ” Brackett, ‘, ’, Michael Casey Organizations: Saints, Authorities, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, State Department of Public, Card, Associated Press, Police, Central Maine Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Maine Recycling Corp, AP, USA, Northeastern University Locations: LEWISTON , Maine, Maine, Lewiston, ”, Lisbon Falls, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

☆ Stephen Colbert Calls Out Mike Johnson’s First Fail
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Trish Bendix | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Because they’ve had plenty of time since Uvalde and Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Sandy Hook and the Pulse nightclub. If that seems like too hard of a job, you know who’s really got a hard job now? The people in Lewiston, Maine.” — STEPHEN COLBERT “And there are very few people like Mainers. I know Mainers. These are people whose idea of a beach is a collection of jagged rocks near freezing water.

Persons: Colbert, they’ve, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Sandy Hook, ” — STEPHEN COLBERT, Mike Johnson, “, ”, “ We’re, ” — STEPHEN COLBERT “, They’ve, —, — STEPHEN COLBERT “ Organizations: Congress Locations: Lewiston , Maine, Maine

☆ Inside Poland Spring’s Hidden Attack on Water Rules It Didn’t Like
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Hiroko Tabuchi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

The BlueTriton bottling plant in Poland Spring, Maine, this month. Water Clashes NationwideBlueTriton finds itself pitted against local water boards, environmentalists and other groups across the country. Aquifers Water bottling facility BlueTriton facility Aquifers Water bottling facility BlueTriton facility Aquifers Water bottling facility BlueTriton facility Water bottling facility Aquifers BlueTriton facility Water bottling facility Aquifers BlueTriton facility Water bottling facility Aquifers BlueTriton facility Sources: U.S. Geological Survey; Continental U.S. aquifer map data from GebreEgziabher, Jasechko and Perrone, Nature Communications (2022) Mira Rojanasakul/The New York TimesIn California, BlueTriton has publicly criticized and vowed to fight a cease-and-desist order issued by the state’s water board to stop diverting millions of gallons of water from a spring in San Bernardino County. Poland Spring water was first packaged as a local elixir in the mid-1800s. The original Poland Spring water source.

Persons: BlueTriton, ”, Elizabeth M, Frazier, haven’t, Christopher Kessler, Bottlers, Ms, Frazier didn’t, Anthony Moffa, Mark Lawrence, Lawrence, Mira Rojanasakul, State Legislature’s, Margaret M, “, John Mullaney, Roger Crouse, Cheryl Dieter, Metropoulos, Nestlé, John McGowan, Natalie DiPentino, DiPentino, Poland Spring, BlueTriton’s Organizations: The New York Times, Times, Democratic, Energy, Utilities, Technology, Maine State House, ”, Industries, University of Maine School of Law ., Democrat, Water, . Geological Survey, Continental, Nature Communications, New York Times, State, Poland, U.S, Geological, Water Science, Industry, Maine Water Utilities Association, United States Geological Survey, Rock Capital Partners, Metropoulos, Moody’s Investors Service Locations: Maine, Poland, Poland Spring , Maine, South Portland, Michigan, Colorado, Augusta, In Colorado, Arkansas, United States, Continental U.S, GebreEgziabher, California, San Bernardino County, In Michigan, Lincoln, Lincoln , Maine, New York, BlueTriton’s Poland, Chaffee County , Colorado

☆ A Maine senator lays out why everyone should be a YIMBY: Building more housing could bring families extra income and help solve the labor shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, told Insider the lack of affordable housing is "a national crisis." Maine is facing a severe shortage as it's welcomed a surge of new residents in recent years. The law also eliminated all single-family zoning, eliminates some regulatory restrictions on multi-unit homes, and incentivizes the construction of affordable housing. New Mainers, though welcomed in an aging state in need of more workers, have exacerbated the housing shortage. A lack of affordable housing is central: the state housing authority reported last year that the average price of a house in nearly every county in Maine was unaffordable for the average household income.

Early on Friday, the core of the cold air mass, driven from Arctic Canada into the United States by high-altitude air currents, was centered over the U.S. Plains, said weather service forecaster Bob Oravec. International Falls, Minnesota, was the coldest spot as of 7 a.m., with temperatures hovering around -36 F (-38 C). "It's moving into the Northeast" and temperatures will drop throughout the day on Friday, he said. By comparison, air temperatures in Eureka, Canada's northernmost Arctic weather station, were hovering at -41 F (-41 C) on Friday morning. Boston was about 22 above zero F (-6 C) on Friday morning, with temperatures expected to plummet throughout the day and hit -3 F (-19 C) by midnight.

☆ How small-town Maine embraced a family that fled the Taliban
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Elyse Lightman Samuels | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine — Last November, at about midnight, Omid was lying in bed in his new home in Cape Elizabeth, Maine — exhausted, but unable to sleep. On this night, and on many nights during Omid's first few months in Maine, Nasir was soon at his door. Omid's family arrived in Maine just before Halloween in 2021 and recently celebrated one year in Maine. Catholic Charities, the local refugee-resettlement organization in Maine, was working with Omid's family to help them resettle. After Omid's family escaped Kabul, members of his extended family came by to collect some of their more precious items, and gave other things away.

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