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Beacon is a website and podcast created by the Maine People’s Alliance to highlight the experiences of everyday Mainers, share information about the political and policy processes that affect Maine people.

There's been a lot about this year that's been hard, but also a lot to be grateful for -- especially in the November ele...
26/11/2025

There's been a lot about this year that's been hard, but also a lot to be grateful for -- especially in the November elections. Opinion writer Ethan Strimling's thank you card list includes Maine voters, for shutting down a Republican effort to curtail absentee voting and passing one to enact a red flag law in the state; Portland voters, for passing a minimum wage increase; and some people who are more surprising.

For the last two years, I have written columns at Thanksgiving laying out what I am thankful for. 2023 was easy with so many wins. 2024, after Trump won, was harder. Coming off the elections of 2025, I am definitely full of gratitude. I am thankful that the gun lobby, for the second year in a row

More than 20 residents from three manufactured home parks in Jay filled the Select Board meeting Monday night, urging th...
25/11/2025

More than 20 residents from three manufactured home parks in Jay filled the Select Board meeting Monday night, urging the town to step in as lot rents rise and maintenance declines. Residents say owners have raised fees by more than $100 in recent years, while problems like failing septic systems, falling trees and unplowed roads go unaddressed.

“I love my mobile home,” said Hidden Circle resident Tanya Dwyer, whose rent has climbed from $210 to $325 in six years. “But everything else around it is going to hell, and that’s unfair to us.”

Click the link below to read the full story.

When Tanya Dwyer moved into Hidden Circle, a manufactured home community in Jay, six years ago, lot rent was $210 a month. Today it’s $325 — a $115 increase. But, she says, nothing has improved. “I love my mobile home,” Dwyer said. “It’s a nice home, but everything else around it is goin...

When Brunswick resident Leah Kovitch sought urgent care for tick bites — one of which tested positive for Lyme — she ass...
25/11/2025

When Brunswick resident Leah Kovitch sought urgent care for tick bites — one of which tested positive for Lyme — she assumed her insurance would cover the visit. Instead, Anthem denied the claim because she hadn’t obtained prior authorization.

“This was all they would say, over and over again: that it lacked prior authorization,” she said.

After appeals, she paid $238 out-of-pocket before the insurer eventually reversed course. Her case highlights how prior authorization is increasingly delaying or blocking even routine and necessary medical care.

Click the link below to read the full story.

Leah Kovitch was pulling invasive plants in the meadow near her home one weekend in late April when a tick latched onto her leg. She didn’t notice the tiny bug until Monday, when her calf muscle began to feel sore. She made an appointment that morning with a telehealth doctor — one recommended b...

Sen. Susan Collins recently accepted an award from a group that has pushed to privatize Social Security and end ACA subs...
24/11/2025

Sen. Susan Collins recently accepted an award from a group that has pushed to privatize Social Security and end ACA subsidies, even as Maine faces major cuts to health care and assistance programs.

The 60 Plus Association has supported the Trump administration's cuts that cost Maine billions in Medicaid funding and leave tens of thousands with reduced access to health care, heating assistance and food programs.

Click the link below to read more.

Sen. Susan Collins recently accepted an award from the 60 Plus Association, a group that has pushed privatizing Social Security and Medicare, eliminating Affordable Care Act subsidies and defended the Trump administration’s cuts to health care and food assistance. On Nov. 19, the 60 Plus Associat

A new report from Defend America Action warns that President Donald Trump’s budget and economic policies are making Main...
21/11/2025

A new report from Defend America Action warns that President Donald Trump’s budget and economic policies are making Maine’s affordability crisis worse. Lawmakers point to rising prices for groceries, energy, housing and health care, while wages in Maine grow more slowly than the national average.

The report was signed by Rep. Gary Friedmann, Rep. Marc Malon, Rep. Amy Roeder and Senate President Rachel Talbot Ross, who write that “Trump and Republicans in Congress have worked feverishly to obliterate the economic security of millions across the country – and working families are the ones paying the price for their reckless incompetence and determination to reward their rich and powerful friends at the expense of everyone else.”

Click the link below to read the full story.

A new report from Defend America Action warns that Pres. Donald Trump’s economic and budget policies are deepening Maine’s affordability crisis as costs continue to rise across the state. Rep. Gary Friedmann, Rep. Marc Malon, Rep. Amy Roeder, and Senate President Rachel Talbot Ross all signed th...

Mainers showed up at all six of Sen. Susan Collins’ district offices Thursday morning to urge her to support restoring e...
20/11/2025

Mainers showed up at all six of Sen. Susan Collins’ district offices Thursday morning to urge her to support restoring enhanced ACA premium tax credits, which are set to expire in January. If Congress doesn’t act, premiums on the individual marketplace could spike next year — costing Mainers at least $100 million.

Jonathan Haines, a retired nurse, visited Collins’ office in Biddeford to share a message with her: People die without health care coverage.

“Anything that blocks people from getting health care when they need it could cost them their lives,” Haines said. “I’ve seen it as a nurse, and so that’s why I’m here today.”

Click the link below to read the full story.

Mainers visited all six of Sen. Susan Collins’ district offices Thursday morning to press her to support reinstating enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which are set to expire in January. They visited Collins’ offices in Augusta, Bangor, Biddeford, Caribou, Lewiston and Portland t...

Former GOP state Rep. Larry Lockman is telling Republicans to stop spending money on ballot initiatives, and Opinion col...
20/11/2025

Former GOP state Rep. Larry Lockman is telling Republicans to stop spending money on ballot initiatives, and Opinion columnist Ethan Strimling agrees with him.

"I think we’d be back to disagreeing, though, when it comes to the reason," Ethan writes. "He’d say it’s tactical. I’d say it’s because Republican positions on most issues are just not in line with what most Mainers want."

For more than two decades, Republican-led referendums — from voter ID to attempts to restrict abortion rights — have largely failed, while progressive initiatives have repeatedly passed at both the state and local levels.

Click the link below to read Ethan's full column!

I don’t agree with uber right-wing former GOP state Rep. Larry Lockman about much. But sometimes, unlikely things happen. Like recently, when Lockman — who has a long history of homophobic, misogynist, and xenophobic activism — went on the Conservative talk radio station WVOM to advise his par...

Central Maine Power’s proposal to raise rates by $420 a year over five years has been thrown out by the Maine Public Uti...
19/11/2025

Central Maine Power’s proposal to raise rates by $420 a year over five years has been thrown out by the Maine Public Utilities Commission — the first time the agency has ever fully dismissed such a request.

Commission chair Phil Bartlett said the PUC’s decision reflects the difficult moment utilities, customers and policymakers are facing. “We really are at sort of an inflection point in the state of Maine and this rate case is sort of hitting at that time,” he said.

Click the link below to read the full story!

Central Maine Power’s push for a major price hike for energy distribution came to an end Tuesday when the Maine Public Utilities Commission dismissed the case. This is the first time the agency has fully rejected such a proposal. Commission chair Phil Bartlett said the PUC’s decision reflects

Nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital launched a two-day strike Tuesday morning, saying chronic understaffing and stalled ...
18/11/2025

Nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital launched a two-day strike Tuesday morning, saying chronic understaffing and stalled bargaining are jeopardizing patient care. The action follows the shutdown of the hospital’s labor and delivery unit and ongoing concerns about rising workloads.

“Short staffing remains a critical challenge within our hospital,” said Brooke Howland, an RN in the Acute Care Unit. “The emergency department, operating room, and acute care units are the foundation of patient care in our community. Each of these departments must be adequately staffed to ensure the delivery of safe, high-quality care.”`

Click the link below to read the full story!

Nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital began a two-day strike early Tuesday morning. The nurses say chronic understaffing and stalled contract negotiations have left both patients and staff at risk, said Erin Mitchell, an RN in the hospital’s Emergency Department. Mitchell said the hospital is aski

Maine business owners say the state’s housing shortage is making it harder than ever to stay staffed, especially in rest...
17/11/2025

Maine business owners say the state’s housing shortage is making it harder than ever to stay staffed, especially in restaurants. Workers are struggling to find places they can afford, and owners say it’s reshaping the industry.

In Thomaston, Malcolm Bedell hoped to grow Honey’s Fried Chicken Palace into a statewide chain, but ran into the same issue many others face: “Who’s going to run it?”

Click the link below to read the full story. Originally published by The Maine Monitor.

When Malcolm Bedell opened Honey’s Fried Chicken Palace in Thomaston last year, he had dreams of bringing the restaurant to locations across the state. But one question is stopping him from moving forward: “Who’s going to run it?” Bedell and other employers throughout Maine say they’re str...

If Graham Platner makes it to the general election, he’ll be running as a Democrat trying to win over many Mainers who’v...
14/11/2025

If Graham Platner makes it to the general election, he’ll be running as a Democrat trying to win over many Mainers who’ve been voting solidly Republican for years. That’s a steep climb, but his message is landing for a reason, says political scientist and Colby College professor, Nicolas Jacobs.

“The economic populism he’s advancing speaks directly to the material frustrations many rural residents express – frustration with corporate consolidation, rising costs and the feeling that prosperity never reaches their communities,” Jacobs writes.

Whether Platner ultimately wins or loses, his campaign poses a larger question for Democrats: Can the party do more than project rural authenticity and learn to hear the communities it has struggled to reach?

Read Jacobs' full piece below!

Every few years, Democrats try to convince themselves they’ve found the one – a candidate who can finally speak fluent rural, who looks and sounds like the voters they’ve lost. In 2024, that hope was pinned on Tim Walz, the flannel-wearing, “Midwestern nice” governor whose small-town roots...

Gov. Janet Mills’ long-steady approval ratings have taken a steep downturn — and the biggest shift is coming from within...
14/11/2025

Gov. Janet Mills’ long-steady approval ratings have taken a steep downturn — and the biggest shift is coming from within her own party, Opinion columnist Ethan Strimling writes. New polling shows her support among Democrats has dropped more than 20 points since June.

Two issues are driving the frustration: her silence on Trump’s ICE raids in Maine and her resistance to stronger gun safety laws after Lewiston.

"This past June, the legislature sent Mills a bill, sponsored by Rep. Deqa Delac (D-South Portland), one of only two immigrants serving in the Maine legislature," Ethan writes. "The bill would block any Maine cop from assisting ICE in these kidnappings. Unconscionably, she has refused to sign it."

Click the link below to read Ethan's full column!

Gov. Janet Mills has a popularity problem. And not just with some Republicans who have, shall we say, disliked her for years. No, this problem is with her base. Here’s the story: In June, Gov. Janet Mills was soaring with 55% job approval (+11) including 90% among Democrats. Undoubtedly those nu

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