Hot-button issues like abortion and gun control have taken a back seat to the economic concerns that affect respondents’ lives on a daily basis.
Penelope Overton
Staff Writer
Penny Overton is excited to be the Portland Press Herald’s first climate reporter. Since joining the paper in 2016, she has written about Maine’s lobster and cannabis industries, covered state politics and spent a fellowship year exploring the impact of climate change on the lobster fishery with the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team. Before moving to Maine, she has covered politics, environment, casino gambling and tribal issues in Florida, Connecticut, and Arizona. Her favorite assignments allow her to introduce readers to unusual people, cultures, or subjects. When off the clock, Penny is usually getting lost in a new book at a local coffeehouse, watching foreign crime shows or planning her family’s next adventure.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Grants for Kennebago preservation project on hold over lack of public access
The Rangeley Heritage Land Trust will have two years to secure deeded public access or it will lose $1.7 million to protect thousands of acres along the Kennebago River.
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Posted inLocal & State
Massive algae bloom in Gulf of Maine mystifies, worries scientists
Researchers say this kind of algae does not produce harmful toxins, but they worry its eventual die-off could lead to low oxygen levels that have preceded large fish and shellfish kills in other areas.
Posted inLocal & State
Research at Baxter seeks to identify plants that will adapt to global warming
Scientists say sediment taken from below Chimney Pond, and other Alpine lakes in the Northeast, will yield a fossil record of the plants – those that have died out and those that have survived – since the last ice age.
Posted inLocal & State, News
UMaine professor’s computer model tells the story of Earth’s changing climate
Recent news coverage of the planet’s record-breaking heat wave relied on the online climate visualization tool developed Sean Birkel, who is also the state climatologist.
Posted inLocal & State
Large turnout in Augusta for contentious hearing on clean car and truck mandate
More than 150 people gathered for the forum to argue about whether Maine should adopt California-style electric vehicle standards.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State
What has the Inflation Reduction Act done for Maine’s climate so far?
The biggest benefits provided to Mainers by the landmark law so far are the federal electric vehicle and heat pump tax credits that became available in January.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Maine’s salt marshes play key role in fight against climate change, new report says
The state has at least 84 square miles of blue carbon reservoirs, which store at least 1.7 million tons of carbon in the soil and vegetation. That much carbon is equal to the annual emissions of 1.25 million passenger cars.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics
Opponents of Maine law expanding abortion access won’t try to overturn it at ballot box
Wednesday was the deadline for initiating a so-called people’s veto initiative. Opponents say they will instead focus on electing anti-abortion lawmakers in 2024.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Maine sludge crisis is over – for 2 years, at least
A temporary compromise reached by lawmakers means Maine communities are once again burying sewage sludge in the state-owned landfill at Juniper Ridge near Old Town, and don’t have to pay extra to haul the waste to New Brunswick, Canada.