Since Maine legalized marijuana, more and more pipemakers are openly plying their trade even though a strict interpretation of federal statute still deems their wares illegal to sell.
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 inBusiness, Life & Culture, Local & State, News
Warned of legal concerns, organizers cancel cannabis food fair in Gray
The Cultivator Country Fair was to feature Maine chefs working with medical marijuana, but state inspectors said including non-medical participants would violate Maine law.
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Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
For Maine’s marijuana industry, security’s still high-risk
Largely shut out of federally regulated banking options, the lucrative medical pot marketplace in Maine – ‘a very soft target’ – presents some safety challenges for dispensaries, caregivers and growers in a field with few protections in place.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
Former Maine drug agent steps into an unlikely role
The security consultant and courier is still fighting crime – but now it’s from inside the legal marijuana industry.
Posted inLife & Culture, Local & State, News
Transgender advocates adopt lobster emoji
In the meantime, they are pushing an online petition for their own pink-and-blue emoji.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State
Large pogy catch good news for lobstermen who feared bait shortage
The amount of bait fish landed this year was twice last year’s haul, reassuring lobstermen that they should be able to avert a bait shortage.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
Depleted stock sinks Maine’s bid to increase its fishing quota for lucrative baby eels
Regulators deny the request in a 13-5 vote, but praise the state’s efforts to stick to its cap on the catch and also agree to extra landings for a new aquaculture center.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
Some lobster exporters are feeling pinch of Chinese tariff
The effects of losing a key market ripple through the industry – and could worsen – but Maine’s other lobstering sectors are riding high.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
Caught up in tariff, lobster industry faces new threat: Higher trap prices
The extra tax on imported raw steel raises the cost of wire mesh for manufacturers, which haven’t passed it on to fishermen – yet.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State
Those lobster license plates are supporting $340,000 in research on vital industry
The grants will be used to assess and support the state’s most valuable fishery amid changes in the ecosystem.