All five directors of Legalize Maine have donated to House Minority Leader Ken Fredette’s campaign. Their positions on marijuana policy sometimes mesh, but he says he’s not doing the group’s bidding.
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, Local & State, News, Politics
Medical marijuana sales, caregivers and patient numbers decline
Caregivers and dispensary owners blame the ‘gray market’ caused by Maine’s emerging adult-use market for the first decline in the state’s medical marijuana industry since it began nearly 7 years ago.
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Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Politics
Maine lawmakers won’t extend moratorium on pot sales, but it’s still not for sale
Absent the state infrastructure to license retail pot, the move will have little impact on towns, a committee co-chair says.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Politics
LePage agrees to delay new, more restrictive medical marijuana rules
The governor wants to give a committee more time to resolve deficiencies in the program before implementing new caregiver and processor regulations.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
Panel votes to put new medical pot rules on hold until July
That would allow lawmakers to consider another bill that could nullify what some critics consider overly restrictive rules on medical marijuana growing and processing that could damage the industry.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Politics
LePage likely to veto bill to extend pot sales moratorium – and seek longer delay
House Minority Leader Ken Fredette says the proposed April 18 target date doesn’t allow enough time to write market rules, and he and the governor want the moratorium to last until January 2019.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Science
Gulf of Maine lobster population past its peak, study says, and a big drop is due
Scientists say warming waters in the Gulf of Maine will lower lobster populations 40 to 62 percent over the next 30 years, but conservation measures the state adopted decades ago will mitigate the impact.
Posted inLife & Culture, Local & State, News
Dinosaurs extinct? Nah, they’re dancing the conga in Monument Square
About three dozen people donning T. rex costumes attend the planned event and catch the attention of more than 100 onlookers.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Politics
Legislative panels vote to extend ban on adult-use pot, delay medical rules
If approved by the Legislature and Gov. LePage, one bill would push recreational marijuana back till April 18 and the other would delay new medical cannabis rules by DHHS.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Politics
Two marijuana caregivers sue Maine agency in effort to block new regulations
Operators of a medical marijuana shop in Belfast allege that the rules will violate patient privacy and allow unconstitutional searches.