Three-year-old Hailey Goding overdosed on her mother’s drugs after state caseworkers had investigated a previous report of drug exposure.
Randy Billings
Staff Writer
Randy Billings is a government watchdog and political reporter who has been the State House bureau chief since 2021. He was named the Maine Press Association’s Journalist of the Year in 2020. He joined the Press Herald in 2012 as the Portland City Hall reporter, where his beat touched on a wide range of topics, including municipal government, immigration, homelessness, housing and social services. Prior to that, he worked at various weeklies as well as business and arts publications. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine, Orono. He lives in North Yarmouth with his wife and two children and enjoys the outdoors and playing his upright bass.
Posted inLocal & State
Lawmakers launch financial probe of Maine Veterans’ Homes
The director of the state’s nonpartisan watchdog agency said he received a whistleblower complaint from someone in a position to know about financial problems, but no details were disclosed.
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Posted inLocal & State, Politics
State finds $2.6 million to boost pay for lawyers who represent indigent defendants
The Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services says it will increase its reimbursement rate from $80 an hour to $150 an hour after state officials realized money to pay attorneys had not been carried over from an “orphaned” account it last used in 2019.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Maine officials believed relief checks were tax exempt – but never asked the IRS
Lawmakers who negotiated the payments say they believed the pandemic-era aid would be tax-free, but a Maine Revenue Service official says no such assurance was made.
Posted inLocal & State
Committee endorses bill to enhance information sharing about potential criminal activity by police officers
The bill would require a prospective employer to report any suspected or confirmed criminal activity uncovered during a police officer’s background investigation or polygraph exam to the applicant’s current employer.
Posted inLocal & State, Nation & World, Politics
Maine lawmakers renew push for faster work permits for asylum seekers
Efforts dating to 2015 have failed to gain traction in Congress, stalling in the polarized debates over immigration reform and border security.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Maine House speaker strips committee assignment of indicted Democrat
Rep. Clinton E. Collamore Sr. has faced calls to resign since being indicted in December on multiple counts of aggravated forgery, unsworn falsification and violations of the Clean Election Act.
Posted inLocal & State
Gov. Mills nominates York County judge for seat on state’s top court
Superior Court Justice Wayne R. Douglas of Old Orchard Beach previously served as former Gov. Angus King’s chief legal adviser before becoming a judge in 2002.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Maine AG investigating petition drive alleged to be ‘rife with fraud’
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told lawmakers that she referred a case to the attorney general involving a rejected 2022 citizens initiative intended to prohibit noncitizens from voting.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Maine begins mailing $450 relief checks
The Mills administration says it plans to mail out 200,000 a week, and that the ‘vast majority’ of the 880,000 eligible taxpayers should receive them by the end of March.