JAY — The Brett M. Staples Brain Disorder Awareness Coalition convened community leaders and healthcare professionals July 23 to promote understanding and advocacy around serious brain disorders in Maine.

The Maine Legislature largely opted to maintain the status quo regarding campaign finance regulations this year, rejecting attempts to expand clean elections, require more transparency into who is spending in elections and ban direct corporate contributions to candidates.  

The most common reasons cited by lawmakers, who voted down many of these bills in committee before the proposals even reached the chambers, were the tight budget year and that the plans didn’t get to the root causes of money in politics.

State Sen. Rick Bennett announced Tuesday that he's unenrolling from the Republican party to run for governor as an independent, an entry that could shake up the 2026 contest for the Democratic and Republican nominees next year.

Nineteen-thousand Mainers experience sexual violence every year, but Maine still does not have a statewide rape kit tracking system.

The Republican lawmaker from Oxford intends to run as an independent candidate for Maine governor in the 2026 election.

State Sen. Rick Bennett announced Tuesday that he's unenrolling from the Republican party to run for governor as an independent, an entry that could shake up the 2026 contest for the Democratic and Republican nominees next year.

After decades of public service as a Republican, state Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford announced on Tuesday that he is running for governor as an independent.