The Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center re-launches Maine Policy Matters Podcast September 16, 2022 The Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine re-launched their podcast “Maine Policy Matters” on Sept. 6. This season of Maine Policy Matters will feature essays, research and interviews on timely topics relevant to Maine to make public […]
Read more
In this second episode of Maine Policy Matters Season 2, Eric Miller interviews Amanda Rector, the Maine state economist since 2011. Rector describes what it was like to be the state economist during the pandemic, how things turned out compared to how she originally thought they would turn out, the effects from the federal response […]
Read more
What’s a state economist to do in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic? When everyone is asking for answers, but they are hard to find? In this episode of Maine Policy Matters, Amanda Rector, the Maine state economist since 2011, shares her thoughts on the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic’s economic […]
Read more
Maine Policy Review’s special issue examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maine is now available in both print and on MPR’s Digital Commons site. A brief look at this issue is available on MPR’s website. The articles in MPR, Vol. 30, No. 2, fall into three broad categories. Several articles examine the measurable […]
Read more
Maine Trail Use During COVID-19: Project Summary Kathryn Ballingall, Research Associate, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, UMaine Kathleen Bell, Professor, School of Economics, UMaine Maine, like many states, lacks detailed and consistent trail usage data. Trail usage data are critical to making informed decisions about investments in new trails and the maintenance and management of […]
Read more
The Road Salt in Maine: An Assessment of Practices, Impacts and Safety report presents the results from a research project by a team from the University of Maine, in cooperation with the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), that examines the use of road salt in Maine for winter travel safety. It summarizes winter maintenance practices, […]
Read more
The first issue of Maine Policy Review, Volume 30, presenting articles on a range of issues affecting Maine, is now available on MPR’s Digital Commons site. A brief look at this issue is available on MPR’s website. The new issue starts off with the Margaret Chase Smith Essay by Richard Barringer in which he discusses […]
Read more
Maine Policy Review is planning a special issue that will examine Maine’s experience of, and response to, the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis on information that might prove useful to Maine policymakers. The scope of potential topics is large and includes, but is in no way limited to, the following: economic impacts including effects on […]
Read more
by Anna Kellar What does it mean to be an organization called the League of Women Voters in 2022, when the ideas of community action, feminist politics, and voting are each hotly contested? We are a league because we believe in collective action, in community, and in the power of people coming together to solve […]
Read more
by Amanda Rector I remember very clearly the last days I spent in my Augusta office before the COVID-19 pandemic had me working from home. The last in-person meeting I spoke at was awkward as we tried to figure out the social dynamics: do we shake hands? Elbow bump? Wave from a safe distance? I […]
Read more