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Kaci Hickox, a nurse who treated Ebola patients and threatened to sue New Jersey over being quarantined before she was discharged, today threatened to sue Maine if officials there do not lift a 21-day quarantine restriction. “I will go to court to attain my freedom,” Hickox told “Good Morning America" today via Skype from her hometown of Fort Kent, Maine. “I have been completely asymptomatic since I’ve been here. I feel absolutely great.” Maine's health commissioner said Tuesday night the state will "pursue legal authority if necessary" to keep her quarantined. Hickox, 29, arrived at Fort Kent Monday, but is...

Kaci Hickox, the nurse who was quarantined at a New Jersey hospital despite exhibiting no Ebola symptoms after arriving from West Africa, won't follow the quarantine imposed by Maine officials, her attorney said tonight. "Going forward she does not intend to abide by the quarantine imposed by Maine officials because she is not a risk to others," her attorney Steven Hyman said. "She is asymptomatic and under all the protocols cannot be deemed a medical risk of being contagious to anyone." ... Maine requires that health care workers such as Hickox who return to the state from West Africa will...

Ebola health care worker Kaci Hickox, who was released from quarantine with the support of the White House, is a Centers For Disease Control and Prevention employee, records reveal. The lawyer who helped earn her release is a recent White House state dinner guest.Hickox was released from Ebola quarantine in Newark, N.J., Monday afternoon after the White House pressured New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to release the nurse that was working in Sierra Leone with Doctors Without Borders. Hickox’s case for release was also bolstered by New York civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who took on Hickox’s case.“I feel like...

Health officials said Tuesday they're prepared to legally enforce the state's "voluntary" quarantine on health care workers who've treated Ebola patients. Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew declined during a news conference to comment specifically on the case of nurse Kaci Hickox, who was confined against her will at a New Jersey hospital before traveling home to Maine. But Mayhew said her department and the attorney general's office were prepared to take legal steps to enforce a quarantine if someone declines to cooperate. "We do not want to have to legally enforce in-home quarantine," she said. "We're...

Attorneys for a nurse released from isolation in New Jersey after returning to the U.S. from West Africa say she will not comply with Maine health officials’ requirements that she remain under quarantine at home for 21 days. Kaci Hickox, who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and shows no symptoms of the virus, agreed to refrain from going out in public for two days only, said Steven Hyman of the New York law firm McLaughlin & Stern. She traveled to Maine on Monday after her release from a New Jersey hospital, where she was isolated against her will. “She...

The nurse who was confined against her will at a New Jersey hospital after treating Ebola patients in West Africa is seeking time to decompress at an undisclosed location in Maine, her lawyer said Tuesday. Kaci Hickox's partner, a nursing student, has opted to stay away from the University of Maine at Fort Kent to be with her, a university official said. His off-campus home showed no sign of activity Tuesday. "At this point, he has made a decision he has decided to take a break from campus," said Ray Phinney, associate dean of student life and development. "We don't...

A nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa before being briefly and controversially quarantined in New Jersey could be the focus of a new battle over state health policy as she returns to her home state of Maine. Kaci Hickox left a Newark hospital on Monday and was expected to arrive in the northern Maine town of Fort Kent early Tuesday. Maine health officials have already announced that Hickox is expected to comply with a 21-day voluntary in-home quarantine put in place by the state's governor, Paul LePage. However, one of Hickox's lawyers, Steve Hyman, said he expected her...

Maine’s Republican governor, Paul LePage, has opened up a 10-point lead over his Democratic challenger, Representative Michael H. Michaud, according to new poll released Sunday for The Maine Sunday Telegram/Portland Press Herald. Mr. LePage’s 45-to-35-percent lead is outside the poll’s margin of sampling error and has struck fear in the hearts of Democrats. Previous polls had shown the race a dead heat between Mr. LePage and Mr. Michaud. A third candidate, Eliot Cutler, an independent, continues to trail, with the new poll giving him 16 percentage points. The poll has led Maine Democrats to turn up the heat on Mr....

An analysis was conducted by a team of reporters and data researchers to rate the success of the Affordable Care Act after being in place for more than a year now. It was found that the act has been a success at least in terms of fulfilling the main promises made by President Obama.... The reform has been able to...bring down the cost of health care.

I live in Wisconsin, which according to Mary Burke Democrat candidate for governor is dead last in the Midwest for job growth. ((Its a flat out lie, Walker has really turned job growth around and says Wisconsin is 4th in the Midwest for job growth. I work a lot in Illinois which according to Illinois Policy and the Illinois GOP is dead last in the country for job growth. This is also advertised on political radio ads. http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/01/23/uncategorized/brendanbond/illinois-predicted-dead-last-job-growth-2014/5012/ But when I binged it, the GOP Minnesota gubernatorial candidate also says Minnesota is dead last in job growth. http://johnsonforgovernor.org/jeff-johnson-issues-statement-minnesota-dead-last-midwest-private-sector-job-creation/#.VEsGgcai1g2 I thought...

PORTLAND (WGME) -- Maine Medical Center says a patient is currently being held at the request of the CDC for observation as a precautionary step, but says the hospital does not have a confirmed case of Ebola.

Ever since Mitt Romney's "47 percent" disaster-gaffe in 2012, national Republicans have tried to shirk their image as welfare-hating, green eyeshade–wearing budget choppers. Even Paul Ryan, the former head of the congressional Ayn Rand fan club, now talks about expanding the scope of welfare programs to return more of their dependents into productive workers. But Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), himself the product of a poor and disordered childhood, is not following the national herd. He's promising more cuts, and not exactly masking his rationale. Last year, he even took up the 47 percent number, saying "about 47 percent of...

Republican Governor Paul LePage has pulled ahead of Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud by one point in Maine's gubernatorial race. LePage picks up 41% of the vote to Michaud's 40% in a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Maine Voters. Independent Eliot Cutler is in a distant third with 16% of the vote. One percent (1%) prefer another candidate in the race, while three percent (3%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or...

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) thinks it's time for Republicans to let go of their efforts to repeal Obamacare. Speaking to an NBC affiliate in Portland on Thursday, Collins argued that the GOP has missed its chance to get rid of the health care law entirely. She noticeably did not say whether she would vote to repeal or defund Obamacare, despite being asked. "You know at this point, I think we’re past that," Collins said. "I think it would’ve been much better if there’d been a bipartisan bill crafted in 2008 that had provisions that both parties could agree on, such...

Federal funding for honor guards at military funerals in Minnesota has been cut. KSTP sister station WDIO-TV reports instead of supporting 5,000 military funerals each year, only 3,000 funerals will be supported. Funerals held at Camp Ripley, Fort Snelling and a new veterans cemetery in Preston will get priority. John Marshall, captain of the Duluth Honor Guard, says that means some veterans in the Duluth area will likely miss out on having the two active duty military personnel at their funeral. “The federal government reneged on its promise to supplement two active military soldiers at all military funerals,” Marshall told...

Michelle Obama joined a campaign rally for a pro-abortion Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the state of Maine. She did not use the word abortion but said this, “And if we don’t show up at the polls this November, if we don’t elect leaders like Mike who will put people first instead of just fighting for special interests, then we know exactly what will happen. We will see more folks interfering in women’s private decisions about our health care. We’ll see more opposition to raising the minimum wage and ensuring access to health care for hard-working folks.” Justmichelleobama4 before saying this,...

Cutler, LePage and Michaud face off for first debate in Portland By Darren Fishell, BDN Staff Posted Oct. 08, 2014, at 6:35 a.m. PORTLAND, Maine — The three major contenders for the Blaine House had their first debate Wednesday morning in an event hosted by the Portland Regional Chamber. Wednesday marks the first time the three candidates have appeared together and addressed each other in person during the campaign. The three are scheduled to debate four more times during the next two weeks, including Thursday morning in Waterville. Just when the candidates would take the stage together and how often...

AUGUSTA — Lawmakers on the Education Committee split along party lines Friday in rejecting the governor’s nomination of conservative blogger Susan Dench of Falmouth to the University of Maine System board of trustees. “I think they value partisanship over diversity of opinion,” Dench said after the 8-6 vote. Democrats on the committee questioned her writings and positions on social and educational issues, and heard testimony from one speaker who accused Dench of plagiarism, an allegation Dench denied. ... One speaker at Friday’s hearing, the chairwoman of the English department at the University of Southern Maine, said Dench had plagiarized long...

Throughout her political career, including during her current race against former GOP Sen. Scott Brown, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) has touted her experience as a small business owner. Shaheen’s small business “experience” was co-running a store that once sold thousands of dollars-worth of stolen jewelry. “As the former owner and manager of a small retail business, Senator Shaheen knows what it’s like to worry about meeting payroll and inventory costs to keep a business going,” the Issues section of her Senate website declares. Her Senate biography also describes her as a “former small business owner.” This week, the Shaheen...

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud supports the position of allowing illegal immigrants to continue to receive welfare in Maine. Michaud, a U.S. congressman who has represented Maine’s 2nd district since 2003, is in line with state Senator Eloise Vitelli, who recently said illegal aliens are entitled to taxpayer-funded benefits.In June, Republican Governor of Maine Paul LePage issued a directive for local governments to stop providing welfare to illegal immigrants, or face having their state funding withdrawn.At the time Rep. Michaud said he agreed with cities like Portland, Maine, which vowed to defy the Governor’s order, and continue allowing illegal aliens...