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Our court system has showed signs of strain recently.

More than 650 people charged with crimes in Maine were waiting to be provided with an attorney as of July 3, per a recent story by The Maine Monitor's Josh Keefe. 

A backlogged court system can infringe on our constitutional rights, as well as lead to unsafe overcrowding in jails or expensive prisoner transports between facilities. 

Judges can respond to Sixth Amendment issues by reducing bail to allow a defendant to be released, but that can risk public safety.

The difficulty in making these decisions was highlighted in the debates that followed the shootout in Auburn last month that involved a man that had been released on reduced bail after he had gone more than two weeks without a lawyer.

Gov. Janet Mills, who criticized the judge's decision in that case, noted “there are simply not enough rostered attorneys” available to serve as public defenders.

The state has begun standing up public defender offices, but until there are enough lawyers to meet the need of our court system, we're going to continue to need to walk the fine line between maintaining our rights and public safety.

A law passed last year made assault in an emergency room a felony. Did it help curb violence?

A year-old law seems to have done little to curb a surge in violence against healthcare workers that began during the pandemic, despite increasing charges for assaults on nonmedical staff – such as custodial, security or administrative workers – who are providing emergency medical care. 

Read this story by Alexa Foust of The Maine Monitor.

While The Maine Monitor does not place its content behind paywalls, some newsrooms we link to in this newsletter may. 

Federal court documents have provided more information on the nature of the dozens of marijuana grow operations that police have been raiding across the state. | Bangor Daily News

Maine has no testing requirement for medical cannabis. Public health advocates want that to change. | The Maine Monitor

Rumford is seeking to replace three culverts that have a history of washing out, using $1.5 million from a state fund aimed at improving climate resiliency. | Rumford Falls Times

The police chief in the town of Paris has resigned after being on administrative leave following a May 6 incident in which a suspect stole a police pickup truck while the chief was transporting him to jail. | Advertiser Democrat

Franklin County highways washed out by flash flooding | WGME

Canton residents approved a $1.2 million budget at their annual town meeting last week, in addition to a new solar power ordinance that would limit large farms. | Rumford Falls Times

An appeals board has approved the use of an out-of-state book delivery service which should allow hundreds of local libraries to once again deliver material via inter-library loans. | Portland Press Herald

The mayor of Hallowell apologized for comments he made regarding the “militancy” of the local Pride Alliance in a secretly-recorded conversation that was posted to social media. | Kennebec Journal

Lewiston voters approved a school district budget on a third attempt. | Sun Journal

The Maine Forestry Museum will add several new members to the Logging Hall of Fame as it kicks off the 43rd annual Logging Festival this weekend. | The Irregular 

Know of a story that we should be digging into? Send it to our newsroom. 

The Maine Monitor is a publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism. We believe news is a public good and keep our news free to access. We have no paywall and do not charge for our newsletters. If you value the reporting we do for Maine, please consider making a donation! We cannot do this reporting without your support.