By Lauren McCauley | Editor
“More Americans are turning to unions as a bulwark against the rising cost of living, and more public sector workers turned towards unions last year in the wake of some federal actions and federal headwinds.” - Frank Manzo IV, an economist at the left-leaning Illinois Economic Policy Institute, on the state of organized labor in the U.S.
Independent gubernatorial candidate Rick Bennett at the Health Care for Maine conference on Sept. 3, 2026. (Photo by Eesha Pendharkar/Maine Morning Star)
HEALTHCARE
By Eesha Pendharkar
Maine’s three gubernatorial candidates acknowledge that Mainers are having trouble accessing and paying for healthcare. Their solutions to fix that problem are starkly different.
LABOR
By Kevin Hardy, Stateline
Labor union membership continues to climb in the United States, though the increase remains sharply divided by the politics of individual states.
ELECTION 2026
By Emma Davis
After some sparring, both candidates in Maine’s U.S. Senate race have agreed to a series of debates slated throughout October, though the formats have yet to be solidified.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Developers eye Native nations, tribal communities for new data center projects | Madyson Fitzgerald, Stateline
U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff down more than a third nationwide | Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Captital Chronicle
As the Trump administration dismantles Temporary Protected Status, Salvadorans may be next | Ariana Figueroa, States Newsroom
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow Postal Service vote-by-mail rule | Jacob Fischler, States Newsroom
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