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Maine Policy Institute
The Maine Policy Institute, formerly the Maine Heritage Policy Center, is a conservative free-market think tank located in Portland, Maine. According to its mission statement, the Maine Policy Institute is "nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that conducts detailed and timely research to educate the public, the media, and lawmakers about public policy solutions that advance economic freedom and individual liberty in Maine." The organization has an associated media outlet, ''The Maine Wire.'' Leadership Matthew Gagnon is the CEO of Maine Policy Institute. The board includes Peter Anania, Timothy J. Bryant, W. R. Jackson, Jr., Jeff Kane, James Ward, Thomas Connolly, Laurence Rubinstein, Susan Dench, Jason Oney, Scott Wellman, Neal Freeman, and Jinger Duryea. Activities In 2006, Maine Policy Institute was prominently involved in the unsuccessful campaign for the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Maine. In August 2011, Maine Policy Institute and the Maine chapter of Americans fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Gagnon
Matthew Owen Gagnon (born December 10, 1980) is an American think tank executive, political strategist and writer from Maine. He is the chief executive officer of the Maine Policy Institute, a free market think tank based in Portland, Maine. He previously was the director of digital strategy for the Republican Governors Association. Gagnon is a columnist for the ''Bangor Daily News'', writing about Maine and national politics for the paper since August 2011, and is also currently the host of the morning show on Portland's largest talk-radio station, WGAN. Early life and education Gagnon grew up in Hampden, Maine, a suburb of Bangor, Maine, Bangor in Penobscot County, Maine. After graduating from Hampden Academy, he went on to pursue a degree in political science at the University of Maine. While there, he became active in campus politics, joining the student government and becoming Chairman of the University of Maine College Republicans. He later served as the President of the Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washington County, Maine
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2010 census, its population was 31,095, making it the third-least populous county in Maine. Its county seat is Machias. The county was established on June 25, 1789. It borders the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It is sometimes referred to as "Sunrise County" because it includes the easternmost point in the 48 contiguous United States. Claims have been made that Washington County is where the sun first rises on the 48 contiguous states. Many small seaside communities have small-scale fishing-based economies. Tourism is also important along the county's shoreline, but it is not as important as elsewhere in the state. The blueberry crop plays a major role in the county's economy. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (21%) is water. Adjacent counties * Hancock County – southwest * Aroostook County – northwest * Penobscot Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conservative Organizations In The United States
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in which it appears. In Western culture, conservatives seek to preserve a range of institutions such as organized religion, parliamentary government, and property rights. Conservatives tend to favor institutions and practices that guarantee stability and evolved gradually. Adherents of conservatism often oppose modernism and seek a return to traditional values, though different groups of conservatives may choose different traditional values to preserve. The first established use of the term in a political context originated in 1818 with François-René de Chateaubriand during the period of Bourbon Restoration that sought to roll back the policies of the French Revolution. Historically associated with right-wing politics, the term has since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Institute
The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that carries out economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations and private donors. The Urban Institute measures policy effects, compares options, shows which stakeholders get the most and least, tests conventional wisdom, reveals trends, and makes costs, benefits, and risks explicit. The Urban Institute has been referred to as "nonpartisan", "liberal", and "left-leaning". In 2020, the Urban Institute co-hosted the second annual Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference for Economics and Related Fields with The Sadie Collective in Washington, D.C. History and funding The Urban Institute was established in 1968 by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to study the nation's urban problems and evaluate the Great Society initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years. Johnson hand-selected we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Center For Charitable Statistics
The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) is a clearing house for information about the nonprofit sector of the U.S. economy. The National Center for Charitable Statistics builds national, state, and regional databases and develops standards for reporting on the activities of all tax-exempt organizations. Services The National Center for Charitable Statistics collects data on charities in the U.S. and shares this data with the public. The National Center for Charitable Statistics maintains a free online directory of charities, listed by mission and location. When the Electronic Data Initiative for Nonprofits Coalition was formed in 2002, the National Center for Charitable Statistics advised the group in furtherance of the goal of integrated federal and state electronic reporting and dissemination of data on nonprofit organizations. GuideStar works with the National Center for Charitable Statistics to get each Form 990 filed by a nonprofit organization online and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instant-runoff Voting
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the United States (although there are other forms of ranked voting), preferential voting in Australia, where it has seen the widest adoption; in the United Kingdom, it is generally called alternative vote (AV), whereas in some other countries it is referred to as the single transferable vote, which usually means only its multi-winner variant. All these names are often used inconsistently. Voters in IRV elections rank the candidates in order of preference. Ballots are initially counted for each voter's top choice. If a candidate has more than half of the first-choice votes, that candidate wins. If not, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the voters who selected the defeated candidate as a first choice then have their vot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Right-to-work Law
In the context of labor law in the United States, the term "right-to-work laws" refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions which require employees who are not union members to contribute to the costs of union representation. Unlike the right to work definition as a human right in international law, U.S. right-to-work laws do not aim to provide a general guarantee of employment to people seeking work but rather guarantee an employee's choice of being a member of and financially supporting collective bargaining organizations (i.e. labor unions). The 1947 federal Taft–Hartley Act governing private sector employment prohibits the "closed shop" in which employees are required to be members of a union as a condition of employment, but allows the union shop or "agency shop" in which employees pay a fee for the cost of representation without joining the union. Individual U.S. states set their own policies for state and local gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maine Legislature
The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. The Legislature convenes at the State House in Augusta, where it has met since 1832. The House of Representatives consists of 151 members, each chosen from single-member constituencies. The House is uniquely the only state legislative body in the U.S. to set aside special seats for Native Americans, where there are three nonvoting Representatives from the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Houlton Band of Maliseets. The Senate includes a varying number of members, which may under the Maine Constitution be 31, 33, or 35; the present number is 35. History In 1922, Dora Pinkham became the first woman elected to the Maine Legislature, serving first in the House and then in the Senate. In 1823, the Penobscot tribe sent what is believed to be their first representative to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Core State Standards Initiative
The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, is an educational initiative from 2010 that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know in English language arts and mathematics at the conclusion of each school grade. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. The initiative also seeks to establish consistent educational standards across the states as well as ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit-bearing courses at two- or four-year college programs or to enter the workforce. Background In the 1990s, a movement began in the U.S. to establish national educational standards for students across the country. * (a) outlining what students were expected to know and do at each grade level * (b) implementing ways to find out if they were meeting those standards. Development In late 2008, the NGA convened a group of people ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Policy Network
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a network for conservative and libertarian think tanks focusing on state-level policy in the United States. The network serves as a public policy clearinghouse and advises its member think tanks on fundraising, running a nonprofit, and communicating ideas. Founded in 1992, it is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with member groups located in all fifty states. Overview SPN describes itself as a "professional service organization" for a network of state-level think tanks across the United States. The president of SPN is Tracie Sharp, formerly the executive director of the Cascade Policy Institute, SPN's Oregon affiliate. She has described her organizing philosophy as "the IKEA model", because like a ready-to-assemble furniture retailer, the network offers a catalog of policy projects that state-level groups can build. History The State Policy Network was founded in 1992 by Thomas A. Roe, a South Carolin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiscal Year
A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many jurisdictions require company financial reports to be prepared and published on an annual basis but generally not the reporting period to align with the calendar year (1 January to 31 December). Taxation laws generally require accounting records to be maintained and taxes calculated on an annual basis, which usually corresponds to the fiscal year used for government purposes. The calculation of tax on an annual basis is especially relevant for direct taxes, such as income tax. Many annual government fees—such as council tax and license fees, are also levied on a fiscal year basis, but others are charged on an anniversary basis. Some companies, such as Cisco Systems, end their fiscal year on the same day of the week each year: the day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bangor Daily News
The ''Bangor Daily News'' is an American newspaper covering a large portion of central and eastern Maine, published six days per week in Bangor, Maine. The ''Bangor Daily News'' was founded on June 18, 1889; it merged with the ''Bangor Whig and Courier'' in 1900. Also known as ''the News'' or ''the BDN'', the paper is published by Bangor Publishing Company, a local family-owned company. It has been owned by the Towle-Warren family for four generations; current publisher Richard J. Warren is the great-grandson of J. Norman Towle, who bought the paper in 1895. Since 2018, it has been the only independently owned daily newspaper in the state. History The ''Bangor Daily News''s first issue was June 18, 1889; the main stockholder in the publishing company was Bangor shipping and logging businessman Thomas J. Stewart. Upon Stewart's death in 1890, his sons took control of the paper, which was originally a tabloid with "some news, but also plenty of gossip, lurid stories and scandals. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
