Naomi Schalit

127 posts

Naomi Schalit is a co-founder of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which operates The Maine Monitor.

9 min

Legislators use timing and creative wording to skirt spirit of fundraising rules

An examination of campaign records and fundraising techniques shows how Maine statehouse politicians have found creative ways ways to skirt the spirit of laws meant to limit the influence of special interests.

ByNaomi Schalit

March 29, 2017

sign denoting the work area is contaminated with lead paint

4 min

New bill proposes contractor training, certifications to reduce lead poisoning

Seeking to reduce the instances of Mainers getting lead poisoning due to careless renovations, a lawmaker introduced a proposal to require EPA training and certification in lead-safe removal methods for contractors working on older buildings.

ByNaomi Schalit

March 8, 2017

the doorway to the meeting room for the joint standing committee on veterans and legal affairs

4 min

Lawmaker: PACs shouldn’t pay the legislators who run them

Saying he wanted to stop a practice that was “the closest thing to getting directly paid” by lobbyists, Rep. Louis Luchini introduced a bill to bar legislators from paying themselves, businesses they run and family members from political action committees they control.

ByNaomi Schalit

February 27, 2017

Economist Isabel Sawhill in her office at the Brookings Institution

8 min

In-Depth: The full interview with Isabel Sawhill

When senior reporter Naomi Schalit began her nine months of research for our series on Maine’s single parents in poverty, one of her first stops was Isabel Sawhill’s office at the Brookings Institution. You’ll find many quotes from Sawhill in Schalit’s five-part series; here is the complete interview transcript.

ByNaomi Schalit

October 30, 2016

4 min

The story behind the story: Why single parents in poverty opened up

I have been a reporter for 34 years and this was the hardest story I have ever written. People didn’t want to talk to me. They didn’t want to give me “fodder for woman-blaming.”

ByNaomi Schalit

October 27, 2016

a mother wraps her arm around her son while he eats

13 min

500% rise in single parenthood fueling family poverty in Maine

A nine-month investigation reveals that the inability to lower the poverty rate in Maine is due in part to a change in the makeup of the state’s families.

ByNaomi Schalit

October 26, 2016

a silhouette image of a mother and her young child

10 min

One wrong guy and an ‘endless struggle’ for a single mom

Part 2: The story of one single mother speaks to the struggles shared by many single parents in Maine. “Every week’s the same,” she said. “I’m always broke. The electric, internet, diapers, toiletries, food when we run out of my food card…”

ByNaomi Schalit

October 26, 2016