Naomi Schalit

127 posts

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

Exterior of the Maine State House during the winter with trees missing all their leaves.

Portland legislator paid self from leadership PAC founded to support other candidates

Unlike other so-called leadership PACs, where most of the money raised goes to support fellow party members’ electoral ambitions, Rep. Diane Russell's PAC gave only $1,550 to Democratic candidates or organizations.

ByNaomi Schalit

March 9, 2016

Hillary Clinton holding a microphone while she speaks at an event

Maine Democrats play middleman between wealthy Clinton donors and national party

Wealthy donors nationwide have sent nearly $100,000 to the Maine Democratic Party as part of a coordinated fundraising program called the Hillary Victory Fund. But not all of that money is staying in the state: 40 percent of it has already been transferred to the Democratic National Committee.

ByNaomi Schalit

January 7, 2016

the rundown front entrance to a residence

Lewiston-Auburn ground zero in war against lead poisoning of kids

While the state’s public health efforts to fight childhood lead poisoning have been more successful in Bangor, Portland, Saco, Biddeford and Sanford, where the rates of lead poisoning have gone down in the past 20 years, the rates of childhood lead poisoning in Lewiston and Auburn remain stubbornly high.

ByNaomi Schalit

August 8, 2015

red tape that reads danger lead hazard is running along the perimeter of a house

Feds rarely enforcing law that protects Maine homeowners from lead poisoning

Investigation finds that a federal law designed to protect children from lead paint poisoning is widely unenforced, a fact even the federal agency that administers the law admits.

ByNaomi Schalit

August 7, 2015

Marisa Nadeau holding her two youngest sons

State expert: ‘Not doing enough’ to eliminate lead poisoning

From 2003 through 2013, 1,512 Maine children were diagnosed with lead poisoning. The numbers will rise by hundreds more annually as the state lowers the blood lead level that triggers a diagnosis.

ByNaomi Schalit

August 6, 2015

orange paint peels away from a home's ceiling

The problem for Maine kids that won’t go away: lead paint poisoning

Childhood lead poisoning is still the No. 1 toxic health hazard for children. The problem is acute and persistent in parts of Maine, especially among poor and immigrant families.

ByNaomi Schalit

August 5, 2015

A scattered stack of $100 dollar bills with the image of Benjamin Franklin visible

LePage killed ethics reform bill that would bar legislators from paying themselves, family members with PAC money

A bill that would have tightened up regulations that allowed a Sanford legislator to pay himself and family members from a political action committee (PAC) he controlled was killed in late June by a veto by Gov. Paul LePage, which the Maine Senate failed to override.

ByNaomi Schalit

July 6, 2015