ORONO, Maine (WABI) – Hundreds of school students from across the state attended the annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative Student Conference in Orono Thursday.

The event was hosted on the University of Maine campus by the Maine Department of Education.

It focused on educating students in a fun way on topics such as robotics, AI, and cyber security.

Those from the department say it’s important to stay up to date on teaching kids about those emerging fields.

“When technology comes on the scene, it tends to stick around. So, we try to do our best to prepare students not only for what’s here right now, but also what they are gonna see in five years from now and how can we lay the foundational principles for them so that they can be successful no matter what the next technology advancement is,” said Emma Banks, event coordinator, Maine Department of Education.

“They kind of just make it more entertaining for the kids so we’re not just sitting in a college class. We’re actually doing fun entertaining hands-on work,” said Zoie Elliott from Windsor Elementary School and presented at the event.

Activities ranged from an AI training camp to a Lego robotics session.

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Millionaires and the top 10 percent of Americans pay more than 70 percent of federal income taxes and the percentages are likely similar in Maine, which leads some to claim that millionaires aren’t paying their fair share.

I think this high tax burden, along with Maine’s other taxes, may lead many to move to Florida or other states that have no income tax and no estate tax, hurting Maine’s economy. Further, when they shelter their income, that money is unavailable to invest in opportunities to stimulate our economy, decreasing the tax money available to our government.

We forget that our poor, while needing our help, generally live better than kings in the 18th and 19th century. Be careful what you wish for.

John S. Kaiser

Ellsworth

A slate of Republican-led bills aimed at undoing Maine’s policies allowing transgender girls to play in sports aligned with their gender identity are heading for votes after the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee effectively deadlocked on three of them late Tuesday.

The key player was first-term Rep. Dani O’Halloran, D-Brewer, who voted with Republicans on two bills that would bar schools that receive state funding from allowing transgender girls to play alongside girls. She also endorsed a version of a similar bill from Rep. Liz Caruso, R-Caratunk, that would take out language allowing people to sue schools for violations.

Democrats who control Augusta otherwise united on the issue that has led to Gov. Janet Mills’ fight with President Donald Trump over Maine’s federal funding. These Republican-led bills still have an uphill path to passage in the Legislature, but O’Halloran’s stance has injected uncertainty around how the votes will land in the closely divided House.

Mills has defended Maine’s laws on the subject but has not said how she feels about changing the policies, saying in March that it was “worthy of a debate.” A University of New Hampshire poll of Maine that month found two-thirds of Mainers think transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.

It’s no surprise that O’Halloran was the one to break with her party. She was one of two Democrats to vote with Republicans in April against enshrining existing civil rights protections — including those for gender identity — in the Maine Constitution.

She was one of the most vocal members during Tuesday’s committee session, questioning Mary Bonauto, a prominent LGBTQ+ rights lawyer from Portland, about whether transgender participation in girls sports erodes opportunities for those who were born girls. The lawmaker returned to that point before the committee started taking votes.

“You have not only transgender girls on girls teams, you have girls on girls teams, and then there are some transgender boys that are playing on girls teams,” she said. “So that leaves me sitting here wondering, where does that leave girls?”

Other Democrats stuck together in voting against the bills. Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, worried about the real-world effects of Caruso’s bill that would bar transgender girls from girls sports but allow schools to create co-ed teams to accommodate those students.

“If the school does not have the resources or can’t put a regional team together, then we have de facto just discriminated against those students because we have not given them choice — choices,” she said.

Rep. Rachel Henderson of Rumford, summed up the Republican perspective on the committee, saying her faith teaches her to love everyone but that it is “hard science” that there are only two biological sexes. (The American Medical Association recognizes a “medical spectrum” of gender.)

“With that love has to come a truth, and this is the truth I’m standing on,” she said. “But please know that my desire is to always wrap that truth in love.”