Maine’s minimum wage is increasing by 50 cents an hour as of Jan. 1, to $14.65.
The increase is just one of several pay changes that will take effect at the start of 2025, according to the Maine Department of Labor.
Under a 2016 referendum, Maine law requires annual adjustments to its minimum wage based on the cost-of-living index for the Northeast. Between August 2023 and August 2024, the index showed a 3.6 percent increase. The 50 cent bump is an increase of just over 3.5 percent.
Also included in the pay boosts is the state’s “tip wage,” which is earned by service employees like restaurant waitstaff.
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The “tip wage” will rise to $7.33 per hour. According to the labor department, that brings the amount of tips necessary to qualify as a service employee to $185 a month, up from $179 per month.
This means employees must receive at least a direct cash wage of $7.33 an hour from their employers. Service employers must be able to show that workers receive at least the minimum wage of $14.65 an hour when wages and tips are combined.
While those pay boosts apply to the state as a whole, the city of Portland has its own minimum wage scale.
There, the minimum wage will rise to $15.50 per hour for hourly employees or $7.75 for “tip” or service employees.
New pay thresholds determining eligibility for overtime pay will also take effect on Jan. 1. Salaried employees earning up to $1,128 per week or $58,656 a year will now be eligible for overtime pay. That amount is up from $816.35 per week or $42,450.20 per year in 2024.
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The pay marker is just one of the factors used to determine whether a worker is exempt from overtime pay under federal or state law. Under the guidelines, workers’ duties also must be considered.
Two people speed down the toboggan chute at the Snow Bowl in Camden. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
With great powder comes great responsibility.
The folks who run Maine’s ski areas seem to understand that. They have these beautiful hills with scenic vistas, state-of-the-art snow machines, groomed trails, warming huts and everything else you need for winter fun.
And while skiing is the main reason these places were built, the folks who run them want to share them (usually for a price) with all the non-skiers, too. All around Maine you can find ski areas that also offer tubing, tobogganing, snowshoeing, ice skating or fat tire biking.
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Here’s a list of places where a non-skier can enjoy the powder as much as anyone else.
The Iglu lounge at Sunday River. (Photo courtesy Lone Spruce)
The Edge Tubing Park at Black Mountain is now open for the winter. There are two 500-foot-long chutes for the tubes, and a lift to bring people and their tubes back up to the top. The tubing park is usually open on selected Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and school vacations. Tickets are $25, tube included, and there’s no time limit. You can come and ride all day.
The Jack Williams Toboggan Chute at the Camden Snow Bowl in Camden is a one-of-a kind attraction. First built in 1936, it’s a 70-foot-high and 400-foot-long wooden chute that sends tobogganers speeding through the trees at up to 40 miles an hour and onto frozen Hosmer Pond. The chute is open most Saturdays and Sundays in winter, after the U.S. Toboggan National Championships (Feb. 6-8). It costs $10 an hour per person, toboggan included. The Snow Bowl also has a 500-foot-long tubing hill, besides ski slopes. There’s a lift to carry you and your tube back up to the top. The cost is $15 per person, for an hour.
A toboggan heads down the chute at Camden Snow Bowl. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
While your friends are skiing or snowboarding at Lost Valley, you could be showshoeing. Passes for snowshoe trails at Lost Valley are $6 and snowshoe rentals are $18. A map on the Lost Valley website shows a half-dozen or so trails winding around and at the base of the ski area.
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This ski area near Bangor features a 600-foot tubing hill, with a slightly U-shaped slope. It’s usually open from Feb. 1, with hours every day but Monday, although it’s sometimes open on holidays, as it was on MLK Day this year, which was a Monday. Tickets are $20 per person and there’s a lift so you don’t have to trudge back up the hill when your ride is over.
The skating rink is free at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. (Photo by Gretchen Layman)
Not strictly a ski area, but Pineland Farms offers 18 miles of groomed trials over gently sloping hills for Nordic skiing. But it’s really become a winter fun hub, with lots of other things to do, including sledding, ice skating, snowshoeing, fat tire biking and even a disc golf course that’s open in winter. The flooded skating area is lit up at night, and, along with the sledding hill, are both free to the public. The disc golf course is $8 to $10 a round or $10 to $12 for all-day play, plus $2 for disc rentals. Showshoe passes are $9 for a half day and $12 for a full day, while a fat tire bike pass is $5 a day. For rental information call 207-688-4539.
The Rangeley Lakes Trails Center, while not officially part of Saddleback, is nestled at the base of the mountain. So if you have friends skiing at Saddleback, it would be very easy for you to take advantage of the snowshoeing or fat tire biking at the trails center. The trails have stunning views of the Saddleback range and beyond. Snowshoe day passes are $10 to $15 while a fat bike pass is $10. Snowshoe rentals are $12 to $18 while fat tire bike rentals are $50 for half day or $75 for a full day, trail pass included.
The sledding hill is free at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. (Photo courtesy of Pineland Farms)
This major ski resort in the state’s western mountains offers snowshoeing and ice skating at its Outdoor Center. All the trails, and the rink, have beautiful views. Skating is at an outdoor, NHL-sized rink, open daily from December through mid-March, weather permitting. Rink passes are $5 (children) to $15, while skate rentals range from $5 to $13. Snowshoe trail passes are $6 (children) to $21, while snowshoe rentals range from $11 to $22.
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Inside the Iglu at Sunday River. (Photo courtesy Lone Spruce)
The Iglu at Sunday River is a slopeside lounge, carved into a giant igloo made of snow and ice. It’s open daily from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and is definitely a different place to have a drink. People can ski in or take a shuttle to get there. There are sweets, drinks and music.
The Maine Mariners used four power-play goals to defeat the Trois-Rivieres Lions 5-2 on Sunday at Cross Insurance Arena.
Jacob Perreault led the Maine offense with two goals and an assist. All four power-play goals came in a span of 2:58 of the first period.
Brooklyn Kalmikov, Jacob Hudson and Sebastian Vidmar also scored for Maine (18-11-5-2), which improved to 7-1-2 in its last 10 games and pulled into a third-place tie in the North Division with the Adirondack Thunder, just one point out of second.
Brad Arvanitis, starting his third game in as many days, stopped 32 of 34 shots for his seventh win of the season.
Bystander video from Minneapolis circulating online shows officers tackling the protester to the ground on the street and then shooting him multiple times.
Alex Pretti, 37, was identified as the person shot by Minnesota elected officials on Saturday evening, and his parents said he worked in a hospital intensive care unit. His death led Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to activate the state’s National Guard.
Soldiers helped police to manage large crowds protesting the city’s secondresident killed by federal immigration agents this month.
In Lewiston, about 1,000 people gathered for three hours in the Agora center, with hundreds more outside, to protest the fear they said ICE has instilled in their community. In Maine and across the US, immigrants stay home out of fear of being arrested, children skip school and essential workers risk losing their jobs, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told the crowd.
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“A man was brought to the ground by multiple ICE agents. As he was laying there, he was shot dead,” Bellows said , as many booed and shouted as they heard the news.
People gathered during a vigil for Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by a US Border Patrol officer, on Saturday in Minneapolis. Adam Gray/Associated Press
Maine residents opposing ICE have criticized the agency’s choice to name its operation “Catch of the Day.” Immigrant and human rights advocates have said the phrase, a play on a phrase common to the state’s fishing industry, dehumanizes people who’ve become targets of ICE arrests.
“We need ICE out of Minnesota, we need ICE out of Maine, we need them out now,” she said, as the crowd erupted in cheers and raised fists in the air.
More than 100 people were arrested by ICE in Maine this week, out of the state’s total immigrant population of about 50,000.
Lewiston protesters were not deterred by this weekend’s blast of cold. At the Agora center, volunteers shared info on how they could help grocery shop for immigrants who don’t feel safe leaving their homes.
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Alicia MacLeay, 50, had driven about an hour to come to the protest from her town of Rome, a small town in Kennebec County.
“I am extremely angry, and sad, and heartbroken for our country and our Maine residents,” she said.
She is concerned about what is next for Maine, especially after seeing what happened in Minnesota. Both states are being targeted by the the White House.
Protesters marched on Friday down Congress Street during an ICE out of Everywhere protest in Portland, Maine.Finn Gomez for the Boston Globe
“I don’t think there’s any rational reason to come to Maine – or Minneapolis – in the first place,” MacLeay said. “To to come here seems like a vindictive move.”
At the rally, several people who took the stage were Somali-American, and spoke about how they’ve feared for their safety in recent days.
Amran Osman, executive director of Generational Noor, a nonprofit that works with immigrant groups, grew up in the city.
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Recently, she said, , she was told: “Go back to your country.”
But this is her community, she said.
“Lewiston, Auburn – they’re not just cities to me,” she said. “They’re the only home that I’ve ever known.”
She said she found herself scrambling for hours looking for her US passport in recent days, making sure to take it with her before stepping out her door.
“I should not have to be afraid to leave my house,” Osman said. “I have my papers – and I am in fear.”
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She said that the programs her group runs for children have no attendees because of daily ICE arrests.
“Our office has always been filled with laughter, with kids doing their homework, kids just being kids,” she said. “But right now, our office is empty.”
Claire Thornton can be reached at claire.thornton@globe.com. Follow Claire on X @claire_thornto. Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio can be reached at giulia.mcdnr@globe.com. Follow her @giuliamcdnr.